Completing the Challenge

Guan Tong's exploration of Shadow's usage allowed him to find a way to clear the rules.

However, simply clearing them wasn't enough. He could now fully utilize Shadow's fusion properties to contend for a high ranking.

Although Guan Tong wasn't particularly fond of competition, he definitely wouldn't pass up the chance for the extra rewards if he could get into the top three.

"The key is to utilize Shadow's movement distance."

Guan Tong left the self-service gym and walked on the road home, contemplating this problem.

The speed he could achieve by connecting to the treadmill was already very fast, but in his opinion, it was far from the limit.

There should be other ways to further improve his speed for the 42-kilometer distance.

And it wasn't just him; others would likely use Mind Power to improve their results as well.

Even if they didn't think of it at first, they would surely see mentions of it online.

Therefore, as long as one was resourceful and had a high Mind Power Cap, many people should be able to pass Rule Two.

But to achieve a good result, it would depend on whether the items they purchased from the Ascension Shop were suitable.

Guan Tong didn't dwell too much on others' affairs; he remained focused on how to improve his own performance.

After returning home, he searched online for information about Shadow.

He was shocked by what he found.

It turned out that Shadow could reach extremely high speeds in some special environments.

It could even be used in a clever way to make it faster than light!

However, Shadow's current speed wasn't important to Guan Tong; he cared more about the movement distance.

After studying for a long time, Guan Tong came up with an idea.

The next day at noon, when the sun was at its brightest, he took a rotating cloud racket he had bought and went up to the roof of his apartment building.

The sun was high in the sky at this time, and the light was extremely abundant.

Guan Tong set up the cloud racket at the edge of the building. After adjusting its angle and position, its shadow was cast onto the distant street.

Then, Guan Tong executed the "rotate" command from his phone, and the cloud racket immediately began to spin automatically.

As it spun, its shadow also spun rapidly, crossing streets and buildings at extreme speeds, cycling back and forth.

Guan Tong couldn't contain his excitement when he saw this.

The speed was too fast, and the distance was too far!

At this movement speed, Shadow could travel thousands of kilometers in just a few seconds!

Without a word, Guan Tong stepped forward, lowered the angle of the cloud racket, and brought the shadow closer.

Then, he took out the Wordless Book, released his own "Shadow," and made it come into contact with the cloud racket's shadow, fusing them together.

After experiencing that sense of control, Guan Tong raised the cloud racket, and its shadow immediately moved along the rooftop, the building, the walls, and the street at speed.

Then, Guan Tong executed the "rotate" command on his phone, setting the speed to the maximum.

Zzzzzzt!

The cloud racket began to rotate automatically at its highest speed, and the shadow spun along with it!

At this moment, the challenge time and distance numbers before Guan Tong's eyes changed at an incredibly exaggerated rate!

"Hoo, hoo, hoo..."

A middle-aged man stopped on the track at the stadium, gasping for breath.

Looking at the distance and numbers displayed before him, a smile appeared on his face.

Current Distance: 42198 meters, Current Time: 2 hours 37 minutes 56 seconds

"I broke through, I broke through!"

The middle-aged man chuckled. Although he was exhausted, the exhilaration in his heart was indescribable.

This result not only meant he had passed the challenge of the second Apocalypse Rule but also that he had broken his personal best.

He had previously run marathons and, even when finishing under 3 hours, it was usually just barely.

Several times it was around 2 hours 58 minutes or 57 minutes, and his best time was 2 hours 52 minutes.

But this time, his result was 15 minutes faster than his previous personal best!

This wasn't a small improvement; it was a significant one!

The reason for such a substantial improvement was, naturally, inseparable from the application of Mind Power.

The middle-aged man gleefully glanced at the pair of black running shoes he was wearing.

They looked ordinary, but in reality, these running shoes were special items he had purchased from the Ascension Shop.

Wearing them not only increased speed but also reduced stamina consumption.

However, the downside was that using their abilities rapidly consumed Mind Power.

Once the Mind Power was depleted, the running shoes lost their special bonus, becoming no different from ordinary running shoes.

Although the middle-aged man felt a bit regretful, thinking that if he had more Mind Power, he could have achieved an even better result.

But he was quite satisfied with his current achievement.

"I definitely won't make the top three in the final rankings, but it should be a breeze to get first place in my group for advancement!"

The middle-aged man was well aware of how formidable the world's top runners were.

The former world record holder had achieved a terrifying marathon time of just 2 hours!

It was conceivable that if that batch of top runners were alive, not all of them, but even a portion of them, with the aid of Mind Power, would undoubtedly have a great chance of breaking the 2-hour mark.

Therefore, the middle-aged man wouldn't foolishly compete with them. He would be perfectly content with just getting first place in his group.

The man took a few sips of water, found a bench, and sat down, pulling out his Personal Terminal.

His nickname was "On the Road."

He tapped on his group and sent a message.

"How's everyone progressing? I've finished my challenge with a time of 2 hours, 37 minutes, and 56 seconds. It's not comparable to the top runners, but I'm quite pleased with myself, hehe. I still have some time, so I plan to run again in a few days to see if I can improve further!"

He had previously mentioned in the group that he was an amateur marathon enthusiast, which had already attracted considerable attention. As soon as he sent the message, it immediately drew numerous replies.

"Amazing! Impressive!"

"You finished on only the second day? As expected of an amateur master!"

"Damn... With someone like this in our group, how can anyone else compete for first place?"

"When the cat's away, the mice will play! This result can only get you first place in our group; you don't even stand a chance of making the top three in the final rankings!"

"Can you share some tips, master? I ran five kilometers this morning and was exhausted."

On the Road read the messages in the group, and a surge of satisfaction washed over him as he saw the envious and jealous comments.

He noticed someone asking for tips and thought about sending something, but the flood of new messages that followed made him abandon the idea.

"What tips do you need from an amateur like him? The officials have already invited marathon champions to write guidance methods!"

"Yes, I also read the champion's guidance published by the officials, but I don't feel it's very useful."

"What's the use of a champion? This isn't a math problem where you can just know the answer and copy it. In the end, you still have to run it yourself!"

"Sigh, it's difficult."

On the Road looked at the messages and also wanted to search online to see if any top runners had published their results.

Before he could even close his Personal Terminal, a message popped up in the group.

This message was like a Bomb, stunning everyone in the group into silence.

On the Road's eyes widened too, thinking he was mistaken or hallucinating.

[Group Member "Shadow" has completed the challenge with a time of 21 seconds]