GA: Chapter 229 – Weakness is the Original Sin!
The gap between a Second Sequence and a First Sequence could only be described as the distance between heaven and earth.
It was precisely because of Ning Guang's existence that Ning City was currently considered one of the safest cities in Huaxia.
Only the presence of a First Sequence guardian could provide the populace of a city with a true sense of security.
Why hadn't their Yun City produced a First Sequence?
Economically and culturally, they were clearly superior to Ning City...
"Sigh..."
If they had a First Sequence, he wouldn't need to be so anxious right now.
Just as he sighed in frustration, a sudden, panicked voice rang out from behind him.
"This is bad! Something's happened, Director!"
"What happened?"
He snapped his head up, his heart involuntarily beginning to race.
"A beast tide!"
"It's a beast tide!"
"A massive amount of Spiritual Qi fluctuation has appeared outside Yun City. We suspect mutant creatures are undergoing metamorphosis."
"Furthermore, we've detected a large number of Spiritual Qi sources beginning to converge. The numbers and intensity are even higher than during the second Spiritual Qi tide!"
Hearing this, even having experienced a beast tide once before, his face changed drastically.
Another one already?!
A beast tide...
The emotions on his face shifted rapidly before he finally took a deep breath.
"There's no need to be overly pessimistic. The reason the last one caused such severe damage was largely because we were dealing with mutant beasts both outside and inside the city. Due to the restrictions of fighting in a populated area, many weapons couldn't be used."
"Now, the city and the wilderness have been completely separated. There are no restrictions on the use of high-yield weapons."
"The advantage is ours."
As long as the use of technology was unrestricted, there was no need to worry too much, no matter how many mutant beasts there were.
But one thing still puzzled him.
Why was it that every time there was a massive Spiritual Qi tide, these mutant creatures would launch an attack on humanity?
To absorb energy for evolution?
But if that were the case, why not just slaughter other mutant beasts? The energy contained within their bodies should be far greater, right?
Or... was it truly because the individual strength of humans was just too weak?
It was true; compared to other mutant beasts, human individual strength was indeed lacking.
As a food source, humans were arguably the best option for them.
But there was a deeper, underlying reason.
And that was because these mutant beasts had not yet evolved the intelligence necessary to comprehend the power of human civilization.
Their current intelligence was insufficient to grasp humanity's true strength; they had no concept of how terrifying human technology could be. They only knew that human individual strength was weak, making them the optimal food for their evolution.
"A bunch of animals. Sooner or later, we'll exterminate you all."
He said it coldly.
"Turn on the projection. Where has the beast tide reached?"
"Yes, sir."
As the projection continuously displayed the feed, they saw the emergence of massive numbers of mutant beasts.
Mutant rats whose bodies had ballooned to the size of pre-revival cats. Crimson pupils, razor-sharp claws, and a reproductive rate even stronger than before the Spiritual Qi revival. Even if their individual strength wasn't high, they were an omnipresent nuisance.
They didn't ally with other mutant creatures; they were a singular, massive swarm of mutant rats.
A rat tide existing within the beast tide!
And on another screen.
A massive amalgamation of different mutant beasts had converged. Mutant wolves, mutant rabbits, mutant boars, mutant tigers, mutant sika deer—predators and prey from the past seemed to have upended their racial instincts, uniting solely for the flesh and blood of humanity.
Evolution required energy. Compared to those powerful mutant beasts, humans, with their incredibly weak Spiritual Qi fluctuations, were the best choice.
Furthermore, humans gathered in massive numbers.
Their Spiritual Qi-amplified intelligence hadn't yet taught them that humanity's greatest strength lay in technology and weapons. They only passively perceived that humans had extremely weak life force fluctuations compared to other mutant creatures.
The life force of a powerful entity shone like a lighthouse in the dark—blindingly bright. In comparison, a human was like a flickering candle in the night, yet they possessed numbers unmatched by any other species.
The combined light of tens of millions of candles outshone even the lighthouse.
While there was no shortage of powerhouses among these candles, compared to the sheer volume of ordinary flames, their numbers were simply too small—small enough that the beasts instinctively ignored them.
Driven by instinct and the pursuit of evolution, they began their assault on human cities.
"Highest-level alert. Notify all squads and combat-capable espers to prepare for battle. Defend the city perimeter to the death. Do not let a single mutant beast break through the defense line."
"Highest-level alert. Notify all squads and combat-capable espers to prepare for battle. Defend the city perimeter to the death. Do not let a single mutant beast break through the defense line."
"Highest-level alert. Notify all squads and combat-capable espers to prepare for battle. Defend the city perimeter to the death. Do not let a single mutant beast break through the defense line."
"..."
One alarm after another looped continuously across all relevant departments. Every sector began operating rapidly like a cold, precise machine.
Ever since the beast tide of the second Spiritual Qi tide, they had anticipated this day, and had been preparing for it.
Massive convoys of heavily armed vehicles sped toward the city gates, and espers with offensive capabilities mobilized swiftly.
In truth, for those espers with high talent, this was the optimal time to cultivate. The incredibly pure Spiritual Qi would allow them to rapidly increase their strength.
Unfortunately, the danger did not permit such luxury.
Although people had previously complained about "moral kidnapping," saying "there's nothing wrong with being a little selfish," and "let someone else handle the responsibility of protecting the public, it has nothing to do with us"—when such danger arrived, they still, after a brief hesitation, chose to fight for their families, their city, and their country.
Even if it meant sacrificing their lives.
At the same time, what surprised some people was that those who had almost despaired of ever awakening an ability actually managed to awaken one under this Spiritual Qi feedback.
During the first and second Spiritual Qi tides, the vast majority—even 99%—of humanity had awakened an ability. Even if the ability was weak and their talent low, they had still grasped supernatural power. But there remained that 1% of humanity who had awakened nothing.
They had long since given up hope of awakening an ability. Furthermore, since the vast majority of people who had awakened abilities weren't that much different from them, they had gradually let the thought go.
They never expected that this time, their abilities would finally awaken!
Within the ranks of the military, a man tightly gripping his rifle, staring nervously and warily ahead, suddenly felt a persistent itch on his forehead.
It was fine at first, well within his tolerance.
He had received professional training; his pain and itch tolerance was far above that of an ordinary person.
But as time passed, the itching intensified rapidly, until even he couldn't resist the urge to scratch it a couple of times.
GA: Chapter 230 – Slicing Every Foe, Severing Every Obstacle; The Power of the Clow Card!
"Fang Lian, there's a horn growing out of your head," the comrade across from him said with some surprise.
"A horn?"
Fang Lian froze for a moment, then touched his forehead. Sure enough, he felt something protruding.
"To think you'd actually awaken an ability at a time like this," his commanding officer said, appearing beside him without too much astonishment.
It was just an ability.
"Tell me, can you still fight?"
"YES, SIR!!!" he shouted without a shred of hesitation.
"Good." The officer nodded in satisfaction.
Right now, holding the city's defense line and preventing any mutant beast from breaching the walls and harming the citizens was far more important than someone awakening an ability.
Meanwhile, deep in the wilderness outside Yun City.
Before the Spiritual Qi revival, this had been a perfectly flat, paved road leading to other cities.
Even after the revival, no plants grew on it; it maintained its pre-revival appearance.
Interestingly, humans no longer used this cement road because of the mutant beasts, but the mutant beasts themselves had grown quite fond of the flat path.
Even powerful mutant beasts wouldn't use their strength to destroy it. If any section was damaged, mutant beasts with earth-type abilities would take the initiative to repair it.
And right now, standing on this very road, was a person.
To be precise, it was a man wearing ancient-style clothing. A pristine white robe fluttered in the wind. The fabric wasn't of the highest quality, but its absolute cleanliness gave him an immaculate, untainted air. A crystalline jade pendant hung at his waist, making him look every bit the young master of an aristocratic family.
Interestingly, he carried a sword on his back.
It lacked excessive decoration; it was simply a sharp, unadorned longsword.
"A swordsman truly must wear ancient clothing."
"With the breeze fluttering through the hair, and the flash of a drawn blade—isn't this infinitely cooler than modern clothes?"
"Well, that's not entirely accurate. Mostly it's just because I'm handsome. Anyone else wouldn't be able to pull this look off."
His warm, gentle voice spoke nonsense—narcissistic nonsense, even.
But this demeanor didn't last long. He slowly watched the converging horde of mixed-species mutant beasts ahead of him. His right hand reached back to grip the hilt of his sword, slowly drawing it from its scabbard. The sharp gleam of the blade was blinding under the sunlight.
Rumble... Rumble...
Thousands upon thousands of mutant beasts charged forward, their violent momentum making the very ground tremble.
Chu Han gripped the hilt, watching the mutant beasts with complete apathy. He then pulled a strange card from his chest.
The card depicted a peculiar illustration: a longsword bound by countless chains, flanked by two stars, with a crescent moon resting beneath it.
He closed his eyes slightly, tossed the card into the air, and flourished his sword with a few practiced twirls. He muttered aloud:
"Clow Card, harboring the esoteric power of the sword, reveal to me your true power."
"Release the seal!"
The moment the words left his lips, he thrust the tip of his blade straight into the center of the card. In a flash, the Clow Card erupted with blinding light.
Clow Card — The Sword.
It symbolized the pursuit of truth, recompense, and sometimes, destructive power.
Feeling as though the longsword had become one with him, a smile couldn't help but surface on Chu Han's face.
This feeling—this sensation of the sword acting as a direct extension of his own body—was simply too good.
It was exactly the power he needed.
As an esper with a Beast-type: Tyrannosaurus ability, his physique was terrifying, and his talent was incredibly high; even within the Spiritual Qi Bureau, he was considered a Second Sequence.
According to his normal trajectory, he should have joined the Bureau to realize his life's value.
Until he found that brooch while shopping at a street stall.
The seller claimed to have picked it up in the wild and decided to sell it because it looked nice. He even joked that he had initially wondered if it was something precious.
He had burned it with fire, soaked it in water, and even blasted it with lightning abilities, but nothing happened. He had tried the classic "dripping blood to claim ownership" method first, but it was completely useless.
The seller concluded it was either just a normal brooch or simply not destined for him, and offered to sell it cheap if Chu Han wanted it.
So he bought it. He didn't even know why he bought it. The brooch looked like it was meant for a woman, anyway.
He had originally just put it away, but on a whim, he had decided to try wearing it. And then his mind was assaulted by an external force?!
He even ended up fighting that sword in his own mind. His opponent had been a woman wielding a sword. Her physical strength was greater than an ordinary person's, but only marginally—definitely weaker than his. However, her technique utterly dismantled him.
If he hadn't decided to just ignore the seven or eight holes poked in his body, let her stab him however she wanted, and forcibly snatched the sword from her hands, he probably wouldn't have won.
It was absolutely ridiculous.
For a Second Sequence Tyrannosaurus esper like him to be damaged to that extent...
And it didn't seem to be just technique; the thing possessed other powers as well.
After he won, he woke up to find this strange card resting on his stomach.
Through an internet search, he discovered the card's origin: an anime.
Cardcaptor Sakura.
The Sword Card from the Clow Cards.
Even though it was a magical girl anime, he had actually watched it with great interest.
He had even ordered a magical staff online to play around with the incantations.
However, he still had a sense of shame. He knew it was fine to play with it at home, but he was definitely too embarrassed to do it outside. To cover it up, he bought a real sword.
It was the Sword Card, after all; not using a sword was out of the question.
Combined with the powerful physique amplified by his esper ability, he was confident he could face any enemy.
The memory flashed through his mind and faded. Chu Han gripped his longsword and stared flatly at the approaching horde of mutant beasts.
"Come."
"Meow~~"
A black shadow flashed by. Beneath the cute meow and adorable appearance lay cruel, emotionless claws.
The next second.
Clang!
A silver light flashed through the air, and the black shadow was cleaved cleanly in two mid-flight.
"As long as I believe I can cut it, there is nothing in this world I cannot sever."
"Slicing every foe, severing every obstacle."
"This is the Sword Card!"
The scent of blood permeating the air excited his body. His Tyrannosaurus ability activated unconsciously, covering his skin with a layer of dark, cyan scales.
"Die!"
The gap between a First Sequence and a Second Sequence was unimaginably vast.
The most critical distinction was that any First Sequence powerhouse possessed the ability to protect an entire city single-handedly!
Even in a beast tide, as long as there were no mutant beasts of the same tier, a First Sequence could resolve the situation alone in a short amount of time.
But a Second Sequence could not. Even against weaker mutant beasts, wiping them out alone would take an incredibly long time, and might even be impossible before dying of physical or Spiritual Qi exhaustion.
However, right now, he possessed that very capability.
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