Achieving a Level 4 Shelter: The Extraordinary Shift of Talents!

Mike approached the truck, opening the shelter interface and pulling all the resources from the vehicle into his storage space. In a flash of golden light, the truck was emptied in just a few breaths.

Immediately after, several notifications appeared in front of Mike.

"Congratulations! You have acquired 34,525 units of 'Refugee Wood'!"

"Congratulations! You have acquired 38,264 units of 'Electronic Components'!"

"Congratulations! You have acquired 35,123 units of 'Large Bills'!"

"Congratulations! You have acquired 62 'D-Level Talent Recruitment Tickets' and 88 'D-Level Talent Upgrade Tickets'!"

"Congratulations! You have acquired 31 'C-Level Talent Recruitment Tickets' and 55 'C-Level Talent Upgrade Tickets'!"

"Congratulations! You have acquired 16 'B-Level Talent Recruitment Tickets' and 29 'B-Level Talent Upgrade Tickets'!"

"Congratulations! You have acquired 3 'A-Level Talent Recruitment Tickets' and 5 'A-Level Talent Upgrade Tickets'!"

The massive influx of resources made Mike grin from ear to ear.

"Wow! What a harvest!"

While the puzzle door resources scattered across the city wouldn't have been that remarkable if spread among different survivors, gathered in one place, they became an overwhelming trove of rare materials.

Mike stared at the overflowing storage space. This haul not only solved the shelter's upgrade requirements but also provided a wealth of talent-related items.

"More talents are always better," he murmured with a smile, then turned to Lin Yue and Wang Shi, giving them a few instructions before rushing back to his room.

He had to properly count his gains for the day.

"Talent items can wait; there's no rush."

"Let's upgrade the shelter first!"

Eagerly, Mike opened the shelter information interface. His shelter was currently level 3.

To upgrade to level 4, he needed 10,000 units of electronic components, 100,000 survival points, and 100 talent units.

All the requirements were met, so he clicked the upgrade option.

"Your shelter meets the upgrade requirements! Upgrading in progress..."

As the necessary resources were deducted, a wave of golden light enveloped Mike's building. The golden glow attracted the attention of many shelter residents.

Newcomers watched in surprise, while the old-timers tried to act calm. "Nothing to see here. The boss is just upgrading the shelter level again."

"Our leader upgrades the shelter like it's a game. Otherwise, how could he have the highest shelter level in the city?"

Upgrading the shelter as a pastime? Can that even be considered a game?

The new residents were stunned and couldn't help but admire their enigmatic boss even more.

"Your shelter has successfully upgraded! Your shelter talent has been enhanced!"

With the new notification, Mike's shelter officially reached level 4!

"Ah, this feels good!"

Mike laughed heartily and quickly opened the talent interface to check.

"Homebody's Haven": You receive a random survival reward for every 24 hours spent in your shelter. The reward is at least A-level! Each time the talent triggers, there is a small chance of receiving double rewards! You also have a 3-hour exemption time for leaving your shelter each day, which does not affect the reward calculation! (Talent effects will continue to improve as the shelter level increases.)

"Yes! Finally, A-level rewards!"

Mike was overjoyed. He had been waiting for this day for a long time. Getting A-level rewards every day was incredible! And with the chance of double or even grand prizes!

If luck was on his side, he might even earn S-level or higher rewards!

Wait, hold on!

Mike paused suddenly, realizing something felt off. He reviewed the talent description again, sensing something missing.

"Wait a minute… where's my 'Most Needed'?"

In a flash, Mike's heart sank—his level 4 shelter talent no longer provided the "Most Needed" reward, but instead offered random rewards every day!

"Is this… a negative effect of the upgrade?"

"This can't be, right? An upgrade shouldn't lower things..." Mike frowned, trying to make sense of it.

But it didn't make sense. SSS-level talents wouldn't need balancing like that.

"Maybe it's fine. After all, the early days are over. No 'Most Needed' isn't the end of the world," Mike sighed, quickly calming himself down.

Even if he had known this change would occur, he still would've upgraded the shelter. There was no use lamenting the small loss when he could focus on building up the current resources.

Complaining wouldn't make him stronger. Staying calm and handling things step by step—that was the path to true strength.

"Let's see what's required for a level 5 shelter upgrade… Hm, 100,000 electronic components! Goodbye!"

Mike quickly dismissed the upgrade details. The 100,000 electronic components alone made him realize that upgrading might take a while.

"At this rate, it will take years to gather 100,000 components just from the daily three exploration tasks."

"Looks like I need to run more puzzle doors and grab as many city-wide resources as I can."

Just as Mike was thinking about how to gather more electronic components without angering the people, another notification suddenly appeared.

"Congratulations! You are the first survivor in the country to upgrade to a level 4 shelter! You have received a special award: Bloodline Inheritance!"

"Bloodline Inheritance": S-class special item. You may designate any of your talents to advance into a National Talent of Destiny. The chosen talent must not already be a National Talent of Destiny.

Mike froze in shock, then broke into a grin.

A National Talent of Destiny!

This item was beyond powerful!

Among the thousands of talents in his shelter, only Jiang Xiaoci was a National Talent of Destiny. And her importance to Mike couldn't be overstated. Without her, Mike's growth would not have been as rapid.

Jiang Xiaoci had single-handedly organized everything for Mike's faction, inside and out!

From Jiang Xiaoci's performance so far, Mike came to understand that a National Talent of Destiny was someone who could stand alone as the top talent of an entire nation!

Such a person came once in a hundred years, and obtaining one was a huge win.

"Better than an ordinary S-level talent! And I get to choose who ascends!"

Mike rubbed his hands together in excitement. He was about to have his second National Talent of Destiny!

But as he celebrated, a question lingered in his mind.

"I remember I'm only ranked third on the national leaderboard right now, right?"

"Did the top two guys really fall behind? Am I really beating them so easily with these shelter upgrades?"

Mike scratched his head, wondering if those two top contributors had too many survival resources but few upgrade resources.

He didn't dwell on it, though. It wasn't worth wasting time guessing about them.

"Time to pick my second National Talent of Destiny!"

Mike took a deep breath and began to weigh his options carefully. "Since I can choose… who should I make my second National Talent of Destiny?"

4o mini