[Current Shadow Plane: Ice Kingdom (Highest B+)]
[Time Node: Year 346 of the Sunset Calendar, the Snow God's Birthday (Snow God Festival)]
[Major Event of the Era: The emperor of Ventaginya Kingdom, Ice Emperor Odin, was old and weak. He did not have much time left. Hence, Odin was taken advantage of by the 20-year-old Flame Emperor Garukasa. The opponent exploited the celebration of the Snow God Festival and the lack of defense. In just 20 days, the capital city of the kingdom was breached with the help of the Dragon Knight Army and disloyal ministers. In order to protect the future of the kingdom, Odin fought desperately. He only managed to let the young princess escape from the palace alone and head to the kingdom's border to seek help.]
[Please choose the faction you want to join.]
[A: Ice Princess - Royal Army]
[B: Flame Emperor - Imperial Army]
[C: Other Countries - Random Forces]
[D: Don't help anyone - Become King]
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[NOTE (1): The faction you choose will affect the hero's soul that you can come into contact with, including the initial birthplace and the initial favorability with different hero souls. The convenience of Shadow Contract will depend on it.]
[NOTE (2): The more powerful the soul of the hero you want to transform is in the Shadow Plane, the greater the growth potential of the Shadow Hero that will be finally contracted. Accordingly, it will provide better aid.]
[NOTE (3): The final favorability between you and the hero's soul will determine the success rate of the Shadow Contract skill. Each hero's soul has a total of five chances. After failing five times, you will not be able to contract the same target again.]
[NOTE (4): If you are not satisfied with the hero's soul that you have come into contact with, you can use the "Backtrack" ability to re-simulate and change to another hero's soul. If you have already contracted a hero's soul and want to contract another, you can either improve your strength and unlock more summoning slots for Shadow Heroes or give up on the first hero's soul. In this case, all the potential and favorability earned previously will be lost.]
[NOTE (5): After completing a simulation, regardless of whether you use Shadow Contract, you will receive a certain simulation reward. If you successfully survive and experience a major event of the era, you will receive a random dungeon teleportation door connected to the 'Ice Kingdom'. Once your shadow enters, it will continuously bring you dungeon challenge rewards such as experience points, equipment, materials, skill books, and so on.]
[NOTE (6): The soul of a hero that has been contracted will increase the upper limit of their potential (or remain the same) by repeatedly simulating in their shadow plane, but it will consume the number of favorability points. After the remaining points are used up, they can no longer increase their potential through the simulation.]
******
Although he was a little confused, Zhang Yun had a rough idea of the mechanics of this cheat after reading a great number of genuine novels in his previous life.
Wasn't this just a text simulation?
Oh! That wasn't just it.
After completing a major event, a portal to an 'underground city' would be given.
In this world dominated by professionals, "Dungeons," "Arcane Realms," and "Events" were all strategic resources controlled by the top nobles.
Ordinary mortals could not challenge the nobles just because they wanted to. They had to obtain permission and exploration rights from multiple authorities.
Obtaining a random teleport portal to an underground city was equivalent to controlling a gold mine in Zhang Yun's previous life. It didn't matter if it was the lowest level underground city. It wouldn't erase the fact that it was still a gold mine.
'Forget it. There is no point in thinking about this,' Zhang Yun thought. He then decided to explore what a Shadow Hero was after the simulation.
As he pondered, Zhang Yun closed his eyes as if his mind was wandering. Not only did he enter the shadow in the text, but he also got to observe the world from the first-person and third-person points of view.
Zhang Yun could also absorb the shadow's memory. He could replace the shadow that crossed the Shadow Plane. He had personally descended into that strange world full of wonders.
[Choose a faction, please.]
"Ha! Anyway, Brother Shadow has switched to Shadow Lord! Why would he need to rely on others? I choose D! Become a king and destroy everything!"
Even if he made the wrong choice, Zhang Yun could still use the "Backtrack" ability to start all over again. He had countless opportunities, so there was no need to be afraid.
The game started.
Zhang Yun had to go it all out!
[Year 341 of the Sunset Calendar, Snow God's Birthday—5 Years Ago]
[The Ventaginya Kingdom is ruled by Odin, the Ice Emperor. The country is peaceful. The weather is pleasant while the four seas are calm.]
[When the time comes, your shadow will descend upon an unknown village at the border of the Ice Kingdom and possess the body of a civilian who had just died, thereby going through the process of reincarnation.]
[Your eyes have opened. You can see a group of bandits wearing wolf-skin coats and wolf-head gear rummaging through your house for valuable items. There is a fire outside the door, and screams can be heard.]
[After digesting a portion of your memories, you have understood that your predecessor died at the hands of these bandits.]
[Choose an option.]
[A: Escape by playing dead.]
[B: Find a way to join the other party.]
[C: Use Shadow Force to kill the opponent.]
[D: Lead your Shadow Legion to personally descend and interfere.]
Eh?
The first situation he was in was quite disadvantageous!
The body Zhang Yuan possessed suddenly died?!
First of all, Option B was risky. If Zhan Yun got up and expressed his desire to join the thieves right after they killed him, he would probably get stabbed again. The thieves would consider Zhang Yun an evil spirit and burn his body for precaution.
Moreover...
These bandits looked like villainous people who murder without batting an eye.
Even if it was just a simulation, Zhang Yun did not want to be at the mercy of a villain who disregarded human lives.
Option D was not bad, and the meaning was simple and clear. However, Zhang Yun had just changed his class to a priest, and he did not have a Shadow Legion.
What would personal interference entail?
Was he going to give the bandits a drink of milk to liven up their killing?
So…
Zhan Yun didn't consider Option D. He could only choose between Option A and Option C.
To be honest, Option A was the most practical choice. After all, Zhang Yun had no idea about the shadow's strength. He was uncertain if the shadow was a match for these bandits.
If Brother Shadow were to face the enemies head-on, Zhang Yun would have a 50% chance of survival.
But playing dead and escaping would at least give Zhang Yun a 90% chance of survival.
Even if the bandits wanted to dispose of the corpses after the incident, Brother Shadow could turn around and attack them without any regard for combat strength once the enemies got close to him. It would definitely be enough to make the bandits suffer.
However, Zhang Yun had the "Backtrack" ability. So, he chose Option C!
He would use the power of the shadow to kill the bandits head-on!
Zhang Yun submitted his choice.
In the following moment, the words changed rapidly. The text intertwined to create a new content.
[You continue to pretend that you are dead and wait for the bandits who are looking for treasures to approach you.]
[After a few minutes of searching, the bandits didn't find anything valuable in your house. One of the bandits with a lush beard was furious and approached your 'corpse' to vent his anger by stepping on it.]
[You look for an opportunity, grab the lush-bearded bandit's raised right leg, pull him hard, and throw him to the ground. Then, you quickly pull out the iron axe from his waist, and with lightning speed, chop his head. You are successful in killing the bandit.]
[After killing the lush-bearded bandit, you immediately use the power of the Shadow Lord to extract the enemy's shadow and transform it into your first Shadow Soldier in this plane world.]
[With the help of Shadow Soldiers that are stronger than the main body, the few bandits in the house are no match for you. They are easily destroyed and turned into new Shadow Soldiers.]
[You proceed to walk out of the house and prepare to eliminate the bandits who disrespect human lives, but you hear a few angry roars in the distance and the sound of swords clashing. It seems that another group of people is fighting with this group of bandits.]
As the words disappeared, a strange yet familiar memory appeared in Zhang Yun's mind.
It was as if Zhang Yun had actually seen the bearded bandit whose head had been split in half by his axe. He personally witnessed the large pool of red blood flowing by his feet. It emitted a pungent and disgusting smell.
Zhang Yun felt fortunate to have lived two lifetimes.
Thanks to years of training and the daily broadcast of news regarding the dangerous world without harmonious mythical beasts, Zhang Yun did not feel distressed. Otherwise, he would have vomited acid all over the floor.
Ordinary mortals of the modern era who did not visit suspicious websites to browse strange things would find it tough to remain calm. Someone with a healthy mind would not be able to stomach a scene of a gruesome death.
Zhang Yun became stunned as new words appeared.
[Through observation, you find that the force fighting the bandits seems to be another group of bandits. They are wearing leather coats made of white wolf fur. The man leading them has conspicuous silver hair. He is young, probably less than 20 years old, but he is handsome and has extraordinary strength.]
[The group of the silver-haired bandit is accompanied by women and children who are protected by seven or eight bandits with white wolf fur. They are all villagers who survived the attack of the bandits.]
[Soon, you remember that this silver-haired bandit is known as Milano. He is the leader of the recently famous "Silver Wolf Bandits". Although they are bandits, they are still honorable. The Silver Wolf Bandits only rob the resources of the avaricious and greedy nobles. Their gains are given as relief to the villages at the border of the kingdom, which have been suffering from food shortages due to years of disasters.]
[At the same time, Milano is also a hero soul that meets the conditions of the "Shadow Contract" skill.]
[Choose an option.]
[A: Continue to observe in secret.]
[B: Help the Silver Wolf Bandits defeat those who attacked the village.]
[C: While the bandits who attacked the village are all focused on Milano, you will quietly leave the village from the back.]
[D: Kill all of them and turn them into Shadow Soldiers.]
Eh?
Why wasn't there an option to help the bandits who attacked the village defeat the Silver Wolf Bandits?
Could it be?
Was it because Zhang Yun could just choose to kill all of the bandits?
Wouldn't the other options be useless by then?
...