In the blink of an eye—
Adrian was back home.
He dropped onto the couch, pulled out his phone, and checked the time.
Only one second had passed.
“…”
So time really had stopped.
After thinking about it for a moment, though, something felt off.
“How does the timeline not end up completely messed up?”
He had spent seven days with Yukino in the apocalypse.
⏳
Yet when he returned to the real world, not a single second had passed.
Meanwhile, time had continued moving in everyone else’s worlds inside the chat group.
Then, when he entered another Apocalypse Companion mission, time in his own world froze again while everyone else’s worlds kept progressing.
Wasn’t that… incredibly strange?
How exactly did the system balance all these different timelines?
No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t figure it out.
In the end, there was no point wasting brainpower on something he couldn’t solve.
He’d rather check out the rewards he’d been expecting.
“One hundred and fifty thousand Apocalypse Points!”
Honestly, even he hadn’t expected the reward to be this huge.
The biggest reason was the first-time Apocalypse Companion double reward bonus.
“Guess I really caught a lucky break.”
Chuckling, Adrian opened the chat group and selected the Ability Enhancement function.
He had a total of 157,000 Apocalypse Points remaining.
There was no reason to hesitate.
He dumped 150,000 points straight into Vector Manipulation.
🤑
“!!”
A warm current surged through his entire body.
Almost instantly, his control over every vector around him became noticeably smoother and more precise.
He clenched his fist.
Power overflowed through his body.
He had the feeling that a casual punch, amplified by Vector Manipulation, could effortlessly crush a hundred-meter skyscraper.
Even the passive vector reflection barrier covering his body had become dramatically stronger.
He was fairly certain that, like Accelerator, he could now withstand the force of a nuclear explosion.😎
Of course…
There was still one weakness.
Just like Accelerator…
He still needed oxygen to breathe.
Being able to resist a nuclear blast didn’t mean he could actually survive inside one.
The extreme heat from a nuclear explosion would burn away all the oxygen near the epicenter.
Without oxygen…
Still, he wasn’t worried.
As long as Apocalypse Points existed…
One day he’d eliminate that weakness too.
Then he checked the cost for the next upgrade.
“…”
[Gemstone Ability · Vector Manipulation → Lv.6]
Required Apocalypse Points: 500,000
“…Damn.”
Half a million.
A whole five hundred thousand points!
He glanced at his balance.
Only 7,000 points remained.
Upgrading his abilities was out of the question for now.
After thinking for a bit, he decided to spend them on the roulette.
Opening the Apocalypse Roulette…
1,000 points deducted.
The wheel began spinning.
Ding!
It stopped.
The result left Adrian speechless.
Empty.
😑
“…”
This was actually his first blank spin ever.
Then—
Second spin…
Empty.
Third spin…
Empty.
Fourth…
Empty.
Even the fifth spin…
Still empty!!
“…Seriously? Don’t tell me this is the normal drop rate.”
Only 2,000 points remained.
Refusing to believe his luck, Adrian spun again.
Ding!
The wheel stopped.
[Congratulations! You have obtained A-Rank Intuition!]
“It dropped!”
Adrian grinned.
It had taken 6,000 points, but he’d finally hit something.
A-Rank Intuition: Comparable to a sixth sense.
👁️
A pretty useful ability.
Kind of like Spider-Man’s Spider-Sense.
“Merge.”
The ability fused into him.
Surprisingly, he didn’t feel any noticeable change.
It was a passive skill, after all.
Not exactly something you could test on command.
With the last 1,000 Apocalypse Points, he decided to upgrade Intuition to Lv.2.
Then he opened the chat group.
March 7th: “@Exusiai, are you guys back?”
Exusiai: “Yep. The Apocalypse Companion mission just ended.”
Aqua: “So what was it like? Did you find anything tasty?”
Saeko Busujima: “Uh… things are pretty chaotic over here. There’s not exactly any good food.”
Saeko Busujima: “But after completing the mission, we received Apocalypse Points. Exusiai and I each got 30,000 points, while Adrian received 150,000.” 😱
March 7th: “!!! One hundred and fifty thousand?! That’s so much! What did you spend it on?”
Adrian: “I upgraded Vector Manipulation to Lv.5, then used the roulette and got a new ability—A-Rank Intuition. It’s basically a sixth sense.”
Saeko Busujima: “Adrian… thank you for everything you’ve done. If you don’t mind, I’d like to give you the Apocalypse Points I earned.”
Adrian: “No need. I’ve already gained more than enough from the Apocalypse Chat Group. Keep them and make yourself stronger. That way, if I ever need your help later, you’ll be able to repay me even more. Doesn’t that make sense?”
Saeko Busujima: “…I understand!”
Saeko Busujima: “Whenever you need me, just say the word. I’d give my life without hesitation!”
Adrian: “Haha. Deal.”
A little while later…
Saeko Busujima: “I got some new abilities. One of them is somewhat similar to your Intuition—B-Rank Mind’s Eye (False), an ability that lets me read through an opponent’s movements using experience.”
Saeko Busujima: “Besides that, I also obtained a B-Rank Physical Enhancement ability. I upgraded both to Lv.3 with my points.”
Saeko Busujima: “It’s incredible… I’m so much stronger now. I can cut my way through hordes of the undead with ease, 🧟 and my strength and speed have increased beyond anything I imagined.”
Adrian: “I have Physical Enhancement too. It boosts your body tremendously. Since you’re a swordswoman, it pairs perfectly with Mind’s Eye.”
Exusiai: “Hehe! I rolled an A-Rank ability—Firearm Creation! I can create guns and all kinds of ammunition whenever I want!”
Exusiai: “After upgrading it to Lv.3, I can even create Laterano guns and Originium rounds! I absolutely love this ability!”
Exusiai had always dreamed of one thing.
Owning lots and lots of guns.
😈
Now that dream had finally come true.
She could summon them herself whenever she wanted.
As long as she had enough life energy, she could even manufacture Originium rounds.
She’d never have to worry about running out of ammunition again.
Just imagining herself activating Overload while controlling a dozen…
Several dozen…
Or even hundreds of guns at once…
Was enough to make her wake up smiling from her dreams.
“…..”