Yan Ziqian arrived right after.
"It’s you, from the Jingcheng University archery team..."
Unlike Su Chen, some of the archers on the opposing side immediately recognized the Yan siblings.
They weren’t old friends.
They had only met in passing as fellow university students who had competed in the same archery championship.
"Looks like you know each other. We’re all staying at the same campground. We haven’t had any disputes before, and I hope we can watch each other’s backs if anything comes up. Since you’ve claimed this cave, we’ll just move on and find another."
Lv Taihong took the opportunity to de-escalate. His team had also absorbed some members of the archery club, who were considered a major fighting force in their RV alliance.
After his straightforward words, some of the wariest people lowered their fighting stances. A potential bloodbath seemed to have been silently averted.
"We’re all smart people," Yan Ziqian said with a diplomatic tone.
’No one who’s survived this long is simple.’
Lv Taihong smiled. "We might have a chance to cooperate. You may not know this, but someone came back over Cyan Dragon Ridge this morning. The supplies left at the base have already been redistributed. I’m just afraid some people won’t be happy about it."
He personally had a history of service in the French Foreign Legion and was holding a firearm, but he still resisted the tantalizing temptation to take what he wanted by force.
A man who could be a big boss in the past and still lead a faction now was naturally not the impulsive or hot-headed type.
Besides, some of the university students on his team hadn’t become twisted and depraved in the past week. Their consciences wouldn’t allow them to resort to murder and robbery.
Order still held in Dongfu City, and it was being restored day by day. This created an unspoken deterrent.
Su Chen paid them no mind. His attention had turned to the upgrade requirements for his Telekinesis Rune.
Upgrade Requirement: Spiritual Soul Core.
It no longer required Telekinesis Runes or Spiritual Materials.
’Just as I thought...’
He took out a small vial from his hiking backpack. Inside, Spirit Marrow gestated with endless Spiritual Energy fluctuations. As the only treasure dropped from the Reviver, its value was naturally immense.
"A perfect match."
Before he even pulled out the cork, the Telekinesis Rune was already radiating an intense feeling of desire.
Now it was unmistakable. This was indeed a Spiritual Soul Core.
Without a shred of hesitation, he immediately absorbed it.
HUM!
The Telekinesis Rune transformed once again.
After its core structure collapsed and shattered, it was then reshaped and reorganized. The originally complex patterns peeled away layer by layer, evolving into an even more minimalist and simple structure.
It gave off an inexplicable sense of returning to a primal simplicity.
The moment the Rune solidified...
An invisible psychic storm suddenly swept out from Su Chen. A spiritual pressure, pure to the extreme, drifted like Wind Fluff across the land, reaching directly into everyone’s Sea of Consciousness.
Yan Ziqian and Ruoruo both retreated.
Lv Taihong’s group was still discussing in low voices, secretly on guard. The next second, they all jumped in fright under the invisible spiritual pressure, and cold sweat beaded on many of their foreheads.
"This..."
Duan Yuanzhou’s lips trembled. He had already felt a sense of awe, but now the feeling was even more profound. His back was quickly soaked with cold sweat.
Everyone looked at each other, with only horror and disbelief in their eyes.
"Calm down! There’s no malicious intent. This is just the commotion from a Rune upgrade," Lv Taihong warned them, preventing anyone from getting trigger-happy.
Seeing that the cold-faced young man was clearly extraordinarily powerful, and feeling shaken, he quickly retreated with his people to avoid further conflict.
Meanwhile, Su Chen silently perceived the changes brought by the Telekinesis upgrade.
No new abilities were unlocked.
But all his existing abilities received a massive boost.
His Perception Range had increased by leaps and bounds, with his omnidirectional detection suddenly spanning 300 meters. Strong Thought Penetration was also enhanced. Additionally, an extension of his Telekinesis Focus allowed his perception in a single direction to reach as far as 800 meters.
Object manipulation also became effortless. Besides a great increase in his lifting capacity, he could also divide his focus to control hundreds of targets at once.
His Telekinesis Barrier could now deploy a composite Spirit Force Field. In addition to blocking attacks, it could also absorb their kinetic energy and convert it for his own use.
Furthermore, his Strong Will impact, Telekinesis Construction, deconstruction, and casting efficiency were all greatly improved. The Telekinesis acceleration alone could cover a ten-meter radius around him, forming a small-scale acceleration field.
’A complete qualitative change.’
Compared to his previous Lv7 Telekinesis, this was a whole other dimension of power.
’This is the biggest level jump I’ve had so far.’
As for upgrading to the next level...
Upgrade Requirements: Spiritual Soul Core 0/3, Spiritual Power Soul Crystal 0/1.
"Another new upgrade material."
Su Chen was a little speechless. He had just gotten a clue on how to obtain Soul Cores, and now a Spiritual Power Soul Crystal had suddenly popped up.
In the end, it all depended on those beings from the previous era, sealed and preserved in flesh and blood.
The question was, if he could quickly kill a Reviver in the brief moment it was suppressed by the Law of the Magic era, could he obtain better materials if its Sea of Consciousness remained intact?
The inspiration for this undoubtedly came from the negative example of the cavemen. After their Seas of Consciousness were shattered and they lost their intelligence, they didn’t drop anything at all.
Moreover, this ’underground tomb complex’ also had a class hierarchy with a clear order of status. The kneeling statues exposed outside were clearly inferior to the individuals with their own exclusive tombs.
Their strengths were naturally incomparable.
"There are still quite a few risks."
The previous sudden battle with the Reviver had already shown him the tip of the iceberg of the ancient humans’ full power.
He was also thankful that there was only one intact statue left.
The next time he went to the Underground City, he would have to be perfectly prepared.
Without dwelling on it, Su Chen collected all the Spiritual Materials from the ground, putting them into vials one by one.
Besides eight Spirit Marrow Crystals, there were also ten portions of Spiritual Dust Sand. Their brilliant Spiritual Light shimmered, looking like stardust suspended over the stone platform.
Among the remaining Rune spoils, there was also a Mind Transmission Lv6, which he simply gave to Ruoruo, who was nearby.
"We’ve struck it rich."
Pang Peng, who had just come out of the cave, had wide eyes. He had no intention of sacrificing the giant bronze shield he was carrying with both hands. Even more impressively, his backpack was filled with some broken pieces of ancient armor, which he clearly intended to take back for Gong Jun to take a look at.
"You’re not going to sacrifice it?" Su Chen glanced at him.
Pang Peng chuckled. On this trip, he had basically acted as the team’s pack mule. He was personally prepared to settle for a participation trophy.
He patted his backpack. "I’ll see if I can pick through these and modify them into a battle helmet and a Heart-Protecting Mirror. As long as I can protect my weak spots, I can guarantee I won’t die."
This line of thinking was undoubtedly correct. For the team’s tank, high-Armor equipment was essential.
As long as he could withstand a wave of damage without dying and avoid any devastating fatal wounds, Yan Ziqian, as a Life Warlock, could definitely rejuvenate him quickly and get him back in the fight.
When they were killing the Reviver earlier, Pang Peng had taken the initiative to step forward and tank a wave of damage. Su Chen had naturally taken note of that.
"I can give you a Mermaid Corpse later. We can see the value of sacrificing a single one," Su Chen said calmly.
As his voice fell, he put the only remaining Rune Gloves from the altar on his right hand.
They were a deep, dark gray, almost black. As he put them on, he could feel that the material was as light as a cicada’s wing, yet its toughness underneath was extremely solid and difficult to pierce.
As his consciousness connected with it, a network of silver-gray veins lit up on the surface like an activated circuit.
A stream of information followed.
[Hand of Control]
[Effect: Can absorb up to four external Enchantment Runes, which can be swapped out at any time. It also retains an Element-gathering energy recovery trait, grants a 15% trait bonus, and accelerates casting speed.]
[Currently Slotted: None]
(Note: Absorbable Runes cannot exceed Lv8.)
’Whoa...’
"This is a good pair of external Enchantment Gloves." Su Chen’s face lit up with joy. In a way, it was like a "Pro Max" version of his unnamed black Rune Gloves.
Enchanted equipment typically lacks a way to recover Rune energy and can’t respond as quickly as Runes in one’s Sea of Consciousness. The Hand of Control undoubtedly solved both of these problems.
Not to mention, it also brought a 15% trait bonus and the ability to swap Runes at any time. The full set of effects was simply incredible.
For the foreseeable future, it would be his main piece of combat equipment.

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