61: Chapter 61 Isn't this considered extraordinary?

Those who mingle in the black market competitions are definitely not students who have just awakened, nor are they teachers like Teacher Qin Lin. In order to fight for the S-rank divine plant, many people will even pay huge sums to hire those old veterans stuck in bottleneck periods to take action.

"Tier 3 or Level 4 Believer..." Gu Han muttered to himself.

Relying on the numerical advantage of the 300,000-strong Ant-men army, combined with the terrifying burst damage of the Ant-Fist Shrimp-Man, it wouldn't be much of a problem to overwhelm a Tier 3 Believer with numbers.

But what if he runs into a Tier 4? A dozen or so would be fine, but if there were hundreds, he wouldn't be confident in winning.

For Tier 4 transcendent lifeforms, physical defense and recovery capabilities undergo a qualitative change. Ordinary bullets probably wouldn't even break their skin. Even if the Ant-Fist Shrimp-Man's sonic punch could penetrate their defense, once faced with a large number of Level 4 Believers, it would only be a matter of time before the 300,000-strong army was slaughtered.

He must raise his combat power by another notch within three days.

Gu Han closed his eyes, his consciousness sinking into the Divine Kingdom.

Inside the Divine Kingdom, the vast plains were pitch black with busy Ant-men.

In the huge nest in the central area, dozens of massive Queen Ants were crawling on the ground. Weak heat waves radiated from their bodies, and their abdomens expanded and contracted rhythmically.

They were practicing and circulating the Swallowing Heaven Bloodline Method.

After the unremitting efforts of these generations of Queen Ants, this cultivation method was finally practiced to the minor success stage by this generation of Queen Ants.

Gu Han could feel that the eggs produced by the Queen Ants had at least double the vitality compared to before. The basic Ant-men that hatched had stronger physiques and thicker carapaces.

"The body-refining method has reached minor success, yet they still haven't opened the path to transcendence; this is clearly not right." Gu Han scanned the area.

The Swallowing Heaven Bloodline Method had greatly improved the physique of the Ant-man Race, allowing their physical strength to surpass the limits of mortal beings. Was there some key opportunity missing?

Since the realm could not be raised, he could only use his last resort.

With a thought, Gu Han arrived at the special planting area of the Divine Kingdom.

This area was separated, the soil appeared dark red, and patches of weed-like plants were swaying in the wind, with natural dark gold patterns on their leaves.

Hybrid version [war-pattern deifying herb].

This was a generic substitute that Gu Han had previously produced using Forced Breeding on a B-rank divine plant. The genuine war-pattern deifying herb had a market price of over one million per plant and could allow creatures to grow battle-marks when shedding their skin, greatly increasing defense, strength, and various other stats.

Although the effect of the hybrid version Gu Han produced was not as good as the genuine one, its advantage lay in its astonishing yield and ease of cultivation.

He had never been willing to use it on the Ant-men army on a large scale before, and this batch of herbs had taken nearly 500 years to grow.

The carapaces of adult Ant-men were already completely hardened and set, so eating this stuff had no effect. The medicinal power of the battle-mark grass must be absorbed during the larval development stage, in the process of shedding shells and growing, to generate battle-marks.

Three days in reality meant thirty years in the Divine Kingdom, just enough for a whole new generation of the Ant-men army.

A grand voice exploded over the Divine Kingdom.

The entire Ant-men territory instantly quieted down; all Ant-men stopped what they were doing and prostrated themselves in the direction of the sky.

"From this moment on, all newborn larvae of combat units are to be fed battle-mark grass."

The oracle was issued.

Thousands of worker Ant-men swarmed into the special planting area, carefully cutting the battle-mark grass with sharp blades, and continuously transporting it to the incubation room.

The larvae began to eat frantically, with golden light flowing over their white bodies.

The current battle-mark grass was only enough for a few generations of Ant-men to achieve battle-marks, so Gu Han immediately arranged for the smart assistant to breed more battle-mark grass.

Two days later, Gu Han sank his consciousness into the Divine Kingdom again.

In the Ant-men training ground, two generations of Ant-men were organizing drills.

On the left were the elites of the previous generation, their bodies covered in pitch-black carapaces, their arms thick as pillars.

On the right were the new generation that had awakened battle-marks; the carapaces on their bodies were no longer pure black, but covered with intricate dark gold patterns.

The old-generation Ant-Fist Shrimp-Man attacked first, the shrimp hammer on its right arm smashing over with a shrill whistling sound.

The Battle-Marked Shield Ant-men did not dodge or evade, directly raising their left-arm shield to block it head-on.

The heavy impact caused visible ripples in the surrounding air, and its dark gold patterns suddenly lit up, instantly dispersing the impact force throughout its entire body.

This blow from the old-generation Ant-Fist Shrimp-Man, which was enough to smash a steel plate, only left a shallow white mark on the Battle-Marked Shield Ant-men's carapace.

One must know that ordinary Shield-Armored Ant-Men could not withstand a single blow from an Ant-Fist Shrimp-Man at all, which shows that the defensive power had once again been raised to a new level; it could even withstand shockwaves and high temperatures.

As for the War-Marked Ant-Fist Shrimp-Men, there was no need to test them; they didn't know their own strength and might accidentally kill their companions.

Gu Han watched this scene with satisfaction.

More importantly, these battle-marks seemed to have a very strong effect of neutralizing physical impact.

"Doesn't this count as transcendent?"

Gu Han couldn't help but ask the void internally.

Gu Han looked at the dark gold army arrayed below, with the new generation of War-Marked Ant-Fist Shrimp-Men and Battle-Marked Shield Ant-men as the main force, totaling ten thousand, which gave him a lot more confidence.

In just three short days, his Divine Kingdom's combat power had undergone earth-shaking changes.

With this 10,000-strong battle-marked army as a foundation, as long as he didn't run into those freak-level Level 4 Believer armies, he was confident enough to take them on.

Finally, on the evening of the third day, Gu Han finished his meal early and locked himself in his bedroom.

He held his handheld device and started the Abyss Arena software, linking the handheld device to the Divine Kingdom.

A blood-red prompt popped up on the screen:

[Identity verification successful.]

[Welcome to the Abyss, contestant 'Riding Grandma Across the Road'.]

[For this battle, the total number of registered participants is approximately 2.41 million.]

[The competition uses a winning streak system; the software will randomly match opponents. Those who win ten consecutive matches will advance, while losers will immediately lose their eligibility to participate.]

Gu Han raised an eyebrow; this winning streak system was too ruthless, not allowing a single loss.

Thinking about it, it made sense. If one could fail and keep challenging until achieving a ten-win streak, wouldn't there be too many people advancing in the end?

[Countdown: three seconds.]

[Matching your first-round opponent...]

The roulette wheel in the center of the screen spun crazily, with various strange avatars and nicknames flashing by.

A few seconds later, the roulette stopped.

The loading screen of the Abyss Arena flickered, and Gu Han's consciousness descended onto a wasteland battlefield.

A few large characters floated in mid-air: [Riding Grandma Across the Road] VS [Green Stepmom].