Up the Intensity: A Showdown of Constitution Points

Lin Zhongxian looked angry but dared not speak out.

This new Great Elder of East Wolf Village is indeed an outsider, defying the king's rule and spouting rebellious rhetoric.

If these words were spoken on the Capital Island, the Military and Horse Department would come knocking on their door and destroying their home the next day.

Gao Linzhi smiled. He had only casually asked a couple of questions, and the other party's reaction was quite strong, which showed that the imperial court's methods were very ruthless.

He was a time traveler, and knew a lot about the dark side of feudal dynasties; the bottom line of feudal dynasties was that there was no bottom line at all.

What do you mean by destroying dikes and flooding fields, converting rice paddies to mulberry fields, and referring to the Japanese pirates?

Lin Zhongxian could only cup his hands and say again, "The imperial court has always put the people first, and therefore dispatched officials to inspect and station themselves on various islands to protect the people and allow them to multiply."

"Great Elder, be careful not to let your words bring disaster upon yourself by slandering the imperial court."

"Hahaha, do you even believe that yourself?" Gao Linzhi shook his head. "Whenever something strange happened, did anyone from the imperial court intervene?"

"On the contrary, the officials of the imperial court all cowered behind the high walls of their fortified villages, watching as the villages crumbled."

Lin Zhongxian had nothing to say; after all, he was an honest man and couldn't bring himself to say anything that directly contradicted the facts.

Everyone knows what's going on in the imperial court.

This is something that cannot be said on stage.

Everyone works so hard away from home, only getting a few taels of silver in subsidies each month. Why risk your life like that!

That's bizarre; you can't even avoid it, why would you want to get close and kill it?

"What exactly does the Great Elder want from me? I will never betray the imperial court!" Lin Zhongxian said in a deep voice.

"That's why communicating with you ancient people is so difficult. Didn't I say it from the beginning? Ask your court how they're causing trouble for the villagers?" Gao Linzhi shook his head.

In truth, he had no intention of subduing Lin Zhongxian. Only by subjecting such a person to severe beatings by the imperial court and experiencing the same fate as Leopard Head would he rebel against the court.

As long as there's even the slightest chance of survival within the imperial system, he'll cling to life, seeking a sliver of stability and peace.

A typical "workaholic" mentality.

"I can't answer that. You should go find Clerk He."

"Hehe, just as I thought."

Gao Linzhi then summoned Clerk He separately.

He had only wanted to see how Lin Zhongxian would react to the court's order to oppress the people, but now it seemed that while the other party was resistant in his heart, he would still carry it out in his actions.

They'll just be a bit more lenient; if no one's watching, they'll let it go.

This is the other party's mentality: they don't do evil, nor do they want to stand up and fight against evil.

It's just normal human psychology.

Soon, Clerk He was summoned.

Gao Linzhi had little patience for him. Lin Zhongxian was valuable, after all, he was a level 45 Spear Master.

It has irreplaceable value.

And these Clerk He (a type of official document) are everywhere.

Clerk He was much more direct.

Although he benefited greatly from the imperial court, he was also the fastest to betray it.

He knelt down before Gao Linzhi, leaving Lin Zhongxian speechless.

"Great Elder, the imperial court has many ways of tormenting ordinary people."

"For example, they would claim to quell the strange occurrences, asking each village to contribute manpower and money, with elders taking the lead. In the end, the money contributed by the elders would be returned to the village, while the money contributed by the villagers would be split 30/70."

"For example, they would announce the opening of sea routes and the construction of ships, asking each village to contribute timber. The elders would provide the money, and the people would bring their own food and labor. In the end, the elders would get their money back, but the people's labor would not."

"For example, when collecting taxes, if local areas use the pretext of strange occurrences to prevent the taxes from being delivered, then during the few days when the strange occurrences subside, they quickly send people into the villages at night. If the taxes are not paid, they lure the strange occurrences there. They exploit people to the bone, using every possible means to do so."

The villagers were angry but dared not speak out.

Clerk He recounted everything, even the Lin Zhongxian was dumbfounded.

Is this still the imperial court?

They're clearly bandits, even worse than bandits!

"Clerk, you're slandering the imperial court!" Lin Zhongxian couldn't help but exclaim. "The common people don't understand the court's difficulties, so why don't you understand them either?"

"Hahaha, the difficulties of the imperial court? Let me tell you, the easiest thing in the world is sitting in court!" Clerk He sneered. "Farming, doing business, working, shipping—any of these are ten times harder and a hundred times more tiring than sitting in court!"

"Sitting in court is so simple, just ordering people around. The only difficulty is scheming against those who also want to sit in court," Clerk He, mocked.

Lin Zhongxian was speechless for a moment.

Gao Linzhi then called Clerk He into the backyard.

He Clerk He to write down all the methods the imperial court commonly used.

It has to be said that this Gao Linzhi's horizons.

Although he was a time traveler who had seen the history of two worlds.

I knew how corrupt feudal dynasties were, but I never imagined that corruption was so pervasive.

To put it simply, if you're alone, you're bait to be eaten.

Therefore, people use various bonds such as clan, marriage, sworn brotherhood, fellow townsman, and classmates to connect with each other and establish a situation of mutual protection.

Anyone who reveals even the slightest weakness will be devoured.

The imperial court in this world, due to its strangeness and various mysterious methods, has virtually no moral bottom line.

In short, they would use any means that would help the imperial court gain Immortality, power, and control.

The player, as Descenders, has appeared in this world multiple times. In the previous instances, he was manipulated by the local dynasties and ultimately had to withdraw in disappointment, which was tantamount to the server shutting down.

As a seasoned veteran, Clerk He knew some of the inside information.

After all, it was difficult for the imperial court to completely suppress these matters. The appearance of the Descenders was simply too eye-catching. Even with various censorship efforts, many stories were passed down through inscriptions, caves, tortoises, statues, and so on.

Completely erasing the traces of the Descenders is extremely difficult, especially since there are many remote islands that are difficult for the imperial court to control, where Descenders may also appear.

Gao Linzhi immediately became very interested.

How could a game, with its immense power, be repelled by the imperial court? What methods did they employ?

Should we kill all the players one by one?

However, the game will set up Safe Zone and provide Revival Stone.

This is the player's greatest guarantee against the imperial court.

Did these two things exist before?

If there were any other thoughts, Gao Linzhi would only have one: that the imperial court had stirred up those terrifying monsters deep in the ocean, causing the world to be destroyed.

The strategy guide for the Skyfall Game reveals that this Archipelago world is for colonization, not for conquering the desert.

If the world is destroyed, then it will naturally exit.

Similar to powerful forces that eventually choose to withdraw from weaker territories, it's because the losses outweigh the gains.

After Gao Linzhi understood the situation, he dismissed Clerk He.

The other party, being very apologetic, quickly left.

The Second Elder stopped the man, gave him some money, and sent someone to take him back.

This made him extremely grateful, seemingly forgetting all about how Gao Linzhi and his men had previously breached the town's fortress.

Lin Zhongxian soon took his leave, looking preoccupied.

He longed for a peaceful life, with a wife, children, and a warm bed, but why was that so difficult?

There's always someone pulling him into the vortex.

Gao Linzhi then instructed Xu Gou to make arrangements; in short, the upcoming ranking competition would certainly not be peaceful.

He roughly understood the court's tactics; now he just needed to see how the other side would respond.

Another two weeks later.

The event has finally begun.

"The Constitution Championship has officially begun and will last for 30 days."

"The points a player gains in Constitution over 30 days will be counted towards their score, with each point of Constitution earning 1000 points."

As soon as the game event started, Gao Linzhi noticed that the two leaderboards had changed.

[Overall Ranking]

[Rank, ID, Island, Points]

[1, Riding the Wind to Beat Luo Shao, 1998, 100,000 points]

[2...]

Goodness, 100,000 points right off the bat! That means the opponent instantly gained 100 points to their constitution!

One point in physical fitness is worth 1000 points.

Being able to reach 100 points in constitution is indeed very impressive.

Many players, considering the future planning and development of their Game Account, have not learned random physical skills, so their total constitution is currently only between several tens and one hundred.

Only those Corporate Players who become cannon fodder are treated like trash, with no regard for anything else, like the late game; nobody cares about them at all.

A level 30 cannon fodder player with 30 free points and 36 skill slots could theoretically reach over 400 constitution if they learned all the physical skills and upgraded them all.

Of course, that's impossible.

Because the investment was too large.

Those Skill Stone alone are not something cannon fodder can enjoy.

Gao Linzhi was able to enjoy this because he had accumulated a large amount of resources in advance thanks to his talent.

Therefore, most players who are well-developed nowadays have 3 to 4 systematic skills, 30 points of constitution, and with the Free Attribute Points gained from leveling up, they have roughly between several dozen and one hundred points.

But now the opponent has reached 100 physique points in one go.

Clearly, this means either 100 Free Attribute Points have been accumulated, Free Attribute Points from the previous Island Ranking and the Overall Ranking, plus the attribute points gained from leveling up, have been useless.

At this moment, the players in the event channel also went wild.

"Wow, 100 points in physique in one go! That's a hundred thousand points!"

"That Canxue powerhouse hasn't made a move yet. Looks like he hasn't saved up Free Attribute Points."

"Yeah, they're in trouble now, someone else is going to take first place from them."

"That's right, it's really frustrating. He was number one on both lists for the previous three rankings. He must have had hundreds of Free Attribute Points alone. With the leveling up, he could have easily taken first place."

"I heard that the other person has Pay-to-Win Talent in the game. Do you think he could buy Free Attribute Points from the game?"

Just as they said, Gao Linzhi was indeed checking out the event shop.

[Super Constitution Pill: 1 million Skyfall Stone per pill, increases Constitution by 10 points. Each player can only consume it three times, with a lifetime purchase limit of 50 times.]

[Advanced Constitution Pill: 100,000 Skyfall Stone per pill, increases constitution by 1 point. Each player can only consume it ten times, with a lifetime purchase limit of 50 times.]

[Beginner Constitution Pill: 10,000 Skyfall Stone per pill, with a 5% chance of increasing constitution by 1 point after consumption. Limited to 50 pills per day during the event.]

The basic dosage has no limit on the quantity, only on the frequency.

Gao Linzhi bought them all.

The 55.5 million Skyfall Stone were spent in one go.

That's quite a huge expense, but it's alright, he previously handled a large transaction involving hundreds of tons of gold.

As long as the gold supply continues, he has no worries about running out of in-game currency.

He couldn't be bothered to steal the final rankings; that wasn't something a big shot would do.

Stealing from the leaderboards when you're broke, and then stealing again when you're rich—isn't that a waste of your money?

Smash them outright!

With a probability of 30 + 10 + 50 * 5%, the final result is an increase of 41 points in constitution.

The score jumped to 41,000!

His physique also changed from 5+790 to 5+790+41, reaching 836 points!

It's fair to say that this kind of activity was really good for him.

New items will be added to the event shop to support players who spend money on in-game purchases.

That's right, these resources are for players who spend money on the game.

Don't talk about imbalance; the game has never been balanced.

In competitive games like Honor of Kings, there are even boosting services available.

At this moment, other players also noticed this change.

"Hey, the pro has climbed the ranks! 41,000 points in one go! Looks like he won't be giving up the leaderboard this time."

"Nonsense, when has the Canxue powerhouse ever relinquished his place on the leaderboard? This time it's definitely another crushing victory."

"Hehe, this time is different from other times. This time it's a battle of Free Attribute Points, skills, and inventory."

"Yes, Canxue player is different from other players. He is constantly facing attacks from Corporate Players, which is very risky. Therefore, he cannot conserve his constitution; he must use as many natural attribute points as he has."

"There's nothing we can do. This is the tragedy of casual players. We're not playing the game; the game is playing us. We can only run around frantically," one player sighed.

"Hopefully, the Canxue veteran can continue to rise!"

"Boss, rise up!"

"Rise up!"

Gao Linzhi understood what these players were thinking when he saw this.

Those who support him are definitely Rogue Players.

After all, compared to those who are filled with envy, jealousy, and hatred, those who become players at least have some brains.

They knew that Gao Linzhi was the key to attracting the attention of the Corporate Players and securing a more comfortable environment for them to survive.

At least Gao Linzhi had worked for two companies before, which made other companies much more cautious.

Gao Linzhi looked around, wondering where else he could get Free Attribute Points?

The store is sold out.

To be honest, someone who can spend 55 million Skyfall Stone in one go is equivalent to a super player in real life who spends hundreds of millions on a single game.

It's rare for someone to spend hundreds of millions on games, but it does happen, though it's usually an accumulated expenditure.

As Skyfall Game naturally cost much more.

Of course, in terms of actual spending, Gao Linzhi's was far more expensive, since he spent hundreds of tons of real gold!

Its value is so high that it cannot be compared to paper money.

After thinking for a moment, Gao Linzhi decided to open up some more skill slots and temporarily learn some random physical skills.

It just so happens that he hasn't studied in a long time.

His skill level is currently capped at 70, and he only has 66 skills in total.

Four more are needed to reach the maximum.

Considering that his opponent has 100 points in Constitution, while he currently only has 41, he would need at least 6 more skills to surpass that.

He simply spent another large Skyfall Stone to increase the skill slot limit to 100.

He himself couldn't be bothered to count exactly how much he used.

Just like true whales who spend a lot of money on in-game purchases, they never look at how much they've spent; they only care about whether their characters are strong enough and whether they've achieved the victories they deserve.

Gao Linzhi then called over Qingcheng*Boring and asked, "How many different types of physical Skill Stone are there?"

"Boss, we've now collected 78 different types of physical Skill Stone."

Gao Linzhi nodded. "Bring them all, one at a time."

"Okay, boss."