Magical Girls and Tentacle Monsters

Not only did they have to fight each other, they also had to fight all kinds of demon beasts and magical beasts born from the small planes within the special passages.

Even people from this plane fought people from this plane because they belonged to different factions.

For example, when Liu Wenxuan encountered his inner demon, although both were combatants from this world, as long as they could not find members of hostile forces, the two of them would first fight to the death.

In short, the situation was extremely complicated.

But... what the hell did that have to do with me?

Chen Luo felt that he would never have anything to do with the Abyss in this lifetime.

Since this plane was not on the verge of collapse, why should he go sticking his nose into it?

Instead of spending time going to the Abyss, he might as well make time to visit other worlds.

He could earn Primogems in other worlds and add to his travel record. Why not?

Don't forget, Chen Luo's Talent was Traveler, not tool person.

Chen Luo needed to travel, first and foremost.

Though it was true that doing commissions earned Primogems faster.

Chen Luo soon flipped back to the section introducing Talents.

Perhaps because the new millennium had begun, and because it had started off with a major event like a plane invasion, although nothing had gone wrong, it was obvious that more and more people with extremely high Talents were appearing in this millennium.

In the past, there would be at most a little over a hundred holders of S-rank Talents or above in an entire millennium.

Yet in the new millennium, nearly a hundred S-rank Talents had appeared in just twenty years.

From lowest to highest, the Talent ranks were E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, and SSS.

When Talent Users awakened their Talents, they would also learn their Talent rank.

Below A-rank was fine. Although such Talent Users were still rare, their numbers were not terribly scarce.

But A-rank was already extremely rare, the sort of Prime Minister who stood above ten thousand people and below only one.

S-rank was the unquestionable emperor. In the previous millennium, someone like that would appear only once every ten years or so; it was simply that there were somewhat too many Talent Users in this millennium.

Perhaps this "millennium" was what truly deserved to be called Spiritual Energy Revival.

As for SS-rank, that would be the Retired Emperor. There were currently no SS-rank Talents in the entire world.

That was not because SS-rank Talents were so rare that an entire world had none, but because SS-rank Talents were generally formed when S-rank Talents broke past their limits.

But the new millennium had only begun around twenty years ago, so no Talent User had advanced to SS-rank yet.

As for SSS-rank Talents, that was merely a rank that SS-rank Talent Users claimed might exist.

Of course, failing to awaken a Talent did not necessarily mean one could not enter the Dark World. Besides Talent Users, this world also had cultivation systems.

The cultivation system and the Talent system were not as clearly divided as one might imagine, because those in the Talent system could cultivate as well, while those in the cultivation system might also awaken Talents.

But since the systems were distinct, each naturally had its own time to shine.

Generally speaking, Talents reigned supreme during the first hundred years of a new millennium, because all those Old Fossils were hiding in their own little grotto-heavens, while after five hundred years, most cultivation systems had gradually been buried by history.

Forget five hundred years—even a hundred years was enough for many things to gradually fade away.

Especially during the last few centuries of the Age of Dharma's decline in the previous millennium, science emerged.

That instantly made the already declining cultivation system seem utterly ridiculous.

After a hundred years, once the great figures of every faction gradually unsealed themselves, the cultivation system would grow stronger. But that did not mean the Talent system would decline; rather, it would gradually merge into the cultivation system.

No one said Talent Users could not cultivate, and some Talent Users were even more suited to cultivation.

For example, Talents like Sword Immortal.

But this time, due to the invasion of the Abyss Plane, some great figures had emerged to resist the foreign enemy. Afterward, they would also secretly leave behind some things that had disappeared during the Age of Dharma.

For example, Longhu Mountain, Wudang Mountain, the Western Church, the Dark Council, Izumo Taisha of the Eastern Land, Onmyoji, and the like had recently begun to rise again.

"Then here's the question: what about my Talent? Does EX Rank get no rights?" Chen Luo grumbled.

That made Chen Luo even less willing to reveal his Talent.

Because "exceptions" always died first.

Magical Girls and Tentacle Monsters

"Xia, since there are different planes, do you think it might be possible to transmigrate to the Genshin Impact World?" Near the end of school, Chen Luo asked Yun Xia.

"What are you thinking? Planes are planes, games are games, anime is anime. Don't mix them up, okay?" Yun Xia rolled her eyes at Chen Luo.

"But don't you think some Talents are very similar to anime or games? Like the Yasuo, Matchmaking Fox Demon, Bilibili, and your Magical Girl described in that book. They all have a strong anime-and-game vibe."

And my Traveler.

Seriously, Chen Luo's Traveler Talent looked exactly like the Traveler from Genshin Impact in every possible way.

That Traveler could travel through countless worlds. So could Chen Luo.

That Traveler wielded an Unsheathed Sword and slashed at the heavens, the earth, and the air. So did Chen Luo.

That Traveler could accept commissions. So could Chen Luo.

That Traveler received Primogems after completing commissions. So did Chen Luo.

That Traveler's gacha could pull out Paper Waifus. Chen Luo's... at least his Talent panel said it might be possible.

Of course, Chen Luo felt that his Traveler was a little stronger than that Traveler's, because that Traveler traveled between worlds within a greater world, while he traveled to worlds beyond worlds.

"My Talent is Witch. Stop listening to Liu Wenxuan's nonsense. It's Witch! Not Magical Girl!" Yun Xia emphasized repeatedly.

"Got it, Magical Girl. Then may I ask, Magical Girl, are you afraid of tentacle monsters?"

"Your head's a tentacle!" The moment Yun Xia heard those three words, she grabbed Chen Luo's arm.

"Stop watching weird stuff."

"But if you haven't watched weird stuff, how do you know I'm talking about weird stuff? And why do you know about tentacle monsters and magical girls?" Chen Luo looked Yun Xia over from another angle.

Yun Xia's range of knowledge might have been broader than he had imagined.

"..."

"I get it now. Sure enough, the natural enemy of magical girls is tentacle monsters!" Chen Luo suddenly came to a realization.

"Chen Luo, if you dare say one more word, I'll turn you into a tentacle monster right now!" Yun Xia paid no heed to the fact that they were in class. She directly hooked an arm around Chen Heng's neck, then held a ruler to Chen Luo's throat.

Believe it or not, if they were simply comparing strength, Chen Luo could not even beat Yun Xia.

Damn it, were all magical girls super-strong girls?

Still... threatening someone with a ruler seemed a little childish, but when Chen Luo saw the cold glint flashing along that ruler, his heart skipped a beat.

If Chen Luo remembered correctly, there was a Clow Card called—Sword.

And if he opened Yun Xia's Clow Cards, he could see the Sword Card's description.

Sword (four-star exclusive offensive card): The Sword Card can attach itself to a magic wand, turning it into a sword. Once mastered, it can attach itself to any object. As long as the user has the will to cut something apart, the sword can cut through anything.

Price: Not sold separately.

(Note: When using this card, Swordsmanship Mastery is learned automatically.)

See? That card was powerful, right? And Yun Xia had more than fifty cards like that.

If you wanted to know how cowardly Chen Luo was right now, he was as cowardly as could be.

In the end, it was the teacher's sharp glare during class that forced Yun Xia to let Chen Luo go.

After all, although Chen Luo and Yun Xia sat by the window in the second-to-last row, the teacher was not blind.

"Xia, I want to ask you something. I'm not sure whether I should."

"Ask away," Yun Xia said after releasing Chen Luo.

"How old were you when your Talent awakened?"

"Fourteen. Why?"

"That was around your third year of middle school, right?"

"More or less." Yun Xia nodded.

"Did you notice any signs before your Talent awakened?" Chen Luo asked again.

"There were some. Before my Talent awakened, I became a little stronger, and small animals liked approaching me more." Yun Xia thought about it before answering.

"Was that only during the previous two days? Were there no signs earlier than that?"

"Why are you asking so many questions? Doesn't the book say so? Even S-rank Talent Users can sense signs at most five or six days early. Like you—on the day you awakened that Wandering Swordsman Talent, my Wind Card started liking you more and more."

"Oh." Chen Luo nodded and said nothing else.

Chen Luo had always felt that his Talent was a little unconventional. Other people's Talents showed signs at most five or six days beforehand, but Chen Luo's was different. His had shown signs two years ago.

And others awakened their Talents naturally. Who had to do a thousand good deeds like Chen Luo?

If his Talent had awakened from the start, then two years would have passed by now. Chen Luo might not have been able to kill gods and Buddhas alike with every obstacle in his path, but crushing several versions of his former self with one slap should not have been a problem.

Over those two years, Chen Luo would have been able to earn more than two hundred Primogems a day through various means. By now, after just four days, he already had 865 Primogems.

Even if he calculated it as a hundred per day, if he had awakened his Talent two years ago, he would have seventy thousand Primogems by now. That was equivalent to four hundred-pull sessions.

In other words, he would have at least four five-star items and forty four-star items.

Sigh...

But thinking about it, that made sense. A Talent whose rank could not even be determined would be strange if it were easy to obtain.

"Xia, are all you magical girls so physically strong? Are you naturally that strong?"

"Of course not. Some magi are so weak that one punch could knock them out, like Yun..."

"Yun?"

"Like clouds in the sky. They look thick and solid, but one gust scatters them."

"That's certainly a strange metaphor."

"Forget that. A-Luo, what are you planning to do during summer vacation? Your Wandering Swordsman Talent needs you to keep traveling, so where are you planning to travel first? Do you have that much money? And aren't you going into the Abyss?" Yun Xia fired off several questions.

"You don't need to worry about money. A Wandering Swordsman is a swordsman who can survive anywhere. Besides, it's not that my family has no money; I just have no money. If I properly want to go traveling, my parents will still support me."

Chen Luo's parents had never been stingy when it came to spending on serious matters. For example, Chen Luo's bicycle looked completely ordinary, but it cost enough to buy a car.

Yet Chen Luo's living expenses were currently a struggle, especially the living expenses the two of them had combined.

As for those thousand yen...

All he could say was that gold was more reliable. Although some places required proof of purchase, he could still sell it by accepting a very low price.

Yen had serial numbers. Spending it normally on the market would probably be fine, since it was genuine currency, but depositing it in a bank... Chen Luo had not even dared try.

As for daily expenses... the problem was that Chen Luo was in China now. Yen did not circulate here.

If you tried using yen to buy a toy, it would already be generous of the seller not to slap you across the face.

"Where to travel... I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"My Talent tells me to travel according to my heart's path. Until I take the next step, I won't know which direction I'll walk in the next moment." Chen Luo came up with an excuse for himself.

"Your Talent is really troublesome." Yun Xia looked disgusted.

"But it lets me improve my physical condition through continuous travel. For example, my physical condition is now more than twice as good as it used to be."

Thanks to the enhancement rewards after completing commissions, Chen Luo could now defeat several versions of his former self through physical strength alone, without using any techniques.

So the enhancements really were useful.