Chapter 263: Imperial Ranking War: Extreme Cold Calamity

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The Silent Day Crisis passed without affecting them too much, at least not as much as the Monster Horde did.

Sure, it did feel strange to be deaf for 12 hours, but it wasn’t life-threatening. It did, however, make everybody appreciate their sense of hearing once the crisis passed.

With that out of the way, the crisis day passed peacefully without much effect on the team. They were able to return to their routine the morning after.

Ren used the next few days to properly eliminate the largest threats to the rock base. He fished out the monsters who were peacefully hiding beneath the river and had the team kill them one by one, harvesting every valuable thing on their remains.

Once the largest threats to the base were gone, the rating of the Rock Base skyrocketed. The daily merit points settlement each member of the team receives went from 250 to 500, doubling it instantly.

And that’s with each person, by the way. And this amount adds up to the cumulative point pool, which improves their ranking.

With 51 people receiving 500 merit points daily, 25,500 merit points are added to the total accumulation of the team on a daily basis. And this was outside of the merit points they earned when going out on the hunt or making some renovations within the base.

To say that the Heavenly Bronze Team was on a huge lead wouldn’t be an exaggeration. In fact, that’s an understatement.

Even if they all just lie flat and do nothing, their team will still have an enormous lead compared to others.

But of course, Ren wouldn’t be satisfied with this, nor would his teammates. They want an absolute soul-crushing lead, so much so that the other teams could never dream of usurping their position and could only compete for 2nd place.

Therefore, there are no idlers in the team.

Even after the largest and nearest threat on the base was gone, the team still formed small groups to patrol, hunt, and clear the surrounding area to keep the base safer and more secure.

Days passed just like this, and soon, the 3rd weekly crisis was upon them.

This time, the crisis was mild. It just robbed them of their sense of taste for 12 hours, starting from 8am to 8pm.

The solution for this was simple. Just don’t eat for the next 12 hours. Everybody could fast for that long very easily. They have chakra after all. Besides, they could always make up for it once the crisis passed, which exactly what they did.

The crisis on the 4th week fell into the same category as this one; this time, it’s more troublesome because it robbed them of their sight.

Everybody was rendered blind for 12 hours.

Ren, Diana, and Lily were the only ones who didn’t mind this too much in this group. Ren’s eyes might’ve been disabled, but his sensory network remained active since it relied on his chakra, not on his eyesight.

Lily’s wind sensitive, and Diana could see things through seismic movement.

They dealt with this crisis by idling in their rooms. Ren, Lily, and Diana encouraged them to develop their senses in the safety of their rooms through the duration of the crisis in preparation for the next time this crisis occurs again.

12 hours later, the crisis passed and their sight returned.

But before they could feel relief. The system announcement ruthlessly reminded them of another incoming crisis, one that will take place very soon.

**

[Blindess Crisis passed.]

[Reminder to all teams: It’s been a month since you arrived here. Regardless of whether you have gotten used to life here or not, the true test of your survival skills will begin shortly.]

[1st Monthly Natural Calamity: Extreme Cold! ]

[Starting at 6:00am tomorrow, the temperature within this secret realm will drop sharply. At first, it would drop to 20°C on the first day and will continue to go lower each passing day.

[Along with the weekly crisis, you will now also experience an even more severe drop in temperature. And this will get progressively worse each week.]

[This calamity will last for the entirety of the following month, and the temperatures could very well reach -200°C, or possibly even lower. You all best be prepared for that.]

[Humans won’t be the only ones affected by this sudden drop in temperature. Monsters will be affected too, and so does the environment. Everybody will suffer the same calamity.]

During the Extreme Cold Calamity, merit points earned through any means will be doubled. And each day you survive without succumbing or dying to the cold will earn you merit points. The better your condition is, the more points you earn.]

[There’s only a few hours before the dawn of the next day arrives. Please make your preparations.]

**

"Holy crap!"

"Shit! This place is determined to kill us!"

"-200°C? No way, not even martial artists like us could possibly endure that!"

"Will we be fine?"

"What should we do?"

Everybody was panicking. They haven’t even had the time to celebrate the fact that their sight returned. The system just ruthlessly dropped a fatal reminder to them.

What they feel was valid. It’s only natural since most of them haven’t experienced natural calamities in their whole lives. They lived under the warm and cozy climate of The Basement, thinking that every day would always be like that.

Even those who grew up exposed to low temperatures and had developed resistance against the cold were looking worried.

"Alright, everybody! Sit down and listen!" Ren raised his voice to return order and calm their panic.

Then, he reminded them of one thing that they’ve missed due to their panic.

"Have you all forgotten about the formations we installed on the rock? I added a constant temperature formation in there! Seriously, what are you panicking for? Did you all think I put that there just for show? I’ve put it there exactly for something like this!"

They were stunned, and then relief flooded their bodies.

"Right, there was that!"

"Thank goodness!"

"Awesome! It seems that we were worried for nothing."

"That’s great! Good thing our leader is prepared!"

"Thank god for his paranoia."

Ren smirked at their reaction. Feeling a little pleased at himself for being ahead of the curve.

"Alright, settle down," he said. "Just because we have a solution against the upcoming calamity, it doesn’t mean that we’re completely out of the woods just yet."

"Inside this base, yeah, sure, we’re going to be just fine. The formation will keep us warm, and we have defenses."

"We could easily lock ourselves up in here for a whole month and let the calamity pass. But that’s under the assumption that we live in an ascetic manner."

"Our food supplies won’t last for a whole month, and so will our water supply. Extreme cold means that the river surrounding the base will freeze; it will turn into solid ground for land monsters to invade."

"Sure, the base is obscured and defended, but the formations aren’t absolute. Nothing can guarantee our complete safety. Therefore, even though we’re ahead of the curve, don’t let it get to your heads. We will still need to go out and hunt for food and maybe defend the base from hostiles."

"Our main priority is to store as much food and water as we can before everything outside turns to frost, ice, and snow."

"Remember, this calamity lasts for the entirety of the following month, and the temperature will drastically drop in conjunction with the weekly crises."

"The weekly crises haven’t repeated yet. We have no means of confirming how many variations it has, so until then, we aren’t able to cover all of the weaknesses and vulnerabilities."

"If one of the weekly crises forces us to be weakened, or worse—crippled—for an extended period of time, we will eat into our resources until they are gone, then we will go hungry in the middle of a harsh winter. That will be a tragedy."

"Therefore, while the temperatures haven’t dropped to an absurd degree just yet, our main priority is to stock up as much food, water, and supplies as we could to prepare for any unfortunate accidents or events we couldn’t account for."

"With how severe the warning was, I could almost tell that the winter will be so harsh in the later weeks or days of the month that we wouldn’t be able to step outside anymore."

Ren was painting a picture for everybody to imagine, and they shudder to think about it.

This test was truly harsh, and it’s truly pushing them to the extreme.

And this was just the first calamity too. Nobody had an idea of what would follow this, but if this one was already this harsh, the next one would probably be just as harsh, if not worse.

"Buy winter clothes," Ren added, "10 sets at minimum so that you’ve got plenty to spare. We aren’t lacking points. Buy them now because the prices might change the moment the crisis begins."

"Buy tools you might need, buy layers to protect you against the cold, and anything that you believe will be useful. Now is not the time to horde merit points."

"Use them now, or cry later. It’s up to you. I’m not your babysitter."