Published: February 12, 2025
Sixteen mechanical arms buzzed to life, shifting from a straight line into an organized pattern. They circled around the stone knight twice and then began to approach rapidly, spinning quickly as they moved across the surface of the stone knight.
Lines and patterns started to appear as they moved, transforming what was originally simple into a series of uniquely meaningful designs through the motion of the sixteen mechanical arms.
Without any warning, the sixteen mechanical arms suddenly halted and returned to their starting positions.
The engraving that consumed one seventh-grade magic crystal of Ye Zhongming had come to an end.
Looking at the unchanged size but significantly enhanced power of the stone knight, Ye Zhongming began to understand the workings of the Refining Furnace and the engraving machine.
After two battles, the rewards left behind had a very distinct characteristic, which was that the recipients could manufacture two types of puppets.
The overall power was indeed a bit low. Even after enhancement from the engraving machine, the stone knight only had around fifth-level strength. In the hierarchy of ordinary combat teams in the apocalypse, it was undoubtedly a valuable asset. However, in Cloud Summit, it seemed somewhat lacking.
Ye Zhongming could only hope that this stone knight would inherit the characteristics of its "mother body," meaning that upon its death, it would condense into a stronger existence.
After calculating the materials in his space, Ye Zhongming manufactured several more stone knights and completed their engravings.
He was ready to test whether these little creatures could indeed merge after death, just as he had speculated.
However, Ye Zhongming didn't create too many; he was worried that if it didn’t turn out as he hoped, then the high-level materials or magic crystals would be wasted.
When ten stone knights and ten flame giants appeared neatly behind Ye Zhongming in front of the Cloud Summit warriors, these experienced fighters found themselves a bit confused.
It wasn’t fear or panic, but rather awe and excitement.
They all felt that if these stone knight puppets truly possessed the abilities of their templates, perhaps Cloud Summit would soon have two more powerful combatants.
“Let’s go.”
Ye Zhongming issued the command to advance. Everyone had already rested for over two hours here, and thankfully, no one had disturbed them.
……………
Even after Cloud Summit Villa had rested for more than two hours after passing the second test, they were still the first force among all those in the Mountain King Plateau Space to enter the third challenge.
It wasn’t until an hour after they entered that other teams began to follow suit.
However, Cloud Summit Villa felt rather unfortunate; other forces were even worse off. Those who managed to reach this point, no matter how strong, had all paid a significant price.
In fact, many teams hadn't even passed the second challenge. After the first two rounds, over half of the forces were eliminated, while the Mountain King Plateau Space terrifyingly consumed the elite parts of humanity's evolvers.
At the same time, in the unknown third round and beyond, no one knew how many more would die. If this situation had been known in advance, many might have chosen not to come here.
Ultimately, regardless of who obtained the Mountain King Crown, one thing was certain: the elite of the entire North American continent would suddenly decrease by a third or even more.
……………
Cloud Summit faced the third round's enemy, the mud monsters.
Unlike the previous stone knights and flame giants, these mud monsters split into levels as soon as they appeared, ranging from the lowest level, around fifth-level strength, to the highest around ninth-level. They emerged from all directions, instantly throwing Cloud Summit into a fierce battle.
The difficulty of this round had clearly increased. This was not only evident in the number of mud monsters but also in the chaos caused by their simultaneous appearance.