National Fortune Analysis Bureau.
Che Yisi walked over, carrying a laptop.
Jiang Jiayou set down his teacup and asked, "How strong are the Heroic Spirits this time?"
Che Yisi frowned slightly. "Things don't look very optimistic. A few are clearly stronger than those in the previous round. Whether any of them approach or surpass Issho remains open to debate."
"Which ones?"
"The first one worth noting right now is Sophia from Country Y. Her Heroic Spirit is a stone giant thirty meters tall, the biggest opponent this round!"
"Thirty meters tall!?" Jiang Jiayou was instantly startled!
That size meant its weight, strength, and defense would all be more than a dozen times greater than an ordinary Heroic Spirit's!
If they excluded Lin Xiaoran's Heroic Spirit, Issho, then Sophia's Heroic Spirit might well be the strongest one so far!
Even Andrei of E Country's Barbarian King and that general of Park Bu's would be no match for the stone giant!
A single punch or kick could crush more than half its opponents to death!
"Who else?!" Jiang Jiayou's heart rose into his throat. If this round's opponents had Heroic Spirits that powerful, it would not be good news!
After all, Lin Xiaoran was now the common enemy of every challenger!
Unless Lin Xiaoran could summon another meteor!
But Jiang Jiayou could only entertain the thought. Surely Lin Xiaoran couldn't be lucky enough to summon the same type of Heroic Spirit twice in a row?
"Currently ranked second is Amit, the challenger from Country YD. His Heroic Spirit is a half-human, half-bird sprite with golden wings on its back! Not only can it fly, it may even possess magical offensive powers!
"Third is Sanders from the U.S. After his Heroic Spirit was summoned, it treated everyone to a transformation, turning into a massive pterosaur! Its wingspan measured a full twelve meters!
"These rankings are provisionally based on the challengers' performances. Whether there are any stronger ones remains to be seen."
"Hiss!" Jiang Jiayou sucked in a breath of cold air!
Was the pressure this round really that intense?
Where had all these formidable fellows sprung from?!
A giant was one thing, but there was also a half-human, half-bird sprite and a transforming pterosaur!
Despite his considerable faith in Lin Xiaoran, Jiang Jiayou couldn't help worrying.
Because Miss Lin's Heroic Spirit didn't seem to have a very good temperament. If he suddenly gave up and slacked off at a critical moment, stabbing Lin Xiaoran in the back, it would all be over!
"Please be careful, Miss Lin!"
Outside the game, all they could do was pray silently.
Inside the game instance.
Lin Xiaoran and Madara walked across the scorching yellow sand.
"I'm so thirsty."
Only half an hour had passed, and Lin Xiaoran's mouth and throat were already parched.
Ordinary supplies had become particularly important in this round.
The trouble was that this was an endless desert. There were no buildings, nor were there any ferocious beasts appearing directly beneath the sun. Instead, they preferred hiding beneath the desert to escape the heat and ambush their prey. They much preferred coming out at night.
That meant if Lin Xiaoran wanted to find ferocious beast lairs and obtain treasure chests and ordinary supply crates, she would have to search little by little with her Observation Haki.
"This won't work. It's too slow."
Lin Xiaoran frowned, pondering a solution.
Unfortunately, Edo Madara wasn't Six Paths Madara and couldn't fly.
Although Susanoo could fly, using it now would be far too extravagant.
And it would depend on whether Madara was willing.
"There's no other choice. If it gets exposed, so be it. It's still much better than traveling on foot."
With that thought, Lin Xiaoran searched for rocks with her perception. Fortunately, rocks were common in the desert, and before long, she found one large enough for three or four people to stand on.
Her gravity ability quietly activated, enveloping the rock.
Then, beneath Madara's astonished gaze, the rock abruptly flew over on its own.
As his gaze grew even more surprised, Lin Xiaoran stepped onto it and rose into the air.
"Is that... Magnet Release? Or... Earth Release?"
As far as Madara knew, there weren't many ninjutsu in the Shinobi World that allowed flight. The Kazekage's Magnet Release and the Tsuchikage's Earth Release happened to be two of them.
But this wasn't the Shinobi World.
"I suppose mine counts as a superpower. Want to get on?" Lin Xiaoran asked, standing on it.
Had this been the previous round's mist instance, she would already have sat down by now. But this was a desert, and the rock was scorching hot. She didn't dare sit.
"A superpower?" Madara flashed onto the rock.
"Yes. In our eyes, your ninjutsu is a kind of superpower too," Lin Xiaoran explained casually, unaware that her actions had already sent the outside audience into an uproar.
[I told you! That's Uncle Issho's ability to control gravity!!]
[Wow! Miss Lin is so cool!]
[Wait, how exactly did she do it? Can superpowers even be taught to other people? According to common sense, superpowers might be similar, but surely no two people would have exactly the same ability!]
[Does your common sense come from movies and novels?]
[Uh...]
[The gravity manipulation ability came from the Heroic Spirit Issho. What if superpowers can be passed on to others somehow in his world?]
[Exactly! The world Heroic Spirits come from isn't the present-day world we know! Science can't fully explain it!]
[Why say so much? Isn't it better the stronger Miss Lin gets? I'm hoping she keeps winning!]
[So am I! I'm just curious!]
The U.S.: [I want to report her! Lin Xiaoran is using cheats!]
Country Y: [Exactly! Why should Lin Xiaoran get superpowers?! She's cheating!]
Country YZ: [Isn't the National Fortune Game going to do something? Just eliminate her!]
Country L: [What fucking business is it of yours?! If you're so capable, have your own challengers learn skills from their Heroic Spirits! See whether they'll teach you!]
Country L: [What are you barking for?! The National Fortune Game hasn't issued any notification. Who needs your objections?!]
Country L: [If you have no ability, shut up!]
Country Y: [Hmph! Just you wait! Let's see how your challenger wins this round!]
Country R: [Don't get too arrogant!]
Although the Country L viewers' retorts were harsh too, they had indeed given the others a direction.
Since Lin Xiaoran could obtain superpowers from her Heroic Spirit, what about everyone else? Could they also try building good relationships with their Heroic Spirits and becoming their disciples to learn their skills?!
Hiss!
Why hadn't any challenger thought of such a good idea before? To think Lin Xiaoran had been the one to come up with it!
She had quite a clever head on her shoulders!
Unfortunately, the challengers who had entered this time wouldn't have that opportunity. They didn't know this good news!
The other countries were all wondering why Lin Xiaoran wasn't one of their citizens. If she were, they could ask her properly about exactly how she had done it!
If possible, they really wanted to kidnap Lin Xiaoran and bring her over!
National Fortune Bureau.
Xu Shuiyun jumped up excitedly. "It's true! Miss Lin has superpowers!"
Jiang Zhixue said with a smile, "Then can she really pull down a meteor!?"
Xu Shuiyun paused. "Uh, that's hard to say. Miss Lin's ability might not be as powerful as Issho's yet."
"That's still very impressive! Wait! Doesn't that make Miss Lin the world's first ordinary person with superpowers?! The first challenger!?"
"Huh!?" Xu Shuiyun hadn't realized that.
Xu Shuiyun hadn't thought of it, but many more people had. Jiang Jiayou, Che Yisi, Han Wenju, Chang Jian, and Country L's other leaders had all thought of what Lin Xiaoran's mastery of gravity meant!
It meant that after becoming a challenger, one might be able to break through humanity's limits and become an ability user!
Just imagine a country gaining a powerful ability user like Issho. Who would still dare look down on it?!
If these superpowers could also be taught to others, it would be an enormous step toward becoming a superpower on Sky Blue Star!
Country L's leaders could barely sit still now. They wished Lin Xiaoran could finish the game and return immediately so they could question her properly about the details!
Not only that, they also called Jiang Jiayou to ask about the current challengers and Lin Xiaoran's exact chances of winning.
Then they received a piece of news that doused them with cold water: several challengers this round actually had Heroic Spirits of considerable strength!
Now, instead of hoping Lin Xiaoran would finish the game immediately, they were hoping she could survive safely to the end!
Lin Xiaoran mustn't die!
Inside the game instance.
Madara Uchiha stood on the rock, thoroughly enjoying the floating flight.
"You aren't completely useless, after all."
"Huh? Can't you speak nicely and thank me for saving you the walk?" Lin Xiaoran rolled her eyes.
The way she was now was completely different from how she had been with Issho in the previous round.
But there was no helping it. When speaking to Madara, she couldn't be too pleasant. The more pleasant she was, the more he would take it for weakness.
"Hmph! Mere flight!" Madara made his stance clear: did she think he couldn't do it? He could scare her to death by taking flight!
"Keep putting on airs."
After flying for a while, Lin Xiaoran stopped again.
Since her ability had already been exposed anyway, Lin Xiaoran stopped pretending and directly controlled several rocks, sending them flying into the distance to smash into the sand.
The next second, a boom rang out, and amid churning yellow sand, a pair of enormous pincers emerged from underground!
It was an E-rank ferocious beast, a giant crab more than three meters wide!
Upon seeing the crab, Lin Xiaoran's first thought wasn't of treasure chests or supply crates, but braised crab!!
"Madara, roast it for me with Fire Release!!" Lin Xiaoran pointed at the crab and shouted!
The viewers watching the livestream: ???
Roast it?
You're going to eat it!?