Just Keep Living Like This

Trouble. Nothing but trouble. The system had left Er Dongsheng so thoroughly confused that his head ached. He stopped thinking about it and chose option three. Even if it failed, so what? At worst, he would start over!

Luck was an elusive thing. You never knew when it might leave you behind—just as it had left Er Dongsheng now!

It had failed. The fusion had failed! Well, not completely. He was just disappointed. It had not been nearly as powerful as he had imagined!

These were his current attributes. The display was clean and tidy, but compared with the old one, there was pitifully little left!

Demon True Name: Bakasa-Morag-Andrea-Fire-Er Dongsheng (locked; must not be revealed)

Secondary True Name: Baal (for public use; an Abyssal name containing tremendous power)

Rank: First-Level Demon, Imp Rank (independent evolution)

Strength: 60

Spirit: 120

Constitution: 20 (fire-attribute constitution)

Mastered skills: Ink Spirit Flame, Basic Body Tempering, Basic Combat Arts, Basic Spellcraft (Lesser Fireball Technique)

Special skill: Flame Demon God Transformation (low-level)

Note: All skills work throughout the Universe and are not suppressed by planes!

Waves of information poured into his mind. Countless pieces of knowledge spun and scattered through his head. Er Dongsheng rubbed his aching temples and gave a rueful smile!

This risky fusion could not really be called a failure. The gains simply had not been as great as he had imagined!

Basic Body Tempering had combined the knowledge in his memories with that thread of Heavenly Dao Will, forming a simple, direct Body-Refining Art unusually well suited to this Demon body. Traces of the external martial arts from his previous life remained, but some parts were entirely different. Basic Body Tempering focused on tempering cells, muscles, and bones, steadily strengthening his bloodline. Compared with the Body-Refining Art he had practiced before, he could not say which was stronger. This one was probably just a better fit for his body!

Basic Combat Arts had completely integrated the fundamental attack methods from his previous life. Centered on fist techniques and drawing on the properties of all things, it had formed a unique set of offensive moves! Built around speed, ruthlessness, and precision, it aimed for efficient, swift kills with bold, sweeping movements. It was a fairly comprehensive set of fist techniques, and the way each move generated force was better suited to the structure of his Demon body!

Put it this way: if Er Dongsheng's old moves could draw out three-tenths of this body's potential, Basic Combat Arts could draw out all ten!

As for Basic Spellcraft, it was much the same, barely changed. It seemed the Daoist spells from his previous life really were not accepted by this Universe!

Er Dongsheng was actually quite satisfied. He had lost a jumble of miscellaneous skills, but gained a set of martial arts perfectly suited to him. Martial arts had not been lost. He could keep training without stumbling along as he had before, with no idea where the road led!

The system had far fewer entries now, but that did not mean those things had vanished. They had merged completely into his body. His resistances, for example, had become part of his constitution!

The Abyss had never had so many miscellaneous details in the first place. Those entries had appeared according to the subconscious expectations left by his previous life, and once the system finished fusing, they all disappeared!

"Now there's just one thing left. What exactly is the Game Space?"

"Th-this is such a rip-off! What use is this thing now?" Er Dongsheng was speechless as he read the system's explanation!

"The Game Space has fused with the Abyssal Will, becoming a real spatial passage. It can bypass the Abyss's blockade and travel to other planes!" The system delivered news that delighted Er Dongsheng!

But...

"No spatial coordinates for other planes are available, so the host cannot travel to them! The planar passage function has been disabled. To conserve energy, only the most basic functions remain!"

Well, he had thought he might get to take a trip to the Sunlight Plane and see those legendary beautiful Elf girls. So much for that hope!

"Fine. What basic functions? Tell me all at once!" Thoroughly deflated, Er Dongsheng spoke without a trace of energy!

"The Game Space contains several small training scenarios. When the host has time to spare, he can enter them in his True Form to train and improve his skills. Random challenge missions will also appear in each scenario, and completing them will earn the host small rewards!"

"Really? I could go in and have a look sometime!" Er Dongsheng's interest perked up a little, but only a little. If he wanted a fight, the Abyss had plenty!

"Ah, forget it. This is no fun. I agonized over it for days for nothing!" Er Dongsheng shook his head, pursed his lips, and rose from the ground, ready to see what the Little Succubus was doing!

He had not played with the little one in several days. He missed her!

Heh. I absolutely will not tell you that he had a bit of a creepy-uncle streak!

The result of the fusion was honestly a little disappointing. But there was nothing he could do about it, was there? The road still lay ahead!

"Lulu, your creepy uncle—oh, no, your dear brother is out of seclusion! Come welcome me!" A burst of ghostly wailing and wolfish howling rang out from the cave where he had been training!

What was the Little Succubus doing just then?

Smack!

"Do you understand it yet?" Lulu brought her ruler down hard on the Lesser Imp Sibya's head!

"Why are you so dumb? Lulu learned it really quickly!" Little Lulu looked at the utterly miserable Sibya with a smug face. Her little chin tilted high, and she was immensely pleased with herself!

"Yes, yes! How could Sibya compare to little mistress Lulu? You're so clever and pretty, there's no one like you in the whole Abyss!" Sibya said with a fawning smile. He understood just how important this little one was to Er Dongsheng. If he accidentally offended Er Dongsheng, he would probably receive only a small punishment. But if he upset the Little Succubus, his fate would likely be incomparably miserable!

So how to serve his little mistress well and keep her happy was a question he racked his brains over every day!

"Little mistress, all this adding and subtracting, these ones and twos and threes... It's too hard! Sibya's dumb. I can't learn it!" the Lesser Imp said with a mournful face!

"It's not that I'm calling you dumb. You really are dumb! Back when I—"

Suddenly, a burst of ghostly wailing and wolfish howling reached them...

"Lulu! Your dear brother is out of seclusion!"

"Huh?"

"Brother's out of seclusion!" The moment the Little Succubus heard Er Dongsheng's voice, she dropped the bamboo switch in her hand and hurried toward the cave. She had no time to bother with some Lesser Imp!

"Brother! Brother! Lulu's here!"

From this moment on, he had let go of everything from his previous life. He was just an Imp, a Demon with a tiny advantage, nothing more!

Through pain, struggle, and the fight to survive, Er Dongsheng believed he would lead his sister onward. They would keep living happily in this hateful Abyss until...

The heavens grew old and the earth ran out!

(Some readers may not like the preceding chapter, so Passing Years would like to explain: it was only a transition, a step in Er Dongsheng's letting go of his previous life and moving into the future without its weight! The Game Space is merely groundwork for travel between planes later on, not some heaven-defying advantage that makes him invincible everywhere. I dislike those overpowered advantages myself, which is why even the formidable martial arts and Daoist techniques from his previous life have been set aside. From now on, what he was in that life no longer matters. What matters is that he is now just an Imp struggling to survive in the Abyss!)