Chapter 237: Cersia's Promotion to Calamity-level, the Advantage Is Mine
“Next, let Bai Fu personally introduce the current situation and future development direction of Dark Moon Tide!”
Andras clapped with a smile.
Amid the applause, Bai Fu walked to the front of the meeting room in black high heels, a confident smile playing on her lips, stopping in front of the enormous virtual screen.
Her appearance instantly livened up the meeting room.
In this era of extremely developed information, even ordinary people from the far edges of the Edge Worlds had likely heard of Bai Fu violently thrashing the Calamity Legion. Let alone the board members of Origin Consortium, who frequently invested in Psionicists.
Once the news broke, anyone on the board of Origin Consortium who didn’t have direct conflict with Andras couldn’t help but beam with joy.
Andras’s successful investment in Bai Fu was good news for him personally, but even better news for the development of the Origin Consortium.
It had been a long time since the Origin Consortium found a new growth point. Now that they’d suddenly bet on a supernova like Bai Fu, as long as she didn’t meet with any accidents, it was foreseeable that the investment returns over the next few years would look incredibly attractive.
One had to remember—Bai Fu wasn’t alone. She commanded several million Undying Ones.
They were bound to become a new calling card for the Origin Consortium, bringing countless advantages!
“With Bai Fu’s development so rapid, it seems there’s no need for us to recklessly interfere in the internal conflicts of the Taim Civilization just to seek another growth point in the short term.”
“I feel the same way. The situation in the Taim Civilization remains unclear. Rushing in could carry enormous risks. If things go wrong, it might even ruin the nearly thousand-year legacy of the Origin Consortium.”
“If you and I are already in agreement, then let’s politely reject the olive branch extended by Hampton.”
Discussions about Bai Fu and the Taim Civilization were held privately within the meeting room—outsiders had no way of knowing the exact contents of the conversations.
But Hampton wasn’t a fool.
Just from observing everyone’s expressions, he knew his plan to pressure Andras and force him to step down during the meeting had completely fallen through.
Damn you!
Hampton’s blood boiled, his face turning red like a monkey’s butt.
Noticing his abnormal complexion, Andras, who’d been dying to strangle him, naturally wouldn’t miss this opportunity and immediately “consoled” him: “Mr. Hampton, you don’t look well. Could it be you're feeling unwell? If so, be sure to see a doctor early. Should anything happen to you, the Origin Consortium would lose a formidable general.”
Already suffering a crushing defeat, Hampton didn’t want to further embarrass himself.
He forcibly suppressed his fury and claimed he was fine—just a little excited seeing the famous Bai Fu in person for the first time.
“You know, my granddaughter is a fan of Bai Fu. She’s been pestering me to get her an autographed photo.”
“Really? I’m flattered, Mr. Hampton,” Bai Fu replied cheerfully. “Just an autograph? Mr. Hampton, I’ll give you a whole stack after the meeting!”
“Thank you very much.”
Hampton felt like his heart was bleeding.
Who the hell wants Bai Fu’s autograph photos!
Forget it, forget it.
Once he got those photos, he’d sell them. That way, at least he could fleece a bit off Bai Fu!
After the brief exchange, Bai Fu began to talk about Dark Moon Tide’s current state and future development plans.
She intended to build at least one base in every galaxy cluster of the Edge Worlds and aimed to turn Dark Moon Tide into the largest private armed company in the Edge Worlds within five years. It would become the flagship investment of the Origin Consortium, providing security services.
Empty promises, huh?
That was Bai Fu’s specialty.
In the past, everyone would’ve thought she was bluffing. But now that even the Calamity Legion had been routed by her, the board of the Origin Consortium happily swallowed the bait.
You’re amazing. You’re a saint. You’re a queen. Everything you say is right!
Bai Fu had clearly become the sole focus of the internal meeting.
As for the Taim Civilization, even Hampton didn’t bring it up again—naturally, neither did anyone else.
Once the empty promises had been painted sufficiently, Bai Fu also pointed her sword at the Calamity Legion.
The Calamity Legion had ambushed her mid-route. Even without the Origin Consortium’s help, she wouldn’t have let this scourge go. Now that she had a chance to pull in Origin Consortium support and disgust Hampton in the process, she was full of motivation.
“Are we going all-out against the Calamity Legion?”
The meeting room briefly fell silent as everyone weighed the pros and cons.
Bai Fu actually didn’t need much support—just two things:
A three-year low-interest loan and intelligence support from the Origin Consortium.
Supporting Bai Fu would mean the Origin Consortium stood fully against the Calamity Legion. If she didn’t eliminate them quickly, the consortium could suffer losses.
The Calamity Legion weren’t gentle folks. They were deeply vengeful and might bite back even knowing they weren’t a match for the consortium.
But if they didn’t support Bai Fu, the newly built relationship might crack. If another consortium swooped in and snatched Bai Fu away...
On second thought, better to support her.
If Bai Fu truly took down the Calamity Legion, they could use this to strengthen ties with other factions that had previous conflicts with the Calamity Legion.
There’s no investment without risk.
As long as the returns were high enough, risk was just some light wind and frost!
Andras took the lead in supporting Bai Fu. Then, others one by one raised their hands in agreement.
Finally, Andras turned his gaze toward Hampton. “Mr. Hampton, what are your thoughts?”
“I…”
Hampton’s face had turned liver-colored.
He had just joined forces with the Calamity Legion to deal with Bai Fu. Now that the Calamity Legion had been beaten to a pulp by her, he was turning around to support Bai Fu in fighting them? Even if Bloodthorn understood he had no choice, with Bloodthorn’s temperament, he’d still surely hold a grudge.
Bloodthorn’s Grudge Notebook—
Bai Fu.
Scarlet Leaf.
Hampton.
Damn it, is there no justice?
He’d maneuvered himself right into a pit, hadn’t he?
It was all Bloodthorn’s fault for that bastard talk big, saying he’d definitely kill Bai Fu. Oh wait, Bloodthorn didn’t have a horse anymore—never mind then.
Once again, Hampton forcibly swallowed his fury.
He put on a sincere smile: “As a board member of the Origin Consortium, I will of course support it for the good of the consortium.”
Great, passed with overwhelming approval!
Andras felt as refreshed as spring wind, as if he’d suddenly become several years younger.
He picked up where Bai Fu left off and began reflecting on the Origin Consortium’s past while looking forward to its future.
“With everyone’s joint efforts, I hope one day the Origin Consortium will become the largest consortium in the Edge Worlds!”
Clap clap clap—
Amid enthusiastic applause, the internal meeting came to a close. But the undercurrents hidden within the meeting were only growing stronger.
As soon as the meeting ended, Hampton and the other members of the Taim faction, Bai Fu and Andras’s faction, all gathered for separate talks.
The Taim faction discussed how to handle Bloodthorn and how to proceed with the Taim Civilization partnership.
Hampton was shaking with rage, but after careful thought, he decided he couldn’t sever ties with the Calamity Legion just yet. If Bloodthorn bit back before dying, it would be trouble.
“Two Calamity-level members died at once. Bloodthorn is likely furious. It won’t be easy to talk to him.”
“I’ll offer him a bargaining chip he can’t refuse.”
The bargaining chip Hampton mentioned was the formula for the Rose Blossom Potion.
Originally, this formula was supposed to be handed over only after Bloodthorn completed his task. But to keep Bloodthorn firmly on his side, he had no choice but to sacrifice a bit.
In addition to the Rose Blossom Potion formula, he also promised to promptly update Bloodthorn on Bai Fu’s movements.
“Bai Fu is your enemy and mine. Let’s join forces and use this chance to eliminate her once and for all. Avenge your fallen brothers and sisters!”
Before this talk, Bloodthorn had truly come to hate Hampton as well.
But when he saw Hampton straightforwardly send over the Rose Blossom Potion formula, his anger diminished by more than half.
“Alright.” Bloodthorn’s expression turned savage. “You and I are grasshoppers tied to the same rope now. At a time like this, don’t even think about slacking off. If you try to back out later, it’ll be too late for regrets!”
His words were filled with menace. What could Hampton do? He couldn’t get angry. He could only agree.
Damn it, in all these years, today was the best his temper had ever been. He didn’t dare lash out at anyone.
This was all Bai Fu’s fault!
Bloodthorn's thoughts weren’t much different from Hampton’s.
It was all Bai Fu’s fault!
Just a few hours ago, he was still worrying about how to eliminate Bai Fu. Now that he had the formula for the Rose Blossom Potion, this was no longer a problem.
“Bai Fu’s current strength is about the same as mine, but once I use the Rose Blossom Potion, she’ll have no choice but to be crushed under my foot. Hah, trying to use the Origin Consortium’s power to kill me?”
A crimson glow flickered in Bloodthorn’s eyes.
Counting him in, the Calamity Legion still had four Calamity-level members. Compared to Bai Fu’s side, it was still 4v4, but their “4” would be significantly stronger than Bai Fu’s “4.”
This time, the advantage was truly on their side.
What a pity that to gain this advantage, he lost two close comrades he’d fought alongside for decades.
“Aldrich, Qing Li, I’ll bring Bai Fu’s corpse to your graves as an offering!”
While Bloodthorn urgently gathered the ingredients to produce the Rose Blossom Potion, Bai Fu and Andras were also carefully discussing the details of dealing with the Calamity Legion.
Bai Fu was still quite confident in crushing the Calamity Legion. After all, she still had over two billion XP unspent. Pouring that in could boost her power by at least 20 to 30 percent, and if luck favored her with rare Prayer Cards or Skills, the increase could be even greater.
Also, after six months of close companionship with Yulia, her Heart of the Apostle was nearing the sixth layer. At that point, she’d gain another 160 Inspiration.
“The advantage is mine!”
To push the advantage further, Bai Fu specifically requested Andras to help her keep an eye out for rare Prayer Card blueprints, unique Psionic techniques, and Psionicists of A-rank or above.
Returning in triumph, Andras didn’t hesitate to agree to Bai Fu’s request.
Everything could be said, everything could be negotiated!
The only issue was that Andras worried during battle with the Calamity Legion, if Hampton and others were truly connected to the legion, they would secretly pass on intel.
“Let them leak it. If they leak it, then I can find where the Calamity Legion are. Otherwise, the Edge Worlds are so vast—if they really wanted to hide, I wouldn’t be able to find them for a while.”
Andras said, “It’s good that you’re confident. If something happens and you can’t reach me, you can contact my younger brother. He’ll assist you.”
Bai Fu replied, “There’s nothing urgent at the moment. I’m planning to return to the Ulysses Base for now and bring more Undying Ones. We’ll need them to deal with the Calamity Legion.”
Whether it was for intel gathering, ground warfare, or flying carrier-based fighters into a desperate assault in space, Players were incredibly capable.
However, Bai Fu didn’t want to bring Players just for that.
On one hand, she wanted to give Players a chance to earn more XP. The more XP they hoarded, the more she could squeeze from them.
On the other hand, fighting the Calamity Legion was ultimately dangerous. Having more Players nearby meant if anything unexpected happened, she could use the Life Drain she copied from Cersia to quickly heal herself.
Andras had no objections.
After saying goodbye, Bai Fu immediately brought Scarlet Leaf and Yulia back to the Ulysses Base.
Halfway there, Yulia suddenly approached Bai Fu.
“I think I may have found a way to help Cersia control that spider and ascend to Calamity-level.”
“Hmm?”
Bai Fu was stunned.
She hadn’t expected much from Yulia’s research abilities. She figured as long as Yulia could make some basic potions useful to Players, that would suffice. She never imagined Yulia would give her such a huge surprise.
Was this what it meant to be a chosen one who found a True Spirit Pillar?
“What’s the method?” Bai Fu quickly asked.
If Cersia could ascend to Calamity-level, eliminating the Calamity Legion would become even more foolproof.
Yulia said, “When you fought Bloodthorn, I noticed his Esper Power could specifically weaken life force. That Esper Evolution Tree Atlas you obtained allows you to copy Esper Powers, right? If you can copy Bloodthorn’s specific Esper Power, and apply it to the spider aberrant inside Cersia, she could gain the upper hand in this struggle for control.”
Bai Fu grew thoughtful.
A specific Esper Power?
After completing the mission to defeat Bloodthorn, she had obtained a skill card from him: Septicemia Curse. She wasn’t sure if Septicemia Curse would be useful.
Bai Fu explained the situation to Yulia.
“You already copied one? An Esper Power that restricts healing? Let me see...”
Yulia thought for a moment, then nodded firmly.
“That power should be effective. But compared to an Esper Power that directly weakens life force, using this one would require Cersia to pay an extra price.”
The “extra price” Yulia referred to was that Cersia would have to stab herself—putting both herself and the spider into an injured state. Then, using Septicemia Curse on the spider at that moment, once the curse took effect, Cersia could immediately activate a life-healing skill to recover. That would break the balance, and tip the scale in her favor.
As for whether she could successfully ascend to Calamity and completely eliminate the spider—that would depend on Cersia herself.
“With her years of experience battling that spider, I believe she can do it.”
Bai Fu nodded. She believed that as well. And the price Yulia mentioned was hardly a cost for Cersia.
It was just a bit of blood—it’d regenerate easily.
“Then let’s do it. Give it a try. Even if it fails, there’s no real loss.”
Silent Night advanced swiftly.
The moment she arrived at Ulysses Base, Bai Fu immediately summoned Cersia and shared the good news with her.
Cersia had approached Yulia with the hope that she could help solve the spider problem. But now that Yulia actually found a solution, she was momentarily stunned.
She raised her hand slightly, mouth slightly agape, overwhelmed with emotion, but unsure how to express it.
Yulia walked calmly up to her. “You don’t need to thank me. If you want to thank someone, thank Bai Fu. She’s the one who brought you out of the Secret Tower, and the skill from Bloodthorn was copied by her. As for my suggestion... without Bai Fu, I wouldn’t be alive now.”
Yulia’s words were sincere, because she truly didn’t need Cersia’s gratitude.
She approached Cersia partly out of interest in her abilities, but mainly because Cersia could be of help to Bai Fu. And that was the priority.
Cersia nodded.
To her, gratitude wasn’t something you spoke—it was something you proved through actions.
“Then let’s begin!”
Inside the lab, Cersia unhesitatingly stabbed herself with a vicious blow.
Bai Fu seized the moment and cast Septicemia Curse on the spider inside her.
All that remained now was to wait.
Cersia didn’t keep anyone waiting long. Once the balance broke and the tide turned in her favor, she swiftly completed the entire process of ascending to Calamity-level and refining the spider—something she had rehearsed countless times in her heart.
Two hours later, when Bai Fu checked the data via Psionic Vision, she found Cersia’s rank had reached Calamity-level, and her Constitution stat had soared to 2261.
One True Spirit of Scarlet Leaf down, now came a far more functional Cersia. This was settled.
“It’s time to send the Calamity Legion off, and make the name of my Bai Fu Corps resound!”
Only with fame and power could she seize more benefits in the upcoming Taim Civilization main storyline.
Depart!
At Bai Fu’s command, over fifty ships from Sovereign of the Shadowed Night’s fleet set off mightily toward the rumored region where the Calamity Legion were active.
Before departing, she specifically informed Andras.
Andras, without hiding it, “accidentally” let the news slip to Hampton. And Hampton, not slacking off, quickly passed the word to Bloodthorn.
Bloodthorn stood up, eyes sharp and cold.
Bai Fu was full of confidence, but she could never dream he had grown stronger.
“Move out!”