April 14th, evening.
The training ground at the Countermeasures Research Office base, which had been bustling for a week, finally fell silent.
After multiple rounds of high-intensity training, the nearly hundred sparring partners arranged by Zhang Minglu all left, exhausted in both body and mind.
At first, they had been eager to try, many arriving with the mindset of "maybe I can beat a participant."
Whether it was Dragon Soul, Shi Jingyi, or Guan Tong, if one could defeat any of them, or even fight any of them to a draw, it would prove their own strength.
But the results were brutal.
Even the best among the sparring partners, like Bai Xuewu and Silver Fox, fell short of the trio when things got serious.
Bai Xuewu especially. During one match, when the mech she piloted was shattered by a single heavy punch from Shi Jingyi, everyone including herself was stunned.
No one could believe that Shi Jingyi, as a human, possessed that kind of power. Many speculated that this power must be connected to the Authority she held.
But since she didn't voluntarily disclose the effects of her Authority, no one would invite trouble by asking.
Zhang Minglu, however, had specifically discussed the Authority issue with Shi Jingyi several times.
These conversations weren't to learn the effects of her Authority, but rather to understand the process of acquiring one.
This was related to Dragon Soul. These past few days, he frequently experienced hallucinatory visions during sleep, and sometimes even while awake.
Without exception, those visions showed a vast, gray, boundless land, where a group of mountain-like giants walked.
Zhang Minglu worried something might happen to Dragon Soul and wanted to gain some experience from Shi Jingyi, who had already been through it.
When Shi Jingyi heard that Dragon Soul frequently dreamed of strange visions, she understood that he was in a situation similar to hers back then, both at the critical threshold of becoming an Awakened One.
However, these visions were only the beginning, like a trailer before a movie plays.
She told Zhang Minglu that this kind of dream was a precursor. To awaken and inherit the Authority to become an Awakened One, one still needed to complete a trial.
Different Authorities meant different trials.
Throughout the conversation, she never once revealed the effects of her own Authority. It wasn't that she didn't trust the officials, but that she didn't trust that alien group, the Star Scar Merchant Group.
Currently, that merchant group's spaceship was still parked in Tianshui Star's orbit, and a liaison station in Qingzhou City was under construction.
Just as she and Guan Tong had once discussed, once her Authority effects leaked, attracting Mr. Ga, if he was willing to risk severe punishment from the Star Sea Court to seize it by force, things would become quite troublesome.
For safety's sake, before she was strong enough, before reaching a consensus with Guan Tong, she would not disclose her Authority abilities externally.
Now, on the eve of the competition's start, in the office, Zhang Minglu was having one final pre-match conversation with Dragon Soul.
Zhang Minglu said, "From what Dean Shi said, the timing of the awakening trial isn't fixed, but what's certain is that once the signs appear, it won't be long."
Hearing this, Dragon Soul sensed the unease in Zhang Minglu's words: "Doctor, are you worried that the awakening trial might appear during my match?"
"Exactly."
Zhang Minglu couldn't help but worry.
According to the information Shi Jingyi revealed, her trial through the Authority had taken considerable time.
If Dragon Soul was affected by the Authority trial during the competition, the consequences could very well be fatal.
A simple win or loss could be ignored, but in a situation where losing equaled death, this risk became almost unbearable.
"The Doctor's worry isn't unreasonable. But what I want to say is, no matter what situation I encounter, I will go all out, and I will absolutely secure a victory for the country, for civilization." Dragon Soul's eyes blazed with determination, resolute and unwavering.
"...Good, go back and rest early."
"Yes."
Zhang Minglu watched Dragon Soul leave, and let out a slight sigh.
For some reason, these past few days he'd had a constant premonition that this competition wouldn't go so smoothly.
......
"...That's the result of the investigation."
That same night, inside the Wordless Book shelter.
Black Star, in a video call with Guan Tong, summarized and reported the results of his days-long investigation into Han Qiu and the "guild" to Guan Tong.
After listening, Guan Tong learned quite a bit.
The most important thing was learning about the relationship between the overall rankings' seventh place, "Gluttony Frenzy" Satan, and Han Qiu. This was crucial.
Although from the rules' information, this competition was entirely one-on-one, the moment any other situation arose, he had to watch out for backstabbing.
It wasn't just Guan Tong and his people who needed to be careful. He knew Han Qiu would be equally cautious, otherwise there'd be no need to maneuver Satan into participating.
As for the other cadres of the "guild" organization, he only knew about "Tianci." He knew this was the person responsible for liaising with branch chapters everywhere and relaying Han Qiu's orders.
But what he hadn't expected was that this Tianci had actually come from Beixing's military.
Guan Tong had indeed encountered quite a few people from Beixing's military background. One thing he had to admit was that no matter what these people did, their willpower was unshakable.
If they were comrades-in-arms, they were extremely reliable. If they were enemies, they were equally troublesome.
"Thanks for your hard work, you and White Star." Guan Tong said, "Being able to find all this in such a short time couldn't have been easy."
Black Star shook his head: "That's nothing. Troupe Leader, you're the one under the most pressure. Tomorrow is the match day..."
"Rest assured, I've already made my preparations."
"We believe that with the Troupe Leader's strength, you'll easily secure a victory. We'll be in the audience cheering for you!"
After the two ended the video call, Guan Tong opened his Terminal Panel.
【Name: Guan Tong】
【Nickname: Shadow】
【Title: Advanced Civilization Observer】
【Mind Power: 2616 (2616) (12274935)】
【Ascendant City: 4585216】
【Overall Biometric Rating: Awakened】
His Mind Power upper limit had now surpassed two thousand six hundred, rising rapidly. This was related to his recent high-intensity training and the massive input and output of Mind Power.
As for reserves, it exceeded ten million. Although he'd lost Sakura Prayer Country as a source of flowable Mind Power, as the saying goes, "rich rewards bring forth brave men." After he set a buyback price for flowable Mind Power at a "2:1" ratio, markets across all nations practically went insane.
An Ascendant with a thousand-point upper limit could earn 2000 Ascendant Coins in a single sale, almost equivalent to completing one Rule challenge. How could they not be tempted?
This widened Guan Tong's acquisition market to the level of official Ascendants from various nations.
The pitiful Ascension Coin welfare that various governments regularly distributed to Ascendants was nothing compared to what they could earn by selling flowable Mind Power a few times. Many naturally chose to sell.
Especially after Mr. Ga appeared, Ascendants realized that Ascension Coins might be some kind of universal currency in the cosmos, or have other uses. This sent the value soaring once again.
Even if various governments officially prohibited it, with such terrifying demand, there was always a way around it.
Through this method, Guan Tong continuously acquired large amounts of flowable Mind Power. Of course, the cost of doubling the buyback price was rapid depletion of Ascension Coins.
His total Ascension Coins, originally at the ten-million level, rapidly fell back to the low millions. But he felt it was well worth it.
Ascension Coins that couldn't be converted into actual combat power held little value for him. Even if it truly was a universal cosmic currency, being unable to go to the cosmos meant it couldn't manifest that value.
Aside from the hard power improvements from the Panel, Guan Tong had done just about all the preparation he could in other areas.
Abilities, items... even Title Ability.
Guan Tong didn't know whether the devouring ability attached to his 【Civilization Observer】 title could be used in the Arena.
If it could, wouldn't he be able to instantly kill alien civilization opponents?
"...Even if I can, I'll treat it as a trump card. I won't use it unless I can't win."
In these rules, Tianshui Star's Ascendants could be spectators. Did that mean other civilizations would have spectators too?
If those fellows saw him using a special method to devour intelligent individuals from other civilizations, who knew what trouble it might stir up. Better to be cautious.
Guan Tong shut off his computer, spoke with Shi Jingyi about the Satan matter, and the two turned in early.
Because the Wordless Book shelter would be recalled when Guan Tong went to compete, Chen Na would temporarily stay at the official base, returning after the competition ended.
The next morning, nine o'clock sharp.
In that instant, nine teleportation light pillars descended from the sky, enveloping Tianshui Star's nine participants.
As the teleportation activated, the Meltstar Arena Competition officially began!