"Such an incredible Authority!"
On the second floor of the shelter, after listening to Shi Jingyi explain the Authority she had obtained, Guan Tong's eyes went wide. He thought the effect was simply too absurd.
If the Impermanent Tax Authority he had seized from the Life-Hunting Demon leaned toward extracting benefits, then Shi Jingyi's Chaos Return to Origin Authority leaned toward ultimate self-enhancement and combat.
The ability to convert chaotic matter from the universe into energy that strengthens the body would, over time, undoubtedly allow Shi Jingyi to temper her physique to the absolute limit.
"Since the experts of this Heavenly Martial Civilization could traverse the universe with their bare bodies, I'm sure you'll be able to do the same someday, Jingyi." Guan Tong was utterly convinced of this.
Because being able to obtain this Authority in itself signified the Authority's recognition of the individual's talent.
This was never a one-way selection, but a two-way one. If Shi Jingyi lacked the talent to comprehend the martial arts remnants of the Heavenly Martial Civilization, the Authority Fruit wouldn't have awakened for her either.
"I hope so. I really look forward to that day." A look of longing appeared on Shi Jingyi's face.
As a human martial artist, how could she not wish that one day, she could be like the experts of the Heavenly Martial Civilization, strolling among the stars relying only on her physical body, without any external aid.
But...
Thinking of that dim, withered fruit, a trace of melancholy surfaced in Shi Jingyi's eyes.
"The Heavenly Martial Civilization was so powerful, and yet it still perished."
"Yeah..."
"Xiao Tong, what are you thinking about?" Shi Jingyi could tell Guan Tong seemed to have a different thought on his mind.
"I was thinking, what would the social structure of the Heavenly Martial Civilization have been like?"
"Social structure?"
"Jingyi, think about it. In a civilization, if an individual could become so powerful that they could traverse the stars with just their body, then to that individual, would the collective still hold much meaning?"
Shi Jingyi paused for a moment, then quickly understood what Guan Tong meant.
"Xiao Tong, you think that because the ceiling for individuals in the Heavenly Martial Civilization was too high, their social structure must have been a very loose model. The population was small, which is why they perished?"
"Perhaps. Or maybe, like the ferocious beast civilization of Kimos Star back then, the Heavenly Martial Civilization was destroyed at the hands of the Fire Thief."
Shi Jingyi nodded.
This process of obtaining an Authority allowed her to personally experience just how powerful the Fire Thief was once more.
Never mind everything else, just the fact that it could know the name, ability, and cost of every single Authority... Information is Power, this principle was perfectly embodied by the Fire Thief.
Beyond that information, it even made summary notes for different civilizations, which was the most absurd part.
This meant it was suspected of knowing about the existence of every intelligent civilization in the universe, and having a thorough understanding of each one.
To be able to achieve such a level, if one weren't splitting hairs, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it an omniscient and omnipotent god of the universe.
In the eyes of Guan Tong and Shi Jingyi, who were humans, the powerful Heavenly Martial Civilization was nothing compared to the Fire Thief.
Perhaps, in front of the Fire Thief, a civilization was no different from an ant in front of a human, or maybe the gap between the two was even smaller than the gap between an ant and a human.
"...No matter how any civilization is destroyed or perishes, we humans are still here. And rather than worrying about the future of human civilization, I'm more worried about the cost of your Authority."
In Guan Tong's view, human civilization was an abstract concept, but Shi Jingyi was a concrete individual, someone he genuinely cared about.
"Yeah." Shi Jingyi nodded gently. "The cosmic energy absorbed needs to be purified, otherwise it will pollute the source essence. Contaminated source essence will also attract the attention of the Demon Race... Xiao Tong, this isn't the first time the Demon Race has appeared, is it?"
"Correct."
Mentioning the "Demon Race" made Guan Tong very cautious.
Simply counting the encounters humans had with the Demon Race during the Doomsday Rules, there had already been two.
One was the Wailing Furnace, a Demon Race entity that could create mental fear, encountered during the Crimson Gaze rule.
The other was the Life-Hunting Demon in the Gambling Space. That guy undoubtedly belonged to the Demon Race as well.
Combined with the note information Shi Jingyi received when she obtained her Authority this time, it was clear that in the universe, the Demon Race was a widely distributed race, suspected to exist in multiple forms.
And based on humanity's two encounters with them, under human values, this race was undoubtedly an extremely evil one.
"By the way, how long was I in secluded meditation?"
Shi Jingyi asked. She had absolutely no idea what day it was.
"Twenty-six whole days. In a few more days, this rule will end." Guan Tong said. "Honestly, I was prepared to forcefully wake you up if you still hadn't come out before the next rule was announced."
"That long..."
Shi Jingyi hadn't expected to have been in secluded meditation for over twenty days. She was quite surprised.
She thought to herself that perhaps the passage of time she felt in that special space was different from the real world.
"Alright. In the next few days, I want to seriously study the martial arts of the Heavenly Martial Civilization, and also try out the effects of my Authority."
Shi Jingyi had gained a huge harvest from this secluded meditation, and she was now eager to test out her newly acquired power.
But Guan Tong brought up something else to her.
"Jingyi, while you were in secluded meditation, some things happened... they're related to you, and I need to tell you about them."
"Related to me? What happened?"
Looking at the curious expression on Shi Jingyi's face, Guan Tong felt a bit reluctant. After all, those matters were truly disgusting, and telling her would only ruin her mood.
But if he didn't tell her, Shi Jingyi would eventually find out on her own anyway, so it was better to let her know sooner.
Guan Tong told her the whole story of how Zhou Qinfeng had sold out the news of her secluded meditation. He didn't mention other things, like the matter of the Coordinate Resonance Anchors.
It wasn't that he wanted to keep secrets from her, but rather these things had nothing to do with her for now. He could tell her in the future.
What surprised him greatly was that Shi Jingyi listened quietly to everything he said, her expression calm from beginning to end.
Even when she heard that an Armed Squad sent by Suroma had entered her home, intending to harm her, her emotions didn't fluctuate much.
"Jingyi, aren't you angry?"
He himself wasn't the one involved, and he had been so angry that he had killed Zhou Qinfeng on the spot. Yet Shi Jingyi, the actual person involved, was far more composed than he was, as if it had nothing to do with her.
"It's actually fine." Shi Jingyi said. "Zhou Qinfeng has already paid the price for his actions. He's dead. Even if I got angry, there's nothing I could do about it, right?"
"That's true, but..."
"Sorry, maybe I'm still immersed in the feeling of obtaining the Authority." Shi Jingyi rubbed her brow.
Guan Tong suddenly understood. He could roughly comprehend that feeling.
It was like when he had gone into space, and when he had learned about the Cosmic Cycle, there was also a brief period when his heart was filled with a sense of emptiness.
At that time, he felt that all the love, hate, and grudges of the human world, placed on the scale of the universe, meant nothing at all.
But this feeling wouldn't last forever. It was just a brief detachment. After the detachment, people would still be pulled back by the gravity of reality, and emotions were no exception.
"Then you should take some time to sort yourself out." Guan Tong knew that what Shi Jingyi needed now was to be alone.
Before he left, he added: "After Zhou Qinfeng's death, both the academy and the officials intend for you to take over the position of Dean. Consider whether you want to accept it."
Shi Jingyi nodded. "I understand. Thank you, Xiao Tong. I know you've been by my side this whole time over the past twenty-something days."
Guan Tong just smiled and didn't say anything.
.......
Since Shi Jingyi had come out of secluded meditation, there was no need for her to stay in Bandzhen.
Guan Tong sent her back to Pinglu, helped her tidy up the courtyard that Suroma's squad had messed up, and then returned to Bandzhen himself.
During this time, he thought about the process of Shi Jingyi obtaining her Authority, which was vastly different from his own.
She had awakened the Authority through sensing and resonance, and after merging, she could maximize the Authority's effects.
In contrast, Guan Tong's own Authority Fruit for Impermanent Tax should have been merged with the Life-Hunting Demon. He, on the other hand, had indirectly obtained the Authority by acquiring the Life-Hunting Demon's primal blood.
This not only greatly diminished the Authority's effects, but he also couldn't hold onto it permanently. Once the primal blood that served as its foundation was used up, he would lose this Authority.
Logically speaking, before Shi Jingyi's Mind Power upper limit broke through two thousand, she had frequently dreamed of Authorities fated to be hers. After the breakthrough, she gained a natural method of acquisition.
But Guan Tong had never had similar dreams.
This led him to speculate that it must be related to his possession of the Wordless Book.
...He had to find a way to get to Meltstar as soon as possible and chase down leads on the Authorities.
After seeing Shi Jingyi's Authority, Guan Tong was truly envious. But when he would be able to obtain the Authority corresponding to the Wordless Book was a huge unknown.
However, there was no need to dwell on that right now. What he was busy doing was continuously generating more Coordinate Resonance Anchors.
With less than a week remaining before this rule ended, he had to seize the final window period to manufacture as many anchor items as possible, laying the foundation for future high demand.
To this end, he poured all the 2,400 square units of Ascension Coins he had obtained from the three small nations into purchasing flowable Mind Power.
The Serpent Hair Society, the Twin Stars Bar, all channels were buying at full capacity. In just a few days, they acquired 1,500 square units of flowable Mind Power.
As for the remaining 900 square units of Ascension Coins, it wasn't that Guan Tong didn't want to buy, but he couldn't find anyone selling.
There was no helping it. After all, during this rule period, many Ascendants were staying indoors. Without a need to go out, they wouldn't break through walls.
But 1,500,000 units of flowable Mind Power, plus the original 300,000 units remaining, totaling 1,800,000 Mind Power, was enough to manufacture 24 to 25 pairs of matched anchors.
In other words, in the future, Guan Tong would be able to build over twenty stable spatial folding passages.
Subtracting the three passages already sold in advance, there were still over twenty left to sell.
If each was sold at the price of 8,000,000, the total would be nearly 200,000,000 Ascension Coins... Even for Guan Tong, this number was astonishingly large.
But thinking rationally, he definitely wouldn't sell them all. He needed to keep some for himself and his team members to use.
And the price of 8,000,000 was just the current price. In the future, if he wanted, he could continue to raise it.
Using over 20 million to exchange for a future expected income of 200 million, this small-stakes-big-payout move excited Guan Tong greatly.
Although tenfold returns might sound modest, turning 20 into 200 and turning 20 million into 200 million were completely different concepts.
This prompted him to decide to seek out more similar opportunities in the future. Using the heaven-defying nature of the Wordless Book to create more income for himself, this was also a way to stockpile more ammunition for the future.
Don't be fooled by how easily Guan Tong seemed to be handling things. In reality, the sense of crisis in his heart was very strong.
Whether it was crises originating from humans, like old acquaintances such as Bruce and Han Qiu.
Or potential threats from other civilizations, like the ever-present, lingering Demon Race... To deal with all of this, he had to continuously accumulate.
When the end of January arrived, after Guan Tong had manufactured a total of 25 pairs of matched Coordinate Resonance Anchors, the twenty-fifth Doomsday Rule finally came to an end.