A Core Ship From The Start
Chapter 1360 - 917: Skill Advancement Task?

Chapter 1360: Chapter 917: Skill Advancement Task?

For Duanmu Huai, the human magic system obtained on this planet was one of his greatest gains. After all, as long as Duanmu Huai’s strength was strong enough and his conviction firm enough, his magic could destroy everything. This kind of magic, coupled with the divine power of the God of Destruction, was nearly an invincible force that could sweep across half the sky.

He even attempted to destroy a small part of Subspace!

As for this, Duanmu Huai was about to declare —— he was fearless!

Face the Evil God? I’m not scared at all, my nerves are big, not scared, not scared, not scared at all...

Of course, it’s not without problems. That is, with the change in the target of destruction, the divine power Duanmu Huai needed to consume also increased geometrically.

For example, before, when he destroyed a mountain on that planet, he only needed to consume less than one-tenth of his divine power. But afterward, when Duanmu Huai returned to the warship, he tried to destroy asteroids, planets, and stars, and his consumption of divine power also increased. By the time he was destroying a galaxy, Duanmu Huai felt that his divine power was starting to lag behind.

Of course, strictly speaking, he did not actually need to completely annihilate an entire galaxy; as long as he destroyed the stars within, the subsequent supernovae would naturally spell the end for the entire galaxy.

It’s like blowing up a house; of course, you can choose to use a large-yield nuclear bomb to blow up the entire building, or you can place a bomb on its load-bearing walls and pillars and detonate it. The result is the same.

And among these, the largest consumption is naturally Subspace.

To destroy Subspace —— even just a part of it, required a considerable amount of Duanmu Huai’s divine power. To put it in perspective, the divine power Duanmu Huai consumed to eradicate an entire mountain range on that planet was roughly enough to destroy about one hundred square units of Subspace.

So theoretically speaking, Duanmu Huai could destroy the Subspace of the entire Milky Way, as long as he had sufficient divine power.

Well, that’s nonsense, if you had enough thrust you could even move the Solar System out of the Milky Way, what’s the use of that.

However, that’s not to say it’s completely useless. At least, having acquired Destruction Magic, Duanmu Huai was perfectly capable of annihilating the tears in Subspace during the activation of the Ether Synchronous Engine, accelerating the pouring and collapse of Subspace energy.

Aside from that, there are many uses for Destruction Magic.

For instance, if you’re familiar with the human body structure, you can easily destroy specific organs, or even shatter a human’s spirit, turning them into a Mecha Servant-like existence. Of course, you could also directly destroy an opponent’s soul, leaving behind an empty husk of a living dead —— but for Duanmu Huai, it’s more useful to simply drag the soul into his Divine Realm and burn it.

Or if you don’t like the look of someone, you could directly destroy their hair, resulting in their thick, luxuriant locks disappearing instantly, leaving behind a shiny bald head... or transform them into a eunuch...

Well, isn’t that interesting?

Unfortunately, as it stands, the divine powers of the God of Destruction and the God of Joy are not sufficient to support Duanmu Huai’s Destruction Magic. If he wants to advance further, the only thing Duanmu Huai could rely on is the Old God’s Will.

There’s no help for it, the God of Destruction and the God of Joy are, after all, local deities. Simply put, their sphere of influence determines the upper limit of Duanmu Huai’s divine power.

Only the divine power of the Old God’s Will has no upper limit, because beings like The Ancient Dominator and Outer Gods are not the kind of gods that need worshipers and faith. Their existence itself signifies a part of the Universe, so their power is virtually infinite.

Unfortunately, it seems that the upgrade of the Old God is a bit erratic... at least Duanmu Huai has figured out the upgrade method for the God of Joy, but the Old God’s Will seems to still rely mainly on spiritual pollution.... Hmm, something doesn’t seem right?

Whatever, never mind.

However, just as Duanmu Huai was joyfully immersed in his experiments with Destruction Magic, all of a sudden, this damn system couldn’t wait to pop up again.

[Ding Dong]

"Ding your mom!"

Hearing the message in his ear, Duanmu Huai set down his hand in annoyance. This was like being in the middle of a raid boss fight and getting really intense, only to have the system send you a message. Can’t you see I haven’t had enough fun yet!

Muttering a curse, Duanmu Huai opened the system message.

[Detection of player creating a new skill]

[Skill enhancement mission mode activated]

[Destruction Magic mission activated —— "Strengthening"]

[Strengthening: Gain enhanced advancement abilities for Destruction Magic through mission assessment]

There’s an advancement ability?

Seeing this system prompt, Duanmu Huai paused for a moment. He remembered seeing similar situations in games, where some players would use their own routines, and after using them for a while, sometimes the system would pop up a special skill quest. Upon completing this quest, players could merge two skill trees into one.

Duanmu Huai remembered an oil man learning the Star Warrior skill by chance, and then combining the two, every time he charged into battle, he could be seen standing on a mobile platform, holding the Battle Axe high above with his Mecha Servant army charging forward......

But this one of mine seems a bit different, doesn’t it?

Let’s see what this advancement challenge is all about then.

Duanmu Huai reached out to accept the mission, and then saw rows of system prompts appearing before his eyes.

[Advanced skill state detected]

[Scanning player]

[Scanning complete —— Randomly generating a new challenge world]

[Challenge world has been generated, do you wish to enter?]

Is this a challenge tailored to my conditions, randomly generated?

I must say, I find this quite fresh since, in the game, the challenge worlds are fixed. After all, it’s not the real world, so copies of the mental worlds are all quite similar. But what does this random generation scan mean? Could it be custom-made for me? Hey hey? This is getting interesting. Let’s see what kind of world this is.

With a mix of curiosity, Duanmu Huai reached out and pressed confirm —— and immediately, his vision blurred.

The next moment, Duanmu Huai found himself in......

What the hell is this place?

Gazing at the ancient temple ahead, Duanmu Huai touched his head in confusion, then looked down at the monk’s robe on his body... What the hell? Have I run off to Shaolin Temple?

Could this be some martial heroes’ world? No, that can’t be right... What does my Destruction Magic have to do with martial heroes? Even if you taught me the Dragon Subduing Palms, it wouldn’t be of any use, right?

Wait, why are there imperial guards around?

Just as Duanmu Huai was thoroughly puzzled, he heard a voice.

"Royal Brother."

"???"

Duanmu Huai turned to look and saw a man clad in dragon robes, smiling with a cup of wine in his hand, watching him.

"Royal Brother, you are on your way to the Western Paradise to acquire the True Scripture, a distance vast and time long. Drink this cup, as one prefers the dust of his homeland to all the gold of a foreign land."

Acquiring scriptures?

Me? Acquiring scriptures?

What the hell is this?

Though Duanmu Huai was bewildered, he figured out which world he had run into... Damn, what does it mean I have to obtain the True Scripture to achieve Destruction Magic? What kind of East-meets-West, blossoming from both sides is this?

Regardless, since I’m here...

With that thought, Duanmu Huai grabbed the wine cup, raised his head to drink heartily, and drained the cup in one gulp. Then, with a "ha," he tossed the cup onto the ground and cupped his fists towards the man before him, Emperor Tang.

"Your Majesty, rest assured, I will head to the Western Paradise, seize the True Scripture, and glorify the might of the Tang Dynasty! I’ll make sure they know, those who offend our majestic Tang, even if far away, shall be punished! I’m on my way!"

As he spoke, Duanmu Huai reached out and took the Tin Rod passed to him by someone beside him, then turned and strode off boldly toward the frontier.

".............."

Watching this scene, everyone present was stunned, even Taizong stood in a daze for a moment before nodding slightly.

"With the Royal Brother’s grandeur, how can my Tang Dynasty not prosper..."

"..........."

Having stepped beyond the frontier, Duanmu Huai came back to his senses, looking at his monk’s robe with a speechless expression.

This system is messing around, isn’t it?

I’m just bald, not a monk, what’s the meaning of sending me to acquire scriptures in the Western Paradise? What’s with this randomly generated challenge world? You want me to become a monk? Joke’s on you, I don’t fancy the monk life—though Journey to the West is certainly a childhood memory, I didn’t plan on reliving it.

If you’re capable, then send me to The Legend of the White Snake... uh, maybe that won’t do either.

Thinking it through, since there’s a lot of singing between the two leads in that, Duanmu Huai decided to give up immediately.

I can’t sing in tune, even my little cotton-padded jacket despises it, singing with Bai Suzhen would be life-threatening.

The Dream of the Red Chamber—okay, Lin Daiyu’s whiny and naggy character isn’t very appealing, but you might as well have given me a Gold Bottle... nope, at least you could have gone for Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, right?

You mention Strange Tales... I also mention Strange Tales...

If not that, then make me brand a flag atop Water Margins of Liangshan, declaring, ’The sky is dead, the yellow sky should stand’... or let me play Musou in Three Kingdoms.

But instead, you give me Journey to the West?

Are you playing games with me? Or do you discriminate against baldies?

Forget it, forget it, since I’m here anyway...

Originally, Duanmu Huai had planned to call a few more people to join him, but then he thought better of it, considering his current look, if they saw this, he’d never live it down.

Besides, it’s just Journey to the West.

Just going to acquire scriptures in the Western Paradise.

Just the ninety-nine eighty-one trials.

Who’s afraid of whom!

Watch me as I crash through the Western Paradise, kill Tathagata and take the True Scriptures!

In heaven and on earth, I alone am honored!

Anyway, it’s just about acquiring the scriptures, how I get them is none of your business.

With this thought, Duanmu Huai finally relaxed, ready to go. Remembering that Journey to the West had all sorts of demons and spirits roaming the streets, they would be perfect targets for his Destruction Magic. Tathagata might not be an Evil God, but he must be a Great Demon, just wait and see how I deal with him!

But for now...

Carrying the Tin Rod, Duanmu Huai scratched his head and looked around.

I might as well find the Five Fingers Mountain first and check in with the legendary Sun Wukong.