NOVEL NEXT Chapter 215
Everyone's expression changed.
Sending someone to oversee a recruit in a portal meant that the overseer couldn't have higher stats than the recruit or the portal would increase in difficulty, resulting in a faulty trial.
The number of people entering also contributed to the difficulty.
Even if the participants had the same stats, the portal would still be harder than usual.
All of this meant one thing… the overseer needed to be as strong as the trial taker, and this brought up another major problem.
What if the recruit couldn't handle the portal and, for whatever reason, died?
While the likelihood of this happening was low, the recruits being tested weren't just a few. They numbered in the thousands, tens of thousands, or more, making the probability of it happening at least once almost certain.
At that point, the overseer would need to finish the mission on their own to get out.
But if the overseer and the trial taker had around the same stats, how likely was it for the former to die inside the portal?
Very likely.
So much so that the chances of making it out alive were slim to none.
Unless…
Cassidy looked at Malachi and asked, "You want geniuses to act as overseers?"
Malachi nodded. "Yes. If we use geniuses who still have low base stats, we won't need to fear any mishap happening."
"What you're suggesting will delay their training," Darius frowned.
"Only slightly, and soon there won't be any difference," Malachi leaned back in his chair. "There's now no time dilation with Green portals, while the one for Blue portals is merely double. I doubt there will even be many recruits who can go for Blue right off the bat and, if there are, we'll have gained another genius."
During these years, the population noticed that the time dilation in different portals had shortened.
At first, it wasn't too obvious, since there were many cases of the same portal color having different time dilations, so it was all chalked up to randomness.
But as the years went by, that random factor became smaller and smaller, until it reached a point where there was no time dilation between Green portals and Earth.
This led humanity to a conclusion.
It was all because of Earth's progression.
Soon, scientists came up with countless theories.
Many proven wrong, others too fantastical to exist.
But there was one theory that had yet to be disproven. Over the years, it wormed its way into the general population, slowly becoming common knowledge due to its convincing logic.
The theory said…
While the Universe granted portals to new civilizations to help them advance, it didn't put all its eggs in one basket.
Portals required energy to exist, and the higher the grade, the more energy they demanded.
Energy was something that, when a planet had just begun its evolution process, it didn't have enough to spare.
Thus, the Universe supplemented just enough energy to keep the portals open.
With the bare minimum of energy, portals couldn't function properly, hence the time dilation. The higher the grade, the more energy required, and without that energy, the time dilation increased.
But as Earth advanced, the energy it generated grew, and with it, the portals' time dilation slowly aligned with Earth's own.
Alaric's calm voice rang out.
"This will certainly help us pick candidates who can be made into Grade 1s as soon as possible, but we need to provide enough incentives for the overseer role. Otherwise, it won't be worthwhile for our geniuses to accept, and this could backfire in the long term."
"Instead of the 30% fee, why don't we let them keep the rewards from the portals they enter with a recruit?" Adira said casually as she stretched.
Malachi, who had been leisurely leaning back in his chair, suddenly jolted. His eyes widened. "No, no. We can't do that! We'd lose tens of millions of Gold coins in a matter of weeks, if not days."
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What are we? A charity?
He shot Adira a weary glance before turning to look pleadingly at Cassidy.
Cassidy swept her gaze across the room to see if anyone else had a suggestion, but was met with silence.
She slowly nodded. "With the Federation increasing the number of Grade 1s, we can't just sit still and wait for unrealized potential. I agree with Malachi's suggestion. Have current geniuses oversee the recruits' trials to identify promising Grade 1 candidates. To compensate the overseers for their work, they can keep 50% of the portal rewards. Any more than that, and it will affect our budget."
Malachi heaved a sigh of relief, while Adira merely shrugged.
Cassidy then looked at the few people standing at the entrance and said, "Next—"
BEEP.
A high-pitched beep rang out in the room.
Cassidy froze.
The seven generals jumped to their feet. Emotions rampaging inside them.
The sudden change in the room stunned the newly appointed staff waiting at the entrance to deliver their reports.
Slowly, Cassidy fished two devices from her pocket.
One was brand new, the other worn out.
The brand-new device was dead silent, while the old one's screen flashed intermittently.
Her grip tightened around the old device.
She whispered, "9 years…"
/////
On the other side of Earth.
Nova strolled out of the portal.
As soon as he stepped out, he felt his feet turn wet as the sandy ground gave way beneath him.
Puzzled, his vision cleared, and he looked around.
A vast expanse of blue stretched endlessly, with nothing on the horizon.
Behind him was an island.
No. It couldn't even be called an island.
It was a piece of land the size of a house, surrounded by nothing but water.
"Seriously? In the middle of nowhere? Someone really needs to fix this random transport," he muttered aloud.
He sighed and turned back to the ocean. His deep blue eyes gleamed.
"This is my first time seeing the ocean in person."
Not bothered by wetting his clothes, he knelt down and played with the water, a relaxed smile tugging at his lips.
"It's so fresh… it feels nice."
Ding!
A sharp notification rang in his mind.
"Hmm?"
He stood up and read it.
[Level: 50 (500/500)]
[Woud you like to reset your level to 0 while keeping all the Stats and advance to Grade 1?]
[The Stats received from every level up at Grade 1 will be five times higher than Grade 0's]
[Your level cannot increase until you make your decision]
A prompt with two choices soon flashed.
[Yes/No]
"Grade 1, huh? What happens if I refuse?" he murmured.
Another notification flashed:
[This prompt will appear every 50 levels]
As soon as he read that Nova waved his hand as if to shoo away the system notification and mentally pressed [No] without hesitation.
"If I can keep my stats when I advance, why would I ascend so early? Wouldn't I just end up the lowest of the low if I accepted now?"
BOOM!
As soon as he refused he felt a vast amount of power wash over him and a sliver of his Aura escaped his control, causing a loud explosion to rang out.
As far as he could see, his surroundings trembled.
Waves rose from the ocean, higher and higher.
Nova's body and mind kept strengthening with each passing moment.
The process lasted less than a few seconds, yet the ocean still raged around him.
Once it was over he fell silent.
"I see. The Grade 1 advancement was blocking me from leveling up further. No wonder it said 500/500 EXP but the level didn't increase."
He clenched his fists, feeling his newfound power.
It was intoxicating.
Nova felt like he could punch through anything, but after his recent trip, he knew it was just an illusion.
'Status.'
[Status]
Rank: 0
Name: Nova Grey
Species: Human
Affiliation: None
Level: 88 (500 / 5,000)
Mana:
Mana Core (Medium): 299,867,002 / 10,000,000,000
Nodes: ??? Spinal Node, ??? Perception Node, ??? Pulse Node, ??? Voice Node, ??? Vital Organs Node, ??? Power Node, ??? Stance Node, ??? Manipulation Node
Concepts: Death (0.001%)
Class: None
Titles:
Goblin Exterminator, King Slayer, Survivor, Spear Advanced, Troll Exterminator,
Orc Exterminator, Rune Novice, Mana Intermediate, Lord (Giants), Hunter, ???, Sword Novice, Throne Breaker
Stat Points: 2,130
Attributes:
Strength: 2247 (+103,674)
Vigor: 2220 (+102,653)
Dexterity: 2270 (+127,434)
Speed: 2230 (+125,192)
Intelligence: 2186 (+24,574)
Wisdom: 2230 (+25,065)
Will: 20
Luck: 10 (+10)
Skills
Active:
Spear Thrust (27) — 63,989,279,560 / 67,108,864,000
Spear Jab (27) — 2,546,651,125 / 67,108,864,000
Spear Sweep (27) — 1,806,120,569 / 67,108,864,000
Spear Lunge (27) — 47,199,108,631 / 67,108,864,000
Spear Overhead Strike (26) — 5,780,376,366 / 33,554,432,000
Sword Slash (15) — 1 / 16,384,000
Sword Stab (15) — 3 / 16,384,000
Sword Chop (15) — 1 / 16,384,000
Sword Sweep (15) — 0 / 16,384,000
Sword Parry (14) — 2,030,197 / 8,192,000
Sword Block (14) — 1,997,701 / 8,192,000
Blacksmithing (9) — 188,131 / 256,000
Woodworking (0) — 54 / 500
Passive:
Regeneration (23) — 923,088 / 4,194,304,000
Keen Reflexes (14) — 6,202,997 / 8,192,000
Momentum Streak (18) — 107,454,997 / 131,072,000
One with the World (Spear) — MAX
One with the World (Footwork) — MAX
Aura — Fourth Stage
"No wonder…"
He stared at the insane numbers in disbelief for a long moment before bursting into laughter.
"I could probably kill my previous self with a sneeze."
After calming down, he took a deep breath. The simple motion of inhaling whipped up the wind around him.
"I need to meet the others and understand the current situation. I don't even know how much time has passed."
He picked a random direction and stepped forward.
But instead of his foot touching water, it met ice.
Step
Step
With each step, the ocean froze beneath him.