Chapter 81 The New Silver Hunter and the Challenge Begins
Opening the book, Guan Tong didn't rush to write, but instead pondered what he lacked.
Offensive methods? With Shadow, Silver Hunter, and the undead summoned by Corpse Whistle, he already had quite a few.
Defensive methods? His hardworking Shadow could also handle that. If all else failed, summoning a few undead to act as meat shields was a potential option.
Escape methods? Absolutely lacking.
Yes, Guan Tong had realized that he could fight and defend, but he couldn't run.
He wasn't so arrogant as to think he wouldn't encounter situations requiring escape.
In fact, quite the opposite. Ever since his confrontation with the group suspected to be an "official team," he felt he needed the ability to withdraw from the battlefield promptly.
Not to mention the upcoming challenge, which would most likely involve situations requiring tactical retreat.
Although summoning Shadow and having it carry him for an extended period with unlimited stamina was an option… it was still too slow.
The key to escape was either being exceptionally fast enough to be unstoppable, or having a way to prevent the enemy from pursuing him.
Guan Tong decided to focus on these two aspects when adding words to the second page.
How could a gun increase my speed?
Guan Tong pondered, getting up and walking around thinking. After a moment, his gaze inadvertently fell on a window of a collapsed building in the neighborhood, where a clothesline was hanging.
His gaze paused when he saw the clothesline, and then an idea suddenly popped into his mind.
A grappling hook gun!
That's right, he remembered watching some movies before his transmigration, featuring guns that could launch grappling hooks, allowing the user to move quickly by extending and retracting the cable after the hook was secured.
He was most impressed by Batman's grappling hook gun. Batman used it to climb rapidly, land quickly, chase and retreat… it was practically omnipotent, able to hook people, cars, buildings, steel bars, even airplanes!
When he watched the movie, he thought that gun was really cool, and he wished he had one! Now, at this moment, why not try to give Silver Hunter similar functionality through adding words?
Guan Tong didn't think that this kind of grappling hook gun was something from movies and unrealistic—wasn't his Silver Hunter, which didn't require manual reloading and could switch between 1-3 ammunition at will, realistic?
This inexplicably reminded him of Ouyang Shanyue's words: mental power, as a medium, gives humans the ability to modify reality with their will. His [Wordless Book] seemed to be helping him achieve this process.
So he immediately had an idea to add words.
But the grappling hook alone wasn't enough; besides accelerating his own movement, he also wanted another means to hinder the enemy. So, he finally decided to add two words to the second page.
Considering that the [Wordless Book] could fulfill the need for ambiguity, Guan Tong planned to simplify these two words into two characters:
"smoke" and "claw.
" "Smoke" represented smoke grenades.
He needed his Silver Hunter to be able to fire smoke grenades that obscured vision, which would be effective whether used to cover escape or attack.
"Claw" naturally represented the grappling hook.
The three characters together were "Smoke Claw Gun."
"..."
Guan Tong felt it was somewhat abstract, but he believed that the [Wordless Book] could understand his need for ambiguity, after all, it had already been successfully tested before.
Once he made his decision, he immediately began to act.
For the next few days, his daily routine became completely fixed.
He spent his days expending mental energy adding words; in the evenings, he rested, took walks, watched online classes from the Mental Energy Academy, and went to sleep.
This life seemed monotonous and tedious, but Guan Tong enjoyed it
immensely. Watching the strokes on the pages increase each day gave him a real sense of peace and security.
Days passed in this way, and by late August, Guan Tong had completed the word-adding work.
During this time, he didn't store bullets for the Silver Hunter, because after adding the words, he had to re-manifest it. If he stored bullets, the bullets would be depleted as soon as the gun was returned to the book, wasting all the mental energy he had used.
At this moment, he held the [Wordless Book] in his left hand, opened it to the second page, looked at the three words "Smoking Claw Gun," and silently recited the summoning command.
A brand-new Silver Hunter instantly appeared in his right hand.
Its overall color scheme remained unchanged, still predominantly silver, but a strange-looking diamond-shaped secondary barrel had been added to the side of the main barrel, presumably for use with the grappling hook.
But Guan Tong didn't care about the appearance; what mattered was whether the function he wanted had been achieved.
His gaze fell on the small black electronic screen on the left side of the gun handle. Guan Tong consumed 5 points of mental energy to generate a No. 1 bullet. The screen immediately lit up, displaying the remaining bullets:
No. 1 bullet *1,
No. 2 bullet *0,
No. 3 bullet *0,
No. 4 bullet *0,
Grappling hook (ready).
"Success!"
Guan Tong smiled as he saw the newly added "No. 4 bullet" and "Grappling hook" displayed.
He couldn't wait to take the gun out to experiment.
Taking advantage of being in an abandoned neighborhood where no one else was around, he found a building that was half collapsed.
He tried to consume mental energy to generate a No. 4 bullet, finding that it cost 15 points, more than No. 1 and No. 2, but less than No. 3.
Considering its functionality, Guan Tong could accept it.
After generating it, he aimed it into the stairwell and pulled the trigger.
"Bang—"
A sound like a bottle cap being opened came from the barrel. Guan Tong saw a round bullet, like a hand grenade, being fired, followed by a "whoosh—" sound.
Immediately, a large amount of smoke rapidly spread throughout the corridor. In just about two seconds, the entire corridor was filled with white fog, obscuring everything.
"The effect is quite good,"
Guan Tong thought, satisfied. This was exactly the kind of dense smoke he wanted. It allowed him to advance or retreat at will, and if he was outmatched by a stronger opponent, he could immediately use the smoke to escape.
He then conducted an open-air test in the suburbs. The smoke covered a wide area, forming a smoke column over twenty meters in diameter in calm conditions.
With wind, the smoke column quickly grew into a smoke trail tens of meters long; although the area increased, the concealment decreased significantly.
Guan Tong then tested the "grappling hook" in various locations, including abandoned vehicles, trees, and buildings. It basically fulfilled his need for "rapid movement after hooking."
However, unlike bullet generators, each use of the grappling hook consumes a fixed 15 points of mental energy.
Using it several times in a row would result in a consumption of dozens of points, a significant burden even for Guan Tong. He certainly couldn't abuse it for convenience.
After completing all the tests, Guan Tong felt that the addition of the words had a good overall effect, partially making up for his shortcomings in escape methods.
What he needed to do before September 1st was clear:
stockpile bullets!
As Guan Tong's main offensive weapon at this stage, the Silver Hunter needed to have plenty of bullets to keep up.
So, in the remaining days, Guan Tong focused solely on stockpiling bullets. During this time, he checked the market several more times and found that item prices were still very high.
Spending seven or eight hundred Ascension Coins on a one-time use item with a normal effect seemed wasteful to Guan Tong; only those who didn't earn their own coins would be willing to use such a thing.
Therefore, after considering it, on the evening of August 31st, he decisively gave up shopping from the market. Instead, he directly opened the Ascension Shop and bought 5 lockpicks and 5 drones, spending a total of 550 Ascension Coins.
For him, stockpiling these was better than wasting money on the market. Especially the drones; he felt they might be very useful in the challenge, and some professional teams would definitely buy many.
Thus, Guan Tong felt he was almost ready.
Before the challenge began on September 1st, he reviewed his current situation and equipment.
[Name: Guan Tong]
[Nickname: Shadow]
[Title: Guardian]
[Mental Power: 132 (132) (330)]
[Ascension Coins: 387]
[Overall Bio-Information Evaluation: Excellent]
Guan Tong didn't use up all his Ascension Coins because he wasn't sure if the shop would add new items after the challenge, as it does after each rule event.
If it did, he would be in trouble if he ran out of coins. So he left nearly 400 coins.
He opened his storage box, and the items inside were increasing.
[Wordless Book], [Guiding Flashlight], [Corpse Whistle], [Basic Food Box - Bronze Level] *1, [Invitation to the First Ascension Challenge], [Multi-functional Lockpick] *6, [Small Reconnaissance Drone] *6.
In addition, there were three pieces of equipment that he was already wearing. Besides the storage boxes
for the [Thermostatic Technology Underwear] (already worn), [Multi-terrain Marching Boots] (already worn), and [Multi-functional Protective Suit] (already worn)
, his Silver Hunter had also stored a large amount of ammunition:
100 No. 1 rounds, 50
No. 2 rounds, 50
No. 3 rounds, and
20 No. 4 rounds . His
grappling hook (ready) was ready. He specifically stored 50 rounds of the most powerful No. 3 rounds. If his mental energy hadn't recovered too quickly, he would have stored even more. After checking these, Guan Tong felt it was about enough. This was the limit he could currently achieve. Whether he could use this to prepare for a good result in the challenge was up to fate. He slept soundly, and the next morning, before 9 a.m., Guan Tong went online. The online discussion about this challenge was far less heated than under the rules of the apocalypse. The reason was simple: many people hadn't received invitations and weren't eligible to participate. Since he couldn't participate himself, and unlike other human competitions, he couldn't watch qualified participants stream live, what was there to discuss? Only a few people with invitations spoke more. "I wonder what the competition will be like? I'm so nervous!" "Are all your teams full? Our team only has three people, I feel like we definitely won't get good results." "It's easy to fill up your team, right? Aren't many people asking to be recruited?" "I don't want to team up with people I don't know well, what if I get betrayed..." "We're full, and we all know each other. But it doesn't seem to matter much, all the big shots will be participating this time, right? Good results will definitely be theirs." "That's not necessarily true, anything is possible!" Guan Tong looked for a moment, then silently turned off her phone. At 9 o'clock sharp, the invitation in the storage box flew out automatically and hovered in front of Guan Tong. Then, flames suddenly ignited in the middle of the invitation, burning out a dark hole. The hole rapidly expanded beyond the invitation, and then Guan Tong felt a powerful suction force pull her into the hole! [The first Ascendant Challenge is about to begin, currently teleporting to the venue]
Chapter 82 Hidden Rules in the Challenge?
After being sucked into the burning black hole, Guan Tong's vision went completely black, and his body seemed to be suspended in mid-air.
Seven or eight seconds later, his vision returned. Guan Tong was surprised to find himself floating high in the sky, below which lay a giant, seemingly vibrant island.
At the same time, he noticed many other figures floating in the air like him, presumably other Ascended participants.
However, everyone's body was shrouded in a layer of gray mist, obscuring their faces and figures.
But there were very few standing alone like Guan Tong; most of the others were in groups of three or five, clearly teammates.
[This is the venue for the first Ascended Challenge, Holy Grail Island.]
The Fire Thief's voice echoed in the minds of every participant.
[The Challenge rules are as follows:
All Ascended will be randomly placed on the island after their appearances are blurred, and will compete in teams. For
each opponent defeated, the winner will gain 1 point and take all the points already earned by the defeated opponent.] Defeated Ascendants will not die, but will be immediately eliminated.
During the competition, all participants will receive a [Temporary Backpack], which can be used to store randomly spawning items on the island. Proper use of these items will significantly increase survival rates.
The competition lasts 24 hours, during which the safe zone on the island will shrink every 2 hours. Ascendants outside the safe zone will be eliminated.
After 24 hours, all surviving teams will be ranked according to their total score. The team with the highest total score will receive first prize. The second and third highest-scoring teams will receive second and third prizes, respectively. Teams ranked fourth through tenth will receive fourth prize. Teams outside the top ten will not receive any rewards.
You now have five minutes to prepare; random drops will begin in five minutes.
Guan Tong, after hearing the rules, immediately understood that this challenge was a pure team competition.
Defeating someone from another team earns 1 point, and you also gain the opponent's accumulated points. After 24 hours, all surviving teams will be ranked according to their total score.
"Looking at it this way, my one-man team is at a disadvantage."
Since the final ranking is based on the team's total score, Guan Tong would need to accumulate more points individually than the combined points of other teams with five full-team members to achieve a high ranking.
This was undoubtedly very challenging.
Guan Tong thought to himself, when suddenly an idea struck him.
The Fire Stealer had just explained the competition rules… so he wondered if there were any hidden rules in this challenge?
He tried opening his terminal and selecting to view the challenge rules.
After a moment of focused attention, the rules had indeed changed!
Guan Tong's breathing quickened slightly as he carefully examined the newly appeared hidden rules.
[Hidden Rule - The Mystery of the Holy Grail]
[Hidden Rule Content: Legend has it that a Holy Grail is hidden in the Holy Grail Secret Realm on Holy Grail Island. The team that finds and obtains it will receive an extraordinary and generous reward.]
[Note: Once the Holy Grail is obtained by a team and held continuously for 30 minutes, ownership of the Holy Grail will be fixed to the holding team, at which point this challenge will immediately end.]
The Holy Grail!
After reading the hidden rules, Guan Tong's breathing became even more rapid.
Undoubtedly, the "extraordinarily generous reward" was extremely attractive to him.
Moreover, this hidden rule might be visible only to him, giving him a huge advantage over other teams. He
had to find the Holy Grail!
Guan Tong made up his mind; this was an extremely rare opportunity for him, and he couldn't let it slip by.
[Time's up, drop begins!]
The moment the Fire Thief's voice fell, countless figures plummeted from the sky!
Countless Ascended Ones were randomly dropped across the island, which was of unknown size, capable of accommodating participants from all over the world.
After Guan Tong landed, five others landed nearby.
The distance between them was less than ten meters. Guan Tong spotted them, and they spotted Guan Tong as well.
Due to the blurred appearances, it was impossible to discern the faces of those from different teams. However, the joy displayed in their blurred expressions was undeniable.
One of them excitedly exclaimed, "What great luck! We just landed and ran into a lone wolf!"
Without a word, Guan Tong raised his Silver Hunter and fired a No. 3 high-explosive grenades.
Since this was a competitive challenge, he naturally wouldn't hesitate to show mercy.
"Boom!"
[Points +5]
Guan Tong: "..."
He was momentarily stunned, not expecting that the full five-man squad would be wiped out by his single No. 3 bullet.
"Looks like I'm the lucky one... I ran into a weak team right away."
Even so, Guan Tong knew that there weren't many Ascended users who could withstand a No. 3 bullet head-on at this stage. In fact, let alone the No. 3 bullet, even the No. 2 slug or the No. 1 shotgun shells weren't so easy to defend against.
After dealing with the five, he immediately surveyed the surrounding environment.
He was randomly dropped onto a hillside with the sea behind him, which seemed to be on the edge of an island.
This meant he needed to move inland as soon as possible, because the safe zone would shrink every two hours, and he didn't want to be eliminated within that zone.
But he couldn't just go in any particular direction.
"I need to determine the location of the Holy Grail first."
On such a huge island, searching for the Holy Grail without any clues was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Guan Tong thought there might be a clue somewhere on the island, but after thinking for a moment, he first found a hidden spot to hide and then took out an item from his storage box.
It was the [Guiding Flashlight] he had obtained from the survival chest he received as a reward after the fourth rule.
"I wonder if this will work..."
Guan Tong tried to use the item, but it failed. He needed to mentally recall the target location first.
He vaguely remembered that the hidden rules mentioned location information, so he checked his terminal again. Sure enough, the rules stated that the Holy Grail was in the "Holy Grail Secret Realm" on the island.
"Guide to the 'Holy Grail Secret Realm'," Guan Tong thought to himself, and tried using the item again.
*Click!
* The flashlight shone, casting a dazzling yellow beam that stretched across the ground like a road sign, guiding the way to the "Holy Grail Realm."
Success!
Guan Tong was overjoyed. He had initially thought that "Holy Grail Realm" might not even be a proper location and that he might fail, but he had succeeded.
Looking at the bright yellow beam on the ground, he immediately had a clear goal: follow it, and he would find the Holy Grail Realm and the Holy Grail!
Guan Tong immediately set off.
If he could, he really wanted to run there in one go, or even use the grappling hook to accelerate—but that would be too dangerous.
The island was currently teeming with Ascended Ones, all enemies to each other; he had to act cautiously and watch out for traps.
In a flash, Guan Tong took out the [Corpse Whistle], consuming 20 points of mental energy to gently blow it. Three undead with faintly red eyes immediately crawled out of the ground.
"You go first, you go left, you go right,"
Guan Tong commanded the three undead, scattering them around him. This way, being in the middle would provide some buffer in case of a sudden crisis.
The three undead, receiving the order, immediately surrounded Guan Tong and moved forward with him. They
hadn't gone far when Guan Tong noticed something amiss not far ahead. He immediately directed the three undead to lie down and hide, observing from the shadows.
They saw a wooden hut standing not far away, surrounded by a group of more than a dozen Ascended Beings engaged in a chaotic battle!
"One team, two teams, three teams..."
Based on their positions, Guan Tong deduced there were three teams in total. The fighting between these three teams was completely disorganized, purely a matter of individual attacks.
Soon, people began to be defeated and eliminated, with one team collapsing and being wiped out first.
Of the remaining two teams, one mostly wielded melee weapons and fought fiercely. The other team was no match, and soon only two remained. Seeing they were outmatched, the two exchanged glances and simultaneously turned to flee. The team with melee weapons wouldn't let them go and gave chase.
The two teams quickly ran far away. Guan Tong was about to come out when three more people were faster than him, sneaking out from the other side of the hillside and heading towards the wooden house.
So I wasn't the only one observing...
Guan Tong glanced at the three-man team, gave a command, and the three undead immediately went over.
The three thought no one else was around and lowered their guard. But just as they were about to enter the wooden house, they saw three figures pounce on them!
"Watch out!"
one of them shouted, a sandbag appearing out of thin air in his hand, which he hurled with force.
The sandbag, seemingly a psychic artifact, enlarged to the size of a basketball in mid-air, slamming one of the undead to the ground with a "thud."
The other two also took out their own artifacts to fight back, but when they saw the red light emanating from the attackers' eyes, they were somewhat taken aback.
"Not Ascended Ones! These are... undead?"
"What the hell? Why are there undead from the Fifth Rule on this island?!"
Just as the three were wondering, two gunshots rang out behind them.
Before they could even turn around to check, a sharp pain shot through them, and they lost consciousness, eliminated from the game.
[Points +3]
Guan Tong lowered the muzzle of his silver shotgun, using two No. 1 shotgun shells to ambush and eliminate the three men from behind.
"I didn't expect that using the undead as bait to attract the enemy's attention would be such a useful tactic,"
Guan Tong thought, and slipped into the wooden house.
The first floor was empty. He went up the stairs to the second floor, where a gray box sat in the corner.
"This should be the item box that the Firebringers mentioned in the rules, the one that randomly spawns on the island,"
Guan Tong wasn't sure and worried it might be a trap, so he had one of the surviving undead try to open the box, but it wouldn't open.
Guan Tong went forward himself, and as soon as his hand touched the box, he saw a notification.
[Opening a map supply crate requires either 1 key or 1 multi-functional lockpick]
"So that's what the multi-functional lockpick sold in the shop is for," Guan Tong thought. "As for the key, I guess I'll have to collect them on the island."
He didn't have a key, but he had 6 lockpicks in his storage box, so he didn't hesitate to use one to open the crate and obtained the item inside.
[Jackalizer]: After use, it can interfere with the scanning of enemy drones for 3 minutes. One-time use item.
Guan Tong saw the item's effect and felt it was pretty good, so he put it into his "temporary backpack" and then quickly retreated from the cabin.
He figured out that the probability of randomly spawning item crates inside these buildings should be higher than in the wild, which is why the Ascended Ones fight around them.
Two minutes after Guan Tong retreated, the team that had chased them out earlier returned. They were dumbfounded when they entered the cabin and saw the open crate on the second floor.
"Damn it, someone stole the items!"
"I'm so angry! We finally wiped out two teams!"
"We got carried away chasing them! We should have left someone to open the chest first!"
"Keep chasing!" one of them shouted angrily. "The thieves can't have gone far. Catch them and kill them!"
"Let's go!"
The group ran out, still seething with resentment, and chased after them towards the center of the island. However, Guan Tong was following the route indicated by the [Guiding Flashlight].
The route didn't lead to the center of the island, but rather to the west of the center.
Guan Tong followed the guide for a while, encountering Ascended beings in battle along the way. However, unless one was right in front of him, he tried to avoid getting involved.
For him, finding the Holy Grail as soon as possible was more important than fighting other contestants for points; that was the real prize!
But soon, he realized that reaching the Holy Grail's secret realm wouldn't be so easy.
Because ahead of the guide was a small town with rows of houses, and following the route meant traversing through it. If he chose to take a detour, it would take far too much extra time.
"There must be a lot of Ascendants in this place. More houses mean more items, so the competition must be extremely fierce..."
Guan Tong checked the time; there were still about forty minutes before the safe zone shrank for the first time. Since he didn't know how much it would shrink at once, if he took a detour laterally, he might run out of time and get stuck outside the safe zone, ruining everything.
Therefore, he had no other choice but to go through the town!
Chapter 83 Enemies Meet on a Narrow Road? Let's Fight!
In a small town in the southern region of the Holy Grail Island, figures occasionally moved about.
Sometimes, even if two teams bumped into each other, they wouldn't immediately start fighting. Instead, they would stare at each other and then retreat.
The chaos was most severe when people were first dropped onto the island. As time passed, the teams that hadn't been eliminated became extremely cautious.
Except for a few teams whose overall strength far surpassed the others, most teams now adhered to the principle of "avoiding fighting
if possible." Because no one knew what items or abilities the opponent had, just when you thought your team had a sure win, the other side might suddenly pull out some strange item and turn the tide.
So now, many teams would avoid other teams, only engaging in real combat when fighting for discovered supply boxes. And
they couldn't get too involved in the fight, otherwise, a "when two sides fight, a third party benefits" situation might occur. It was not uncommon for two teams to fight to the death for supply boxes, each losing members, and then a full-strength third team would emerge to pick up the scraps.
However, some teams went against the grain, carrying out a brutal "clearing" operation.
"Thud!"
In a stone house, a sharp scimitar pierced the chest of the last member of a squad, signaling their complete elimination. The
man wielding the scimitar sneered, "Only 4 points? What a waste."
One point is awarded for each defeat, and the other 3 points are from looting the defeated, meaning the latter had only defeated three people so far.
"Captain, this area has been cleared; there are no other teams left," someone said as they entered the room.
The man with the scimitar nodded, his tone revealing barely concealed anxiety: "To the next area!"
If Guan Tong were present, he would recognize this guy from the scimitar alone—the squad leader who had confronted him in the industrial park that day.
His name was Gu Fei.
The Post-Apocalyptic Rules Countermeasures Research Lab had invested resources to create five post-apocalyptic squads, and Gu Fei was the captain of the third squad.
Ever since the failed mission to eliminate the "Screamers," he had been extremely annoyed.
It wasn't just because he failed to kill the "Screamer," but also because after the rules were broken, the local armed soldiers in Yunhua filed a collective complaint against him. They complained that he abused the power granted to him by the Countermeasures Research Office, demanding that soldiers perform irregular actions.
This collective complaint from the soldiers was no joke, especially since Gao Liangwei, the head of the Countermeasures Research Office, was a senior colonel with a military background and took such matters extremely seriously.
Although Gu Fei didn't hear it firsthand, Dr. Zhang, who was responsible for selecting them, relayed it to him. Because of this complaint, Gao Liangwei was very disappointed with the Third Squad and was considering disbanding them.
Knowing this, Gu Fei was filled with panic.
He knew he absolutely could not accept being disbanded, especially after enjoying the many benefits of being part of the "official team," it was difficult to go back to simplicity.
Imagine if he was no longer the captain of the Third Squad, would there still be so many professional researchers researching item combinations for him? Would there still be thousands upon thousands of Ascension Coins invested in him?
Gu Fei felt terrified just thinking about it; he couldn't afford to fall. Therefore, in this challenge, he had to get into the top three! Or even first place!
Gu Fei calculated that his team had been heading towards areas with more people since landing. During this time, they had eliminated over twenty teams, accumulating over 300 points.
But that wasn't enough! They needed to eliminate more, ideally everyone except their own team!
The other team members understood Gu Fei's thoughts; they felt the same way. If the higher-ups were to cut staff, the entire team would be eliminated, so everyone was involved.
After clearing a small area, the third team immediately headed to the next area of the town. Upon
arrival, the team members spread out, each taking out a small reconnaissance drone and choosing to use it.
Several drones took to the air, detecting human targets within a 100-meter radius.
As an officially funded team, everyone carried a bunch of drones and lockpicks. The team had dozens of drones in total, their purpose being to find people and engage in combat as quickly as possible.
Soon, several team members returned with the scan results to inform Gu Fei.
"We scanned over a dozen people to the east, and only one to the south."
"Quite a few people to the east." Gu Fei licked his lips. "I'll take three people to clear the area to the east. Jianming, you go and take out that lone guy to the south."
"Yes, Captain."
The two sides split up, and the team member named "Jianming" quickly arrived outside a three-story earthen building. According to the drone scan, the target was inside the earthen building.
He took out his mental power item, a crossbow.
Before the apocalypse rules descended, he was a senior member of an archery club, with considerable archery skills. After the rules descended, he obtained this crossbow, which could consume mental power to generate bolts with considerable power.
It was precisely because of this crossbow that he was the second attacker in the team, similar to a secondary DPS.
At this moment, Jianming quietly approached the entrance of the earthen building with the crossbow and used a scanning drone again, just to determine the target's exact location in real time.
The scan showed that the target was on the second floor. Seeing the result, he immediately stepped into the first floor.
However, the moment he stepped inside, a figure pounced out from the left side of the door!
Roll!
Although Jianming was caught off guard, his reaction was quick, and he rolled on the spot to avoid the sudden attack.
After crouching down and taking a closer look, he realized that the creature attacking him from inside the door was a human with red eyes.
No, this wasn't human; the drone hadn't even detected him! Pale red eyes… was it a living dead from the previous rule? Why was it here? Was it the effect of some item?
"Roar!"
The living dead, having missed its initial attack, roared and charged again. Jianming snorted coldly and fired a mind-control crossbow bolt, instantly killing the living dead with a headshot.
Meanwhile, Guan Tong, on the second floor searching for supply crates, immediately realized someone was coming when he heard the living dead's roar.
After entering the earthen building, to prevent being ambushed from the rear, he had specifically ordered the living dead to hide by the door and roar and attack anyone entering.
Because the living dead were "summoned creatures," they couldn't be detected by the drone, making them quite well-hidden. This way, he could know someone had entered simply by hearing the living dead's voice.
Guan Tong didn't go down the stairs. He went straight to the second-floor window, leaped down, and simultaneously launched his grappling hook, embedding it in the outer wall. After swinging in the air, he landed lightly at the first-floor side window of the earthen building.
Looking through the window, he saw a person carrying a crossbow approaching the stairs, completely unaware that the person inside had already arrived outside.
"That crossbow..."
Guan Tong saw the weapon and immediately recalled the bespectacled boy who, along with the man with the scimitar, had eliminated the undead in the industrial park. The latter had been holding this very crossbow, exactly the same.
Could it be a coincidence?
Unlikely.
Guan Tong could tell this person was looking for him. Now that he was in the shadows while his enemy was in the open, he certainly wouldn't hold back.
Silver Hunter aimed, No. 2 slug fired!
"Boom!"
A shot was fired, the bullet instantly heading towards Jianming, who was stepping onto the stairs! The latter seemed to hear the gunshot, and sensing the danger, hurriedly threw something away.
"Thump—"
A shield rapidly formed in front of him, and the No. 2 bullet seemed to have its energy dissipated upon impact, failing to explode.
But the shield then shattered into pieces on the ground.
A one-time defensive item?
Guan Tong immediately switched to No. 3 bullet and fired. At the same time, Jianming spotted Guan Tong raising his gun by the window and immediately retaliated with his crossbow.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—several crossbow bolts condensed from mental energy shot out!
Boom—Silver Hunter's No. 3 high-explosive bullet landed at Jianming's feet.
Attacks from both sides arrived one after another. Jianming only realized that the enemy wasn't firing guns, but cannons, when the flames burst around him!
He hurriedly tried to take out all the defensive items in his backpack, but it was too late. He only managed to take out a damage reduction bracelet and put it on before being engulfed by the flames.
The mental energy arrows that flew towards Guan Tong were all caught and crushed by a large black hand when they were more than a meter away from him. Then, the large hand swiftly shifted from solid to ethereal, disappearing into Guan Tong's clothes.
It was a shadow. For timely defense or offense, Guan Tong had kept it hidden in its ethereal state within his clothes after entering the danger zone. Because the ethereal state of the shadow consumed far less mental energy than a solidified one, Guan Tong could still withstand this.
After the explosion, a figure emerged from the dust.
Jianming, lying half-dead on the ground, stared incredulously at the unharmed Guan Tong, his face filled with disbelief.
"You...how could you...my arrow..."
"A high-explosive shell exploded near your feet and you're still alive? Looks like you have quite a few defensive items." Guan Tong raised his gun, adjusting it to round number 1.
"Wait...wait!" Jianming hurriedly said, "My teammates are nearby, you—"
Bang!
Guan Tong didn't want to hear any more nonsense, eliminating the guy with a single shotgun blast.
[Points +27]
Guan Tong was somewhat surprised: "This guy has already eliminated 26 people? It seems I haven't mistaken him for someone else; he really is from that 'official team'... and his teammates might still be alive. Hmm... is this a case of enemies meeting on a narrow road?" To
be honest, Guan Tong was also quite annoyed after the previous confrontation, but he hadn't had any dealings with this team since then, so he let it go. But now that he'd encountered them in the challenge, he wouldn't mind giving them a good beating if he had the chance.
Especially the others, which was fine, but the captain with the scimitar—Guan Tong really wanted to eliminate him himself.
He took out a reconnaissance drone from his backpack and launched it. The scan showed that four people were rapidly approaching him from dozens of meters away!
Besides the four, no one else was detected. Perhaps they had cleared out all the nearby teams... Is this the strength of the official team?
"Looks like they've already received the notification that their teammate was eliminated, and they're all coming to get revenge on me... I don't want to risk fighting four against one."
Guan Tong's mind was clear. This wasn't an ordinary team, but an officially funded team; everyone probably had a ton of items.
The guy he took down with the crossbow had pulled out two defensive items alone, and who knows how many more they hadn't... It would be unwise to recklessly fight them to the death.
Besides, his goal was the Holy Grail; he shouldn't get bogged down in this... I'll leave first. If they keep chasing me, I'll take them down one by one.
Guan Tong decided to leave immediately. Not long after, Gu Fei arrived at the earthen building with three teammates. Jianming had been eliminated, and the enemy was nowhere to be seen, which made him almost unable to contain his anger.
"That piece of trash Jianming, as the secondary damage dealer in my team, actually lost to the opponent in a one-on-one fight..." Gu Fei said with a gloomy face, "Everyone, take out the drones and keep scanning for him. The opponent must be a master to be able to take down Jianming; they must have a lot of points. I'm going to take him down myself and steal all the points!"
Chapter 84 Victory and the Holy Grail!
[The Safe Zone is Shrinking]
Two hours later, the voice of the Firebringer echoed in the minds of all the Ascended Ones still on Grail Island.
Everyone looked towards the distance, only to see several ring-shaped black walls descending from the horizon without warning.
These walls gradually pressed inwards, soon engulfing the island's edges.
Anyone still within that area would likely be swallowed up by the walls, just like the island itself—no one wanted to experience that.
Guan Tong had been traveling along the bright yellow light visible only to him, heading towards the location of the Holy Grail's secret realm.
But upon seeing the location of the black walls, his heart sank.
Based on the path of the light on the ground, the Holy Grail's secret realm was located on the west side of the island, a considerable distance from the island's center. According to
his estimation, if the western black walls advanced another four or five times, they would likely engulf the Holy Grail's location.
This meant that no one would be able to obtain the Holy Grail!
"The Black Wall advances once every two hours, meaning that if I want to get the Holy Grail, I might only have eight hours in the worst-case scenario."
This is a full two-thirds shorter than the 24 hours of the challenge.
If that's the case, then he must first eliminate the threat behind him and then reach the Holy Grail Secret Realm as soon as possible.
Guan Tong turned to look behind him; he knew that the team was still hot on his heels.
After crossing from the town, Guan Tong decided to find a good place to finish them off.
There was a dense forest not far ahead, which perfectly suited his needs.
Not long after he entered the forest, Gu Fei arrived with three team members.
"Captain, that guy went into the woods, should we still chase him?"
"What do you think?" Gu Fei said coldly, "To get a good ranking, we must steal that guy's points."
"Damn it!" another member of the team said, "The reconnaissance drone is showing signs of interference and has failed to function. He must have a jammer from the supply crates."
In the past two hours, the surviving teams had all opened several supply crates.
The jammer is one of the most frequently dropped items in the crate, followed by "energy replenishment water" to restore stamina and "healing capsules" to quickly heal injuries.
"Captain, what do we do? Should we wait until the jammer's effect wears off before going in?"
"How can we wait until it's over!" Gu Fei frowned. "Three minutes is enough time to run far. Besides, who knows how many jammers he has? We can't keep waiting."
"Captain, I'm worried this guy might ambush us." The female team member hesitated. "If he can kill Jianming, he can kill us. Are we really going to take the risk?"
"Am I the captain or are you? Maintain battle formation, go in!"
"Yes, sir!"
Since Gu Fei had already said that, the three team members naturally had nothing to say and could only agree before cautiously entering the forest.
Their team's composition was carefully planned: Gu Fei was the strongest melee DPS, Jianming was the ranged shooter, and the other three team members each possessed support items, sustain items, and defensive items, respectively.
This complementary team possessed considerable combat power. With Jianming gone, their ranged attack options were severely limited, forcing them to rely on disposable items from their storage boxes. As
the four maintained their formation and entered the dense forest, they sensed a chilling atmosphere. It was as if the enemy had set a trap, waiting for them to walk right into it. After
venturing some distance, they suddenly heard a sound like a bottle being opened. *
Pop!*
All four looked towards the source of the sound and saw a round, spherical object flying through the leaves.
"Watch out!"
The defensive member immediately used their item, instantly creating a rotating shield around each of them—a comical sight, but undeniably enhancing their defense.
However, the next moment, they heard a "hiss—" sound and saw a large amount of white mist billowing out, realizing this wasn't an attack.
"It's a smoke grenade!" Gu Fei shouted, "Stand back to back, don't move!"
A large amount of smoke spread out, and the four, back to back, warily surveyed their surroundings.
"The fog's thick enough."
Guan Tong stood atop a branch of a tree over ten meters tall, looking down at the dense column of smoke.
He had reached such a height using a grappling hook for a rapid ascent.
He adjusted his Silver Hunter's ammunition to size 3 and fired repeatedly at the source of the smoke.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Guan Tong fired five shots in quick succession; against enemies with so many gadgets, there was no room for complacency.
Then, watching the explosions disappear into the smoke, he let his shadow slip into the tree trunk and descend towards the center of the smoke.
Even with prior protection and defensive gear, the five high-explosive shells exploding around them still caused minor injuries.
But what surprised them was that the enemy possessed such powerful firearms, something extremely rare even among Ascended Ones.
"Alright, the explosion has stopped, and the fog has cleared," Gu Fei said. "Get ready, let's rush out together. 3, 2...! What happened to you guys?!"
Gu Fei was counting down the last second when he suddenly realized his three teammates were frozen in place.
Then, they all groaned, blood spilling from their mouths, and collapsed.
This scene terrified Gu Fei. He looked at the team list and saw that he was the only survivor, completely bewildered! Why were all three teammates dead in an instant?! And why was he unharmed?! Because the
strong wind from the explosion cleared the smoke, Guan Tong, positioned high above, was able to manipulate his shadow remotely, completing his "killing performance." Indeed, the instantaneous deaths of the three were all the work of the shadow. Guan Tong manipulated the ethereal shadow to enter under the cover of smoke, then its tip forked into four segments.
In his plan, the four segments of the shadow would each penetrate the heart area of the four men. Then, they would materialize together, instantly destroying their hearts.
In reality, it succeeded with the three men, but failed with Gu Fei. Guan Tong didn't know why, but the shadow couldn't enter Gu Fei's body, as if it was blocked by some kind of transparent barrier.
Did this guy have some kind of special protective gear?
Guan Tong wondered. At this moment, whether due to excessive stimulation or something else, Gu Fei roared while continuously using reconnaissance drones, "Come out! Come out here!"
At this time, the jammer's 3-minute effect had expired, and a large number of drones located Guan Tong's position. Gu Fei suddenly looked up and saw Guan Tong standing on a high tree.
"Die!"
He shouted and charged forward, swinging his curved sword. A faint halo appeared on the blade, and something like sword energy instantly severed the trunk of the tree Guan Tong was standing on!
Seeing this, Guan Tong immediately used his grappling hook to move to other trees. Gu Fei wasn't about to let him go, continuously destroying the trees Guan Tong was on while taking items from his storage box.
Gu Fei first took out two bottles of potions and drank them, instantly increasing his speed. Then he took out a bunch of black darts, and with a flick of his wrist, the darts seemed to have a built-in tracking function, flying towards Guan Tong.
Guan Tong immediately materialized the shadow he had left on his body, transforming it into shadow armor.
Lots of darts!
The automatically tracking darts pierced his shadow armor, and then some corrosive solution flowed out, but fortunately, it didn't have much effect on the shadow.
Guan Tong wasn't idle either. As he moved his body again with his grappling hook, he fired two smoke bombs into the air. Using the fog as cover, he blew his corpse whistle, and the undead crawled out of the ground, attacking Gu Fei according to his command.
"Kill! Kill!"
Gu Fei's curved sword had extremely astonishing attack power, and with the speed he gained after drinking the potion, he cleaved two undead in half with a single strike, a complete annihilation.
Guan Tong didn't care; he was just using the undead to distract Gu Fei. The moment the latter was distracted, he unleashed a furious barrage from his Silver Hunter.
Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom!
Twenty or thirty rounds of No. 3 and No. 2 rounds were fired in quick succession. Gu Fei could defend against the shadow's intrusion, but facing this saturation firepower, Guan Tong didn't think Gu Fei could withstand it.
After a barrage of fire, the world fell silent.
When the smoke cleared, Guan Tong saw Gu Fei lying on the ground, panting heavily, barely alive, and was somewhat surprised that he was still alive.
"Dare to tell me... who you are...?... numerical ID..."
Even as Gu Fei was about to be eliminated, he still stared intently at Guan Tong, wanting to settle scores with him after the challenge.
Guan Tong was speechless and sent Gu Fei back to his hometown with one shot.
[Points +254]
Guan Tong was astonished at the increase in points.
In just two hours, this guy had already taken down 253 people?
"Unfortunately, it's still not enough against overwhelming firepower. And... at least at this stage, even with the official resources poured into training, it's impossible to create any 'superhumans' within just a few rules."
The resource investment simply means buying more items. But most items require mental energy to use, and currently, limited by the mental energy cap, even with many items, their full effect isn't guaranteed. Perhaps after more rounds of rules, those heavily invested in resources will be able to significantly widen the gap between themselves and those from the general public.
Moreover, these items are still inadequate compared to his "shadow."
The shadow's malleability is far too overpowered; in his eyes, the current shadow is only a "juvenile." When it reaches its "complete" or "ultimate" form, its power and applications will be unimaginable.
"Alright, I need to hurry and get the Holy Grail. These guys have wasted a lot of my time."
Having finished his work, Guan Tong continued along the guided route.
Due to time constraints, he didn't engage in any further battles with any teams. Even when several squads tried to outnumber him, he quickly escaped, not wanting to waste time getting the Holy Grail.
After the safe zone shrank twice more, Guan Tong finally reached the end of the guided route.
The building before him appeared to be an abandoned church. He entered and found two open supply crates, indicating other participants had already been there.
"Didn't they find the Holy Grail?"
Guan Tong wondered. Besides a statue, the church only had a large, dried-up pool in front of it.
He examined it closely and noticed a line of small characters carved on the statue's base: "Feed blood to summon the Grail."
"Feed blood…is that what it means?"
Guan Tong was skeptical, but having come this far, he couldn't just leave.
He picked up a stone shard, cut his hand, and dripped blood into the pool before the statue.
The next moment, the dried-up pool transformed! Numerous bubbles began to emerge from the cracks, bursting and releasing large gushes of water that quickly filled almost the entire pool.
Just as Guan Tong was marveling at this, a golden cup inlaid with gems slowly rose from the bottom of the pool.
This was the Holy Grail?
A thought struck Guan Tong, and he reached out to retrieve the cup from the pool.
At that instant, the Firebringer's voice rang out:
[You have obtained the Holy Grail]
[For 30 minutes, your location will be revealed to all participants on the Holy Grail Island. If you can hold onto it for 30 minutes, you will gain ownership of the Holy Grail in this competition]
[While holding the Holy Grail, you will possess unlimited mental power]
Chapter 85 All-Out Hunt, Writing the Fourth Page
[Attention all participants: A team has obtained the hidden treasure, the Holy Grail. Its location has been revealed. You may proceed to compete for it.]
[The team that holds the Holy Grail for 30 consecutive minutes will gain ownership of the Holy Grail in this challenge and win a hidden reward. This challenge will then end immediately.]
The Firebringer's announcement resounded in the minds of every participant on the island. For a moment, everyone stopped what they were doing, their faces showing disbelief.
A long arrow appeared on the ground in front of them, pointing in the direction of the Holy Grail holder.
"The hidden treasure, the Holy Grail?!"
"The challenge has hidden content too???"
"There's a hidden reward too!"
While most people were still marveling, some teams had already begun to move.
"The Holy Grail? It seems there's a reason this island is called 'Holy Grail Island.' Holding it for 30 consecutive minutes to end the competition, that's not bad. I was getting a little tired of it anyway... This Holy Grail should belong to me, Lucifer."
In the center of the island, a tall, solitary man looked at the arrow at his feet and followed the direction without hesitation.
In a town on the north side of the island, a small team that had just finished clearing out the town's supplies couldn't contain themselves upon seeing the Fire Stealer's notice.
"Boss, the Holy Grail! Sounds amazing! Let's go steal it!"
"Support!"
"Agreed!"
The team members were enthusiastic, but their leader casually refused, "What's the point of stealing? Can you even compete with those monsters? Besides, we already have enough points, why take the risk? Countless teams will flock to it after this announcement. If we run into a national team and get wiped out, we'll have nowhere to cry. So, all of you, stay put!"
On the west side of the island, a well-trained five-person team was immediately excited upon seeing the ground instructions.
"Captain, it looks like the Holy Grail holder is not far from us! This is a golden opportunity!"
"The team that takes the Holy Grail should get the hidden grand prize of this challenge, we can't miss it!"
The captain nodded and said, "As an officially funded team, we do have a responsibility to take the biggest reward, let's move!"
On the south side of the island, a huge team of over a hundred people followed behind a burly man.
Others would be astonished, thinking this was an illegal team formation. Because the team limit is five people, but more than a hundred people, at least twenty teams, were acting together, which seemed very unreasonable.
However, the leader didn't care about these things. As the alpha wolf chosen by the Tulip Federation's "Wolf Pack Project," he had absolute command over the other teams in the Federation.
Therefore, long before the challenge began, he ordered all teams in the Federation to immediately rush to the southernmost point of their respective areas after teleporting to meet him and follow his command.
As the alpha wolf, his strategy was simple: first, the Federation teams would gather together, and with the huge numerical advantage formed by the "illegal team formation," they would crush and eliminate the teams from other countries on the island.
Once only Federation teams remained on the island, they would then split up and fight each other to determine the top ten.
This plan was progressing steadily; the Federation had already eliminated most of the other nations' teams on the southern side of the island and was planning to advance towards the island's center. However, the Firebringers' sudden announcement shattered everything.
At this moment, the wolf pack of over a hundred people halted, awaiting the alpha wolf's decision.
"Head to the west side of the island," the alpha wolf quickly decided, "to seize the Holy Grail and eliminate all other contenders."
Countless teams on the island were now heading west.
Some of the stronger teams had a clear objective: to seize the Holy Grail.
Others, less competitive, mostly harbored a "pick-up" mentality, hoping to find a situation where the strong fought each other to the death while they luckily snatched the Holy Grail.
Still others, aware that they were no match for the powerful teams, were not interested in the Holy Grail itself, but were very interested in the teams vying for it.
Just like selling shovels to merchants digging for gold, whether the diggers will find gold and become rich is unknown, but the merchants will definitely get rich by selling shovels.
These teams' plan was to ambush weaker teams that dared to join the Holy Grail frenzy along the inevitable route, thus earning points.
Finally, there were some teams with a clear understanding of their own strength. They knew that the Holy Grail would only be the possession of top-tier amateur teams or national teams, not something they could snatch.
Rather than becoming cannon fodder, they'd rather take advantage of everyone else heading to the western part of the island to scavenge for resources elsewhere, perhaps even finding some good items. After the top players finished, they could pick up the leftovers and gain some points.
At this very moment, Guan Tong, who truly held the Holy Grail, knew his lucky day the instant he heard the Fire Thief's notification!
...
Almost the instant he heard the Fire Thief say, "While holding the Holy Grail, you will possess unlimited mental power," Guan Tong opened his personal terminal.
He quickly glanced at his mental power status and simultaneously converted a No. 3 bullet. [Mental Power: 132 (132) (330)]
"I see. The so-called 'infinite mental power' doesn't raise the upper limit to the maximum; it just allows unlimited use within the current limit."
This felt to Guan Tong like using a cheat code in a game to enable the "unlimited health" function. It only locks the upper limit value, not maximizes it.
This discovery made Guan Tong slightly regretful. If there were no upper limit requirement, he would have immediately filled all the pages of his greatest reliance, the [Book of No Words]!
But now that the upper limit is locked, the [Book of No Words] can probably only…
Guan Tong took out the [Book of No Words] while holding the [Corpse Whistle] in his mouth and blowing it continuously.
Three or three undead people emerged from the ground and quickly filled the entire church.
Guan Tong gave orders for them to guard outside the church. At the same time, he turned the [Book of No Words] to the fourth page with his left hand and kept loading bullets with the Silver Hunter with his right hand…
He wasn't doing two things at once now, but three or four!
Because the Firebringer made it clear that his location was now public knowledge across the island, countless teams would attack, attempting to seize the Holy Grail.
Guan Tong, alone, had to give it his all to protect the Grail, without the slightest lapse or wasting a single second.
Fortunately, many of his items benefited from the "Infinite Mental Power" buff, allowing him to continuously enhance his combat power through conversion.
If it were another Ascendant without similar items, even with the powerful "Infinite Mental Power" buff, they likely wouldn't be able to hold onto the Grail and would quickly lose it to another team.
Therefore, Guan Tong now needed to simultaneously utilize this buff to strengthen himself and maintain a strong defense; otherwise, if he were defeated by a powerful team, all his efforts to seize the Grail would be in vain.
He now held the [Corpse Whistle] in his mouth, constantly summoning the undead, while his left hand gripped the Silver Hunter, continuously generating No. 3 high-explosive shells and No. 4 smoke grenades. Simultaneously, part of his shadow formed a full-coverage shadow armor enveloping his entire body, while another part extended to the church entrance, ready to deal with any approaching enemies.
But his right hand, holding the [Wordless Book], was the key. He turned to the fourth page and wrote down something he had previously considered, something he desired:
"A full-featured shelter."
Indeed, seeing the massive demolitions on the streets, Guan Tong had considered obtaining a shelter through the [Wordless Book].
He found the constant moving around and the lack of a fixed address very troublesome. A portable shelter would be incredibly convenient, allowing him to settle wherever he needed to go.
However, he had specific requirements for this shelter: it needed to be sturdy enough, safe enough, and have a filtration system, water and electricity, etc. He had initially thought this would take a long time to achieve.
But now, with the "infinite mental power" buff, he could write it down immediately!
And as he expected, the fourth page consumed an extremely high amount of mental power. As Guan Tong wrote a stroke, he immediately felt a tremor throughout his body. He knew it was the feeling of his mental energy being drained—meaning that just one stroke had consumed all of his maximum mental energy.
However, due to the buff, the feeling vanished in an instant. He continued to quickly write the second, third, and fourth strokes… In just a few seconds, the six characters "Full-Function Shelter" were completely written on the fourth page.
Guan Tong spent one second trying to materialize it, and an inconspicuous little house appeared instantly. At the same time, he again felt the trembling sensation of his body being drained of mental energy.
In other words, materializing this shelter would consume all of his maximum mental energy at once. But it was enough that he succeeded!
Guan Tong continued to turn to the fifth page of the [Wordless Book], hoping for the best—the next moment, his hand was directly shaken off by the page!
"…I knew it."
If writing on the fourth page consumed all of his maximum mental energy, then writing on the fifth page, which consumed even more, was simply impossible.
Because the single transaction exceeded the limit, even with buffs, it was useless. It's like using a cheat code in a game to lock "no gold depletion," but you only have 100 gold in your inventory, and the merchant's item costs 200. No matter how much your gold doesn't decrease, you still can't buy it!
"Roar!!!!!"
Suddenly, the roars of the undead echoed outside the church. Guan Tong's heart skipped a beat, thinking, "They're here so fast?"
Less than a minute had passed since he obtained the Holy Grail, and a team had already arrived. Their efficiency was really high!
"But if you want to enter the church, you'll have to wipe out those hundreds of undead outside first..."
Guan Tong thought to himself as he raised his left hand and fired a bunch of No. 4 smoke grenades at the church entrance to confuse and delay the enemy's entry.
Then he quickly flipped the wordless book back to the first page.
Actually, after writing "Full-Functional Shelter" on the fourth page, Guan Tong felt: This trip was worth it!
Originally, even writing a single stroke on the fourth page was incredibly difficult for him, so you can imagine how much time it would take to write those six characters. But now, he finished in seconds, saving him months of time!
This made him feel that even if he died the next moment, his participation in this challenge wouldn't have been in vain. So, now that he had "broken even," the next step was to maximize his gains.
Strengthening his shadow, strengthening the Silver Hunter, storing mental energy… all of these could continue to provide him with assistance after the competition.
Especially his shadow; Guan Tong planned to use this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to further strengthen it by adding characters!