177: Chapter 177: Seal off all usable resource points in the Dragon Kingdom!

The slaughter in the arena and the games played in the Heroic Spirit Pool were all part of the preparation phase before the official start of Act III.

Once the preparation phase concluded, the Star Chessboard officially activated!

The rules appeared once more:

"Act III Rule 5: Use the power within resource points to activate your Heroic Spirit Manifestation and defeat the demons at the edge of the fog. Once all demons are slain, the fog in the next area will dissipate. The quality and quantity of slain demons will count towards the final score of Act III, so please slay as many demons as possible."

The appearance of this rule made the objective of Act III clear:

Obtain resources — activate the Heroic Spirit Manifestation — crush the demons.

The [Roleplayer] lands on the chessboard and transforms into a chess piece, while the [Strategist] remains outside the board to control the overall situation.

Without matching legions, the chess pieces and the Heroic Spirit Manifestation are merely for show until the [Roleplayer] acquires the resources from the resource points.

It was in this state that Zhao Hongxiu, having transformed into a chess piece, advanced toward the resource point on the left.

Chen Aoyun's [Strategist] level was the lowest among all countries, so the movement speed buff he could provide to Zhao Hongxiu was naturally the slowest of all.

Furthermore, Chen Aoyun intentionally slowed down Zhao Hongxiu's movement speed, making her even slower on the chessboard.

Speed is the essence of war, and the same holds true on the Star Chessboard.

The Sakura people quickly analyzed the Dragon Country's Heroic Spirit in the Heroic Spirit Pool: [Heroic Spirit Zhuge Liang].

He was an ancient Heroic Spirit who had once utilized formation skills in another Game of National Destiny, so it went without saying that this Heroic Spirit could absorb resources from the 'Formation Resource Point'.

All three [Roleplayer]s of the Sakura Country were deployed, and relying on their movement speed on the board, one of them moved first to block Zhao Hongxiu's path to the 'Formation Resource Point'!

Near the 'Formation Resource Point' lay the 'Text Resource Point'.

The Dragon Country's Heroic Spirit, [Heroic Spirit Zhuge Liang], with his feathered fan and silk kerchief, looked every bit the scholar; it was reasonable to assume that the power within the 'Text Resource Point' could also be absorbed by [Heroic Spirit Zhuge Liang].

The Sakura Country [Roleplayer] Togaya Atsuto single-handedly guarded both directions, completely sealing off the possibility of Zhao Hongxiu stealing resources from these two points!

Similarly, the 'Ancient wonder Resource Point' and the 'Troop Resource Point' were guarded at the junction by another Sakura Country [Roleplayer], who kept them completely locked down.

The Dragon Country's Heroic Spirit, [Heroic Spirit Zhuge Liang], appeared to be a civil official; perhaps in his lore, he had overseen the construction of some Huaxia wonder, so the Sakura people naturally felt this 'Ancient wonder Resource Point' required special attention.

Dragon Country Heroic Spirits seemed to have a tradition of civil officials leading troops; the 'Troop Resource Point' allowed Heroic Spirits to acquire special troop combat capabilities. Since it happened to be located near the 'Ancient wonder Resource Point', the Sakura Country [Roleplayer] simply guarded and locked them both down simultaneously.

There were more than just these four resource points from the ancient era on the left side, and the remaining Sakura Country [Roleplayer], Kayahara Ao, maneuvered and patrolled near these resource points.

Although the Sakura people hadn't completely locked down these resource points, other countries were already heading toward them.

The resources within a single resource point were only enough for one country to absorb.

If the Dragon Country were to compete for these resource points, it would inevitably lead to conflict with other nations. Given the laughable combat power of the Dragon Country's [Roleplayer], the other countries' [Roleplayer]s could likely kill the Dragon Country citizens coveting these resource points without even needing the mobile Kayahara Ao to intervene!

It could be said that on the left side of the Star Chessboard, there were no longer any resource points left for the Dragon Country to contest!

Every move the Sakura people made was clearly broadcast, and some viewers curiously asked:

"Are the Sakura people going to disregard their own gains and losses again, just to fixate on targeting the Dragon Country! But why are they focusing everything on the left side of the Star Chessboard? Aren't the Sakura people afraid the Dragon Country citizens will go take the resources from the resource points on the right?"

This idiotic question was immediately answered by other viewers who loved to play the teacher:

"Are you an idiot? The Dragon Country only has one Heroic Spirit left in the Heroic Spirit Pool: [Heroic Spirit Zhuge Liang]! No matter how you look at it, [Heroic Spirit Zhuge Liang] is an ancient Heroic Spirit. According to the rules, the resources in the resource points must match the Heroic Spirit's era. The resource points on the right are all from the technological era, but the Dragon Country's Heroic Spirit, [Heroic Spirit Zhuge Liang], is an ancient one. Let me ask you, how is an ancient Heroic Spirit supposed to absorb power from technological era resource points?"

These words revealed the reason why the Sakura people only guarded the resource points on the left.

At this moment, someone else asked via barrage:

"The Sakura people have deployed all three of their [Roleplayer]s, so why has the Dragon Country only deployed one?"

Someone else replied:

"If I were the Dragon Country's [Strategist], let alone all three [Roleplayer]s, I wouldn't even deploy one. Have you forgotten the previous rules? If people die, the total score gets deducted! Since all the resource points usable by [Heroic Spirit Zhuge Liang] have either been locked down by the Sakura people or have already been approached by [Roleplayer]s from other countries, why not just voluntarily forfeit this act? Are they just going to give away a Raider for free? The Sakura people are also being overly cautious. Why guard the paths? The Dragon Country only has one Raider on the field; they should just have their own [Roleplayer]s actively surround and kill them. What are they afraid of? Could it be that they are afraid the Dragon Country will take advantage of a loophole?"

Saku Kenichi was indeed worried that the Dragon Country would take advantage of a loophole.

Zhao Hongxiu's movement on the chessboard was rather bizarre; after moving only a few squares toward the resource point on the left at the start, she turned ninety degrees and headed further to the left of the board.

It wasn't that the Sakura people couldn't send the mobile Kayahara Ao to hunt her down, but Saku Kenichi, having suffered too many losses at the hands of Chen Aoyun, always felt this was a trap.

What if? What if the Dragon Country still had a backup plan? What if they sent Kayahara Ao to chase Zhao Hongxiu, and the Dragon Country released a second [Roleplayer]?

In truth, even Saku Kenichi himself found this worry ridiculous.

The resource points on the left had either had their paths sealed off by him, or [Roleplayer]s from other countries were already heading there. [Act III Rule 4] stated that each country could only have one Heroic Spirit Manifestation, but it didn't say that each country could only absorb resources from one resource point!

Not all countries were like the Dragon Country, where the Heroic Spirits in the Heroic Spirit Pool had been banned down to only one.

Various countries could completely compete for resources from multiple resource points first, and then, based on the occupied resource points, decide which Heroic Spirit from the Heroic Spirit Pool to deploy as their sole Manifestation Heroic Spirit.

In other words, the total number of resource points on the Star Chessboard was greater than the total number of countries, but the resource points left for the Dragon Country were extremely limited.

If Chen Aoyun didn't find a way to occupy a resource point soon, there would be no more resource points left to occupy!