1 Otherworld

"I'm sure that, under those circumstances, I was already dead. There was absolutely no possibility that anyone could have saved me."

"But when I opened my eyes, I realized I had come back to life and arrived in an utterly unfamiliar place. It was indeed unbelievable, beyond anything I understood, but that was the truth."

Beneath an ancient vine, beside a small path, a young man sat on a bluestone, thinking over the process of how he had come to this world.

Chen Cheng was certain this was no longer his original world. In plain terms, he had transmigrated.

He had been here for five days, and he was certain this was no longer Earth.

At the foot of the mountain, there was a small town. The people's customs there were similar to ancient China, but the language spoken in the town was not one Chen Cheng could understand.

Chen Cheng held a damaged firewood cleaver in his hand. An old man had given it to him when he went down to the town.

Accepting a new world was simply too hard. With the language barrier, he could not communicate with anyone at all. In five days, aside from going down the mountain at the very beginning to gather information, he had spent all his time on the mountain.

Fortunately, there were plenty of small animals on this mountain. With the firewood cleaver the old man had given him, he could still fill his stomach.

"It's getting late. I'd better hurry and catch something small, or tonight's food will be a problem again."

After Chen Cheng had rested, he stood up from the stone, gripped the firewood cleaver, and followed the small path deeper into the forest.

Two days ago, he had discovered a good spot where edible small animals were very easy to catch.

Chen Cheng walked with extreme vigilance, carefully watching his surroundings.

In this mountain forest, apart from small animals with little offensive power, there were also many man-eating beasts. Once he ran into that sort of beast, Chen Cheng could only flee.

"Ding."

As Chen Cheng walked, he suddenly heard a crisp sound. He was certain he had not misheard.

In such a dangerous mountain forest, for such a strange sound to suddenly appear made Chen Cheng's heart clench at once.

Chen Cheng gripped the firewood cleaver in his hand even tighter. His gaze narrowed slightly as he slowly checked the scenery around him.

All of a sudden, his gaze fixed on a patch of grass half a man's height.

The grass was swaying faintly.

Chen Cheng stayed alert, gripping the firewood cleaver with both hands as he slowly walked toward that patch of grass.

Judging from how it's moving, something should be hiding here. And this grass isn't all that tall, yet it can completely conceal its figure. That means its body can't be too large. I can deal with it, Chen Cheng thought.

Chen Cheng believed that the thing hiding in that patch of grass should be an animal.

And wasn't Chen Cheng's purpose in entering the mountain to look for food? Since he had run into an animal halfway there, why would he need to risk going deeper into the mountain?

The mountain was truly too dangerous. The slightest carelessness could cost him his life.

Two days ago, Chen Cheng had seen a monster with eight legs, three meters tall, opening its bloody maw as its roar boomed like thunder. Fortunately, Chen Cheng's physique was different from ordinary people's, and he had escaped in the end.

"Ding."

Another sound rang in Chen Cheng's mind, but given Chen Cheng's current situation, he ignored it.

Just as Chen Cheng was about to approach that patch of grass, the grass suddenly shook violently. Immediately afterward, a shadow suddenly leaped out.

Chen Cheng's mind was extremely focused. The moment that figure moved, Chen Cheng had already noticed it. Chen Cheng shifted sideways and dodged, then swiftly kicked at that figure.

A tremendous force sent that figure flying backward.

"A person?"

The figure that appeared was not the food Chen Cheng had imagined, but a human.

After Chen Cheng kicked that person away, he did not stop attacking. He immediately took a step forward, raised the firewood cleaver high in his hand, then brought it down swiftly. In his panic, that person hurriedly used a short stick gripped in his hand to block.

But Chen Cheng's strength was extremely great, and he easily chopped the wooden stick in two. The firewood cleaver, however, stopped precisely one centimeter from that person's neck.

That person looked to be in his twenties, around one meter sixty-seven tall, with a thin, small build and an extremely dark face. His clothing was badly damaged, making him look just like a beggar.

At this moment, he sat on the ground, both hands still maintaining the posture of gripping the wooden stick, his eyes filled with panic.

Chen Cheng's physical fitness had been extremely outstanding to begin with. Back in his original world, he could easily knock down three to five people barehanded. Now that he also had a firewood cleaver, he could naturally subdue this person with ease.

That person: "￥#*@...￥##"

Chen Cheng could not understand what he was saying, nor did he want to guess his meaning. After restraining him, he took a vine and tied him to a tree, but did not communicate with him.

He could not communicate with him anyway.

"Ding. Copy System loaded successfully!"

At this moment, Chen Cheng finally heard clearly the strange voice in his mind.

It was a neutral mechanical voice.

"System?" Chen Cheng's gaze suddenly sharpened, somewhat puzzled.

"Is this a late-arriving golden finger?" The expression on Chen Cheng's face changed slightly.

No matter what kind of system it was, it could make his situation a little better.

"Hello, host. Since this is our first meeting, please allow this system to introduce its functions to you." A voice rang out in Chen Cheng's mind.

"This system's main function is to allow the host to randomly copy one of another person's abilities every once in a while, including but not limited to another person's Dou Techniques, Cultivation Methods, and physique."

"Abilities obtained through copying may later be improved by the host himself, and will also improve as the original ability's owner improves. Please seek out people with great potential to copy."

"After each copy, the next copy may only be carried out one month later."

"The success rate of copying is 80%. If copying fails, one ability the host already possesses will be randomly strengthened."

"The host may use this system to view brief information on himself or others."

"This system comes with a Storage Space. The space is 1024m, and is limited to storing non-living objects."

"Upon first activation, one copy opportunity will be gifted. The next copy opportunity will be in half a month."

"This introduction is complete. If the host has any questions in the future, simply contact this system directly with your thoughts."

"Not bad." After Chen Cheng listened to the system's long string of introductions, he praised it inwardly.

The Copy System's main function was copying other people's abilities. The other functions, such as information viewing and Storage Space, were only add-ons.

But with just that, Chen Cheng felt it was already enough for him to gain a foothold in this world.

"System." Chen Cheng called out to the system with his thoughts.

"This system is here." Very quickly, he received the system's response. Its mechanical voice sounded somewhat awkward.

"Can you check my current location? Am I still on Earth right now?" Chen Cheng asked.

"Querying."

"Query successful."

After the Copy System received the command, it began carrying out its work.

"The host's current location is the Dou Qi Continent, Northwest Continent, Izumo Empire, Da Ling Mountain Range."

"What?" Chen Cheng shouted in surprise, but his standard Chinese sounded like a pile of garbled "&#%##%￥" to the little beggar he had tied up.

"Dou Qi Continent? Izumo Empire? Have I arrived in Xiao Yan's world?"

After receiving this information, Chen Cheng could already confirm what world he was in.

"View personal information." After a while, once he had accepted this fact, Chen Cheng continued issuing commands.

Name: Chen Cheng

Cultivation: None

Ability: Low-Level Combat

A piece of information appeared in Chen Cheng's mind.

It was indeed very simple information. Aside from that, there was nothing else.

"Right, use that copy opportunity. As for the target, him." Chen Cheng pointed at the little beggar tied to the tree and spoke to the system.

"Executing."

"The host has copied the current target's ability: language."

Chen Cheng frowned. It was unexpected, but also only reasonable.

After all, among all his skills, only his combat ability had been recognized by the system. His other abilities all belonged to the unranked category in the system's database. And what special ability could this little beggar, whom Chen Cheng had knocked down in two moves, possibly possess?

He had originally intended to have the system fail the copy and strengthen his combat ability a bit.

However, being able to possess the language of this world would also make things much more convenient. At the very least, he could go to the small town below the mountain in the future.

"Let me go."

The little beggar shouted, and this time, Chen Cheng could understand what he was saying.

This was the system's ability. Without Chen Cheng noticing it at all, it had modified him.

Chen Cheng walked over to the little beggar and asked, "Why did you attack me?"

Chen Cheng's tone was very calm. He did not have any urgent desire to get an answer.

He had only arrived in this world five days ago and had not communicated with anyone in the town. He could not have offended anyone, and no one would retaliate against him.

As for this raggedly dressed person before him attacking Chen Cheng, it could only be due to this person's own reasons and had nothing to do with Chen Cheng.

The little beggar said something, but Chen Cheng did not pay attention. Because at this moment, the system's voice rang out in his mind again.

"Abnormality detected in the host's body. Querying."

"Query failed!"

"Running second query."

"Query failed!"

The system's notification sounds continuously rang out in Chen Cheng's mind. As a result, while the little beggar was speaking, he did not hear the little beggar's words clearly.

It repeated over and over like this.

"Running 100th query."

"No abnormality in the host's body!"

Finally, after 100 notification sounds, the system at last quieted down. But that constantly ringing mechanical voice had already irritated Chen Cheng.

The system being able to monitor Chen Cheng's physical condition in real time was actually a pretty decent function.

"System, can you change your voice? Switch to a gentle female voice," Chen Cheng commanded.

"Executing. Switched to gentle female voice." The system's first half of the sentence was still in a mechanical voice, while the latter half had already become a female voice.

It was soft and sweet, much more comfortable to hear.

Chen Cheng was a hot-blooded young man. Comparatively speaking, he was more willing to listen to a soft female voice than that synthetic mechanical sound.

And then, a different female voice suddenly rang out in Chen Cheng's mind.

"Ding. Myriad World Summoning System loaded successfully!"