Choice One

Huff, huff, huff!!

In the woods, Yu Hong gasped for breath as he looked at the two men in camouflage lying before him.

The clothing on the two men reminded him of Little Stutterer from before.

These clothes... Could they be members of the United Army? He could not help recalling that fellow called Zhao Zheng Hong who had come last time.

That fellow had claimed he was inviting him, but had secretly sent someone to hide by the door, planning to ambush him when he went out.

A person like that was sinister and crafty. With Evil Shadow appearing and the importance of Large Glowstone rising sharply, it was only normal for him to send people to capture Yu Hong again.

Crouching down, Yu Hong carefully searched the two men.

He quickly felt out all kinds of miscellaneous items.

Two Military Dark Green Daggers, two bags of Old Edition Glowstone, and two leather waterskins—but none of those counted for much.

One thing, however, left Yu Hong rather surprised.

He had searched it from the fellow who had drawn his Pistol.

It was a gray-white Silver Coin.

The front of the Silver Coin bore the image of a beautiful, straight, sharply pointed tower. The back bore the special rune pattern most commonly seen on Glowstone.

"Could this be the currency commonly used in town?" Yu Hong held the Silver Coin, deep in thought.

Whether it was or not, he would put it away first. After plundering the items, he saw that the two men still had not woken up and ignored them. Once he had stripped them of everything, he simply followed the route back.

As for whether the two could survive, that would depend on their luck. If they woke before nightfall, they might live. If not...

Yu Hong soon found the things he had discarded, and also gathered up the scattered firewood. Carrying everything together, he returned to the Cave.

If not for the Advanced Physical Training Method taking effect during this ambush, the two streams of Cooling Qi giving him two chances to recover his stamina, he would probably have been captured and sent away to serve as a tool.

Click. He unlocked the door with the key, quickly entered, and shut it behind him.

Listening to the heavy door slam shut and lock, he immediately felt a deep sense of security.

He set everything down for the moment and moved it closer to the fireplace to prevent it from becoming damp and moldy.

Only then did he sit on the stool and ponder the problems he had encountered that day.

First were the things he had plundered: two Pistols, a Silver Coin, two daggers, two bags of Old Edition Glowstone, and miscellaneous items.

He took the Pistols in his hands and played with them. He had never handled guns before, and after fiddling with and studying them for quite a while, he finally removed the magazines.

"..." Looking at the magazine in his hand, Yu Hong was more or less speechless.

There was only one bullet in the magazine. One gun, one bullet. Is the official organization really this poor? Yu Hong was left speechless.

He had no idea what the Pistol would become after being enhanced, but for now, he first needed to prepare in other areas.

The appearance of Evil Shadow in town required advance preparation. He could not place his hopes on luck.

Evil Shadow, Withered Woman? Ordinary Glowstone is useless, and even Large Glowstone can only be used to escape.

He looked at the Large Glowstone placed inside his Cave.

There were three pieces—around the ground and by the main door—but with such a density, they could probably only guard against Ghost Shadow.

He took out the last piece of Large Glowstone on him. He had kept it as a spare.

He had originally thought it would be enough, but now...

"Come to think of it, why can Glowstone disperse Ghost Shadow? According to Little Stutterer, even without this rune pattern, Glowstone could still disperse Ghost Shadow, only with a much weaker effect. Then... here's the question."

He reached out and stroked the rune pattern on the Large Glowstone.

"Where did this pattern originally come from? And how did the Black Calamity first appear?"

He had a feeling that the rune pattern on Glowstone seemed to be connected to the emergence of the Black Calamity.

The Black Mark just happens to refuse enhancement when its functions are incomplete. If that's the case, perhaps I can use this to test whether the rune pattern alone can counter Ghost Shadow.

With that thought, Yu Hong took out a newspaper and a black charcoal pencil.

He had enhanced the charcoal pencil, turning it into something the size of an ordinary ballpoint pen. Yet the marks it produced were much finer and clearer than those of the previous charcoal pencil.

Clearly, the raw material of the charcoal pencil had also been enhanced into some unknown kind of charcoal.

Yu Hong did not care about that. As long as it worked well, that was enough.

He spread the newspaper flat on another wooden stool and carefully placed the Silver Coin beneath it.

Then, using the charcoal pencil, he traced the rune pattern on the Silver Coin, lightly rubbing over it again and again.

Soon, a black rune pattern appeared before him.

The background of the image was gray-black, while the pattern itself was darker, making it clearly visible.

After finishing the drawing, Yu Hong reached out and pressed his hand onto it.

Enhance into a Ghost Shadow-Dispersing Rune Pattern. Direction: strengthen effect!

He silently chanted in his mind.

Soon, black lines flowed out from the Black Mark, only to swiftly return.

Completeness insufficient.

It had failed. Yu Hong frowned and released his hand.

Judging from the Black Mark, this rune pattern did not possess the ability to disperse Ghost Shadow. Or rather, it did not possess that ability on its own.

"Looks like there's no way to figure out this principle in the short term, so..."

He picked up another piece of ordinary Glowstone.

He had obtained quite a lot of this from the two men just now, as well as from Little Stutterer's remaining supplies.

After gathering it all, there were a full four small bags on the ground.

Each bag contained ten pieces. They had been divided up in advance.

Is it because it takes ten pieces to completely disperse Ghost Shadow? Yu Hong guessed.

He set down the ordinary Glowstone and took another piece of Glowstone that he had not yet had time to draw a rune pattern on.

He also had all the tools Little Stutterer used to draw on Glowstone.

Comparing the patterns Little Stutterer had drawn with those he had just seized, he saw that the rune patterns on the surfaces of the two types of Glowstone were different in color. Clearly, different pigments had been used.

It seems the pigment does not greatly affect the rune pattern. Then I'll give it a try.

Picking up the enhanced charcoal pencil, Yu Hong began carefully drawing on the surface of another piece of Original Glowstone.

He drew the original rune pattern, not the enhanced version.

The original rune pattern was very simple: a ring, four strange symbols resembling letters inside it, a small circle in the center, and another symbol resembling a flame.

After practicing several times, Yu Hong quickly finished drawing on a total of five pieces of Glowstone.

He placed the Glowstone on the ground from left to right.

The order was not random. It was arranged according to the neatness of the rune patterns.

From left to right, the rune patterns became increasingly neat, and their lines grew rounder and clearer.

After finishing all this,

Yu Hong exhaled and once again reached out, pressing his hand onto the first piece of Glowstone on the left.

Enhance into Large Glowstone. Direction: strengthen effect. He formed the thought.

Soon, black lines shot out, and feedback sounded.

Enhance into Large Glowstone?

But Yu Hong was not concerned with that. What he cared about was the time displayed on the surface of the Glowstone.

3 days, 2 hours, 18 minutes.

He withdrew his hand and quickly wrote down the time.

Then he reached out and pressed his hand onto the second piece of Glowstone, carrying out the same operation.

At once, numbers appeared on the second piece as well.

3 days, 1 hour, 2 minutes.

Then came the third piece.

3 days, 51 minutes.

The fourth piece.

3 days, 42 minutes.

The fifth piece.

3 days, 21 minutes.

He withdrew his hand and looked at the row of recorded numbers. Understanding finally dawned on his face.

"Just as I thought. The length of the enhancement time is affected by the completeness of the item being enhanced. The smaller the gap between the item before and after enhancement, the shorter the countdown required."

"Then, if I had used an enhanced Large Glowstone rune pattern from the very beginning and drawn it onto Glowstone, the enhancement time would definitely have been greatly reduced!"

Yu Hong guessed.

"Because I saved part of the enhancement time related to the rune pattern!"

"I'll give it a try!"

Immediately, he picked up a piece of Original Glowstone and began imitating the complicated rune pattern on Large Glowstone.

The complicated pattern was far more difficult than the one on ordinary Glowstone.

If the rune pattern on ordinary Glowstone had a complexity of one, then the advanced rune pattern on Large Glowstone had a difficulty of four.

Never mind anything else—even the strange symbols that had to be written on the advanced rune pattern numbered more than ten.

At a glance, they even resembled some of the magic arrays Yu Hong had seen in certain games from his memories.

Time continued to pass. He immersed himself in drawing the advanced rune pattern, completely forgetting the sky outside.

Before he knew it, darkness had fallen outside.

Yu Hong lit the fireplace and continued drawing.

The firewood he had gathered this time was enough to last through the night. Judging from the information he had obtained, the threat of Evil Shadow really could spread to this area.

If he did not encounter it, so be it. But if he did, relying on that little Large Glowstone would definitely not be enough! So he had to think of a countermeasure.

Finding a way to resist Evil Shadow naturally came first.

But since he could not find one for now, shortening the enhancement time for Large Glowstone was more important.

After all, even if he did not use the Large Glowstone himself, he could exchange it with other people for supplies. It was a true hard currency.

Time flew by as Yu Hong bent over and practiced painstakingly.

Fortunately, there was no Blood Tide tonight and no beetles to disturb him. Yu Hong drew until late at night. When he felt tired, he enhanced some dried meat. Each piece took about three hours to complete. After confirming the countdown time, he lay down and fell asleep.

He slept until dawn.

After getting up in the morning, eating, and dealing with his waste, he began practicing the Advanced Physical Training Method.

At noon, he went out to gather firewood, cut wild vegetables, and replenish his water.

In the afternoon, he returned and continued practicing drawing advanced rune patterns. During his breaks, he enhanced dried meat, never wasting the Black Mark's time.

He repeated this routine day after day.

Finally, on the afternoon of the fifth day, he succeeded in drawing the advanced rune pattern! Inside the Cave, Yu Hong let out a long breath, a relaxed smile on his face as he held a piece of Glowstone bearing the advanced rune pattern he had just finished drawing.

"Not bad. It's no worse than Little Stutterer's!"

Somewhat impatiently, he set it down and pressed his hand onto it.

Enhance into Large Glowstone. Direction: strengthen effect.

A thought flashed through his mind, and the Black Mark immediately responded.

A black line flew from the back of his hand and instantly sank into the piece of Glowstone.

Then, a mechanical voice sounded beside his ear.

Enhance into Large Glowstone?

Yu Hong did not respond. Instead, he released his hand and stared fixedly at the Glowstone bearing the advanced rune pattern.

The countdown had already appeared on its surface.

2 days, 19 minutes.

Bang! Yu Hong slammed his palm hard against the ground.

"It worked!!"

He could not help laughing happily.

"As expected, as expected! My guess was right!! Reducing the gap between the item before and after enhancement can shorten the enhancement time!"

One Large Glowstone every two days—the time was a full third shorter than the previous three days!

This meant that he could enhance more Large Glowstone faster, guaranteeing his own safety! He could also exchange them for more supplies!

After his excitement faded, Yu Hong quickly formed a new thought.

"The time for Large Glowstone has been shortened, but as for Evil Shadow... I have no idea how powerful this thing is. What if Evil Shadow is even more dangerous than I imagine..."