On the morning of December 15th, the 24th Doomsday Rule period came to an end.
At 9 AM sharp, the Fire Thief’s voice rang out on schedule.
【Congratulations on passing the trial of the 24th Doomsday Rule】
【Rewards have been distributed to your Storage Box】
【The 25th Doomsday Rule will be released in fifteen days】
Inside the shelter, Guan Tong opened his Storage Box, selected the Gold-tier Survival Chest from the challenge success rewards, and opened it.
【You have obtained: Upgrade Chip】
【Upgrade Chip】: Can be used to upgrade one existing non-exclusive item. Not tradable. Valid for 24 hours.
“Upgrade an existing item? And it’s a time-limited item too...”
Guan Tong looked at the item’s effect that had popped out, feeling very intrigued. This was the first time he had seen an item that could produce a “synergistic” effect with other items, and also the first time he had seen a time-limited-use item.
So, which one should he upgrade?
Guan Tong opened his Storage Box and checked the items he possessed.
He didn’t have too many non-exclusive items. In particular, many one-time-use ones had long since been used up and disappeared, such as [Life-Saving Pendant], [Mind Power Stimulus Syringe], [Burning Shield], etc. Now, only a few major ones remained.
These included the [Camouflage Coat], which granted passive invisibility when activated; the [Hourglass of Time], which could pause time for a limited number of uses; the defensive item [Liu-Jin Guardian], which took effect automatically while stored in the Storage Box; and some [Communication Scrolls].
Besides these, there were also some miscellaneous items that weren’t too important in terms of functionality.
For example, a few clothing items he had obtained early on, the pile of self-made Instant Noodles with various abilities given to him by Xu Xiaotian, the multifunctional watch gifted by Chen Na, and so on.
Additionally, items that had once belonged to him but were given away and never taken back—like the Whistle, the Passerby Transformation Device, etc.—naturally weren’t counted.
Among these items, upgrading would definitely mean choosing from among the few more important ones.
Using process of elimination, the [Communication Scroll] was the first to go.
This item had been very useful in the past, once selling for as high as six figures on the market during its peak frenzy. Many high-ranking and powerful figures had hoarded quite a few of them.
But as time passed, its value would inevitably keep dropping.
This was because, with more and more Ascendants surpassing one thousand Mind Power points and being able to restart the Mind Network, the item could be completely phased out by using the Mind Network for calls.
The second item Guan Tong eliminated was the [Camouflage Coat]. Its current effects already met his needs, and an upgrade wouldn’t provide much meaningful improvement.
Unless upgrading it could maintain full invisibility even when attacked or using his abilities, which was clearly unlikely, so he chose to give it up.
Finally, he was torn between the [Liu-Jin Guardian] and the [Hourglass of Time], a binary choice that left him a bit conflicted.
The [Liu-Jin Guardian] was a high-value item he had obtained back when he killed the bomb fanatic Wu Wang, dropping from the latter.
When struck by a Mind Power attack, it had the effect of automatically generating a light shield with ten times the upper limit of the user’s Mind Power defense. This effect had protected him several times already.
It could be said that the light shield defense provided by this item, combined with the Shadow Armor and the flowable Mind Power Energy Shield, formed a total of three layers of protection—from the inside out.
As long as Guan Tong’s Mind Power wasn’t exhausted, these three layers of protection could allow him to ignore attacks from the vast majority of enemies.
The only time it had failed was during the [Underwater Bright Moon] rule period.
Back then, combined with Andrew’s exclusive item, the “Carrier Array,” which fired a high-energy laser concentrating the power of three thousand Ascendants, they finally broke through the triple defenses and consumed Guan Tong’s last life-saving item, the [Life-Saving Pendant].
Moreover, this item was, in a sense, a “growth-type item,” because the defense effect of the light shield it generated depended on the holder’s Mind Power upper limit.
The higher Guan Tong’s Mind Power upper limit, the stronger the defense effect.
Now, with a Mind Power upper limit of nearly two thousand, the light shield generated by the item, after being amplified tenfold, could withstand a single Mind Power attack of nearly twenty thousand points.
But the second candidate item, the [Hourglass of Time], was even rarer and more precious. In some ways, it could be considered a rule-type item.
Its only drawback was its limited number of uses—five total. Yelanka had used it once, he had used it once himself, leaving only three uses left.
Although each use only froze time for one second within the effective range, for top-tier Ascendants, one second could sometimes determine victory or defeat in a life-and-death battle.
If there was any disadvantage, it was that it was, after all, an item that required active use, unlike an ability that could be activated instantly. There was the action of “taking out the item and using it.”
In the heat of the moment, it might not be possible to use it in time.
Just like when Adam was killed—everything happened in an instant, and Guan Tong had no chance to take the hourglass out of his Storage Box to pause time.
“...I’ll upgrade the hourglass after all.”
After a moment of deliberation, he made his final decision.
Because right now, he wasn’t lacking in defense; what he lacked was more diverse combat methods.
If the hourglass’s upgrade did nothing else, even just replenishing the uses that had been consumed, he would be very satisfied.
After making his decision, he chose to use the [Upgrade Chip], targeting the [Hourglass of Time].
【Upgrade complete】
Along with the prompt, after the chip disappeared, a brand-new hourglass with faint sparkles appeared before him.
[Hourglass of Time·Modified]: After use, consumes 10% Mind Power to freeze time within a 100-meter radius centered on the user for 3 seconds. The user is unaffected. Cooldown time: 24 hours. Maximum uses: 5. Remaining uses: 5. Can be traded.
3 seconds!
When Guan Tong saw the upgraded hourglass’s effect, a look of delighted surprise immediately lit up his eyes.
Although the hourglass’s upgrade was nearly a comprehensive improvement over the original—such as the consumption dropping from 20% to 10%, the effective range expanding from 50 meters to 100 meters, the cooldown time reduced from 48 hours to 24 hours, and even the previously used charges being fully replenished...
None of these could compare to the improvement in a single use—the time freeze jumping from 1 second to 3 seconds. For Guan Tong, for a top-tier Ascendant, this was a qualitative leap!
With 3 seconds, it wasn’t just about deciding the outcome of a battle at a critical moment; it could directly determine victory from the very start of a key fight.
For Guan Tong, if he could get three seconds to strike first before the battle even began, he really couldn’t think of anyone who could survive his assault.
Whether it was using the Shadow for long-range infiltration and internal explosion, or using Body Swap to get close for a Small Space close-range attack... 3 seconds was even enough for him to execute both attacks simultaneously.
“Looks like I didn’t choose wrong. This should be my biggest upgrade in terms of items recently.” Guan Tong said with satisfaction.
Neither the [Camouflage Coat] he had obtained earlier nor the [Dragonblood Tree Heart] had contributed anything to his personal combat power.
Especially the latter—although Coal Ball had grown much stronger after eating it, Guan Tong himself had gained nothing.
Now, this upgraded hourglass, usable five times with a 3-second time freeze each time, was a truly excellent item that would give him an enormous advantage in personal combat.
Excited, Guan Tong played with the hourglass in his hands, reluctant to let go, before putting it back into his Storage Box.
Then he opened his personal panel.
[Name: Guan Tong]
[Nickname: Shadow]
[Title: Advanced Civilization Observer]
[Mind Power: 1990 (1990) (3881890)]
[Ascension Coins: 586,700]
[Overall Biometric Rating: Awakened]
First, regarding Mind Power, it was very stable. He now had a natural upper limit increase of 4 points per day. Breaking the two-thousand mark before the next rule’s release would be no problem at all.
However, the Ascension Coins hadn’t increased much. This was directly related to the fact that no one was trading on Ascendant Home, rendering the [Impermanent Tax] Authority ineffective.
The several hundred thousand from selling the Hidden Rule intelligence had all been spent on buying flowable Mind Power, leaving only a few tens of thousands as backup.
But now that the rule had ended and the thousand-fold emergence effect had disappeared, the masses, who had been suppressed for an entire month, would undoubtedly rush online impatiently.
This way, the collection of transaction tax should quickly return to normal.
Still, Guan Tong thought that Bruce of Suroma would likely make a big deal out of the series of attacks that had occurred during this period.
In the final few days of the rule period, Guan Tong had launched a series of attacks on over a dozen large military-industrial buildings. According to Yelanka’s calculations, he had paralyzed at least one-fifth of Suroma’s military production.
This was nearly the limit of solo guerrilla warfare. In fact, when Guan Tong met Yelanka again on the last day, he noticed a certain indescribable emotion lurking deep in her eyes when she looked at him.
He knew what that emotion was. To put it nicely, it was awe. To put it bluntly, it was apprehension.
Because if Guan Tong could wreak such havoc on Suroma by operating as a Lone Wolf, the result would only be worse if it were Xisiya.
As the Administrator, as a qualified decision-maker, considering every possibility was a necessary professional ethic for her role.
Thus, she had no choice but to consider: what if one day Guan Tong, or an Ascendant like him, became an enemy of Xisiya and launched a similar guerrilla war? How would she deal with it?
Guan Tong, sensing this emotion in her, couldn’t exactly say he was hurt.
He knew this wasn’t a matter of distrust, but simply how humans were. One’s position naturally determined or shaped one’s way of thinking.
Even if Yelanka, over time, gradually developed some wariness toward him befitting an Administrator, he believed that her fundamental character was kind and that she would never do anything ungrateful.
Besides these matters, Guan Tong was also concerned about the development of the various countries over the past month.
He knew that every country had, coincidentally, used this rule to achieve technological breakthroughs, driving society to accelerate development in this era where every second counted.
For example, regarding Beixing’s space strategy, he felt it had probably advanced significantly. It might not be long before they publicly announced the successful construction of their first space survival base to boost morale worldwide.
As for Suroma, he estimated that Bruce had also put considerable effort into modified bodies and the field of memory.
As for Xisiya, Guan Tong wasn’t too sure. Yelanka hadn’t mentioned what research their country was conducting during either of their two recent meetings—somewhat mysterious.
As for the other small nations, Guan Tong hadn’t paid much attention to them. He figured their achievements couldn’t compare to the big countries. After all, with fewer people came fewer talents.
Take Sakura Prayer Country, for instance. With just over a million people, it was difficult enough just to form a competent research team, let alone conduct meaningful research.