357: The second substance (thanks to Brother Xianlangren for the 20 monthly tickets!)

"Xie Lin, you're asking for death!"

Yu Meng was filled with killing intent.

The short, thin man, Xie Lin, sneered, "Hahahaha, so I'm asking for death, what can you do about it? If you have the guts, make a move here. Do you dare?"

Yu Meng instantly stood up, a mighty power gathering within him.

Swish swish swish!

Several icy gazes immediately fixated on him from the judging panel.

Yu Meng's body stiffened, he gritted his teeth, and sat back down.

"Heh heh, coward! All of you from Yu Xia Universe are cowards!"

Seeing this, Xie Lin's sneer grew even more pronounced.

With that, he met Yu Meng's furious gaze and said in a mocking tone:

"Oh, I forgot, after the competition, you won't be worthy of having names anymore. Instead, you should be called Universe No. 578, haha!"

"You are the only universe in thousands of years to have your name stripped. It's truly shameful, Yu Meng. If I were you, I wouldn't even have the nerve to sit here right now. I'd just find a block of tofu and smash my head against it until I die!"

"Xie! Lin!"

Yu Meng sprang to his feet again, his eyes wide with uncontrollable rage.

"Don't be so loud, I'm not deaf!"

Xie Lin picked his ears and chuckled:

"Enjoy this last bit of peace while you can. After the competition, we will turn your universe... into hell!"

"Hahahahaha!"

Xie Lin laughed wildly as he turned and left.

Yu Meng turned to look at the Home Universe competitors in the arena, almost all of whom had been eliminated, and clenched his fists tightly... Tenth Competition Zone.

"Congratulations, the number of competitors in this competition zone has been reduced to one hundred. This stage of the competition in this zone has concluded. Congratulations to all the advanced competitors. Please carefully review the entry requirements for the next stage and participate on time."

As the electronic synthesized voice sounded, all the remaining competitors in the competition zone instantly breathed a sigh of relief.

"We advanced, we all advanced!"

Time's three teammates shouted excitedly and hugged each other.

Time was also incredibly excited. After hugging his three teammates, he turned to Your Excellency Lin Yang and said solemnly, "Thank you, Your Excellency Lin Yang, for leading us to advance."

His three teammates immediately said in unison, "Thank you, Lin Yang, for leading us to advance!"

Their gazes were all very eager.

After all, if Lin Yang hadn't protected them, aside from Time, the three of them wouldn't have had any hope of advancing.

However, now, under Lin Yang's protection, the three of them had also successfully advanced, which was a huge surprise.

Lin Yang waved his hand, signaling them not to be so polite.

Then, the arena space suddenly trembled, and all the advanced competitors were instantly moved out.

Outside the arena space, Black Le immediately jogged over, sidled up to Your Excellency Lin Yang, his entire face creased with smiles, and constantly flattered him:

"Your Excellency Lin Yang, you are truly amazing. I don't even know how to thank you. If you have any needs, just tell me anytime, and we will do our best to serve you!"

Black Le immediately used honorifics; he was truly excited.

Originally, in the plan, inviting Lin Yang and Time to team up, it would have been fortunate enough to ensure Time's advancement.

But now, a total of four people had advanced to the Second Stage!

This was an incredible, unexpected surprise for their entire universe!

He couldn't help but be excited!

Black Le looked at Lin Yang, feeling immensely grateful that he had thought of inviting Lin Yang to cooperate.

Although he had paid some extraordinary characteristic material, it was clear that they had made a huge profit from this transaction!

Lin Yang smiled: "Black Le, you don't have to be so polite. This is a win-win cooperation for us. If it weren't for your competitors, I would have had to put in some effort to advance as well."

What he said was also the truth.

In the melee stage, if he hadn't had the protection of Time and the others, he would have had to expend a lot of energy and physical strength.

Although he would have ultimately succeeded in advancing, it would not have been as easy as it was now.

Black Le immediately said, "Lin Yang, you flatter me. Even without Time and the others, you would have definitely succeeded in advancing!"

Lin Yang nodded slightly, then said, "I'll go back and rest first. Perhaps we'll meet again in the Second Stage."

His integration with that spatial extraordinary characteristic material was still less than 50%, so he still needed to seize the time to integrate it.

"Okay, okay, then we won't delay Lin Yang's time. You rest well. If you are alone here and need anything, just tell me anytime, and I will definitely arrange it properly for you!" Black Le said again.

"Alright." Lin Yang nodded and then left.

After Your Excellency Lin Yang left, several other universe competitors no. 364 in charge, who were familiar with Black Le, came over, one by one, speaking to Black Le with a sour tone:

"Well, Black Le, so you had Your Excellency Lin Yang protect your competitors to advance. You're really cunning. Unable to invite Your Excellency Lin Yang to fight on behalf of your universe, you actually came up with such a compromise!"

"Exactly. Four competitors advancing to the Second Stage, this is the best result your universe has had in several competition years, isn't it?"

"Look at how smug you are, you really deserve a beating!"

The others spoke one after another, their envious and jealous expressions making Black Le laugh uncontrollably:

"Haha, I can only say you guys are too stupid. Each of you only wants to invite Your Excellency Lin Yang to fight on behalf of your universe, but you don't even consider that with his strength, how could he truly have no universal civilization support behind him?"

"He most likely has special reasons for choosing to participate as a free agent from a Neutral Universe first. Wanting to invite him to fight on behalf of your universe is somewhat wishful thinking!"

The others were instantly stunned.

Black Le then continued to gloat, "So, it's better to settle for the next best thing and have him help ensure your competitors advance during the competition. You can't even figure out this simple logic, so you deserve to be eliminated!"

"..."

The others immediately fell silent.

Then, someone said unhappily, "Hmph, don't get too smug. In the next stage, maybe you won't be so lucky and will be matched with Your Excellency Lin Yang in the same competition zone again."

"Exactly, damn Black Le, you got a head start this time, but in the Second Stage, we'll also invite Your Excellency Lin Yang. We'll see who has better luck!"

Black Le, however, didn't care about these guy's taunts, and instead became even more smug:

"Hehe, there are only ten competition zones in the Second Stage, so the chance of being matched is greatly increased. If all of our competitors are matched with Your Excellency Lin Yang in the same competition zone at the same time, with the existing friendship from the first time, do you think Your Excellency Lin Yang will continue to cooperate with me, or with you?"

"..." The others fell silent again.

Then someone, annoyed, gritted his teeth and said, "Damn Black Le, don't be smug. We'll see if you can still afford the price of inviting Lin Yang to cooperate then!"

"Hmph, exactly!"

The others finished speaking and left, looking like they were all going to figure out how to invite Lin Yang to cooperate in the Second Stage.

Black Le was not annoyed, but still smug.

For him, the current results were completely unexpected.

Even if he couldn't continue to be matched with Lin Yang later and all of them were eliminated, it didn't matter.

So he was in a great mood and said to Time and the others:

"Don't feel any pressure. Our goal has been achieved. From now on, just go as far as you can."

Time and the others nodded one after another.

Black Le then waved his hand again and smiled, "Let's go, I'll take you to celebrate and let you experience some of the unique delicacies of the Universe Alliance. It won't be a wasted trip!"

...Competition Zone Advanced Competitor Exclusive Rest Area.

Lin Yang was assigned to a private villa.

This was a privilege and benefit only available to Medium Super Gene Warrior competitors.

Other advanced competitors did not have access to large, private villa areas, but rather row-style rest rooms.

Unless they paid to stay in a hotel.

But the hotels here were very expensive, and the price was not something the average person could afford.

At least most of the participating competitors could not afford it.

After checking the villa, Lin Yang immediately began to integrate the spatial characteristic material again.

He was only a little bit away from reaching 50% integration.

If all went well, Lin Yang was confident he could raise the integration to 50% within half a month.

This was also thanks to his cooperation with Black Le, which allowed Time and the others to block most of the attacks for him in the early stages of the competition, saving him a lot of physical and mental energy.

Otherwise, he would still have to spend some time recovering his strength now.

Each stage of this grand competition lasted for one month, but in reality, the competition often ended in a few days.

The remaining time was precisely to allow competitors ample time to recover their energy for the next stage of the competition.

Lin Yang was now using the time that would have originally been used to recover his strength to integrate the spatial characteristic material.

Ten days later.

The fusion rate of the extraordinary characteristic material has reached 50%.

And at this time, there are still more than ten days until the Second Stage begins.

"It was indeed a wise decision to cooperate with Black Le before; otherwise, in these ten days, I would probably have only just finished recovering my strength," Lin Yang sighed with emotion.

Ten days might not be enough for other guy to do much, but for him, it made a huge difference.

It was enough to significantly increase his fusion rate of the extraordinary characteristic material.

"If I can still be matched with him in the Second Stage, or if people from other universes seek to cooperate with me, I can cooperate again," Lin Yang murmured to himself.

Cooperation not only saves him strength and energy but also allows him to gain an extra benefit, which is only advantageous and not disadvantageous for him.

Although the number of people in each division for the Second Stage has been reduced from one thousand to five hundred, these five hundred can be said to be the elite of the elites.

Those who could advance to the Second Stage from the First Stage's thousand-person free-for-all, with the exception of a very few lucky ones, all possessed certain outstanding qualities.

So, even though the number of people has been halved, the pressure will only be greater than in the First Stage.

It was then that Lin Yang understood why the White Fatty Old Man had repeatedly urged him to wait until after advancing to the top 100 before changing his initial universe of participation.

In such an early free-for-all situation, if Universe No. 364 and the high-ranking officials of the Universe Alliance they cooperate with secretly manipulated things to put all the elite seeded guy in the same division as him and target him simultaneously, he might indeed be unable to advance.

But after reaching the top 100, it's different; the top 100 matches are all individual battles.

Moreover, the top 100 matches will be observed by all high-ranking officials of the Universe Alliance, making it almost impossible for people from Universe No. 364 to tamper with anything.

Therefore, there would be no situation where people from Universe No. 364 prematurely match him against super strong seeded guy to eliminate him.

Trying to create a black box in the top 100 matches, let alone Universe No. 364, even the few high-ranking officials of the Universe Alliance who cooperate with them would find it very difficult to tamper with things under everyone's watchful eyes.

The matching mechanism for the top 100 matches cannot be interfered with by any single or multiple high-ranking officials of the Universe Alliance, unless they receive unanimous consent from all high-ranking officials of the entire Universe Alliance, providing all master keys and authorizations, to change the mechanism and conduct insider manipulation.

But this is obviously impossible.

So, after entering the top 100 matches, there will basically be no more black box situations.

At that time, even if he announced he was fighting for his Home Universe, people from Universe No. 364, no matter how angry, couldn't do anything to him.

"This old man..."

Lin Yang sighed slightly in his heart; the White Fatty Old Man had considered everything for him very thoroughly.

He initiated a communication to contact the White Fatty Old Man.

It wasn't to inform the White Fatty Old Man that he had already advanced to the Second Stage.

Instead... "Senior, can you get another extraordinary characteristic material for junior?"

After the communication connected, Lin Yang spoke directly.

The White Fatty Old Man was clearly stunned when he heard this, then said somewhat uncertainly, "You still need extraordinary characteristic material? Are you planning to continue fusing a second one?"

"Yes, junior has already fused the spatial extraordinary characteristic material to 50%. In the remaining time, it's impossible to achieve 100% fusion, so it's better to try fusing a second extraordinary characteristic material."

Lin Yang nodded, stating his idea:

"With junior's fusion efficiency, perhaps before the final competition begins, junior might even be able to raise the fusion rate of the second extraordinary characteristic material to 50%."

"At that time, junior will possess two extraordinary characteristics, and the probability of competing for the top ten should be much higher."

Fusing extraordinary characteristic material does not require one to fully fuse one before fusing a second.

As long as one can possess multiple characteristics simultaneously, one can fuse different extraordinary characteristic materials at the same time.

For example, what he is currently showing the White Fatty Old Man is that he can possess three characteristics, so he can simultaneously fuse three types of extraordinary characteristic material.

As for which one he wants to fuse first, it's entirely up to his mood.

Just like now, the spatial extraordinary characteristic material is 50% fused. If he doesn't want to continue fusing it, he can start fusing the second extraordinary characteristic material.

After the second extraordinary characteristic material is 50% fused, if he doesn't want to continue, he can still continue fusing the third.

However, under normal circumstances, one would usually choose to prioritize the complete fusion of one extraordinary characteristic material.

Because the characteristic power increased by 50% fusion and complete fusion is vastly different.

It's just that the higher the fusion rate, the slower the fusion speed.

For example, for Lin Yang, fusing an extraordinary characteristic material to 30% fusion rate takes about a month.

But to increase an extraordinary characteristic material from 50% fusion rate to complete fusion, the time required is several times more than the time previously needed to reach 50% fusion.

So, in fact, Lin Yang currently has no choice.

If time is insufficient, he can only fuse the second extraordinary characteristic material first.

If strength is insufficient, he makes up for it with quantity.

"..." The White Fatty Old Man fell silent.

He was somewhat startled by Lin Yang's words.

After a long silence, he slowly said:

"Are you sure? Your first spatial extraordinary characteristic material hasn't been fully fused yet, and your physical strength is only at the Medium Super Gene Warrior level. If you simultaneously fuse two characteristics in your body, you might not be able to withstand it."

"It's alright, Senior. Junior wants to give it a try. If junior can't bear it, junior will stop in time," Lin Yang said.

"This... Old Man still thinks it's better to master one first. You can try to continue fusing the spatial extraordinary characteristic material. After 50%, for every additional 10% fused, the characteristic power will increase significantly. Instead of risking fusing a second type, why not try to see if you can increase the fusion rate of the spatial extraordinary characteristic material to 60% in the remaining month or so."

The White Fatty Old Man persuaded again.

"Uh... Senior, to be honest, junior is confident in junior's fusion efficiency and speed. The remaining time might not be enough to reach 60% fusion."

Lin Yang paused, then said truthfully:

"But if junior fuses a second type of extraordinary characteristic material, even if junior can't reach 50% fusion, junior is confident junior can reach 30% fusion."

"..." The White Fatty Old Man fell silent again.

This time, he was silent for about half a minute before the White Fatty Old Man sighed slightly and said:

"Old Man's experience is indeed too limited. In just over a month, you are confident you can fuse a second extraordinary characteristic material to 30%?!"

He was very shocked.

Because for every additional extraordinary characteristic material fused, the difficulty of fusion also increases.

This is also why many Extraordinary Warrior cannot forcibly fuse multiple extraordinary characteristic materials.

But Lin Yang actually said he was confident he could fuse a second extraordinary characteristic material to 30% within a month, which truly left the White Fatty Old Man speechless.

After speaking, the White Fatty Old Man was silent for a short while, then solemnly asked, "Have you thought it through? Do you really want to try fusing a second extraordinary characteristic material?"

"Yes!" Lin Yang nodded seriously.

"Alright, if that's the case, then Old Man will go and prepare a second extraordinary characteristic material for you."

Seeing that Lin Yang's mind was made up, the White Fatty Old Man said no more, stating before cutting off the communication:

"Six hours later, you leave your current advanced guy villa area and go to any secluded place in the city to wait. The guy villa area has protections jointly set up by the old guys of the Universe Alliance. Old Man doesn't want to alarm them. Now is not the best time to expose your identity."

"Understood!"

Lin Yang immediately nodded.

—

I'm ashamed, I was delayed last night, and now I'm only updating. Xiao Hu has deeply reflected and decided to start saving drafts. I can't continue like this. I'll save at least one day's worth to avoid being late or breaking updates again.

Apologies again!

I will not miss any updates in August!

If I miss an update, you can come and chop me down with a knife!

Thanks to reader 20240105477902 for the generous tip, bowing to you!

Thanks to 'Strolling Around' and 'A Person' for twenty monthly tickets from Qidian!!

Holy cow, you're awesome! Bowing to you!

Please vote...