Douluo Dalu: This herrscher is too weird.-Chapter 40: The Art of Barriers. The Stratos.

Chapter 40: The Art of Barriers. The Stratos.

It was a new day, and finally, Yuhao would be installing the barrier around his treasure land. No being other than him would access [Great Devil's Den] forest.

Well, almost.

Huo Yun'er was already a given; she had mother privileges—something so special that no one else could obtain. And the Kicking Saint? Well, for no reason other than being the mediator between Yuhao and the kingdoms.

And as the Kicking Saint had mentioned before, other saints used the forest as a training ground for their abilities. After all, they were humanity's best in certain aspects.

They didn't just wake up one morning and become saints. They were blessed with talent from the start—sure, that is a given—but they had to polish that talent with sheer will and grit to achieve their [Holy] titles.

Yuhao planned to have a good relationship with the saints, not from the goodness of his heart but for PR. He was a businessman through and through.

Not only did he plan to start a company/organization in the modern world, but also in both the world of Argena and Douluo Dalu. After all, why capitalize on one world when you can capitalize on three, right?

Oh, and regarding the company in the modern world, Yun'er was the one handling the situation. She wasn't just playing around during her outings—well, she was—but she was also studying what they could capitalize on in the modern world.

And of course, medicine was at the top of the list. A lot of hard-to-treat diseases could be solved pretty easily using magic or potions created by Yuhao's [Monster Slime] martial soul.

But if he started selling things that could cure cancer out of nowhere, then Yuhao would be suspected of having suicidal thoughts.

So, the plan to sell OP medicine was now on hold until Yuhao started learning the powers of the [Herrscher of Sentience].

It was the power that fit Yuhao's build the most—well, that and the power of [Herrscher of Reason]. Both fit Yuhao so well, but Kiana made him start with [Herrscher of Void] for safety.

Anyhow, he decided to downgrade the level of medicine from world-breaking to something more subtle. And what was the most profitable branch of medicine in the modern world?

It was cosmetics and Viagra. The former was built on society's insecurities and the need to chase beauty. The latter was also built on society's insecurities—but different from chasing beauty. It was aimed at the 'capability to perform well in bed.'

Yuhao planned to target these two sectors mercilessly and capitalize on them. It was his next project after the barrier (and the time skip).

Sigh, we got sidetracked again. This is just tangent the fanfic.

(AN: ... I have nothing to say, humph.)

Let's talk about the barrier. He finally decided on the blueprint. Well, him and Kiana.

The idea was simple: control the ambient mana in the air to construct a 'physical boundary' around the forest. It seemed simple on paper, but when real-life problems are introduced into the equation, things start getting complicated.

How are you going to make sure that the boundary holds?

How are you going to make sure that it's powered appropriately?

What if an anomaly monster gets born, breaks free from the boundary, and starts terrorizing the kingdoms while Yuhao is away?

What if it fails?

There were a lot of variables that needed to be taken into consideration. Unfortunately, this wasn't a happy-go-lucky isekai.

Because if it was, Yuhao would already be surrounded by pretty girls with shy, blushing faces while giving him the meanest right hook to his face and screaming "BAKA" before running away.

This was a cultivation story, so if he didn't give his heart to it, he would never reach the next realm.

This Young Daoist was dead set on slaying demons and gods, so he had to follow in the footsteps of his senior brothers and sisters and use the [BY THE ROOT] method.

Luckily, Yuhao tackled the real-life problems like a pro. He escaped real life with such profundity that you would think he was planning on getting milk or something.

He spent a whole day constructing raven thread constructs to cover the entire forest.

The constructs had a couple of functions. Most importantly, they ensured the ambient mana was being supplied to the barrier adequately.

Yuhao could also share his consciousness with each of his constructs so that he could monitor anything happening in the forest and design multiple hunting grounds for his monster genocid—cough—hunt. He meant monster hunt.

Somehow, all the monsters inside [Great Devil's Den] felt a chilling shiver run down their spines.

The constructs could also attack and defend using mana constructs depending on the situation. This was just in case something went wrong and immediate assistance was needed.

Always prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

The 'Magic Sequence' or the 'magic code,' per se, was carefully constructed by Yuhao and Kiana.

Their inner personalities showed during the construction process. Kiana wanted a barrier that could tank anything from both the inside and outside (like Aegis), while Yuhao wanted multiple layers for the barrier so that if one failed, the other could take its place (like Rho Aias).

They went back and forth until finally agreeing on a middle ground. The boundary would be multilayered, but it was achieved using only one layer.

How does this even make sense? Multilayered with only one layer? Were Kiana and Yuhao even serious when they thought of this serious issue, or were they trolling the author?

Well, apparently, they weren't trolling, as the pink square barrier standing 1 meter tall in front of Yuhao served as the best evidence.

""I love it so much, YATTA.""

Exclaimed both Yuhao and Kiana at the same time as they jumped into the air in their respective locations.

Kiana was still in the stigma space like the gremlin she was, and Yuhao was in the backyard of the sage's house. They really did share the same brain cell.

The magic sequence developed by both of them was called 『The Stratos』.

It was the best of both worlds, as it worked by preloading a series of highly specialized defensive barriers—or, in this case, strata—each calibrated to counter different forms of attack, whether physical or magical.

(AN: For those who don't know, strata mean layers, and a single layer is called a stratum. Hence the name Stratos. So, do you like it?)

These included shields against solid objects, heat, shockwaves, impact, slashes, magic sequences, etc.

Whenever an attack strikes, the specific barrier designed to counter that attack activates automatically. If the attack is powerful enough to shatter it, the barrier breaks and is immediately replaced by another of the same function but higher strength.

The increase in strength is proportional across all the other strata as well. The barrier increases in strength and, therefore, complexity. This process continues infinitely, making it an impenetrable barrier from both the inside and outside.

And if a new type of attack not stored in the database of Stratos were to strike it, the boundary would then 'read' the attack and use its existing backlog of magic sequences to develop a specialized stratum (layer) to block it, and store the newly developed barrier in its database.

It was a barrier that grew stronger the longer it was deployed—a first of its kind.

(You there, kid?)

Suddenly, Yuhao's right thumb ring buzzed with the Kicking Saint's voice.

It was a drop item that Yuhao gained in one of his anti-monster Genova suggestion adventures. And you probably forgot about it, so here's a quick reminder.

[Morphic Whisperstone: A rare drop item from the monster Echo Golem. It allows communication between two or more nodes set in the Whisperstone regardless of distance.]

And that wasn't even the best part.

[It can take any shape the holder wants without affecting its functionality.]

Pretty neat, huh? Yuhao's Whisperstone took the shape of a violet ring resting on his right thumb, while Usagi's Whisperstone was shaped like an orange carrot pin attached to his fluffy chest.

And for the two of you wondering if Huo Yun'er had one—the answer is yes, she did. It was shaped like a pair of ruby earrings.

She loved it so much that she wore them everywhere and would touch them every so often while smiling. W for Huo Yuhao.

Anyway, back to Usagi.

"Yep, hear you loud and clear," replied Yuhao, bringing his right hand near his face.

(How's the barrier project going? The representatives of all the kingdoms are here, and they want any excuse for the barrier not to be built. I hope you're ready.)

Said Usagi, the Kicking Saint, as he sat in a meeting room in the stronghold outside [Great Devil's Den] forest.

Seated around him were the kingdoms' representatives, and when they heard the Kicking Saint's words, they blushed in embarrassment.

Saving face? Human etiquette?

He was a rabbit. What did any of that have to do with him? thought the Kicking Saint.

He was a senior Daoist walking the path of the Dao of Kicking. His heart needed to be firm to delve further into the Dao.

Unsurprisingly, the kingdoms—or more specifically, the nobles—opposed the idea of sealing [Great Devil's Den] forest.

Sure, it contained monsters that could end human order with ease, and the rise of an anomaly monster was a huge risk, but it also contained a lot of valuable resources the nobles wanted to get their hands on.

The knight orders of the kingdoms were also deployed into the forest for training, and reckless adventurers liked to go there for a chance to strike it rich in one fell swoop.

So, you could imagine their dissatisfaction when they learned the forest would soon be sealed.

"Oh, they're with you right now? Good. Give me a second—I think they might change their opinion any moment now,"

said Yuhao as he made his way toward the cute ball of fluff sleeping on his favorite pillow on the backyard patio.

Usagi looked at his carrot pin weirdly.

'What is he doing? I have a bad feeling about this,' thought the Kicking Saint.

And if Yuhao knew what Usagi was thinking, he'd say that the Kicking Saint's intuition was pretty sharp.

"Yuhao, what are you doing?"

asked the tuna in the stigma space. She already knew what he was planning, but she wanted confirmation from him.

"Nothing. Nothing. Just a tiny prank, a bit of trolling, and a meniscus amount of tomfoolery,"

replied Yuhao, grinning like a Cheshire Cat, causing the tuna to get goosebumps.

"Fou, do you want to pull off a prank with me?"

he asked, lifting the furball like a baby in his arms while running his fingers through the smooth white fur.

"FOU. FOOOOOOOU. FOU."

Such profound words from Senior Fou, a grandmaster prankster who achieved the rank of BEAST in the Dao of Tomfoolery.

They looked at each other before grinning again, then looked in the direction of the stronghold that housed the kingdoms' representatives, the knights' order, the adventurer guild, and finally the Kicking Saint.

"We do a little trolling. HAHAHA Fou Fou Fou."

(Chapter 40 finished.)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Author's Note:

Hey guys, how are you doing? I hope you're all doing wonderfully!

If you have a couple of minutes, please consider writing a review for this fanfic—it really helps in getting it featured on the 'Popular' page over at Webnovel.

Here's a new Chapter, fresh out of the oven. This Chapter is 2K words without the Author's Note.

Anyhow, don't forget to comment on memes, share your thoughts, and, most importantly, post waifu pics.

That's all for now.

Bye.

(AN: Italic bold text represents new additions and updates to his status, so you don't have to read everything.)

『...』

『Huo Yuhao』

『Class: Nanomancer』

『Class Ranking: Tier 3』

『Race: Ascended Human, White Dragon, White Tiger』

『Soul Power: 29』

『Martial Souls: [Eyes of Heaven], [White Dragon of Nihility] 『1+』, [Monster Slime] 『2+』』

『Skill Points: 811,000. 』

『Unique Skills: 』

[Great Sage]

[Golden Rule]

[True Martial Art: 7]

[Super-Growth B]

[Increased Skill Point Generation: B]

[Honkai Circuits]

[Honkai Resistance]

[Honkai Energy Manipulation]

[Honkai Rotation]

『Other Skills: 』

[Appraisal]

[Endurance]

[Item Box]

[Language Comprehension]

[Fast Reading]

[Thread Manipulation]

[Illusion Manipulation]

[Pain Resistance]

[Check Status]

[Cooking: 5]

[Taunt C]

[Weakness Detection]

[Presence Detection]

[Environment Assimilation]

『Titles: 』

[Master of the Door]

[Master of the House]

[Otherworlder]

[First [Class Holder] to Appear in the World]

[The One Who Perplexed the World's Consciousness]

[The One Who Gained the Interest of the Entire World]

[Slaughterer]

『End of status. 』