Tinder Radiance

On the other side, Song Shige's eyes blazed with blood-red light, and the towering phantom of the [Blood City] behind him almost solidified. His Martial Will seemed to transform into a tangible domain, suppressing all the monsters within hundreds of meters in front of him.

Then, a crimson blade of energy swept across the sky, slicing everything in sight in two...

"This wave yielded a total of 3.8 million Tinder Shards. I've had my fill. And this is just the first set of card combinations." Su Luo looked at the two new cards in her hand and nodded in satisfaction.

A small act of impatience can ruin a great plan. We've waited so long and suffered, all for this exhilarating harvest!

That's the power of teamwork!

His gaze swept across the [Guardian Rankings] on the System Panel, and he suddenly noticed a subtle change.

Wanggu Chao Ketu, who was originally at the top of the list, saw his Sanctuary integrity rating quietly drop by 0.5%.

[Top 10 -- Wang Gu Chao Ketu (99.5%)]

The number one on the list has fallen to the bottom; it seems he didn't manage to reach his full potential.

"Why is he still on the list?" Guizishi asked in confusion.

There are quite a few Level 6 Sanctuary on the battlefield that haven't made the list yet and are 100% intact; there must be several more. The [Guardian Rankings] is all about integrity, so Chao Tuke should just drop off the list.

"Have you forgotten the small system update announcement from before?" Song Shige turned his head and reminded him in a low voice, "The ranking logic has been Optimization, and an implicit threshold has been added. Now, only Sanctuary owners who have reached a certain rating or above are eligible to enter the rankings. Simply put, in this District War, if Sanctuary's overall strength cannot rank in the top ten, it won't even qualify for the rankings."

Guizishi suddenly understood and nodded. "I see, it's like giving the top-tier Sanctuary a safety net, which makes sense."

Jing Yunxin, who had been sitting Jingjing, turned slightly and asked Su Luo in a soft voice, "Consultant Su, with the number of Tinder Shards we have accumulated so far, can we rank first among all participants?"

"No." Su Luo's answer was crisp and decisive, without the slightest hesitation.

Despite facing Monster Tide as high as the eighteenth wave, the base reward of about 180,000 fragments already far exceeded that of ordinary teams. Furthermore, with the effect of the amplified card combination, this wave yielded 3.8 million Tinder Shards, for a total of 4.19 million, making it a truly lucrative harvest.

But heroes are as numerous as carp crossing a river; on Battlefield No. 1314, there are no bottom-ranked players, only the top 100 in the world.

The Forbidden Existence Yashan, whose depths are unknown and who develops independently; or Father Tali Lang, who integrates the power of the entire District 66666 and uses collective strength to support himself; and then there's Jiang Mengrui, whose Fortune is beyond measure...

"Don't even think about getting first place in this District War. Continued Battle later. Jiang Mengrui will definitely be ahead of us."

"But her raw strength is said to be not outstanding," Guizishi still had doubts, "Shouldn't she have withstood much fewer waves than us?"

"The base number is low, but their growth rate is high." Su Luo shook her head, then, after confirming that everyone was present, turned on the public microphone:

"It seems everyone is very satisfied with the results of the first round of card collaboration. So, let's discuss the card combinations for the second round. Do you have any suggestions?"

"Wait, I suggest we upgrade the [Tinder] quality first. The range of fire provided by the Fine quality is insufficient when dealing with higher waves, leaving us too little reaction time," Shan Yixian said first.

"Agree."

"Agree."

Several people expressed their opinions one after another, clearly feeling the defensive pressure brought about by the increasing waves.

"We currently know that upgrading a card to the corresponding quality costs about a quarter of the cost of upgrading the [Tinder] to the corresponding quality. The reason we didn't upgrade the [Tinder] quality before was to save Tinder Shards... Now, I think these few Tinder Shards are insignificant, so let's upgrade the Tinder first."

"Yes, we should have been promoted sooner," Chao Tuke agreed.

"People only start studying medicine after everyone's dead. That's not what you said before," Gai Li said, toying with a card in his hand. "That's not the main reason at all. Another reason is that our card quality doesn't match Yashan's [Tinder] quality, lest He benefit from the buff."

"Our immediate priority is to ascertain the current quality of Yashan's [Tinder]. Then, we can simply raise our own Tinder to a level exactly one level lower than his."

"I'll take the loss and use the card to test it out."

As soon as he finished speaking, Gai Li's figure disappeared from the hall, clearly returning to the real world to continue his work.

But very quickly, in less than three seconds, he was back.

"The card's quality cannot exceed the quality of its own [Tinder]! I still need to upgrade the [Tinder] first."

"Let's upgrade to Excellent first. I have a special card that allows us to use cards that are one level higher than the previous one," Jiang Mengrui said.

Without further delay, everyone left the hall.

Song Shige stood beside the altar, watching the flames dance. "Promote him to Excellent first."

Then, the Tinder Shards were thrown in, and the flames suddenly shot up, becoming brighter. The area that had originally covered several hundred meters began to expand rapidly outward at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Approximately 1,600 Tinder Shards were used, and the information panel changed.

[Your Tinder quality has been improved!]

[Tinder (Excellent)]

Protect it, nurture it well.

[Enter?]

The range of the fire increased to one kilometer, and the length of the two paths also reached two kilometers.

"A buff status has appeared on my panel!" Guizishi was the first to notice the change and immediately shared a screenshot.

[You are under the "Tinder Radiance" state: All Attributes +2%, All elemental affinity and resistance +1%, Divine Power recovery speed slightly increased, Energy circulation efficiency slightly increased...] What follows is a long list of detailed increases. Although the individual values are not high, the coverage is extremely wide, making it a comprehensive small enhancement.

"I have this status too," Jing Yunxin added, looking at the panel, "But my overall Attribute bonus is +3%..."

Su Luo and Song Shige exchanged a glance.

"It seems that high-quality [Tinder] can also provide buffs... but they are related to one's strength."

In any case, Su Luo and Song Shige cannot enjoy the benefits of the excellent quality [Tinder].

"It seems... [the Tinder] is quite extraordinary," Su Luo murmured, reaching out her hand and tentatively probing into the flickering flames.

However, the fingers passed through the seemingly blazing flames without any resistance, without any tactile sensation or energy feedback, as if it were just a realistic projection.

The last time I saw the system status display was before.

"... It was still during the first Monster Tide after the seven-day safety period ended. This [Tinder] could also apply status effects to people."

"Perhaps [the Tinder] is just a manifestation of the system," Song Shige said.

Upon entering the [Tinder] Hall, Jiang Mengrui nodded slightly to everyone.

At this moment, the data on the panel is:

[World Remaining Groups: 39.15%]

Time is running out.