Chapter 1239
: A Combined Narrative Interference Game
Chapter 1239 Turn-Based Narrative Interference Game
On the throne of psychic powers, Xia Xiu looked at the red scar without much hesitation.
He raised his right hand, and a great spirituality spread from within him, golden-white light spreading along the throne circuit of Blackrock Fortress, then coalescing behind him into the outline of a miniature unknowable land.
[World Bubble - A Sky Overflowing with Eternal Light]
A white pedestal, a celestial lineage loop, a central glass tower… these things rose layer by layer from the depths of his spirituality, only to be forcibly compressed by him.
High Priestess Faira Ontius of the Eldar stood below the throne, his pupils slightly contracting.
She sensed something familiar in that fluctuation; more precisely, it was the fluctuation of [the upper narrator].
"This guy..."
Farah Antius spoke in a low voice, his fingers slowly tightening around the scepter, his heart filled with dread for Xia Xiu and even the Heavenly Kingdom.
She finally understood why the fourth swordsman of Heaven had said he didn't need to apply for the corresponding permissions from Heaven.
This fourth sword-bearer of the Kingdom of Heaven has incorporated the ability to interfere with civilizations, similar to the genealogical networks of the Spirit Race, into his own great spirituality.
This incident is enough to make the Second Otto reassess his partnership with the Heavenly Courtyard.
A Wonder Being who can control Blackrock Fortress, contain two world bubbles, and interfere with civilization narratives is a figure that the Eldar can hardly measure as merely a temporary partner.
The Eldar need to reassess the potential and even the danger level of Heaven and Hugh Abraham.
Xia Xiu clearly didn't care about her thoughts at the moment; he simply continued to compress [Eternal Light Overflowing the Sky].
The miniature unknowable land converged in his palm, the glass tower became the spine of the book, the angelic lineage loop became the page border, and the interface between the archives and the armory became the text base, finally coalescing into a [Narrative Book] with a platinum cover.
Xia Xiu raised his hand and pushed, and the [Narrative Book] flew out from in front of the Psionic Throne, passed through the outer shield of the Blackrock Fortress, and turned into a golden-white stream of light, directly crashing into the red scar inside the dimensional reduction blockade.
Farah Antius subconsciously looked up.
The book was not set ablaze by the flames of the Panglaus.
It's like an anchor from a higher narrative layer, cutting into the gap between the flames and the red hole, then exploding into a huge spatial ripple at the edge of the red scar.
……
……
Inside the red scar.
Flames filled the sky, and deep red cracks ran across the land. Floating lands, like shattered chessboards, floated on the dark ocean. In the distance, city-states, temples, towers, mines, docks, and battlefield ruins were interspersed among buildings from different stages of civilization.
A platinum book suddenly emerged from the ether.
Trailing a long, golden-white tail, it pierced through the outer layer of the red black hole like a comet and plunged into the sky of this miniature garden world.
boom--
Ripples spread across the sky.
The celestial globes of cities simultaneously went out of control, the fiery tides on the Red Sea reversed, several armies engaged in battle looked up at the same time, and even the agents of the Gate Empire hidden in different branches of the Gate Empire noticed the entry of a new foreign narrator at this moment.
At the same time, Xia Xiu's great spirituality fell into the red scar along the [Narrative Book].
He began to analyze the rules of this miniature garden.
The inside of a red scar is not synchronized with the outside time.
Each advancement of civilization here may only take a few seconds or minutes for the outside world, but for the internal civilization, it may have taken decades, hundreds of years, or even the rise and fall of an entire dynasty.
More importantly, the war here does not unfold exactly according to the usual timeline.
It's closer to a turn-based civilization game.
Each participant has their own narrative intervention round.
Each [upper-level narrator] possesses their own unique characteristics.
In its own turn, Gaia's consciousness can adjust ley lines, disasters, abundance, mineral veins, climate, and ecological pressures.
In its own cycle, Alaya consciousness can drive public sentiment, faith, the birth of heroes, collective fear, the intensity of war, and the choice of civilization.
During their turn, the Workin Collective can create Workin Empires, giant monsters, anomalous items, demons, and all sorts of negative aggregates.
During his turn, the Emperor of the Gate Empire can open gateways to spread cross-regional movement technology, suddenly enabling forces that should be separated by mountains, seas, and time to assassinate each other and launch expeditions.
The Eldar's narrative interference is accomplished through proxy civilizations.
In each round, they pushed the Mirror Tower Council, the Starfire Order, and the Observatory to continue expanding, researching, forming alliances, and waging war, attempting to guide the entire civilization of the Little Garden toward the outcome of "annihilating the Will of the Untouchables."
Now, Xia Xiu has his turn.
The moment the [Book of Narrative] fell, his [Avatar of the Upper Narrator] was acknowledged by the Red Scar, and the platinum pages unfolded in the sky of the miniature garden, becoming a new narrative seat.
[Analysis of the rules for red scars - in progress]
[The current internal civilization hierarchy has been confirmed.]
[Level 1: Prehistoric Primitive.]
[Tier 2: Tribal Fire Seed.]
[Tier 3: City-State Bronze.]
[Tier 4: Classical Kingdom.]
[Tier 5: Feudal Empire.]
[Tier 6: Steam Industry.]
[Seventh Order: Electrical Mechanics.]
[Eighth-order: fission atom.]
[Ninth Tier: Starry Sea Voyage Begins.]
[Tenth Rank: ...]
After the red scars were injected into the [Narrative Book], Xia Xiu quickly discovered that he had not directly fallen into the core area—the Battlefield of the Five Hundred Worlds.
That is currently the most intense civilization zone within the Red Scar, where five hundred unique worlds are like five hundred chess pieces embedded in the black and red sky, waging war against each other through the Star Sea Path, the Ancient Rift, and the Gate Empire's Gate Technology.
One part of the world has already entered the Age of Interstellar Voyage, with fleets, orbital ports, interstellar colonies, and world-class wonders intertwined, and wars have long since expanded from land and sea to between worlds.
Some civilizations have also been destroyed by the Wolverines.
Those worlds are now just blurry voids on the star map; their names, histories, flags, civilization leaders, and traces of their existence have all been erased, like a square forcibly removed from a chessboard.
Deep within the Five Hundred Worlds, Xia Xiu sensed the aura of a perfect embryo.
The aura was very clear, yet it was enveloped by a high-intensity narrative layer. The interstellar civilization war, the destiny path left by the Emperor of the Gate Empire, and the traces of the devouring by the Wo Wutu collective were all like chains pressing down on it.
[The Book of Narrative] has just entered the scene and is not yet able to directly intervene in narratives at this level.
So, following another, weaker but more accessible trace of the [Black Mark], it bypassed the main battlefield of the Five Hundred Worlds and landed inside a relatively low-intensity battlefield of civilization within the red scar.
The highest level of civilization here is only the Classic Kingdom era.
A massive river flows through the center of the continent, with several kingdoms, city-state alliances, and priestly states scattered along its banks. Bronze and iron tools coexisted, and cavalry, chariots, archers, heavy infantry, and early siege weapons constituted the main war forces of this era.
On the psychic throne, Xia Xiu frowned as he turned the pages of the [Narrative Book]. On the pages, the rules of red scars were emerging line by line.
[Current rotation order confirmed.]
[Gaia's consciousness round has ended.]
[The Alaya-vijnana cycle is in progress.]
[The group of Wo Wutu: Next sequence.]
[The Emperor of the Gate Empire's turn: Awaiting.]
[Ling Clan Genealogy Online Round-Based: Awaiting.]
[Hugh Abraham, the Fourth Swordholder of Heaven: Connected, awaiting first action.]
Looking at these contents, Xia Xiu was at a loss for words, unsure where to begin his critique.
At this moment, on this battlefield of civilization, Gaia's consciousness has just completed the adjustment of terrain, resources, and disasters; Alaya consciousness is driving the hearts, beliefs, war sentiments, and heroic destinies of various nations; the Wowutu collective will unleash primitive savage monsters in the next round; and the Emperor of the Men Empire is waiting to begin city-state construction.
The Eldar genealogical network is also waiting for the round to begin.
The proxy forces they support will likely continue to push forward with diplomatic, religious, military, and technological policies in their own turn, attempting to guide this civilization of the classical kingdom era along the path they have set.
As for Xia Xiu, he has just entered the game.
[The Narrative Book] gave him very limited operational privileges in the first round.
[Currently available actions:]
[I. Observing Local Civilizations.]
[II. Selecting an Initial Spokesperson.]
[III. Recording the Gaps in Civilization.]
[IV. Distribute low-intensity narrative seeds.] [V. Take no action for now, wait for the next round.]
Xia Xiu looked at the fifth option and his lips twitched slightly.
"You actually made it a turn-based game?"
Although Xia Xiu sensed a strange, perverse pleasure, he patiently waited for his turn, following the narrative interference rules within the red scar.
The Gaia consciousness ended its turn first. Instead of directly intervening in the war, it adjusted the dry season of the grasslands, causing the water veins of the northern grasslands to shift eastward. At the same time, it fostered the emergence of the nascent elven tribe in an ancient forest, suddenly giving rise to a new civilization skilled in archery, herbalism, and nature rituals in this region that originally consisted only of wild beasts and barren forests.
Alaya consciousness promoted the integration of several tribes, bringing together several prestigious hunter kings, priests, and caravan leaders in the same valley. This led to the originally loose clans gathering around the ferry crossings, granaries, and altars, and several city-states began to take shape on both sides of the river.
The Wutu group also acted obediently according to the turn rules. They created a tyrant in the southern wasteland. After receiving an abnormal dream revelation, the tyrant began to wage war and forcibly conscript slaves, build black iron chariots, construct flesh and blood altars, and use corrupted rituals to create deformed monsters, attempting to drag all the surrounding small countries into his rule through war and fear.
The actions of the Emperor of the Gate Empire were the most outrageous.
This BYD has turned farming into a personal game.
He abandoned conventional intervention at the level of civilization, neither supporting the state nor promoting municipal and technological development. Instead, he selected a fallen nobleman, stuffed his mind with corrupted supernatural knowledge, and enabled that person to establish the rudiments of esoteric Buddhism, which began to spread the worship of the path among various city-states.
While others are farming, this guy is just a troublemaker.
The Eldar genealogy network is the most disciplined. They continue to support their chosen proxy civilization, promote technological and municipal development, and revise the military and granary systems, attempting to use the most stable method to push this civilization from a tribal alliance into a true classical city-state.
After all these rounds were over, it was finally Xia Xiu's turn.
After thinking it over, Xiu decided to take the safest approach – observing the local civilization.
The next moment, the first page of the [Book of Narratives] slowly unfolded, and lines of platinum text appeared.
[Action Confirmed: Observation of Local Civilization]
[Analysis of Civilization Names in Progress]
[Current Civilization Stage: Tribal Fire]
[Currently selected tribe: The Weaklings.]
[Civilization Type: Exiled Nomadic Tribe]
[Tribal Chief: Mogar.]
Population: 2.
[Note: The population here is an abstract narrative unit, not a real number of people.]
One population roughly represents a small clan capable of stable support, migration, combat, and reproduction. Currently, two populations are roughly equivalent to two to three hundred tribal members, including adult hunters, women and children, the elderly, the wounded, servants, and a small number of dependents.
[Economy: 11-1.]
[Note: Currently, there are eleven units of disposable wealth. Each civilization cycle will see a fixed decrease of one unit due to migration, illness, interruption of tribute, and livestock losses.]
[Food: 4-1.]
[Note: Currently, there are four units of stored grain. Each cycle, one unit is reduced due to famine, livestock deaths, and inefficient harvesting.]
[Technology: 5.]
[Religion: 10+2.]
[Note: The initial base faith value is 10. This cycle, an additional +2 is gained due to the appearance of the "Divine Child". Subsequent cycles will see a base increase of +1.]
[Extraordinary: 5.]
Production: 3.
[Military: 2.]
[Buildings: 3.]
Xia Xiu looked at the data and raised an eyebrow slightly.
This start isn't bad, it's more like it's on its deathbed.
The economy is losing money every turn, food is running out every turn, productivity is so low that it can barely repair tents, the military consists of only two old, weak and disabled soldiers, and the entire tribe is still in exile. If it encounters a drought, an attack, or a plague, it may be forced to exit the stage of civilization.
The pages continued to turn downwards.
[City Tree: Unlocked - Clan Council, Hearth Pact, Loot Distribution.]
[City Tree: To be unlocked—Totem Laws, Elder Covenant, Migration Routes, Tribal Alliance, Early Form of Royal Authority.]
[Technology Tree: Unlocked - Fire Preservation, Stone Tool Polishing, Animal Hide Sewing, Simple Traps.]
[Technology Tree: To be unlocked—Livestock domestication, pottery making, archery, wheeled transport, bronze smelting.]
[Military Units: 1 Remnant Spear Hunter, 1 Lean Horse Scout.]
[Buildings and Facilities: Central fire pit x1, Leather tent complex x1, Meat drying rack x1.]
[Narrative Anchoring: The Weaklings are a dying, exiled tribe. Originally belonging to the Ebony tribes of the northern grasslands, they were driven from the main pastures due to priestly infighting and responsibility for defeat.]
Having lost their water sources, livestock, and the protection of their ancestral spirits, they were forced to migrate along the edge of the red sand desert, surviving on game, wild fruit, dead horse meat, and small amounts of looting.
[The tribal chief, Mogar, was once the youngest hunter king among the Ebony tribes, but now he is left with only a lame leg, a chipped bone spear, and a broken clan that could fall apart at any moment.]
Soon, the narrative phases began to be generated automatically.
[Narrative Phase: The Seventeenth Day of the Exile Era.]
The tribe of the Weak discovered an unusual infant on the edge of the Red Sand Wasteland.
The baby was found wrapped in charred animal hide, with no parents, cart tracks, footprints, or any tribal markings around it, only a ring of sand scorched to a glassy state by the intense heat.
Chief Mogar originally intended to hand the baby over to the old witch doctor, but the infant underwent an unusual development from newborn to child over seventeen days and nights.
Mogar believed this was a spark bestowed upon him by his ancestral spirits during his exile, and thus named him Roger.
Upon seeing this name, the [Black Seal] within Xia Xiu's body throbbed once more.
This time, it was even clearer than before.
Luo Jia was also one of the perfect embryos within the red scar, and a newborn little one at that.
The four monarchs somehow managed to make perfect embryos "spawn" in some strange places. The first few children at least had an entire world as their stage, but for Luo Jia, not only did he start as an infant, but he was also born into a nearly starving exiled tribe.
However, this old father has finally met a child he can accompany as he grows up, which means he can "raise" this child.
Xia Xiu looked at the contents above and fell into a brief state of contemplation.
The rules of this Red Scar do indeed resemble a turn-based system, where each intervenor has to obediently wait for their turn and intervene in the narrative according to the rules. However, their own [superior annotations] seem to allow for a slight, albeit minor, boost.
This cheat wasn't for myself, but for Luo Jia, so it doesn't count as me cheating and violating the rules.
Xia Xiu simply opened the [Book of Narrative] and gently wrote a note below the narrative anchor point of [The Mysterious Child].
[Note from the upper level: Luo Jia's abnormal growth was interpreted by the weakened tribe as proof that "the ancestral fire is still burning."]
[Note from the upper level: The exile route of the weak tribe is recorded as a pilgrimage in search of a new hearth.]
[Note from the higher-ranking official: Chief Mogar's adoption of Roja was regarded by the tribal elders as a legitimate oath to continue the lineage of the tribe.]
[The Book of Narrative] continues to refresh.
[Event: Luo Jia has been spotted.]
[Exceptional +1.]
[Religion +2.]
[Narrative anchor point generation: The Mystic Child.]
[Narrative Assessment: The Weakling Tribe was originally destined to collapse within three civilization cycles due to famine, internal strife, and attacks by grassland raiders, but the arrival of Rhoja allowed their leader, Mogar, to regain his authority.]
The old men believed he was a sign of the return of their ancestors; women and children saw him as a new flame on the road to exile; and hunters began to swear oaths in his name, believing that as long as this child lived, the weak still had a chance to return to the grasslands.
"Okay, if you can give me special treatment, then there's a lot more to do next."
Xia Xiu thought to himself that it wasn't really cheating; he was just using the game rules normally—the rules didn't say he couldn't add his own settings or sneak in turns.
I don't think you said anything or announced any violations.
So he continued to secretly use the [superior annotation] to give himself extra lessons, secretly adding turns for himself, and writing the content of those turns himself.
[Currently available actions:]
[I. Granting Luo Jia a dream.]
II. Strengthen Mogar's prestige.
[III. Guiding Tribal Migration Routes.]
[IV. The Miracle of Deploying a Low-Intensity Fire.]
[V. Take no action for now and wait for the narrative to unfold naturally.]
After Lao Xia finished writing, he couldn't help but laugh at himself.