Set a Small Goal

Set a Small Goal

When luck was bad, some people believed in the mystical law of conservation of luck: if there were good times, there would inevitably be bad times, and vice versa.

But since it was called mysticism, it was not very credible in the first place. After all, luck was something invisible and intangible. Other than believing in mysticism, there was no other way to comfort oneself...

Still, Pei Renli felt that he had indeed bounced back after hitting rock bottom.

In Horror Castle, he had nearly become literal human trash, and then nearly had a ghost physically punch a huge hole through him. The process had been terrifying, but he had not suffered much injury and had returned in one piece.

Philfi had said there were only two ways to escape Horror Castle. One was for a certain number of people to reach the top, and the other was for the number of remaining participants to fall to a predetermined amount.

The latter seemed more likely. From entering Horror Castle to getting out, Pei Renli had spent less than ten minutes inside. In such a short time, compared to enough people crossing the finish line, it seemed more likely that enough people had been eliminated.

The notification sound he had heard earlier had actually been the Demon King System's clearance notice. Compared to those unlucky bastards, Pei Renli truly counted as someone whose luck had bounced back after bottoming out.

Speaking of the Demon King System, the interface displayed the words "Initialization complete. All functions unlocked." After a few seconds, the text faded away, leaving the same layout as before: his name and level on the left, and a large hourglass on the right that had begun counting down again.

But now, there was an additional option beneath his name and level.

"Prestige: 0"

The word "Prestige" looked like a button that could be pressed. The moment he touched it in the air with a finger, two submenus immediately popped open: "Abilities" and "Items."

Below each submenu was a long list of things that looked impressive despite being impossible to understand. However, they were currently grayed out. They probably required prestige to exchange for them, and since Pei Renli had zero prestige, they were all unavailable.

The ranking section, meanwhile, could not be opened. Like his name and level, it was merely for display.

Other than that, the Demon King System had not changed at all.

"Hiss...!"

"I am sorry, Demon King. Please forgive me."

"Don't be so nervous. Just be gentler—slightly gentler will do."

Only after hearing Pei Renli's words did Lavna rise from her half-kneeling position and apply medicine to him again with gauze.

When he had transmigrated, it had happened to be summer. He had arrived wearing a short-sleeved shirt, cropped pants, and sandals. He had fallen several times in Horror Castle alone, leaving plenty of bruises and scrapes, and he was covered in dust.

Seeing this, Lavna had immediately ordered the magical creatures that looked like toy pandas, called Puni, to go out and gather herbs. She personally ground them into a paste with something resembling a garlic masher, then used gauze soaked in it to treat Pei Renli's wounds.

To be fair, Pei Renli had initially refused this herbal medicine with absolutely no guarantee behind it. But after it was applied to his wounds, the pain really did ease considerably. Besides, he had not brought any bandages or anything similar.

This was another world. Who knew whether there were strange germs here? It would be far too miserable if he died from an infection, so he could only let Lavna smear him until he was covered in blue and green patches.

Come to think of it, the viruses in Pei Renli's body that had survived vaccines were no pushovers. They might very well deal a dimensionality-reducing blow to this world's medical system...

That was not important. Back to the point.

After Lavna finished applying the medicine, Pei Renli asked:

"Shouldn't there only be one Demon King? And what exactly is the Demon King Arena?"

"The world you are in is called the Multiverse World. It is a world composed of countless planes. Within this plane, you are indeed the only true Demon King. However, other Demon Kings exist in other planes as well, though Demon Kings cannot travel to other planes."

Pei Renli was still processing those words, but the latter half put him slightly at ease. At least there would not be some massive brawl with other Demon Kings.

"As for the Demon King Arena... the previous Demon King did not tell this subordinate much. He only said that the Demon King Arena was a place only Demon Kings could enter, where Demon Kings from different planes slaughtered one another."

The host of the Demon King Arena had said something similar. He had also mentioned competing for the title and status of the strongest Demon King, the Demon King God.

That made Pei Renli feel as though it was something like a mobile game.

Normally, Demon Kings had little contact with one another. At most, they fought for rankings in the arena.

But why? Were there benefits? Who had created the Demon King Arena and the Demon King System? Could he choose not to participate?

None of that long string of questions had answers. Everything Lavna knew had been told to her by the previous Demon King, so she naturally knew nothing about what he had not mentioned.

Since he could not get any answers for now, Pei Renli could only put the matter aside and ask something else first:

"There is a prestige option in the Demon King System. How do I obtain prestige?"

What was even more damnable about the Demon King System was that it had no manual at all. Pei Renli felt as though he had directly skipped the beginner tutorial.

The ranking was probably just a display of what tier he was currently in. In comparison, the prestige menu contained something like an exchange mechanism, making prestige seem like the Demon King System's currency.

"The more widely known and circulated your name or deeds become, the more prestige you can obtain."

Put simply, there was only one answer: make a big splash.

Lavna only knew that one explanation. No more useful information could be squeezed out of her on the subject.

Lavna felt less useful than Philfi's notebook. She knew far too little. But on second thought, Lavna was at least far more pleasing to the eye than a notebook could ever be...

Rubbing his temple, Pei Renli temporarily gave up on probing further into the Demon King System and said:

"This world has magic?"

"As you said, magic exists in our world."

"Can you use it? Can you teach me?"

"I am very sorry, Demon King. I was created by the previous Demon King. I use all my abilities as naturally as instinct, so I cannot teach them to others."

"Did the previous Demon King leave behind any books about magic? Or any useful treasures? None of those either?"

Lavna repeatedly shook her head, making Pei Renli feel thoroughly speechless.

There was nothing at all. Had the previous Demon King really just left behind an empty shell?

"Are there any weapons?"

"There are some weapons. If you need them, I will fetch them immediately."

Seeing Pei Renli nod, Lavna put away the medicinal paste and gauze, then respectfully backed out of the room and gently closed the door.

Left sitting in the chair, Pei Renli sighed. Although he had many questions, none were immediately urgent. The true threat was still the Demon King Arena.

The large hourglass had begun counting down again, but he did not know when he would next enter the Demon King Arena.

Pei Renli had only survived this time because he had gotten lucky. There was no guarantee he would be lucky again next time.

If the other issues could only be called doubts, then the Demon King Arena was like a Damocles' Sword hanging over his head.

The Demon King System had rated Pei Renli at Level 5. Considering this was a world where magic existed, even an utterly ordinary person was Level 5. In practice, he was barely any different from a useless weakling.

If he wanted to survive, Pei Renli needed to prepare as best he could. The most direct method was to improve his fighting ability.

That was also why he had asked Lavna whether the previous Demon King had left behind anything useful or anything related to magic. The fact that the previous Demon King had left absolutely nothing behind really was infuriating.

Precisely because survival was so urgent, Pei Renli felt that he needed a plan.

First, intelligence.

Not only did he know nothing about the world he was in, he knew absolutely nothing about the plane he was currently in.

This was not something he could simply ignore. At present, the fastest known way to improve his combat strength was through the Demon King System, exchanging prestige for things.

But earning prestige meant making a big splash. He needed to know where to make that splash, and how to do it.

Moreover, the existence of a Demon King definitely meant he was some villainous final boss. If Pei Renli acted rashly, the local natives might chase him down and beat him up. That could be even more dangerous than the Demon King Arena.

Second, he needed to find a practical way to stay alive.

The Demon King System did not feel like a good thing at all. After all, it had brought with it a tangible threat to his life. Though there was currently no evidence besides the Demon King Arena, relying on it too heavily definitely was not wise.

After all, putting all his eggs in one basket made him feel extremely insecure.

Only after resolving the issue of survival would Pei Renli have the chance to ponder other matters, such as why he had transmigrated, who had created the Demon King System, and other questions that could not be answered for now.

But then again, where exactly was he supposed to look for information...

That seemed to be another problem.

Lavna did not know much, and she had basically already told Pei Renli everything she knew.

But there was one small detail. Not long ago, the breakfast she had made for Pei Renli had included a piece of dry bread.

Even if the bread had been made in the kitchen, there was no way she could have produced the flour entirely by herself. Pei Renli had taken a walk outside earlier and had not seen any farmland or anything similar.

In other words, Lavna had most likely bought the bread from a nearby town. If there was a town, then there were locals. Perhaps he could wander around there and gather more information.

He roughly had the first step figured out. In his current state of knowing absolutely nothing, this was all he could think of for now.

Scratching his head, Pei Renli turned and rummaged through the desk behind him, casually taking an unused notebook from the simple bookshelf on top.

He then uncorked the ink bottle and dipped a quill pen into it.

The previous Demon King had not left Pei Renli any additional clues, leaving him like a blind man feeling an elephant. He had to consider everything, which was truly a pain in the ass.

He planned to record all the information he obtained in the notebook. If he ended up failing halfway through his "great undertaking," then the next Demon King would not be as clueless as he was.

It was his first time using a quill pen, so it felt awkward in his hand. Still, it was generally used much like a fountain pen. After giving it some thought, Pei Renli decided to set a small goal first.

So, on the first page of the notebook, he wrote:

"Anyway, first figure out how to stay alive."