Wasteland's Only King-Chapter 121 - 109: Level II Civilization Salsa—Nine Years of Compulsory Beta Testing (1/30,000 Update)

Chapter 121: Chapter 109: Level II Civilization Salsa—Nine Years of Compulsory Beta Testing (1/30,000 Update)

Dawn City.

Core Area.

Buzz—

Spatial fluctuations rippled out, and Yu Jin’s figure appeared out of thin air.

Clatter—!

He flicked his hand, scattering brilliant, star-like crystals all over the ten-meter-wide bed.

Among them—

Tier Ten Crystals, more than fifty in number.

Tier Eleven Crystals were a bit scarce, only one.

"Just about enough to break through to Tier Eleven..."

Yu Jin murmured, sitting down on the bed.

This outing had yielded considerable gains.

He originally just wanted to meet Xiaoming’s new "friend," but unexpectedly also ran into a Tier Seven Daluo City Lord.

After a friendly spar, the other side lost with regret.

And Yu Jin—

Also managed to squeeze a full 40 Energy Crystals at once from Brother Tongzi.

The only thing Yu Jin was dissatisfied with...

He had wanted to find a Blue Star player to serve as acting Daluo City Lord, but failed.

Dawn City, at Level 2, couldn’t claim Level 4 Daluo City as a subordinate city.

So—

Daluo City and its fifty subordinate cities would still have to be split up first, then let Dawn City "go through the process" and take them in one by one as subordinate cities.

"I’ll leave this for Yin Yao and the others to handle later."

"Let Naiya provide cover, so those remnants in Daluo City don’t misread the situation."

With that in mind, Yu Jin sent Neil a message.

Then—

Crunch—!

Yu Jin started popping crystals.

There were still two days before the Alien Invader arrived; his plan was to break through to Tier Eleven before they landed on A3 Planet.

Tier Eleven versus Tier Nine, the advantage is mine!

...

...

The starlit expanse of deep space.

A "sun" quietly revolved along its predetermined orbit.

The "sun" looked a little odd; though it unleashed endless light and heat, almost all of it was being absorbed by surrounding geometric rings.

On those geometric rings, one could see countless cities and structures.

This is...

Level II Civilization: Salsa.

Unlike Blue Star, which hadn’t even fully developed planetary resources, Salsa—as a Level II Civilization—already possessed the technology to completely absorb and utilize stellar energy.

The geometric rings around the sun were known among Blue Star scientists as—the Dyson Sphere.

At this moment—

Celsa Star, West Eighth Ring Area.

Ula Yurika sat at his desk, looking up at the starry sky through the transparent floor-to-ceiling glass.

His violet eyes carried a trace of confusion, with a faint glimmer of expectancy.

"Nine years of compulsory beta testing, four years of university practical training."

"At last..."

"It’s almost time to traverse into the real ’Wasteland’!"

Yurika clenched his fists, psyching himself up.

Different from the Blue Star humans forced to cross into alien wastelands,

Selza Star People had been indoctrinated with ’Wasteland’ knowledge and education from a young age.

Starting at age 7, they received Helmets and entered the "Nine-Year Compulsory Beta Test."

The beta tested on "Wasteland Planet," infested with Low-Tier Infected Bodies and Mutant Beasts.

In the Nine-Year Compulsory Beta, Yurika’s performance was exceptional.

Not only did he have Dual Attributes, but he also maxed every Ability from Tier One to Tier Nine to Level 9.

Most importantly, he awakened a Special Talent.

That allowed him to enroll smoothly into the best university on Celsa Star.

At university, he started studying knowledge related to the Star System Wasteland.

After all, to Selza Star People, the "Wasteland Planet" was merely the lowest-level newbie training ground, with only Leveling Up value.

They connected through Helmets, randomly descending onto various wasteland planets, there battling Mutant Beasts/Infected Bodies.

Crystals found inside Mutant Beasts/Infected Bodies could help them raise their Level.

Except for dropouts or professional gold-farmers, almost all Selza Star People could reach Tier Nine before age 20, prior to traversing the Star System Wasteland.

The difference lay in—

Pollution Level at Tier Nine.

As a top-tier student, Yurika managed his Pollution extremely well; now, at the Tier Nine Limit, his Pollution is only 10%.

This was because he was extremely picky about using crystals, never consuming Energy Crystals below 60% purity.

Moreover—

His Dual Attributes were both powerful, giving him an edge over his peers in keeping Pollution under control.

During his four years at university, besides learning knowledge of the Star System Wasteland, Yurika spent the rest of his time "farming gold and earning points."

Crystals harvested from slaying Mutant Beasts/Infected Bodies could be sold to the ’Wasteland’ game for Points.

Points, formally Wasteland Points, could be traded.

Once only currency in the ’Wasteland’ game, now it was currency throughout the Selza Civilization.

Beep beep—

A semi-transparent, virtual projection popped up in front of Yurika.

[Wasteland Points: 10 billion]

This was his four years of tireless gold-farming savings.

Selza Star People could choose to travel to the "Star System Wasteland" on their twentieth birthday.

Yurika’s twentieth birthday was two days away.

"Join the Big Company Alliance, or become a Wandering Lone Wolf?"

This was a choice every Selza Star Person had to face before age 20, prior to crossing over.

After all—

This wasn’t a beta—it was a real crossing.

No rebirth after death; they could never return to Celsa Star.

Not everyone wanted to traverse; many would rather stay, giving up this only opportunity at age 20.

But—

Not traversing meant you might die tomorrow.

Yurika looked up at the West Eighth Area sky.

There, a massive projection screen floated.

[No pollution sources detected within star system]

For twenty years, the first thing Yurika did every morning was glance at this projection screen.

For twenty years, the text on the screen never changed.

"May it never change."

Yurika closed his eyes, making a silent wish.

Because—

Once pollution descends, it’s the apocalypse, extinction.

The Selza Civilization, no matter how it resists, would be destined only to become history.

This information arrived on Selza Star at the same time as the ’Wasteland’ game.

No one knows where it came from, just like no one knows the origins of ’Wasteland’ itself.

So—

To traverse is to seize a sliver of hope.

To stay is only to await the judgment of fate.

Yurika chose to traverse, but his sister, Ula Aliya, who was a month younger, decided long ago to remain on Celsa Star.

The siblings, who relied on each other from childhood, had never met their parents.

Because their parents chose to traverse at age 20, leaving behind only their genes before crossing.

The siblings were "test-tube babies," born and raised in incubation pods.

A week ago, Yurika also left behind his own genes, borrowing rare film resources from a classmate the night before as...assistance.

Yurika shook his head, brushing away distracting thoughts.

He fixed his eyes on his Points balance, lost in thought.

A long while later—

He made his decision.

"Ten billion Points only gets you the lowest rank in the Big Company Alliance’s Interstellar Refuge Fortress."

"But if I spend it on an Interstellar Spaceship, I’ll be its sole owner."

Yurika was a Selza youth with dreams.

Once he made up his mind, he didn’t hesitate, putting on the Helmet on his desk.

Swish—

Yurika appeared on a barren Wasteland Planet.

[Welcome, player from Level II Selza Civilization, Ula Yurika!]

Yurika heard a crisp notification in his ear.

"Open Interstellar Shop."

He said to himself.

As soon as he finished—

Swish—

Rows of products appeared before his eyes.

To Selza Star People, though you couldn’t return to the planet or revive after death once traversed...

You could still top-up/pay-to-win in advance.

A personal player’s spending limit is 20 billion Points.

Company Alliance limits were rumored to reach a trillion Points.

"Micro Interstellar Spaceship, codename S-680!"

Yurika spoke forcefully.

Though he made the choice last minute, he’d picked his ship style long ago.

This ship was compact yet fully equipped, came with a certain level of combat capacity, and had a Teleportation Device for short-distance spatial jumps in emergencies.

For interstellar Lone Wolf players, it was the best-value choice.

[Beeep—]

[Wasteland Points deducted: 10 billion]

Yurika logged out and took off his Helmet.

"The rules of the Star System Wasteland are..."

"Earn Source Points, raise your rank."

"If your rank is high enough, you have a chance of gaining High-dimensional Civilization recognition. It’s even said you might save your civilization from the doom of impending pollution."

"There are three ways to obtain Source Points—"

"1. Kill Tier Ten and above Interstellar Mutant Beasts/Infected Bodies."

"2. Occupy uninhabited planets in the system, or seize planets from others."

"3. Kill players from other civilizations—you can loot a portion of their Source Points."

Yurika ran through the knowledge he’d picked up in four years of university.

"Usually, traversal positions are randomly refreshed, unless you join a Company Alliance—then you can teleport to their Interstellar Refuge Fortress at the start."

"But since I’ve pre-purchased the S-680 Micro Interstellar Spaceship, after traversing I’ll be refreshed directly inside the ship, rather than on a random planet."

"I can pilot the ship to find a suitable planet for early development and Leveling Up. After reaching Tier Ten or Eleven, I’ll search the stars for lone Interstellar Mutant Beasts/Infected Bodies."

"Of course, the best opening is encountering players from a low-level civilization who have just advanced into the Star System Wasteland..."

"Although their Source Points are few, killing and looting those points will give me my initial capital pool."

Yurika remembered an incident in a past beta test.

That was three years ago.

He refreshed onto a barren Wasteland Planet and ran into a group of players from a low-level civilization.

Yurika was intrigued.

He’d heard of others encountering lower civilization players on beta Wasteland Planets.

But the odds were minuscule, as low as one in hundreds of millions or even billions.

He’d also heard that "Refuge Cities" existed as a strange feature on such planets.

At that time—

Yurika was noticed by that group of lower civilization players.

They mistook Yurika for a wild Infected Body, shouting and charging at him.

And then—

Yurika effortlessly slaughtered hundreds of thousands of them all.

That was his first time massacring life forms other than Mutant Beasts/Infected Bodies on such a scale.

Yurika thought he would feel some guilt, but—

He didn’t.

He pondered it for a long time and finally understood—killing one’s own kind evokes emotion.

These life forms, though they looked similar to Selza Star People, were not kin.

From them, he obtained many crystals. The tiers were low, but they could still be exchanged for a considerable amount of points.

For the next three months—

Yurika harvested a great number of crystals on that planet and traded them for plentiful points.

"What did they even want the crystals for?"

"Promotion?"

"Even if they enter the Wasteland Star System, they’ll just deliver crystals and Source Points to others. It’s better to make full use of the waste, let me earn some extra Points."

Yurika had even less psychological burden about his actions.

He also finally understood why other Selza Star People called those players "bed bugs from lower civilizations."

Humans don’t feel anything when stepping on bugs.

After that—

His university classmates, upon hearing about it, expressed intense envy and jealousy.

"Landing on a planet full of low-tier bed bugs is like winning the lottery and getting rich overnight, right?" 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Thinking back on that, Yurika nodded in strong agreement.

"Yeah."

"What’s the difference from hitting the lottery?"

Thinking of this—

He put his hands together in prayer, closing his eyes to make a wish.

Ever since the dawn of the race, Selza Star People had a tradition of wishing upon the stars.

"Vast sea of stars..."

"May I, after crossing, encounter a group of players from a low-level civilization as soon as possible..."

"I need them—"

"To work tirelessly for me, to offer me crystals, to contribute Source Points."

"I need them—"

"To become the fuel for my conquest of the vast star systems!"