“Swish, swish, swish!”
In the dense forest at the bottom of the valley, Chen Na moved rapidly while dodging the shadow spikes that kept striking from every direction.
Her figure was nimble and her movements agile as she swiftly weaved between the trees.
Just as she was about to reach the large tree marked as the finish line, shadow spikes suddenly shot toward her from all directions, sealing off every angle of escape.
Chen Na did not panic. She calmly stopped, mobilized her Mind Power, and instantly activated a protective shield around her entire body, blocking all the attacks.
She then leaped onto the finish-line tree in a single bound and excitedly raised her head and waved. “Brother Guan, I did it!”
Guan Tong, who had been standing on a high branch, leaped down and applauded with a smile. “Very good.”
Over the past few days, aside from handling his own affairs, he had been putting Chen Na through high-intensity training, using various methods to draw out her potential in the hope of helping her reach the Awakened level as quickly as possible.
Today’s training involved having her traverse three thousand meters of forest within five minutes.
With the physical abilities of a Perfect-level Ascendant, running six hundred meters per minute was easy even if the entire route was filled with obstacles.
Therefore, Chen Na had not only needed to avoid obstacles and hurry forward, Guan Tong had also continuously manipulated his Shadow to interfere with and attack her throughout the entire course, forcing her to divide her attention between dodging and defense.
Guan Tong had originally thought Chen Na would fail the challenge, but unexpectedly, she succeeded, with several dozen seconds still remaining.
This single test was enough for him to see that during her two years at the official base, she had built a solid foundation through internal training.
Moreover, she had already reached a level of mastery in using her exclusive ability where she could operate it at will, and her proficiency with Mind Power Flow was also extremely high.
Even many graduates from the academy could not instantly activate a Mind Power protective shield, an application of Mind Power Flow that seemed so simple.
“Actually, I could definitely pass an even more difficult challenge.” Chen Na raised her brows confidently. “I knew your attacks were still far away before they reached me, Brother Guan. Hehe.”
“Mm, that is indeed where your ability excels.”
Chen Na could clearly sense fluctuations in Mind Power across a wide area. She could detect even the slightest fluctuations.
This meant that she could notice any attack aimed at her before it arrived and respond appropriately.
With this early-warning ability, combined with her proficient application of Mind Power Flow, she possessed extremely strong self-protection capabilities.
Her weakness was perhaps that she lacked a little in offensive power, but unless her enemy was a top-tier Ascendant at the Awakened level, even a Perfect-level Ascendant would find it difficult to defeat her in a short period.
“Good. I’ll set even stricter tests for you later,” Guan Tong said with a nod. “Just don’t complain when the time comes.”
Chen Na shook her little head repeatedly. “Of course I won’t! Even if it’s tiring, as long as I can train with you, Brother Guan, I’ll be happy.”
Guan Tong rubbed her head. “All right, go back and rest. Spend the rest of today restoring your energy, then we’ll see what the new rule will be when it is released tomorrow.”
“Mm!”
Perhaps because the previous rule had been rather special, the Interval Period after its conclusion lasted only seven short days.
During those seven days, humanity had far too many matters to deal with. The official governments of every nation not only had to receive and study the technology provided by the Star Scar Merchant Group, but also had to prepare for the establishment of the Joint Government.
Even the civilians who enjoyed browsing the internet could not stop for the entire week.
There were simply too many things to discuss, including the Yinluo Civilization, Mr. Ga, the Star Sea Court Civilization Convention, trade contracts, the merchant group’s liaison station, and the Awakened One Shi Jingyi. Countless trending posts appeared every day.
And that was only online. Offline, every region was likewise anything but quiet and ordinary.
In Suroma, the survivors gathered together and formally made an announcement to the world under the leadership of Roy, the leader of the resistance.
They announced that they would find a suitable foundation on Suroma’s territory and rebuild a city called Free City, which would accommodate all the Suromans who were still alive.
After the news spread, some people were moved, while others mocked them. Most people, however, approached the matter rationally and felt that their decision was unnecessary.
Most people believed that instead of spending manpower and resources rebuilding a city, the Suromans would be better off joining other nations or collectively moving into the Super City that was about to be completed.
That was right. The Super City, led by Lury and jointly constructed by several small nations, was about to be completed.
In fact, a large number of people had already moved into the city. It was simply that compared with the enormous city itself, the population still seemed rather small.
This city had originally been planned to accommodate several thousand square units of population, but with Hanlis and Sakura Prayer Country successively destroyed and the natural loss of population in nations such as Lury and Manchidon, the supply of shelters had become vastly excessive.
After Bruce’s death, Lury and the other nations declared that they welcomed all surviving Suromans to settle in the Super City, where there were enough shelters to accommodate them.
However, Roy and the others chose to refuse.
Their feelings were not difficult to understand. Most of the remaining Suromans were patriots, and they could not accept that the once-prosperous Suroma would, like so many other nations, vanish into history.
They understood that integrating into another place would be the beginning of their disappearance, so they were determined to remain on their own land and build a city there.
Those who did not understand believed that survival came before everything else in this era. Hundreds of nations had originally existed, but only a few remained, so Suroma was nothing special.
Yet obsession was often precisely what gave a person the strength to keep living.
Roy and the others had rebelled against Bruce in the first place because of their patriotism. Forcing them to leave their homeland and merge into another place would only turn them into walking corpses.
Beixing’s officials understood this very clearly, so they did not try to persuade them. They merely stated that if the rebuilding effort needed assistance, they would provide a certain degree of help.
As for Beixing’s officials, they had no time to concern themselves with other people at present.
Ever since Shi Jingyi’s identity as an Awakened One had been exposed, the debate surrounding her had never stopped.
Fortunately, she was no longer a teacher. Otherwise, hardly any students in her classroom would probably listen attentively. They would all be pestering her with questions about Awakened Ones.
Even so, although the academy had prohibited outsiders from entering, crowds still gathered densely at the entrance every day.
The demands of these people were varied and disorganized, but they could generally be divided into two categories.
One group hoped that Shi Jingyi would, like Han Qiu, make a clear public statement that she would fulfill the responsibilities of an Awakened One and lead the entire Civilization to survive until the end.
The other group hoped that she would publicly reveal more information known only to Awakened Ones.
For example, the Authority possessed only by Awakened Ones, the Deep Dive of Consciousness mentioned by Mr. Ga, and various other matters.
What disappointed and angered these people, however, was that Shi Jingyi gave no response whatsoever to either demand. The officials also indicated indirectly that they had no right to require Shi Jingyi to respond.
The officials merely stated that their current primary tasks were to digest the new technology obtained through trade, complete the cleanup work on the construction of the space survival base, and prepare for the arrival of the new rule.
In this atmosphere, seven days passed in the blink of an eye.
On the morning of April 1, exactly three years after the Fire Thief had descended upon Tianshui Star carrying the Doomsday Rules, the twenty-eighth Doomsday Rule was released on schedule.
【The seventy-fourth Doomsday Rule has been released】
【Doomsday Rule seventy-four: Furnace Arena】
【Rule Content: After the rule is released, the Terminal Panels of all Ascendants on Tianshui Star will temporarily activate the “Arena” function. The first fifteen days will be the voting period. Each Ascendant will possess one representative vote, which may be cast for any Ascendant.
After fifteen days, the nine Ascendants with the highest total numbers of representative votes will represent the Tianshui Star Civilization in the Furnace Arena competition and compete against participants from other civilizations to determine victory or defeat. Ascendants who are not selected may watch the competition as spectators. This rule will remain in effect for thirty days.】
【Success Reward: For every match won by a participant representing the Civilization, the Mind Power upper limit of all Ascendants belonging to that Civilization will increase by five percent. At the final settlement, if the total number of victories exceeds the total number of defeats, all Ascendants will receive an additional ten percent increase to their Mind Power upper limit.】
【Failure Penalty: For every match lost by a participant representing the Civilization, the Mind Power upper limit of all Ascendants belonging to that Civilization will decrease by five percent. At the final settlement, if the total number of defeats exceeds the total number of victories, all Ascendants will suffer an additional ten percent reduction to their Mind Power upper limit.】
【Note: Survival is not something that should be taken for granted. Every living thing in the universe must compete with the heavens for the right to live. Do you want to know whether your species has the right to survive? Then prove it in the Furnace Arena.】