In the dark divine realm.
A towering shadow sat motionless on the throne. In his outstretched hand, a blood-red crystal rotated slowly, glowing with ominous light.
Su Xingyu studied the mysterious device carefully. Though he didn't fully grasp its internal mechanics, he eventually uncovered its function.
In essence, it served as a conduit.
A connection—between the believers and the Instrument of Rules—allowing its effects to manifest directly through them.
As for what it consumed? That part remained a mystery.
He didn't dwell on it. Since arriving in this world, there were countless things he didn't understand, and this was just one more. As long as it worked, that was enough.
To avoid unexpected consequences, Su Xingyu didn't connect everyone at once. Instead, he selected a test group—volunteers for the first trial.
Through his true body in the physical world, he gathered a thousand extraordinary warriors into the central square.
There, a ten-meter-tall statue of a god loomed. The chosen warriors stood at its base, heads bowed, praying in solemn silence.
Outside the square, a large crowd had gathered, watching in tense anticipation.
Back in the divine realm, Su Xingyu activated the connection, linking the selected group to the instrument.
At first, nothing happened. No visions split the sky. No spiritual energy spiraled into a vortex. The world remained still.
Then it began.
A handful of soldiers suddenly broke through long-standing bottlenecks. There was no flash, no roar of power—just a silent, natural breakthrough, as if their limits had quietly dissolved.
They had long possessed the qualifications for promotion, but had been stifled by the limitations of their physical talents. Until now.
Soon, more and more warriors began advancing. One after another, they stepped into new realms of power.
Then, a strange sound echoed through the square.
Coo—coo—
A low, strange groaning. At first subtle, but as more soldiers joined in, the sound swelled to a chorus. Hundreds were groaning.
Their eyes gleamed with an eerie green light. They looked half-crazed, like starving beasts.
"I'm starving..."
"I can't take it anymore. I just had a few steamed buns before coming here. Why am I hungry again so soon?"
"Is there anything to eat? Please—give me something!"
Ye Zhan frowned deeply and raised his voice. "Silence!"
The warriors immediately fell quiet. Among the tribe, Ye Zhan's authority was absolute.
"Bring the food," he ordered.
The tribesmen, already prepared, wheeled out large steaming baskets. Inside were fresh white steamed buns, hot and fragrant.
The starving warriors stared, swallowing instinctively.
"Eat," Ye Zhan said, nodding.
Each soldier seized a bun, biting into it like wild animals. They didn't care that the food was scalding hot—two bites and it was gone. Their hunger bordered on madness.
Even in the harshest winters, when food was scarce and cold bit through flesh, they'd never known such desperate starvation. At that moment, many truly believed they would die if they didn't eat.
The first batch of buns vanished in minutes. Each man devoured over a dozen, yet the hunger remained.
Ye Zhan motioned again. The next batch arrived—thick meat patties made from high-energy monster flesh.
The warriors tore into them, each consuming five before the edge of their hunger finally dulled.
One of the soldiers collapsed to the ground, rubbing his stomach and letting out a relieved burp. "Finally... I thought I was going to starve to death."
Ye Zhan approached him. "How do you feel?"
The soldier blinked, thinking hard. He scratched his head awkwardly. "I... can't quite explain it. It feels like my strength jumped a level. But maybe I'm imagining it?"
Ye Zhan asked several more. All gave similar responses—an uncertain but definite feeling of growth.
"Good. Go home and rest. If anything feels strange or changes further, report to me immediately."
After final headcounts were taken, the group was dismissed.
Back in the divine realm, Su Xingyu was stunned as he observed the results.
"Out of a thousand warriors, nearly seven hundred advanced by a star... and two hundred broke through bottlenecks entirely."
The effectiveness of the Instrument of Rules exceeded all expectations. Even with his cautious optimism, the actual results left him speechless.
It was absurd.
But in a good way.
"The more outrageous, the better," he muttered, grinning to himself. Who could complain about becoming stronger?
Still, he couldn't rush the process. Too many advancements at once would disrupt the tribe's operations. He needed to stagger the strengthening process.
And more importantly, he had to account for the failure rate. Each person only had one shot. If an ordinary warrior failed, it was unfortunate—but manageable. They could be replaced.
But geniuses like Ye Zhan? Losing one of them to a failed upgrade wasn't an option.
Su Xingyu decided to wait. Once he accumulated enough world origin to upgrade the Instrument to Level Four, he'd apply it to the elite warriors of the night battle division.
An 80% success rate—he could accept that.
Over the next several days, he oversaw the strengthening of the Ye Tribe in batches.
For those in other cities and outposts, he issued orders through his envoys. All were instructed to coordinate and carry out the enhancements.
It took ten days to complete the operation.
During that time, Su Xingyu noticed certain trends.
Extraordinary warriors had a much higher success rate than regular people—especially those who were stuck at bottlenecks.
Curiously, those with higher innate attributes had a lower success rate.
It sounded contradictory, but it wasn't.
The pattern was clear: the farther someone was from the limits of their natural talent, the more likely the upgrade would succeed.
Then there was the strange news about the newborns.
Every baby born within the tribe automatically established a connection with the Instrument. Nearly 60% of them had innate strength attributes of four stars.
Compared to the first generation, whose enhancements followed clear rules, this new generation relied purely on luck.
There was nothing Su Xingyu could do. Even if he'd known this would happen, he still would've used the tool. It had simply been too valuable to ignore.
All tribe members below level four had now completed the enhancement, along with a few select level fours.
The rest were allowed to wait and decide when they felt ready—when they reached their own bottlenecks and could no longer advance.
Just as Su Xingyu was about to finally relax, a notification beeped.
He opened the message channel and saw a note from Wang Dong.
[Black Star]: "Brother Yu, we found a buyer for the Armor of Light. Can you come to my place when you're free? They want to speak to you in person."
Su Xingyu blinked. It took him a moment to remember what Wang Dong was referring to. He had been so busy that the matter had completely slipped his mind.
The Goblin Staff had sold two weeks earlier. Because of race restrictions, he couldn't trade it for a silver-tier blueprint, so he had accepted three black iron-level ones instead.
The Armor of Light had been in limbo—until now.
[Xingyu]: "Give me a moment. I'll head over soon."
[Black Star]: "Alright. I'll notify the buyer."