NOVEL WEB Chapter 297: "Miao, the sky is falling!!!
There are many hidden professions in this world that don't particularly pursue combat power or, to put it another way, high damage output, but this doesn't mean these hidden professions are useless—on many occasions, they can have extraordinary effects.
On the battlefield, they can provide support or even operate alone.
With the Black Doctor's definitive diagnosis,
this matter also came to an end. Whether it was the Zhiren Race or the Ascetic Monk, it was all over for now. At least for a short while, there was no need to think about the Zhiren issue. And it couldn't be said to be completely disastrous, after all, as the Black Doctor said, if you disregard the negative effects, the positive feedback brought by the Zhiren Race is still very strong.
And that "Ascetic Monk", following its initial popularity, cooled off gradually.
After all, those who believed they could succeed had already tried in the first few days. As the days went by, the confident ones had already attempted it, and those remaining were all too self-aware to make an attempt.
Limited, rare hidden professions.
Their value was extremely high, lying there like a maiden just out of her boudoir, ripe for the picking. If only you went for it, you could obtain it, yet despite the covetous stares of countless people, there were still six slots for that hidden profession that remained untaken—left untouched by anyone.
The main reason was the restriction of the "Fighter" occupation, which made many players from other professions have to give up reluctantly. Even if they succeeded in the challenge, they couldn't obtain this hidden profession.
This indeed made quite a few tough players leave the field with regret.
The cost of class reassignment is significant.
But—
Even if the cost of reassigning and rebuilding a class is great, as long as you can get a rare hidden profession, it is extremely worthwhile. A rare hidden profession is not just about the occupation effect; there are many other things to come, such as occupation-exclusive items and skills, each one capable of greatly enhancing combat power, all valuable assets.
Logically speaking, as long as one can swap for an Ascetic Monk profession, it would be a profit.
And that's precisely where the problem lies.
It's not a direct exchange; what if they preemptively changed their class to a "Fighter" and then discovered that they couldn't pass the challenge? Wouldn't that be a wasted conversion? They were originally seasoned supernatural beings, and now after reclassing, they had to start from scratch again; this isn't fucking nonsense.
What? You say to try first? Don't reclass and test if you can clear it, then change to a Fighter only if you find you can succeed?
A good plan.
Unfortunately, up to this point, within these eight days, the supernatural beings who obtained the Ascetic Monk occupation all cleared it on the first try. Not a single person cleared it after multiple attempts and finally met the score requirement.
The reason is simple: this isn't something you can just try. To complete it, there's only one way to do it—to persevere all in one go. As soon as you ease up, you can't get back up.
...
And so, time advanced to January 15.
"The new year is almost here."
Chen Miao lay on his rocking chair, with his eyes half-closed, indifferently stating. Although there were palaces underground, he spent most of his time on the surface, not because there was sunlight—as this was the Land of Extreme Cold, covered with clouds year-round.
There was hardly any sunlight filtering through.
During most days, even daylight relied on bulbs for lighting, it was only on rare occasions, midday when the sun was fierce enough to penetrate the clouds and sprinkle some sunlight down. In most other circumstances, even at noon, it remained overcast and dark.
The reason he often stayed on the ground was simply out of habit.
Today was a day off.
Although he didn't do much in these ten-odd days, in truth, they were the most exhausting since his arrival. Today, he wanted to do nothing but lie here and rest for a day, even if the sky fell, it had nothing to do with him.
"Miao!"
Just then—
Hungry Monkey came running over with an anxious look, "The sky is falling, the sky is falling!!! Miao, the sky is falling!!!"
"..."
Chen Miao closed his eyes with some irritation, "If you have something to say, just say it. Don't be so dramatic, how big can the problem be for the sky to fall? Even if the sky falls, what does it have to do with us?"
"When the sky falls, there'll be tall people to stand up against it."
"We're in the Land of Extreme Cold; could it even affect us?"
"If even this place can't withstand it, then there wouldn't be many people left alive on this planet. Since everyone is going to die, why the hurry?"
"No!" Hungry Monkey's face showed anxiousness as he gestured frantically, calling over Zhou Shen and the others who were daydreaming not far away, "It really is the sky falling, haven't you guys checked your wristwatches?"
"An emergency event has broken out, and the Federation has already started broadcasting it globally!!!"
"Emergency event?"
Chen Miao opened his eyes and turned on his wristwatch, glancing thoughtfully at the topmost broadcast: "Which city's random event is this? The entry for this broadcast is so upfront. That zombie siege and Gate of the Underworld didn't even have this privilege."
"A global event… Noah's Ark?" Your next read is at empire
"..."
He stiffened for a moment before it dawned on him, he looked up at Hungry Monkey and muttered, "This is a fucking global event?"
He had been wondering which city's event could cause such a commotion, only to realize that it was a global event involving not just one city but all cities.
This is a global event!
Even in the Land of Extreme Cold, which doesn't belong to any city-state and is almost at the very edge of the federation, known as the foremost of the ten forbidden zones, they couldn't escape it. Just moments ago, they were saying that if the sky should fall, there would be tall people to hold it up.
But when he woke up, he became one of those tall people.
Because... the very sky that was falling was the sky over his Land of Extreme Cold!
The live broadcast showed—
A massive hole had appeared in the distant sky, seemingly out of nowhere; it looked like a bowl turned upside down with a hole in it, as if someone took an iron rod and gouged out a hole in the ceiling of a Rolls-Royce starlight headliner.
This hole seemed to directly connect to the ocean of another world.
Endless amounts of seawater were gushing out through the hole.
The hole was roughly estimated to be about 10,000 meters above the ground, and the seawater was furiously smashing down from a height of 10,000 meters. The hole's diameter was about 10,000 meters wide.
An extremely terrifying and exaggeratedly large hole.
Yes.
Admittedly, for Blue Star itself, this hole wasn't considered very large, but to humans, it seemed absurdly exaggerated.
...
The Land of Extreme Cold is located at the North Pole, nearly at the pole itself, and that hole was precisely at the very top of the North Pole. In other words, the mass of seawater would soon provoke a monstrous flood that would submerge the entire northern hemisphere.
And the Land of Extreme Cold would be the first stop.
The sky had truly fallen.
And indeed, there were tall figures to withstand it.
Unfortunately, upon waking from sleep, they became those very tall figures.
Chen Miao virtually leaped from his recliner, stood in place, and looked in the direction of the North Pole. He couldn't see anything; the dense clouds overhead blocked his entire view, even though his passive skill as a gunman, Eagle Eye, was at a very high level, and his vision far exceeded that of an ordinary person.
But no matter how good his vision was, it wasn't X-ray vision.
Those dark clouds completely obstructed his sight.
"Damn it... the sky has really freaking fallen!"
He looked down at the ground; logically, with such a tremendous volume of water falling from the sky, the ground would surely be trembling, and considering his proximity, he should have felt something, but as of now, the ground was incredibly stable, and he felt nothing.
It was as if nothing had happened, and everything was normal.
"Wait a minute!"
Chen Miao suddenly realized something, "Since it's a global special event, shouldn't there be any announcements?"
"Hmm."
Hungry Monkey somewhat helplessly nodded, "The name of this event is 'Noah's Ark.' Only 10 million people across the federation received the announcement, and these are the chosen ones."
"In 72 hours, a gigantic ark will take in all 10 million people and then float in the air for 77 days."
"During these 77 days, the flood will destroy the whole world, killing all terrestrial creatures."
"After the 77 days are over, the ark will land, and these 10 million people will descend back to the ground to rebuild their new world amidst the receding floodwaters. From start to finish, only these 10 million received the announcement."
"Everyone else is unaware."
"But someone leaked the announcement, so everyone became aware of it. The federal satellites have also detected a terrifyingly huge hole that suddenly appeared at the very top of Blue Star's North Pole, from which countless amounts of seawater are pouring."
"Following this, a global live broadcast began."
"Miao, what should we do? Should we try heading to the South Pole first?" asked Yuan Buping thoughtfully from a short distance away.
"I think if it's really like this, we might not necessarily die. The 'Heavenly Palace' can provide our domain with a continuous supply of oxygen and maintain a constant temperature, and even keep the pressure stable."
"Since there's a flood and the surface is uninhabitable."
"I think we could simply move underwater. As long as we have sufficient oxygen, temperature regulation, and pressure issues resolved, there's basically no danger for us in the ocean. We just need to stockpile food in advance."
"We could even build a road underwater so that we could travel to other places using the Hell Bus."
Chen Miao didn't respond but propped his chin with one hand and pondered for a while before raising his head to look at Hungry Monkey, "You were the first to know about this, does the Federation have any solution?"
"Yes!"
Hungry Monkey firmly nodded, "The Federation's current stance is that they don't accept the outcome where only 10 million chosen people survive and everyone else dies. They've decided to figure out a way to plug up that giant hole."
"And if possible, create things that can survive over 77 days in the flood, like a large number of boats."
"Anyway, they don't plan to just sit back and wait for death."