Chapter 38: Declaration of War! Someone Declared War!

  （0038）

  Actually, receiving too many sounds with your ears is not always a good thing. Because you may not be able to distinguish which sounds are useful and which ones are useless. You may not be able to judge valuable information from the chaotic noise. However, as long as he locks onto his listening target, no matter what others around him say, he can hear it.

  Those who come to Rolling Stone Bar for a drink are naturally soldiers from the Mengliao Military Base. Most of them wear uniforms and badges, only a few wear casual clothes without badges. Xia Xingxiao took a glance and found that most of them were second-class soldiers. There were also several first-class soldiers. As for third-class soldiers, so far, there was only one - him.

  Xia Xing listened for a while, and soon understood the general idea. Most of the soldiers who came to the Rolling Stone Bar, apart from drinking to relieve their boredom, also had another very important purpose, which was to come for the legendary merit points.

  Rolling Stone Bar, it's not just about selling booze, but also has a bit of a task guild meaning. Some people come here to post tasks, while others come to take on tasks. The bar owner, Droba, also moonlights as the task guild president. Whether you're posting or taking on tasks, you can directly find him in person. As an intermediary, he doesn't charge any fees.

  Xia Xingxiao is not interested in earning merit points for the time being. His current martial arts skills are basically at a small success level, still far from the great success level, and he's not in a hurry. Only when all his martial arts skills have reached the realm of great perfection will he need to use merit points to upgrade to a higher level. He still has enough time to accumulate merit points.

  However, the emergence of the merit value reminded Xia Xingxiao. He suddenly felt that his future days might not be easy to pass. At first, he was rushing towards the goal of making trouble for himself, and at once, he poured hundreds of kinds of martial arts into his own sea of recognition, resulting in a twist of fate, contrary to his wishes, and instead, it had already made him have the abnormal strength he has now.

  But now, with the practice of over a hundred martial arts under the guidance of the mysterious pearl, things have become more complicated. Because he has learned so many martial arts, and each one requires a significant amount of merit points to advance to higher levels. The cumulative merit points required for these hundreds of martial arts will be enormous.

  Other skills can be ignored, and you can choose to learn them. If the value of merit is not enough, you can postpone learning or simply not learn. However, the 33 kinds of internal strength must all be learned. Because these 33 kinds of internal strength are now mixed together, indistinguishable from each other. Lacking any one item will cause other internal strengths to make no progress.

  This principle is just like a wooden barrel made up of thirty-three wooden boards. As long as any one of them is missing, the water in the barrel cannot continue to rise. Therefore, no matter what, he must learn the second layer of these thirty-three inner skills. Otherwise, his inner skill cultivation will forever remain at the first level and be unable to advance even an inch.

  As for other kung fu, most of it needs to be learned. Without these skills, even if one's internal energy is strong, it cannot be effectively utilized. He can refuse to be a stupid monk like Jueyuan, having only internal energy but not understanding any hand-to-hand combat techniques.

  It's like the Big Dipper Fist and the Dragon Subduing Eighteen Palms, which must be learned. Otherwise, when fighting with others, he won't be able to find a suitable martial art. In his estimation, before being promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, these two martial arts will be his main attacking methods.

  The Six Pulse Divine Sword, the Nine Character True Words, and the Esoteric Sect's Great Hand Seal must also be learned. Because these martial arts are extremely powerful when cultivated to a high level, they are absolutely the first choice for killing people and plundering goods, as well as robbing homes and shops. Moreover, large-scale attack martial arts like the Lion's Roar and the Azure Sea Tide Song cannot be abandoned either. Those are the best choices for displaying one's dominance and aura.

  As for the indestructible diamond skills, golden bell cover, and iron cloth shirt defensive martial arts, they are also indispensable. These are his life-saving techniques. Without these life-saving techniques, it's estimated that if someone were to punch him, he would be blown up on the spot. And various flight techniques must also be learned. Otherwise, once there is danger, even running away will not be possible.

  The second layer of most martial skills requires merit points ranging from 1,000 to 5,000. The third layer requires merit points between 10,000 and 50,000. The fourth, fifth, and sixth layers follow the same pattern, with each layer requiring ten times more merit points than the previous one. If Xia Xingxiao wants to learn the second layer of all martial skills, he needs to accumulate at least three million merit points.

  "This is paralyzed, this time it really buried itself." Xia Xingxiao finally found that his own chaotic twists and turns had finally gotten himself into some real trouble.

  According to the information he heard from others, killing a third-level demon beast with a crystal core of about fifth-grade would only yield 225 merit points. Wanting more was absolutely impossible. Because there were clear regulations regarding the calculation of merit points.

  The merit value of the demon beast crystal core is calculated as the square of the demon beast level, multiplied by the square of the crystal core grade (3*3*5*5=225). To accumulate 300,000 merit points, you almost have to kill 2,000 three-level demon beasts. Because no one can guarantee how many grades of demon beast crystal cores they will get. Maybe there is only one grade, and it's all in vain. Therefore, accumulating 300,000 merit points is absolutely not an easy task.

  Using this calculation method, even if you kill a 23rd-level demon beast and obtain the highest 9th-grade crystal core, the merit value obtained is only 42849 points. However, the merit value required to cultivate the 6th layer of martial arts is between 10 million and 50 million. Adding up over a hundred types of martial arts, that's at least 3 billion!

  30 billion! What a concept? I estimate that even if we kill all the demon beasts in the starry sky, we won't be able to accumulate 30 billion merit points! Moreover, what kind of strength does a level 20-30 demon beast have? Probably only a few people know. If we're lucky enough to encounter one, it's still unclear whether we'll be the ones killing the demon beast or being killed by it.

  Apart from killing monsters, it's all about completing various tasks. Within the federal army, there are many tasks that need to be completed by subordinate soldiers. Many soldiers in the bar accumulate experience points through this method. However, easily completed tasks usually don't have much merit value. And tasks with more merit value are difficult to complete. Finding a suitable task for oneself that also yields a good harvest is not an easy thing to do.

  "Special Report! Special Report! The Aurora Empire has declared war on the Harilan Empire!"

  Suddenly, someone flew in from outside the bar, shouting loudly as he fell to the ground. Before he even landed, the Starry Sky Vision had already been switched to Channel 233 News. It was clear that everyone inside the bar was still very concerned about the Starry Sky War. There was no way around it - once the war spread, as soldiers, they would definitely have to go onto the battlefield. And once on the battlefield, whether or not they could return alive... only heaven knew.

  "Breaking news! Breaking news! Our frontline reporter has just sent back the latest message from the front line! The Commander-in-Chief of the First Legion of the Chao Hui Empire, Lyu Qiao Da Yuan Shuai, has officially declared war on the Harlan Empire! He publicly stated that the First Legion of the Chao Hui Empire will enter a state of full-scale war with the Harlan Empire from today..." The announcer's sharp voice came through.

  What Xia Xingxiao and others saw was not the scene of Lv Qiao declaring war, but the scene of the Imperial Army of Chao Hui and the Imperial Army of Hari Lan fighting. In the holographic image, all the warships, fighter jets, mechs and cultivators of the Imperial Army of Chao Hui were deployed. The predators of the Empire of Hari Lan were also densely packed, with no end in sight.

  It can be imagined that with Lv Que's formal declaration of war, the gunsmoke of the Starry Sky War will definitely become more intense. Since Lv Que has openly declared war, there will definitely be many people who follow suit. For example, Dong Henma, the commander-in-chief of the Second Legion of the Imperial Dawn Empire, will definitely follow suit. Because his relationship with Lv Que is basically like wearing the same pants.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  "Sure enough, a while later, the announcer began to say: '...According to the latest news, Commander Dong Ganma of the Second Legion of the Chaohui Empire has publicly stated that he will actively support the First Legion's declaration of war against the Harilan Empire...'".

  The scene cuts back to the battlefield where both sides are fighting, and indeed, the flames of war are burning fiercely, and human lives are as fragile as grass. In such a large-scale battle, human life is really too fragile. Except for cultivators, other human armies have casualties in the tens of thousands. Because even if one warship is lost, it can cause the death of several thousand people.

  Starlight warships are all huge objects, with the smallest tonnage exceeding 1 million tons. The operating personnel inside the warship are at least over 3,000 people. This is still the smallest fifth-level warship. If it's the largest first-level warship or even a more powerful super battleship, the weight would be in tens of billions of tons, with operating personnel exceeding 100,000 people. Losing such a super warship would be even more unbearable.

  Someone suddenly said in a low voice, "Lü Qiāo declaring war on his own is a bit strange! Declaring war on the enemy should be a national affair, shouldn't it? It should be done by the government. Can he, as a military commander, represent the imperial court? Some people used to say that the political situation of the Imperial Court of Dawn was unstable, and now it seems that's true!"

  Someone sneered, "What's so strange about this? The Emperor of the Aurora Empire died suddenly, and the new emperor who succeeded him is only five years old. This is simply ridiculous! Those powerful marshals and generals, how could they possibly listen to a child's words? Especially that Lü Qiáo, known as the bravest of the three armies, has killed countless people, and even the predators of Harilan would get a headache when encountering him. Such a freak, if he puts the young emperor in his eyes, it's strange! That Dong Xuanma is also a powerful hero! I think this time the Aurora Empire is in trouble!"