When Chen Bugu regained his senses, everything was dark and silent.
A huge, broken cross, glowing with a purple light, floated before his eyes.
Consciousness World!
What was going on? How did he get in here again?
As soon as Chen Bugu thought this, he suddenly noticed something rapidly draining from his body.
Energy, it was energy.
The energy accumulated from killing the Scarlet Hounds earlier was quickly leaving his body.
Chen Bugu panicked, not understanding what was happening.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop the loss of his energy.
Soon, all his energy was completely plundered.
Chen Bugu didn't even have time to utter a national expletive.
He suddenly discovered, to his surprise, that after the energy loss, his spiritual power immediately began to decrease.
"Damn it!"
This time, Chen Bugu clearly hadn't activated Breaking, yet his spiritual power began to decrease involuntarily.
In the pitch-black consciousness space, the purple broken cross before him grew brighter and brighter.
Chen Bugu's spiritual power was still rapidly decreasing.
Just as Chen Bugu resigned himself and prepared to faint again, his spiritual power stopped at 5 points remaining.
The purple broken cross in front of him, after reaching a certain brightness, instantly dimmed.
Immediately after, in the pitch-black consciousness space, a silver light, like a meteor, flew from a distance.
Awakened's Light?
Chen Bugu was startled, remembering the silver Awakened's Light that had suddenly disappeared when he awakened before.
He concentrated, scrutinizing it carefully.
Sure enough, it was pure silver Awakened's Light, without any other elemental colors mixed in.
This was the Elemental Light that had mysteriously disappeared when he awakened previously!
As the bright silver Elemental Light streaked across the sky, Chen Bugu began to feel nervous.
He didn't know if it was his imagination, but he felt his heart rate quickening.
However, the thing he worried about didn't happen after all.
The silver Elemental Light finally successfully streaked across the sky this time.
Bright silver light particles gathered in front of Chen Bugu, gradually outlining a blurry silhouette.
Gradually, the silver light particles stopped increasing, and the pattern became clearly visible.
It was a clock glowing with a silver light.
The silver clock transformed into a bright light and imprinted itself into Chen Bugu's glabella.
Subsequently, the mechanical female voice reappeared in his Mind.
"Awakening Element-type ability: Space-Time"
Chen Bugu's Mind went blank; he hadn't yet reacted to what had happened.
"Chen Bugu?"
"Chen Bugu?"
By the time Chen Bugu came to his senses, he had already left the consciousness world.
"Are you alright?"
"Why is your face so pale? Did you use Decipher again?"
Lin Ye and Yan Kuan asked from the side, and everyone else was also looking at Chen Bugu.
After all, he was the only one who remained stunned and lost in thought after his "rating" was complete, and his face had visibly turned pale just now.
"I'm fine, I'm fine."
"Has everyone been rated?"
Chen Bugu shook his head, asking as he closed his eyes and inwardly checked his status.
"Virus Type Ability: Cracking"
"Element-type ability: Space-Time"
"Strength: 18"
"Qi and Blood: 21"
"Speed: 23"
"Spirit: 5 / 240"
He really awakened...
Chen Bugu couldn't wait to test out his new Space-Time ability, but seeing the remaining spiritual power, he temporarily dismissed the idea.
Everyone exchanged information about the recent rating.
Bai Ting was Black Iron Three Stars, while Chen Bugu and Lin Xiaoxiao were Black Iron Two Star.
The rest remained at the Black Iron One Star rank.
Yan Kuan and others, due to their rating grades mostly being B and C, received only 3 and 2 free attribute points respectively. With an average distribution, the highest value in the Three Regions did not exceed 20.
However, people like Yan Kuan and Lin Ye had also gained some energy in previous battles and should break through after killing two more magical beasts.
It's worth mentioning that among everyone, Bai Ting and Lin Xiaoxiao also received an A-grade evaluation, each gaining 5 attribute points.
Currently, their attributes are as follows.
Bai Ting:
"Mythological Ability: Thunder Sprite"
"Strength: 30"
"Qi and Blood: 23"
"Speed: 30"
"Spirit: 30 / 30"
Lin Xiaoxiao:
"Magic-type ability: Mind"
"Strength: 16"
"Qi and Blood: 24"
"Speed: 22"
"Spirit: 30 / 30"
In the current team, just looking at the Three Regions, Bai Ting was the strongest, and Chen Bugu and Lin Xiaoxiao were not far apart.
Of course, the Three Regions cannot represent combat power.
If it came to a fight to the death, he was confident he could kill Lin Xiaoxiao within a minute.
As everyone exchanged information, Chen Bugu also took the opportunity to share intelligence on the Three Regions, rank distinctions, and energy plundering with them.
As for how he knew?
Didn't they see his face turn pale just now?
Of course, he got it by risking spiritual power overexertion to Decipher during the rating!
Chen Bugu spoke fluently, without blushing or a racing heart.
"That's not right. How does someone like Lin Lin, whose ability isn't suited for combat, gain experience?"
Wang Bin, who often played games, immediately understood Chen Bugu's explanation.
Energy = Experience.
Plundering = Killing monsters.
In games, healers can also level up by clearing stages.
But now, it seems the rule is that you must participate in combat to gain experience points. So, if a healer doesn't directly participate in combat, how do they level up?
"Um, I think I can also gain some energy when I'm healing you guys."
Lin Lin's voice was a bit soft, but everyone still heard what she said.
Previously, when she used Holy Light to heal Yan Kuan, Old Liu, and Wang Bin, she vaguely felt that each time she finished healing, her body would feel warm, and there would be an indescribable sense of comfort.
After Chen Bugu's explanation, it seemed like she had indeed gained energy.
"Ah, so your energy is absorbed from us?"
Wang Bin was momentarily stunned, then suddenly realized.
Of course!
Support and healing Awakeneds can plunder energy not only from enemies but also from teammates.
One must know that even in the apocalypse, the iron laws of "conservation of energy" and "equivalent exchange" still apply.
"What, you're stingy about that little bit of energy? Then next time, let Lin Lin not save you."
Lin Xiaoxiao, seeing Wang Bin's reaction, was naturally displeased.
"No, Lin Lin! No, Sister Lin!"
"Sister Lin! Sister Lin, please don't hold it against me, I just have a loose tongue."
Wang Bin was still very pragmatic; if he could suffer less physical pain, what was a little less energy?
"Energy is immeasurable, let's put that aside for now. Why don't we all look back first?" Yan Kuan interrupted Lin Lin, who was about to speak.
Everyone followed Yan Kuan's gaze and looked back.
Upon seeing it, everyone except Chen Bugu had a look of seeing a ghost.
They had clearly walked out of a tunnel.
But...
Where was the tunnel?
The original Yu Tan Tunnel had long since disappeared.
Behind them, the scenery had changed at some unknown point.
Such a large tunnel had vanished right under their noses, and no one had even noticed.
And the scene that appeared in place of the tunnel entrance was also hard to accept.
Primeval forest!
Everyone finally understood what Lin Ye's constant talk of "primeval forest" was all about.
Now, it was right before their eyes.
Towering trees, at least thirty to forty meters tall, with lush branches and leaves, obscured the light, making the surroundings very dark.
The sky was blocked by branches and leaves; looking up, they could only see dense layers of dark green leaves, making the entire environment feel indescribably oppressive.
Between the towering trees, there were also various unnamed weeds and bushes, over a person's height.
As the wind blew, the weeds and bushes swayed back and forth, like human figures, appearing and disappearing.
The sound of branches and leaves being stirred by the wind moved from far to near, then from near to far, adding a sense of stillness to the already oppressive dense forest.
"This... this is truly seeing a ghost."
Old Liu was so scared he stammered, but at that moment, he tremblingly spoke everyone's innermost thoughts.