Staring at the high-tier core that had been shattered into near dust, Lu Xihe finally realized that Cheng Yuchuan’s “you can’t beat it” hadn’t meant he couldn’t kill the high-tier aberrant, it meant he wouldn’t get an intact core.
There weren’t even any large fragments left. Just dust.
Lu Xihe watched the core powder scatter in the wind, tears welling up without a sound: “Why… why does it have to be like this…”
Both were Level 4 ability users, and while Ning Wanli was slower than Cheng Yuchuan, she was still taking them down one after another. He had barely killed one before collapsing from exhaustion, and even then, the core had shattered.
“Wuwuwu!” Lu Xihe glared at Cheng Yuchuan with tearful eyes, as if silently accusing him of knowing the truth but not warning him in advance.
“…” Cheng Yuchuan gave a helpless, wry smile and pointed at the green vine mask on his own face.
Lu Xihe’s fake crying froze. He stood up, covered his mouth, and coughed twice. The moment his hand came down, he snatched the mask away with lightning speed, then planted his hands on his hips and threw a tantrum:
“It’s all your fault!”
“Yeah, my fault.”
Cheng Yuchuan smiled indulgently, extending vines to pull the man close to his side. He conjured a green vine rocking chair for Lu Xihe to rest in, then slowly began explaining the hidden rules of abilities.
Human abilities were divided into nine major systems: Natural, Spatial, Temporal, Physical Manipulation, Mental Manipulation, Pupil, Word Spirit, Healing, and Rule systems, the further down the list, the rarer they were.
Beneath the nine major systems lay countless sub-abilities. Take the Natural system, for example: Wind, Wood, and Fire were its sub-abilities. Possessing five sub-abilities allowed one to synthesize a composite system, which would generate system energy and double the power of the sub-abilities.
After synthesizing a composite system, leveling up required all sub-abilities within the system to reach the same level before true advancement was possible. The more sub-abilities incorporated into the system, the greater the system energy bonus.
Without a composite system, a single ability or multiple abilities would only match a high-tier aberrant’s strength even at Level 5. But with a composite system, one could slay high-tier aberrants at just Level 4. Unfortunately, many people didn’t know abilities could be synthesized into composite systems, making encounters with high-tier aberrants extremely dangerous.
This was precisely why Lu Xihe, despite having three Level 4 abilities, struggled so much against the high-tier aberrant.
“How did you discover this hidden rule?” Lu Xihe asked curiously. Was this the protagonist’s privilege?
Cheng Yuchuan glanced back at the other three, then raised another barrier to separate them, speaking mysteriously: “Because when he modified the rules, I was standing right there listening.”
“He?” Lu Xihe seized on the key point in Cheng Yuchuan’s words and pondered it carefully, then asked in return: “The protagonist from the previous life?”
“Yeah.” Cheng Yuchuan stopped being cryptic and said directly: “He was a Rule system user. Even though the small world restarted, the rules he modified don’t change.”
“Then why don’t any of us remember what happened before the restart, but you do?” Lu Xihe pressed on.
“My system ability is ‘Lineage Inheritance’, in simple terms, inheritance. The memories and abilities from my previous life carry over into my rebirth.” Cheng Yuchuan answered truthfully.
“What’s a system ability?” Before Lu Xihe could fully grasp the previous question, the next one tumbled out.
“It’s the unique ability that comes with being bound to a system. But as for how it differs from ordinary abilities, I’m still not clear on that yet.”
“Alright.” Lu Xihe nodded with partial understanding, then after a moment of thought, raised another question: “Back to abilities, what if someone awakens abilities that aren’t from the same system? Four from one system, four from another, wouldn’t they never be able to synthesize a composite system?”
“No, that won’t happen. A person only ever has one system of abilities.” Cheng Yuchuan explained.
“Then your All-System? Does it include all nine major systems?”
“It can be, but not entirely.” Cheng Yuchuan considered his wording, then continued:
“Remember how I said my system ability is inheritance? Before he modified the rules in the previous life, abilities weren’t divided into systems. My abilities were Copy and Devour. They don’t belong to any system now, but I can copy any ability I want, so in another sense, it counts as all-encompassing.”
“Damn.” Lu Xihe couldn’t help but let out an exclamation. He’d thought Cheng Yuchuan was impressive, but he hadn’t imagined he could be this impressive.
“Oh, except for the Healing and Rule systems.” Realizing he’d missed a detail, Cheng Yuchuan added.
“Why?”
“We only have one chance to restart. To prevent anyone or anything else from altering the world’s rules again, he permanently eliminated the Rule system from the world after the restart.” Cheng Yuchuan said.
“As for the Healing system, its operational mechanism is the exact opposite of other systems’ abilities, so it can’t coexist with them.”
“Got it.” After hearing this long explanation, Lu Xihe felt his brain was about to tie itself in knots. It must be tough on Cheng Yuchuan to remember and keep track of so many things.
Carrying the mission of saving humanity, it must be exhausting.
A flicker of tenderness surfaced in Lu Xihe’s eyes, his heart tightening with every passing thought. He rose and wrapped his arms around Cheng Yuchuan, his tone resolute and earnest: “I’ll complete the protagonist’s mission with you. Once everything is over, we’ll return to Anshan Village and live our peaceful days.”
Cheng Yuchuan’s body stiffened, and it took him a moment to snap out of his daze before he raised his arms to return the embrace, murmuring a low “Mm.”
The warmth lasted less than three seconds before Lu Xihe suddenly looked up with a new question: “Then wouldn’t you need a ton of crystal cores to level up your abilities?”
For others, even having a few sub-abilities within a single ability type required a mountain of crystal cores to reach a high level. Cheng Yuchuan had several more ability types than them, wouldn’t he need hundreds or thousands of times more crystal cores to meet the upgrade requirements?
At that thought, Lu Xihe’s fatigue vanished in an instant, and he was ready to charge back into battle against the aberrants.
“No need. The abilities I copy are automatically maxed out.” Cheng Yuchuan’s single sentence doused his blazing determination.
Now Lu Xihe was truly consumed by envy, resentment, and jealousy. Sure, this guy carried a heavy burden, but the cheat he had was way too overpowered.
Being able to copy abilities was already absurdly broken, others started at level one, but whatever he copied came pre-maxed. Wasn’t this just the cultivation-novel equivalent of a peerless prodigy born with a thousand years of cultivation?
No, he didn’t even need to cultivate. The moment he gained an ability, he was already the strongest.
“Infuriating.” Lu Xihe said sourly, silently cursing the heavens for their injustice.
But when he calmed down and thought it over, Cheng Yuchuan’s gains seemed too smooth and effortless, which stirred a faint unease: “There’s no catch, is there?”
Cheng Yuchuan’s hand, which had been pinching Lu Xihe’s cheek, paused. He hadn’t expected his boyfriend to be so perceptive, so he had no choice but to confess the whole story honestly:
“It wasn’t that easy from the start. Before, I had to upgrade bit by bit with crystal cores, but I found it too slow, so I agreed to the system’s condition, and after that, everything was maxed out.”
“What condition?” Lu Xihe immediately grew wary. Sure enough, nothing good ever fell from the sky for free.
Under Lu Xihe’s scrutinizing gaze, Cheng Yuchuan felt a wave of guilt. He let out a dry laugh and quickly waved his hand: “Nothing much. Just an extra side quest, a little dangerous. I finished it before I found you.”
“Fine.” Lu Xihe shot him a thoughtful glance but didn’t press further.
After fighting aberrants for so long, Qi Jin and Ning Wanli were both sprawled on the ground in exhaustion. Yu Yicheng had also stepped out of the car and was slowly walking toward Cheng Yuchuan.
He had witnessed the entire process of Lu Xihe absorbing a high-tier crystal core and splitting it into two new abilities from inside the car. He hadn’t come over earlier because he had no offensive abilities and hadn’t contributed to the fight, so he felt too embarrassed to immediately ask for crystal cores.
Now that he saw Cheng Yuchuan had saved up a small pouch, and he’d also gotten a few high-tier items from 001 that Cheng Yuchuan might find useful, he finally came over to trade for a high-tier crystal core.
Cheng Yuchuan didn’t take his high-tier items and simply handed him five high-tier crystal cores. But he hesitated, as if wanting to say something, and after a moment of silence, he honestly told Yu Yicheng the truth: healing abilities conflicted with other abilities and couldn’t coexist.
Yu Yicheng’s smile, which had been bright as he held the crystal cores, immediately fell. Cheng Yuchuan’s words were essentially telling him that even with high-tier crystal cores, it was useless, he could never awaken a new ability.
“Then forget it. Don’t waste them on me.” Yu Yicheng drooped his head like a wilted little weed, dejectedly trying to put the crystal cores back into Cheng Yuchuan’s pouch.
Cheng Yuchuan stopped him from returning the cores and said, “It’s not a waste. High-tier crystal cores level up abilities much faster than mid-tier ones. Your healing ability is crucial to us, and we need these to get you to level five quickly.”
At that, Yu Yicheng’s eyes lit up, and his lowered head snapped up.
Cheng Yuchuan then pointed at Qi Jin and Ning Wanli, who were sprawled on the ground nearby, and patted Yu Yicheng’s shoulder encouragingly: “Once you reach level four, you can cure their combat fatigue. In gaming terms, it’s like adding to their HP bar. When you max out, you can keep them fighting aberrants day and night for crystal cores, they won’t feel tired, and their abilities will actually grow stronger with your support.”
“Yes, sir! I’m going to level up right now!” Yu Yicheng was thrilled by the pep talk and immediately turned to head back into the car to upgrade.
Although the healing ability had no sub-abilities, it was far harder to level up than other types. Earlier, a single mid-tier core had jumped him up two levels, and Cheng Yuchuan had chalked it up to luck. The higher the level, the harder it got, so giving Yu Yicheng five high-tier cores was only expected to bring him to level four.
Unexpectedly, after absorbing just two cores, Yu Yicheng came bounding out of the car in excitement, and when he showed off his progress, it turned out he had already reached level five in healing.
“Here are the other three, back to you.” Yu Yicheng hopped over to return the remaining cores, his face beaming like spring breeze and summer blossoms.
Cheng Yuchuan was stunned, mechanically taking back the cores, and stared in disbelief as Yu Yicheng happily ran off to use his healing technique on Qi Jin and Ning Wanli.
“This… is it really that easy to level up?” Lu Xihe was dumbfounded too.
He had just been leveling up too, but simply upgrading a single fire-type ability to level four had consumed over thirty mid-tier cores. Now Yu Yicheng reached level five with just two high-tier cores?
High-tier cores were that powerful for leveling up?!
“That doesn’t make sense.” Cheng Yuchuan was baffled. Even the protagonist from his past life, with his absurdly overpowered cheat, hadn’t leveled up this easily.
He furrowed his brow in confusion, pinching the bridge of his nose. There had been too many changes in this reincarnated life, so many that even Cheng Yuchuan, who had witnessed true powerhouses, was starting to question everything.
Yu Yicheng was one. Lu Xihe was another.
Wait, wasn’t he the protagonist? How was it that one after another, they were all closing in on his momentum?
But the surprises didn’t stop there. Soon, Lu Xihe would give him another eye-opening shock.