Damn it! Let's smash the darkness together!

"Drinking blood I can still tolerate, but brain marrow... uh, can I boil it first? I can't eat it raw, but I might be able to stomach it if it's cooked."

"Gu Pan seems to know a lot; might as well ask her."

Xu Shu knew that guessing blindly was useless, so he closed the Promotion Drive web page and returned to the inside of the prison.

He walked to the door of cell 301 and knocked on the iron door, waking Gu Pan, who was sleeping soundly inside.

"Hey, stop sleeping. Who sleeps this early in the morning? Don't you feel suffocated?" Xu Shu complained.

Gu Pan was totally befuddled: "What the hell am I supposed to do when you've locked me up here if not sleep? Count the cracks in the wall and curse you?"

"Oh, then wake up first, I have to ask you something," Xu Shu said.

"What is it?" Gu Pan rubbed her eyes, looking as if she hadn't woken up yet.

"Do you know how a Transcendent levels up?"

Gu Pan was startled and eventually said, "I know, what about it?"

Xu Shu continued, "Well, I just killed a small monster, and afterwards I noticed that my Curse Seal is still first-tier, no change at all, and there's no experience bar to check, what's going on?"

Hearing that, the sleepiness on Gu Pan's face gradually faded away, her expression became slightly puzzled: "You just killed a monster?"

"Yeah," Xu Shu placed the Erosion Crystal of the terrestrial shark on the window sill for her to see.

"You're really diligent, becoming a Transcendent and immediately going to hunt monsters. Most people would be busy secluding themselves at this time, struggling to get to grips with their new powers..."

Gu Pan suddenly stood up and walked to the door, muttering under her breath, her voice getting smaller and smaller while her pretty eyes got wider and wider.

She looked at the white Erosion Crystal Xu Shu had put on the window, with the mist swirling inside, and counted.

"1, 2, 3...9, 9 stripes?!."

She asked in a dumbfounded tone, "You killed this? By yourself?"

Xu Shu frowned, "Yeah, is there a problem?"

Is there a problem?

There's a huge problem, okay!

You, a Level 1 Transcendent, how did you manage to kill a Level 9 monster?

Even if it's just a common white-tier monster, not even elite, but you, a Level 1 killing a Level 9, and without a single injury, are you joking?

Who's the real monster here!

Can I achieve such a feat when I become a Transcendent?

Probably only those capable of making it onto the "Qingyun List" would have such terrifying combat achievements!

Could he really be a genius?

Gu Pan's eyes gradually became hollow.

"What are you doing? Do you actually know how to level up or not?" Xu Shu couldn't help asking, seeing her standing there with her mouth agape.

Gu Pan spoke, trying to hide her disappointment, "With the help of your Promotion Drive, you need to devour this Erosion Crystal into your body as well. After the Curse Seal absorbs it, it will increase the erosion level and your abilities will also improve.

"This process will be quite painful, and fundamentally it's the same as when you received the Curse Seal and suffered from the curse power erosion, which requires mental strength, temperament, physical abilities, and so on."

"I see."

So simply killing monsters wasn't enough to gain experience; I had to feed the Erosion Crystal to the Curse Seal inside me.

Xu Shu looked at the terrestrial shark worth forty thousand and inadvertently flashed a hint of pain in his eyes, but still pulled up his belt and stuffed it into his crotch.

There was nothing to agonize over; as long as my strength increased, I could naturally hunt more monsters and get more Erosion Crystals!

"Zi-liu~"

The small Erosion Crystal was instantly devoured by the Promotion Drive.

With a boom, Xu Shu felt as if a nuclear bomb had exploded inside his body, turning into a huge surge of warmth coursing through his flesh and blood.

At the same time, he could faintly feel a vortex arising in the area of his chest, slowly absorbing and devouring that power.

"Remember, usually after becoming a Transcendent, you need at least two weeks or more of a buffer period to allow your body enough time to adapt to the enhancements of the Curse Seal.

"Once you've fully mastered the power, then you can try devouring Erosion Crystals to upgrade the Curse Seal; otherwise, it can cause great harm to your body, even possibly leading to death.

"Especially since your own rank is low, devouring a higher-level Erosion Crystal for the upgrade is even more..." Eh? Why are you bleeding from your nose?"

Gu Pan was still explaining away when she looked up and noticed Xu Shu's nose was bleeding, which looked a bit comical.

She felt like laughing but quickly couldn't anymore.

Because right after that, blood started to flow from Xu Shu's ears, eyes, and mouth!

"????"

Gu Pan's face first showed confusion, then her pupils shook with alarm as she cried out in horror,

"Fuck, you've already swallowed it???"

Xu Shu simply took it for granted as he said, "No shit, I ate it to level up. What, should I have saved it for New Year's?"

"You're playing with your life here! Big brother, I'm begging you, could you please not be so impatient for success, you gotta eat one bite at a time!"

He had just become a Transcendent less than an hour ago, and now he was starting to devour an Erosion Crystal to level up?

Do you realize you're courting death? Your death is one thing, but it could get me killed too!

However, Xu Shu nonchalantly waved his hand and said, "It's fine, you just mentioned that the Curse Seal levels up, and it's pretty much the same as the first time it gets taken in, I had already fully anticipated this outcome."

He was bleeding from all seven orifices, yet he spoke as if it was a trivial matter.

"You knew, and you still did it?!!" Gu Pan's face instantly became a palette of emotions, feeling like she had suffered a heavy blow.

"What's this little injury? It's nothing but a bit of weathering." Xu Shu started undressing as if leisurely preparing for an outing.

Gu Pan was dumbfounded, what the hell was he doing now?

This is bad! Totally screwed! This motherfucker's just a dumbass hothead!

How is it that my life has turned so badly, to meet someone like this, and my entire fortune and life are tightly gripped in his hands...

The next second, Gu Pan saw Xu Shu lying on the ground.

He was spewing blood over one meter high while rapidly doing sit-ups.

His muscles already had very impressive contours.

While still spitting blood, he said unclearly, "Remember, when you gurgle gurgle... come out and gurgle gurgle... help clean up the blood, mop the floor..."

"What the fuck?"

Watching this blood-spewing fitness enthusiast before her, Gu Pan's heart gradually grew numb.

About half an hour passed.

Xu Shu was covered in blood, but his eyes were bright, his complexion rosy, as if he had just devoured five kilograms of beef.

"You, you succeeded in leveling up?" Gu Pan looked at him.

Although it was a question, the outcome seemed quite obvious; if not for success, he would be dead on the ground.

Level 1 going to kill a Level 9 monster and then swallowing the Erosion Crystal to level up on the spot, this guy's much crazier than I am.

And the craziest part is he actually succeeded!

If every human could do like him, it probably wouldn't take many years to launch a total counteroffensive, to once again become the master of Earth Star, to downright turn this bizarre apocalypse into a hunting ground!

"By the way, what level did you make it to?" Gu Pan asked unconsciously.

"Level 2," answered Xu Shu, taking a glance.

[Curse Seal: Warrior (Legendary) Level: 2/20]

"?"

Gu Pan looked surprised.

Level 2? Why only Level 2?

Logically speaking, a first-tier Curse Seal should level up quickly.

A Level 1 Curse Seal, having devoured a Level 9 Erosion Crystal, not to say it should jump to Level 7 or 8 at light speed, but it should at least be around Level 4 or 5, right?

Unless, unless his Curse Seal's rank is very high, hence the slow leveling, but this isn't a bad thing; it actually indicates a high potential!

At this moment, Gu Pan suddenly recalled the Curse Seal that Xu Shu had used, which came from Black Widow, recalling its characteristics.

"Could it be..."

She tentatively asked, "When your Curse Seal was at first tier, what was the level cap shown?"

"20 levels, why? Isn't it always like that?" Xu Shu was puzzled.

"20 levels? Haha, hahaha..."

"Exactly! Exactly! That Black Widow is an Epic-grade species, and that Curse Seal is also Epic-grade! Umm~"

"No wonder he's so powerful!"

"But for a Level 1 Epic to kill a Level 9 regular monster, that's also a bit too terrifying, but maybe it's a special ability, like venom, a talent that's pretty much unbeatable at low levels..."

"Sigh, just missed it by a bit, and that Epic Curse Seal could have been in my hands!"

Gu Pan stumbled a few steps, painfully closing her eyes, her heart filled with jealousy and loss.