108 Chapter 101: You Can Only Fight a War of Attrition, While I...

Join my patreon to be 30 chapters ahead of the webnovel along with weekly chapters mass release:

patreon.com/ZeroMoney

Announcement: I will mass release mass release 15 chap of each book on Patreon for every five patrons I receive on my Patreon before 31st March.

*****

Xu Lin felt somewhat nervous upon seeing the figure opposite him, almost identical to himself but emitting a metallic gleam. Nevertheless, he took the initiative and unleashed his first soul skill.

A yellow soul ring flickered, and within the star-shaped crown appeared what seemed like a chain made of starlight, entwining towards the humanoid Soul Mecha across from him.

Unexpectedly, the humanoid Soul Mecha leaped sideways, dodging the entanglement of the star chain, then swiftly rushed towards Xu Lin, fists clenched, aiming directly for his face.

As a disciple of the Star Crown Sect, Xu Lin naturally wouldn't stand foolishly in place, immediately jumping aside.

But what followed was shocking—

The humanoid Soul Mecha also emitted a star chain from its hands, mirroring Xu Lin's release, except without a martial soul.

Tang San's Purple Demon Eyes clearly saw countless patterns on the opponent's hands before the emergence of the star chain.

"This is the ability of these metal beings, they can mimic all of our soul skills," remarked Star Old Man, referring to these humanoid Soul Mechas as "metal beings," and continued, "It's my first time seeing them too, truly eye-opening."

On the arena, Xu Lin was directly bound by the humanoid Soul Mecha, unable to move, watching as it approached, one hand clenched into a fist, its metallic sheen shimmering in the sunlight, poised to shatter his skull upon impact!

This frightened him into hurriedly shouting, "I surrender!"

As soon as the words fell, the humanoid Soul Mecha ceased its actions, as if malfunctioning.

Xu Lin hastily ran off the stage.

Following that, another Soul Ancestor from the Star Crown Sect stepped up, challenging the humanoid Soul Mecha that had turned into numerous cubes and was about to return to the giant Soul Mecha's body.

"How about that? I wasn't lying, was I?" Star Elder sighed in relief internally, as it was their first time in this place as well.

Past records within the sect might not be entirely reliable, so they wanted Tang San and the others to test first, but ultimately, it had to be done by their own Star Crown Sect.

Tang San remained silent, simply watching the Soul Ancestor battling the humanoid Soul Mecha.

The Soul Ancestor mainly evaded, avoiding direct confrontation with the humanoid Soul Mecha, engaging in a war of attrition to deplete its energy.

The humanoid Soul Mecha presumably had heavy firepower weapons, but probably due to the challenge, its abilities were tailored to match the challenger's. If the challenger lacked heavy firepower output capabilities, the humanoid Soul Mecha wouldn't use such abilities.

After all, this was a challenge, not a slaughter; otherwise, there would be no fairness.

In the end, the Soul Ancestor surrendered, but the humanoid Soul Mecha's energy had likely been depleted considerably.

Successive members of the Star Crown Sect took turns, fighting five times before completely exhausting the energy of the first humanoid Soul Mecha, securing the first victory.

After its defeat, the humanoid Soul Mecha turned into a pile of cubes, retrieved by the giant Soul Mecha.

[Winner: Xu Lin, You can enter the first-level Soul Device storage room inside the trunk of the Golden Ancient Tree and select a Level One Soul Device, or enter one of the 108 cultivation spaces under the roots of the Golden Ancient Tree, the Star Cultivation Space, for one hour of cultivation. Please make your choice.]

"There are cultivation spaces inside?" Xu Lin was astonished, looking at the old man. "Elder, what should I choose?"

"Take the Soul Device. According to the sect's records, although the cultivation spaces can accelerate cultivation, you haven't even obtained your third soul ring yet, so cultivation wouldn't be very meaningful for you," Star Elder immediately advised Xu Lin on his choice, "but Soul Devices are different, highly valuable, and among them, there are even attack-type Soul Devices."

Xu Lin nodded and said to the giant Soul Mecha, "I choose a Level One Soul Device."

The giant Soul Mecha lifted its hand, palm opening, dropping a bracelet that automatically wrapped around Xu Lin's wrist, accompanied by a prompt: [Pass granted! Winner, please enter the relevant storage room in the trunk of the Golden Ancient Tree to make your selection! You have no more than half an hour for selection! Only one item may be chosen! Any violation will trigger the self-destruct mechanism within the pass!]

Everyone heard the prompt, sending shivers down their spines. Xu Lin trembled with fear but still hurriedly made his way towards the open door of the Golden Ancient Tree.

As Xu Lin's figure disappeared, the leading Soul Ancestor of the Free Soul Master Regiment suddenly spoke up, "I want to challenge."

[No challenges are allowed until the winner has selected their reward.]

"This is too time-consuming," the Soul Ancestor grew impatient, but the giant Soul Mecha paid no attention.

"It seems that even with fifteen days, of rotating challenges, we may not be able to retrieve more than ten Soul Devices from inside," frowned Niu Gang of the Royal Family, "Forcing our way in is impossible; we'll be instantly killed. Waiting consumes too much time. Moreover, we Soul Masters consume soul power, and recovery is not easy. More importantly, compared to the steel bodies of those humanoid Soul Mechas, we Soul Masters are ultimately flesh and blood, difficult to confront head-on."

The people from the Heavenly Dragon Sect also nodded in agreement, "Indeed, it's too time-consuming."

Star Elder ignored the comment and turned to Tang San, "Master Tang San, did you notice anything from the recent battles?"

Tang San replied, "These giant Soul Mechas, humanoid Soul Mechas, they are all Soul Devices. The ancient civilization that created them had a high level of research on Soul Devices, even capable of mimicking soul skill effects using soul guide pathways."

"In this situation, the challenges are still one-on-one. I don't think the issue lies with these Soul Mechas, but rather with some kind of program setting or compromise due to insufficient power supply."

"Perhaps within the program settings of these Soul Mechas, there is basic logical thinking ability to assist the AI."

The people from the Star Crown Sect: "???"

The four from the Royal Family: "······"

The five from the Holy Dragon Sect: "······"

Even Huo Feng couldn't understand what Tang San was saying.

Each word individually made sense, but when strung together in a sentence, why couldn't they understand?

Also, what is AI?

Xu Lin confirmed it, 100%!

This Tang San definitely isn't the one from the original story, at least he's from the same era as himself... Aside from his innate soul power being decent, without any other boosts, how can he fight?

"What do you mean?" Star Elder furrowed his brow, hoping Tang San could clarify.

"It means that most people can only engage in a war of attrition, as you said earlier," Tang San's gaze was calm, "However, I want to try the questionnaire they presented."

When it came to Soul Devices, Tang San had dismantled quite a few daily life Soul Devices back in Nuoding City and had some understanding of the soul guide pathways within.

Although he didn't know their specific functions and principles, he had roughly deduced some uses for the common soul guide pathways within those daily life Soul Devices.

In simple terms, he didn't know the exact principles, but he could make do with them.

According to the prompt sounds from the giant Soul Mecha, the language was no different from the common language used in the current Douluo Continent, so there shouldn't be too much difference in writing.

Therefore, perhaps he could learn something through the questionnaire.

(End of this chapter)