Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 174 - 001. Emigrated, but not completely emigrated

Chapter 174: 001. Emigrated, but not completely emigrated

After entering the Sky Ring realm, Li Aozi quickly ditched the train’s engine. He alighted at the Jiangzhitian Station from the old era, then switched back to his scavenger outfit and began walking.

In reality, although he had stepped into the Sky Ring Country’s borders, those familiar with the Sky Ring knew that the borders of this country were never fixed.

Apart from the ambitious Sky Ring Army, the Sky Ring’s civilian armed forces were extremely swollen. In the Sky Ring’s corporate registration categories, there were even terms like "Armed Corporation" and "Reclamation Pioneer Group."

These civilian militias would invade the native settlements of the Outer World under the pretense of reclamation.

Unlike the Frost Plated’s Third Rule, which involved assassinations and infiltrations, the Sky Ring Country didn’t care about these civilian militias. They could loot and pillage however they liked. As long as they paid taxes to the country, basically, no one would bother them.

These civilian self-governance groups practically served as the moving borders of the Sky Ring Country.

In the Sky Ring Country, it was common for a village to pool money to buy a knife or a gun and then form a "pioneer group" to raid and seize land and resources from the outside.

Therefore, Li Aozi wasn’t worried about illegal entry checks—there were many illegal entrants. Outside was a vast snowfield of the Outer World; refugees had no way out. Their only hope for survival was to run to the attackers’ homeland, mostly toward the border cities of the Sky Ring.

After more than a decade, the descendants of these people would become the new Sky Ring Warriors or laborers on assembly lines, serving those who had originally invaded them.

For Li Aozi, it didn’t matter: a player had to cross the checkpoints three or four times; otherwise, could they even say they’d been to the Sky Ring?

Li Aozi estimated his position: he was currently 450 kilometers away from the nearest forward city of the Sky Ring. It was better to turn around and find a settlement to stay in, rest, heal, and get his two side jobs up and running.

The secondary profession of [Biochemist] required a lot of specialized knowledge to pile up to support his mimicked health points.

The [Fine Artistry] lineage’s [Biochemist] was one of the most outrageous branches among the four Demonborn Framework kings in the early stages. In the later stages, everyone was on equal footing, but rarely could any early-stage be as versatile as the [Biochemist].

The team lacked a healer?

——The [Biochemist] could mix potions on-site and even create saucy, yogurt, and milk tea flavors, all with a touch of technological prowess and a harsh reality.

The team lacked a reconnaissance position?

——The [Biochemist] could release their biochemical war beasts, which could silently kill or capture the enemy, much better than a drone.

The team lacked a frontliner to tank damage?

——The [Biochemist]’s high mimicked health points were even more ridiculous than some [Martial Artists’] health bars. Wearing combat engineer armor and equipping a few Tau Steel plates could make the enemy angry enough to bring in a mortar.

The team lacked a main damage dealer?

——When the [Biochemist] brought out toxins and viruses, you’d understand why there’s an international treaty limiting these weapons. Even if the forest was full of talking trees, after the battle, not even the leaves would remain.

Of course, the prerequisite was that the [Biochemist] had to master a lot of knowledge.

The core attribute for this occupation was originally [Intelligence], but Li Aozi, with the [Perpetual· Willful] specialty, relied on [Charm] for all attribute checks, making it easier to learn the [Biochemist]’s knowledge.

As for the Lifestyle Profession of [Craftsman], this profession was still inactive. However, its prerequisite skills and knowledge weren’t rare and could easily be found.

Consecutive battles had left Li Aozi exhausted. He found a hidden crevice in the subway station, crawled into it, pulled up his hood, blocked the entrance, stuffed a few compressed biscuits into his mouth, and then fell asleep.

[Blood of Eternity] and [Spontaneous Combustion] were his only remaining Arcane Energy abilities in his pod.

[Blood of Eternity] was upgraded from over 900 Arcane Energy points absorbed from the Bayo Kong Body and recalculated into his pod, so like [Spontaneous Combustion], it was regarded as new Arcane Energy and could continue to be used.

The appearance of [Spontaneous Combustion] also completed the "continuous damage" Arcane Energy needed for Li Aozi’s planned "Blood Demon Style."

Next, only one last key Arcane Energy remained—[Death Link]

Once this style was perfected, Li Aozi would have absolute confidence in obtaining that "Heirloom Masterpiece" weapon.

Li Aozi stood and went into a hibernation state; [Blood of Eternity] had an automatic wake-up function in case of danger.

During his hibernation, Li Aozi reviewed the situation so far, as well as his shortcomings and deficiencies.

"First, let’s check the tasks at hand."

He opened the task list:

————————————

[Main Quest]:

①"Imprint"

[Mission Difficulty]: Scary (恐怖)

Progress: Settlement Condition C:"Uproot"——Eliminate all benefactors and project sponsors of the Mingji Humanity, and publicly expose their actions.

......

②"Frost Plated Bone White"

[Mission Difficulty]: Splendid Story (壮丽史诗)

A:"Historical Progress"——Eliminate the current Frost Plated Republic government.

B:"Desire for Change"——Rebuild the Frost Plated Ethnicity’s culture and social structure, enabling the Frost Plated People to return to normal life.

C:"Ending the Evil Result"——Permanently eradicate the issues between Frost Plated and the Outer World, ensuring the Frost Plated People don’t overcorrect.

————————————

"Whether it’s the settlement condition C of"Imprint"or the three settlement conditions of"Frost Plated Bone White"—the main quests are quite difficult. I can’t solve them alone."

Li Aozi shook his head; these were not issues that individual power could resolve.

Both involved the issue of discourse power in the Frost Plated, and coincidentally, he had no discourse power in the Frost Plated.

"Before David Lyn takes office, I probably won’t have a chance."

Li Aozi thought.

This was also why he didn’t take Yawen away.

Although Yawen’s favorability was high enough to share the [Object Resonance] talent, Li Aozi secretly exchanged for the [White Wax Fantasy Crystal], only to find that it was "effective only in limited-time team missions."

"Damn swindlers!"

His main purpose for coming to the Sky Ring was killing, developing power, and poaching talents. Bringing Yawen, who currently had insufficient combat power, would only be a burden. It was better to leave her behind. When Du Zexin planned the jailbreak, she could lend a hand.

Besides the main quest and his personal collection, Li Aozi had two major goals.

First: Annihilate Forgery Society: Philoris.

Second: Go to space.

These two seemingly unrelated goals were actually not contradictory but rather connected.

One could even say that for Li Aozi, this was his greatest advantage.

To date, all his actions, accumulating combat power to expand the [Sovereign] School’s player base, were for this purpose.

——To go to the cosmos.

If possible, Li Aozi even had a mad idea to dive into the Starry Abyss once before reaching level 60.

Layer Abyss, Border Abyss, Zhou Yuan, Mass Abyss, Nether Abyss, Primordial Abyss.

The Six-Layered Starry Abyss, each descent liberated the individual’s limits, bringing personal power to new heights, and granted a blessing, but the tempting Starry Abyss also cursed you.

Repeated ascensions would result in increasingly severe curses. So, most strong ones wouldn’t sacrifice their strength to ascend and typically settled on a particular layer.

But if it were only once or twice, Li Aozi had ways to circumvent them.

In reality, only the [Meteor Fall Master]’s prerequisite profession, [Bishop], had the ability to avoid the descent curse from Layer Abyss to Border Abyss and then ascend back.

When people were still bound by gravity to the earth, they never thought that the solution to all problems lay in space.

Li Aozi firmly believed this. As one of the people who personally destroyed the Azure Star, he understood the reasons for Azure Star’s destruction better than ordinary players.

Forgery Society: Philoris and its Pseudo-Human invasion were just one part of it.

Moreover, a more serious threat was gestating within this planet, currently in its infancy. Once unleashed, it would quickly spread throughout the entire starfield within a century.

Societal intrusion was merely a nuisance to a narrative-level civilization—unyielding, it couldn’t be killed, caught, managed, or left unbothered.

But Li Aozi clearly understood: once that entity emerged, it would seriously compromise civilizations below the narrative-level.

That entity was precisely the reason Philoris came here.

Society also had its hierarchy. As a living civilization, society was an evil predator. They fed on civilizations but didn’t need resources to sustain life—an abstract "concept" drove their growth and evolution.

The most powerful society Li Aozi had seen stood among hundreds of top societies: Outer Domain Society: Pergale. Official records indicated that Pergale’s outer domain winds could corrupt all material worlds. Its bottomless abyss housed at least 666 Omega Level (equivalent to 480-level) Abyss Lords.

Pergale was also one of the strongest characters accessible to players in "Starry Abyss."

However, such powerful opponents were generally background characters. In his past life, Li Aozi had only killed 10 Great Demons, with the lowest level being 290.

The richness of resources in the cosmos was beyond the understanding of land-dwelling humans. Only in such an environment could numerous strong beings be formed.

In comparison, the 270-level Forgery Society: Philoris seemed as pitiful as a baby.

In the Starry Abyss, there were far more powerful entities.

Conversely, as long as Philoris was dealt with in its budding stage, it would halt its invasion of Azure Star. The Galaxy Civilization wouldn’t choose to shatter this planet.

What made Philoris drool, and the Galaxy Civilization dread it—at the risk of violating interstellar ethics, they wished to blow up Azure Star—would, in the future, become an eternal enemy of the players.

It was simply because it belonged to a noble and ancient species: Yituo Feiya.

This awkward-sounding name was hard to remember and carried an indescribable magical power, so people would euphemistically refer to them by their title:

——Lord Entropy.