Chapter 436 - 391: Hidden Rule 17

Chapter 436: Chapter 391: Hidden Rule 17

After the seventeenth Apocalypse Rule was announced, Guan Tong’s first reaction wasn’t worry or fear, but rather confusion.

’Terra Star... Not long ago, several astronauts were killed or gravely injured on it, and officials still haven’t released a detailed investigation report. Could there be a connection?’

He had been following the news, more or less, ever since the manned rocket launch.

The astronauts had run into trouble there, and not long after the space agency’s press conference, a new Apocalypse Rule centered on the satellite was announced... To say it was all a coincidence seemed highly unlikely.

But with the limited information available, he couldn’t jump to conclusions.

’Terra Star has turned crimson, and gazing at it evokes humanity’s deepest fears... But judging by the rule’s description, it’s not like one look will make you a lunatic; it’s a cumulative process.’

Guan Tong felt it was like the "sanity bar" in some horror games. When it empties, the character goes mad, and it’s game over.

’As long as I don’t look at it, it shouldn’t be a huge problem... I need to see the hidden rule first.’

He mentally opened the Terminal Panel and navigated to the rule’s details.

As he watched, the hidden rule materialized, re-formed from colored particles.

[Hidden Rule 17: Surrounded by Fear]

[Hidden Rule Content: During the Rule Stage, in addition to direct viewing, looking at the crimson entity through images, refractions, reflections, or other indirect means will also affect you to varying degrees. Beyond fear, other unknowns lie hidden within the crimson’s power, waiting to be discovered.]

[Note: The line between madness and sanity is often separated by a single thought. The way to conquer fear is to become it.]

Surrounded by Fear...

Guan Tong frowned after reading the hidden rule.

It wasn’t just direct viewing; witnessing the crimson in any form would affect one’s sanity to some degree. This information was crucial, but people would likely figure it out on their own soon enough.

The latter half of the description, about some unknown being hidden within the crimson’s power, was what truly held Guan Tong’s focus.

What was this "unknown," exactly? Was it good or bad? No one knew.

To investigate it, one would have to confront the fear brought by the crimson head-on... which was undoubtedly an extremely risky move.

’The safest option for me is to do what I did during the Blood Plague rule: hole up in my shelter for the entire duration of the Rule Stage and not set foot outside.’

Guan Tong knew this would allow him to get through the challenge without issue, but it also meant giving up on investigating the unknown.

After a moment of thought, he returned to his shelter and sat down at his desk.

He logged into Ascender’s Home and entered the [Webmaster Realm] section.

He put the decision aside for the moment. Selling the hidden rule for Sublimation Coins was the immediate priority.

He currently had a fixed daily expenditure of 26,000 Sublimation Coins. Once Black Star "expanded production capacity," or after he opened up new channels for himself, this daily expense would only increase.

If he started collecting twice a day, his consumption rate would double to 52,000 daily. At that rate, one million Sublimation Coins would be gone in less than twenty days.

To maintain such a massive, constant cash flow without relying on officials or large organizations, his only option was to keep selling hidden rules.

Guan Tong quickly composed a post and published it.

Selling Secret Intel on the Seventeenth Apocalypse Rule

Details: Price is 500,000 Sublimation Coins. Delivery of information is not immediate. It will be sent to all buyers simultaneously in one hour.

The price was the same as last time, set at half a million.

Judging from last time’s sales, he currently had only a handful of clients, and he didn’t expect that number to grow.

If his earnings couldn’t keep up with his expenses in the future, his only option would be to raise the price, but that wasn’t necessary for now.

As expected, soon after he published the post, he began receiving private messages from his regular clients.

Just like last time, he sold exactly eight copies—no more, no less—for a total of four million Sublimation Coins.

Adding these four million to the seven million he had remaining, his new total was eleven million.

This Rule Stage would last for 30 days. Even if he spent 100,000 a day, his total expenses would only be three million after a month, leaving him with eight million to spare.

’Looks like I need to expand production capacity soon... Wait, can I improve the conversion ratio for my stored Psychic Power now?’

With a thought from Guan Tong, the Wordless Book appeared in his hand.

He flipped it open, going straight to the seventh page.

He stared at the blank page, knowing that after entering the second stage of Sublimation, he could now write on this new page and use his Psychic Power to manifest its contents.

But he wasn’t sure what to write.

Back when he couldn’t write on it, he had many ideas, many things he wanted to create. Now that he could, he was suddenly unsure what would be best.

His mindset now was vastly different from when he first started.

When he first obtained the Wordless Book, he didn’t overthink the first few pages and quickly decided what to write.

But starting from the fifth page, as the difficulty of unlocking each new page and the required Psychic Power cap skyrocketed, he was forced to be much more cautious with each entry.

He stared at the blank seventh page for a moment, then shook his head. ’I’ll give it some more thought.’

He flipped back to the third page. The two words on it, "Psychic Power," had long been his greatest asset, second only to the Shadow from the first page.

Without a large reserve of Psychic Power to back him up, he never could have won so many battles where he was heavily outnumbered.

This stored Psychic Power allowed him to function as a one-man army. Though he appeared to be alone, the total amount of Psychic Power he could wield surpassed that of hundreds, even thousands, of people. This was the secret to his invincibility.

He had once been satisfied with a 10:1 conversion ratio, but now it was no longer enough to meet his needs.

After entering the second stage of Sublimation, an Ascender’s body was enhanced in every way; surely, he could handle a better conversion ratio.

Guan Tong took a pen from his Storage Ring and, steeling himself, wrote "1:1" in front of the words "Psychic Power."

If he could achieve a 1:1 conversion, then...

Before Guan Tong could even begin to fantasize, he saw the new script he had written rapidly fade away and disappear.

’...I guess getting everything in one go is impossible after all.’

If he could really achieve a 1:1 ratio, he would be able to store tens of thousands of Psychic Power points every day. The thought was staggering.

’Alright, I’ll test it gradually.’

He wrote "2:1," and once again, the numbers faded away.

He wrote "3:1," and it faded.

He kept trying until he wrote "5:1." Just as he braced himself for the numbers to disappear again, they unexpectedly remained fixed in place.

Guan Tong’s heart began to race. ’It worked? The conversion ratio is up to 5:1?’

He immediately tried infusing 100 points of Flowing Psychic Power into the page. A moment later, when he saw his stored Psychic Power on the panel increase by 20 points, he clenched his fist and let out a low cheer.

"Yes!"

The conversion efficiency had doubled. How could he not be ecstatic?

’At a 5:1 ratio, the 26,000 Flowing Psychic Power I collect from Black Star every day will convert into 5,200 stored Psychic Power... That comes out to 156,000 a month.’

A smile spread across Guan Tong’s face. This was likely his most significant gain since entering the second stage of Sublimation, aside from the reboot of the Mind Network.

BUZZ. BUZZ.

The phone on his desk vibrated. Guan Tong picked it up to see a message from an unknown number.

"Hello, Guan Tong. This is Li Meng. I am in charge of coordinating and commanding the North Star Squad for the Human Federation’s joint operation against the Fire Thief Sect. The initial squad meeting is scheduled for 10:00 AM the day after tomorrow at the following location. Please be punctual."

’An operation... during the Rule Stage?’

After learning that the new rule was a survival-type, Guan Tong had assumed the operation would be postponed.

Apparently, the Human Federation didn’t consider this particular rule a significant threat to their operation.

Perhaps the council members believed it would be fine as long as they operated during the day.

Except...

Guan Tong looked at the hidden rule on his panel. He still hadn’t decided whether he should risk investigating the unknown that was hidden within the fear.