Chapter 132: The Harvest
[Congratulations, player. You've cleared the level. New maps and features have been unlocked. Please check the relevant tabs for details.]
[Host, please make your choice as soon as possible.]
[Option 1: Randomly obtain three skills or specialties acquired during your traversal.]
[Option 2: Randomly draw three items obtained during your traversal.]
Zhou Ning: …
That final strike—so powerful it shattered the void—had to be connected to some godlike being. This world was far deeper and more complex than he'd imagined.
To be honest, the "Pirate King Zhou Ning" template was exceptionally powerful. Not only was his combat prowess off the charts, but his political acumen was also absurdly strong. As expected of someone who once led the Pirate King world. On top of that, he had outstanding scientific research capabilities. In any world, he would be a main character of his era.
Even just going by the text alone, the simulation painted a vivid picture of epic struggles and grand undertakings. Unfortunately, the process was glorious, but the ending was abrupt and sloppy—so much so that it left one feeling blindsided, almost coughing up blood in frustration.
Compared to the last simulation, this traversal felt far more grounded in reality—practically indistinguishable from it. The information overload was intense. Zhou Ning suspected that the "god's chosen" he simulated during his first traversal was from a similar but separate timeline, whereas this time, they were truly on the same timeline as him.
In this world, he invented the steam engine and steam train, kickstarted the industrial revolution, published the Falric Code, invented stocks, and drafted the Dress Ordinance. The originator of the rule that commoners could only wear black and white was… himself.
Everything had a one-to-one correspondence with the real world.
But the most shocking revelation was about Goodwin.
He never would've guessed that the "Goodwin" mentioned only in ancient historical records was the same person as "Wendegoon," who was active during the Four Heroes era—founder of Puppet Alchemy and the one who advanced Life Alchemy by creating alchemical dragons. And he was someone Zhou Ning had personally refined.
A person trying to study artificial life… was himself a product of artificial life? Could there be a crueler joke?
Zhou Ning tugged at the corner of his mouth. He wanted to laugh, but couldn't.
As for the rewards...
Zhou Ning had never felt so conflicted. Option 2 could net him a mysterious artifact and an epic item—the Sea of Mists Nautical Chart—with the possibility of drawing the Pluton as well. Option 1 offered master-level Life Alchemy and the intermediate Devil Fruit Crafting he'd advanced under special circumstances. Zhou Ning had a hunch: if he missed this chance, he might never get another.
Considering this was a template traversal, there was a high chance he'd draw overpowered master-level—or even grandmaster-level—skills.
After thinking it through for a while, Zhou Ning chose the first option.
[You selected Option 1.]
[You've obtained the life skill: Devil Fruit Crafting (Intermediate).]
[You've obtained the talent: Mermaid (Blue).]
[You've obtained the life skill: Scientific Research Ability (Grandmaster-level).]
In an instant, a massive influx of knowledge flooded his mind.
[Devil Fruit Crafting (Intermediate)]: A technique for artificially creating Devil Fruits. By using Starlight Reagents, herbs, and alchemical arrays, you can create ability fruits of random types. 70% are Zoan-type, 27% Paramecia, and 3% Logia.
[Mermaid (Blue)]: You have exceptional swimming talent. Whenever you swim freely in water, you feel like a mermaid.
[Scientific Research Ability (Grandmaster-level)]: You possess a one-of-a-kind mastery in the field of scientific research. Can stack with other research-related talents or specialties.
Not bad at all!
Zhou Ning clenched his fist. Even though he drew a mostly useless talent, just getting Devil Fruit Crafting made it worthwhile.
As for the Scientific Research skill, while it didn't sound flashy, no grandmaster-level skill could ever be weak. For instance, just looking at the gas lamp on the table, Zhou Ning could already think of three or four ways to improve it within minutes.
Although he didn't achieve a perfect clear, Zhou Ning still felt pretty satisfied.
Additionally, he noticed that a new feature—Template Gallery—had been added to the character screen. This must be one of the new elements mentioned earlier.
Opening it revealed something resembling the Hall of Curiosities—standard fare for gacha-style mobile games.
Currently, he had only one permanent template: Zhou Ning, the Ordinary Office Worker. It was classified under the "Villain Boss" type in the gallery. According to the description, collecting 2/4/5/6/8 templates of the same type would unlock substantial rewards.
Zhou Ning pulled a wry smile. A gacha game? Makes sense. Guess from now on, he'd have to snatch up any affordable templates. Who knows? Maybe one day he'd be able to summon them to possess and run side accounts—now that'd be wild.
Freshly rich Zhou Ning suddenly felt broke again.
After tallying up the rewards, he reopened the simulator panel. Sure enough, even without a perfect clear, the next map was available.
A small red dot had appeared on the map tab, achievement tab, and task tab—clearly, a lot of new things were waiting to be claimed.
Clicking into the map tab, he saw that the name of the new map was incredibly grand: Empire Tempest.
He blindly guessed it might be a history-themed instance. Zhou Ning felt pretty intrigued.
The price hadn't increased much—only 100 traversal coins.
"Not bad, still affordable!" Zhou Ning growled through gritted teeth. "I'm not short on money!"
Next, he clicked into the task tab and, to his surprise, discovered that this round had completed two tasks!
Turns out Pirate King Zhou Ning had a literary side—he'd somehow finished the task "Literary Life" by reading 10,000 books. It was now marked as claimable.
Upon claiming the reward, a prompt popped up:
[You've completed the hidden task: Literary Life (3). You've received: Random Map ×1, Golden Skill Point ×1, Experience ×80,000. A new series of hidden tasks has been unlocked.]
[Would you like to accept the next hidden task: Literary Life (4)? (Yes/No)]
After choosing yes, another hidden task appeared under the task list.
Hidden Task (Triggerable under special conditions):
[Literary Life (4)]: Deep down, you've always harbored a dream of becoming a great writer. Now that you've accumulated vast literary knowledge, please write at least one bestseller in both the real world and a simulated world. (Progress: 0/2)
Task Hint: Read ten thousand books, and your pen will move like a god's. This is the fourth step on a journey of ten thousand miles. Keep going, future literary giant.
Task Reward: Random Reward ×1, Random Specialty Reward ×1, Dynamic EXP Reward ×1 (Currently: 160,000 EXP)
Zhou Ning: ????
When the hell did I ever dream of becoming a great writer?
In the simulated world, sure. But writing a book in the real world? That's a joke, right?
Upon accepting the reward, a card appeared in his inventory. After selecting "Use," another prompt popped up:
[Random Reward Map (Single Use): Grants access to a random reward-focused map. Rewards are extremely generous. Click to use.]
This looked pretty solid. Zhou Ning felt quite pleased and decided to stash it for now. Then, he turned his attention to the other completed task.
Hidden Task (Triggerable under special conditions):
[True Hero]: Only great heroes stay true to themselves. Only real men are charming at their core. In over three simulation worlds, become a widely recognized hero. (Progress: 3/3)
After four different worlds, this task was finally complete.
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