[Congratulations on passing the trial of the fourteenth Doomsday Rule]
[Rewards have been issued to your Storage Box]
[The fifteenth Doomsday Rule will be announced in fifteen days]
At 9 AM on January 1st, near the border between Beixing and Sakura Prayer Country, Guan Tong heard the Fire Thief's voice, but his heart remained unperturbed.
He had been almost constantly on guard this entire month, continuously activating his brain's tacognition to monitor the spore's effects on him, swiftly extinguishing any sign of deep parasitism whenever he discovered its tendrils.
That's right. He knew that since he had left the shelter and was active outside, he would definitely also be parasitized by the spores. But as long as it didn't develop into deep parasitism, it was fine.
"You passed too, right?"
He turned his head to look at Uenoshi and Suzuki beside him.
Both were with him, waiting to welco Silver Fox and Chen Na.
According to the arrangent, they would arrive today.
"Mm, passed." Uenoshi nodded.
During this period, because she had been staying with Guan Tong, and under his supervision, she had also been extra vigilant against the spores, not allowing the parasitism to develop deeply.
"What about you?"
Guan Tong looked at Suzuki. The latter seed not to have heard his question, her eyes fixed, staring vacantly into the space ahead.
"Suzuki?" Uenoshi called out to her.
"Huh? Oh, of course." Suzuki snapped back to reality. "I passed too."
"..."
Guan Tong looked at her for a mont, then withdrew his gaze.
Not long after, the figures of Silver Fox and Chen Na appeared on the opposite bank of the river.
After the five of them assembled, they introduced themselves briefly.
Guan Tong looked at Chen Na, her cheeks flushed red, and smiled, ruffling her head. "Xiao Na, long ti no see."
"Mm! Brother Guan, long ti no see!"
Ever since Chen Na found out Guan Tong was the Shadow, knowing he had secretly helped her a lot, she felt even more grateful towards him.
Now seeing him in person, an indescribable joy welled up in her heart for a mont.
"Oh, right. Mom told
to say sothing when I saw you, Brother Guan. Thank you for your past help."
Guan Tong smiled but said nothing.
At this mont, Silver Fox spoke up. "So, the investigation team is composed of the five of us plus logistics from the base?"
"Mm." Guan Tong looked at her. "Too many people would also be inconvenient."
"That's true." Silver Fox laughed. "With the Shadow God here, isn't he worth ten people by himself? We'll have a great sense of security."
"Brother Guan alone is worth a hundred people, hehe." Chen Na chid in.
Guan Tong said seriously, "Jokes aside, it's best you don't let your guard down. Given how utterly deranged the enemy is, our investigation this ti carries danger."
"Mm!" Chen Na imdiately nodded vigorously. "I will definitely stay vigilant!"
Uenoshi listened from the side, knowing the three of them were acquainted from before.
But she was now anxious to go to the laboratory to investigate for clues. Even though she knew saying this might not be well-received, she still stated bluntly, "Save the casual chat for later. Let's start the investigation imdiately."
Silver Fox snapped her fingers. "No problem. The location of that 'Snake Lair' laboratory has been disclosed by Shin. It's in Banzhen City. But we need to go to the Headquarters first."
"Why?" Uenoshi asked.
Silver Fox explained, "This is a requirent from the Sakura Prayer side. They can accept external investigations, but investigators must first obtain an investigation permit issued by their Headquarters. Otherwise, their official departnts will not cooperate with people without credentials."
After finishing, Silver Fox shrugged. "Whether the other side is simply being rigid or trying to buy ti, we still need to get the permit. Otherwise, if they deliberately interfere and refuse to cooperate, it will only be more troubleso. And to be honest, I think they're just doing this to save face."
Uenoshi frowned, disliking this kind of hassle.
Guan Tong, however, agreed.
He thought Silver Fox was right.
As official personnel, allowing foreigners to conduct independent investigations in their country would undoubtedly make them feel humiliated. Now demanding the issuance of a permit seems more like a face-saving act by the Sakura Prayer officials.
Subsequently, the five of them set off for Bandzhen.
Silver Fox ntioned that the Sakura Prayer officials had previously proposed providing vehicle transportation for the investigation team for the entire journey, but Beixing refused.
This so-called transportation was essentially just surveillance.
Given the Yuzawa Family's centuries of operation in Sakura Prayer, even if their cris were exposed, they would absolutely not collapse imdiately.
At most, they would retreat into the shadows, relying on their intricate network of connections to continue controlling and running this severely declining nation.
Therefore, Guan Tong and Silver Fox unanimously believed that the intelligence obtained from this investigation must not be shared with the Sakura Prayer officials. Doing so would probably be no different from directly telling Yuzawa Jun, who was hiding sowhere in the shadows.
...
On the way to Bandzhen, Guan Tong checked his panel and Storage Box after the rule ended.
[Na: Guan Tong]
[Nickna: Shadow]
[Title: Civilization Observer]
[Mind Power: 965 (965) (15086)]
[Ascension Coins: 488,520]
[Overall Biotric Rating: Outstanding]
Compared to December 1st, his natural Mind Power growth was a surprisingly high 20 points, nearly double the usual amount, which slightly surprised him.
He believed it was likely due to the enhancent brought by the spores.
Even though he had resisted and been vigilant against the spores, they had still tapped into part of his body's potential, reflected in the increase of his Mind Power upper limit.
Perhaps this was the benefit of "dose control" ntioned in the hidden rule.
Ascendants who had a better grasp of the limits could "press" the spores to the maximum extent.
They could let the spores bring them the greatest possible enhancent while staying just a hair's breadth before the addiction threshold, thereby smoothly passing the rule challenge.
Without visual data, Guan Tong believed he couldn't achieve this himself.
He thought Shi Jingyi might be able to get close to that addiction boundary line, gaining more enhancent than him. As for others, he wasn't sure.
Gaining enhancent was ultimately a good thing, and Guan Tong was quite satisfied.
His current Mind Power upper limit of 965 was only 35 points away from the 1000-point milestone.
This ant the breakthrough would be achieved no later than April of this year, which is before the second anniversary of the Doomsday Rules' announcent.
As for what changes would occur after breaking through 1000 points, he was only certain of one thing.
That was that the [Wordless Book] could open a new page for writing.
He didn't know about other changes, but this change was the most important to him.
Because with each additional page he could write on, he would gain a trendous boost. Either in terms of strength or in breaking through rules, which filled him with great anticipation.
However, the panel also revealed a problem...
His reserve Mind Power had decreased by tens of thousands again.
Guan Tong knew this was related to his recent frequent use of the Shadow Domain small space attack.
This move consud too much, requiring tens of thousands of Mind Power to use. Of course, what it bought in return was a spatial attack that could almost penetrate any defensive item.
If he continued using it at this frequency, his reserve Mind Power would soon be depleted.
Considering this, Guan Tong either needed to reduce its usage or seek external supply. Relying on himself to accumulate it at a ten-to-one ratio was still too little and too slow.
It's just that during the earthquake rule, the officials were willing to mobilize a large number of Ascendants nationwide to transfer Mind Power to him to reduce the earthquake disaster's severity.
The reason the large number of Ascendants nationwide agreed to transfer to him was also because he weakened the earthquake's destructive power, which was equivalent to saving their lives. Otherwise, even if the officials called for it, how many people would be willing to transfer their own Mind Power to soone else?
Guan Tong hadn't yet thought of a very good solution to this problem.
He did have a vague idea before, which was essentially to establish his own organization, offering protection as a condition for mbers to transfer Mind Power to him.
But to implent it concretely, there were many problems, and it needed careful long-term planning.
After closing the panel, he opened the Storage Box and opened the silver-grade Survival Chest rewarded by the rule.
What he obtained was a talisman.
[Obtained random item: Silver Doppelganger Talisman]
[Silver Doppelganger Talisman]: Upon use, creates a doppelganger of yourself that can persist for fifteen minutes. The doppelganger possesses one-fifth of the original's Mind Power, shares the original's five senses, and shares consciousness. Single-use item. This item can be traded.
Feels pretty good...
Seeing the talisman's effect from the chest, Guan Tong thought it wasn't particularly stunning, but its practicality was decent.
With his abilities, even a doppelganger with only one-fifth would have considerable combat power. Moreover, with their five senses interconnected, their combined combat effectiveness would be significantly enhanced within those fifteen minutes.
Reviews
All reviews (0)