Chapter 23: Second Awakening, Transcendence Materials!

Day 65, as the Safe Zone leader, you stayed busy… Because killing Contaminated Zone monsters no longer replenished energy, you handled every fight carefully and made sure to remain well-rested at all times.

Day 66, during a scramble for supplies, you killed some people from another Safe Zone and reinforced your authority again.

Day 67, the Father God Listens Talent activated, and you heard… someone had achieved a second awakening.

A second awakening?

An Awakener awakening again?

The brand-new intel on the simulator made Su Ze open his eyes wide and read closely.

“An Awakener awakening again… does that correspond to the Contaminated Zone leveling up?”

He sensed the close connection between the two, but lacking solid evidence to prove it, Su Ze hurriedly advanced the simulation.

Day 68, you investigated information on second Awakeners…

Day 69, a second Awakener appeared inside the Safe Zone under your jurisdiction, and that second Awakener’s strength and speed increased dramatically once more…

You secretly compared your own combat power with that of the second Awakener; relying on your skillful control over flame you could defeat a second Awakener with ease, yet the second Awakener still posed some threat to you.

Day 70, you held a public spar with a second Awakener and easily killed him…

You did not feel your blow was excessive, because you knew that once he gained strength his ambition would swell.

You continued to maintain your leadership within the Safe Zone.

“Hmm…”

Murmuring to himself, Su Ze paused for a moment.

He was gauging the power level of second Awakeners.

Compared with ordinary Awakeners, anyone who completed a second awakening was certainly far stronger.

Therefore Su Ze had to re-evaluate his own combat level.

In his earlier concept, as long as he obtained a blue combat Talent he could basically dominate the world.

Even a green combat Talent was enough for him to conquer the world.

But if Awakeners could keep advancing, then the situation would be different.

What if there were third awakenings, or fourth awakenings?

Awakeners would grow stronger and stronger, whereas his Talents lacked the capacity to grow…

Strictly speaking, green or blue combat Talents were not that powerful in themselves.

It was only because he still had the Fallen Benefaction Talent as a safeguard.

Otherwise, even a second Awakener might drag him into a hard fight.

“So, how exactly does an Awakener trigger a second awakening? Is it another nightmare trial?”

Pulling back his thoughts, Su Ze could not help but raise the question in his heart.

Naturally, the answer could only be found by advancing the simulation…

Day 71, you continued to maintain order within your jurisdiction.

Day 72, you looked into every kind of information about second Awakeners and gained quite a lot.

Day 73, the Father God Listens Talent activated, filling in what you lacked; now you knew the promotion path for second Awakeners… Transcendence materials and recipes.

Transcendence materials refer to Transcendence items produced by Contaminated Zones, usually found on Contaminated Zone monsters, or obtained if one withstands pollution erosion.

A recipe means that after gathering a specified number and quality of Transcendence materials, you fuse them; the fusion completes automatically, and the holder of the Transcendence materials will automatically advance to a Tier-2 Awakener.

Day 74, you continued to investigate information related to second Awakeners…

New terminology had appeared again.

Transcendence materials and recipes…

From a game perspective, the concept was very simple.

In an instant Su Ze could picture that scene in his mind.

An Awakener kills a mutant monster, harvests Transcendence materials from the corpse, and then fuses the collected materials according to the recipe formula…

It sounded even easier than the first awakening.

One did not even have to undergo a nightmare trial.

“But if the recipe is complicated and requires the constant sacrifice of lives to explore and refine, that’s a different story… in that case it’s no different from a nightmare trial.”

“Whether it’s the first awakening or the second, both require ample information, and I…”

“With the simulator, I theoretically have plenty of room for trial and error.”

Su Ze sorted everything out in his mind.

There was no doubt.

With the simulator he could foresee the future to a certain degree, so he ought to be the one who could achieve multiple awakenings at the lowest risk…

Unfortunately…

“So why can’t I use the same method as everyone else to become an Awakener?”

The question surfaced in Su Ze’s mind once again.

If he could control his simulated self, Su Ze would definitely try to become an Awakener again right now.

After all, it was only a simulation.

Dying would not matter; obtaining intel was more important.

Day 75, you learned that the number of second Awakeners was slowly increasing, and people gradually began calling this kind of Awakener a Tier-2 Awakener…

Day 76, the method for ordinary people to become Awakeners had not changed, and the number of ordinary Awakeners was also rising.

Day 77, you witnessed a clash between Awakeners; one Tier-2 Awakener killed three Awakeners and then escaped the pursuit of more than a dozen Awakeners.

Day 78, you heard that order in other Safe Zones was on the verge of collapse, and the Tier-2 Awakeners intended to reshape the situation.

Day 79, official personnel arrived… a squad of 12, all Tier-2 Awakeners; their young captain’s surname was Xu.

As the leader of the Safe Zone you conversed with Captain Xu and learned many things from him; the government had never given up, but progress was extremely difficult, and this time their purpose in visiting each Safe Zone was to stabilize the situation, raise everyone’s morale for survival, and deter those who were stirring up trouble.

You eavesdropped on Captain Xu’s inner voice and knew he was not lying, so you allowed the squad to rest inside the Safe Zone.

Whoa…

More new intel.

Although previous simulations had also shown traces of official action, they were only snippets.

Su Ze found it hard to deduce more information.

The current simulation, though still not very detailed, at least helped Su Ze confirm his earlier conjecture…

The government had not stopped acting entirely.

They were merely stretched too thin…

Furthermore.

Although the simulation did not explicitly mention it,

Su Ze could guess that the official operations were certainly more efficient.

Otherwise they could not have assembled a squad entirely composed of Tier-2 Awakeners so quickly; they must have already mastered a relatively mature “recipe.”

“So they can mass-produce Tier-2 Awakeners now?”

The question naturally arose in Su Ze’s mind.

The simulation immediately provided the answer…

Day 80, you obtained a great deal of information from Captain Xu, some you overheard, the rest he told you himself…

They did indeed have recipes, but a single recipe could not be used indefinitely; it could only help a limited number of Awakeners advance again.

The term “spell” was not accurate; Captain Xu said he personally preferred to call it kotodama, words of power; he demonstrated his kotodama technique, manipulating lightning, and he believed that you, who could control flame, were the same type as he was, and that the spell you both used for your first awakening was… Conversion.