Shedding the Mortal Coil and Reborn

With a shift of his intent, Zhao Cheng understood that he had to choose one from these eight instances. Furthermore, he could only draw new instances after clearing the current one.

As for the percentages following the instance names, they represented the compatibility between the instance and Zhao Cheng.

Generally speaking, the higher the compatibility, the better.

However, due to personal preferences, one did not necessarily have to choose the one with the highest compatibility.

The operating mechanism of the Panel lay right here; the final choice, and the ultimate decision, still rested in Zhao Cheng's hands.

Seeing this, Zhao Cheng remained unhurried, examining them one by one.

Raging Sea and Startling Waves: A magnificent ocean, infinite treasures, hegemony over the seven seas, the ultimate overlord.

Tags: Sunshine, Beach, Ocean, Treasure Hunting, Adventure

Winter Is Coming: A frozen land, the flames of civilization, heaven-supporting giants, immortal royal legacy.

Tags: Winter, Earth, Steel, Survival

Zhao Cheng looked through the instances one by one. Each one, whether from its name or its synopsis, was filled with the atmosphere of the AAA masterpieces from his past life.

After finishing his review, Zhao Cheng felt that every instance was quite interesting and worth playing.

Unfortunately, he had to choose one out of eight.

When unable to decide, Zhao Cheng didn't overthink it and directly chose the one with the highest compatibility.

Ziwei Shines Upon the World: The nuclear war of the twentieth century destroyed civilization. The legendary savior who bore the mandate of the Heavenly Emperor did not bring peace, but instead made the world even more chaotic. In the midst of despair, until the true savior appeared...

Tags: Savior, Civilization Cultivation

Zhao Cheng guessed that this instance should involve him playing the role of a savior, ending the chaos and saving the world, just like those RPG games from his previous life.

This premise, while seemingly unoriginal, was interesting enough.

Since there was a nuclear war, there would likely be various separatist warlords, and since he wouldn't choose to play with "American-style iaido," he would probably be slicing bullets and cleaving rocket launchers with his sword.

Along the path of grinding monsters and leveling up, he would meet a few girls—or rather, companions—and finally defeat the greatest warlord to successfully end the chaotic era.

Although the plot was cliché, the thought of it still stirred a bit of excitement.

Just as one thought after another turned in Zhao Cheng's mind, the Panel changed in accordance with his choice.

Panel:

Spacetime Beacon selecting...

Hyper-Dimensional Body deploying...

Trait Module drawing...

Please select three Trait Modules to load:

Sword Arts Prodigy (Purple): All sword art level caps +5, sword art proficiency requirements significantly reduced

Sword Affinity (White): All sword art levels +1, sword art proficiency requirements reduced

Sword Has Edge (White): Sword art lethality slightly increased

Primary Sword Sense (White): Affinity for swords increased, control over swords increased, sword art proficiency requirements reduced

Sword Bone (White): Sword path aptitude slightly improved

Sword Heart (White): Sword path comprehension slightly improved

Born Holding a Sword (Blue): Comes with a sword 100% compatible with the user, quality is Blue

Innate Sword Qi (Blue): Sword art lethality increased, physique slightly enhanced

Greatsword Affinity (White): Additional aptitude bonus when wielding a greatsword

Sword Heart (Blue): Sword art levels +2, sword path comprehension improved

Zhao Cheng looked over these Trait Modules and, without any hesitation, decisively chose all the options that could increase the sword art level cap. For this, he even sacrificed a Blue Trait Module.

According to Zhao Cheng's observations, it was clear that the Hyper-Dimensional Body and his original body's attributes were not shared.

When he was looking at the Trait Modules earlier, he had been pondering which modules would be most beneficial to him.

After much thought, if his guess was correct, the only thing shared between the Hyper-Dimensional Body and his original body was likely his wisdom.

The bodies were not the same, but the consciousness was one and the same.

In such a situation, the advantage of a level cap became apparent, as it determined the upper limit.

Beyond that, there was another point: any module that could increase a level cap was the most expensive of its tier, and also the rarest.

Of course, perhaps the simulation of the Panel was different from what Zhao Cheng imagined, and the consciousness might not be entirely shared, but even so, he wouldn't lose much by choosing this way—it was only a matter of a few dozen Source Points.

As Zhao Cheng made his selection, the simulation Panel suddenly shuddered, and immediately after, the text in the Log refreshed: Simulation begins!

Zhao Cheng's consciousness also jolted at this moment, and then, his vision plunged into darkness, with not a shred of light to be seen.

But Zhao Cheng knew that he had already changed spacetime and left the real world.

Because, although his eyes could see nothing, his ears heard the howling of the wind, and at the same time, his body sensed the chill brought by that wind.

Beyond that, the scent hitting his nose also confirmed to Zhao Cheng that he was no longer in his own room.

Am I blind?!

This was the first thought in Zhao Cheng's mind.

In a flash of thought, the longsword in Zhao Cheng's hand swung out, colliding with the ground. It wasn't soil, but concrete, and sparks flew instantly.

It's just that the world is too dark.

The tiny sparks let Zhao Cheng know that his eyes were perfectly fine.

Something's not right. Didn't I take the Ziwei Shines Upon the World instance? Does this world not have a sun?!

Zhao Cheng's thoughts flickered as he looked directly at the Panel.

At this moment, the Panel was completely different from the one in the real world.

Panel

Instance: Ziwei Shines Upon the World

Carrier: Hyper-Dimensional Body

Source Point: 6.8

Realm: Quietude (52%)

Traits:

???(?): Heaven Rewards Diligence, every effort shall have its reward; Panel; ???

Sword Seed (Damaged) 13% (Red): Sword art level cap +3, sword affinity increased moderately, proficiency required for sword art improvement decreased moderately.

Sword Arts Prodigy (Purple): All sword art level caps +5, proficiency required for sword arts decreased significantly.

Sword Affinity (White): All sword art levels +1, proficiency required for sword arts decreased.

Sword Heart (Blue): Sword art levels +2, sword path enlightenment increased.

Vitality: 1.5 (1.0)

Strength: 6.1 (5)

Agility: 6.5 (5)

Physique: 5.5 (5)

Spirit: 7.2 (5)

Skills: 17th Basic Swordsmanship 6th Revised Edition lv4 (lv16) (6/30)

Simulation Count: Simulating

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Compared to the Panel in reality, the one before his eyes had two extra sections: Instance and Carrier. Furthermore, it had three additional traits, which directly raised the level cap of Zhao Cheng's 17th Basic Swordsmanship 6th Revised Edition to lv16—a twofold increase. This doubling was something that could no longer be described by a simple "rebirth."

Even more intuitive and clear was the fact that the proficiency required to level up his sword arts had been reduced by a factor of ten. Not ten points, but ten times!

With this single change, Zhao Cheng had transformed from an ordinary person into a true genius.

At the same time, it was only now that Zhao Cheng deeply realized why those geniuses were able to do what others could not.

If the proficiency required for leveling up was reduced tenfold and you still couldn't do the impossible, you might as well just drop dead.