408: Chapter 407 Ubiquitous

[00:00:00]

The moment the countdown hit zero.

The black mist that had been spreading and was about to envelop the Qianchuan Tunnel suddenly halted, as if someone had pressed a pause button.

It wasn't just here.

All over the world, every single place seemed to have fallen into a state of suspension.

Whether they were Transcendents or ordinary people, everyone discovered with horror that they were unable to move.

Simultaneously, illusory interfaces appeared in the eyes of countless people, and a grand voice rang out in their ears at the same time.

[The nameless, desolate world has reached its end and is on the brink of extinction. Do you decide to bind with the System and become a Guardian?

Note: Binding for the first time grants an additional reward of 10 spirituality points.

Yes/No?]

[Prompt: From the moment you bind with the System, you have taken the first step onto the path of the Transcendent. You will receive the world's gift, and your fate will be different from now on.

But at the same time, you must pay a corresponding price.]

[Please make your choice within 10 seconds. 10, 9, 8...]

Everyone was facing a choice, but for those Transcendents who had already bound with the System, the voices appearing in their ears were different.

At this moment, in the System interface before Chu Xuan's eyes, lines of information were also surfacing.

[Detected that you have already bound with the world and reached Rank 10. You can receive a daily reward of 100 spirituality points.

Detected that you are a Purifier; your daily spirituality point reward is doubled, meaning you can receive 200 spirituality points per day.]

[Guardian must kill Specters daily. Detected that your current Rank is LV.10; you need to complete the following:]

1. Daily Task:

Slay at least 1 Specter every 24 hours and harvest a total of no less than 100 spirituality points. Completion grants an additional 100 spirituality points.

If not completed on that day, you must pay a penalty of 150 spirituality points. If your spirituality points are insufficient, you will be forcibly obliterated.

2. Mandatory Task:

You will occasionally receive mandatory tasks assigned by the System. Completing them grants corresponding rewards. If you do not respond, you will be subject to the penalty of forced obliteration.

3. During the execution of a mandatory task, you are exempt from penalties for uncompleted daily tasks.]

[Prompt: The spirituality point exchange function is now open. You can obtain corresponding spirituality points by selling relevant Transcendent items to the System.]

When Chu Xuan saw this, his eyebrows shot up, and he understood instantly.

The universal System had begun.

Anyone who bound with the System and became a Guardian could receive a daily reward of spirituality points. The value of this reward was clearly linked to their Rank.

For example, at LV.10, the daily reward was 100 spirituality points, but if one had a special status, they would gain extra benefits.

Like the Purifier, whose reward was directly doubled.

So, the reward for LV.1 would be 10 spirituality points per day.

But this wasn't free.

One had to complete the daily tasks.

For instance, a Rank 10 Transcendent might receive 100 spirituality points daily, but they needed to slay at least one Specter every 24 hours and harvest 100 spirituality points.

If the conditions weren't met, not only would the 100-point reward have to be returned, but an additional 50 spirituality points would have to be paid as well.

Chu Xuan guessed that the daily tasks would vary for people of different Ranks, but the commonality was that they had to kill one Specter every day.

However, if one was in the middle of a mandatory task, this could be ignored.

Otherwise, one could only obtain as many Transcendent items as possible and resell them to the System to gain spirituality points to offset the penalties.

All in all, once you chose to bind with the System, you couldn't just lie flat; you had to do your best to slay Specters, or it would be like having a sword hanging over your head at all times.

It was easy to imagine that in the coming days, there would certainly be people driven to a dead end because they couldn't find Specters to kill.

At this time, Chu Xuan's advantage as a Purifier became apparent.

Even if he failed to complete the daily task, he would receive a 200-point reward. After deducting the 150-point penalty, he would still make a net profit of 50 points.

Of course, for Chu Xuan, it was impossible to just exploit the System like that.

What was 50 spirituality points good for?

It was practically nothing, negligible.

This world was on the brink of extinction, and the struggle against the Specters was a survival race where one either advanced or perished.

Only by constantly becoming stronger would one have the right to survive.

Otherwise, one could only pin their hopes on others for salvation, which was equivalent to handing over control of one's fate to someone else.

The sky was falling; instead of waiting for someone tall to prop it up, it was better to find a way to become that tall person oneself.

Meanwhile, in Chu Xuan's eyes, the System interface changed, and a new function page called "World Channel" appeared.

Currently, Chu Xuan's body was still unable to move, as if frozen in time, so with a thought, he opened the "World Channel" function.

[Each person can send three world messages for free every day! Beyond that, each message costs 10 spirituality points to start.

Note: When more than ten messages are sent on the same day, each message costs 100 spirituality points.]

[You may create an initial name (Note: Changing the name costs 100 spirituality points)]

Prompted by the System, Chu Xuan pondered for a moment and created his initial name: [Tian Di Xuan Huang].

However, Chu Xuan didn't send any messages; instead, he took a cursory look and found that the information in the world chat was flashing incessantly.

Even with Chu Xuan's eyesight, it was a bit overwhelming, and he could barely make out some of the text messages.

[Haha! I've bound with the System too! From now on, my life is in my own hands, not heaven's!]

[Spirituality points can actually be exchanged for attribute points! This is so awesome! I'm putting everything into Strength. I can break bricks with one punch now; I'm not a weakling anymore!]

[I just want to know, is there any genius who would refuse to bind with the System?]

[Oh my God, finally granted power! Am I going to become Superman...]

[The heavens have opened their eyes! I've had enough of these days of living in fear. Are we finally going to start our counterattack?]

[What are Specters? They're nothing but stepping stones on my path to becoming a Transcendent!]

[...]

For the most part, they were very excited and enthusiastic comments. At a glance, it was obvious they were newcomers who had just bound with the System.

Chu Xuan's gaze shifted slightly.

These people were too optimistic, thinking this was some grand Opportunity, when in reality, it was just a means for the world to save itself.

Perhaps many people didn't realize the gravity of the situation at all; if they couldn't complete the tasks and didn't have enough Transcendent items to exchange, they would simply be waiting for death.

Initially, the various messages in the channel were scrolling by incredibly fast, but after a while, they gradually slowed down.

At that moment, a large amount of information suddenly flooded in simultaneously, and it was the same content repeating before his eyes.

[Strange Creaturess descend, and life is devastated? No, this is the punishment of the gods for the world's greed, anger, ignorance, hatred, love, evil, and desire.

Everyone in this world is guilty, and everyone must atone.

The Harbingers of the Divine Light World are descending. They are devils touched by the gods, coming to the mortal realm with missions and tasks.]

[When you feel your consciousness being invaded, it means a Harbinger has chosen you. Please do not resist, do not refuse; actively embrace them, and you can coexist with them.

Otherwise, you will surely be disliked by the gods and become an ugly and bloodthirsty Strange Creatures, losing your family, your friends, yourself, and your Soul.

Despised by all, feared by all, you will fall into the endless Hell.]

[Please accept the consciousness of the Harbingers from the Divine Light World. They emerge from the cracks in the Void Realm, they come from the deep mists, they are everywhere.

When you are fortunate enough to encounter one, do not be afraid; you should embrace the arrival of the Harbinger with all your heart.

When you accept a Harbinger, you become the most devout lamb of the gods. You will be blessed, and you will receive grace.]

[Devoutly call upon the name of the True God, and you will have a higher chance of drawing a Harbinger to descend...]

[Coexist with the Harbingers! Worship the gods together!

We are from the Resurrection Society. We wash away sins, we redeem each other, and we complete our rebirth...]

A massive amount of information appeared, constantly repeating and refreshing, coming from different posters.

Chu Xuan's gaze darkened.

Without needing to think much, the people posting these comments were clearly all from the Resurrection Society.

When Specters descend, not everyone will necessarily be successfully parasitized, but if they listen to these words and actively accept them, they will surely become a vessel for the Specter.

These constantly repeating messages soon ended, followed by a surge of discussions about the matter.

Whether or not people believed those deceptive words, the Resurrection Society had already achieved its goal simply by generating attention and discussion.

"They really are pervasive..."

Chu Xuan murmured in his heart.

Afterward, he stopped looking at these useless messages and closed them directly.

[Your spirituality points +200]

A System prompt appeared.

Chu Xuan immediately realized that this must be the arrival of a new day, and the spirituality point reward from the System had arrived.

Next, Chu Xuan opened his daily task; sure enough, it showed "Uncompleted" and the remaining time as "23:59:58."

There was no movement regarding the mandatory task.

Immediately after, Chu Xuan suddenly felt that he could move.

It wasn't just Chu Xuan.

The others present were the same, each with a different expression.

However, when the crowd looked back at the black mist that was about to envelop them not far away, they hurriedly ran away.

The black mist representing The Gloom did not spread; it was still in a frozen state.

But the crowd did not lower their guard and still didn't stop, heading straight over the hill and crossing the Qianchuan Tunnel from above.

"Li Na, it seems you chose wrong this time." While dashing through the mountain forest, the Fat Pig's speed was not slow at all, and Cai Hou, on his shoulder, said meaningfully:

"The countdown has ended, and it didn't turn out as the Revelation said—our weakest attributes didn't increase to match our strongest, nor did we awaken any Talent skills."

"It's too early to say that, isn't it? You've completed quite a few tasks yourself; don't you know that System rewards often have a delay?" Li Na sneered, her face full of disdain:

"This change in the System is clearly the emergence of rules that favor our world. The stagnation of that gloom mist is proof, and look at the sky..."

As she spoke, Li Na pointed to the sky.

In the originally pitch-black sky, a bright moon now hung high, with a few scattered stars twinkling occasionally.

"This time, we will definitely be able to pass through here smoothly..."

Before she could finish her sentence, Li Na's expression suddenly changed slightly, and she pulled a phone from her lower back.

"There's a signal?"

As Li Na spoke, the others also sensed it and took out their communication devices, finding that there was indeed a signal.

"I told you, the words of the Revelation were correct!"

Li Na suddenly grinned. "Look at the latest trending video; it's a video of Yan Guofa appearing. We didn't have a signal here before, so we didn't see it."

As Li Na spoke, everyone began to check.

"See? Yan Guofa has appeared and clearly stated that he was previously deceived by Chu Xuan. He has now come to his senses and fully supports the Revelation. He's also advising all Transcendents to focus on their Charm attribute and increase their Rank as much as possible."

As Li Na spoke, a flash of regret suddenly crossed her eyes. "If I had known, I shouldn't have focused on Strength. I should have boosted my Charm attribute first. That way, I could have gained a powerful Talent skill. I wonder if raising my Charm attribute now can still save it."

Cai Hou, sitting on Fat Pig's shoulder, frowned deeply and said softly, "Could I have been wrong..."

Lin Liguo and the others also had drastic changes in their expressions, beginning to doubt whether their initial choice was correct.

"Of course you were wrong, and ridiculously so. To actually believe a few Night Watchers... I think you've lost your mind too..."

Just as she finished speaking, Li Na suddenly let out a soft exclamation. "My Charm attribute is only 18 points. Normally, it should only take 2 attribute points to increase it, but why does it require 10 points now? Something's not right..."

"Da Pao, Er Pao, you guys try it too!" Li Na said to the twin brothers following beside her.

"It's the same for us..." The twin brothers' expressions also became somewhat off.

"There's such a thing?" Cai Hou's expression shifted suddenly. After pondering for a moment, he said, "Try the other attributes besides Strength."

"I tried; they also require 10 attribute points to increase!" Li Na's expression was uneasy.

A gloating smile immediately appeared on Cai Hou's face. "Looking at it this way, it's really not certain who's right and who's wrong!"

"I remember you saying not long ago that it wasn't certain who was the fool. So now... can you be sure?" Cai Hou looked at Li Na's dark face, his lips curling up, making no effort to hide the mockery in his voice.

"I told you all long ago that it's best to listen to Chu Xuan. No matter how you look at it, Chu Xuan has no reason to prove his identity by slaying an S-rank Specter.

Besides, Chu Xuan at least dares to show his true face and name, while the Revelation has never shown its true face from beginning to end. No one even knows what its real name is..."

"Shut up!"

Li Na whipped her head around, her face twisted. "Do you think I really can't do anything to you?"

Cai Hou didn't mind at all, clicking his tongue and sighing, "Look at you. Not only did you ruin yourself, but you also ruined the Double Cannon Brothers. I almost feel bad for them."