68: I won't go into Chapter 68, but you're a bug monster, you have to pay attention to Wenjue's words.

"nightfall" was still spreading.

After Britain was doxed, [Prometheus] was crippled, and its Home Base was the first to fall.

The Nile Country's Heroic Spirit, the sun god [Ra], also lost the struggle against "nightfall," ultimately taking fifth place in this Game of National Destiny.

Then came the Russia Heroic Spirit [Yof].

The "Holy Light" of this grand patriarch Heroic Spirit lasted less than ten minutes longer than [Ra]'s "Sunlight" before eventually being defeated by "nightfall." Ten minutes wasn't long, but it determined the ranking; in the end, Russia edged out Britain to take fourth place.

Among the four countries possessing the "Double Trees," only Dragon Country lasted until the end!

Until a glimmer of morning light shone on the Star Chessboard and the dark night passed, many viewers still hadn't recovered.

Let alone the audience, even Fan Ling and Zhao Hongxiu, these "veteran players" of the Game of National Destiny, felt it was somewhat unreal.

"The 'nightfall' arrival phase is over? Dragon Country survived? Holy crap, [Old Yuan] is too awesome! The [Hybridization] skill can actually fuse items! Although the [Rules] have never restricted changes to items, I've truly never seen anything like fusing items! You really dared to think about fusing the 'tree of morning light' and the 'tree of dark twilight'! [Old Yuan] is also badass; he actually managed to do it!"

Fan Ling punched Chen Aoyun in the chest, his eyes full of admiration for Chen Aoyun.

Having survived the arrival phase of "nightfall," the next part is the final chapter of this Game of National Destiny!

Three countries remained on the chessboard: Dragon Country, Ottoman, and Sakura Country.

The scene changed.

The fading of "nightfall" was like a curtain being pulled away, and a "new map" appeared on the Star Chessboard.

Clearly, the three countries that "survived" needed to determine their final rankings on this new map in the final chapter.

New rules also appeared at this moment:

[Background: nightfall has passed, and new land has been born. Three countries have withstood the erosion of nightfall, but the newly birthed land is only enough for one empire to continue. A decisive battle for territorial sovereignty is unavoidable.]

[Participants: One [Strategist], four [Roleplayers] (can participate in soul form)]

[Final Chapter Rule 1: The [Heroic Spirit] serves as the empire's "Ruler," used for the decisive battle, and the [Heroic Spirit] itself must be a "Ruler."]

[Final Chapter Rule 2: The Ruler [Heroic Spirit] can be summoned at will provided it meets the rules; the number of summons is: two (True Martial Origin)]

[Final Chapter Rule 3: The Ruler [Heroic Spirit] is in an invincible state before the decisive battle, receiving buffs from "Identity Resources"; the buff type is: 'Transcendental Buff']

[Final Chapter Rule 4: In addition to the "Ruler [Heroic Spirit]," one skill used in a previous phase can be selected. The [Heroic Spirit] corresponding to the skill will disappear after the skill ends, and the [Heroic Spirit] itself provides no buffs and cannot appear again.]

[Final Chapter Rule 5: There are remnants of "nightfall," and the distribution of "Identity Resources" varies... please explore on your own.]

[PS: In this phase, "Buff Items" and the abilities of [Strategist] and [Roleplayer] are all unlocked; [Divine Judgment] is reset (usage count increased: 3 times).]

[You now have one day to reorganize; please select your Heroic Spirit and skills before the reorganization time ends.]

The final chapter was here, and the Will of National Destiny was quite generous, actually proactively throwing out five rules and giving a one-day halftime break.

Read the question, read the question, read the question! The fully opened map and the five [Final Rules] were the exam questions!

Chen Aoyun looked at these rules, somewhat dazed. "What is this all about? How come I feel a bit dizzy reading these five [Final Rules]? Take [Final Rule 1] as an example; what does it mean by 'The [Heroic Spirit] serves as the empire's "Ruler," and the [Heroic Spirit] itself must be a "Ruler"'?"

It was because he had participated in too few Games of National Destiny. Chen Aoyun was a bit dazed looking at these [Final Rules], but Fan Ling and Zhao Hongxiu understood them at a glance.

"This is a common type of match. Select a [Heroic Spirit] to use for the decisive battle. Before the battle, the [Strategist] and [Roleplayer] cooperate to find resources to provide buffs for the [Heroic Spirit] in the decisive battle."

Zhao Hongxiu went over the rules one by one for Chen Aoyun. "First is [Final Rule 1: The [Heroic Spirit] serves as the empire's 'Ruler,' used for the decisive battle, and the [Heroic Spirit] itself must be a 'Ruler']. The first half means: the [Heroic Spirit] you choose must act as the empire's ruler for the final battle. The 'the [Heroic Spirit] itself must be a Ruler' mentioned in the second half stipulates the type of Heroic Spirit you choose."

Chen Aoyun: "Type? The type corresponding to 'Ruler' is... Emperor?! You mean I must place an Emperor-type [Heroic Spirit] for the decisive battle?"

Understanding was correct. Zhao Hongxiu continued to the next one. "[Final Rule 2: The Ruler [Heroic Spirit] can be summoned at will provided it meets the rules; the number of summons is: two (True Martial Origin)]. This second rule should be easy to understand; it's nothing more than that 'True Martial Origin' at the end. Heroic Spirits are just like Heroic Spirit skills; skills are divided into [True Martial], [Legendary], and [Phantom], and the Heroic Spirits themselves are divided too. [True Martial] corresponds to real historical records. The so-called 'True Martial Origin' Heroic Spirit means you cannot place an Emperor fabricated in old era romance novels or mythological stories; it must be an Emperor who actually existed in history to serve as this [Heroic Spirit]!"

Seeing that Chen Aoyun had no questions about this rule, Zhao Hongxiu continued to the next one. "[Final Rule 3: The Ruler [Heroic Spirit] is in an invincible state before the decisive battle, receiving buffs from 'Identity Resources'; the buff type is: 'Transcendental Buff']. You might not understand the second half as well. This second half needs to be combined with the new map. The new map will spawn 'Identity Resources,' and obtaining an identity corresponding to the [Heroic Spirit] will allow the [Heroic Spirit] to receive buffs during the final decisive battle!"

Chen Aoyun pondered for a moment and said, "I get it. The new map will spawn various 'Identity Resources.' If the Heroic Spirit I summon is [Ying Zheng], and [Ying Zheng] is an Emperor, then if I can obtain an 'Emperor' identity resource, I can increase [Ying Zheng]'s strength by one, becoming [Ying Zheng + 1]? Also, [Ying Zheng] was once a 'Hostage Prince,' so if I can find the 'Hostage Prince' identity resource, I can also increase [Ying Zheng]'s strength by one?"

Zhao Hongxiu didn't know who [Ying Zheng] was, but Chen Aoyun's understanding was correct.

Chen Aoyun pressed on, "Adding one is just adding one, what is called a 'Transcendental Buff'?"

Zhao Hongxiu explained, "There is still a big difference between a 'Buff' and a 'Transcendental Buff.' Strictly speaking, a [Strategist] using their own abilities or item buffs will increase the Heroic Spirit's strength by '+1.' Taking the [Ying Zheng] you mentioned, this kind of ordinary buff is '+1'; [Ying Zheng + 1] means increasing this Heroic Spirit's own strength by 10%, and [Ying Zheng + 2] means increasing it by 20%. This Game of National Destiny tests the combat power of [Heroic Spirits]. If the original combat power of [Ying Zheng] is 60, after [Ying Zheng + 1], his combat power is 66, [Ying Zheng + 2] combat power is 72, and so on... 'Transcendental Buff' is different! 'Transcendental Buff' is not a percentage buff. [Ying Zheng] Transcendental Buff +1 is a one-star [Ying Zheng ★], and combat power increases out of thin air by 100! Under a Transcendental Buff, the combat power of [Ying Zheng ★] = 66 + 100 = 166, and [Ying Zheng ★★] would be 266 combat power!"

Chen Aoyun was stunned. "So 'Transcendental Buff' can ignore the [Heroic Spirit]'s own stats and provide numerical buffs in an absolute sense, making the [Heroic Spirit] into a pure stat monster?! In other words, identity resources are very important. Even if the Emperor Heroic Spirit I place is very strong, if someone else's Heroic Spirit is 'Transcendental Buffed,' no matter how awesome the Huaxia Heroic Spirit is, it's impossible to win? This is the result caused by the mechanics!"

Even if [Ying Zheng]'s combat power was 100, it would be impossible to beat any one-star [Heroic Spirit] existence, because the minimum combat power of a [Heroic Spirit ★] is 100+!

Truly a perfect understanding; Chen Aoyun grasped the key point immediately.

Next, without needing Zhao Hongxiu to analyze, Chen Aoyun himself stated the true meaning of the next rule: "[Final Rule 4: In addition to the 'Ruler [Heroic Spirit],' one skill used in a previous phase can be selected. The [Heroic Spirit] corresponding to the skill will disappear after the skill ends, and the [Heroic Spirit] itself provides no buffs and cannot appear again.] This rule means that in the final chapter, in addition to the 'Emperor Heroic Spirit' used for the decisive battle, any country has one more chance to place a [Heroic Spirit], but the placed [Heroic Spirit] only has its skill effective, and the [Heroic Spirit] itself does not provide buffs to the troops?"

Right, but also wrong, Zhao Hongxiu reminded Chen Aoyun. "You can understand it that way, but look carefully at this rule. The rule says 'select a skill,' not 'select a Heroic Spirit.' Although there is no difference in the result, a rule is a rule. Necessary splitting of hairs might allow you to find a possibility to exploit a bug."

Now it wasn't a question of whether Chen Aoyun wanted to exploit a bug himself.

He had exploited so many bugs that his teammates began to think Chen Aoyun was a "Bug Glitcher" and began reminding him that regarding rules, he must split hairs...

Chen Aoyun didn't think there was any problem. Dragon Country had no heritage items and hadn't won the Game of National Destiny many times; the ranks of the [Strategist] and [Roleplayer] were pitifully low. How could they win without exploiting bugs?