Si Ming returned to his personal space and spent a pleasant day there. The Profaned Greatsword felt smoother and smoother in his hands with every swing. As he tested spells, Eve played the piano and sang beautifully. He could finally relax and spend his free time however he pleased, and only then did he realize just how much he loved winning.
He swung his sword, summoned things, ran tests, gathered energy, then ate a little and rested. That was all Si Ming did over the next twenty-four hours. He thought he needed to unwind and recover, but it turned out he wasn't especially short on either. Every little improvement brought him pleasure. Of course, there was one small interruption.
There was one thing he could never understand.
The trials he'd faced and the battles he'd fought in other worlds had been far more dangerous and cruel than anything in the World of Reincarnation. So why had he spent so long in another world, only to unlock the First Stage of the Gene Lock after arriving in the World of Reincarnation?
It made no sense.
The world of AVP 2 had been as easy as a post-meal stroll for him at the time. Only Wolf had been worthy of making him use his full strength, and even before they fought, Si Ming had been ninety percent sure he would win. Yet that after-dinner exercise—the greatest crisis he'd faced, which amounted to getting distracted and kicking his little toe—had let him unlock the First Stage of the Gene Lock, something he should have only been able to break through at the brink of death.
What was that supposed to mean?
Was it a case of slow accumulation leading to a sudden breakthrough?
Si Ming didn't find that very convincing, but he still felt he ought to respect the facts. Maybe the Gene Lock was a local specialty of the World of Reincarnation, but in theory, the entire infinite universe should be governed by the same rules. And if so, then during his journey through other worlds, he must have been in another universe.
So I first traveled from Earth to another world, but was still in my home universe. Only afterward did I travel into the infinite universe.
Then...
The Main God's light curtain descended. A special entry appeared before his eyes: [Return to Origin World—Real World]. He had deliberately ignored it before, but now it was once again clear as day.
He wasn't in any hurry to return to his hometown.
But he was quite interested in returning to that treacherous other world. There was little point in returning home rich only to hide it away, and he was now a hundred times stronger than when he'd left. Maybe it was time to neatly settle some old scores that couldn't be resolved with simple fists, blades, guns, and cannons.
"I'll give it a try next time." Si Ming thought for a moment, then made up his mind. He hadn't yet activated the D-rank balance needed to return to the real world, but he didn't think it would take him long to earn enough.
He nodded, committing the idea to memory.
And so the twenty-four hours passed in a flash. The appointed time soon arrived.
More people had come than he'd expected.
When Si Ming arrived at the circular table, he exchanged some points for a cup of tea and a small bun. The first person he saw emerge from his personal space was Song Tian. Before he could greet him, Jacob appeared too. Yu Zhiwei had naturally taken a seat at the table as well. By the time everyone had settled in, Valentina had appeared from who knew where and quietly taken a spot in a corner, a little apart from the others.
A gathering of the wise, young and old alike. Excellent.
Si Ming nodded to the others in greeting.
"Good afternoon, everyone. Have you eaten?"
Yu Zhiwei answered first.
"I just ate. Is that all you're having for lunch?"
"Just a snack after lunch." Si Ming waved a hand and looked at the others. Song Tian nodded, and Valentina had somehow acquired a pizza.
It had no smell. A faint, invisible wind surrounded her. It was hard to imagine anyone using a trick like that to block out the sound and smell of lunch.
"The Main God's food is pretty good." Jacob smiled, and a large platter of roast meat with a rich aroma and distinctive flavor appeared before him. "Better than reality, and better than anywhere else. The Celestial Team's exchange list also seems to be a little different from other teams'. We can order dishes that aren't even in the ingredient section, then have the Main God cook them to our preferred taste."
He picked up his fork and speared a piece of fresh roast meat dripping with juice. Its mouthwatering aroma spread through the air, suddenly mingling with the smell of pineapple pizza.
"Wastelander-style Deathclaw steak. Want to try?"
Si Ming knew the name Deathclaw.
He knew what they were, and he'd seen something similar in the ingredient section not long ago. But back when he was on the East Sea Team, the exchange list had only offered raw corpses and meat.
So he exchanged for a small serving of his own and tried a little. The texture was unexpectedly spicy and chewy, like a ball of blazing fire. As he swallowed, a warm glow spread through his body.
"Fallout?" He looked at Jacob. "So the Main God sends us into game worlds too?"
"Right. Fallout 2." Jacob nodded. "Fortunately, I'm still an old-school gamer, so I wasn't completely lost. I joined the other Sandbar Team members for part of the main quest. We took a pile of junk and fought the powerful Enclave army in the Wasteland alongside the protagonist. We got hurt, but the rewards were substantial."
"I remember the Enclave power armor was pretty good, and the Fallout series had some very cheap plasma guns." Si Ming took a sip of tea. He saw that a steak had appeared in front of Yu Zhiwei too.
"Right. I tried them. Aside from their firepower, everything else was quite good." Jacob smiled. "Unfortunately, when I went back a second time, I couldn't find that protagonist, Qiu Shengwang. The Main God had advanced time by thirty-six years, from 2241 to 2277, and dumped me on the East Coast. I found out later that I'd landed in the Fallout 3 era."
"Fallout 3?" Yu Zhiwei asked, sounding curious. "As far as I know, that game hasn't even made it to three yet."
Nearby, Valentina was still eating pizza, but she perked up her ears.
"Fallout 3 won't come out until 2008." Si Ming quickly looked up some information and checked his own memories. "But if the Main God can let us exchange for all kinds of future technology, naturally it can send us to future worlds too. I ran into something similar on the East Sea Team: Alien vs. Predator 2, even though plenty of people had already entered the Main God's space before that."
"That makes sense," Jacob agreed. "In that case, maybe we'll soon encounter worlds set years or even decades in the future? No wonder the team leader's authority lets us know the next scenario in advance. That really is a valuable privilege."
"...But what happens to the original team? Won't they..." Valentina furrowed her brow, worry in her voice.
"They'll choose a new leader." Si Ming reassured her. "The Main God explained that when a team leader goes to the Celestial Team, the original team only loses the chance to increase its Gene Lock level once. A new leader will still emerge, so it won't cause any other problems."
"If you still feel bad about it, you can make it up to them when we run into each other in a team battle." Yu Zhiwei propped up her chin, poking at the little plate she'd already cleaned off. "Ah, assuming they don't go out of their way to interfere with our main quest."
Valentina frowned.
"...You really know how to talk, Yu Zhiwei."
"I was already choosing my words carefully, you know. By the way, Miss Valentina, your name is so long. Do you have a shorter nickname you'd like to share?" Her fork left her hand and twisted and transformed in front of her, its steel forming all kinds of strange shapes.
Valentina simply turned away, pretending not to hear the squeal of a pig.
Si Ming coughed lightly and steered the conversation back on track.
"Jacob, you said you went back to Fallout 3..."
"Yeah, Fallout 3." Jacob nodded slightly, his eyes full of nostalgia. "At the time, I'd had a little... disagreement with the other Sandbar Team members. So when I was alone, I idly browsed the Main God's enhancement list. That was when I discovered it could send you back to the previous world for ten reward points a day. Unfortunately, going back to an even older world required a D-rank side plot and fifty reward points a day. Otherwise, I'd have liked to revisit the first world I ever entered: Dungeons & Dragons."
There really was a Dungeons & Dragons movie. It was a mediocre fantasy film released in 2000, and it had only grossed thirty million dollars. Si Ming had to look it up on the spot.
He had a rough idea why Jacob had taken the path he had.
"I came across a cult there that called itself the Church of Atom. It was a post-apocalyptic wasteland, and they worshipped a nuclear bomb that had devastated their world and was still tormenting them..." Jacob smiled, though there was something complicated in it. "I couldn't stand it, so I found a way to take over the church. But after I'd settled the locals, built a settlement for them, cleared out the nearby monsters and bandits, and established an orthodox church to guide them when they felt lost, I discovered that my powers had changed."
He clenched his fist lightly.
"I went from being a Priest to a Profane Priest. I learned many truths about gods because of it... So after that, I stopped believing in any gods. Then I returned to the world of Dungeons & Dragons and found a way to usurp Tyr's divine power. After raising my Profane Priest rank to B, I and the other Sandbar Team members could no longer stand one another."
"You did what people thought a god should do, so you became a god," Song Tian suddenly said.
Jacob only shook his head.
"I only did what people thought a god would do, and that's why I became one... People create gods. At least, the gods I've encountered were created by people."
He suddenly turned to Si Ming. He'd sensed the divine power within him earlier.
"What do you think, Si Ming?"
Before you continue