452: Chapter 451 Choosing Skills

Chu Xuan did not hesitate and directly gave up on [Imitation Skill] and [Damage Reflection].

If not for the restrictions of the God-Ascension Sequence, and if he could directly upgrade them to max level, he could have exchanged for fewer soul crystals and saved some contribution points to redeem these Transcendent Skills instead.

But [Imitation Skill] and [Damage Reflection], which could only be upgraded to Level 3 at most, were nothing more than useless "chicken ribs" to the current Chu Xuan.

Even if he redeemed them, it would be a waste of resources.

Furthermore, he would need to find extra ways to obtain items like [extraordinary skill promotion scroll] that could break through limits before he could upgrade them.

For now, the cost outweighed the benefits.

What Chu Xuan needed was to gain the maximum increase in combat power in the shortest amount of time.

Long ago, during his multiple communications with [Future Tang Zheng], Chu Xuan had understood one truth.

The strong stay strong, and the weak stay weak!

Under the severe situation of the intensifying Gloom Invasion, priority must be given to rapidly improving survival capabilities and combat power; only then could more resources be obtained.

[Clone] was different; whether used as cannon fodder or to confuse enemies during critical moments, even at Level 1, it could still play a certain role.

Just like when he faced the Azure Dragon.

At that final moment, he had split off a Clone; although it was seen through at a glance, it served to attract the opponent's attention, making them focus entirely on the location of his true body.

It was because of this that Qin Qing was able to head to the Air Force Base without drawing the opponent's attention and reclaim a fighter jet, thereby creating the conditions for Chu Xuan's ultimate victory.

[You have redeemed Transcendent Skill: Clone LV.1]

With this, all 550 contribution points were spent!

It took longer to describe than it did to happen; in less than a minute, Chu Xuan had finished redeeming all his rewards.

While redeeming the rewards, Chu Xuan's gaze remained fixed on the southwest direction, where black mist seethed and countless ghostly faces seemed to flicker within.

"Such a large area... could it be that the entire Southwest Region has been eroded by The Gloom?"

Chu Xuan's heart trembled, and he immediately took out his phone from his Exclusive Space.

First, he looked at the time.

7:30.

This was roughly the same amount of time that had passed during the mission...

Whether it was because the signal in the mountains was poor or because he was close to that massive Dark Place, Chu Xuan moved through several locations and ran up to an even higher hilltop before he finally managed to connect to the internet.

Chu Xuan immediately opened a news app to check the latest news, as well as video commentaries and comments posted by netizens.

Naturally, the top headline was about the end of the global countdown and the fact that everyone could now choose to bind to the System; the topic had completely exploded.

Chu Xuan skipped this content for now and did not check it.

Next, he began searching for the keywords "Southwest Dark Place."

As news reports played one after another, Chu Xuan was shocked to see that two and a half provinces were actually shrouded by the Dark Place.

Not only that, but several neighboring small countries had also been invaded by The Gloom on a massive scale; almost no survivors could be seen, a truly tragic sight.

In addition, in the central region of the country, a Dark Place spanning 460 kilometers was spreading outward.

In other places, some Dark Places that hadn't been dealt with in time were also beginning to expand gradually.

Gloom regions were blooming everywhere, encroaching upon humanity's limited living space.

"So... the mission we just completed was equivalent to stopping a Gloom Invasion, reducing the extent to which this world is being taken over..."

Chu Xuan's eyes flickered as he looked toward the southwest, where the black mist surged; he didn't know when it would start expanding outward again.

Completely resolving this was truly no easy task.

Chu Xuan took a deep breath, then swiped his thumb across the phone screen, turning back to check news regarding the universal System binding.

According to the online comments, the vast majority of people had chosen to bind to the System.

However, it didn't take long for some to regret their decision.

Because those participating in Mandatory Missions were far more than just Chu Xuan and his group; many others had also received System prompts requiring them to go to certain locations for Mandatory Missions.

[It's terrifying. In the middle of the night during the curfew, my brother and I received a Mandatory Mission to head to the school cafeteria within one hour!

We were just delayed a bit on the road, and my brother was only a few seconds late entering the school, but then he just exploded.

This System isn't a tool to make us stronger at all; it's treating us like slaves!]

[Stop talking nonsense! The time given by the System for Mandatory Missions is perfectly sufficient; you must have been hesitating and dawdling on the road, that's why you were late!]

[Exactly, I don't want to go kill Specters at all. How could we possibly deal with those terrifying monsters?]

[Then why did you choose to bind to the System in the first place? Now you're scared, but where was this attitude before?]

[...]