After the Chosen Trial ended, whether they completed it or not, everyone entered a rest period.
Players who normally completed the trial's main quest would receive roughly fifteen days of Space stay privileges for the following month, while those who failed the trial mission only got seven days. Those stay privileges would take effect next month.
As a benefit for completing the Novice Trial, Cheng Tian not only received fifteen days of Space stay privileges for next month, but could also remain in the Space from this month until the end of the month. Whether he returned to reality or not was entirely up to him.
This involved another non-trial mission mode, which was also the primary function of the building Cheng Tian was currently in—Bounty Missions.
Besides the fixed monthly missions, the Space also issued Bounty Missions that players could accept according to their own circumstances.
Bounty Missions generally did not involve main quest plots like killing the final boss. They included things such as killing a wandering Neutral Unit, finding specific materials, blowing up a certain facility, and so on.
Of course, players were not completely forbidden from directly clashing with the main quest plot. After all, players themselves were the greatest variable in a dungeon. What happened depended entirely on how they stirred things up.
There were both solo and multiplayer Bounty Missions, and multiplayer bounties usually had player limits.
To prevent people from maliciously monopolizing Bounty Missions, players who accepted them had to pay deposits of varying amounts and carry out the missions within a set time limit.
But there was a crucial point here: when players were inside the dungeon corresponding to a Bounty Mission, the dungeon's time synchronized with both reality and the Space. The time spent also counted against the player's Space stay limit, indirectly restricting the number of missions players could accept during their rest periods.
Chosen Space was not the Main God's Space. There were no convenient settings like, "Main God! Heal everyone! Deduct the points from me!" Therefore, players had to leave enough time between missions for their bodies and minds to fully rest and recover... Or they could choose to bleed themselves dry and use healing methods obtained from other dungeons to speed up their recovery.
Cheng Tian currently held the Demon King's Castle Map and had permission to open an exclusive dungeon, so he could return to Demon World Village at any time. He could even use the novice-period benefit without using up next month's stay time.
However, compared to Bounty Missions, the dungeon opened by the Demon King's Castle Map was more like an additional main trial. He had to take down the boss to meet the conditions for leaving. At least for now, Cheng Tian did not want to go back... He planned to play a different game.
Cheng Tian was not the type to grind a game to completion the moment he got his hands on it. He often changed tastes, rotating among several of his current favorites, while also avoiding developing a habitual way of operating.
In any case, he still had plenty of this month's bonus stay time. He had to squeeze every last bit of value out of it and, while he was at it, raise his own strength.
Of course, he also wanted to test whether Game Master would trigger normally when he carried out a Bounty Mission.
Since he had already played a medieval European fantasy-style dungeon, it was time for a change of pace.
Cheng Tian's gaze swept across the bounty list. Aunt Kaster at the counter kindly reminded him that, as a complete newcomer, he was not qualified to view quite a number of bounties.
Insufficient strength, insufficient rank—take an ultra-dangerous hunting mission like Hunt the Black Eclipse Dragon, for example. So what if he could see it? If he could not beat it, he could not beat it! He could not even afford the deposit for that mission! Looking at it would only pressure himself~
Faced with Aunt Kaster's harsh but sincere advice, Cheng Tian nodded to show that he understood. Then, without changing expression, he rapidly scrolled through the list until he finally stopped at a data-gathering Bounty Mission.
[Bounty Mission: Data Collection]
[Mission Description: Within Gotham City's underground bounty organizations, someone is offering a high price for detailed information on the Supervillains wreaking havoc in Gotham City and their evil henchmen. You will enter Gotham as a bounty hunter and face evil directly.
But in Gotham City, compared to those villains who have already become nightmares, the spandex-clad vigilante who appears alongside the Bat-Signal shining in the night sky is the one you should be most wary of.]
[Dungeon Blueprint: Batman (Original NES Version)]
After carefully confirming the mission objective, Dungeon Modifiers, and the deposit he could fully afford, Cheng Tian decided on this one.
If he remembered correctly, the original NES version of Batman had been created using the 1989 movie version as its basis. In other words, the Batman in there would be a Special Individual whose cowl was so stiff he could not turn his neck from side to side, and who had absolutely no qualms about "killing bad guys."
This bounty for gathering information on the evil henchmen—the Grunt Units—was most likely anonymously posted by Wayne Group as well.
Batman never fought a battle he was not sure of winning. Naturally, information that was inconvenient for him to personally seek out would fall to the players to collect... But judging from the mission description, was this Batman also collecting information on the players working for him while they carried out the mission?
That was very Batman, though.
Cheng Tian decisively paid the 1,000-coin deposit and accepted the Bounty Mission. This money would only be returned after he completed the bounty and returned, and he had to enter the dungeon within the next forty-eight hours.
The maximum number of players who could accept the mission was five. One person had already accepted it before Cheng Tian, but Cheng Tian could not tell whether that player had already entered the dungeon or was waiting and preparing.
After accepting the mission, he did not remain on Space Island. Yawning, he directly chose to return to the real world.
[You have chosen to return to the real world.]
[All your Equipment and Items will be temporarily removed and stored in your Personal Space.]
[In the real world, you will not be permitted to reveal anything regarding "Chosen Space" to ordinary people. However, if you insist on disclosing information, be prepared to bear the consequences.]
[If you wish to enter Chosen Space again, simply apply from a safe, non-public area where no one is watching.]
As a burst of intense light enveloped him, Cheng Tian was sent back to his home... outside the bathroom door.
Well, when he had been forcibly thrown into Demon World Village, he had just come out of the bathroom. Otherwise, he would not have been dressed so extremely coolly.
His smartphone, which had received no signal at all until just now and whose battery had already fallen into the 9% red zone, immediately began vibrating nonstop. Cheng Tian hurriedly pulled it out of his underwear and saw a string of message notifications popping up on the screen.
More than half were junk messages from various apps, while a few others were voice messages from his master. Cheng Tian casually tapped open the latest one.
"Little Cheng~ What does Tiga Ultraman look like?"
Cheng Tian's master's profile picture was a fierce, clawing dragon. But on closer inspection, its material was crystal-clear, streaked with gold.
And that dragon represented both Cheng Tian's master's profession and his own—
Cheng Tian sold Sugar Paintings.
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