The Survival System's Insane Levels

Back in front of the familiar Dungeon, Su Luo stood still, his expression shifting.

An old monster had appeared out of nowhere, claiming to be a Level 20 Morningstar Wizard. He had rambled on about the superiority of the wizard's path and even promised Su Luo his legacy...

Did pies really fall from the sky?

Su Luo slowly sat down. Rather than rushing to change his class, he focused on thinking over what had just been said.

What had triggered that thing?

Some kind of prerecorded message with a preset trigger? A fragment of residual consciousness? An ultra-long-distance projection?

Whatever it was, it had easily penetrated the system's Dungeon barrier and spoken directly to him. The more he thought about that ability, the more terrifying it seemed...

The being's motives were impure. He had offered help out of nowhere and had to be after something. Why would a powerful being who claimed he could hunt gods and wander the sea of stars be so "generous" to a survivor who hadn't even changed his class?

It was like a treasure map to an old Deification monster's cave abode. All that was missing was a message to a junior:

"Kid, my cave abode is full of countless miraculous pills and medicines and manuals for divine techniques, all waiting for you to inherit!"

More often than not, the eager young cultivator would rush over, only to find a remnant soul waiting in the cave to possess him.

"System rules prevent me from harming you."

There was clearly something wrong with that statement.

Why emphasize it?

Had he already tampered with Su Luo?

"Mages are dull. Wizards are powerful."

It was a classic sales pitch: disparage one option and praise the other, creating a divide to steer him down a predetermined path.

That salesman's tone only made Su Luo more certain that something was amiss.

There was plenty more that seemed wrong to Su Luo...

What gave Su Luo the biggest headache was that, if what he said was true, wouldn't he have anticipated Su Luo's suspicions?

Could an old monster who had lived for who knew how many years really have failed to anticipate Su Luo's line of thought?

His head aching a little, Su Luo decided that, no matter what, he would not go looking for Grantham Sylvester's legacy.

But buried in all that talk was one important piece of information.

A Level 20 Morningstar Wizard.

At Level 20, could one wander through worlds and analyze their rules?

Besides, he had mentioned Level 10 and Level 20.

Now Su Luo had reached Level 5 with a full experience bar and needed to change his class. The system had imposed a "restriction" on him.

They were all multiples of five.

Did that mean experience was capped every five levels, marking a major threshold that had to be broken through?

He was Level 20, so why wasn't he Level 21 or 22?

For all his boasting, had he still failed to meet the requirements and get past the Level 20 "restriction"?

That was truly terrifying.

After thinking it over for a long time, Su Luo felt a headache coming on.

Things had come to this, so he would change his class first.

Su Luo used the [Class Change Certificate].

[You used the [Class Change Certificate]. Class Change Dungeon: Rise of Superpowers]

[Randomly assigning your identity...]

[You have received the Wildman identity]

[Main quest issued]

[Survive for thirty days. Rewards: Class Change, Talent Evolution]

[You will receive an evaluation based on your performance in the Dungeon. Your evaluation will affect your final class choices and title]

When Su Luo came to his senses, he found himself standing in a dense, unfamiliar forest, with a thick layer of fallen leaves beneath his feet.

From the scattered information he had previously picked up in the Regional Channel, class Dungeons usually had a manageable level of danger... at least for the experts in the World Channel who had progressed extremely quickly.

But there was something more pressing to deal with now.

His expression abruptly turned grim as he extended his perception to its limit, trying to detect energy in his surroundings.

Yet... there was nothing!

Unlike the Land of Darkness, where Mana and elemental energy were thin but present everywhere, the space between heaven and earth here was a complete, suffocating "vacuum." It was as if the entire world had been drained of supernatural power, leaving him unable to draw even the slightest bit of energy from the outside to replenish himself.

That meant the Mana currently in his body and the 30% stored in the [Magic Ring] had become irreplaceable resources that would be depleted bit by bit as he used them.

"I have to solve the Mana problem..."

As Su Luo pondered, he ran out of the mountains.

But his immediate priority was to understand the background of the story and the state of civilization here.

The system had mentioned Rise of Superpowers. Taken literally, it was a power system with little connection to Su Luo's own Mana system.

Could Su Luo gain anything from this power system, then?

About twenty minutes later, Su Luo emerged from the forest at the edge of the mountains, neither flushed nor out of breath. A winding mountain road appeared before him.

A modern society?

That was good news. Su Luo could try to make use of its existing modern industrial infrastructure and knowledge base.

Standing by the road with his head lowered, Su Luo began silently studying his own Mana.

After a long while, a car approached. Su Luo raised his right hand high and waved it in the air.

"Excuse me, sir! Could I hitch a ride? Sorry for the trouble!"

The window rolled down a crack, revealing the middle-aged driver's face. He looked a little wary but reasonably friendly. "Young man, what are you doing out here in the middle of nowhere all by yourself?"

"I went out cycling and accidentally ended up in the mountains. Then I got a flat tire, so I had to come to the main road and try to catch a ride."

Su Luo spoke somewhat bashfully.

"Haha, your navigation sent you into the mountains, didn't it? Get in. I'm heading back to the city anyway, so I'll give you a lift!" The driver's wariness melted away, and he cheerfully unlocked the door.

Su Luo thanked him repeatedly, opened the door, and climbed into the passenger seat. He quickly scanned the interior: a phone mount, a charging cable... The car's interior was just like those on Blue Star. His gaze lingered for a moment on the phone the driver had placed on the center console.

"Thank you, thank you so much! My phone's dead too, and I was just wondering what to do."

The driver was quite talkative and chatted with Su Luo as he drove. Su Luo responded bashfully, making things up as he went.

The driver had readily let a stranger into his car on a remote road, and the atmosphere inside was relaxed. That suggested the local area was safe and the people were relatively trusting...

The phone the driver used, the catchy pop song playing in the car, and the concepts mentioned in their conversation all closely matched the modern civilization Su Luo knew.

So was this world a Dungeon generated by the system based on Blue Star's civilization?

After chatting for a while, Su Luo suddenly picked up on a keyword.

During their conversation, the driver seemed to remember something and patted the steering wheel with a hint of pride.

"Ah, good thing this is an old gas-powered car! I hear a lot of features in those new electric cars don't work anymore because of 'that'!"

Su Luo's heart stirred.

"Which thing?"

"That thing, you know! You know what I mean."

The driver gave Su Luo a wink.

"Oh, that explains it." Su Luo acted as if he had suddenly understood.

So what exactly is it? Does it have something to do with supernatural power?

"Ever since that Le Lingyan's livestream, 'that' has been happening more and more often. I hear quite a few satellites up in the sky have gone out of control, falling down left and right!"

"You used navigation when you were cycling, right? With so many satellites down, it's only normal for navigation to be inaccurate sometimes."

"I see. So that's why the navigation was off too? I was wondering why it kept sending me into the mountains!" Su Luo nodded.

"Most likely!" The driver strongly agreed, then lowered his voice, acting so furtive that it somehow felt like they were having an affair.

"Hey, young man, let me tell you something. Just listen, and don't spread it around... My wife's got a cousin who works in the military..."

Su Luo immediately played along, leaning closer and assuming an attentive pose.

"Apparently—and I don't know if it's true or not—but apparently, small-caliber pistols can't kill people anymore!"

The driver was very pleased to see the shocked expression on Su Luo's face.

"I heard something's gone wrong with gunpowder or whatever, and it's gotten a whole lot weaker! Sigh, the world's really changed. Even 'truth' doesn't speak so loudly anymore!" The driver shook his head ruefully.

Along the way, the driver spoke passionately, praising and criticizing the issues of the day. Su Luo chimed in from time to time and learned quite a bit about this world.

More than two hours later, the car entered the city and stopped by the road outside a bustling shopping mall.

"Well, little brother, we're here. Want me to scan a power bank for you to use in a pinch?" the driver kindly asked.

Su Luo declined and thanked the driver repeatedly.