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Chapter 309 Spire Challenge Difficulty

In the First Gate, claiming territories did not just mean "capture the flag." It was a situation where one had to face manifestations of monsters generated by the territory itself, fighting them off until one achieved victory.

This part was usually relatively easy for various universes as there was no requirement to send only one person, like what Dante or Portia did. Most universes either sent over a group of qualified fighters or simply relied on technology to achieve their purposes.

As Levi had stated, unclaimed territories before one activated the flag/spire were the same. The type of monster created varied, but their average strength was basically the same throughout the First Gate.

Though, one eerie fact that Levi did not mention was that somehow, and strangely enough, the standard of strength for these monsters was based on pure humans, not from the Eternal universes, but all universes as a whole.

Dante spread out his ring of fire and allowed the beasts to crash into it mindlessly, turning into ash while he faced no consumption of energy or power whatsoever. Putting aside his ability to retrieve True Qi within the boundaries of his spirit sense, he had the Concoction of Absorption power system that made sure he always had enough energy proportional to his stats.

With so much ambient Zero Energy, Dante was not lacking for anything at all; he could do this all day. He glanced at his golem and saw it still hard at work punching foes to bits while tanking hits itself.

However, he was not too satisfied as he expected the thing to do all the fighting originally. In the end, Dante realized that he needed to give the golem a 'taunt' ability, but he did not find any such spell for any element in his database.

Of course, this was not really a problem per se. He could spend time doing what normal magi do and research carefully before creating a spell of his own. After all, the spells he himself knew did not fall from the sky but were researched by others.

He could also have A1 do it, but it only did up to the 6th rank because spells beyond that level required spiritual power to even research and conceptualize, hence why 7th rank and above spells were of a different tier from the rest.

You'd notice that Dante often used spells of the 6th Rank, and hardly the 7th or 8th. Not only were they far fewer, but they required more than just power and skill to cast, so Dante opted for the strongest 'easy' spells, which were the 6th rank ones.

Dante shook his head rapidly and realized he had been daydreaming while in a fight. However, what else could he do, as this was not much of a fight in the first place?

He noticed that the strain of monsters had thinned and began traversing the zone rapidly, letting his golem follow on foot by charging at max speed. Each step it took allowed it to accelerate more and more until it became a bulldozing blur of power and size.

If that thing collided with someone... even Dante with his current stats did not fancy the idea of being on the receiving end of that.

Since he was also traveling at his maximum speed which was far faster than any aircraft, Dante soon blazed his way towards the obviously distinguishable spire that pierced into the sky like a black flute.

Dante stopped before the familiar spire and sized it. It was much the same as the one at the Wasteland of Death, and he felt no noticeable difference. Dante glanced behind himself to see that the monsters no longer spawned or chased after him, seeming to have lost their direction and returning to grazing.

So it seemed that the first part was an endurance and speed test? Survive an endless wave of monsters while rushing to reach the black spire? It seemed easy enough, but one also had to consider the sheer distance.

If a universe had a person with a powerful concealment superpower or a teleportation superpower, they could skip this step for sure and advance directly to the second and more important test.

Dante placed his hand on the black spire and communicated with it. It first verified his registration and gave him a familiar list of options, with 'capture' being there as well. In the Wasteland of Death, he had seen it but hadn't dared to try, which was a good thing because he might have died at his previous power level.

This time, he dared. When he made the selection, he realized that he was given a list of difficulties to choose from, which came with various requirements and rewards depending on which one he completed.

Going through them slowly, Dante categorized them in his mind.

[Black Spire Capture Battle Difficulty Ratings:

Basic: 1 single enemy with the same body power as the challenger. No time limit. Completion generates 1 unit of Chaos Will per year.

Intermediate: 1 single enemy with the same body and mind power as the challenger. No time limit. Completion generates 10 units of Chaos Will per year.

Advanced: 1 single enemy with the same body, mind, and soul power as the challenger. No time limit. Completion generates 100 units of Chaos Will per year.

Master: 1 single enemy with the same body, mind, soul, and unique power as the challenger. 1 month time limit. Completion generates 1000 units of Chaos Will per year.

Grandmaster: 1 single enemy with the same body, mind, soul, unique, and superpower as the challenger. 1 day time limit. Completion generates 10,000 units of Chaos Will per year.

Divine: 1 single enemy with the same body, mind, soul, unique, superpower, and higher dimensional power as the challenger. 1 hour time limit. Completion generates 100,000 units of Chaos Will per year.]

Dante looked through and was confused by the terms, but the Black Spire provided an explanation generously. Body power refers to one's SDI, of Strength, Agility, Constitution, Vitality, and Dexterity.

So whether it was 10 points or 200,000, you would face such an equal enemy. Mind power referred to Intelligence stats and psychic power from those stats, with the same general rules as body power.

This was why Portia avoided unclaimed territories and simply beat up claimed ones, because her power lay in her body and mind stats, so she gained literally no advantages here.

The only reason she won the few unclaimed territories she took over was because of her Regeneration superpower that she had, but her doppleganger did not in the first two difficulties, of which she usually chose Intermediate.

Here's where it gets tricky. Soul power refers to the strength of the soul of the user, assuming they had soul-related abilities. Don't think this was redundant; remember that every universe had diverse alien species with unique biologies.

Even the Eternal Universe had a few hundred with soul abilities, much less across the multiverse. Soul abilities were usually overpowered when used against those without them, so such fellows could simply nuke the souls of their targets if not curbed.

But here's the kicker, if the applicant does not have soul power, it doesn't mean the doppleganger will not. This goes for the Advanced to Divine rankings; if the challenger did not have a unique power, a superpower, or a higher dimensional power, the doppleganger will.

This was what presented the twofold difficulty of challenging unclaimed territories. You couldn't cheese your way to higher difficulties and better rewards by picking a foe that doesn't have any benefits that you don't have.

Unique power in itself meant derived powers that did not fall under superpowers but were esoteric or biological. Like the example features aliens, some had powers that may not be soul-based, but body-based.

Like the giant race and their gigantification, if they used it in the first 2 difficulties, they could grow big and stomp their enemy to pieces, but in the Master difficulty, they would have to fight on equal terms with a similarly gigantified foe.

Dante's various sub-abilities counted here too, whether it was True Qi, Magus, knight system, Martial arts, eyes of illusion, etc. As for the final two categories, they were self-explanatory.

Dante looked through the list and his face changed many times. He silently calculated where he had advantages and where he didn't when he received feedback from the Cosmic Tree.

At the A rank, their connection was so solid that the Cosmic Tree was short of manifesting a voice to directly speak to him. As it were, he no longer needed to be confused about what it was trying to say and implicitly understood its message.

When Dante received its message, his eyes lit up and he laughed wantonly. He should have long realized this fact given the history of the Cosmic Tree, but he had been awed by the spire's words and neglected this point.

What did the tree tell him? Obviously that this damned spire could not copy its presence or his superpower related to it, Quantum Entanglement!