Volume One: The Arrival of the Apocalypse Chapter 58: Intermediate Spatial Ability, Demonic Cloud Tiger

In the skill column of his attribute panel, there were now four skills. Aside from Psychinesis, Primordial Chaos Skill, and Metal Control, there was the newly acquired Spatial Ability.

The odd thing was that his spatial ability was at the Intermediate level, unlike Psychinesis and Metal Control, which had both been at the Beginner level when first acquired.

Therefore, this skill duplication was purely literal. Not only had the function of the skill been duplicated, but the level of the target skill had been copied as well?

Intermediate Spatial Mastery
Skill Effect 1: Portable Space. Grants a 9-cubic-meter portable space, capable of storing non-living objects.
Skill Effect 2: Spatial Perception. Perceives the surrounding space through mental energy, allowing one to observe gaps and folds existing within the space and utilize them to achieve transitional movement within the main space.

Looking at the description of the spatial ability on the attribute panel, the smile at the corner of Xiang Chenguang's mouth could not be suppressed no matter what.

With a thought in his mind, the Ruyi Jingu Bang in his hand suddenly vanished, appearing within a mysterious space that could only be perceived through his mental energy.

This space was noticeably larger than the 9 cubic meters described in the skill, conservatively estimated to be over 12 cubic meters. The Ruyi Jingu Bang, which exceeded 1.8 meters in length, appeared completely inconspicuous inside this space.

With another movement of his intent, the golden cudgel appeared back in his hand. With the portable space, the Ruyi Jingu Bang was becoming increasingly true to its name.

Xiang Chenguang immediately refocused his attention on the attribute panel, only to see that the character tier entry was once again flashing with the yellow light representing the availability of an upgrade, and the displayed value was Tier 1, Level 7 (300,875/4,500).

Although he knew he had killed a massive number of giant army ants over the past hour or more, seeing over 300,000 psionic points still shocked Xiang Chenguang greatly, followed immediately by wild elation.

With so many psionic points, how many levels could he jump in this wave? Coupled with the newly acquired Intermediate Spatial Ability, his strength would undergo a qualitative leap.

However, as his level increased, he quickly discovered that 300,000 psionic points were not as enduring as he had imagined.

Advancing from Level 8 to Level 9 required 5,000 psionic points, while advancing from Tier 1, Level 9 to Tier 2, Level 0 required not the 5,500 points he had assumed, but a full 10,000 points.

Following that, rising from Tier 2, Level 0 to Tier 2, Level 1 required 20,000 psionic points.

Ultimately, exhausting the 300,000 psionic points, Xiang Chenguang's character level rose to Tier 2, Level 6 (11,375/80,000).

The nearly two hours of battle had caused his level to increase by a full nine levels.

Moreover, advancing from Tier 1 to Tier 2 had granted two evolution points. Beyond Tier 2, for every level gained, two free attribute points were acquired.

That is to say, under the effect of the Balanced Physique talent, every level gained now allowed his three primary attributes to increase simultaneously by one point.

There would soon be another fierce battle ahead. After reserving two free attribute points for any contingencies, Xiang Chenguang added his three primary attributes up to 28 points.

Another harvest from this upgrade was the two evolution points.

He currently had four skills; what skill should the evolution points be used on? This required careful consideration, as it concerned his future combat style and power system path.

Although the battle had paused, Xiang Dongliang remained exceptionally busy. Aside from constantly monitoring the situation of the fire wall ahead, the moment the flames weakened, he had to arrange for people to continue throwing Molotov cocktails into the fire wall.

At the same time, he had to organize personnel to inspect the Li River and the mountain forests on both sides of the fire wall. The instant the giant army ants showed a tendency to bypass the fire wall from the sides, they had to immediately stop feeding fuel to the fire wall and start preparing for battle anew.

He himself led a portion of the militiamen to push the piled-up ant corpses in front of the defense line into the roadside river channel, preparing for the subsequent battles.

There was a gas station at the fork in the road not far ahead, and the fuel used to make the Molotov cocktails came from there, so their fuel supply remained very abundant.

In the rear, more than forty elderly people and children were helping to manufacture Molotov cocktails.

Perhaps precisely because they had gained a sense of participation in this battle and realized that they too could help the militia training camp, they finally developed a true sense of belonging to the camp, allowing Xiang Chenguang's mission to be completed.

The giant army ants seemed to possess a level of organizational coordination rare among low-tier creatures, but this was not true intelligence, rather a certain instinct carved into their genes. Their ability to handle emergencies was actually quite poor.

Faced with the fire wall several meters high, biological instinct caused the vanguard army ants to halt, but more army ants kept rushing over from behind. Consequently, they piled higher and higher in front of the fire wall, building an ant wall that rivaled the fire wall.

Then the ant wall collapsed, and a massive number of army ants tumbled into the fire wall. Although these giant army ants were burned with crackling sounds, they actually managed to suppress the fire wall significantly.

Seeing this, Xiang Dongliang immediately roared, "Keep throwing Molotov cocktails! Third squad, take the earthen wall and get ready for battle!"

At this critical juncture, a soul-shaking roar suddenly echoed from the mountain forest, leaving almost everyone on the battlefield trembling with weak limbs. Many of the elderly and children making Molotov cocktails in the rear even collapsed straight to the ground.

Even the giant army ant swarm, which had previously displayed fearless ferocity, fell into a state of commotion amidst this roar.

The only one on the battlefield unaffected was likely Xiang Chenguang. He immediately looked in the direction of the sound and saw a strange tiger, over three meters in body length, appear before the spatial rift in the mountain forest.

The fur of this giant tiger was black and white, with white cloud-like patterns scattered irregularly across its predominantly black hide, giving off a bizarre sense of aesthetic beauty.

At this moment, it was roaring at Xiang Xiaoxiao and the other three guarding the spatial rift.

Accompanied by the roar, a violent gale materialized out of thin air, blowing Xiang Xiaoxiao and the other three so hard they could barely stand steady, while the trees behind them were bent backward by the fierce wind.

Amidst the gale, the black-cloud-patterned giant tiger walked leisurely toward the stunned Xiang Xiaoxiao and the others with the lightness and elegance characteristic of felines.

Xiang Chenguang's eyes split with fury as he instantly activated True Qi Burst, roared, "Snap out of it!" stomped a deep pit into the asphalt road surface, and charged toward the spatial rift.

Following Xiang Chenguang's furious shout, Xiang Xiaoxiao and the other three finally snapped back to their senses.

Electric arcs immediately began to flash on Xiang Xiaoxiao's right hand, and a thunder ball was rapidly condensing.

Meanwhile, He Jie and Wei Wei on her left and right raised their hands; one was condensing a flame spike while the other knelt on one hand, pressing both palms against the ground as a rock-and-earth giant rapidly rose from the ground.

In the rear, He Wan didn't hesitate for a moment as she discarded the steel-ball crossbow in her hand, a submachine gun materializing in her grip.

She skillfully chambered a round and pulled the trigger toward the white cloud pattern on the giant tiger's forehead.

After the sound of a gunshot, a bullet crossed the distance of less than ten meters almost instantly, shooting toward the giant tiger's forehead.

However, the closer the bullet got to the giant tiger's forehead, the slower it became, and the bullet head began to deform, the sharp tip flattening out.

In the end, the bullet still struck the white cloud pattern on the giant tiger's forehead, but its speed was drastically reduced, and the flattened bullet head failed to even pierce the giant tiger's fur before dropping to the ground.

This attack clearly enraged the giant tiger, and it let out another roar.

Amidst the roar, the expressions of the four turned sluggish once more. The thunder ball about to form in Xiang Xiaoxiao's hand and the flame spike forming in He Jie's hand instantly dissipated.

The mud-and-rock giant in front of Wei Wei also collapsed.

Disregarding Xiang Xiaoxiao and the other three entirely, the giant tiger made a light leap, soaring over their heads and lunging toward He Wan in the rear.

At this moment, Xiang Chenguang was still seventy or eighty meters away, roaring with a heart-splitting cry, "Vile beast!"