Ch. 11
Chapter 11
Luo En lay on the bed and, within moments, was asleep.
He was simply too tired; his eyelids had been battling each other for ages.
In a single short day, more had happened than during all the days he’d spent wandering this other world.
But the darkness had barely wrapped around his mind when he heard someone speaking to him.
At the same time, an immense bell tolled, each strike shuddering from his eardrums straight to his heart.
“Welcome to the Bicolor Realm, Luo En,” said a man in a leather robe, hands clasped behind his back, standing directly in front of him.
A mask covered the man’s face—a single vertical slit carved down the center, the rest gleaming with high-tech edges and tiny mechanical parts. Compared with that mask, the plain robe looked almost shabby.
“Who are you?” Luo En blurted.
“I’m the one who brought you to this world,” the man said, turning away. “You may call me the Ten Sages.”
“You might find the title odd, but there are ten people sharing this body.” He added the last part almost as an afterthought.
“To be honest, I’m not that curious,” Luo En muttered.
The Ten Sages flicked a finger, as if chiding him for naivety. “I’m merely anticipating your confusion.”
“Just as you’re surely baffled by your current situation.” He shrugged. “Regrettably, certain constraints prevent me from explaining much.”
“...?” A question mark practically floated above Luo En’s head.
The self-proclaimed Ten Sages had just announced his intention to speak in riddles—and sounded perfectly justified while doing it.
“Still, I can tell you one operating principle of the System.” He paced a few steps, his outline beginning to blur. “It makes you stronger by drawing on ‘parallel possibilities.’”
“How powerful you become depends on how many of those billions of possibilities you can claim.” His voice turned distant. “A single stone, in one parallel strand, might be a diamond.”
“From here on, leave everything to the System.” With that, he vanished from sight.
“Hold on—” Luo En tried to call the riddler back.
But true to the Ten Sages’ word, the System spoke next.
[System reminder: Your current combat power is too low. The assigned quest will most likely fail.]
[Scanning... Enhanced Training module detected.]
[To ensure you possess the minimum requirements, the System will now initiate Enhanced Training.]
“Enhanced Training?” Luo En frowned, not yet grasping what that meant.
After all, he had the System—growing stronger should be easy. Whatever “parallel possibilities” were, completing quests would let his stats skyrocket, right?
[You will train inside an isolated pocket-space.]
[Time flows independently here; all training will finish while you sleep, so outside affairs remain undisturbed.]
[Commencing countdown: 3... 2... 1!]
[Training: Warrior Initiation]
[Your physical stats are far below Bicolor Realm averages and require immediate improvement.]
[Objective: Under Mana Bombardment, complete 10,000 push-ups (0/10,000), 10,000 squats (0/10,000), and 10,000 sit-ups (0/10,000).]
[Penalty for failure: none—you simply cannot leave until finished.]
Luo En waved dismissively. “This has to be a bug. That’s just PT! And ten thousand reps? People will die!”
Anyone with common sense knew it was impossible; he’d probably dissolve his muscles before finishing.
The next second, electricity snapped through his body. A meteor of fire crashed down.
Now he understood what Mana Bombardment meant: it meant they wanted him dead.
A massive dragon swooped overhead, loosing a storm of spells—meteors, gales, lightning—visual effects he’d never imagined outside a blockbuster.
“This is pointless even if I survive!” Luo En shouted. “There’s no scientific basis!”
Exactly. Grinding raw numbers like this was useless. Muscles didn’t grow overnight, and besides, this had to be a dream.
Then the System’s next words chilled him.
[System reminder: This is not a dream.]
[Injuries sustained here are real. If you do not value your life, you will die.]
The magical barrage continued, intent on blasting him to pieces.
Dodging frantically, Luo En spotted rows upon rows of simple headstones stretching into the distance. Each bore a name and a single line of epitaph.
It looked like a mass graveyard.
Staring at the stones in the blank void, Luo En whispered, “I’m the hundredth Otherworlder?”
[Affirmative. You are the 100th.]
“What happened to the previous ninety-nine?” he asked dully.
[All prior Otherworlders have died.]
The System’s voice was cold, stating a brutal fact: every grave belonged to a failed Otherworlder.
“They’re all... dead?” Luo En murmured, the thunder of spells underscoring why.
If every training session was like this, no newcomer could survive.
He’d imagined the earlier arrivals living grand adventures, carving out legends. Instead, they’d probably perished right here, nameless.
“Stop! I quit the enhancement!” He didn’t intend to join those headstones.
When he’d first received the System, he’d been full of hope—just another young man raised on shounen dreams.
This was supposed to be the Strongest on Earth—just hearing the title was enough to make anyone’s blood boil.
Ask Luo En how he felt about it now, though, and all he wanted to say was, “Anyone who wants this garbage System can have it.”
[Reminder: You cannot leave until the training program is completed.]
Luo En gritted his teeth and dropped for one push-up right where he stood.
He watched the counter tick from 0/10,000 to 1/10,000.
Ridiculous. Utterly, infuriatingly ridiculous. In his entire life, he’d never run into anything more absurd.
In that instant, it hit him with crystal clarity.
Whatever had latched onto him wasn’t some benevolent ticket to becoming the Strongest on Earth—it was a death sentence wearing neon lights.
Add in that laughable “Challenge the Giant Dragon” quest from earlier, and he knew he’d be locked in a nonstop battle of wits with this thing from here on out.