Ding! You have a new commission!
Ah, Doctor Mobius, you really were my lucky star.
But Chen Luo now understood what a special guest was.
Special guests were probably those who found it easier to accept commissions, while also being genuinely special themselves.
After all, Mobius was from the previous civilization.
Theresa and Herrscher of Knowledge were probably on the true timeline, while Mobius was someone from tens of thousands of years ago.
What was this? A meeting across ten thousand years?
If he interfered with this Mobius, would it affect the timeline Theresa and the others currently inhabited?
Chen Luo shook his head and cast the thought aside.
Changing the past sounded dangerous just by itself.
Perhaps it would not affect Herrscher of Knowledge, since she had already left this world, but Theresa and the others might be affected.
Mm, for now, earning Primogems remained the priority.
"Doctor? Would you like another drink?" Chen Luo tempted Mobius again.
"Another drink!" Mobius threw back her head and shouted.
Mobius really had a terrible tolerance for alcohol, but to Chen Luo, that was absolutely wonderful.
Chen Luo was not so black-hearted that he would force drinks on someone just because she could not hold her liquor.
The drinks Chen Luo mixed were all sobering drinks.
It was just that their effects might be delayed by over half an hour.
Otherwise, how could a sobered-up Mobius possibly keep drinking?
After farming more than 200 Primogems from Mobius in a row, Chen Luo waited until the Hangover Soup's effects gradually began to kick in before escorting her to the front door. He slipped a note into her hand and sent her out.
For a... a major client like that, he naturally had to leave her a way to contact him.
That note contained the method for entering the bar.
"Boss, I'm leaving too." After spending half the day reading here, Mona waved to Chen Luo and left as well.
"Today was quite a lucky day. Getting down the mountain is going to be troublesome, though. Good thing I have my Wind Glider." After leaving the bar, Mona stood at the edge of the cliff and sighed.
What Mona did not notice was that a pair of eyes had watched everything she had just done.
When guests left, Zero Bar would appear again. Otherwise, if only a door appeared, that would be even stranger.
"Zero Bar?"
Clearly, the other person was very curious about the bar that had suddenly appeared on the mountain.
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"A-Luo, what ability did you gain after absorbing the Inner Demon Lure yesterday?" On the second day of school, Chen Luo was asked that question during the first class.
Today was Tuesday, July 12. There were three days left until summer vacation.
There were also three days left before Chen Luo went to another world to show off his might—or get humiliated.
"Well..." Chen Luo had not absorbed the Inner Demon Lure at all, so where would he get an ability from?
But he could not say that, at least not to Yun Xia.
Yesterday, Yun Xia and Liu Wenxuan had repeatedly warned Chen Luo not to give the thing to anyone else and to absorb it immediately.
If Chen Luo now said he had not absorbed it, even he would not be able to explain himself out of it.
"I gained an ability to construct a consciousness space. The flow of time inside is different from the outside. One hour outside equals twenty-four hours inside. I can practice swordsmanship there and even simulate enemies. It just can't be used by other people."
Chen Luo shamelessly claimed Herrscher of Knowledge's ability as his own and simplified it tremendously.
According to Herrscher of Knowledge herself, the flow rate in her consciousness space could reach a maximum of 1000:1 when maintained over long periods.
If it was only maintained for two or three minutes outside, it could reach a maximum of 10000:1.
Compared to that, the 1:24 Chen Luo described could not have been more simplified.
"Mm, not a bad ability. It's especially suited to someone like you who focuses on technical skills." Yun Xia nodded approvingly.
The abilities humans gained from using Inner Demon Lures varied, though most were related to the mind. A consciousness space like this was not particularly difficult to understand.
"It just gets really tiring if I use it too much." Chen Luo began complaining about its drawbacks.
Entering Herrscher of Knowledge's consciousness space really did exhaust Chen Luo. Such a huge difference in time flow consumed a great deal of mental energy.
But the good news was that Herrscher of Knowledge could help replenish his mental energy, and replenishing that little bit was no trouble for her.
Besides, using this ability as his excuse meant no one could see through him, since Chen Luo had already said he could not pull anyone else inside.
"Did you read the book I gave you yesterday?" Yun Xia asked casually.
But Yun Xia already knew the answer without Chen Luo replying. After all, who could resist the temptation of mysterious knowledge?
"No. Not much." Chen Luo shook his head.
"Huh?"
"It was mainly because of training. This consciousness space really drains mental energy, so I went to sleep early. But my progress was indeed quite fast." Chen Luo tapped his head.
Chen Luo was not entirely lying, because Herrscher of Knowledge really had dragged him into her consciousness space for a long training session last night.
Every night, Chen Luo ate dinner, opened the shop, had a late-night snack, trained, and slept. He was busier every night than he was during the day.
And the result of all that training was... no result.
All the skills Chen Luo could level up had already been leveled up. Making further breakthroughs was not going to be easy.
He might as well spend the time earning Primogems.
"Oh, right, Young Miss, are you interested in continuing yesterday's game?" Chen Luo suddenly had an idea.
One hundred Primogems for a whole day without delaying anything he needed to do was basically free money. At worst, he just would not talk to Yun Xia, but they could pass notes.
"What game... Get lost!" Yun Xia did not react at first, but once she understood what Chen Luo meant, she angrily turned away and ignored him.
Ding! You have a new commission!
"..."
Chen Luo looked at the commission worth ten Primogems, then at the teacher on the platform, then swept his gaze across the surrounding classmates.
Sorry, Primogems. Farewell. This time, I really can't do it.
Chen Luo really could not make himself socially die for ten Primogems.
If it were a two-star mission worth one hundred Primogems, he might hesitate.
After giving up on those ten Primogems, Chen Luo took out the basic handbook Yun Xia had given him and started flipping through it in class.
The person behind him was sleeping soundly, and Chen Luo's intuition was extremely sharp, so he did not need to worry about anyone peeking.
This world was not simple. The world during the day was peaceful and tranquil. Though wars occasionally broke out in certain regions, the overall trend across Earth was peace.
But whenever deep night arrived, the Dark World became increasingly active.
The so-called Dark World was merely a collective term, but it was also a special concept. It existed in the same world as ordinary people, yet its different way of survival made it seem like the two stood at opposite ends.
Those who became entangled with the Dark World would be drawn ever deeper into it. It was like a curse, haunting every person aware of the Dark World.
This was also why Yun Xia and Liu Wenxuan, no matter how concerned they were about Chen Luo, had not given him anything especially useful for self-defense.
Only after discovering that Chen Luo was deeply favored by the Wind Element and might awaken a talent did Yun Xia give him a whole pile of protective talismans.
The Dark World had always existed. Most people simply had not noticed it.
Whether righteous or evil, everyone in the Dark World followed this rule: do not casually involve ordinary people.
Of course, rules were meant to be broken.
Demons and monsters that needed to devour life in the first place naturally could not avoid targeting ordinary people.
Understanding the Dark World was important, but this book did not focus on the Dark World. Instead, it focused on the new "millennium."
Throughout history, every millennium brought a spiritual energy tide.
During the first fifty years of each thousand-year cycle, spiritual energy became increasingly active. This stage was known as the Spiritual Energy Revival.
By the two-hundred-and-fiftieth year, spiritual energy's activity reached its peak and remained there until the five-hundredth year.
When the five-hundredth year arrived, spiritual energy began to decline slowly. By the five-hundred-and-fiftieth year, the decline became sharper and spiritual energy grew even more scarce.
By the seven-hundred-and-fiftieth year, spiritual energy was nearly nonexistent. All kinds of divine abilities and Daoist arts were greatly weakened, useful at most for fooling children.
And the year 2000 marked the arrival of a new millennium.
Originally, this millennium should have been as glorious, stirring, and ordinary as the previous ones, but that was when the accident occurred.
The children born at the beginning of this millennium had talents more terrifying than the last. S-rank Talents, which had previously appeared no more than once every fifty years, now emerged in clusters. The Spiritual Energy Revival also progressed faster than at any recorded time, and the abilities granted by those talents were even stranger.
Most importantly, something vastly different from every previously recorded millennium appeared—the Abyss Plane.
Only then did those in the Dark World realize that, besides this world, other parallel planes existed.
Among the many planes, the Abyss Plane was considered a high-level existence.
Its characteristics were obvious just from its name. So when the Abyss Plane first discovered this plane, which had only just begun its Spiritual Energy Revival, it set its sights on it.
Chen Luo had initially thought that, following the usual protagonist formula, the current world was suffering some enormous crisis and needed a protagonist like him to step forward and save it.
It was cliché, but what boy had never imagined something like that?
Yet as he continued reading, Chen Luo realized he had been wrong.
This world had indeed only just undergone a Spiritual Energy Revival in this millennium. It looked like a young world with immense potential, like a prime lamb awaiting slaughter.
But one must not forget that, though this world had only just undergone a Spiritual Energy Revival, countless powerful figures had existed throughout the innumerable millennia before it.
When spiritual energy waned and entered the End of Dharma Era, true powerhouses would retreat into their own pocket worlds to take refuge.
Those who perished along with the End of Dharma Era were only cultivators who were not particularly strong, or people who still clung to the Old Era.
Once spiritual energy revived, these powerhouses would emerge one by one.
According to the rules, these powerhouses would only emerge after one hundred years, when the Spiritual Energy Revival had become more complete. This was both an unwritten convention and a rule of the world.
"Every era needs its own fresh blood. You Old Undead should stay home and hibernate for a hundred years. Don't come out and cause trouble. Give these young people room to grow."
Every generation produces its talents, each leading the way for centuries!
That was probably the reason behind this special rule.
Simple restrictions could not ensure perfect enforcement of the rule, but heavenly punishment could.
Heavenly punishment never missed. One strike would leave a person half-dead. If they still refused to go back, another strike would finish them off.
But unfortunately, the Abyss Plane had set its sights on this plane during its first ten years. Then, two years ago, it finally dispatched an elite army to launch a large-scale invasion!
Those big shots watched anxiously, but then they discovered that when the other side invaded, they could go out and fight with all their strength without suffering heavenly punishment. They would even receive a small reward.
Although they would be thrown back into their places of seclusion after the invasion ended, who would not want rewards?
And then... that elite army got beaten to shit.
Only then did the Abyss Plane realize: Fuck, they had kicked an iron plate. They had run into a high-level plane of the same rank.
In the end, the two planes established diplomatic relations.
Because the overlap between the two planes was somewhat high, certain fixed special passages formed.
But diplomatic relations were one thing. The two planes still harbored ulterior motives toward each other.
When they discovered that special small planes gradually formed at the intersections between the two planes and produced unique resources, they nearly fought their brains out.
Especially after discovering that killing someone from the other plane granted special experience points, they fought even more fiercely.
Before you continue