Reborn One Week Before the Apocalypse

Chapter 78: Chapter 72: Space Upgrade

”It’s true that both Crystal Cores and abnormal treasures can immediately raise your attribute values. However, higher isn’t always better. You also have to consider the body’s physical tolerance.”

Wen Jianshu patiently explained to Tang Mo. S Base had the best research institutes and scientists, and these conclusions were reached after countless experiments.

The greater number of powerful individuals in S Base was also partly due to their access to cutting-edge research.

”Let’s take a simple example. Suppose you use an external force to instantly raise a ten-year-old’s Strength Attribute Value to 100. His body wouldn’t be able to handle such a high attribute. Over time, those excess attribute values he can’t utilize would cause a backlash against his body.”

”Backlash?” This was something Tang Mo had never heard of before.

”It means that excessively high attribute values your body can’t handle will become a burden. They’ll drain your body’s energy, making you weaker and weaker. Eventually, you might even lose all your flesh and blood, becoming nothing but a skeleton.”

Wen Jianshu described it in very serious terms, although no one had yet turned into a skeleton from raising their attribute values too quickly.

But this was the foreseeable result after countless experiments.

”So, if I blindly increase my attribute values without considering my body’s needs, it could actually have a negative effect on my strength?”

”Exactly. That’s why many people have stopped using Crystal Cores. They only use them appropriately after their physical functions have improved through battle.”

Wen Jianshu nodded, very pleased that Tang Mo could quickly grasp his meaning and draw further inferences.

Uncle Wen’s words made Tang Mo fall into deep thought as she looked at the bag of ”pocket money” in her hand.

’No wonder the attribute values of the people on the rankings in my past life didn’t grow constantly. They would often stay at the same level for a long time.’

’Would people at that level of strength be short on Crystal Cores? Impossible.’

’People who reached that stage simply had a more long-term perspective. They wouldn’t rush their growth only to spoil it.’

Tang Mo didn’t know this in her past life because she and the people around her had never reached that level.

Back then, their circumstances didn’t allow them to think so far ahead. Everyone was just trying to survive until the next day.

”Uncle Wen, don’t worry, I understand. I’ll take it one step at a time and only absorb Crystal Cores based on my actual situation. I won’t be reckless.”

Tang Mo was truly grateful to Uncle Wen for telling her all this.

After returning to her room, Tang Mo laid out all the greeting gifts she had received at the dinner table and used her watch to appraise them.

The fruits from Wen Jianli and Wen Jianming were both abnormal treasure fruits. One could increase her Life attribute by 20, and the other could increase her Strength attribute by 20.

Without hesitation, Tang Mo washed them clean and ate them.

She had taken Uncle Wen’s words to heart, but she knew her own body better than anyone.

She had been through many battles on her journey, and she hadn’t forgotten to train every single day in Taoyuan Village.

Compared to her attribute values, her physical conditioning was clearly much better.

As for her spiritual power, she had been researching its various uses lately. Every use was both a consumption and a tempering.

She knew very well that she could continue to absorb some spiritual power to replenish what she had consumed.

Her body could absolutely handle more Strength, Life, and agility—a lot more, in fact.

The Sandalwood Bracelet from Mr. Wen Sr. was also an abnormal treasure, a rare Space Treasure.

Tang Mo hadn’t expected this. She never thought Mr. Wen Sr. would be so generous.

Even for the Wen Family, a Space Treasure was an extremely valuable item.

The bracelet was peculiar. Most of the beads were just ordinary, but three of them each contained one cubic meter of Space.

’Now I have two Space Treasures.’

Tang Mo touched her necklace.

’Could I combine these two abnormal treasures?’

An idea suddenly popped into Tang Mo’s head.

She had never heard of two Space Treasures being combined before, but she just had to try.

Feeling excited, Tang Mo took off the necklace she always wore and had never taken off, placing it on the table with the bracelet.

’How can I get them to merge?’

Tang Mo pushed the two items together with both hands, making them touch.

But obviously, it had no effect.

’Maybe I should try dripping blood on them?’

She found a small knife, sterilized it, made a small cut on her hand, and smeared the blood on both items.

Still no reaction...

’What about spiritual power?’

She usually used her spiritual power to move items into her Space, so maybe it would work.

Tang Mo controlled a stream of spiritual power, extending it out of her body and splitting it in two.

One half connected to her necklace, the other to the bracelet.

Then, she slowly tried to merge the two halves of her spiritual power back into one...

’It’s working!’

Under the control of her spiritual power, the necklace and the bracelet slowly moved toward each other.

But the process consumed far more spiritual power than Tang Mo had imagined. As the two items slowly drew closer, she needed to constantly supply spiritual power from her body to sustain it.

The process was extremely slow, agonizingly so.

’I can’t hold on much longer.’

Tang Mo felt her spiritual power bottoming out, as if it would be completely drained any second.

She didn’t know what would happen if her spiritual power was completely depleted.

’Maybe I’ll die.’

Fortunately, her hands could still move. She poured out the entire bag of Crystal Cores Uncle Wen had just given her, found all the white ones, and while continuing to channel her own spiritual power, she began absorbing the Crystal Cores with her hands to replenish what she was losing.

One after another, the Crystal Cores in Tang Mo’s hands turned to dust...

Just as the energy from the last Intermediate Crystal Core entered Tang Mo’s body, the necklace and the bracelet, pulled together by her spiritual power, finally touched.

Perhaps because the energy of Tang Mo’s Jade Pendant was much greater than the bracelet’s, the bracelet disappeared at a speed invisible to the naked eye.

In the blink of an eye, the bracelet was gone.

Tang Mo picked up her necklace and saw that next to the Jade Pendant, there were now three tiny wooden beads.

The wooden beads were truly minuscule, only about the size of red beans.

’Is this what it means to be merged?’

’But aren’t they still separate things?’

Tang Mo’s mind was full of questions.

First, she tried to probe the wooden beads with her spiritual power, but she failed.

The wooden beads seemed like the most ordinary kind.

Tang Mo then used her spiritual power to touch her Jade Pendant. This time, it went smoothly, and she immediately saw the scene inside the Jade Pendant Space.

She carefully examined every inch of the Space, trying to see what had changed.

The items on the shelves that Tang Mo had used up were now replenished, restored to their original, fully stocked state.

The free space near the checkout counter had gotten a little bigger. Tang Mo carefully estimated it to be exactly three cubic meters larger.

The space from the bracelet had really merged into the Jade Pendant!