Chapter 133: Supplementary Rules

Li Gang and Lin Yan lay quietly, gazing at the night view.

Suddenly, a voice echoed all around—the divine server-wide announcement.

“To all surviving Chosen Ones, the deity hereby issues a notification regarding adjustments to Rule Three. The notice has been sent to each individual's intelligent system; please check it promptly.”

This divine announcement echoed three times before fading away.

At the sound, Li Gang and Lin Yan both rose immediately. Upon realizing it was a new decree from the deity, their tense bodies relaxed instantly.

Exchanging a glance, they listened attentively to the announcement.

The content of the deity’s message was simple and brief, clear after just one hearing. However, both remained patient, waiting until the third repetition had completely ended and a full minute passed before opening their intelligent systems to review the adjustments to Rule Three.

Rule Three stated: Among the 10,000 Chosen Ones, for every 10 individuals eliminated, the deity grants the survivors one opportunity to choose either a personal enhancement boost or a comprehensive self-healing treatment.

The enhancement boost meant the individual could select one of their four fundamental attributes—physical fitness, mental acuity, strength, or speed—and increase its base value by 10% (for example, a base of 100 would become 110, or 200 would become 220).

The comprehensive healing treatment restored the body to its healthiest state, including the distribution of flesh and blood—no matter the severity of injuries, as long as there was a breath of life, full recovery to optimal health was possible.

The deity reminded: Your empowerment is solely to better please the deity!

A note on Rule Three: The first time 10 individuals are lost, survivors receive both one enhancement boost and one comprehensive healing treatment, with the enhancement effect increased tenfold.

The deity further reminded: Cherish this opportunity; it may extend your life a little longer.

Additional rule: After choosing the enhancement boost, the individual must select which attribute to strengthen within half an hour. Failure to choose will result in automatic enhancement of the lowest attribute. (All previously acquired enhancement opportunities must be used within half an hour.)

Except for this addition, the rest of Rule Three remained unchanged. The main difference was this new stipulation to prevent storing enhancement opportunities: they must be used within thirty minutes or be automatically applied to the weakest attribute.

Li Gang quickly finished reading, even reviewing it several times.

He glanced at Lin Yan and asked, “Sister Lin, what do you think is the purpose behind this new rule addition from the deity?”

Lin Yan had already exited the review mode and was deep in thought. Hearing his question, she returned to focus, met his gaze, and after some contemplation replied, “I’ve thought about it briefly, and I believe there are several main purposes, but these are only my personal guesses. Whether they’re right or not is for you to judge, and I won’t explain further—you’ll have to figure it out yourself.

“First, I think the deity wants to balance the power among all Chosen Ones by preventing enhancement opportunities from being hoarded. Those who receive fragments of the Guidance Technique must use their boosts immediately rather than accumulate them to artificially inflate their stats.

“Second, the deity subtly informs all Chosen Ones that the correct path to enhancement is balanced development.

“Third, this may be preparation for accelerating mutual hunting among the Chosen Ones. I suspect the deity will take further actions later.”

Lin Yan laid out her three speculated purposes. Li Gang wanted to ask about her reasoning but remembered she had already said she wouldn’t explain and that he must think it through himself.

Regarding her first point about balancing power, Li Gang understood it to mean that since enhancement boosts cannot be stored, those with fragments of the Guidance Technique must use their opportunities promptly, preventing them from continuously raising their values before enhancement, which would otherwise reduce the relative increases of others.

Yet, upon reflection, this balancing mechanism, while not ineffective, seemed marginal at best; those who obtained the technique fragments first would still maintain a clear lead over those without.

That was beyond doubt.

As for her second point, Lin Yan’s assertion that the deity subtly advises balanced enhancement made sense to Li Gang. After all, when he first received the fragment of the basic Guidance Technique, Lin Yan had shared many insights with him.

That very discussion had helped him understand that high numerical values alone don’t define one’s strengths.

The so-called strength lies in one’s expertise or mastery, not merely a single high attribute.

Moreover, Lin Yan had explained the profound interrelations among the four fundamental attributes, emphasizing their complementary nature.

Li Gang surmised that Lin Yan’s speculation about the new rule’s automatic enhancement of the weakest attribute after a timeout was directly related to this balance.

As for her final point—that the deity’s move prepares for faster mutual hunting among the Chosen Ones—it puzzled Li Gang. After pondering, he couldn’t fully grasp it and decided not to dwell further.

Checking the time, five minutes had passed since the deity issued the rule adjustment. His personal enhancement panel indicated twenty-five minutes remained before the system would automatically apply his remaining twenty enhancement boosts.

The immediate concern was how to distribute these twenty enhancement boosts among the four attributes.

He hurriedly asked Lin Yan, “Sister Lin, with just over twenty minutes left, how should we proceed with the enhancements?”

Lin Yan crossed her arms, tapping her right arm lightly with her left fingers. “I already have a preliminary plan for how to enhance.”

Li Gang’s face lit up with joy. He hated having to make these choices himself; with Lin Yan’s plan, he could simply follow her lead.

Noticing his delight, Lin Yan smiled faintly and leaned close to whisper in his ear, “Didn’t I tell you long ago that you must decide for yourself how to enhance your abilities? I won’t interfere—you have to take charge.”

Having said that, she walked far away before opening her own enhancement panel and beginning to allocate her boosts.

She distanced herself to prevent Li Gang from peeking at her enhancement plan.

Li Gang sighed inwardly, then sat down on the grass and opened his enhancement panel, first checking his current base attribute values:

Physical Fitness: 332
Mental Acuity: 185
Strength: 140
Speed: 168
Overall Combat Power: 348

He had twenty enhancement boosts remaining and twenty-five comprehensive healing treatments.

So far, over 580 Chosen Ones worldwide had been eliminated.

He murmured to himself, “Strength is only 140 points. According to Lin Yan’s understanding, strength corresponds to one’s explosive power. Since most battles among the Chosen Ones rely on firearms, close combat victories might be rare. Should I even invest in enhancing strength?”

Weighing the pros and cons, strength was clearly his weakest attribute, lacking a corresponding Guidance Technique fragment and only improvable through enhancements.

Yet, Li Gang felt enhancing strength would be a poor investment.

After all, each enhancement didn’t add a fixed number but increased the existing base by 10%.

Thus, attributes with higher base values gain significantly more from each boost.

Any reasonably intelligent person would understand this.

However, Lin Yan’s repeated advice was to pursue balanced enhancement among all four attributes.

Li Gang didn’t hesitate long before deciding to trust her judgment and follow the balanced path.

He resolved to use eight consecutive enhancement boosts on strength, raising it temporarily to 300 points.

The remaining twelve boosts he would distribute evenly: four each to physical fitness, mental acuity, and speed.

With his decision made, he began the enhancements immediately.

Within five to six minutes, all twenty enhancement boosts were used, and his base attributes had changed dramatically:

Physical Fitness: 486
Mental Acuity: 271
Strength: 300
Speed: 246
Overall Combat Power: 448

Enhancement boosts could no longer be stored, so he had zero left, while comprehensive healing treatments remained at twenty-five.

After enhancement, physical fitness remained his highest attribute, nearing the 500-point threshold required for Stage Three of the Physical Fitness fragment’s cultivation.

His previously weakest attribute, strength, had risen to second highest.

Li Gang had anticipated these changes before beginning.

He had his reasons: the other attributes had corresponding Guidance Technique fragments for gradual improvement, but strength lacked one, so he chose to boost it substantially all at once.

Among the four base attributes, speed was now the lowest at 246 points—not too low, especially since he had the related fragment to gradually improve it further.

Aside from physical fitness leading significantly, the other three attributes were relatively close in value.

Li Gang stood slowly, feeling the profound difference brought by twenty consecutive enhancements.

It was a strange, almost transformative sensation—as if he had been reborn.

Both his senses and strength had greatly improved.

He was confident that in his current state, he could easily defeat the Lin Yan from their last encounter.

Of course, that was only the Lin Yan of that time. After fully using her own enhancements, she too would have risen immensely.

Her improvements would surely surpass his.