139: The Summoning Order of the Lord of Wisdom

Lu Qinghe finished inspecting his last piece of equipment, took a deep breath, and opened the system.

The channel was chaotic, with various messages flooding the screen:

"Tianshui City eastern rift, looking for a team! Healers prioritized!"

"Buying 'Skill Books,' high price!"

"Linshui City eastern suburbs small rift, looking for someone with a healing skill..."

Lu Qinghe's gaze was calm. He opened the world channel, where few people posted messages. He opened the editing page.

[Enlarge Font: 10 silver coin]

[Bold Font: 10 silver coin]

[Pin to Top for 5 minutes: 10 silver coin]

[Chromatic Effect: 10 silver coin]

A total of 40 silver coin—equivalent to a typical player's monthly income.

After paying, he typed word by word into the input box:

[Lord of Wisdom]:

Everyone.

The Inheritors' Northern Expedition failed halfway through; now the Northern Territory is in crisis, powerful enemies are pressing in, and the nation is in peril. This is truly an autumn of life-or-death urgency.

Though I possess little talent, I wish to contribute my small strength.

The North needs fighting power, and I need you.

Join my team. Assemble at Jinzhou City on the northern border. I will freely distribute Shielding Masks to everyone in the team.

All players who participate in this call to arms will receive 50 silver coin. The top ten who successfully execute my plan and make outstanding contributions will receive an additional 1 gold coin.

Those willing to team up, private message me. The assembly location will be announced within the team.

—Lord of Wisdom.

The moment the message was sent, the entire chat channel fell into a brief silence.

The next second, it exploded.

[I'll Borrow Money to Talk Even Without Coins]: "Holy crap!!! Great Master Wisdom!!!"

[Charging City]: "Wisdom, I knew you would step forward! Count me in!"

[Wind Spirit]: "Captain, I've been waiting!"

[Dark Blade]: "Boss, you're back?"

[Superpower is Laji]: "The Great Master is finally organizing an event! Sign me up!"

[Blacksmith Old Liu]: "Lord of Wisdom... is that the one from Linshui City? Count me in. I'm tired of forging; it's time to stretch my muscles."

[Little Girl Picking Mushrooms]: "I'm a C-rank Healer. Can I sign up?"

System notifications rang out rapidly in Lu Qinghe's ears:

[Player "Charging City" has applied to join your team]

[Player "Dark Blade" has applied to join your team]

[Player "Wind Spirit" has applied to join your team]

...The application list refreshed at a rate of more than ten entries per second.

Lu Qinghe quickly filtered them. Even so, in just three minutes, the team size had exceeded twenty people and was still growing.

He didn't look for Zhang Deming, but he believed Zhang Deming must have seen it, only lacking the coins to speak.

However, an unexpected guest appeared on the system's world channel.

[Lord of Strength]: Already departed.

[Player A]: That ID must belong to a Great Master.

[Player B]: Holy crap, Great Master Wisdom blasted Great Master Strength out!

At Jinjiao Camp, Shen Future, who was resting, saw the call to arms on the world channel. She hadn't intended to pay attention; the Lord of Wisdom was a veteran player long active in Linshui City, and she had never interacted with him.

But this time, the Lord of Strength—whether a new player or a hidden veteran—had also appeared.

She felt she should also support the Lord of Wisdom, even though she had to stay and guard Jinjiao Position.

She typed into the world channel.

[lord of time]: Already departed.

[Superpower is Laji]: What's going on? So many Great Masters are gathering! Great Master Wisdom really has influence!

[Class Hunk Meng Zihao]: Wow, so many Great Masters I haven't seen before. These IDs seem impossible for ordinary players to get. How can you change to this kind of special ID?

[Glazed Beauty Curse]: This must be changeable only after completing some hidden quest, right? Could it possibly be system-generated randomly?

Outside the Domain, the wind and snow intensified.

Further north, at the North Bear Country border.

Winter City, Supreme Medical Center.

Ivanov lay inside the life-support pod, his entire body wrapped in bandages, but the rise and fall of his chest was stable.

He couldn't move, only immerse his thoughts in the system.

Andrei Sokolov stood guard beside him, his eyes bloodshot.

A day ago, he used Return to City to help Ivan escape. He hadn't expected the Return to City skill to be so potent.

He used to think Ivan had been tricked into a pyramid scheme by someone skilled in controlling Souls, until he became a player himself.

But he still hadn't done many quests.

Urgent footsteps sounded outside the window.

General Kryukov pushed the door open, his expression solemn: "Andrei, we just received intelligence—Xia Country Number 7 has betrayed us, and Number 1 is gravely injured. Xinzhou Country and Donghai Country are gathering on the Northeast Border."

Andrei suddenly looked up: "What? How much fighting power?"

"At least six S-ranks, including the Inheritors of the God of Wisdom and the God of Matter," General Kryukov said gravely. "But they are trapped by Xia Country's Number 3. However... it won't last long."

"His Highness needs at least three more days to recover his fighting power," Andrei clenched his fist. "As for Xia Country..."

"Xia Country is mobilizing all available forces," Kryukov said. "But their Single Digits... are currently stretched thin."

Andrei fell silent for a moment and pulled up the system interface.

In the player channel.

The team's call to arms from the "Lord of Wisdom."

Then he saw the message from [Lord of Strength]!

"His Highness is awake!"

He immediately stared at Ivan in the life-support pod, "Your Highness!"

However, Ivan's body made no movement.

Andrei then realized he could talk to His Highness within the system.

He immediately pulled up the private chat: "Your Highness, are you awake?"

[Lord of Strength]: Andrei? What's with your ID? My Brain? That's quite presumptuous!

[Brain of Strength]: Ha... ha... Well, I don't know, I chose it randomly.

[Lord of Strength]: Never mind. What's the situation?

[Brain of Strength]: Xia Country's Space is gravely injured, and war has betrayed them.

Andrei reported Xia Country's war situation to Ivan.

[Lord of Strength]: I see. I didn't expect Xia Country to have such an unstable person. He is miles apart from Lu Guangming.

[Lord of Strength]: Andrei, go help Xia Country as a player. Aren't their players gathering in their Northeast Territory? I will be able to act in a couple of days. The country will be fine.

[Brain of Strength]: As a player? Understood!

He then looked up at Kryukov: "General, I need to take a small squad to Xia Country's Northeast Border."

Kryukov frowned: "Your current condition—"

"Not in the capacity of the 'North Bear Country Divine Son's Adjutant'," Andrei interrupted him. "But in the capacity of a 'player'."

"Some battles... don't necessarily have to be fought openly."

Kryukov gave him a deep look, finally nodding: "Be careful. If the situation becomes impossible... prioritize your own safety."

"Understood."

Andrei took one last look at Ivan in the life-support pod and turned to leave.

He needed to assemble the players within North Bear Country—though few, they were all elites.

---

Jinjiao Position, inside the camp.

Lu Guangming looked at the chromatic, bold, pinned message in the system channel, as well as the various 'Lord' titles acting boastful.

He did not stop it.

He didn't even send a message to ask.

Lu Qinghe had already made his choice—he would use his own method to go North, to the most dangerous battlefield.

As an older brother, the only thing Lu Guangming could do was trust him, and, when necessary... become his trump card.

He closed the channel interface and looked toward the northern sky.

Dark clouds were gathering.

---

Northeast Border, above the snowy plains.

Number 3 was still sitting cross-legged, maintaining the "Constancy" Domain with closed eyes.

It had already been a day.

Inside the Domain, the six S-ranks from Xinzhou Country and Western Union Country were trapped in place, unable to advance or retreat.

Lionel Soros's expression grew increasingly grim.

His Wisdom Domain had been constantly trying to analyze the flaws in the "Constancy" Rules, but every attempt was like a stone sinking into the sea.

This was not a simple "Time Stagnation" or "Space Freezing."

This was a more fundamental negation aimed at "change" itself.

"Lionel," Isaac Wieland whispered, his voice laced with irritation, "It's been a day. Is there any news from Alan and Xiao Li Country?"

"I can't receive any information, nor can I transmit any," Lionel frowned. "Number 3's Domain... isolates all forms of information exchange, both internal and external."

"But given Alan's ability to gather intelligence, they should be able to deduce our situation," Isaac said.

"Of course." Lionel looked at Number 3, who was resting with closed eyes at the edge of the Domain. "So next time... I will give Xia Country a 'big surprise'."

Cold calculation flashed in his eyes.

Lin Na stood not far away, dark red War Energy slowly flowing around her. She did not participate in the discussion, only gazing south, lost in thought.

Lu Qinghe was unaware of all this.

He only knew that he needed to lead a team North.

To do something that might be foolish, but must be done.

The final team size was set at: 50 people.

He put on his S-rank Mask, revealing a pair of determined eyes looking North, and then walked into the subway station.

Because he couldn't get a taxi to the airport.