Ruins Level Rises Again
Upon hearing Gu Ding's divine transmission, both of them were startled. At this moment, during the intermission of the Insect Tide outbreak, they both stepped out instantly and appeared beside Gu Ding.
"Gu Ding, did you witness that incident involving the Zerg Mother Queen yourself?" Kass questioned the veracity of the information.
"Whether you saw it with your own eyes or not is not important. What is important is whether you are really sure that those mutated insectoids are undergoing mutual cannibalism evolution?" Stda also cared a lot about the authenticity of this matter.
Hearing Stda say this, Gu Ding was learning for the first time that this method of the Zerg actually had a professional name: mutual devouring evolution.
"I am 100% certain that my detection results are correct," Gu Ding replied confidently. "Don't tell the other teams about this yet. It's enough for the three of us to know. If others know, it will only cause panic."
"I'll call the rest of our team over," Stda quickly transmitted to the other members.
After a moment's hesitation, the Kass also sent a telepathic message to the other members of Top 1.
Soon, all three teams had gathered.
Many other teams were surprised to see the three teams gathered together.
"How did the Gu Ding Team, the Freedom Alliance team, and the top 1 team end up together?"
"What are they discussing? Can't they just tell everyone?" someone expressed their dissatisfaction.
"There are some things that are useless for us to know. Our strength is only enough to protect ourselves; we can't execute any plans we have." Some people expressed understanding.
However, some people noticed that after Gu Ding said something, all the members of the other two teams looked rather unhappy.
Gu Ding quickly explained the news of the mutated insect beasts devouring each other and evolving, and then proposed the idea of killing the Mother Queen in advance, asking everyone for help with ideas.
"Kill the Mother Queen? That's unlikely?" The Golden-haired Youth Odin was the first to speak up in the top spot. "I still think it's a better option to hide in the Merit Hall or in the plaza when the time comes."
"To be honest, I think so too." Fritz, the Ice Element ability user from the Freedom Alliance, nodded in agreement. "Because killing the Mother Queen is too difficult. If we fail, it's very likely to provoke the wrath of those three five-star Insect Beast Commander. If those three five-star Insect Beast Commander make a move, none of us here can withstand a single blow from them. Moreover, the Merit Points required to hide in the Merit Hall are not high, only 10,000 points per person per day. Those with more Merit Points can distribute some to others so that those with insufficient Merit Points can leave alive."
"According to the current rules, a person does indeed only need 10,000 Merit Points per day. But the rules of this space might change. The first time the rules changed was because someone obtained hundreds of billions of Merit Points, causing the game difficulty to increase to one and a half stars. Now, things have changed on the Mother Queen's side. The game difficulty has automatically increased, almost to the level of a two-star ruin. I suspect the rules might change again. At that time, it's hard to say whether a person will only need 10,000 Merit Points per day." Gu Ding's words were actually copied from the Sea Emperor had previously expressed this concern.
"While that's a possibility, you're being far too pessimistic," Odin said with a sneer.
At this moment, the Insect Tide descended again, and everyone had no choice but to disperse temporarily.
More than three hours later, this Insect Tide was finally wiped out.
Just as Stda was about to approach Gu Ding again to discuss the Zerg Mother Queen, the old man's voice rang out in the sky once more.
"I have some bad news for everyone. Something has happened on the side of the Zerg Mother Queen, which has resulted in the Zerg beasts she spawned, although fewer in number, being all at the level of Mid-rank God. This has passively elevated this ruin to the level of two stars."
"Now that the ruins have been upgraded to a two-star level, I will grant entry access to Mid-rank God. Furthermore, the ruins' star rating will not decrease and will remain at a two-star level. The star rating upgrade process will take approximately three days. During these three days, there will be no Insect Tide, and everyone can do whatever they want. After three days, the entrance to the ruins will remain open until the end of the game, but everyone can only enter and not exit. The maximum number of people the ruins can accommodate will also be increased from 10,000 to 50,000."
"Of course, considering that many people might hide in the Merit Hall or the area covered by the plaza after this increase in difficulty, I will modify the Merit Points rules for entering the Merit Hall and the plaza. On the first day, each person will need to pay 1 million merit points to enter the Merit Hall or the plaza. After that, the Merit Points required for each entry will double, two million on the second day, four million on the third day, and so on. This rule will take effect after three days."
"Three days later, the ruins will close in fourteen days. If we stay in the ruins, it will cost 8.192 billion Merit Points by the fourteenth day, and the total merit points from the first to the fourteenth day will be 16.383 billion. And that's just the Merit Points for one person. If we calculate it this way, among all the people present, only Gu Ding, Bigge, Elsa, and Liliath can stay in the Merit Hall for the full fourteen days."
"Uncle, I have a question!" Gu Ding suddenly spoke up, "Does your doubling algorithm automatically double starting from three days later, or does it double based on the number of days a person has been in the game? If I enter on the first day and then skip a few days in between, will those days be counted as doubled when I enter again next time?"
"It's calculated based on the number of days a person enters," the old man's voice drifted over. "Days not spent entering don't count as double. If someone enters on the first day and spends one million merit points, then skips two days and enters again on the fourth day, the Merit Points spent on the fourth day will only be two million, not eight million."
The old man's explanation relieved Gu Ding slightly, but the others did not look so relaxed. Most of the people present had not accumulated one million Merit Points.
"Senior, I also have a question." This time, it was Stda from the Freedom Alliance who spoke up. "If we just want to enter the Merit Hall to exchange for items using merit points, and we only stay for a few minutes, will it still deduct Merit Points?"
"As soon as you step into the Merit Hall or the plaza, the corresponding Merit Points will be automatically deducted, no matter how long you stay. But conversely, after the Merit Points are deducted, you can freely enter and exit these two areas within 24 hours without having your Merit Points deducted a second time." The old man's explanation left everyone somewhat helpless. "If you don't want your Merit Points deducted, you can take advantage of these three days to exchange all the items you want in advance. If there are no other questions, that's all I have to say. I hope you have a great time over the next three days."
After the old man's voice disappeared, the group from Top 1 and the people from the Freedom Alliance appeared next to Gu Ding.
"Gu Ding, we must do everything we can to kill the Mother Queen." These words came from Stda, of the Freedom Alliance, whose expression was very serious.
"Hiding in the Merit Hall and the square won't work. I've calculated that it would take hundreds of billions of merits to hide for fourteen days." Kass nodded in agreement.
"But, won't some Mid-rank God join in? Shouldn't that relieve some of the pressure?" Gu Ding also heard the old man mention the rule change. Three days later, the ruins would be upgraded to two stars, Mid-rank God could enter freely.
"It's not as simple as you think," Stda explained, shaking his head. "Large-scale Auction House in the Oul Star Region only begin three to five days after the ruins close. Because a lot of items come out of the ruins each time, the Auction House needs to count and appraise the auction items, which takes time. In other words, the Auction House not start until seventeen to nineteen days later."
"This Auction House usually lasts for ten days. The first five days are for auctioning one- or two-star divine items. Divine items of three stars or higher will only appear on the sixth day and beyond. Divine items of four stars or higher are the grand finale items on the last day."
"Besides those of us who entered the ruins, no one else will arrive in the Oul Star Region too early. Mid-rank God will arrive at most two or three days before the auction of the Three-Star Divine Object, by which time the Auction House have already been going on for two or three days, and the ruins will have long been closed. As for the entire Oul Star Region right now, there might only be one Mid-rank God, Gatins from the Federal Government. And he, as the official escort designated by the Federal Government for this opening of the ruins, will absolutely not enter the ruins. Because the orders he received from above are only to escort us in and out of the ruins; whatever happens inside the ruins is not within his authority."
Even the top members didn't understand this kind of thing very well, but Stda analyzed it clearly. Obviously, he did a lot of homework before entering the ruins.
"Right now, we can only rely on ourselves!" Stda's gaze swept over everyone in front of him, including Gu Ding, and his tone was very firm.
"We have three Super-Explosive Particle Annihilation Bomb. Given enough distance, their power is sufficient to wipe out the Mother Queen and those Zerg leaders. The only problem now is how to bury the bombs in the Mother Queen's hiding place. Fortunately, the Insect Tide has stopped, giving us three days to consider this." In fact, Gu Ding's initial plan was to eliminate the Mother Queen, because retreat was never his option. Moreover, he already possessed the means to kill the Mother Queen, which meant that eliminating Mother Queen wasn't impossible; it was simply a matter of finding the right method. (To be continued...)