384: Chapter 412 Truly, his Dao heart is steadfast!

Above the Moon.

An astonished emoji appeared on Monitor No. 1379's screen.

The crocodile scolded the Nightmare Flower to death?!

Is this a transcendent ability?!

Right now, this situation can only be explained by a transcendent ability.

Does that mean An Ke has already unlocked the transcendent gene lock for Old Crocodile?

When did that happen?

This time, Monitor No. 1379 had been watching An Ke's every move along with the Nobles.

Yet still, nothing was discovered.

As expected! Someone of my level simply cannot perceive the peculiarities on An Ke.

I wonder if the Noble Lords have discovered anything...

As for the Chief Steward, Monitor No. 1379 had long given up hope on it.

If it could have discovered something, it would have done so long ago. Why wait for the Nobles to arrive?

Beside them, the Mysterious figure in the long robe cast a deep glance at Monitor No. 1379.

This guy is secretly bad-mouthing Him again in his heart.

Because the Noble Lords were present, He didn't say anything.

Besides, what Monitor No. 1379 said was the truth.

He truly couldn't see anything special about An Ke; otherwise, He wouldn't have introduced An Ke to the Nobles as a promising candidate.

So, have the Noble Lords managed to see through An Ke's special nature?

The Chief Steward discreetly glanced at the Nobles.

However, due to the ornate masks covering their faces, He couldn't discern anything.

Thanks to the ornate masks, otherwise, the Nobles' loss of composure would have been witnessed by the Chief Steward and Monitor No. 1379.

At this moment, they were utterly shocked in their hearts.

Did that crocodile just gain a transcendent ability?

So, An Ke has already helped the crocodile unlock its gene lock?

When did this happen? They hadn't noticed a thing.

The Nobles found it somewhat hard to believe.

They had been watching continuously since yesterday, not even letting up when An Ke was asleep.

Yet, even so, they hadn't discovered any special actions from An Ke.

Could it be that this crocodile already had a transcendent ability before?

No!

They had integrated all the memories from the various parties in the [National Fortune Game] up to now.

Therefore, they could say with certainty that this crocodile did not possess a transcendent ability before.

Though there was one time it had bad breath from eating a Hyena...

This means that even they cannot uncover the secrets hidden within An Ke...

"This is a bit unbelievable..." Qieno, on the far right, murmured to himself.

"Indeed, it's unbelievable," Noble Dainike agreed in a soft, effeminate voice.

"To unlock the crocodile's gene lock right under our noses, granting it transcendence, without us noticing at all."

"I'm starting to suspect if An Ke is actually from some God-level Civilization."

At the head, Noble Tik gave a faint smile and spoke in a deep voice:

"Isn't this a good thing?"

"It proves the Chief Steward didn't recommend wrongly; An Ke is indeed a promising seedling."

"His peculiarity is something even we cannot see through, so other Nobles certainly won't be able to either."

"This gives us an advantage in our game against them."

Beside them, Monitor No. 1379 and the Chief Steward had been waiting to see if the Nobles could discern the advantage.

Yet, even the Nobles, whom they considered omnipotent in their hearts, couldn't see through it?

One must remember, they were God-level existences.

Both Monitor No. 1379 and the Chief Steward were struck with awe.

However, the latter felt joy amidst the shock.

If An Ke's special nature could elude even the Nobles, He would surely receive their attention.

Once An Ke advanced into the [Civilization Game], He would receive rewards and have hope of progressing further.

The Chief Steward was ecstatic, praying that An Ke could continue to be impressive and be selected for the [Civilization Game].

But at that moment.

Fama said calmly, "But it's still not enough."

"Although An Ke can use special means to grant animals transcendence, these abilities are similar to the game's rewards and [cores]."

"They're even weaker than an S-grade [transcendent gene core]."

"Additionally, while An Ke can make animals feel close to him, there are limits."

"For example, he couldn't influence the Velociraptors before, making them feel close to him."

"It's the same with plants. The Nightmare Flower wasn't affected by him and didn't feel close."

"This indicates that many creatures in the Giant Forest won't be influenced by An Ke and won't feel close to him."

Noble nodded in agreement, "Fama is absolutely right."

"It is special, but this special quality is too weak."

"With his current strength, competing for the [Civilization Game] qualification against the other civilization representatives under our command is a guaranteed loss."

The other Nobles didn't refute, as this was the truth.

Compared to other civilization contestants, An Ke still had a long way to go to catch up.

To stand out, he would still need to rely on rewards from the [National Fortune Game] and [cores].

Whether he could continue to grow stronger and ultimately become their representative contestant to enter the [Civilization Game] would depend on An Ke's own fortune.

Meanwhile, inside the live stream.

"Fellow Daoist, as the ancients said: a good dog does not block the path. Are you a mad dog?"

"This fellow Daoist, your appearance resembles the skin on your grandmother's heel."

"And the fellow Daoist beside you, you are his equal."

"You are not dog excrement, for you are dry and foul, inferior even to dog excrement."

"..."

With every sentence Old Crocodile uttered, a Nightmare Flower would go mad and then collapse.

The surrounding animals were still in awe.

"Old Crocodile, you're done for! You made This Muscle Man lose face. This Muscle Man challenges you to a duel!"

By now, King Kong had recovered from its "breakdown."

Recalling its earlier disgraceful state, it flushed with anger and clamored to duel Old Crocodile.

"King Kong, I'm afraid you really can't beat Old Crocodile now," Little Scar chuckled.

"I think so too!" the Golden Snub-nosed Monkey chimed in.

"King Kong, you should give up that idea. Don't end up banging your head on the ground again," Leopard Mom advised.

"Hahaha!"

Erha suddenly burst into laughter, "That's right! Brother muscle tyrant, you should just give up."

"Your earlier disgraceful display only proves your Dao heart is not firm."

Erha had its backside to the group, its tail wagging frantically with excitement.

An Ke was speechless. Couldn't it control its own tail while criticizing others?

King Kong scoffed, "Since you claim This Muscle Man's Dao heart is unstable, why don't you try it yourself?"

Erha, still with its back to everyone, said with an air of arrogance, "this king won't try, for your own good."

"Don't end up with your Dao heart completely shattered."

Just then, Old Crocodile, thoroughly enjoying itself, immediately shot a line at Erha:

"A dog can't change its habit of eating shit!!"

Erha's wagging tail suddenly froze. Then, it stuck out its tongue, making "huff huff" sounds.

Erha's tail wagged even more violently, a look of craving on its face:

"Where's the shit? this king wants to eat it!"

"Why would this king want to stop eating such a delicious thing as shit?"

Erha's words caused everyone present to have subtle expressions.

Even An Ke's expression stiffened slightly.

He secretly gave Erha a thumbs up in his heart: Impressive!

Truly firm in the Dao heart...

...

Erha's behavior made An Ke realize that Old Crocodile's [Linguistic Attack] attribute had another flaw.

It was ineffective against creatures with bizarre personalities and strange thought processes.

Seeing Erha's performance, King Kong's bird face looked somewhat dazed.

That actually worked?

Erha, however, was very pleased with itself and declared loudly, "Brother muscle tyrant, no matter how hard you try, you can't catch up to this Destiny wolf-dog."

The interlude quickly ended.

Under Old Crocodile's "verbal barrage," the Nightmare Flowers fell one after another, almost too easily.

However, the process took quite some time.

Because Old Crocodile needed to rest along the way; it couldn't use the [Linguistic Attack] attribute continuously.

At first, it could "scold to death" four or five Nightmare Flowers before needing a ten-minute rest.

Later, the rests became more frequent, and the duration of each rest increased.

Clearly, [Linguistic Attack] placed a tremendous strain on Old Crocodile.

Should I [Share] [Proficiency] with the animals later?

An Ke began pondering this question.

That way, the animals could also improve their overall attributes through [Proficiency].

After all, when King Kong, Little Scar, and others used their granted attributes, it also placed a huge strain on them.

Once their various attributes improved, their combat power would also increase.

I'll wait and see how things are after the [Share] function upgrades.

An Ke reined in his thoughts, waiting to obtain the [black technology core].

Although [Linguistic Attack] placed a huge strain on Old Crocodile, they finally managed to obtain the [black technology core] before nightfall.

[Strength-Type Powered Armor 1.0 (Upgradable)]

Outside, when An Ke obtained the [black technology core], all of Dragon Country was overjoyed.

Boss An never disappoints.

They began frantically @ing the Foreigners:

"See that? Getting the [black technology core] is a piece of cake for us."

"Haha! I remember someone said they'd livestream eating shit."

"You actually believe what they say?"

"If they really tried to fulfill their promise of eating shit, even a year's worth of excrement from Barbie and the others probably wouldn't be enough for them."

"What are the people in the Lighthouse Country thinking now?"

"They probably thought we were helpless and wanted to freeload benefits, never expecting Boss An to actually get it."

"I bet they're cursing Trump now, haha!"

"LOL, don't they ever consider that Trump and the others simply couldn't have obtained this [black technology core]?"

"At least they've manifested quite a few things now."

"If the people in the Lighthouse Country had normal brains, their entire country wouldn't be so abstract."

"True!"

"..."

Dragon Country's criticism left the Lighthouse populace unable to respond.

Mainly because they feared Dragon Country's retaliation.

Trump and the others might seem free, but in reality, they were practically hostages of An Ke.

If An Ke wished, Trump and the others would surely die.

The other nations, meanwhile, were shocked by Old Crocodile's transcendent ability.

Just hearing its insults would cause immediate breakdown? Such an ability seemed invincible, right?

However, as time passed, the Foreigners felt a bit relieved.

Fortunately, Old Crocodile couldn't use it frequently. It needed to rest for ten minutes after just a few insults, and the rest periods grew longer.

The transcendent ability was indeed powerful, but the cooldown was long.

With sufficient numbers, Old Crocodile would be hard-pressed.

They could use human-wave tactics against Old Crocodile.

Moreover, they thought of a way to counter Old Crocodile's ability: earplugs.

If you can't hear Old Crocodile's insults, you won't be scolded into a breakdown, right?

Thinking this, many nations' people suddenly felt Old Crocodile's transcendent ability wasn't that great after all, nothing special.

As long as they prepared in advance, there was nothing to fear.

India once again brimmed with confidence.

Inside the live stream.

An Ke manifested the [Strength-Type Powered Armor 1.0 (Upgradable)].

As the [black technology core] was crushed, a red light enveloped the scene.

When the red light faded, a hunk of iron about thirty meters tall appeared before An Ke.

Its entire body was made of thick, hard steel, full of a sense of power, though its appearance left something to be desired.

It didn't have the cool, high-tech feel; instead, it gave the impression of a backward product modified from a forklift.

All the surrounding animals were curious. What was this suddenly appearing thing?

"Giao! Clan Leader, what's this hard thing?"

A Giao tapped it with its claw, finding the thing very hard.

"Brother, is it edible?" Hua Hua tilted its head, expectantly.

An Ke was both amused and exasperated. You didn't listen to a single word your brother said, did you?

Didn't you hear your brother say this thing is hard?

Hua Hua's gluttony refreshed An Ke's understanding.

This made him curious. What kind of ability would be bestowed upon Hua Hua later?

Would it be related to eating?

"This is powered armor. It's not edible; it's for fighting," An Ke explained with a smile.

Hearing it wasn't edible, Hua Hua immediately lost interest and, without looking up, went back to munching on bamboo.

"This thing for fighting? Is it more powerful than This Muscle Man?" King Kong looked down on the hunk of iron.

Nothing was more powerful than it.

"Little Brother muscle tyrant, not to be rude, but you're not up to it!"

Erha, with its back to all living beings, spoke with the air of a master.

But soon, an infuriated King Kong gave Erha a shoulder throw.

Ever since Erha stopped being broken down by Old Crocodile's words, it considered itself superior to King Kong.

Everyone ignored the two troublemakers, King Kong and Erha.

"Little friend, how is this thing used for fighting?" Sister-in-law Crocodile asked curiously.

"Old Crocodile feels this thing is a bit ugly!" Old Crocodile remarked.

As soon as the words were spoken, the powered armor, which had been standing tall, suddenly faltered, as if damaged, and its posture slumped.

"Holy crap?!" An Ke was startled.

Was Old Crocodile's [Linguistic Attack] effective even against robots?

Could it be broken before even being used, just from being scolded by Old Crocodile?

Old Crocodile also realized its mistake and chuckled dryly:

"Sorry! Little friend! I forgot to restrain myself..."

The granted [attribute points], whether for King Kong, Three Hairs, or Little Scar, could all be restrained.

An Ke didn't say anything more and approached the powered armor, intending to start it up for inspection.

Although An Ke had never seen powered armor before, let alone used such a thing.

It wouldn't leave him confused about where to start.

Because this powered armor was practically foolproof to operate.

Every part of it could be understood through the [National Fortune Game] system.

Soon, An Ke found the activation button on the back of the powered armor.

As the button was pressed, the powered armor's thick steel plates began to move. Soon, the back plates opened up, revealing the cockpit.

Beside them, Xiao Mei was startled.

She covered her mouth, "It, it, its body was cut open?"

"That's too terrifying!"

"Clan Leader, is it dead?"

...