Harden!!!

The Banner Spear appeared in her hand, and Taco, who had been following Himeko all along, looked as though he had seen a ghost.

"How did you get that out? You didn't even open your briefcase... where's your briefcase?! Where did you drop it?"

"I didn't lose it. I put it away."

Himeko turned her hand over, and the briefcase appeared again before vanishing once more.

"...?"

When people saw something they could not immediately comprehend, their brains would briefly crash.

The lower the specs, the longer the crash lasted. Needless to say, Taco belonged to the category with longer crashes.

"No, seriously, how did you do that? Does that make any sense... stuffing that huge cabinet into your briefcase earlier already made no sense!"

"A few little Trailblaze tricks."

The Banner Spear appeared beside Himeko amid motes of light, and she took hold of it again.

Her clothes had all changed to match her new form, so naturally, she could not keep using the old version of her weapon.

[Why didn't she leave? What did she have to come back for?]

[Weir was the first to leave the Amusement Park, so he got extra rewards and gave the Sun-Setting Empire plenty of benefits too! If Himeko had left first, those would've been ours!]

[Exactly! Only looking at the benefits right in front of her, not knowing the next stop offers even more. Shortsighted, utterly shortsighted!]

[Himeko blasted an entire Haunted House out of existence and gave everyone improved recovery and a longer lifespan. Is that still not enough?]

[Who would complain about more rewards?]

[Why is she hoarding her skill and Guardian Deity draws instead of using them? It's driving me crazy!]

[Everyone else uses theirs as soon as they get them. Is she some kind of hoarding hamster?!]

[When other contestants draw skills, their citizens get corresponding improvements. Himeko supposedly has a whole bunch of skills-personal storage, creating things out of thin air, breathing fire and stuff-so why don't I feel anything?]

[After Duncan got his skill, Amerika's people could activate adrenaline whenever they wanted, improving their constitution by 10%. Even if we can't casually fire laser beams like Himeko, turning ourselves into flashlights shouldn't be a problem, right? Why can't we?]

[Can't you check Himeko's personal information yourself? Her skill section is completely empty, okay?]

[Nothing strange about that. Weir has a tank in his hand and a teleportation skill, and those don't show up in his personal information either. It must be a boost from the Astral Express.]

[Leave? Why leave? Moving on to the next map before maxing out Exploration Progress? That's not how you play games!]

The comments were filled with voices urging Himeko to leave the Amusement Park and hurry to the next stop to seize the initiative.

At the same time, Weir, who had already left the Amusement Park and set foot on the road to the next stop after the fog dispersed, also received a great deal of information.

[Contestant detected leaving the Amusement Park. Assigning grade: B]

[You are the first contestant to leave the stop: Amusement Park. Grade increased to A]

[Reward: 100 attribute points. Point allocation unlocked]

[Contestant: Weir. Strength: E. Speed: E. Constitution: E. Reflexes: E. Speciality: D. Overall assessment: Level One Danger with numerous means of escape]

Weir found the newly appeared features rather interesting.

"What is this speciality thing?"

[It represents the mechanics and strength of the skills a contestant possesses. Points cannot be allocated to this attribute.]

Once he understood, Weir put all his attribute points into reflexes.

[Reflexes: D (Next improvement requires 1,000 attribute points)]

After investing the attribute points, Weir did indeed feel that his reactions had become a little faster.

[Please reach the next stop, twenty kilometers away, within twenty-four hours. This timer begins upon leaving the Amusement Park.]

Twenty-four hours. The time had not changed, but the distance had doubled.

Walking all that way would be far too torturous.

Weir did not set off immediately. Instead, he began studying the other skill he had drawn.

[Box Opening: Select a single target you have previously come into contact with to obtain their ability panel and information on a random skill's effects. This skill has a cooldown of 30 minutes.]

Without the slightest hesitation, he activated the skill.

Several selectable targets appeared in his mind.

Himeko, Taco, Washana.

Why was Himechi Cat here too???

There seemed to be several targets, but in reality, there was only one.

Weir decisively chose Himeko. The next second, Himeko's ability panel appeared in the livestream.

[Huaxia contestant: Himeko. Strength: A. Speed: A. Constitution: A. Reflexes: A. Speciality: MAX. Overall assessment: Even excluding all the target's special qualities, this target's overall assessment is at least Level Five Danger.]

"Let me see. E to A, then S, SS, and SSS...?"

Weir swallowed.

Though Himeko's other attributes were a little high, they remained within the realm of human comprehension.

They were only five grades higher. He could catch up if he gritted his teeth.

But what was that speciality supposed to mean?

The absolute highest was only SSS, so why was Himeko's MAX not on that list?

Weir stared for quite a while before finding a tiny supplementary note.

[When an attribute exceeds the calculation limit, it will be marked as MAX]

"Oh, so she exceeded the limit. I thought... what do you mean, exceeded the limit!??"

The people of the Sun-Setting Empire naturally saw the information Weir had seen.

At that moment, they were all lambasting Weir.

[Why did you leave! Couldn't you just follow Himeko and keep getting rewards?!]

[Being the first to leave the Amusement Park only gets you some extra attribute points? What use is that! Himeko is already getting ready to pull off something big! What a fool!]

[Getting carried through a Haunted House gets you a skill. If you reached 100% Exploration Progress with Himeko, I can't even imagine how generous the rewards would be.]

[Shortsighted, utterly shortsighted fool!]

[Exactly! Only looking at the benefits right in front of him, not knowing the Amusement Park has more hidden rewards. Shortsighted, utterly shortsighted!]

[Bro, haven't I seen you somewhere before?]

[Stop roasting him for a second. Himeko's speciality exceeding the calculation limit is what deserves our attention!]

[I've gone through at least thirty livestreams and found that almost every chat is filled with attacks on their own contestant. Why is that?]

[The Will of Overlord is doing its thing.]

[Why not have people from each country stop watching their own contestant and watch someone else's instead?]

At the Amusement Park, in front of the Wax Museum.

Completely unaware that her outrageous stats had shaken the world, she stood holding her spear, her gaze sharp.

"Taco, what we're about to do might be dangerous."

Himeko could clearly sense something inside the Wax Museum regularly emitting some sort of low-frequency energy wave.

"I've got a new skill to rely on. I should be fine."

Taco showed her his new skill.

[Harden: You will become very hard. Really, very hard.]

"If I remember correctly, after you get a skill, your citizens also gain similar traits, right?"

"I think so. Why?"

She imagined an entire country's people lining up in the streets and turning rock-hard together.

"No, nothing. Anyway, be careful. This place is completely different from when we left."

Himeko sensed a threat coming from the Wax Museum.

Now she was certain that whether it was the hidden reward or the concealed final boss, it was right inside the Wax Museum.

"Harden!"

Taco activated his skill, then hid behind Himechi Cat.

"Why me?"

"If I stayed beside Himeko, I might get in her way."

"And you wouldn't get in mine???"