Just then, Black Hat delivered the latest intelligence. Wei Yanwu set down his smoking pipe and casually took it, beginning to read. Then his dragon eyes suddenly widened, and he choked on the smoke, coughing violently.
"Cough, cough, cough... What do you mean a legion made up of at least a thousand Wendigos?!"
Meanwhile, in Londinium, Victoria's capital.
"What?! A legion made up of at least a thousand Wendigos?!"
Having received the same intelligence, Theresis, who currently served as Victoria's Regent, was so shocked that he sprang to his feet. The chair behind him was sent flying and nearly struck the Blood Demon Great Lord, who had just entered the room.
However, the Blood Demon Great Lord paid it no mind. Instead, he picked up where Theresis had left off.
"Not only that. Based on certain indirect descriptions in the intelligence, we can be sure that these Wendigos would be considered elite even within the Royal Court. Let alone a thousand of them—even if there were only a few dozen, neither you nor I would likely be their match."
Clearly, the Blood Demon Great Lord had also learned of the intelligence from Ursus, and he had drawn even more detailed conclusions than Theresis.
But that raised a question: where had so many elite Wendigos suddenly come from? Not only were there over a thousand of them, they could even afford to form an entire legion.
Had the Wendigo clan been doing so well after leaving Kazdel? So the intelligence they had received before, claiming that only one pure-blooded Wendigo remained, had just been a joke meant to fool idiots?
"I'll arrange Londinium's affairs over the next few days. After that Drac named Talulah ascends the throne in half a month, I'll personally attend the military parade."
After thinking for a moment, Theresis spoke to the Blood Demon Great Lord beside him.
The Blood Demon Great Lord did not object, merely nodding faintly.
"Take me with you."
Ursus, Holy Steed Castle, inside the imperial palace.
An Xiu was currently in a room he had chosen for himself, examining an octagonal stone in his hand carved with the image of a horse.
This was the Horse Talisman he had purchased from the discounted section of the system shop, which had refreshed this month. It came from the world of Jackie Chan Adventures and possessed the power to restore all life and objects. Its original price had been 10,000 points, reduced to 5,000 after the discount.
In fact, this was not the first time the system shop had refreshed since An Xiu arrived in the Arknights World. It had refreshed shortly after he first arrived, but nothing in the discounted section had interested him back then, so he had bought nothing.
This time, however, quite a few good items had appeared in the discounted section. Besides the Horse Talisman before him, there were two other products that interested An Xiu.
Shadow Troopers · Ninja Troopers (40% off) Price: 3,600 points Spirit Corridor · Winged Ones (50% off) Price: 15,000 points
Of the two products, the Shadow Troopers also came from the world of Jackie Chan Adventures. Purchasing it would grant him the ability to summon the Ninja Troopers of the Shadow Troopers. These summoned Shadow Ninjas possessed exceptional stealth, could hide within shadows and move freely through them, and were excellent at infiltration and reconnaissance. They also had a certain degree of combat capability. As for their number, that depended on their owner's strength.
The stronger the owner, the more Shadow Ninjas could be summoned. Shadow Ninjas would not die either; after suffering fatal attacks, they would merely revert to shadows and wait to be summoned again. Their numbers were practically limitless.
The other product, the Spirit Corridor of the Winged Ones, came from the world of No Game No Life. The Winged Ones were the sixth-ranked among the sixteen major races of that world. Every member of the race was a beautiful woman, with wings growing from her lower back and irregular halos above her head, making them look like angels. Every one of them was immensely powerful. Even the weakest Winged One possessed nation-destroying strength, and the Spirit Corridor was precisely the source of power for the Winged Ones—or rather, for most races in the world of No Game No Life.
New Clone, Jibril
"Looks like the candidate for the new clone has been decided."
After purchasing both the Shadow Troopers and the Spirit Corridor of the Winged Ones, An Xiu spoke.
With such an iconic ability as the Winged Ones' Spirit Corridor, there was no need to say who An Xiu's next Materialize Clone would be. It would definitely be Jibril, the Outlier Winged One from the original work of No Game No Life.
There was no need to elaborate on Jibril's strength. The Winged Ones themselves were already an absurd race. As mentioned before, even the weakest Winged One possessed nation-destroying strength, and among the entire Winged One race, Jibril, as an Outlier, stood among the very strongest.
The defensive magic constantly active on her body could let her take a hydrogen bomb to the face at point-blank range without injury. At full speed, combined with the Winged Ones' innate abilities, she could fly at two hundred thousand kilometers per second. Her full-power attacks could directly vaporize the four oceans. Even when all her abilities were restricted during the game against the Beastmen in the original work, she could still contend with the strongest Blood Destruction individual of the Beastmen through physical ability alone.
With such ridiculous stats, she had long surpassed the scope of nation-destroying strength. At the very least, she was surface-level, and she was an all-around powerhouse with virtually no weaknesses. Dropped into the neighboring world of One-Punch Man, she could earn herself the title of a god-tier monster alongside Boros, Garou, and Orochi, becoming a final boss.
Still, the Spirit Corridor alone was definitely not enough to materialize Jibril. The other innate abilities of the Winged Ones, along with all the magic Jibril herself knew, would likely cost no small amount altogether.
With that thought, An Xiu opened the clone interface and silently recited in his mind.
"System, Materialize Clone."
"Ding! Materializing clone Jibril requires 50,000 points. Confirm materialization?"
Fifty thousand points. Including the Winged Ones' Spirit Corridor, which had originally cost 30,000 points before the discount, the total came to 80,000 points—30,000 more than the 50,000 points An Xiu had previously spent to materialize Mobius.
However, the points spent to materialize Mobius had mainly gone toward Mobius's intelligence and the various forms of knowledge in her mind. The cost of materializing Jibril was purely due to Jibril's power.
An Xiu had long expected this, so his expression did not change in the slightest. He merely nodded.
"Confirm materialization."
The Spirit Corridor of the Winged Ones he had just purchased vanished from the system space, and a burst of white light appeared before An Xiu.
A tall, slender figure slowly emerged from the light. Her long hair shifted in a gradient from pale pink to rainbow colors. Angelic wings grew from her lower back, and an irregular halo hovered above her head. Her curvaceous, snow-white body was wrapped in a white upper garment and a pale yellow skirt, flawless as a sculpture wrought by the Creator's hand.
When the light faded, the angelic figure opened her eyes. At the same time, an overwhelming aura steadily rose from her body. In mere moments, everyone throughout Holy Steed Castle suddenly felt an indescribable pressure. Fortunately, the sensation came swiftly and vanished just as swiftly.
Inside the room, the young woman who had just released that powerful aura was now kneeling on one knee before An Xiu. Her slender white left hand and her right hand, clad in a black silk glove, were pressed together. The wings behind her waist folded inward, and as the halo above her head flickered, she spoke in a light yet solemn voice.
"Greetings, my master. Jibril of the Winged Ones offers you her salutations."
"My power, my everything—anything that may serve as the foundation of my master's will belongs to my master. If this body can make even the slightest insignificant contribution to my master, it would be my greatest honor."
Hearing that, An Xiu nodded.
"You can get up first."
"Yes."
Upon receiving An Xiu's command, Jibril rose from her half-kneeling position, then floated behind him.
"Come to think of it, while I was adapting to this world's power system just now, I seem to have accidentally caused quite a disturbance. I didn't cause my master any trouble, did I?"
"It's not a major issue. Don't worry about it."
An Xiu shook his head.
"More importantly, Jibril, can you feel whether your strength changed at all after adapting to this world's power system?"
"There have been no changes. It is exactly the same as the strength I possessed in my memories. I have not been weakened in any way."
Jibril knew what An Xiu was asking. In the world of No Game No Life, the source of every race's various abilities lay in a special race known as Spirits. They gained power by using the Spirit Corridor to convert invisible Spirits drifting through the air. In other words, under normal circumstances, once Jibril left her original world, she would lose at least half her strength in a world without Spirits, where she could no longer use the Spirit Corridor to convert power.
It was similar to a mage from a magical world arriving in the modern world where no mana existed. Jibril's situation was the same.
Fortunately, the system's adaptive function was powerful enough. Even someone with strength like Jibril's was not affected in the slightest, and her power had not been discounted at all.
Tap, tap, tap...
At that moment, footsteps came from the direction of the door, followed by a knock.
"Come in."
Having already sensed who stood outside, An Xiu spoke.
The next second, the door opened, and Talulah entered the room in hurried steps, a stack of documents in her hands.
"Mr. An Xiu, did you feel that strange pressure just now?"
Although the aura Jibril had released while adapting to her power had come and gone quickly, most ordinary people might have merely dismissed it as an illusion. But Talulah, FrostNova, Patriot, and others with a certain level of strength could be certain that their senses had not deceived them.
Therefore, the moment that feeling disappeared, Talulah chose to come find An Xiu and ask for his opinion.
Who would have thought that the moment she entered, she would see a stranger standing—no, floating—behind An Xiu.
A halo behind her head... Is she a Laterano? Then why does she have wings on her back?
"You don't need to worry about what just happened. I accidentally caused it on my end. There is no enemy."
An Xiu explained unhurriedly, then introduced Jibril beside him to Talulah.
"This is Jibril. Her relationship with me is similar to Mobius's."
"Hello, Miss Jibril."
Hearing that, Talulah greeted Jibril before her. Jibril smiled and nodded in return.
However, Talulah could constantly sense a dangerous aura from Jibril, one that made even her entire body stiffen. That feeling was even stronger than when she faced Mobius.
Clearly, this woman named Jibril was no easy character either.
The Ursus Nobles Seemed to Be Asking for a Purge
"You came to see me this time because of more than just the earlier disturbance, right?"
Looking at the documents in Talulah's hands, An Xiu asked.
"Yes. These concern the national policies Ursus intends to enact in the near future. Before they are officially issued, they need to be reviewed by you first."
Talulah handed the documents to An Xiu as she answered.
"Why not send them directly to Mobius?"
"Actually, these were sent over from Miss Mobius. Most of the policies within were proposed by her, which is why I felt they absolutely needed Mr. An Xiu's secondary confirmation, in case any issues arose."
"Don't come to me over this kind of matter next time. Mobius's will is my will."
An Xiu casually flipped through the various policies recorded in the documents before quickly seeming to lose interest and returning them to Talulah.
There was indeed nothing much to look at. Neither An Xiu nor Mobius was particularly skilled at politics. These so-called policies were essentially copied from An Xiu's memories by Mobius according to the circumstances.
Although they had been tailored as closely as possible to Ursus's current situation, there would definitely be areas that were unsuitable to some degree. Both An Xiu and Mobius were prepared for that.
But it did not matter. Ordinary politicians might need to consider the interests of all sides when drafting policies, which would leave them constrained. Mobius and An Xiu were different. As long as they possessed absolute military power, combined with Mobius's own scientific research abilities, even if the enacted policies harmed the interests of certain groups, those groups could only swallow it. Unsuitable policies could be forcibly made suitable through Mobius's scientific capabilities. Therefore, An Xiu and Mobius only needed to ensure that the overall direction was correct. The rest were not problems.
"How are the preparations for the coronation ceremony in half a month going?"
Skipping over the topic of policy, An Xiu turned to ask Talulah about the coronation ceremony.
"Everything else has gone relatively smoothly. The nobles and lords of all major cities within Ursus are willing to recognize my status and have offered congratulations for the coronation ceremony in half a month. However, aside from a small number of nobles, most of them—including several Dukes who control the other Group Armies—are unwilling to attend the coronation ceremony in person. Some have even directly refused to attend."
At the mention of this, Talulah could not help revealing a troubled expression.
There was no other reason. Besides handling all kinds of work around the clock in the imperial palace every day during this period, she had to learn all sorts of royal etiquette under the instruction of etiquette teachers. In particular, she had to wear restrictive royal dresses whenever she went out. Those things alone had already tormented her badly, and now those nobles refused to settle down, turning around and creating new problems for her.
An Xiu was not surprised by this.
After all, anyone even slightly familiar with the Arknights World knew perfectly well what those nobles and people in power were like.
It would have been strange if those worthless bastards had truly cooperated obediently and let Talulah complete her coronation smoothly. Stirring up trouble behind the scenes was the normal state of affairs.
Rather, it was already surprising enough that the old and new noble factions were willing to verbally acknowledge Talulah's ascension as Emperor of Ursus. Most likely, it was not out of sincerity, but because they had seen the two Group Armies under Talulah's command, the infected forces of the Reunion, and the Wendigo Legion that many people had probably already learned about. They had simply chosen to submit.
The problem was that even knowing their side now controlled such an enormous force, they still clung to unrealistic fantasies and would only lower their heads verbally. Those brain-dead idiots had truly refreshed An Xiu's understanding of the lower limit of human intelligence.
Oh, right. Other than the Doctor, Terra apparently no longer had any Pure Humans.
"Since they don't want to obey properly, then just kill them."
Having no intention of indulging those nobles, An Xiu directly told Talulah to draw up a list of the nobles unwilling to attend the coronation ceremony, then purge every last one of them before the ceremony began in half a month.
"But what about those Dukes who control Group Armies?"
Killing ordinary nobles was naturally just a matter of one word for An Xiu's side now. But the several Grand Dukes who controlled Group Armies would inevitably trigger another major conflict if they clashed head-on.
"Leave them to the Inner Guards. The former Emperor of Ursus voluntarily abdicated, and you are practically the next Emperor of Ursus already. Those Emperor's Blades presumably will not refuse your orders."
"As for the exact locations of those Grand Dukes, I'll have someone investigate them and hand the information to you."
An Xiu spoke without the slightest concern.
As long as they had the precise location of their targets, very few people in this world could withstand assassination by the Inner Guards. It just so happened that the Shadow Troopers An Xiu had purchased not long ago were exceptionally useful for reconnaissance.
Thus, from beginning to end, An Xiu had never taken those troublesome nobles seriously.
Besides, even if some minuscule possibility occurred and the Inner Guards failed, did An Xiu truly have no way to deal with those nobles?
Looking at Jibril, who had remained close behind him from beginning to end, An Xiu's lips curled into a cold smile.
If the Inner Guards truly failed, An Xiu would not mind letting Jibril, who had just been materialized, stretch her limbs a little and blow those nobles, their cities, and their armies away together. No matter how capable those nobles were, even bringing in Giant Beasts would not help them.
Rather, the Giant Beasts of this world had better pray that Jibril did not take an interest in them anytime soon. Otherwise, if Jibril suddenly felt like returning to her old hobby of collecting the heads of powerful creatures, An Xiu would not deliberately stop his clone from pursuing her interests.
Given the scale of the Arknights World, aside from background-level crises like the Lumberjack, Jibril would have no opponents in this world. As long as An Xiu did not mind, Jibril could even single-handedly give every civilization on Terra a new IF Doomsday Timeline.
From Arknights's native perspective, this new doomsday timeline could probably be classified as the Laterano Doomsday Timeline?
Heh. If that old cat learned that Terra had gained something like this, what kind of reaction would she have?
Right, speaking of Kal'tsit, the Doctor should still be lying in a Stone Coffin, frozen in Chernobyl by her, right?
Since they had decided to purge a batch of nobles, Talulah would likely need a group of capable talents afterward. The Doctor would be a good choice.
The only question was whether this Doctor was male or female. Female would be best. If the Doctor was male, then he could stay in the Stone Coffin and keep freezing.
Before you continue