Wouldn't It Be Great to Lie Low Until I Was Invincible?

Parallel worlds.

They referred to other worlds that existed parallel to the original world, similar yet different.

In this world, there was the same universe as the original world, the same planets, even the same history and the same people. Yet at the same time, the course of events had diverged for certain reasons.

Perhaps species that had gone extinct in the original world had survived in this one.

Perhaps countries that had once perished in the original world had been saved in this one.

As this world continued to develop under such circumstances, it eventually drifted farther and farther from the original world, becoming another world that was similar yet different. That was what was known as a parallel world.

Now, Su Ming had encountered precisely such a situation.

In other words, he had transmigrated into a parallel world and become this world's Su Ming.

As far as Su Ming knew, this world had seemed to be just as ordinary and mundane as the original Earth a very, very long time ago.

But here, the world had two sides.

One was the surface side, inhabited by all manner of life, with humanity at its head.

The other was an inner side filled with vicious monsters.

There was no order there, nor any living creatures apart from vicious monsters.

The monsters constantly slaughtered one another there, feeding on blood and turning the place into a chaotic, dark hell.

That was the Spirit Fiend Abyss, a place on the inner side of the world inhabited by vicious monsters known as Phantom Demons.

Originally, the surface side and inner side of the world would never intersect.

Like the front and back of a mirror, they could neither reflect, touch, nor see one another.

If the two sides had never intersected, this world would have been as ordinary and mundane as the world Su Ming had originally lived in.

Unfortunately, for unknown reasons, the human-dominated present world had become connected to the Spirit Fiend Abyss, where Phantom Demons lived.

Thus, the distance between the present world and the Spirit Fiend Abyss had been brought infinitely closer.

As a result, Phantom Demons, which fed on blood and were innately bloodthirsty, began invading the present world, posing an unprecedented threat to every living creature in it.

Humanity was powerless to resist the Phantom Demons.

Not only did Phantom Demons possess extraordinary powers beyond human imagination, but their bodily structures were also completely different from humans'. Even the weakest Phantom Demon could recover from shattered bones and mangled flesh at a visible speed, displaying terrifying vitality.

Thus, humans were freely slaughtered by Phantom Demons, devoured, drained dry of blood, as fragile as ants.

Some exceptionally powerful Phantom Demons could even alter the terrain with ease, throwing the very land of this planet into chaos.

Therefore, although this world was still Earth, still the Blue Star Su Ming knew, the influence of Phantom Demons had created countless stark differences.

For example, this world had none of the countries Su Ming was familiar with. Even its cities had changed, becoming enormous Base Cities built to resist the Spirit Fiend Abyss and Phantom Demons.

The city Su Ming was currently in was a Base City called Longyao City, with a population exceeding sixty million.

And Su Ming had already been in this world for a year.

That said, his parents were still the parents he knew, and his home had not changed either. It was still a modest house with four bedrooms and two living rooms. Even his neighbors and social circle had not changed much, and his life before the age of seventeen was largely no different from what Su Ming remembered.

If the city had not changed and his home address had not been different from before, Su Ming would have suspected that he had undergone a fake transmigration.

However, while his life experiences and social connections had not changed much, his surroundings and circumstances had changed completely.

For instance, the school Su Ming attended was no longer an ordinary educational institution. It was a training facility specifically for Warlocks and Hunters, people capable of fighting Phantom Demons, commonly known as the Demon Hunter Academy.

Warlocks and Hunters were professions that had emerged under the influence of the Spirit Fiend Abyss. They possessed special constitutions and powers, granting them the ability to resist and hunt Phantom Demons.

Su Ming had become a Warlock studying at the Demon Hunter Academy.

Not only him—Lei Hao and Ye Bai, whom he had known since childhood and always kept in touch with, had also become a Hunter and a Warlock respectively. Together with him, they had been admitted to the Demon Hunter Academy as students.

Article One of the Demon Hunter Academy's rules: Students must take it upon themselves to eliminate and resist Phantom Demons, and to protect Base Cities and ordinary citizens.

Because of this rule, aside from their daily studies, Demon Hunter Academy students also had to accept missions.

Most missions involved hunting Lesser Phantasmal Demons that had escaped from the Spirit Fiend Abyss into the present world, rescuing ordinary citizens harmed by Phantom Demons, or gathering special materials and items.

Completing missions earned all kinds of rewards, including but not limited to money.

Today, Su Ming, Lei Hao, and Ye Bai had accepted a mission to eliminate a Screaming Devil hiding in the warehouse district and retrieve its wings.

This mission was not particularly difficult. It was only Rank C, which was merely lower-middle tier among the six mission ranks: S, A, B, C, D, and E.

After all, Screaming Devils were merely Lesser Phantasmal Demons, common cannon fodder in the Spirit Fiend Abyss. If not for their ability to fly and their extremely high mobility, which made them somewhat difficult to eliminate, this mission could never have reached Rank C. Even Rank D would have been generous.

Even so, the three of them had nearly made a mistake and allowed the Screaming Devil to escape, which showed just how troublesome Phantom Demons were.

"Well, what can we do? At the Demon Hunter Academy, we can only be considered average students. We aren't even elites, much less comparable to the top students."

After handing in the mission, Lei Hao walked out of the Mission Hall's entrance with a sword larger than a person casually slung over his shoulder, speaking those words.

"That isn't an excuse for your carelessness."

Ye Bai, walking beside him, showed him no leniency at all.

Yet the fact that Ye Bai did not refute him showed that Lei Hao was telling the truth.

Compared to ordinary people, the three of them were naturally far stronger.

But at the Demon Hunter Academy, neither their grades nor their strength were particularly outstanding. Though they were not at the bottom, they had always hovered around the middle, unable to rise or fall, and could only be called ordinary students.

If that had not been the case, the three of them would not have formed a team to complete a Rank C Mission together.

In other words—

"At the Demon Hunter Academy, we're just Side Characters, right?"

Lei Hao spoke without the slightest concern.

This time, it was not Ye Bai who answered Lei Hao, but Su Ming, who had remained silent the whole time.

"What's wrong with being a Side Character?" Su Ming suddenly said. "No matter the situation, you only need to run errands. You don't have to risk your life saving the world like the protagonist or become a hero in everyone's eyes. Nor do you have to end up being sacrificed at some unknown moment like those supporting characters, dying casually. Isn't that great?"

Su Ming's argument made both Lei Hao and Ye Bai blink.

Then, the two of them laughed as well.

"True enough. Being the protagonist in times like these is dangerous." Ye Bai pushed up the glasses on his face and said realistically, "Not to mention anything else, the academy's elites have to complete a high-difficulty Rank A Mission every month. Whenever danger arises somewhere in Longyao City and the academy needs to send students to fill the ranks, they're usually the first to be selected. And that says nothing of the top students."

"Exactly." Lei Hao said carelessly, "In our Hunter Department alone, several elite students ranked among the top hundred died on Rank A Missions this month."

"Isn't it the same in our Sorcerer Department?" Ye Bai sighed. "Last month, a senior who taught us how to use the Twelve Forms went on a Rank A Mission with an Instructor and died as well. That senior was famously kind, popular, and talented. After he died, many teachers thought it was a real pity."

That was the cruelty of this world.

In the end, there were only a small number of people capable of fighting Phantom Demons.

Whether one became a Warlock or a Hunter, neither was something easily achieved.

Meanwhile, even the weakest Phantom Demon could threaten most people's lives.

One or two would be fine; they were not difficult to subjugate. But if a large number of Phantom Demons invaded the present world together, it would be an enormous disaster.

For this reason, whenever Phantom Demons launched a large-scale invasion of the present world, human Base Cities often lacked manpower.

In that case, the missing manpower could only be drawn from the Demon Hunter Academy. This was also why many missions were handed over to the academy for students to complete.

Warlocks and Hunters were such high-risk professions.

But humanity had no other choice. They could only continue resisting; otherwise, becoming blood food for Phantom Demons would be the fate of all mankind.

Su Ming said as much.

"My wish is to be a Side Character, coast through the Demon Hunter Academy until graduation, and keep coasting even after graduation. I'll never be a standout charging into the fray."

Su Ming said this in a tone brimming with conviction.

Neither Lei Hao nor Ye Bai found it strange.

Because this was not the first time Su Ming had said something like this.

The only problem was—

"Side Characters have their own sorrows too."

"Without strength, Side Characters are the ones who get killed off the fastest."

Lei Hao and Ye Bai both said so.

And it was true.

Being a Side Character might mean not drawing attention or getting pushed out to take the blame when danger came, but if one was too weak, they could die at any moment under the Boss's map-wide AOE, becoming disposable fodder who did not even deserve a name.

To those who did not know the truth, Su Ming's wish would only seem like a joke.

But—

"Wouldn't it be fine if I just lay low until I was invincible?"

Su Ming smiled at his two friends.

Lei Hao and Ye Bai immediately burst into laughter.

"Right, just develop quietly. Once you're invincible, every problem will be solved."

"I'm just afraid a Side Character won't be able to lie low until the day he makes it big."

The two of them continued chatting idly, trading remarks back and forth.

Su Ming lagged behind them, still smiling as his consciousness sank into his mind.

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