---o---
Seeing that Fu Zhu could still claim to have three strategies at a time like this, Herta's interest was immediately piqued.
"You got killed by the Ender Dragon once, and you can still cook up three plans—upper, middle, and lower? A bit interesting. Let's hear them."
The others wore the same curious expressions as they waited for Fu Zhu to elaborate.
Only when all eyes were on him did Fu Zhu clear his throat. "Since we are in this world, we must naturally abide by its rules and use them to our advantage."
---o---
"Lower Plan: We can respawn infinitely, so we can just throw our lives at it. We keep using beds to blow it up. With enough attempts, we'll eventually bomb the Ender Dragon to death."
As soon as Fu Zhu finished explaining his lower plan, Silver Wolf couldn't help but interrupt. "Wait a minute? You said blow it up with what? Beds?"
"Yup." Fu Zhu tossed the dozen or so beds from his inventory onto the ground. "Looks like the beds I took from the village beforehand aren't quite enough."
Silver Wolf stared at the pile of beds on the floor and silently gave a thumbs-up. "The fact that beds can explode, and the fact that you dug up all the beds the villagers use for sleeping... for both of these, you deserve a big thumbs-up from me."
"You flatter me, you flatter me," Fu Zhu said with a grin, showing not a hint of modesty.
"What about the middle and upper plans?" Herta urged.
"Middle Plan: We build up the pillar at the center of the main End island infinitely high. This will force the Ender Dragon to spend a massive amount of time circling its way to the top."
This plan came from an observation Fu Zhu made before he died. Even with mods like Epic Fight installed, the Ender Dragon still attempted to return to its perch on the central pillar. This was likely an opportunity it left for him.
The Ender Dragon doesn't attack while flying back to its perch. Although it can deflect projectiles like arrows during this time, the ranged attacks from a Slash Blade aren't in that category.
Coupled with the fact that the Ender Dragon cannot break End Stone, as long as he built the pillar high enough, he would have plenty of time to whittle it down to death.
Fu Zhu, fearing Herta and the others wouldn't understand why he needed to stack the pillar high, explained the Ender Dragon's AI pattern of returning to its perch.
After hearing Fu Zhu's middle plan, they all nodded in agreement. It sounded far more reliable than just throwing lives at the problem.
---o---
"Then what's the upper plan?" Screwllum asked curiously. If the middle plan was already this reliable, wouldn't the upper plan be even more impressive?
But that raised another question. If it was the best plan, why was Fu Zhu even giving them a choice?
"The upper plan..." Fu Zhu paused for a moment, stroking his chin as he looked at the group. "Have any of you ever heard of the Skyfall Dragon-Slaying Cannon?"
"Skyfall Dragon-Slaying Cannon?"
"That's right. The upper plan is to use a Skyfall Dragon-Slaying Cannon to one-shot the Ender Dragon. Normally, I would never choose this method to kill the dragon, since the time it would take to build it would be enough for me to kill the dragon several times over. But now that I have you three geniuses here, I've decided to go with the Skyfall Dragon-Slaying Cannon."
Hearing this, the question that had been nagging the three members of the Genius Club was finally answered.
Herta nodded knowingly. "No wonder you deliberately laid out three plans for us to choose from. You were certain that our curiosity would lead us to pick the upper plan, weren't you? Otherwise, you would have just used the other two to kill the dragon by now."
"Brilliant. As expected of the smartest of the smart, the unparalleled beauty, Madam Herta." Fu Zhu gave a complimentary snap of his fingers, then proceeded to explain the principle behind the cannon.
"The principle of the Skyfall Dragon-Slaying Cannon is based on the fact that an arrow's damage is linked to its velocity. By using explosives, which cannot destroy the arrow entity itself, to continuously accelerate it, we can achieve a velocity high enough to one-shot the Ender Dragon. With you three geniuses here, accelerating an arrow with explosions shouldn't be too difficult, right?"
"Hmm..." Screwllum fell into thought, not because he felt he couldn't do it, but because, "Although this world has given me many surprises, I never expected it to hide such a powerful weapon. Fu Zhu, I suggest we run a test first, just to be safe."
Fu Zhu nodded in agreement. Although he had explained it clearly, it was still the first time the three geniuses had encountered the concept. It was natural for them to be unfamiliar with it.
"Alright, let's do one test run. In a moment, I'll shoot an arrow at you all. You'll have to figure out how to use explosions to accelerate it and have it accurately hit a target. As for the target..."
Fu Zhu's gaze slowly turned toward Silver Wolf. Startled by his stare, she glanced behind her, but there was no one else there.
Right. Fu Zhu only needed the help of Herta, Screwllum, and Ruan Mei. The target for this test could only be her.
"Fine." After understanding her fate, Silver Wolf accepted it with surprising compliance. "I'll be the punching bag, then."
Her compliance caught Fu Zhu a bit off guard. "You're just accepting it like that?"
Silver Wolf retorted sullenly, "Can I refuse?"
"You certainly cannot. Alright, move ten meters to your right."
Pouting, Silver Wolf obediently moved ten meters to the side, giving Herta and the others enough space to work.
Fu Zhu took a bow from his inventory. Then, as if remembering something, he pulled out a set of iron armor he had long since retired and tossed it to Silver Wolf.
"If you don't want to have your clothes blown off later, put this on."
---o---
Silver Wolf picked up the iron armor from the ground with a look of horror. "Isn't this just supposed to be taking a hit? Why would my clothes get blown off? Is this experiment even legitimate?!"
Fu Zhu ignored her and raised his bow, aiming at Screwllum. "Are you ready? Screwllum, I'm going to shoot the arrow at you. The rest is up to all of you. It needs to be sufficiently accelerated and then hit Silver Wolf."
Screwllum nodded.
Receiving the signal, Fu Zhu released the fully drawn bowstring. The arrow flew straight toward Screwllum. Although the distance between them was short, the arrow's initial velocity seemed rather slow in Screwllum's eyes. It immediately raised its hand, calculated the formula, and triggered a small explosion right where the arrow was, deflecting it toward the equally prepared Herta and Ruan Mei.
Herta and Ruan Mei likewise raised their hands, using their own power to create continuous explosions, volleying the arrow back and forth.
After a few volleys, the arrow's speed went from being clearly visible to the naked eye to a blurry white afterimage.
Finally, Herta seized an opportunity and blasted the arrow straight toward Silver Wolf.
Swoosh!
Before Silver Wolf could even react, the group heard the sound of shattering armor, and Silver Wolf's figure vanished from where she stood.
Half a second later, Silver Wolf reappeared on the respawn bed, an arrow sticking out of her head.
Fu Zhu couldn't help but laugh and snap his fingers.
"Perfect."
---o---
PS: This concludes the updates for the Simulated Universe arc. This is the first update.