Potential

"Demon King, I want to go home."

Fu Li weakly called out to Song Shige, who continued to advance ahead.

The two of them are still in the midst of ice and snow, outside the territory of the empire.

All around was an endless expanse of white, the wind whipping ripples across the snow, the Spineback.

In the distance, there were several low hills, their shady sides covered with bluish ice. The ice reflected the pale sunlight, like a shattered Mirror —quite beautiful, though Fu Li snowblind to see it.

The reason the two were still there was simple: they had been stopped.

The two arrived at the military's defensive line from the icy wilderness on the second day of the Dungeon. The military's high command had already noticed something was wrong and implemented a special lockdown.

Upon reaching the rear of the defensive line, Song Shige and Fu Li discovered that there were many more [Bishop]-level Awakened stationed behind the army than at the front lines. They also witnessed why those powerful [Calamities] with Attributes exceeding 20 points could not cross the defensive line.

So the two stayed in the military camp, where they encountered Survivors from other worlds and engaged in fierce battles.

The high command at the front lines reacted much faster than those in the empire's interior. By the end of the third day, the powerful Awakened had mobilized in full force to begin annihilating the Extraterritorial Heavenly Demons within the military camp. Led by bishops and accompanied by Judgment Knights, the Knight Order sealed off the outer perimeter, encircling the entire camp like an iron barrel, completely disregarding the threat of invasion.

Because military camps have strong discipline and a large number of strong individuals, and because the Survivors ' initial identities are all Goushi but their strength rises very quickly, almost no one can hide their abilities.

So the Survivor were born on the front lines laughed, not only because they were elbowed by other Survivors, but also because they had to endure the extremely rapid Elbow Strikes from the local natives.

Almost all of them either died or fled; about half of the Survivors fled to the territory of [Calamity] outside the empire.

Since Fu Li had hardly ever relearned the skills, Song Shige brought him to [Huo]'s territory.

There is no home for you to return to in this place.

Without turning his head, Song Shige Martial Will enveloped the surrounding world, like countless fine threads extending from his body, weaving into a dense net in the air, as if he were contemplating something.

With my current strength, I can easily outmaneuver many Awakened at the [Bishop] level. Perhaps I can try to force my way through and forcefully return to the Empire.

Wildman in this icy wilderness, Song Shige himself had no problem. He just needed to catch some "Huo" (a type of wild animal) from time to time to replenish his energy. "Huo" had seven times the protein of beef, and although it tasted bad, it was full of energy.

The problem is that Fu Li has been in a useless state, making the following Dungeons difficult to pass.

Thinking of this, Song Shige suddenly turned around and looked at the disabled Fu Li:

"How about we go back to the Empire now? We might be able to force our way in, but that's unlikely."

"Did you go crazy from retaking the course?" Fu Li's lips twitched.

He pondered for a moment, then solemnly said, "Don't worry about me. The risk of going back now is far too great. Let's wait at least a week. Anyway, those guys who have completely fallen behind the Empire in terms of global influence would be in great danger if they went back rashly. There's no need to rush!"

Song Shige nodded slowly; this decision was closer to his original idea.

"Indeed, the only downside to staying outside the Empire right now is that you can't rebuild. And it's not that we have no way to gain World Influence."

As he spoke, Song Shige's gaze passed over the icy mountains and landed on the dark red giant cave in the distance.

"In this world, besides empires, there is also [calamity]."

The two walked slowly forward and arrived at a place not far from this Calamity Nest.

The Calamity Nest's lair covers more than 100,000 square kilometers, resembling a magnificent city. Its edges are not city walls, but concentric rings of writhing, dark red fleshy tissue, like countless strands of intestines twisted together.

The ground was neither soil nor snow, but a layer of greasy, dark red moss-like substance that felt soft and spongy underfoot, like stepping on the back of a giant animal.

[The Calamity Nest], as the name suggests, is the nest of [calamity]; all [calamity] originates from [the Calamity Nest].

Strangely, this thing is not difficult to observe, yet almost no one mentions it, and the Imperial Front has not taken any defensive or extermination measures against [the Calamity Nest].

The environment here is too extraordinary. For an average person, just taking a single breath of the air here would be enough to kill them a hundred times over.

The air was filled with unnamed corrosive gases. These gases seeped from the fleshy tissue of the Calamity Nest's lair, forming a layer of grayish-yellow mist in the air. The mist drifted close to the ground, dispersed and then Aggregation again by the wind, like intestinal fluid accumulating around.

Fu Li silently approached Song Shige, ensuring that the Martial Dao Domain could completely cover him.

"Does [the calamity] have a social structure?" Fu Li asked.

Song Shige did not respond, but looking at the magnificent, colossal structure that seemed out of place in the world, the two felt that it was highly likely to exist.

"This is where we primarily gain World Influence."

After Song Shige finished speaking, his entire body twisted and contorted. His bones made a low cracking sound inside his body, his muscles were reshaped like kneaded dough, and dark red scale patterns appeared on the surface of his skin.

The physical mimicry became a Mature Calamity. Its body grew to nine meters tall, its Spineback slightly hunched, its limbs became thick and strong, its fingers turned into sharp claws, and its breathing changed from its nose to an engine-like sound emanating from deep within its throat.

The power structure of the calamity is meticulously stratified, a feature absent in the empire.

The calamities were so peculiar that some of them didn't even resemble living beings. Therefore, the Empire divided the calamities into three stages, corresponding to the three stages of the Awakened.

The Nascent Calamity Attribute 12 to 15. Ordinary Knights cannot defeat it, but Judgment Knights can kill it instantly.

Mature Calamity, with Attributes around 16 to 20, is likely to be defeated by Judgment Knight, but can be suppressed by a Bishop.

The Mutated Calamity is extremely rare among calamities, with Attributes exceeding 20 and special abilities. Song Shige once encountered a Mutated Calamity that could teleport.

Because he didn't understand this world very well, Song Shige was very surprised and didn't realize what this concept meant. He thought that powerful bishop-level Awakened and calamities could all have the ability to teleport.

Further up, perhaps lies the [Calamity Nest] before us, harboring countless calamities.

"You said that powerful Mutated Calamities might possess spatial abilities, and the Calamity Nest also possesses a large number of calamities. Could this be used to achieve some purpose?" Song Shige gazed at the Calamity Nest for a while, then turned to Fu Li.

Fu Li raised an eyebrow. "This is promising. I heard in the military camp that [calamities] often appear out of nowhere in the interior of the empire. I thought the defenses were lax at the time. Now it seems that they are most likely unintentionally released by Mutated Calamities."