Meanwhile, Bertram was casually napping in his dorm, keeping up the harmless act.
Suddenly, he got a message from the Infinite Life Simulation.
[Reforge Destiny: In the face of a giant like the Jackson Family, you disguised yourself as a prophetic ability user and earned the trust of the Doomsday Squad. This majorly changed your fate, meeting the requirements to reforge your destiny. Your past life experiences and martial arts insights will now merge with your current self.]
This simulation is set to hard difficulty.
You will receive two additional random rewards.
Drawing now...
You have obtained a Talent Upgrade Crystal!
You have obtained a Mind-Link Crystal!
Talent Upgrade Crystal: Use this crystal to choose either a martial arts or supernatural talent and increase its level by one.
Mind-Link Crystal: Choose a target,
and with their consent, you can share thoughts and vision, and gain the ability to use any one of their abilities once per day!
The next simulation will be in one day!
Doomsday Squad? How did the Doomsday Squad get involved?
Bertram was shocked.
The Doomsday Squad was basically humanity's backbone after the apocalypse, only selecting the most talented people for training.
So how did they suddenly start paying attention to him?
Just as Bertram was still thinking about it, his phone rang. He picked it up, and Whitney's voice came through.
"Thank you. My sister has been rescued. Stay at school and don't wander off. We'll come to see you soon to discuss some matters."
We? Besides Whitney, who else could that be?
Whitney was already a top-tier genius among the younger generation. Could it be that she had the Doomsday Squad supporting her?
Bertram got excited.
This kind of connection, he had to hold onto it tight!
"Okay!" Bertram replied right away.
Whitney ended the call.
Bertram turned his attention back to the rewards he got from reshaping his destiny.
In the Infinite Life Simulation, his martial arts level had reached F+ grade, and his psychic ability, Silver Threads, had extended to sixteen feet, getting really close to F grade.
All these levels and experiences would transfer over to his real-life body and become actual strength and knowledge.
As long as he absorbed Blood Source and White Source later, he could quickly raise his real strength to match the one in the simulation.
One of the random rewards was a Talent Upgrade Crystal.
Unlike the previous Martial Arts Talent Upgrade Crystal, this one let him choose between martial arts or psychic talents. But this version didn't have the chance to unlock a special physique.
"My martial arts talent is already at E grade, but my psychic talent is still stuck at F grade. I've been training it kinda slowly... Normally, I should be able to control three Silver Threads, but I can only manage one right now."
After thinking for a bit, Bertram decided to use the Talent Upgrade Crystal on his psychic ability.
"Congratulations, your psychic ability, Silver Threads, has been upgraded to E grade!"
Now both of his talents were at E grade.
And based on how often these crystals showed up, it didn't seem that hard to keep getting them.
If he could someday push both talents to S grade, that would be straight-up insane!
Bertram's eyes lit up with excitement.
"There aren't even that many people with S-grade talents!"
The other item was a Heart-Link Crystal.
This was the first time Bertram had gotten one of these.
It needed to be linked to a target, and once it was bound, both sides could share thoughts, vision, and even use each other's powers once a day.
But there was a catch, it had to be bound voluntarily.
Bertram thought about it. Right now, only Dina fit the criteria. She was an S-class extradimensional being with crazy potential. If he could link with her, the benefits would be huge.
He set the Heart-Link Crystal's target to the Seven-Star Phantom Death Butterfly.
Right away, Bertram felt a new mental connection open between him and the butterfly in his arms.
He could hear some soft, confused thoughts from the butterfly, and even saw through its eyes, catching a glimpse of the inside of his own shirt.
"With this heart-link, it'll be way easier to control Dina! Plus, we can share our vision and powers!" Bertram thought, realizing just how valuable the Heart-Link Crystal really was.
"Life simulations on hard mode are definitely intense, but man, the double rewards are totally worth it!"
"Especially these talent upgrade crystals. If only I could get, like, ten or eight of them all at once!"
"And those ability activation crystals too… There are people in the human world who have two or even three abilities. If I can collect enough of those crystals, could I unlock multiple abilities too?"
While Whitney and the others hadn't returned yet, Bertram headed to the training room to absorb the Blood Source and White Source.
After fully absorbing the Blood Source, his martial arts cultivation smoothly advanced to F+ level.
He also absorbed about one-fifth of the White Source, which extended the length of his Silver Threads to 16 feet.
While absorbing the Blood Source, he accidentally took in some of the golden aura from Moses' Blood Source, which increased the number of dark sword auras in his body to five strands.
With his strength reaching a whole new level, Bertram felt like his future was looking brighter than ever.
He had this sudden rush of confidence for the next simulation.
Next time, I'll survive longer.
Even if I die, it'll be for something epic… not like those lame, pointless deaths the first three times.
"Tomorrow can't come soon enough,"
Bertram sighed.
Right then, his phone rang. It was Whitney calling.
"Come to the office!"
Wait, Whitney was already back at school?
This was his shot at a huge opportunity!
Bertram felt a jolt of excitement rush through him.
He quickly walked over to the office door and pushed it open...
Five pairs of eyes turned toward him all at once.
The pressure from their gazes made Bertram super uneasy, so he looked toward the only person he recognized, Whitney.
"Bertram, let me introduce you. These four are my teammates," Whitney said.
"As for what team... you've probably heard of the Apocalypse Squad Plan.
Ever since the first year of the apocalypse, ten squads are formed every five years.
Each squad is made up of the six most talented humans alive!"
"This is our captain, Tristian. He has an A-grade special physique called the Ninefold Body. His current power level is B-grade."
A big, muscular guy who gave off this crazy powerful vibe smiled kindly at Bertram.
"I'm the vice-captain," Whitney continued. "I have an A-grade ability called Frost Power, currently at C++ level."
"This is Tevin, one of our team members. He's got an A-grade special physique called the Phantom Body. His martial arts level is C+."
A guy in a long black trench coat showed his super pale face, like he hadn't seen the sun in years.
He tried to give a not-too-awkward smile.
"This is Ryder, a member with an A-grade ability called Mist Sea. His ability is at C+ level."
A guy in white robes with kind of messy hair waved at Bertram with a chill grin.
"And this is Tabitha, a team member with an A-grade ability called Metal. She's also a mechanical engineer, and her power is currently at C+."
The last person introduced was a gorgeous woman wearing a sleek black and red bodysuit.
She had these unique metal devices attached to her suit, with two guns strapped to her thighs and a cannon slung over her back.