The whole nation is trying to survive on the cable car; I'm choosing one of three options at ea

Purple.

Level 19, Purple.

More than nine thousand.

Su Mu stared at the line of numbers, his brows behind his glasses relaxing slightly.

When it went from green to blue, its combat power jumped from less than 3,000 to 6,200, almost doubling. But now, from blue to purple, its level has risen from Lv15 to Lv19, yet its combat power has only increased by less than 3,000.

The growth rate has slowed significantly.

To a normal person, a level 19 purple monster with a combat power exceeding 9,000 would be enough to make all survivors turn tail and run. But after seeing this number, Su Mu felt much more at ease.

"That's more like it," he thought to himself.

If this monster's advancement is exponentially higher each time, then he'll really have a headache.

The two leaps from white to green, and from green to blue, nearly increased its base attributes several times over. If purple were to jump by the same margin again, its combat power would easily soar to 12,000 or 13,000, or even higher. Even with rule-based damage reduction, it would still face a tough battle.

But now, the blue ones are 6,200 and the purple ones are just over 9,000.

Growth was less than 50%.

What does this tell us?

This indicates that the enhancement of this monster exhibits a significant decay. The closer to the limit, the slower the growth and the lower the cost-effectiveness.

It looks powerful now, but it's actually nearing its limit. Even without Su Mu testing it, the enhancement trajectories of the ordinary gatekeepers indirectly confirm this... their evolution speed is also slowing down, and their post-resurrection boosts are far less dramatic than the initial ones.

Su Mu held his gun horizontally in front of him, watching the figure emerging from the purple pillar of light. His gaze was no longer filled with inquiry, but rather with a calm that came after confirmation.

"Looks like it's almost over," he said softly.

For Su Mu, the balance of battle is never based on the numbers on his opponent's stats, but on their growth curve. As soon as the growth curve starts to slow down, his opportunity arrives.

At this moment, the gatekeeper monster's size did not increase, but its body surface had an additional layer of dark purple bony armor, extending from the shoulders to the outside of the arms and calves. The armor plates were connected by dark tissue resembling tendons, which slowly opened and closed with each breath.

The head's outline is now closer to a human shape, and the facial features have become clearer, even showing some cold, angular features.

When it opened its eyes and its gaze fell on Su Mu, it was devoid of any emotion.

"You surprised me," it said, its voice much lower, as its tail spikes slowly opened behind it, like six slender short spears pointing at Su Mu at the same time.

At that moment, the six gatekeepers around them moved simultaneously.

They stopped observing and instead surrounded them from six directions, moving much faster than before, their tails and claws moving in a coordinated and methodical manner.

"Finally, we're all together." Su Mu remained calm.

He even smiled.

Because if the other side had attacked together earlier, he would have had to pay attention to several directions; but now, these ordinary gatekeepers are not of high rank or level, and to him, they are just a bunch of walking experience packs.

As for that purple monster...

After their first encounter, Su Mu confirmed that although its strength had increased dramatically, its attack logic had not fundamentally changed. He had thoroughly mastered the combo of tail spikes and claws, and even if the intensity doubled, he could still withstand it by using the rules to reduce damage and block.

"What are you laughing at?" the purple monster's voice was even colder.

"I'm glad you finally figured it out." Su Mu held his spear horizontally in front of him. "It'll be faster this way."

Before he finished speaking, the Ancient King's battle blood shone brightly.

He no longer held back, activating his shadow clone directly. A black phantom materialized from his side, wielding the same spear, and slashed at the purple monster in front of him.

The main body then charged in the opposite direction, piercing the throat of the gatekeeper on the left flank with a single shot, and using the momentum to spin around, sweeping away another one that was pouncing from the right flank with a second shot.

The afterimage combo and the ricochet combo are triggered simultaneously.

Wherever the gunshots passed, the gatekeepers below the purple rank were like pieces of paper caught in gears, their bodies constantly shattering and reforming, but each reformation could not keep up with Su Mu's killing speed.

The purple monster was entangled by the shadow clone and could not break through for a short time.

It tried several times to bypass the shadow clones to attack the main body, but was always precisely blocked by the shadow at the crucial moment.

"What kind of ability is this?!" it growled, finally losing its initial composure.

After Su Mu killed several ordinary gatekeepers in succession, his experience points jumped again.

[Level increased to Lv17.]

He paused for a moment, then smiled.

"It's been upgraded."

Three gilded cards appeared in the center of the battlefield. Su Mu did not slow down the pace of the battle, but instead had his shadow clone temporarily withstand the head-on pressure while he glanced at the three cards.

First card... Individual: "Spear Mastery - Starfall. Increases spear skill damage by 20%, and spear attacks have a 10% chance to trigger 'Starfall,' dealing an additional instance of area damage without attenuation."

The second card... Building category: "Energy Storage Core. Cable car auxiliary buildings can store an additional guild weapon energy. Energy storage limit increased by 50%."

The third one... Information category (lucky icon): "Intermittent World Echoes. Once a day, you will have the opportunity to 'hear' a brief echo from a space outside your own world. The echo may be a conversation, a sigh, a gust of wind, or a fragment of unintelligible language. The source of the echo cannot be actively chosen. Each echo lasts 3 to 15 seconds."

Su Mu's gaze lingered on the third image for a moment.

Lucky icon. Rule category.

The first two cards were quite beneficial to him, but the first one only had a 10% probability, and the second one would take a long time to show its value. The third card, although highly random, reminded him of the feeling he had when he obtained the ability to "not fall twice with the same method" due to the labels "outside the world" and "rule-based".

"If I can access information that I normally cannot access, even if it's just a fragment, its value might be greater than the direct harm."

He ordered the third one.

The gilded card shattered into specks of light and merged into his body.

At the same time, the shadow clone was struck by the purple monster's tail, and the phantom flickered briefly.

With a thought, Su Mu switched back to the battlefield, forming a pincer attack with his shadow clone. After three seconds of charging, the two spears simultaneously pierced the purple monster's ribcage from two different angles.

[Defeat the Abyss Gatekeeper (Lv19, Purple) to gain 130 experience points.]

The purple monster's body sank back into the sand.

But this time, the sandy area did not immediately show signs of revival.

Su Mu took the opportunity to step back and quickly adjust his breathing.

"It's not over yet," he said in a low voice.

After being killed several times in a row, the resurrection speed of some of the gatekeepers below purple rank has slowed down significantly.