145: Chapter 145, Seventh Trial: The Man Maliciously Cursed

After the space inside the ring expanded to ten thousand cubic meters, Gu Changming stopped the continuous infusion of Mental Power, merely maintaining it at that size.

"Hmm?"

Gu Changming let out a soft sound of confusion.

It wasn't that he stopped because he was stingy about the money spent on those few potions; rather, at the moment the space broke through the critical point just now, he sensed that something seemed to have been added to the space inside the ring.

It wasn't a physical object, nor was it energy, but a more subtle, indescribable existence.

Gu Changming blinked and focused his mind to probe inward.

Looking at the vast, empty space within, Gu Changming stared for a few seconds before his eyes flickered slightly, as if he had thought of something.

Immediately after, he reached out and pressed his hand against the ground.

With a thought, dozens of cubic meters of soil, shredded grass, and dust beneath his feet were pulled into the Ring Space.

Once these things entered, Gu Changming immediately confirmed his suspicion.

Inside the space, the soil and dust began to drift slowly and spontaneously, starting to diffuse in all directions.

Some originally scattered particles slowly gathered, faintly showing a tendency to form a crude sphere.

Watching this change, Gu Changming narrowed his eyes.

"Entropy increase? ...Or gravity?" he murmured to himself.

Yes, that was the nature of the added change.

Previously, when he threw his personal belongings inside, they would simply stay motionless where they were—no movement, no change, not even the slightest floating, as if frozen in time.

However, after this space expanded to ten thousand cubic meters, the items inside actually began to drift naturally without any external interference.

That change felt as if some underlying laws of the real world had been added to the interior.

Now, the Ring Space in his hand seemed to have "come alive."

Gu Changming continued to observe the changes within; the soil and dust were still constantly shifting between order and disorder.

"A brand new world?" Gu Changming whispered to himself.

As the words left his mouth, the curiosity and excitement in his eyes faded.

If that was the case, it didn't seem particularly useful.

It's not like he could stuff all of humanity inside.

And even if he could, it would be pointless; this "reward" was still given by the Assessment mechanism.

The fate of those orc races in the previous secret realm was still fresh in his mind.

The rules of the Assessment covered everything; there was no such thing as a true "refuge."

Just as he was thinking this...

Suddenly, a distinct sense of exhaustion washed over his sea of consciousness.

Maintaining a ten-thousand-cubic-meter space consumed more than he had imagined.

Although the eternal furnace could continuously produce Mental Power, the production speed was far from keeping up with consumption on this scale.

Seeing this, Gu Changming simply stopped the infusion of Mental Power.

The space inside the ring rapidly contracted, collapsing from ten thousand cubic meters back to around one hundred cubic meters. The soil remained inside; Gu Changming did not take it out.

After tossing his personal belongings back in, Gu Changming looked at the ring in his hand and shook his head.

Such a high consumption just for a fancy novelty?

It wasn't worth it.

"Forget it, I'll just leave it for now."

Gu Changming didn't dwell on it; he wasn't the type to feel like he'd lost money just because he didn't find any on the street.

"My current Mental Power is still not quite enough. I'll wait until the next round of the Assessment—after I devour those things and can maintain the space at ten thousand cubic meters long-term, I'll study it slowly..."

Gu Changming muttered to himself, then began counting on his fingers.

Hmm... the next round of the Assessment seems to be coming up soon.

Two days left?

I should go earn some points first.

The inheritance he just bought for Sun Ye and the other two had almost depleted his points.

He still needed to head into a secret realm to accumulate some points; otherwise, it would be bad if he needed them at a critical moment.

...

Two days later.

At a secret realm exit about thirty li away from the Xinhuo Stronghold.

The blue mirror-like surface of the secret realm rippled like water as five figures stepped out one after another.

Gu Changming was the last to walk out, and upon emerging, he subconsciously prepared to leave.

However, just as he was about to move, the four people in front of him stopped.

The leader of the four, a woman with a ponytail who looked very capable and efficient, turned around and thanked him sincerely:

"Thank you so much. It's all thanks to you; if you hadn't stepped in, the four of us would probably have met our end in there."

The other three also looked like they had just escaped death, their eyes filled with gratitude.

"It's nothing, just helping each other out. It was mainly because you guys provided a good distraction; otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to deal with those two Rock-Armored Lizards," Gu Changming replied.

He had happened to run into their team in a crisis while he was gathering points inside, and since he was a 'good person,' he lent a hand.

"You can't say that," the pretty girl with the ponytail spoke again. "This is a life-saving favor; we must remember it."

As she spoke, she pointed to a small camp not far away.

"It's just about dinner time. Why don't you come back with us? Let us treat you to a meal to show our appreciation."

"No need," Gu Changming shook his head. This was his least favorite part—the constant need for polite small talk; it was too exhausting.

"I still have things to do..."

Before he could finish his sentence, the sky suddenly darkened.

The five of them looked up at the sky simultaneously.

At this moment, the sky was rapidly covered by a viscous, heart-palpitating blood red.

Immediately after, massive, pale-white characters appeared in the center of the crimson sky like a brand:

【Seventh Civilization Advancement Assessment: The Maliciously Cursed】

Gu Changming glanced at the name of the Assessment and clicked his tongue inwardly.

Based on this name, he had previously thought the names of these Assessments were getting more and more casual.

Now, seeing it a second time, he felt it was actually a perfect fit.

【Assessment Rules: A curse will randomly descend upon every participant. Once cursed, the curse can be transferred to others through physical contact. If the curse remains in the body for more than one hour, the holder will die instantly.】

【Time Limit: Seventy-two hours.】

【Supplementary Rule 1: The countdown will not reset after the curse is transferred via contact.】

【Supplementary Rule 2: The person to whom the curse is transferred will have five minutes of preparation time.】

【Supplementary Rule 3: The specific manifestation of the curse is: a blurry human figure will appear in the field of vision, constantly approaching from a distance. When the figure touches the cursed person, they die instantly.】

A brief, dead silence fell over the open ground in front of the secret realm exit.

The expressions on the faces of the four-person team instantly froze. They hadn't participated in the last Assessment, so they didn't know the start time for this one.

Consequently, they hadn't expected the Assessment to suddenly jump out and start right after they emerged, leaving them completely unprepared.

Gu Changming habitually opened his panel and looked toward the rules section.

【Hidden Rule: ...】