Worthy of Growing Up at Vought

[Yes.]

[The system automatically records the coordinates of worlds the host has visited.]

[Returning to a recorded world does not require another world-location payment, but still consumes the base energy needed to open a Dimensional Passage.]

"What about the passage of time in different worlds?"

[The host may choose a time mode before crossing over.]

[First: synchronization mode. After the host leaves, time in the original world passes normally.]

[Second: World Anchoring mode. After the host leaves, time in the original world slows to a minimum.]

[World Anchoring mode continuously consumes energy points based on how long the host remains away.]

Lin Mo's eyes flickered. This feature was important.

If time could only run in sync, then after he spent years in another world, years would also have passed in the world of The Boys.

World Anchoring would prevent that.

Of course, the system wasn't going to freeze time for free. He knew a profiteer when he saw one.

The longer he stayed away, the more energy it would probably cost.

"What's the ratio in World Anchoring mode?"

[The time ratio between the original world and the target world can be adjusted to as low as one to one hundred.]

[If the host spends one hundred days in the target world, only one day will pass in the original world.]

[Higher ratios require an upgrade to system permissions.]

One to one hundred was already excellent.

He could spend three months in another world and return before even a day had passed here.

With enough preparation, he could treat other worlds as places to grow stronger and take his time.

Gain abilities, collect equipment, and keep accumulating energy.

At the very least, he needed to find a world with special technology, rare medicines, or something that could shore up his weaknesses.

A world with mature artificial intelligence, for instance, or one where mental strength could be enhanced without any overwhelmingly powerful individuals around.

Or perhaps a world with a relatively low ceiling of power but a unique cultivation system.

With the right choice, even a low-energy world could yield enormous rewards.

Then again, great rewards came with great risks. A high-energy world naturally offered benefits he couldn't get from a low-energy one.

At that thought, the travel plans Lin Mo had been ready to put into action changed completely. He still wanted to visit other worlds, but he needed more energy points first.

He hadn't wanted to get involved in other people's business. Now, though, the people of this world didn't get a choice.

"What about my original world?"

Lin Mo fell silent for a while before finally asking the question that mattered most to him.

"Can I still go back?"

This time, the system did not answer immediately.

The light on the panel flickered softly, as though it were searching for something.

Several seconds later, the mechanical voice sounded again.

[Complete coordinates for the host's native world have not been detected.]

The hope in Lin Mo's eyes dimmed.

[However, the system retains partial spatial traces left by the host's soul during transmigration.]

[Once system permissions have been upgraded and sufficient energy obtained, the system can attempt to trace the route back to the native world.]

[The current probability of success cannot be calculated.]

The room fell quiet.

Lin Mo leaned against the headboard in silence. After a long while, he suddenly pinched his thigh hard.

What am I thinking? Even if he wanted to find a way back, that could wait until he had become truly powerful. Besides, there wasn't much in his old world that he still missed.

Eighteen years had passed. He was no longer as fixated on going home as he had been at first.

Were the people from his previous life still alive? Did time pass at the same rate in both worlds? Even if he found the coordinates, could he return to a time before his death?

All of it was unknown, and thinking about it now would change nothing. Besides, the system had at least given him a possibility.

If he kept gathering energy and upgrading his permissions, he could try someday.

That was far better than having no hope at all.

"System, can you recommend a suitable world based on my current energy and strength?"

[The world recommendation function has not yet been unlocked.]

[Unlocking it requires five hundred energy points.]

The smile vanished from Lin Mo's face. What a damn profiteer.

He never should have expected anything else from this system.

It charged him just to ask a question. No wonder it had slept for eighteen years.

It probably hadn't been upgrading. It had been secretly learning how to become a proper capitalist.

"Forget it."

"One last question."

Lin Mo slowly exhaled.

"Will the system arrange an identity for me after I cross over?"

[Basic world travel does not provide a legal identity.]

[The host may purchase an identity implantation service separately.]

[Ordinary identity: one hundred energy points.]

[Complete identity: five hundred energy points.]

[Special identity: priced according to the world's background and the identity's influence. With enough energy points, the host can even replace the original story's protagonist.]

"I knew it."

Lin Mo couldn't help rolling his eyes.

The system was great in every respect.

Except that every feature came with the same two words attached.

Pay more.

But on second thought, that suited a system for traveling between dimensions.

Energy points were both currency and the core resource that powered the system.

Safer, more convenient, more precise travel naturally cost more.

Lin Mo waved a hand and looked again at the 1,800 energy points on the panel.

A low-energy world cost a thousand. A specified world cost two thousand.

Add a specific time, location, identity, and safety screening, and he would need at least another three or four thousand points.

For now, true dimensional travel would have to wait a while.

There was no rush. He didn't have to leave so soon, and nothing in this world posed much of a threat to him. Of course, he could also find other ways to gain energy quickly.

For a more direct approach, killing off a batch of Vought executives might have just as big an impact.

If he did a little more to push this world away from the original plot, he could shorten the time needed to accumulate energy even further.

Lin Mo's eyes gleamed. Vought was assembling a new Super Seven.

At this point in the timeline, Queen Maeve was about to appear. A-Train, Black Noir, and the other familiar faces would enter the story one after another.

They were all walking energy points.

"System, do I have a status panel?" Lin Mo asked tentatively. If he was going to squeeze every last benefit out of this, he had to do it properly. Otherwise, growing up at Vought would have been a waste.

[Of course.]

[Generating the system host's status panel.]

Virtual data rapidly took shape before him. Moments later, the system's notification sounded again.

[Generation complete.]

Lin Mo hurriedly examined his personal panel.

[Host: Lin Mo]

[Age: eighteen]

[Bloodline: Kryptonian Bloodline]

[Abilities: Steel Body, Super Strength, Heat Vision...]

[Current world: The Boys]

[System energy: 1800]

[Fixed daily income: 50]

[World coordinates: 1]

[Unlocked functions: System Mall, dimensional travel, World Anchoring]

A smile crept across Lin Mo's face.

Now that the system was online, things had changed. He hadn't cared to interfere with Vought before, but they couldn't blame him if he stopped holding back.

Lin Mo lay back down, though sleep had deserted him completely. He continued browsing the system's features at his leisure.

Meanwhile, Vought's executives had made further changes to their plans for Lin Mo and Joanna.