Chapter 243: Chapter 208: Preparing for the Divine Dice: Upgrading Skills Again

Once 45 people enter the Divine Dice, its trial begins.

The Divine Dice has six faces, so there are six rounds of trials in total.

After each round of trials concludes, the exits on one of the Divine Dice’s faces will open.

When the first trial round ends, the six dots on the face representing the number "6" will open. These are six exits.

Only two people can pass through each exit. Once two have gone through, the exit closes.

There is only a three-minute window. After three minutes, all exits will close.

In other words, a maximum of 12 people can leave after the first round of trials.

At the end of the second and third rounds, the exits on the "5" and "4" faces will open, respectively. Again, each exit allows two people to leave.

This means a maximum of 30 people can exit during the first three rounds!

However, while leaving early ensures survival, it also means receiving fewer benefits.

As a result, it’s common for fewer than 30 people to have left the Divine Dice by the end of the first three rounds.

The 12 slots in the first round, in particular, often go partially unfilled. Few are willing to give up on such a hard-won opportunity after only the first trial.

But the true cruelty of the trial lies in the later rounds. After the fourth, fifth, and sixth trials, the exits on the "3," "2," and "1" faces open, and only one person can pass through each exit.

This means that while the first three rounds offer a total of 30 slots to leave, the last three rounds combined offer only 6 slots for survival!

In the end, anyone who doesn’t make it out—anyone left inside the Divine Dice—will die!

This leads to most people being unwilling to leave in the early stages, as their gains haven’t yet met their expectations.

In the later stages, they will beat each other’s brains out for one of those six slots!

Even people from the same country might turn on each other and fight to the death for a chance at survival. After all, bonds of countrymanship are worthless when your own life is on the line.

people go in, and even in the most ideal scenario, only 36 can come out. At least 9 must die.

But in reality, the death toll is far higher.

The trials themselves are dangerous and claim lives. Combined with the slots left vacant by those unwilling to leave early, the number of survivors rarely exceeds 30.

Moreover, the competition grows more intense and brutal in the later stages, and those who survive that long are all true top-tier geniuses—the prodigies of various nations and the great families of Lin Hua Country.

That’s why every time the Divine Dice opens, a large number of top-tier geniuses die!

Still, droves of people flock to it, one after another, simply because the opportunities within the Divine Dice are one-of-a-kind.

It is said that nearly all the Saint-level Supremes on the entire Lin Hua Continent are individuals who survived into the final three rounds of the Divine Dice trials.

That’s why, in the minds of the higher-ups of the major powers, the Divine Dice trial is a necessary rite of passage for any prodigy’s growth.

After reading the elimination rules for the Divine Dice, both Su Ze and Mr. Ya’s expressions grew grim. They understood the extreme danger involved.

’No wonder Chen Suifeng reminded me to quit while I’m ahead. The opening of the exits after each trial is a test in itself for every participant. If you misjudge your own strength and pass up the chance to leave, you might not get another one... This isn’t just a test of strength and talent,’ Su Ze thought, ’but of one’s character and judgment as well.’

’The weak, if they recognize their own limits, can escape early.’

’But no matter how strong you are, if you let greed control you, you’ll likely die inside.’

’Unless you’re so powerful you can ignore and crush everyone else. Then, of course, you have nothing to fear and can just stay until the very end.’

’Am I strong enough to crush everyone else?’

’I don’t know. I’ll have to fight them to find out.’ After absorbing the Liquid Life skill, Su Ze wasn’t entirely sure where his power level stood.

...

That night, Mrs. Yun still hadn’t completed her evolution. It seemed this process was going to be a protracted one and would take some time.

Recognizing the dangers of the upcoming Divine Dice trial, Su Ze began his final preparations, trying every possible way to enhance his strength and enter in his peak condition.

He had just absorbed the Liquid Turbellaria Extract and couldn’t hope to digest it anytime soon, so improving his strength via that extract was out of the question.

As for Wondrous Items... they were forbidden inside the Divine Dice. This included Su Ze’s trump card, "Self-Destruct," which would be unusable.

So, no matter how many powerful Wondrous Items he had, they would be useless inside the Divine Dice.

Su Ze racked his brain. In the limited time he had left, the fastest way to increase his power was to upgrade his skills!

Upgrading skills was the only method that was both quick and offered significant results.

He just needed the right upgrade materials.

The most reliable material for upgrading skills was, in fact, consuming extracts that contained superior versions of those skills.

Previously, Su Ze had been in the Cocoon Stage and could only consume Tier Two extracts to upgrade his skills. That was why he had only taken extracts from the Tier Two Mountain-Piercing Rhinoceros and Mountain-moving Ant, upgrading Rhino Charge and Ant Power to Tier Two skills.

Now that he had completed his third evolution and become a Butterfly Stage evolver, he could consume Tier Three extracts to upgrade his skills.

Su Ze listed all of his Tier Two skills: Rhino Charge, Ant Power, and Furious Waves.

He suddenly realized he only had those three Tier Two skills. Among them, Furious Waves was already a Tier Two S+ grade skill, and since it had been enhanced once before, its actual power was already on par with a Tier Three skill.

Originally, his Regeneration Body, Needle Strike, and Knowledge is Power skills had also been Tier Two, but they had all been upgraded and enhanced with high-grade evolutionary materials.

Regeneration Body had been upgraded with Spirit Root Tree Marrow, Needle Strike with Tier Four Coral Worm Tentacles, and Knowledge is Power with Miracle Spring Water (which was an Evolutionary Liquid).

Now, all three of these skills were at the Tier Three S-grade level.

Therefore, the skills Su Ze had the best chance of upgrading now were Rhino Charge, Ant Power, and Furious Waves.

Rhino Charge came from the Tier One mutated beast, the Unihorn Rhinoceros. Fortunately, rhinoceros-type beasts had a high evolutionary ceiling. Tier Four versions could be found, and Tier Three ones were relatively common.

The beast’s Tier Two form was called the Mountain-Piercing Rhinoceros, and its Tier Three form was the Heaven-Breaking Rhinoceros, a Tier Three B-grade mutated beast.

Su Ze only needed a single vial of Heaven-Breaking Rhinoceros extract to upgrade Rhino Charge into a Tier Three skill.

The Ant Power skill was more problematic. It came from the Tier One mutated beast, the Giant Power Ant. This type of beast was extremely difficult to evolve to a high tier. Its Tier Two form, the Mountain-moving Ant, wasn’t rare, but its Tier Three form, the Thousand Jins Ant Emperor, was.

Buying Thousand Jins Ant Emperor extract was practically impossible.

Fortunately, however, other mutated beasts possessed superior versions of Ant Power, which could serve as a substitute.

The real headache for Su Ze was the Furious Waves skill. As an S+ grade skill from the Mutated Giant Crocodile, there was simply no way to find a superior version.

The Mutated Giant Crocodile was one-of-a-kind; finding a Tier Three version was impossible.

As for the Mutated Giant Crocodile’s original form, the Brahma River Crocodile—a weak Tier Two beast—even if it evolved to Tier Three, the Tier Three "Thousandfold Fury" skill it would possess wouldn’t necessarily be as powerful as his current Furious Waves.

His only hope was to rely on other kinds of evolutionary materials to trigger an upgrade for Furious Waves.

Su Ze first contacted Xu Sheng and purchased a vial of Heaven-Breaking Rhinoceros extract from Evolutionary Technology. They had it in stock and would deliver it as soon as possible.

As for the Thousand Jins Ant Emperor extract, Su Ze asked around and, just as he’d expected, couldn’t find anyone selling it.

However, the Oasis Commerce Association had a vial of extract from a Tier Three A-grade beast, the Thousand Jin Rhinoceros Beetle. This creature and the Thousand Jins Ant Emperor possessed a very similar skill called "Thousand Jin," which was a superior version of Ant Power.

Su Ze paid immediately, asking Ju Han to have the Oasis Commerce Association deliver it as quickly as possible.

The two vials of extract cost Su Ze another hundred thousand-plus points.

As for the evolutionary material for Furious Waves, that would have to wait.

All Su Ze could do now was wait.

Wait for the two vials of extract to be delivered, wait for the outcome of Mrs. Yun’s evolution, and wait for the Divine Dice to open.

The first news came from the Divine Dice front. Principal Zhou Wenshan announced in the group chat that they would be departing the day after tomorrow, May 15th, for Lin Hua Country to await the opening of the Divine Dice.

「On May 14th」

The two vials of extract Su Ze had purchased arrived one after the other.

Su Ze first consumed the Heaven-Breaking Rhinoceros extract, successfully upgrading his Rhino Charge skill to Tier Three.

Rhino Charge: Lock onto a target within range and charge toward it. All life forms collided with during the charge will enter a brief state of Dizziness. The primary target will receive impact damage and suffer a double Dizziness effect. During the charge, your speed is drastically increased, your defense is greatly improved, and you become difficult to hit.

After the upgrade, the biggest change to Rhino Charge was the addition of a "lock-on" effect, allowing him to charge a specific target, and it strengthened the Dizziness control effect on that target.

Afterward, Su Ze consumed the Thousand Jin Rhinoceros Beetle extract, also upgrading Ant Power to a Tier Three skill.

Ant Power: Upon activation, gain a 20x strength multiplier. Attacks also gain a "Pulverize" effect. (The strength multiplier depends on the user’s physical constitution).

The most significant improvement to Ant Power after its upgrade was the removal of its time limit. It was now a toggleable skill that continuously consumed stamina and evolutionary power upon activation. As long as Su Ze could sustain the cost, he could maintain the strength boost indefinitely.

The strength multiplier had also been enhanced.

With the two skills upgraded, Su Ze’s physical constitution also saw a noticeable improvement.

At this point, there was nothing else Su Ze could do for a quick boost. His power was unlikely to change significantly again in the short time remaining.

They were departing for Lin Hua Country tomorrow. Zhou Wenshan repeatedly urged them to be fully prepared and gave Mr. Ya a special reminder to bring the vial of Tier Four fly-type mutated beast extract.

This was because the Divine Dice gave out rewards after each trial round, and there was a chance of receiving a reward that could "Rapidly Digest Extracts."

If Mr. Ya obtained that reward, the remaining Abyss Shadow Lord extract in his system would likely be fully digested. At that point, he could absorb the Tier Four fly-type beast extract while still inside the Divine Dice and gain an additional Tier Four skill.