Game Difficulty Upgrade

[Sorry, this chapter is almost an hour late...]

There was no night in this world. Two whole days passed, and the massive Insect Tide finally turned into insect corpses. Some of them were even directly swallowed up by Gu Ding's flames and vanished into nothingness.

The remaining insect corpses were all retrieved into the Storage Space. The blood and energy contained within these corpses would greatly promote the cultivation of Gu Ding's Myriad Manifestations Emperor Body. However, Gu Ding's divine source was severely depleted, making it impossible to consume them with flames. Moreover, the Insect Core were food that could enhance Tagore's strength.

The Sea Emperor also tallied their Merit Points.

Gu Ding's Merit Points have skyrocketed to over 23 billion, firmly holding the top spot.

Bigge's Merit Points also surged to 5.6 billion, ranking second.

As for Tagore's Merit Points, they amount to 2.1 billion, currently ranking third.

Gu Ding's Bigge's because he had already wiped out more than half of the Insect Tide before Bigge completed his tribulation, and his Merit Points were calculated at five times the normal rate. Bigge, however, only had his Merit Points calculated at twice the normal rate after becoming a demigod. Tagore's Merit Points were lower because he couldn't maintain his transformed state for long; once he reverted to his original form, he completely abandoned the extermination of the five-star Elite Bug beasts.

After cleaning up the insect corpses, the two people and the cat returned to the city.

The decision to return to the city was also due to Gu Ding's physical exhaustion. The intense battle had lasted too long, and he needed time to replenish his divine energy. Bigge, having just advanced to demigod status, also needed time to consolidate his cultivation. As for Tagore, being entirely non-human, he showed no discomfort under such intense combat, quickly recovering after consuming a few Insect Core.

After the two people and the cat returned to the city covered in blood, they attracted the attention of many forces.

In fact, even after the Insect Tide didn't break out on the second day, many people who had waited all day couldn't resist going out to hunt again.

Upon seeing Gu Ding and his group return, someone immediately stopped them and asked what had happened. "Gu Ding, did you encounter Insect Tide?"

"There was no Insect Tide. Only less than 20,000 insect beasts awakened in that hive, and their star ratings were all low. We've already killed them all," Gu Ding said. He was from the Sea Emperor's Cult, and he was worried that Gu Ding Team would attract the covetous eyes of others. The Merit Points from annihilating an insect hive were enough to make anyone envious.

When Liliath saw the two people and the cat in the square, she couldn't help but complain, "Did you three take a bath in insect blood?"

"There's no water in the desert, so changing clothes is pointless since I'm already covered in dirt. I might as well not change," Gu Ding grinned, revealing his white teeth.

"Then hold on tight!" Robert suddenly pointed his gun at them. A powerful jet of water sprayed from the muzzle, instantly washing the three of them clean like a high-pressure water gun.

"It's so refreshing! Where did this water come from?" Gu Ding shook his hair and asked with a grin.

"I built a hot and cold exchanger to extract moisture from the air." Robert lowered his gun and sat cross-legged on the ground.

"About the beast tide..." Liliath had just started to speak when Gu Ding interrupted her.

"Let's talk about it another time; it's not convenient to talk here. Let's go into the Merit Hall first and see if there's anything good there." Gu Ding's divine energy surged out, instantly drying his clothes. Bigge and Tagore used the same method.

The group walked straight into the Merit Hall. But some people had been quietly observing the actions of Gu Ding Team.

"We also visited the Merit Hall yesterday when we had nothing else to do. One Merit Points here is equivalent to one hundred units of Universe Crystal. Unfortunately, all of us combined don't even have one million Merit Points, so we can't exchange them for anything good," Liliath explained.

"This ratio is the same as the points in the Monster Paradise. The Merit Points of the three of us should be enough to buy a lot of things," Gu Ding grinned.

"How many do you have? Hundreds of millions?" Elsa couldn't help but ask, giving a guess in the order of magnitude.

Liliath, however, kept her eyes fixed on Gu Ding and Bigge, noticing their faint smiles. She felt this wasn't enough; "Over a billion?"

"Don't ask anymore, let's talk about it when we're alone." Gu Ding said, glancing at the others in the Merit Hall. "Has anyone taken a liking to anything?"

"I've got my eye on one, but it's a bit pricey." Liliath grinned mischievously. "I was initially worried you wouldn't be able to afford it. But judging from the current situation, that shouldn't be a problem."

"What is it?" Gu Ding curiously, as it was the first time he had ever heard Liliath mention something expensive.

"It's Heaven Soul Crystal, which is extremely beneficial to soul cultivators. Even High-rank God would covet it. Both Dokter and I can use it. If you have enough merit points, please buy two for us," Liliath finally said. "One crystal Merit Points, which is equivalent to 10 billion Universe Crystal. Actually, if there Auction House, 10 billion Universe Crystal would just be the starting price. It could fetch at least 30 billion or more, which is equivalent to 3 million source stones. With our current total wealth of over 5.3 million source stones, we couldn't even buy two at Auction House sold everything we owned."

"Hmm, is there anything else you need?" Gu Ding nodded calmly.

"I only need this for now. Merit Points should be spent wisely. Things that can be bought outside can be bought with Merit Points for now. You can ask them what else they need." Liliath said this to herself, but also to Gu Ding, afraid that he would waste his Merit Points.

"Where's Elsa?" Gu Ding turned to look at Elsa.

"I... I haven't thought about it yet." Elsa hesitated for a moment, then shook her head.

Gu Ding didn't think much of it and turned to look at Dokter.

"I'm the same as Lily." After a moment Dokter gave his answer, "The stronger the soul, the stronger the mental power."

"Robert, what do you want?"

"What I want isn't very expensive; it's called Source Energy Crystal, and it costs 1 million merit points per crystal. If you have enough Merit Points, buy me 100 first. If not, we can save them up later." This time, Robert didn't choose materials or anything like that; instead, he chose Source Energy Crystal.

"The energy in the Source Energy Crystal can not only help Robert advance, but you can also use them to replenish the energy you lose. You should buy three thousand crystals first; that should be enough for a while," the Sea Emperor explained to Gu Ding.

"Tagore, Bigge. I won't buy it for you. If you don't have enough Merit Points later, I'll transfer them to you. I'm going in first!" Gu Ding said, stepping into the trading hut.

Within the Merit Hall, there is only one trading area, a small black room located in the very center of the hall. This small room allows only one person to enter at a time and is completely isolated from all external detection; even the Sea Emperor's detection is ineffective against it.

After stepping into the hut, Gu Ding first bought the two Heaven Soul Crystal that Liliath and Dokter wanted, and then found the Source Energy Crystal that Robert wanted, and bought three thousand of them as the Sea Emperor had instructed.

Gu Ding's Merit Points were instantly reduced by 3.2 billion, leaving him with only 20 billion plus a fraction.

"Sea Emperor, help me take a look. What would be suitable for me?" Faced with the massive amount of information, Gu Ding was at a loss and could only turn to the Sea Emperor for help.

The Sea Emperor surveyed the site. "There are indeed many valuable items here. No wonder the Federal Government sends so many people here every time. It contains almost everything below the Peak-rank God, and even a small number of items at the Peak-rank God. Logically, this shouldn't just be a one-star ruin. One-star ruins usually only contain rewards for Mid-rank God, never rewards for High-rank God. However, judging by the difficulty, it's definitely a one-star ruin. If it were two-star, no one who entered this ruin would have survived..."

"Hey, don't worry about that now. The reward is high-grade, which is good for us. Hurry up and take a look." Gu Ding was completely overwhelmed. There were tens of thousands of items projected on the large screen in front of him, and he was totally dazzled.

"Hey, there's a spark of Starfire here! Quickly exchange it for it!" the Sea Emperor exclaimed.

"So expensive. 5 billion..." Gu Ding also saw the price of the Fire Seed, but still bought it.

"This price is already considered cheap. The Starfire seed ranks among the top five, comparable to a five-star divine artifact, and is the flame with the best body-tempering effect. If it were put at Auction House, 500 billion Universe Crystal would only be the starting price, and the final auction result could be over a trillion. That's equivalent to hundreds of millions of Origin Stones, which is about twenty times the total number of Origin Stones our team currently possesses."

After Gu Ding bid for the fire seed, the Sea Emperor quickly found another item. "Gu Ding, buy all that dragon blood!"

Gu Ding glanced at the twelve bottles of dragon blood, each costing 500 million merit points. He was taken aback. "What use would I have for dragon blood?"

"It's useless to you, but useful to Elsa," the Sea Emperor explained. "The Vikings are a very special race. Many of their abilities require dragon blood to activate and enhance. Moreover, the stronger the dragon blood, the stronger the abilities they gain. These twelve bottles contain the blood of a Peak-rank God dragon, each bottle comparable to Four-Star Divine Object, which will bring immense benefits to Elsa."

"No wonder Elsa didn't ask. Buying them all would cost 6 billion merit points. She thought I didn't have enough, so she was embarrassed." Gu Ding said, and then bought them all.

After browsing through the items, he didn't find anything else particularly useful, only a Four-Star Divine Object -level longsword for 500 million merit points. Presumably, Bigge had enough Merit Points, so Gu Ding didn't make a move and left the Small Black Room. His Merit Points now Merit Points to only 9 billion.

After stepping out of the Small Black Room, Gu Ding immediately pulled Liliath and the others into his domain and distributed the items. Elsa was extremely surprised when she saw the dragon blood; she knew that each bottle of dragon blood was ridiculously expensive, yet Gu Ding bought them all.

"These twelve bottles of dragon blood cost a total of 6 billion merit points. How many Merit Points do you have?" Liliath and Elsa were very close, so she naturally knew the price range of the dragon blood Elsa wanted. She asked with some surprise.

"Before the purchase, there was over 23.3 billion, but now there's only 9 billion left," Gu Ding without hiding anything.

"So many merits, has the Insect Tide really broken out?" Liliath immediately realized. She knew that under normal circumstances, no one could accumulate so many merits in just a few days.

"Yes, the three of us slaughtered more than 600,000 insect beasts," Gu Ding grinned, as if it were nothing extraordinary.

After the domain was removed, Gu Ding had just steadied himself when he heard that aged voice again from the sky, "Given that some players have accumulated hundreds of billions of merits in just a few days, the difficulty of our game is being increased..." (To be continued...)