Next World

"All right!"

Gu Sheng was silent for a long while as he looked at Chu Xin, who had closed her eyes and was waiting to be scolded. A wave of heartache rose within him. When all was said and done, this girl was only a sixteen-year-old. She should have had the best years of her youth ahead of her.

Although she had no father in the real world, she did have a mother who loved her but had been too busy with work to care for her. Studying hard to make her parents happy—this was a wonderful wish, wasn’t it?

The era of Spiritual Energy Revival would inevitably go through a period of chaos. The peaceful days before that were precious beyond measure. Perhaps these would be Xin’er’s last beautiful memories. He shouldn’t destroy them!

"Really? Yay~"

Chu Xin opened her eyes in delight. After Gu Sheng confirmed it, she threw herself into his arms and cheered.

"But there’s one condition!"

Gu Sheng naturally wasn’t going to let Chu Xin off so easily. "During this month of vacation in the real world, you have to train your abilities. You must develop your perception ability. If you don’t complete the training I taught you, little Xin’er, you won’t want to know what comes next."

Earlier, Gu Sheng had devised some training based on novels and comics he had read in the past. After personally testing it and confirming that it worked, he had taught it to Chu Xin. However, this girl relied on his affection for her and trained sporadically, skipping two days for every three days she trained. She even put on a bashful expression as if she were waiting for him to do whatever he wished, leaving Gu Sheng utterly helpless.

"Oh, I know already!"

Chu Xin still wanted to argue, but when she met Gu Sheng’s stern gaze, she ultimately lost. With her lips pursed and her delicate nose wrinkled, she looked like an eggplant beaten down by frost.

"What are you thinking about for the next world?"

As Liu Daimei spoke to Gu Sheng, she trimmed her nails with a dagger, sharpening them as she gestured. She looked eager to give it a try.

"I’m still looking for a suitable one. There are a few that are passable, but they don’t fully fit what I want."

Gu Sheng sighed. His requirements were simple. First, the world’s level couldn’t be too low—at minimum, it couldn’t be below B-Rank. Second, it would preferably be a world he was familiar with. Otherwise, it would be difficult to grasp the situation, and they could easily suffer a mishap.

He continued, "Generally speaking, the mission worlds available in Lord God Space remain on the light screen for around three days. The ones currently on the light screen, such as Smiling Proud Wanderer and The Legend of the Condor Heroes, are decent, but their levels are somewhat low and don’t really meet my requirements."

The available mission worlds could be checked at any time through the Lord God Mark. Gu Sheng spent some time every day scanning the rankings, which had allowed him to figure out some of their patterns.

First, there was a reason Lord God Space stipulated that missions could only be undertaken once a month. The Lord God Space in this world sent people into missions by possessing the bodies of natives and directly taking control of them. There would certainly be remnants of souls and thoughts left behind.

If one traveled too frequently, one’s soul wouldn’t have time to deal with the aftereffects of the previous mission. Once too many accumulated, even schizophrenia would be considered a minor consequence. These aftereffects were deeply rooted in the soul. Making trouble for the Lord God once or twice was fine, but when the number grew, one would collapse outright before even getting the chance to seek help from the Lord God.

There was already an example in the real-world Lord God Space. A novice Reincarnator had entered Lord God Space after being killed by one of its Chosen Ones in an attempt at revenge. Chosen Ones were Reincarnators ranked within the top hundred, and all of them possessed special abilities.

He entered mission worlds ten times in twenty days, desperately fought his way to the peak of Second Star Level, and then collapsed and perished outright upon returning once more, just as he was preparing to reach Third Star Level. Even the Lord God’s Healing Beam had been useless.

"Oriental martial arts?"

Liu Daimei slightly furrowed her delicate brows. "Can’t we choose a Western science-fiction world? Aren’t there all kinds of advanced technologies, equipment, and serums in science-fiction worlds? As long as we obtain something powerful, perhaps we can climb to an even higher peak again."

"Mei-jie, I understand what you mean. You want to develop your own vampire bloodline and increase your strength as quickly as possible. I’ve certainly considered Western science-fiction and fantasy worlds!"

Gu Sheng said seriously, "But Mei-jie, have you ever considered one question? What is your foundation, exactly? Your special mental abilities, or your vampire bloodline?

"I’ll say something unpleasant. Those of you Chosen Ones who chose vampire and Werewolf bloodlines in the Underworld world can be said to have crippled yourselves by more than half.

"Don’t blame me for putting it harshly. That’s simply the truth. Vampires and Werewolves have limited achievements even when developed to their utmost. They can indeed help your combat power and strength in the early stages, but once they’re developed to the limit and reach their ceiling, such bloodlines become shackles.

"Among the vampires in Underworld, your bloodline is already extremely high-level. You’re a Third Generation vampire personally sired by Elder Amelia, but its potential is still limited. Once you reach Third Star Level, your current vampire bloodline will become useless. Unless you can become a hybrid!"

"A hybrid?"

Liu Daimei was somewhat confused. She had never heard of such a thing!

"We’ll discuss becoming a hybrid later. I’ll find a way to get you uncontaminated pure blood from the Alexander Clan. For now, we should discuss the next world."

Gu Sheng waved his hand dismissively. Describing the grudges and tangled history between the Alexander Clan and the Werewolves and vampires of the Underworld world would take far too much effort. He had no interest in explaining it slowly.

However, judging by the performances of the strongest fighters in the movie, Marcus, the most impressive among them, was at most Fourth Star Level in combat power. His upper limit was clearly not high. That was why the vampires of Underworld were so useless.

"Ding~~"

At that moment, the alarm Gu Sheng had been watching and set in advance rang. This meant that Lord God Space was about to refresh the world rankings again.

"Wait! Let me take a look before we decide!"

Just as Liu Daimei was about to speak, Gu Sheng simply began checking the world rankings within the Lord God Mark.

"Legend of Soldiers"

"Smiling Proud Wanderer"

"Qin’s Moon"

"Dracula"

"Zhao Zilong"

Information about one world after another flashed across the floating light screen as Gu Sheng continuously assessed the circumstances of each.

The mission worlds in Lord God Space were somewhat mysterious. Despite having the same name, they could have different descriptions and levels. For example, Gu Sheng had once come across five worlds under three categories for "Legend of the Condor Heroes": Origin, trial, and instance.

There had been one D-Rank world, three C-Rank worlds, and one B-Rank world. Based on Gu Sheng’s guess, they might have represented different versions of "Legend of the Condor Heroes."

The earliest television adaptation of "Legend of the Condor Heroes" had crude special effects, and the fights were made up mostly of choreographed moves. The combined combat power of the Five Greats might not even have surpassed that of powerful Third-Rate experts in The Nine Cauldrons World. It was only natural for the world’s level to be extremely low.

"What’s this~"

Gu Sheng’s hand suddenly stopped. A line of information was prominently displayed on the light screen before him: "Wu Xin: The Monster Killer—B-Rank Origin World (BBB-Rank, suspected to contain a Fifth Star Lifeform, Moderate Danger)."

"Wu Xin: The Monster Killer! A suspected Fifth Star Level existence. Fifth Star Level means the Void Realm, Heavenly Beings? Divine Beasts? Ferocious Beasts? Taotie?"

Wave after wave stirred in Gu Sheng’s mind, and his heart trembled with excitement. An inexplicable feeling told him that this world would benefit him. This was his opportunity to break through to the innate realm.