At nine in the morning, Guan Tong sat in the garden of Konia Manor, listening as the Fire Thief's voice rang out.
[Congratulations on passing the trial of the Sixteenth Apocalypse Rule] [Your final Competition Points: 4144] [Your final competition ranking: Third place] [Ranking tier rewards have been distributed to your Storage Box] [The Fifteenth Apocalypse Rule will be released in seven days]
"Third place... not bad."
Guan Tong had never intended to compete for a ranking. If Lucifer had not accepted Valery's commission to kill him, he would not have had the chance to kill him in return and seize his points.
But more than four thousand points had only placed him third, which meant the top two had even more.
If the points of the top ten thousand were added together...
"How many Ascenders died during this rule?"
People had been calling for action online, claiming that this rule had been released by the Fire Thief specifically to target Ascenders and reduce their numbers. They believed Ascenders should collectively abandon the pursuit of ranking rewards and stop fighting and stealing from one another.
There was some sense in that argument, but everyone thought differently. Some Ascenders who believed themselves powerful would naturally want to leverage their strengths for greater advantages. Getting those people to give up competing was easier said than done.
Although North Star had exercised strong official control and forbidden domestic competitors from fighting each other, it had no way to control competitors abroad.
Not to mention maniacs like Lucifer—his points definitely had not come from normal competition. He must have killed every Ascender he encountered, slaughtering who knew how many people to steal them.
But speaking of the competition...
Thinking of the chain of explosions at yesterday's Suoloma finals venue, Guan Tong shook