Invited, In Honkai, Grinding Stats to Level Up

Seeing the pained expression on Gwen's face and noticing that You Lan Dai Er hadn't returned with a doctor yet, the young girl pursed her lips and hesitantly reached out her small hand, gently massaging Gwen's head.

Although massage wasn't part of her maid training, which she pursued as a hobby, the young girl Rita had learned it to help relieve the fatigue of You Lan Dai Er, who trained tirelessly.

However, this was the first time she was giving a massage to Gwen...

Feeling the slight relaxation brought by the skilled fingers, carrying a faint floral scent, gently massaging his head, Gwen felt like a traveler in a parched desert who had finally encountered a light rain from a thin cloud. It couldn't quench his immediate thirst, but it offered immense comfort.

In this rare moment of relief, Gwen, whose spirit was already exhausted from the continuous barrage of information and pain, drifted back to sleep...

Meanwhile, in his slumber, Gwen felt as if he were rapidly flipping through memories, but for some reason, only shallow imprints remained in his mind before quickly fading. Only a sigh, filled with affection and sorrow, deeply resonated within Gwen's spirit, bringing his hazy consciousness into clarity.

Opening his eyes wide, Gwen found himself standing on a vast, snow-covered plain. The biting cold wind whipped past, causing Gwen to involuntarily shiver and shrink his small body...

Huh?

Where was his 1.8-meter height?

Why had he become so small?

Shocked to discover his body had shrunk, Gwen examined himself and found that he was now only about eleven or twelve years old, and his development was quite unhealthy.

Just as Gwen was wondering where he was and what had happened to him, two entangled streams of light suddenly plummeted from the sky, which radiated a distorted halo. The splashed snow nearly buried Gwen alive.

"Ptooey... ptooey..."

Spitting out the snow from his mouth, Gwen climbed out of the snowdrift and looked at the culprits. He saw two orbs of light still entangled, almost stuck together.

The orbs of light were adorned with brilliant gold and deep blue, respectively. Even though they were intertwined, their slightly distorted halo possessed an astonishing allure, instantly capturing Gwen's gaze. He unconsciously took two steps forward, reaching out his hand towards the two orbs of light...

But just as his hand was about to touch the two orbs of light, Gwen paused, hesitating whether to touch them.

After all, the unknown often meant danger.

However, his hesitation lasted only a second before Gwen firmly grasped the two orbs of light with both hands—

Fortune favors the bold; the timid starve.

Since he had already encountered something like being born in the Demon King's lair, things couldn't possibly get worse than being brainwashed and discarded by Otto.

With no way to retreat, he might as well go all out.

The next moment, the two orbs of light in Gwen's hands flared brilliantly, transforming into two streams of light that surged into Gwen's body. Instantly, his body displayed a divine golden and blue hue on each side, a truly wondrous sight.

And these divine golden and blue lights seemed to treat Gwen's body as a new battlefield, colliding fiercely in a fight to the death.

As the arena for this unending war, Gwen was overwhelmed by pain that had seeped into his very bones. He felt as if he were about to shatter spectacularly, like a balloon overinflated with a massive amount of gas.

Veins bulged on his forehead, and Gwen, who had almost lost the ability to think, had eyes turned blood-red from the agony that permeated every corner of his body. It felt as if he were seeing Yin and Yang demons beckoning him.

Realizing that he would likely die here if he didn't do something, Gwen gritted his teeth and, with all his might, controlled his numb hands to lift and slam them together—

You like fighting?

Then face me head-on. Why are you dawdling inside my body?

Chapter 3: The Experimental Subject Is Me?

Although the light had flowed into Gwen's body like rivers entering the sea, even occupying half of his being and fighting incessantly, the cores of the two streams of light were still in Gwen's hands.

The two streams of light, both intent on destroying the other, seemed surprised that Gwen could still act. They offered no resistance as the cores, held in Gwen's palms, collided with a crisp sound—

Crack!

With this sound, as if something had been broken, the falling snowflakes in the sky paused, and the howling wind ceased its movement, as if time had frozen at that moment.

However, Gwen, staring at the cores of the two streams of light with his blood-red eyes, had no time to pay attention to these minor details.

Under Gwen's gaze, the two shattered cores did not drop any fragments. The dazzling golden light and the majestic blue light reconverged onto the cores, entwining each other as if trying to reclaim the other's essence.

However, the two lights, which had been evenly matched before, still couldn't decide a winner. Instead, their entanglement deepened, and the battle became increasingly chaotic.

But at this moment, Gwen no longer had the ability to intervene in their struggle—

Perhaps because Gwen's frantic actions had provoked the two lights, Gwen could clearly feel the pain from every part of his body, but he could do nothing more. He could only watch helplessly as the two lights continued to entangle.

However, these two lights, unable to defeat each other, seemed to have had their cores severely damaged, rendering them unable to maintain their purity. After a period of entanglement, they even began to... merge?

These two lights, whose origin and duration of conflict were unknown, seemed to have become familiar with each other during their prolonged struggle, leading to a remarkably rapid fusion.

One moment, Gwen had just noticed the signs of the two lights merging; the next, Gwen's vision was filled with a brilliant blue-gold radiance.

Facing this dazzling light, Gwen instinctively closed his eyes, unaware that he had become the source of the light.

The brilliant radiance illuminated the land. The dark clouds in the sky were dispersed, the snow that had nearly buried Gwen melted away, revealing the moist earth. Even the biting cold wind transformed into the fragrance of soil after rain.

When Gwen opened his eyes again, a slightly ethereal interface with a blue-gold background was floating before him.

Due to the intense pain he had just endured, Gwen could barely control his body to do anything.

Fortunately, the harsh environment had disappeared. Gwen simply stood there, observing the interface before him—

Gwen - Lv1

Strength - I0
Durability - I0
Dexterity - I0

Spirit — EX

Energy — D500

Energy System: None

"..."

Even though his consciousness was still a bit sluggish from the recent pain, looking at the interface before him gave Gwen a strange sense of déjà vu.

Isn't this just a copy of the Blessings from the DanMachi world next door?

Although there were differences, the strong sense of déjà vu made Gwen subconsciously harbor such doubts.

Of course, doubts were doubts. With no one to ask, Gwen merely grumbled in his heart, then began to ponder the meaning of this interface and its contents.

First, his recent suffering wasn't in vain; he had gained the system before him.

Second, if his guess was correct and the system's effects were similar to the Blessings in the DanMachi world he remembered, allowing him to present the improvements gained from training and combat as quantifiable stats…

Then the space he was currently in should be the so-called mental world.

After all, if the pain he just endured was considered a form of training, it should have primarily impacted his endurance, with his spirit only being a secondary effect.

Yet, the rewards for enduring the pain were all reflected in his spirit. There was only one explanation for this.

As for the energy, which was also not I0, Gwen guessed it might be related to his body—

Even in a mental world, it shouldn't have inexplicably caused his physique to appear in the form of a small child.

The only explanation was that he had likely undergone a legendary soul transmigration, and his current body possessed some kind of energy.

However, Gwen wasn't disappointed that his suffering only yielded an EX-rank in spirit.

After all, with a higher spirit stat, Gwen should be able to resist Otto's Feather of Dust package to some extent.

Moreover, with a system that visualized his stat improvements, Gwen was confident he could grind himself into a well-rounded character, capable of punching Otto the pseudo-god and suppressing Kevin the Final Herrscher, making the phrase "Step aside, let me handle this" a reality.

Finally, putting aside these fleeting fantasies, Gwen's gaze shifted slightly upward, looking at the area above his name.

There, a portrait of a boy with white hair and blue eyes was displayed. Gwen estimated this was likely his current appearance.

Hmm… although the unhealthy pale skin tone lowers his attractiveness, he can still score a nine.

Giving his current appearance a high score as if entertaining himself, Gwen also quickly organized all the information about the Honkai world in his mind, analyzing his current situation.

White hair and blue eyes—the signature appearance of the Caslana family.

Coupled with the fact that he woke up directly at Destiny Headquarters…

Could I be the product of some unknown plan by that guy Otto?

It was known that Otto had played around extensively with genetic engineering technologies to revive Kallen; both Theresa and Amber were products of this.

Although he had arrived at an answer that might put him in a more dangerous situation, Gwen felt relieved instead.

After all, the existence of the system gave Gwen confidence in improving his strength, but in the Honkai world, without Honkai resistance, one could die directly in a Great Honkai at any moment.

And this body, which likely possessed Caslana bloodline, came with top-tier Honkai resistance, directly resolving the biggest threat for Gwen. He didn't have to worry about grinding all his stats to be well-rounded, only to be corroded by Honkai energy.

It should be known that judging by Kiana's performance in the story, Honkai energy below the level of multiple Herrscher cores had almost no effect on her.

Even if his body was slightly inferior, it already surpassed ninety-nine point nine percent of the people in this world.

"So, after waking up, the next step is to lay low and strive for development time.

Judging by the appearances of You Lan Dai Er and Rita, there should still be a few years before Otto's plan officially begins…

Even if this body, which judging by the avatar seems unhealthy, has difficulty improving stats like the adventurers in the DanMachi world, I should still have some self-preservation ability by then.

If I get lucky and my improvement goes smoothly… hehe…"

Making a rough plan for the future in his mind, Gwen's gaze fell on the "lv1" next to his name—

Although his spirit stat was currently EX at lv1, it was still just lv1.

If possible, Gwen wouldn't mind upgrading his other stats, which were almost all blank slates, to lv2.

Analogous to the "actual ability will be stronger than before upgrading" nature of the DanMachi Blessings, Gwen estimated that at lv2, his spirit resistance should be stronger than the current lv1, and his chances of resisting Feather of Dust would also be higher.

As for the loss incurred by upgrading like this?

After upgrading, the base stats would reset to 0 but be retained as hidden attributes, which could be trained again. However, if he couldn't withstand the Feather of Dust package, that would be a huge problem.

It was a pity that even though Gwen's spirit stat had reached EX, he couldn't choose to upgrade to lv2.

"Could it be that this unlucky system not only copied the stat system but also the requirement of Great Deeds for upgrading?"

Confirming that he couldn't upgrade, Gwen sighed slightly and complained in his heart.

Great Deeds could be simply understood as a special kind of experience points, which could be obtained and accumulated through actions such as defeating strong enemies and overcoming challenges. The stronger the opponent defeated or the greater the difficulty overcome, the more Great Deeds could be accumulated.

In the DanMachi world, after accumulating enough "Great Deeds" experience points, adventurers could level up, converting their existing stats into hidden attributes, and continue to train their stats.

"If that's really the case, then the plan to lay low until level 802 as a King of Cinders will have to be scrapped..."

While thinking, Gwen, whose body could now move with some effort, raised his hand and shakily clicked the "X" in the upper right corner of the attribute interface.

The next moment, the attribute interface disappeared, but before Gwen's eyes, another interface appeared.

Chapter 4: The Old Man Lost His Horse, How Could It Not Be a Blessing?

Gwen blinked at the interface, which shared the same blue-gold background as the system panel but leaned more towards blue. His mind, sluggish from fragmented memories and the recent agony, began to whir—

Wait… I think I grabbed two orbs just now.

One was the system, so the other one shouldn't be too bad, right?

Realizing that this might be another cheat, Gwen's eyes lit up with eagerness—

While numerical stat increases were certainly motivating, Gwen lacked a system sprite to tell him he could endlessly grind for upgrades.

And the ability system, which suspiciously copied some of DanMachi's Blessings, also made Gwen worry if he'd hit a level cap like those adventurers, unable to progress after just two levels.

After all, judging by his avatar, his body didn't look particularly robust. He might just be one of those adventurers stuck at level one, unable to advance.

In such a situation, gaining another cheat, another layer of security, was an immense surprise for Gwen, who was currently feeling extremely insecure.

With just a glance, Gwen realized what it was—

"Alright, alright, alright. One of you copied DanMachi's Blessings, and the other one straight-up copied Penguin, huh?"

Looking at the interface, which was almost identical to the PC version of Penguin he used before crossing over, minus useless features like channels and spaces, Gwen couldn't help but inwardly complain.

But despite his grumbling, Gwen felt a lot more at ease. The sense of urgency from realizing he had transmigrated to Destiny's headquarters, right under Otto's nose, and was apparently an experimental subject in one of his experiments, hadn't completely vanished, but the fear and panic had significantly subsided.