"Since that's the case, I'll go take a trip," Sterl said.
His reasoning was simple: with [Transcendence] backing him, being ranked first on the merit leaderboard would grant him a mysterious reward from the upper realms. It was a must to go and claim that reward.
Why not go?
Sterl's only concern was the potential odd tactics from the upper realms that might render his Emergency Escape Device useless, but it didn't matter; he planned to send Bionic Tear while keeping his main self at a safe distance.
Sterl's style was clear: rewards could be set aside, but safety must come first.
Upon hearing this, the three gods looked delighted, but then they quickly realized the critical issue.
"When this young friend is asked by the gods, who will you say referred you?"
"..." Sterl was taken aback; that sounded like a death sentence. No matter who he named, it would likely earn him resentment from others. Thankfully, he was skilled at dodging tricky questions.
He immediately put on a grand and passionate expression, declaring, "I'm willing to let the three esteemed gods decide!"
The air tensed for a few seconds.
Then, the peaceful facade of the three gods shattered, and they glared at each other in anger.
"Marlon, you know this opportunity is very important to us. If you give it to us, we will..."
"Give it to you? On what grounds? Can you instigate Ashen and the Golden Kingdom to go to war with the Hall of Valor? War doesn't matter; I'll take the reward and go play in the upper realms."
Sterl only caught the first few sentences of their argument before they seemed to feel a bit embarrassed and switched to another communication channel.
Marlon, however, remained enthusiastic and reminded him, "Young friend, feel free to farm merit on the battlefield; the rewards you receive afterward won't be lessened."
"We still have some matters to discuss. We'll come find you shortly; how does that sound?"
"Sounds good."
Sterl nodded. Since the war was still ongoing, it was better to farm some monsters instead of just exchanging banter. He naturally went along with the suggestion.
...
After that, Sterl's monster-farming journey went exceptionally smoothly.
No one dared to stop him anymore.
Many players from the Hall of Valor initially hoped that after Marlon had pulled in this mysterious demigod, he might show some mercy towards his own faction.
Players from Ashen and the Golden Kingdom thought that this mysterious demigod had shown a hint of humanity and kindness earlier; perhaps once he had farmed enough, he would stop...
As it turned out, they were overthinking it. Sterl became increasingly ruthless, clearly aiming to monopolize the entire battlefield!
Radiant spheres rose again and again!
The players from Hell and the demons were wailing, but when the three gods made their appearance, the more sensible demons and players had already made their escape!
Now, those who remained were either too slow to react or lacked powerful escape items...
They could only curse the gods of the main world for not taking care of such monstrous beings!
"You don't deserve to be called gods!"
...
Meanwhile, players from the three major factions found themselves in a mix of laughter and tears as they discovered a particular trait of the mysterious demigod: he was incredibly diligent. After emptying the richest resource areas, he didn't hesitate to unleash skills in the less abundant ones.
Ultimately, the players from the three factions had completely given up.
The earlier conversation with the gods had not been discreet, so the players were aware that this demigod would be summoned by the big shots from the upper realms.
The existence of the upper realms meant that crushing the demigod Supreme would be easier than squashing an ant.
This way, he could better navigate through the backlash...
However, the warning in the Login Terminal left Sterl momentarily stunned.
"Code"?
He was familiar with this term; in his past life, various game developments revolved around the accumulation of code. How could a "game" like [Transcendence], which clearly rooted itself in the real world, also require code?
Of course, Sterl quickly realized that this code was not the same as the types of numbers and symbols inputted into a computer. It was something entirely more mysterious.
He had a premonition that this "code" would be related to the very essence of [Transcendence].
Then—
He stopped thinking further.
There was too little information to deduce anything meaningful.
Sterl decided it was better to focus on practical matters.
At this moment, he wasn't in a hurry to open a new character. He knew too little about the people from the upper realms; if he opened a new character, they might be able to detect something unusual, and that would be a major loss.
Instead, Sterl quickly activated Shadow Stealth, pretending to weave through the battlefield.
In reality, he was hiding in the Shadow World. He was farming monsters so aggressively that he had already exceeded the limit for Stardust, which meant he could stay in the Shadow World for as long as he wanted. If necessary, he could continuously activate Shadow Stealth.
Bionic Tear took over for Sterl as he descended into Hell.
Sterl manipulated Bionic Tear to initiate Fission, creating a radiant sphere to verify its identity.
Then, he glanced at the battlefield.
At this moment, the area had completely transformed into a place utterly unrelated to Hell.
There were countless voids scattered everywhere, filled with sand and gravel that had been turned into a glassy state.
The landscape was ravaged!
The ground had sunk several meters, and all the energy in the air had been purified away by Fission.
The blood-red sun hung in the sky above Hell, casting light onto the ground. In the past, it would have revealed a bizarre and eerie scene, but now, under Sterl's bombardment, it appeared exceptionally clear and transparent.
It felt as if this place was no different from the main world...
In fact, if Sterl were to observe closely, he would notice that his contribution to the expansion event had increased significantly. This area had become unsuitable for Hell's inhabitants after being bombarded by his Fission.
Of course, it was also not suitable for creatures from the main world.
However, the main world's intention to consume Hell was merely to gain a larger territorial footprint; they weren't in a rush to relocate their populations here.
Sterl took a brief rest.
Nearby, other players rushed onto the battlefield to scavenge some leftover scraps.
They were feeling a bit numb, watching Sterl not take action, and instead, waves of gratitude began to rise within them.
It seemed this mysterious demigod hadn't completely shut them out; he had left them a glimmer of hope. Even if their merit was reduced, the rewards from the merit leaderboard wouldn't diminish.
That was something!
Sterl found the expressions of the players somewhat strange, but he didn't have time to ponder it. Suddenly, three beams of golden light illuminated the sky once more. The three gods still wore pleasant expressions, but aside from Marlon's genuinely warm smile, the other two wore slightly twitching faces.
They had lost a significant amount of resources to persuade this god from the Hall of Valor to agree to introduce them to the "mysterious demigod."
This round of the expansion event had cost the Golden Kingdom and Ashen two of their deities dearly!
"By the way, we still don't know how to address you, young friend," one of the demigods seemed to remember something and hurriedly inquired.