Jiang Kai looked at the copies beside him and furrowed his brows.
"Are you the map BOSS?" Jiang Kai probed cautiously.
The great willow tree's tone was flat, without any fluctuation of emotion. "You humans have only occupied one ten-thousandth of the territory. What you see is nothing more than some skins."
"In Ghost Star, it's not only those BOSSes you mentioned. When you enter broader regions, you'll find Ghost Star is far more complicated than you imagine."
Jiang Kai frowned. Could it be that as the territory expanded, more leaders would appear?
Jiang Kai spoke faintly. "Why didn't you just kill me? For everyone who enters the fog zone, do you make a copy of them?"
"Some reckless ghosts entered the Bewildering Fog Zone, but they weren't even qualified to see me. They already died in the poisonous fog outside." The great willow tree said, "Up to now, the ones who could finally see me—there have only been three."
"One of them managed to escape from my hand. He also obtained the greatest reward from me. Another one, although he couldn't escape, was willing to leave behind certain things in exchange, and he also took away a decent reward. As for you, even though you relied on the Soul-Locking Liquid to pass through the poison zone, your ability still caught my interest."
Jiang Kai began to realize that this great willow tree might not actually be a BOSS—or more accurately, not the kind that needed to be slain.
It was more like an NPC, offering some sort of quest. Only, if the quest wasn't completed, the consequences would be extremely severe.
From the great willow tree's words, he learned that before him, two people had already received quests.
That black-eyed woman should be one of them. Only, he didn't know which of the two she was.
Taking a deep breath, Jiang Kai asked, "What quest do you want me to complete?"
"These three copies, each one perfectly reproduces your current state. And like you, they possess the same room for growth: they can level up, use equipment, and fight independently."
"Only, they don't have a complete human form. Each copy inherited one of your three traits: evil, greed, arrogance."
"Choose one copy. Defeat him, and you can take one copy away."
"You can choose to make him into your skill, or as your battle pet, or as your companion—it's up to you."
As the great willow tree spoke, it untied the vines on Jiang Kai's body.
Jiang Kai finally regained his freedom.
"Don't think of escaping. Even aside from whether you could or not, your Soul-Locking Liquid's effect has already dissipated. Without my permission, you can't even leave the poison zone."
Facing the willow tree's warning, Jiang Kai thought a moment and could only accept his fate.
At this moment, Jiang Kai finally got a good look at his own copies.
The other three "Jiang Kais" had their bodies embedded into the willow tree's trunk, but from their appearance, they were exactly the same as him.
Maybe because Jiang Kai had Deception Substitute, when he saw several copies of himself, he didn't feel much.
"Evil, greed, arrogance… am I evil?"
The great willow tree spoke. "Everyone has an evil side. It's just that your evil hasn't manifested. Now, choose one of your copies as your opponent."
Jiang Kai thought a moment, then asked, "Do their personalities affect strength?"
"No. But they affect combat style."
Jiang Kai calculated silently.
If the personality was evil, then probably ruthless in methods—especially fond of striking the face. He didn't want to face that.
If greedy, then probably pursued maximum attack power.
If arrogant, then would suppress the opponent through sheer momentum.
Considering it all, Jiang Kai felt the greedy copy would be easier to deal with. After all, if the other only sought maximum attack, it might leave him opportunities.
"Greedy, then." Jiang Kai said.
"Oh, and they don't have equipment?"
The great willow tree replied, "All the means you currently possess belong to the mortal stage. I can simulate them. What you use, he uses."
Jiang Kai was shocked in his heart. Could it be that the willow tree could even copy his Main God Card?
But the Main God Card wasn't fully collected yet, and its effects hadn't been fully unleashed.
The willow tree only said it could simulate mortal-stage means. Meaning, once he advanced to transcendence, maybe it couldn't mimic anymore.
Jiang Kai had already chosen his copy. The one farthest from him was released.
He wore clothes identical to Jiang Kai's and at this moment was staring at him.
Behind him, a vine pushed him forward, shoving him in front of Jiang Kai.
"Kill him, and you can replace him!" the willow tree's voice rang out. But this time, it seemed to be addressing the copy.
As soon as the words fell, the copy shot toward Jiang Kai.
While sprinting, two quenched-state Chasing Lifes appeared in his hands.
Whoosh whoosh! Several black shadows flew toward Jiang Kai.
Jiang Kai hurriedly dodged.
If the opponent perfectly copied his own strength with Chasing Life, then naturally Jiang Kai knew—once hit, his few thousand points of physique wouldn't be enough!
While dodging, Jiang Kai also threw a few Chasing Lifes.
The copy, with equally agile movements, dodged Jiang Kai's attacks.
Between them erupted a fierce exchange of projectiles. They maintained a certain distance—enough for Chasing Life to be most effective, while also giving themselves time to evade the other's attacks.
Yet Chasing Life had multiple uses. When recalled, it could cause secondary damage.
The two Jiang Kais seemed to realize this simultaneously, and their goal shifted to shooting down each other's flying blades.
With the help of Ghost Eye Focus and Ghost Hand Flying Cards, their precision was shocking.
Clang clang clang clang clang! Between them burst a storm of metallic collisions. Identical weapons colliding mid-air, it was impossible to tell who was attacking and who was defending.
After several exchanges, Jiang Kai was stunned.
He had never encountered an opponent this strong with hidden weapons.
But then again, the opponent was himself. That made sense.
Not only were their stats the same, their weapons the same, their traits the same—even their thoughts often aligned!
The two fought fiercely for over ten minutes, yet no victor emerged.
At one point, Jiang Kai tried to use Deception Substitute to trick the opponent—but in front of another Jiang Kai, it was useless! The other instantly saw through his intent and used Substitute too.
Jiang Kai mixed the Main God Card into Chasing Life—the other also used Main God Card. Jiang Kai used combined forms of Chasing Life—the other also used them.
Half an hour later, Jiang Kai's stamina was severely drained, yet still neither side won.
Only then did Jiang Kai realize how difficult this quest was. To defeat himself—it was nearly impossible!
What gave him an even bigger headache was that under these circumstances, even the Wheel of Fate might be useless.
The willow tree might not know the Wheel of Fate, but it could absolutely simulate the final spin's result.
The Wheel's result was half good, half bad. After being simulated, both sides would still stand at the same starting line.
In the end, both Jiang Kai and the copy were completely exhausted.
At that moment, the willow tree stretched out vines, pulling both of them back into the trunk.
"Today's battle has no outcome. I'll restore your states. After you've recovered, continue."
This time, countless fine willow branches pierced into Jiang Kai's body, but instead of draining his flesh and blood, they poured a warm current into him.
In just ten minutes, Jiang Kai had fully recovered.
The two Jiang Kais were released again, ready for a fight to the death.
Looking at himself across the way, Jiang Kai furrowed his brows tightly.
Was he really this hard to deal with? Now he truly had no idea how to defeat this copy!
Sure enough, their second duel again dragged on until both were completely spent—a draw.
…
Ten days later, with only one month left until the start of the national war, that day, all players received a system prompt.
[The global national war will begin in 30 days.]
[Now announcing partial national war rules.]
[Each country must dispatch 5 million fourth-tier classes and players of fourth tier and below into the shared zone. Entrants may not carry any supplies or medicines.]
[Within that zone, each country's territory will be proportionally reduced by 100 times. Terrain is random, positions are random, and the war map will drastically shrink the unknown areas between borders.]
[Within their own territory, players' recovery speed increases, defense increases, and they can periodically obtain initial supplementary supplies, medicines, and other resources.]
[Each country has one national flag and several regional flags. If a regional flag is seized, the corresponding regional rights are lost. If the national flag is seized, it counts as defeat.]
[The attacking side, by seizing a regional flag, can obtain that region's supplies and recovery bonuses, and can reinforce with 500,000 more troops.]
[Seizing a national flag allows voluntary withdrawal from the war as a victorious country, or they may continue to fight.]
[Once the war begins, the whole map will be covered by war fog.]
[Other rules will be revealed gradually after the war starts. All countries, please prepare for battle.]
After receiving the message, Luo Ping was even more at a loss.
The national war was about to start, yet Jiang Kai was still nowhere to be found!
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