At Last, World-Ending Level

Although the Merrick Civilization has changed rapidly, Merrick Castle remains as it was.

Wang Yue looked around at the familiar living room layout, her gaze lingering there.

At that moment, Tim, dressed in formal congressional attire, offered the two men tea and snacks.

Although he was a member of the Merrick Government Senate with immense power, Tim never forgot his true identity in front of Lister.

The steward of Merrick Castle, and a servant of Lister.

All our current glory and power originate from this.

"The main reason I'm keeping you here is to ask you for a favor."

"The Merrick Civilization is about to advance to a Level 3 civilization. At that time, Quint will run for a seat in the Galactic Federation House of Representatives as a representative of the Merrick Government."

"I hope you can help look after him then."

"Quint, the former Duke Will?"

Wang Yue still remembered Quint; after all, she was the first to go to the Kingdom of Lucian and had also visited the Duchy of Will.

"Um."

"Given the current state of the Merrick Civilization, it doesn't actually need to wait for advancement to a Level 3 civilization; it could succeed in the election right now."

The Galactic Federation House of Representatives has a total of 5,000 seats, belonging to various levels of civilizations within the federation.

Of course, in practice, the arrangements and assessments are all based on the strength of each civilization.

The main competition is Quasi-Hegemon and those with the potential to become Hegemon!

Even the most outstanding individuals from a Level 2 civilization can participate.

The Merrick Civilization will definitely have at least one seat, and if it advances to a level three civilization, it may even have two or three seats in the House of Representatives.

"Let's wait until we advance to level three civilization; it should be within the next year or two."

"Give Quint some time to prepare, and then you can mentor him more in parliament."

Lister still prefers to pursue interests with the Galactic Federation Government after civilization has advanced to level three.

At present, the Merrick Civilization does not lack political interests; its priority is to strengthen its foundation.

In other words, only after advancing to the third level of civilization will so many allied civilizations need to consider advancing and retreating together and jointly vying for rights.

Wang Yue could provide significant assistance to the Merrick Civilization in this regard.

Her own position alone already grants her three seats in the House of Representatives.

Lister even suspected... if Wang Yue continued to develop like this in the future, in addition to his Faceless skill, if he also had the ability to create clones, he could occupy most of the seats in the House of Representatives.

"No problem."

"I'm also considering returning to the Merrick Civilization in the future."

"I will secretly support Quint within the Federation Government."

Wang Yue agreed to the request without hesitation.

He then looked at Lister again and spoke.

"If you have any special resource needs before your promotion or next evolution, you can also tell me."

I'll try my best to collect and search for it for you.

"Yes, I won't hold back with you."

After Wang Yue left, Lister returned to his room and specifically summoned Tim.

"For the next few days, don't let anyone disturb me before I leave my room."

"Yes, sir!"

"Should I ask Congressman Adrian to send troops to guard the area?"

"No need for that, just prepare a contingency plan."

The bedroom has long since been converted into a meditation area by Lister.

Sitting upright in the center, the tranquil and harmonious atmosphere instantly calmed his mind and soothed his emotions.

He then took out dozens of vials of medicine from his storage compartment.

"Federation Military District Special Tranquilizer (Level 3) (Grade A): A special preparation from the Federation Military District that can slightly increase the recovery effect of soul trauma for a certain period of time."

"Beta Civilization's Soul-Soothing Elixir (Level 4) (S-Rank): For a certain period of time, it can provide immunity to 19.5% of soul-related injuries and greatly increase Heal abilities."

"The Glimmer Civilization..."

All the potions are about calming, focusing, and most importantly, Heal the soul.

Lister calmly injected the colorful vials of medicine.

This time, he was fully prepared.

Only when his soul began to feel lightheaded and all the effects of the medicine began to take hold did he reluctantly take out Whiteman's container.

Ten gray, hexagonal lenses appeared in his hand, feeling almost weightless.

It looks quite ordinary, unlike its free gas state; the gray fog state, on the contrary, has a hazy beauty.

Taking a deep breath, Lister finally swallowed all ten crystals at once.

The next instant, an indescribable stinging sensation struck.

It strikes straight to the soul, utterly irresistible.

His body, which had been sitting cross-legged, immediately fell straight backward.

Even with the numerous medications this time, Lister's pain was no less than the last time.

After the last mission, Lister immediately used the Soul Crystal.

These types of Soul Crystals require specific formulas for actual use, similar to the special resources issued to recruit camps by the Federation Military District, and need to be allocated and used accordingly.

Furthermore, a specially designed hull is required to enable the soul to withstand this rapidly increasing danger.

Roland had given the formula to Lister.

However, according to the system prompt, this recipe will waste more than 30% of the Soul Crystal energy.

For him, the best way and form of absorption is through direct infusion or oral administration.

Last time, just one Soul Crystal caused him to experience soul torment and suffering for a long time.

And finally, it broke through the level limit of the Robust Soul and reached level 120.

After the other two were subjected to further trials, they still couldn't break through the barrier.

This time, Lister simply took all ten Soul Crystals at once, not wanting to experience this pain again, and prepared to break through this restriction in one fell swoop.

Notification: The Soul Crystal has been absorbed by the system; the current absorption efficiency is 99.7%.

The system notification sounded in his ear, but Lister was no longer paying attention.

The pain in his soul was intensifying, and Lister's consciousness was so clear that he could not escape the pain.

It felt as if countless people were using blunt knives to slowly slash at his soul.

My body was completely stiff; the pain reached my very soul, yet I was unable to utter a sound.

At the same time, a cold, detached feeling arose, and I vaguely sensed that I was about to die.

It was as if everything about oneself was being pulled away and detached—memories, emotions, and even the very consciousness of existence.

Until a certain point, all of these stripped-away items began to be crushed.

The pain intensified, and at the same time, his soul seemed to spontaneously combust, or perhaps it was being devoured by nothingness.

It was as if I had been thrown into a cold, dark place, where everything about my soul was being dissolved and dissolved.

"Notification: Battle Intent Eruption has taken effect... granting immunity to 46.8% true damage."

In an instant, the endless pain subsided.

Even though it was still extreme torture, compared to before, Lister felt it was a kind of enjoyment.

A strong Fighting Spirit washed away the pain, and everything got better.

Until finally, the crushing and devouring vanished in an instant.

A warm, cool sensation began to spread throughout his body, and his extremely weakened soul slowly began to recover.

Soon, the soul was continuously nourished, as if a shackle had been removed.

Lister felt his soul expand rapidly, and a tremendous sense of power returned to him.

Emotions, memories, and consciousness return to the soul, and everything becomes incredibly pure.

"Notification: Under the current upgrade, you have one skill that can be further improved, up to a maximum of SS level."

"Skill selected, upgrade target: Merrick Saber Technique."

Countless sword techniques and intents followed closely behind.

"Upgrade complete!"

[Merrick Saber Technique (SS-Rank) LV173: Uses blade techniques to precisely attack the target, dealing 18571~19298 damage (affected by Strength and Soul attributes) (74.7% of which is true damage). Enters Super Armor state upon striking, immune to control effects and gaining a certain degree of damage immunity. Also, can directly execute opponents with less than 5.4% health (Note: Cooldown for this execution: 7 days).]

Notification: Overall evaluation has been improved.

[Overall Rating: S-Rank → SS-Rank (World-Ending Level)]

I struggled to straighten up from the meditation room.

The entire process of consuming the Soul Crystal was nothing short of torture for Lister.

They all lost some weight after this workout.

He hurriedly took out several Heal reagents, and a familiar sense of warmth and vitality reappeared. Only then did Lister reopen the panel.

[Health: 934443/2349853 (Regenerating rapidly)]

[Stamina: 334931/699983 (Recovering rapidly)]

[Skill: Robust Soul (Passive, No Grade) LV165: Increases soul strength by 165 points, increases the effect of soul-type skills by 165%, all skill attacks will have different degrees of true damage ratio, special judgment rank upgrade, immune to soul damage (Note: only applicable when the enemy's soul strength is no more than 30 points higher than your own).

...]

Just as Lister had predicted, the bottleneck in each upgrade of the Robust Soul was the same as the level required for several job advancements.

The experience points I've accumulated from daily tasks over the past few years have barely gotten me to level 165, and I should be at level 180 before the next level cap.

As for the number of Soul Crystals required for the upgrade, it will probably be more than ten times that amount.

As his Robust Soul improves, many of Lister's passive skills are significantly enhanced.

Both Merrick Saber Technique and Soul Blade Domain have been greatly enhanced.

At the same time, what pleased Lister the most was the leap in combat strength.

This time is different from the past; it truly represents a step into the World-Ending Level.

Unlike before, when it hovered on the edge and its rating would drop back to the Overlord Tier as soon as its level was slightly raised.

Lister felt that it was the upgrade of Merrick Saber Technique skill to SS level that brought him a significant boost to his overall combat strength evaluation.

After all, this is still in the mid-game, and active skills have always been one of his weaknesses.

It's more beneficial to improve weaknesses than to continue improving strengths.

Furthermore, the later the game progresses, especially after the Fourth Advancement, the required rank, or combat power, will continue to increase.

This was also true for players in his previous life, including himself: the higher the rank, the lower the combat power rating.

After the Fourth Advancement in his previous life, he was only rated as E-level in terms of combat power, and he couldn't even find a direction to improve, as most of the paths were blocked.

Yalan Civilization.

The quiet path where the "Blacksmith's General Store" is located has changed drastically.

It's unclear whether this was due to the impact of the rise of the Merrick Civilization or the previous visits from players.

The number of visitors to this path has already increased significantly.

The types of goods sold in the shops on both streets have also changed significantly.

It contains various rare and exotic items from the Galactic Federation, as well as turquoise specialties from the Merrick Civilization, and some Merrick Civilization food and cuisine.

"Welcome to the Merrick Civilization. For reports and complaints, please contact the Yalan Guard Corps Third Guard Unit."

"Warmly celebrate the establishment of a friendly alliance Yalan Civilization and Merrick Civilizations!"

A series of slogans and cultural elements from the Merrick Civilization began to counter-invade the Yalan Civilization.

This also shows that Speaker Quint has done a good job, and that the Merrick Civilization has truly risen to prominence.

Even though they haven't yet advanced to a Level 3 civilization, the Yalan Civilization has already treated them as a superior civilization.

The "Blacksmith's General Store" has long since been expanded.

It was as if it had swallowed up several adjacent storefronts, and the original small shop suddenly became the core storefront of this street.

It all stems from the blind box perks that players received years ago.

Although the vast majority of the profits went to Lister, Powell still made a fortune even from the small amount that slipped through his fingers.

And thanks to that wave of customers, the store's atmosphere is completely different now.

There are dedicated reception areas, selection areas, ordering areas, apprentice forging areas, etc...

Even though the seventh act of the game hasn't been released yet, the store still has a decent amount of foot traffic.

"My lord! You've arrived!"

Before any of the designated staff could approach, Powell had already arrived and greeted them warmly.

At the same time, a young man was following behind him, saluting Lister.

"Grown ups!"

"Hunter? What are you doing here?"

The young man was dressed in a crisp military uniform, and his rank was surprisingly that of a major.

Of course, these are just military ranks within the Merrick Civilization and have no practical significance.

"Sir, I'm in charge of the spot checks and acceptance of this season's equipment procurement."

"We're here today for a spot check."

Over the course of more than a decade, Hunter's growth has been quite rapid.

I've already completed Third Advancements and reached level 13, but my combat power is still lacking, remaining at only C-rank.

At the same time, it seems that improvement has reached a bottleneck; talent has reached its limit, and there is limited room for further improvement.

However, he possesses an astonishing talent for forging, inheriting Powell's talent.

Now, he has risen from a lowly soldier in the former Logistics and Equipment Department to the position of Deputy Minister.

"Major Hunter, rest assured, our shop has been cooperating with your army for over ten years."

"I personally inspected this batch of equipment; I guarantee there won't be any problems."

"That won't do!"

"Random checks are my responsibility, please cooperate, store manager."

After a thorough inspection, Hunter led his team to accept the equipment.

As for Powell, he watched his son leave with a kind look in his eyes.

For more than a decade, the father and son have maintained contact through this channel, but they have yet to acknowledge each other.

"Sir, thank you for waiting."

"It's nothing, I just wanted to rest for a while, it's none of your business."

"Where are the items? How's the forging going?"

"Sir, the items... are pretty much as you guessed; there was indeed a slight mishap."

"Why don't we go inside and talk?"

Powell's expression was complicated. With so many people around, he still led Lister to the inner courtyard of the shop.

There are more forging apprentices inside than outside, probably less than thirty.

"Ping-ping~ Clang~!"

The sounds of forging continued, creating a lively scene.

Lister followed Powell into the house, and as the hidden door opened, they slowly descended into the underground.

"Speak, what's going on?"

Is it a problem with Jiji?

"Um."

"Just as you guessed, Jiji awakened its own life consciousness after being forged..."

"For details, why don't you take a look for yourself?"

Similar to the underground of Merrick Castle, Powell's shop also has a hidden space underneath.

First, there was his other workshop and secret forging facility, including an equipment room and the innermost prison.

"Jiji" was found locked up in the prison.

Of course, the prison gates were wide open; there was no real intention to imprison anyone.

It's probably just that they can't keep it in the open, so they're leaving "Jiji" in the basement for now.

Compared to the last forging, this time "Jiji's" appearance has become even sharper, and its eyes are now more lively.

Its body color changed from silver to a grayish-mist color similar to the Spirit-Devouring Pearl (S-rank).

At the same time, the wings became sharper and the mechanical hairs became shinier, as if they had just been polished and maintained.

As if sensing Lister's presence, Jiji immediately flapped its wings and flew towards him.

Just as it reached him, its wings silently folded, and it gracefully landed on his shoulder.

The little head rubbed affectionately against Lister's neck.

Notification: The life form 'Jiji' wishes to continue the Symbiosis Contract with you. This contract is based on you. Do you wish to remain in the contract?

"Yes."

Congratulations, the Symbiosis Contract has been signed.