The Shelter Game: Me, Starting with a Tenfold Drop Rate

As soon as Irving and the others set foot in the Smith family mansion, the Shadow Celestial was already aware of their arrival. The Shadow Celestial had not only fabricated the ancestors of the Smith family but had also left behind more than one contingency within the mansion. In fact, Vicky herself could be influenced by the Shadow Celestial to some extent.

However, the Shadow Celestial did not plan to reveal all of its trump cards under the current circumstances. There were more pressing matters that required its attention. The Shadow Celestial was at the headquarters of the Night Blades, having just learned that certain elders were secretly conspiring against it.

"It seems those elders of the Night Blades are not planning to submit to me after all. Do you have any good ideas on how to make them yield quickly?" the Shadow Celestial asked the few members of the Night Blades standing before it.

These members were not particularly strong, and their status within the Night Blades had been relatively low. It was only after the Shadow Celestial had successfully become the supreme leader of the Night Blades that these individuals were elevated to their current positions. As a result, they were extremely loyal to the Shadow Celestial.

One of the Night Blades members spoke up directly. "Your Excellency, I think we should eliminate all the elders. After all, you can absorb their powers for yourself. As long as your strength is sufficient, we can defeat any opponent. Even Irving won't stand a chance against you if you absorb the powers of all the elders."

Upon hearing this, a smile spread across the Shadow Celestial's face. "You're right; I could indeed absorb the powers of these elders into my own body. However, their powers are not particularly useful to me. Moreover, if I absorb their strength, I will lose the ability to reclaim the power from the chaotic artifact.

It would be more prudent to keep these elders around and have them serve my purposes."

Just as the Shadow Celestial finished speaking, another member of the Night Blades chimed in. "I don't believe all the elders are opposed to you. Our goal should be to identify those who are against you. Among those opposing elders, there must be some with significant strength. If we can eliminate the strongest of them, the others will lose the courage to defy you.

We need to set a trap to lure out the most powerful elder who opposes you."

Upon hearing this, the Shadow Celestial finally broke into a radiant smile. "You're absolutely right! My thoughts align perfectly with yours! We must lure out all those who oppose me. To accomplish this, we need to devise a flawless scheme."

The Shadow Celestial was indeed very passionate about crafting plots and was quite adept at it. It had already set a trap aimed at the elders of the Night Blades who opposed it, but those elders had not walked into the trap easily. This situation left the Shadow Celestial feeling slightly frustrated.

However, upon learning of Irving's entry into the Smith family mansion, the Shadow Celestial felt that it could connect all the pieces together.

Determined to use Irving and his companions to its advantage, the Shadow Celestial declared, "You don't need to remain in the shelter game world any longer! You should return to the real world as soon as possible, because our next plan requires action in both worlds simultaneously."

The Shadow Celestial directly brought its loyal subordinates into the real world. After that, it gathered all the elders of the Night Blades together for an emergency meeting. All the elders were present, including Elder Astra, who had been secretly opposing the Shadow Celestial.

The Shadow Celestial straightforwardly laid out Irving's current situation. "Irving has entered the Smith family mansion, which means he will soon acquire even greater power. Irving is our biggest enemy in the Night Blades, so we must act quickly to counter him. Who do you think we should send to stop Irving's progress?"

The Shadow Celestial did not make an immediate decision, as it believed that making a choice would place it at a disadvantage. When the elders heard Irving's name, their expressions grew grim. Irving had caused them significant trouble in the past, and none of the elders believed they could easily defeat him.

Elder Astra was also feeling quite hesitant. However, his hesitation was not about whether to confront Irving; rather, he was deliberating on how to justify stepping forward. Astra believed that only by demonstrating his true abilities would the other elders support him. Defeating Irving would be the best way to showcase his strength.

After pondering for a moment, Elder Astra took a step forward. "I am more than willing to attempt to confront Irving, but I cannot guarantee that I can defeat him on my own. If you could provide me with assistance, my chances of success would be significantly higher."

Upon hearing Elder Astra's words, the Shadow Celestial smiled and nodded. "Of course, there is no problem! You are the only one willing to step up against Irving, so I will certainly provide you with assistance. What kind of help do you need? All the weapons of the Night Blades are at your disposal. Besides the Night Blades' weapons, I can also grant you a portion of my chaotic power.

However, I suspect you may not be very skilled at using the powers of chaos."

The Shadow Celestial did not notice anything unusual about Elder Astra. Therefore, it continued to observe the expressions of all the elders, and its response was quite standard. After hearing this, Elder Astra's expression remained unchanged.

"I indeed do not excel at using the powers of chaos, so I would prefer to select weapons and items from the Night Blades. I would like to gain access to the Dark Portal."

Elder Astra directly mentioned the name of the Dark Portal. Upon hearing this name, the faces of the other Night Blades elders turned pale with fear. The Dark Portal was a very mysterious artifact within the Night Blades. The previous supreme leader of the Night Blades had used the Dark Portal, but the consequence was a severe backlash against himself.

The Dark Portal could summon terrifying monsters, but these creatures would not only target the enemies of the user; they would also pose a direct threat to the user themselves.

Although the Shadow Celestial was not very familiar with the Dark Portal, it had heard legends regarding it from its trusted subordinates. The Shadow Celestial's expression showed a hint of hesitation as it slowly asked Elder Astra, "Are you really certain you want to use the Dark Portal? Can you tell me in advance what you plan to do with it?"

With a smile, Elder Astra replied, "I hope to use the Dark Portal to unleash a great disaster in the real world. This way, Irving and his allies will pay a heavy price."

Upon hearing this, all the members of the Night Blades were taken aback. Although they often created crises in the real world, they felt that using the Dark Portal was a bit too extreme.

"I think this approach is highly unreasonable! If we use the Dark Portal, the Night Blades will become the enemies of everyone," one elder stood up to oppose.

Another elder quickly added, "I also believe this plan is incredibly flawed. Even if we create a massive disaster in the real world, we may not gain the upper hand in the shelter game. Moreover, if we force everyone into becoming our enemies, our subsequent actions will become exceedingly difficult. We still need to cooperate with others."

One by one, the elders of the Night Blades stood up to express their opposition. Elder Astra's expression remained unchanged; he seemed to believe that their objections were unfounded. The Shadow Celestial did not speak, instead fixing its gaze on Elder Astra. It finally sensed something odd about Astra, but at that moment, it could not determine why he was acting this way.

After a while, the Shadow Celestial slowly spoke. "You see, so many elders have voiced their objections. Do you have anything you'd like to say? If you can't provide a reasonable explanation, I won't allow you to use the Dark Portal."

In truth, the Shadow Celestial preferred a stable situation. It did not wish to exacerbate the conflict with Irving. Instead, it hoped for a calm environment to collect chaos artifacts while gradually gaining control over the entire Night Blades.

With a smile, Elder Astra replied, "I believe that the chaos artifacts are certainly held by major forces in the real world. By using the Dark Portal, we can unleash a huge disaster in the real world. To quell this disaster, the major forces will undoubtedly bring forth all the weapons they possess. Thus, we can discover the whereabouts of the chaos artifacts.

Moreover, when this great disaster occurs, Irving and his allies will undoubtedly scramble to respond. We will then find ourselves in a very advantageous position. We can either launch an attack against Irving, putting him in a difficult spot, or we can feign cooperation with him."

Elder Astra's reasoning was quite compelling. The Shadow Celestial couldn't help but nod in agreement. However, it did not fully trust him. Suddenly, the Shadow Celestial realized that it could utilize its loyal subordinates in the real world to deal with both Elder Astra and Irving simultaneously.

After coming to this conclusion, the Shadow Celestial smiled and nodded. "I think you can proceed with this plan! I authorize you to use the Dark Portal! Furthermore, I also grant you the authority to command all members of the Night Blades in the real world!"