Chapter 63: Settlement, Rewards, and a New World

[The current life has ended, please enter the settlement interface!]

"What a magnificent fireworks display..."

Jiang Ren slowly opened his eyes. A large number of useless daily details from his twenty-plus years of life had been purged by the system, leaving behind only a few core memories.

Before him were his familiar computer and laptop, and he was sitting in his swivel chair.

Although he had returned, he still couldn't forget that final moment—an aesthetic and explosive masterpiece of destruction, an artistic grand explosion that an ordinary world could never replicate.

"I wonder if that managed to kill Azathoth?"

"If it did, would that count as a five-star rating?"

Jiang Ren wanted to open the system, but considering he was still somewhat unaccustomed to his original body right after returning, he stood up to stretch and move around.

Although he had only stayed in that simulation for about twenty years this time, it felt much longer than the eighty-six years in the Hunter world, making him feel even more alienated from his physical shell.

Weak strength, slow speed, unable to fend off even a small pocketknife...

"Compared to the body I had in the final years of the simulated world, the gap is simply as vast as heaven and earth."

Jiang Ren shook his head, but this was only natural.

Aside from the last few days when the demon Azathoth revived, during his final years there he could basically shrug off artillery shells, and in the last month, only a few weapons like nuclear bombs could have killed him.

Whereas his real body was merely that of an ordinary person who maintained good lifestyle habits, exercised and ate according to a regular weekly plan, and possessed just a tiny bit of everyday human strength.

One was a powerful monster wielding extraordinary abilities; the other was an ordinary human in a mundane world.

The two were simply incomparable.

After growing slightly more familiar with his body, Jiang Ren sat on the bed and opened the system.

[The current life has ended. Settlement begins!]

[You were born with a red left arm. Some viewed you as a symbol of bad omen, others called you a child of the devil, but most simply called you a demon!]

[Because whenever you fought with all your might, you were like a fiend who would not stop until he achieved his goal!]

[You took the maxim "With great power comes great responsibility" as your code of conduct. Throughout your brief life, most of the time you were either hunting dangerous species or on the way to hunt them.]

[You had no regrets toward others, nor any toward yourself!]

[Facing a demon from another world and your own kind continually perishing under its claws, you suppressed your grief and anger, lurked beside the demon, and perished together with it at the very last moment!]

[You were an avenger, a victor, and above all, a solitary soul!]

[Your achievements are known to none. In the boundless universe, they vanished in the blink of an eye like a faint glimmer, leaving behind not a trace...]

"Perished together... That means that demon died too!"

Jiang Ren let out a soft breath; at least it proved that the self-detonation tactic had been effective.

However, all of humanity—and indeed, all life on the entire planet—had been wiped out. He wondered if he could still secure a high rating.

[.]

[Lifespan: 22 (This is an age of premature death, especially since the day you died happened to be your twenty-second birthday.)]

[Status: 191 (You were both a demon and not a demon; you brought about the end of the world, yet you did not.)]

[Reputation: 283 (During your twenty-two years of life, you held great fame within certain small circles, though very few knew of your actual deeds. However, in the final days, the demon used your body to announce its arrival to everyone, and you instantly became globally renowned.)]

[Rating: ★★★★★ (Although all of humanity was exterminated and you perished alongside the demon, there is no doubt that you successfully hunted the world's only demon.)]

[Reward: 200 (Destiny Points)]

[......]

[Congratulations on clearing the Demon Hunting World. A new world has been unlocked!]

Faced with this outcome, Jiang Ren was slightly pleasantly surprised, though not particularly astonished.

From his clearance rating in the first world, he could tell that the simulation worlds did not have excessively high demands for clearance—they were low, if anything.

"Still, that makes sense. Since the name is Demon Hunting, if getting rid of the demon doesn't count as clearing the level, what would?"

Jiang Ren focused his attention back on the system interface, feeling a sense of anticipation regarding the clearance reward this time.

Suddenly, a slight sense of foreboding stirred in his heart. What if it turned out to be "Talent Permanence" again?

He hadn't purchased any talents this time; the only item he possessed was the "Demon's Left Arm," but that was clearly a contingency left behind by Azathoth. If that actually materialized as a reward, he wouldn't want it for the sake of his own safety.

[Congratulations on clearing the Demon Hunting World for the first time. You have obtained a special reward—a wisp of Primordial Essence!]

[(Primordial Essence: Miraculous energy originating from a high-magic world, impossible to create or increase through artificial means. It subtly enhances the holder's various physical attributes and makes the holder more easily favored by the laws of the world!)]

[Sensing that you are in a safe environment, reward distribution is commencing...]

[Reward distribution complete!]

Before Jiang Ren could react to the swiftly scrolling text, a gentle, cool sensation bloomed in the area of his heart on the left side of his chest.

In an instant.

It felt as though, after sweating profusely under the blazing sun of a scorching summer day, he had suddenly stepped into a cool, air-conditioned room. His entire body immediately relaxed and felt immensely refreshed.

A few seconds later, the cool sensation slowly dissipated.

"Primordial Essence."

Jiang Ren touched the left side of his chest; the beating of his heart sounded noticeably stronger and more vigorous.

He did not know much about Primordial Essence, only that it was the source of seventy percent of Azathoth's power, and once lost, it was extremely difficult to recover.

"Judging by the description, Primordial Essence has only benefits and no drawbacks."

"Though I don't feel much right now, I imagine that over time, it will bring me no small amount of advantage."

Jiang Ren was quite satisfied with this reward. However, Azathoth's Primordial Essence had been as vast as a small pool, whereas the single wisp rewarded by the system seemed to be a minuscule unit indeed.

Trying to use this to transform into a planet-destroying entity like Azathoth was obviously out of the question.

Setting aside these unrealistic thoughts, he turned his attention to the newly appeared third world.

[Weaponry]

[(Unlocking requires 20 Destiny Points)]

"What does 'Weaponry' mean?"

Jiang Ren felt somewhat puzzled. He knew that weaponry referred to equipment containing destructive and lethal force used in military conflicts, but he couldn't figure out how one could achieve a high rating through that.

"Forging weapons? Killing enemies with weapons? Or cultivating through weapons?"

At that moment, he noticed a tiny question mark beside the word "Weaponry"—something that had not appeared in the previous two worlds.

With a thought in his mind, he clicked on the question mark.

A prompt popped up.

[(The current world is a special world and cannot be rolled back; therefore, rewards are doubled.)]

"Cannot be rolled back? Is this still a simulation world?"

Jiang Ren's expression tightened, gradually turning solemn.

The inability to roll back meant he could no longer act like a "transmigrator reborn" to restart after failure, as he had in the first two worlds. The difficulty increased dramatically, and the margin for error was severely reduced.

In comparison, the compensation of doubled rewards was far from sufficient.