Activation
A light blue panel unfolded in front of me.
[Villain Life Simulator starting up...]
Please select the final objective for this Life Simulation:
[1. As a prince of the Star Luo Empire, vie for the right of succession and ascend the Star Luo Empire. Mission Reward: Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone; Difficulty: B]
[2. Seize imperial power as a non-royal member and ascend the throne of the Star Luo Empire. Reward: 100,000-year Seventh Soul Ring; Difficulty: A]
[3. Train one person to ascend the throne of the Star Luo Empire. Reward: External Soul Bone; Difficulty: S (Note: Providing too much direct assistance to the trainee during this process will significantly reduce the final reward.)]
"Is this time it directly the Star Luo Empire?"
Su Cheng stared at the light screen in front of him, pondering silently.
In terms of rarity, External Soul Bone should be prioritized lower than 100,000 Year Spirit Ring, not to mention this isn't even the Ninth Soul Ring.
However, the fact that the External Soul Bone is placed in the reward of an S-rank difficulty mission here indicates that it is by no means an ordinary External Soul Bone.
Although all External Soul Bone have growth potential and cannot be regarded as ordinary Soul Bone, there are undoubtedly differences in quality among them.
External Soul Bone are generally compatible with the Soul Master's own Martial Soul attributes, but the Soul Beast that produce External Soul Bone are different, which leads to different skills and characteristics of the Soul Bone themselves, and their strength will definitely be different as well.
Take, for example, the External Soul Bone that appeared in the original timeline.
The strength differences between Tang San's Eight Spider Lances, Hu Liena's fox tail, Bibi Dong's Six Wings of Purple Light, and even Huo Yuhao's Evil Eye and Dark Gold Terror Claw are extremely large.
"Anyway, just max it out."
Having learned from his previous experience, Su Cheng would naturally not choose a mission of slightly lower difficulty now.
"However, the more direct assistance I provide, the less reward I will receive in the end. In other words, my focus is on 'cultivation,' but I cannot provide too much assistance during the power grab."
[You have selected the final mission objective for this Simulation: to cultivate one person to ascend the throne of the Star Luo Empire.]
You can choose one of the following characters as your training subject for this Simulation: Dai Mubai, Zhu Zhuyun, or Zhu Zhuqing.
"Hmm, these three people..."
Su Cheng looked at the list of characters and habitually began his analysis.
"Since the three are tied, it means that no matter who is chosen, the overall difficulty will not differ too much."
After the last Simulation, Su Cheng had managed to summarize some patterns.
The rewards will inevitably differ depending on the difficulty level.
Even the talent choices given each have their own characteristics and will definitely play a role in completing the mission; there are no useless talents.
Take the last Simulation, for example.
What might seem like a rather useless talent in this extraordinary world, such as "Medical Genius," actually proved to be of immense help to him in the end. In fact, when combined properly, its effect could far surpass top-tier cultivation talents like Twin Martial Souls or Innate Full Soul Power.
That's enough to explain the problem.
Because in the Simulation, all he has to do is complete the task and then use that as a basis to weigh the gains and losses in various aspects, he doesn't need to be that powerful himself.
This is completely different from his demands in reality. After returning to reality, everything must be developed with his own strength as the core.
However, the three options presented at this moment do not offer any additional bonuses for the settlement reward, indicating that each of these options has its own advantages and disadvantages.
"If I want to continue to accumulate more knowledge in this Simulation, I'm afraid I need to think it over carefully. I just need to identify their respective advantages and eliminate the options I don't need."
After the last Simulation, he had tasted the benefits of his knowledge-based talent as a "Medical Genius".
Is it useful to become stronger in Simulation? Back in reality, you're still just a weak Soul Elder.
But knowledge can be brought out and laid the foundation for one's future development.
Su Cheng looked at the options in front of him and gently rubbed his chin.
"Theoretically speaking, Dai Mubai should be the most suitable candidate. After all, he is the rightful heir to the empire and only needs to defeat Dai Weisi to ascend the throne. His status is his greatest advantage."
"But the question is, can he do it? Dai Mubai has obvious flaws in his personality, and it will be difficult for him to succeed without external help. I can't take direct action, and being in the Star Luo Empire, it's difficult for me to make contact with Dugu Bo. I don't even know if I can get my hands on the Immortal Herb."
"Most importantly, if I choose him, I'm afraid I'll have to give up my talent for theoretical knowledge."
He then looked at the two people behind him.
"Zhu Zhuyun is actually a good candidate. But I don't know her well enough, and I don't know how deep her relationship with Dai Weisi is. But since she can use the Martial Soul Fusion Skill, she must be quite good."
"If there were no opportunity to sow discord between the two, Zhu Zhuyun probably wouldn't have been willing to betray Dai Weisi; the operation involved would have been too difficult."
"On the contrary, Zhu Zhuqing, although slightly weaker in talent and far inferior in status to the previous two, has the advantage of a tenacious character, which is more important than anything else."
"Talent is not a problem. As long as you're not ridiculously bad, there's always a chance to make up for it. But a person with a weak heart, no matter how strong they are, will always be a weakling."
[You have selected Zhu Zhuqing as the training subject for this Simulation.]
[You can choose your Initial Character:]
[1. High-ranking and powerful imperial officials receive a settlement bonus of 0-20%]
[2. The youngest teacher at the Star Luo Royal Academy, bonus upon settlement: 20%-50%]
[3. Theoretically, the emperor's illegitimate sons who have no right to inherit the throne receive a bonus of 50%-100%]
You can choose three talents from the following ten as your Initial Talent:
[Mutated Spirit, Innate Full Soul Power, 100,000 Year Spirit Ring (Ninth Soul Ring), External Soul Bone (Mask), Battle Master, Sword Genius, Martial Soul Scholar, Double Standards Expert, Max-Level Charm, Max-Level Affinity]
[The Initial Character has been selected as: the emperor's illegitimate son, who theoretically has no right to inherit the throne.]
[Initial Talent selected: External Soul Bone (Mask), Martial Soul Scholar, Max-Level Affinity.]
The main reason for choosing the emperor's illegitimate son as the Initial Character was not because of mission requirements.
Actually, Su Cheng wanted to personally experience the wonders of the Martial Soul Fusion Skill.
Since this option happens to be available, we naturally can't miss it.
In terms of talent, he wouldn't dare choose the Innate Full Soul Power.
As an illegitimate son of the emperor without the right to inherit the throne, having the Innate Full Soul Power would be tantamount to courting death. The First Prince, Dai Weisi, was no saint.
Su Cheng was still clear about the succession criteria for the throne of the Star Luo Empire.
Any member of the royal family who possesses the White Tiger Martial Soul can have a chance to ascend the throne, even if they are an illegitimate child, as long as they can defeat other heirs.
The biggest problem with this background is how to get through the early developmental stages.
No matter how much Dai Mubai is targeted, he is at least one of the rightful heirs, and he is unlikely to die in an accident before the outcome is decided.
If he were the emperor's illegitimate son with Innate Full Soul Power, he shouldn't even think about supporting Zhu Zhuqing; he should first try to avoid all sorts of assassinations.
On the contrary, those with more ordinary talent would naturally not be the primary target, and Dai Weisi would not need to risk angering the Emperor by getting rid of them in advance.
After all, he poses no threat in terms of age, background, resources, or identity.
However, he didn't receive the "Sword Genius" talent last time, but he got it again this time.
In fact, Su Cheng really wanted this talent.
However, with only three spots available, choosing a "Martial Soul Scholar" and then opting for a "Sword Genius" who is likely to be useless in this Simulation seems a bit too arrogant.
This time, his Martial Soul is not a sword-type Martial Soul.
After the character and talent selections were completed, the light screen changed again.
[Selectable Task Mode:]
[1. Guided Exploration Mode: The Simulator will propose phased task options based on the progress of the mission, accumulating rewards in stages until the final settlement.]
[2. Free Exploration Mode: Main Quest are no longer divided into stages, offering greater freedom, but the final results may fluctuate to some extent.]
"Is it because they've accumulated energy for several extra years?"
After thinking for a moment, Su Cheng chose the second option.
He's no longer the newbie he used to be; he can now make appropriate choices during missions.
[Free exploration mode has been selected.]
[Note that everything in the Life Simulation is a projection of the real world and will also affect the Strings of Fate this plane. Please take it seriously.]
[Simulation Start.]
As the notification appeared, Su Cheng's consciousness instantly detached from his physical body and entered another world that seemed both real and illusory.
This chapter took much longer than I expected. I had to carefully consider the talent selection issue, and then I reorganized the outline of Volume 2, which took up a lot of time. And it's not finished yet. I feel like my weekend is going to be ruined!