59: Chapter 59 The Third Trial: The Day of the Gift

Gu Changming watched the five iron nails circling slowly around his palm like swimming fish, then glanced at the [primary mental strength enhancement potion] on the Mall panel in front of him.

The moment he confirmed the exchange, a bottle of greenish potion appeared on the table next to his hand.

He picked up the potion, pulled out the stopper, tilted his head back, and drank it.

The liquid was slightly cool, but after sliding down his throat, a gentle warmth gradually rose, like a small stream slowly seeping into the depths of his mind.

Gu Changming closed his eyes, feeling as if his consciousness was being gently washed; he could even vaguely feel his spirit extending outward, as if it had grown antennae.

He sat quietly, letting the medicine's effects dissolve within his body, his eyelids only trembling slightly.

After a moment, he opened his eyes again, his gaze falling on the nail box on the table.

His palm opened once more, and with a slight thought, five more iron nails slowly floated up from the box, joining the previous group.

Ten iron nails intertwined and circled around his hand in steady trajectories, yet controlling them felt even easier than before.

Seeing this, Gu Changming did not stop and looked at the Mall panel once more. With a light tap of his fingertip in the air, another bottle of greenish potion landed in his palm.

Gu Changming downed the second bottle in one go. The same warm current flowed toward his brain, and the area between his eyebrows began to feel slightly swollen.

Immediately after, Gu Changming steadied his mind and cast his gaze toward the ten suspended iron nails again.

With a slight movement of his mind, ten more iron nails rose from the box in response, wobbling as they joined the previous team.

This time, however, those twenty iron nails were like a silent metal array.

Gu Changming tried to manipulate them to move; the iron nails began to rotate and interweave clumsily, but their trajectories were noticeably sluggish. They lacked the initial dexterity of being like an extension of his own arm, as if they were being strained by invisible threads.

Seeing this, Gu Changming was not surprised.

He opened the Mall for the third time, exchanged, and took the medicine.

He quickly gulped down the third bottle of greenish potion.

The moment the potion entered his stomach, a tight string in his mind seemed to hum with a 'zheng' sound. What followed was not a warm current, but a clear, highly piercing chill that washed through him from the inside out.

Gu Changming could feel the boundaries of his perception being pushed outward violently, his spirit flowing and spreading like liquid mercury.

What his tightly closed eyes 'saw' was no longer just darkness.

The outlines of the walls, the cracks in the hallway, and even the scattered rubble in the stairwell further away... these sights were not perceived through light, but were directly imprinted into his mind in another blurry yet real form of 'perception'.

At the same time.

The twenty iron nails that had originally been somewhat heavy suddenly became light.

Gu Changming's five fingers spread slightly, and the twenty iron nails responded instantly, turning into streaks of silver light that began to weave and whirl between his fingers at high speed.

They moved so fast that they pulled sharp 'shoo-shoo' sounds of breaking wind through the air, yet their trajectories were incredibly precise, without a single collision or delay.

Gu Changming opened his palm further, and in the small living room, the cold glint of metal wove into a nimble and dangerous web.

Seeing this, a trace of satisfaction finally appeared on Gu Changming's face.

He made a hollow grip with his right hand and gave a gentle beckoning motion.

"Shoo!"

The sound of breaking wind stopped abruptly.

The twenty streaks of cold light suddenly converged, flying back obediently to his side and slipping into his sleeve one by one.

Gu Changming gently flexed his fingers, feeling the clear and abundant sense of control in his mind.

"Three primary mental strength enhancement potions... my Mental Power attribute should be over fifty points now," Gu Changming muttered to himself.

With over fifty points, he could barely reach the threshold of a D-rank Ability User.

It was just a pity that the Personal Attribute Panel hadn't appeared yet; otherwise, he would be able to see his various bodily stats.

But there was no rush; many functions would open up after this Assessment.

The Personal Attribute Panel was one of them.

Gu Changming stood up and walked to the window.

Outside was a clear blue sky, and sunlight poured down without obstruction, falling upon the city and upon him.

Gu Changming squinted slightly. The sunlight hitting his body made his skin feel slightly hot, but it also brought a long-lost, almost luxurious sense of comfort.

He raised his wrist to check the time: 11:57 AM.

Three minutes left.

Gu Changming wasn't very worried about this Assessment.

Just as he had said before, this Assessment was a newbie reward for humanity and wouldn't involve any casualties.

The three potions he had just drunk were also to prepare for this Assessment.

In his previous life, he hadn't been able to pass the full Assessment and had only received part of the rewards. This time, he wanted to see just how generous the final reward would be.

...

12:00 PM sharp.

The clear blue sky outside suddenly changed color, as if an invisible giant hand had dipped the entire canopy into a pool of blood; a thick, viscous crimson instantly stained the sky.

Immediately after, in the center of that blood-red firmament, massive white characters emerged without warning.

[Third Assessment: Day of Gifts]

[Rules: Complete your chosen Assessment content to obtain the rewards within.]

[Supplementary Rule: This Assessment will be conducted in zones; the Assessments faced by different people will vary.]

[Duration: Twenty-four hours.]

[Penalty for Assessment Failure: None.]

The moment the Assessment content appeared, Gu Changming immediately opened the panel to check it.

Scrolling down, there were no hidden rules for this Assessment.

It was just as he had previously speculated: this was a newbie reward for human civilization.

It was to prevent them from dying too many and too fast in subsequent Assessments, leading to the sudden extinction of the entire civilization.

As for the penalty for failure, it wasn't entirely non-existent.

For example, if one couldn't even pass the first stage of their chosen Assessment, that itself was the penalty—failing to get the rewards they should have obtained. Such people would only fall further behind in the continuously escalating Assessments and die early.

Of course, even unluckier than those people were the ones who thought they were clever.

Thinking that as long as they didn't participate in this Assessment, they could just pass through it.

Naturally, it was just a missed opportunity, and there was nothing to be done about it.

After explaining the Assessment content, the blood-red sky receded as abruptly as it had appeared, and the sky returned to its original blue.

Following that, in various positions across the city, pillars of light—crimson, bright yellow, deep purple, indigo... colors of all kinds—shot up into the sky, piercing straight through the firmament and anchoring to the earth like giant nails.

Each pillar of light represented an Assessment zone available for selection.

After a quick scan, Gu Changming vaulted over the balcony railing, with several stories of empty space beneath his feet.

The sound of wind whistled in his ears.

The moment Gu Changming was about to hit the ground, the shadow beneath his feet surged upward like viscous ink.

Gu Changming landed in the cushioning layer formed by the Mimic Beast, performed a nimble forward roll to shed the remaining momentum, and landed steadily.

Standing up, he looked up again and surveyed the conspicuous pillars of light around him, quickly locking onto the nearest one—a clear, ice-crystal-like light blue pillar.

Having chosen his target, Gu Changming set off, walking toward the light blue pillar at an unhurried pace.