14: Chapter 14 Advanced Mental Enhancement Potion!

"So this leaderboard gimmick exists too? I thought there wasn't one!"

"I might as well take a look. Among the four intelligent civilizations, where does my combat power rank..."

Lin Wan was in desperate need of information about other intelligent civilizations.

He opened the Combat Power Leaderboard.

[Chaotic Beast Star Sector Combat Power Leaderboard (Only top 1,000 recorded)]

[01: Hesikeer / Dragon Clan]

[Combat Power: 15321]

[Affiliated Civilization: Kase Civilization]

[02: Chu Ming / Half-Blood Dragon Clan]

[Combat Power: 9852]

[Affiliated Civilization: Kase Civilization]

[03: Night Kasi / Shadow Clan]

[Combat Power: 9111]

[Affiliated Civilization: Dark Night Civilization]

[010: Lu Nuonuo / Half-Blood Dragon Clan]

[Combat Power: 7562]

[Affiliated Civilization: Kase Civilization]

Lin Wan was stunned.

This matchmaking mechanism is insane. Are we even in the same weight class?

A glance at the top 1,000 on the leaderboard showed not a single person from the Earth Civilization.

Of course, there might be some who met the combat power threshold but hadn't reached the inner circle area yet.

But their rankings couldn't possibly be high.

"Why are there Dragon Clan members here? Is this even playable? More than half the leaderboard belongs to this Kase Civilization."

Lin Wan was trembling with fear.

As expected, being cautious was the right call; it was a good thing he hadn't used sword flight.

With his current combat power, if he were discovered by people from other intelligent civilizations, he would probably be crushed to death with a casual flick of a finger.

What kind of matchmaking mechanism is this cosmic will? These civilizations have clearly already started cultivating; how are they supposed to compete?

Is the Earth Civilization below the execution threshold?

"At least there's one other civilization where I only saw one person on the list; they're only slightly stronger than the Earth Civilization."

Lin Wan shifted his gaze downward and saw the name of a third civilization at the bottom.

[988: Fang Yuan / Human Gu Clan]

[Combat Power: 355]

[Affiliated Civilization: Gu Refining Civilization]

Even for the Gu Refining Civilization, their combat power was much higher than his—it was indeed just "a little bit."

His combat power was 120, while the 1,000th place had a combat power of 250. There was still a long way to go.

Lin Wan continued by opening the information for the Chaotic Beast Kill Leaderboard.

[Chaotic Beast Star Sector Chaotic Beast Kill Leaderboard]

[01: Hesikeer / Dragon Clan]

[Chaotic Beasts Killed: Tier 2/City-Level * 3, Tier 1/Town-Level * 55, Tier 1/Village-Level * 351, Tier 1/Street-Level * 362, Quasi-Tier 1/Floor-Level * 121]

[Affiliated Civilization: Kase Civilization]

[02: Chu Ming / Half-Blood Dragon Clan]

[Chaotic Beasts Killed: Tier 1/Town-Level * 30, Tier 1/Village-Level * 554, Tier 1/Street-Level * 462, Quasi-Tier 1/Floor-Level * 55]

Lin Wan could tell that these combat power classifications like "Floor-Level" and "Street-Level" were labels provided by the cosmic will to help the Earth Civilization understand better.

Other civilizations might use different tiers to help them understand their own strength at a deeper level.

"My full-power strike can destroy a ten-story building, which means the full-power strike of this top-ranked person can destroy an entire city!"

And that was just the Tier 2 destructive power assessed by the cosmic will.

This level of deterrence was far greater than nuclear weapons; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say one person could hold an entire nation hostage.

After understanding the gap, Lin Wan's heart calmed down. He didn't dwell on it and continued moving forward.

Most of these high-combat-power individuals were likely deep in the inner circle or the core area; the probability of them staying here was low.

It was no wonder he hadn't found any other intelligent life after searching the fringe wastelands for so long—it turned out their Earth Civilization version was simply too far behind.

Just as Lin Wan was looking for a new little monster to test his skills, a roar rang out.

"Finally found you, Lin Wan!!"

Lin Wan: ??

He turned around and saw a black-robed man exuding a murderous aura walking towards him.

Lin Wan couldn't quite understand what the black-robed man was saying, but he could feel the killing intent erupting from the man's body.

He had finally encountered someone from another intelligent civilization, but this person seemed very unfriendly.

"What the hell, who did I offend?"

Lin Wan's face was grave.

He materialized a Combat Power Tester and placed it over his left eye.

[Beep! Beep!]

[Combat Power Assessment: 130 — 150]

"Crap, time to run!"

Without a second thought, Lin Wan materialized the taie sword. The sword's hum activated, and utilizing Target Settlement, he burst off in the direction where there were many Chaotic Beasts.

"Seventeen times, Lin Wan, you killed me seventeen times!"

"I, Fang Xiu, swear to the heavens, no matter what, I will completely eradicate you while you are at your weakest this time!!"

The black-robed man's expression was ferocious.

He raised his hand and waved it; in an instant, countless Gu insects surged from his sleeves, lifting him up and sweeping toward Lin Wan.

"Screw you, what did I do?!"

"But that was close, he's not as fast as I thought!"

Lin Wan looked back and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

He seemed to have heard the black-robed man speaking his gibberish language again.

"So many bugs, must be from the Gu Refining Civilization..."

"What seventeen times, he wants to screw me... no, he wants to kill me seventeen times?"

"This is really scary."

Lin Wan really wanted to call the police; he wanted to say, "Can we just sit down and have a bun and clear up this misunderstanding?"

He really couldn't understand: were intelligent beings from other civilizations all this hot-headed?

They start yelling and attacking the moment they meet—did I kill your mother or something?

"Don't run, Lin Wan, where's the courage you had when you slaughtered my Gu Refining Civilization?"

"This time, Jiang Muxue from your civilization isn't here; let's see who can save you!!"

Fang Xiu bit his finger, letting blood flow out. After the Gu insects absorbed it, his speed increased by a few notches.

"Why are you getting so worked up? Damn it, stop chasing me!!"

"What the hell is he saying? What happened to the promise of barrier-free communication across the universe? Zero stars!!"

As the black-robed man got closer and closer, Lin Wan knew he couldn't just sit and wait for death.

"Gu insects, is it? Behold my Sword Return to Origin!!"

He snapped his fingers.

Fifty-nine taie swords appeared in the air.

At his command, the taie swords turned into sword shadows, humming as they struck toward Fang Xiu, who was not far away.

Fang Xiu sneered: "Mortal-grade sword weapons. Lin Wan, you really are weak at this stage, hahaha!!"

He waved his hand casually, and a massive swarm of Gu insects rushed out, devouring the taie swords one by one.

"I know the stronger version of you like the back of my hand, let alone this weak version of you!"

"It was worth it to come looking for you the moment I landed; this time, I can finally avenge my deep hatred!!"

Lin Wan didn't even look back.

He didn't know what this black-robed man was barking about, he just felt that this villain talked way too much.

"With my current means, I can't deal with him. I can only kill small monsters and see if I can drop some god-tier perks!!"

"Wait, I just encountered a second type of intelligent life, even including the Earth Civilization."

"Does that mean my Target Settlement reward has already been issued?"

Lin Wan's eyes flashed, and he quickly opened his Talent Panel.

Sure enough...

[Target "Encounter two different intelligent civilizations within three days" completed, reward settled.]

[Congratulations to the host for obtaining: Advanced Mental Potion * 1]

"The exclusion method I used by excluding the Earth Civilization was wrong; in reality, including the Earth Civilization I belong to, I only needed to encounter two intelligent civilizations to complete this target."

"But I didn't know that at the time; I thought this target required encountering two other different intelligent civilizations in addition to the Earth Civilization!!"

He still remembered that the target list had an ultra-ten-star difficulty, which was to encounter four different intelligent civilizations within three days, and with his three days of travel time, it was impossible for him to encounter the Kase Civilization, so the cosmic will had excluded the Kase Civilization.

But by accident, he had successfully deduced that there were indeed only four intelligent civilizations in the Chaotic Beast Star Sector.

"This is a real lifesaver!!"

Lin Wan grinned.

With a thought, the Advanced Mental Potion was successfully materialized, and he deciphered it along the way.

He downed the potion in one gulp.

The effect kicked in, and a massive shockwave surged through his mind, pushing his deduction to a climax.

Lin Wan's smile grew even wider.

"You like chasing, huh??"