"Whale, show us what you've got!"
"Brother Seven Hundred Million, I'll even call you Daddy! Can you just stop messing around?!"
"Big bro, can you please stop grinding dungeons and just raise your Combat Power?!"
Another week passed. In the World Channel of *Tower Defense of Ten Thousand Realms*, countless players rapidly spammed the chat with complaints.
For the entire week, "Skyrocketing" remained in first place on the Combat Power leaderboard, his score still leading the second place by a massive margin. However, what truly broke the players' minds was the sheer amount of money they were losing.
A week ago, Brother Kaipan—the guy who allegedly had his bank broken, was flamed all over the Forum and game, and was reportedly chased by debt collectors in real life—opened a new betting pool. This time, he went all out, adjusting the odds to utterly unbelievable extremes.
To everyone's surprise, Brother Kaipan also made it onto the game's Combat Power leaderboard. Judging by his Combat Power increase, some deduced that he had topped up at least two million. Due to the crazy odds and his massive surge in Combat Power, combined with rumors that he had paid off all his previous debts, many players decided to bet on his new pool.
When people realized Brother Kaipan was actually paying out the high-stakes bets, a massive swarm of followers rushed in to place their wagers. However, over the next six days, they were completely wiped out. Everyone who placed a bet lost everything!
It wasn't that Brother Kaipan scammed them out of their bets. Rather, "Skyrocketing"—the number one player on the Combat Power leaderboard—played completely unconventionally. His Combat Power increases made absolutely no sense. He would gain ten thousand Combat Power one day, jump by nine million the next, and drop by thirty thousand the day after that. He was entirely unpredictable, and no one could guess correctly!
As a result, Brother Kaipan, acting as the dealer, won all the chips. This caused many people to suffer mental breakdowns, with some even threatening to report the whole operation to the disciplinary authorities.
Of course, some players shouted that Brother Kaipan was a shill for Skyrocketing, working together to steal everyone's money. However, this rumor quickly fell apart. The man had already topped up hundreds of millions in the game; why would he care about scamming a few million from other players? It had to be a joke!
Unable to stir up any real drama, the numerous players who had failed their bets multiple times could only vent their frustration in the Game World channel.
***
"Phew." After lazing at home for a week, playing games every day, Shen Fei took a deep breath and logged back in.
He completely ignored the various megaphone shout-outs directed at him on the screen. He had seen enough of those messages. He had spent this entire week running various dungeons. He cleared the Heaven-Reaching Tower over and over again. Using Acceleration Scrolls, he farmed thousands of the highest-level Secret Realms.
He had even tackled some duo and team Secret Realms with Sun Yu. The slightly chubby Sun Yu had already returned to Qing City and frequently came over to hang out whenever he was free. Shen Fei knew that Sun Yu used his real-life knowledge of Shen Fei's daily plans to estimate his Combat Power growth, which he then used to run betting pools on the game Forum. But Shen Fei simply couldn't be bothered to care.
Upon his return, Sun Yu had initially advised Shen Fei not to top up so much money. In response, Shen Fei topped up five million into Sun Yu's account. Sun Yu immediately shut up and enthusiastically embraced the perks. Just a day ago, Sun Yu paid him back six million—money he had entirely won from running those betting pools on the game Forum.
Over the past week, Shen Fei had deposited all one billion into the game, but he hadn't spent it all. So far, he had only used a little over seven hundred million. His main focus for the week was running dungeons to farm Tower Master skills. He had just selected the five skills he wanted to learn from the massive pile he had accumulated:
[Ten Thousand Linked Bonds: Different Defense Towers can generate Bond effects, with no limit on quantity or distance.]
[Enlarge and Reduce: Can shrink or enlarge the size of items, including but not limited to Defense Towers.]
[Damage Sharing: Damage taken by a Defense Tower is shared among all units.]
[Skill Cloning: Can copy a skill from Defense Tower A to Defense Tower B.]
[Flying Skill: Grants the Tower Master the ability to fly.]
***
Shen Fei finalized his five new skills. Their descriptions looked simple, but their effects were definitely anything but. He had meticulously chosen them from thousands of options.
Take "Ten Thousand Linked Bonds," for instance. Once learned, all the Defense Towers under his command would generate complex Bond effects—and the number of these effects could reach into the tens of thousands! For example, the Ghost Tower and the Canglang Summoning Tower could form the "Wailing Ghosts and Howling Wolves" Bond, boosting their Comprehensive Combat Power by ten percent and increasing damage to soul-type enemies by thirty percent.
The Canglang Tower could also link with the Black Tiger Tower, Cheetah Tower, and others to form the "Stampede of Ten Thousand Beasts" Bond, enhancing Combat Power while dealing extra damage to beast-type enemies. Meanwhile, the Stone-Throwing Tower and the Flame Tower could form the "Endless Artillery Fire" Bond, raising their respective Comprehensive Combat Power.
The 612 Defense Towers under his command cross-linked and merged to produce several thousand Bonds. The combined effects of these Bonds multiplied the overall Combat Power of his Defense Towers several times over.
There were also many Bonds that didn't increase Combat Power but offered special utility. For instance, the Zhongkui Tower and the Mist Tower could create a dream-illusion enchantment effect, while the Zhongkui Tower and the Red-clothed Female Ghost Tower could trigger a "Devouring Ghosts and Controlling Souls" effect. And all of this came from the effect of a single skill: Ten Thousand Linked Bonds.
The second skill, "Enlarge and Reduce," was even more powerful. This skill could alter the volume of all his possessions. It could enlarge a three-meter-tall Defense Tower to three thousand meters, or shrink it down to a mere three centimeters. Beyond modifying his Defense Towers, the skill even applied to his Tower-Carrying Beast, Black Tortoise. Through this ability, the Super Holy Beast Xuanwu could grow to dozens of kilometers in size or shrink down to fit in the palm of his hand.
In short, all five of the rare skills he painstakingly selected were incredibly powerful.
"Skills learned. Next up: the homeland and Gemstones!" Tapping quickly to acquire the five skills, Shen Fei simultaneously planned out his next moves.
A week had passed, leaving only two days until April Fool's Day 2024. He still had two major areas where he needed to continue investing his funds.
*WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!*
As he clicked to learn the five Skill Books, Shen Fei's Combat Power began to surge upward once again. The potent effects of these skills directly propelled his Combat Power to two hundred million. Meanwhile, the second-place player, Taiyi Zhenren, only had nine million Combat Power.
Unsurprised by the explosive growth in his Combat Power, Shen Fei smiled faintly and shifted his gaze to his homeland.
Over the past week, he had given all the miscellaneous loot farmed from dungeons to his homeland's steward, Sky Control. Sky Control had undergone a complete transformation. Fueled by tens of millions' worth of resources pumped in by Shen Fei, her Combat Power alone had reached twenty million.
An NPC Hero possessed a Combat Power higher than Taiyi Zhenren, the second-ranked player on the leaderboard. Once NPCs invaded reality in the future, Sky Control would become a tremendously powerful asset for him.
***
[Name: Sky Control]
[Race: Fox Ming Race]
[Talent: Orange (Max)]
[Loyalty: Die-hard (Max)]
[Tier: Eighth Tier, Seven Rank]
[Skills: Sky Control, Fox Charm, Defense Tower Series, Rapid Fire, Check for Gaps and Fill Them]
[Talent: Eye of Insight]
[Crystal: Rainbow Carrot (Special Type)]
[Defense Towers: Tenth Tier Defense Tower × 11, Ninth Tier Defense Tower × 23, Eighth Tier Defense Tower × 171, Seventh Tier Defense Tower...]
[Combat Power: 21,394,677]
[Description 1: If the Crystal shatters or the Master dies, Sky Control will die instantly!]
[Description 2: Aura-type skills can be shared between the Tower Master and the Steward.]
***
Opening Sky Control's Attribute panel, Shen Fei reviewed it slowly. He noted that her level had reached the Eighth Tier and that she had maxed out all five of her skill slots. Aside from her innate skills, "Sky Control" and "Fox Charm," she had learned three Defense Tower-related skills.
Although he couldn't interfere with Sky Control's leveling up, Defense Tower construction, or skill selection, the massive accumulation of resources had propelled her Combat Power to twenty million. It was absolutely broken for a Hero-like steward to have a Comprehensive Combat Power higher than Taiyi Zhenren!
Additionally, Shen Fei noticed that he and Sky Control could share Aura-type skills, such as the Range Aura and the Attack Power Aura.
"Hm?" Just as he was about to test Sky Control's Combat Power, Shen Fei suddenly froze. His gaze locked onto the system text that abruptly popped up...