A pale blue panel unfolded before him.
[Villain Life Simulator initializing...]
[Please choose the final mission goal for this life simulation:]
[1. Compete for the succession of the Star Luo Empire as the prince and ascend to the throne. Mission Reward: Ten thousand year soul bones; Difficulty: B]
[2. Seize imperial power as a non-royal member and ascend to the throne of the Star Luo Empire. Mission Reward: Seventh rank hundred thousand year soul ring; Difficulty: A]
[3. Cultivate someone to ascend to the throne of the Star Luo Empire. Mission Reward: External soul bones; Difficulty: S (Note: Providing too much assistance directly to the cultivated individual will significantly reduce the final settlement ratio.)]
"This time it's directly the Star Luo Empire?"
Su Cheng stared at the screen in front of him, silently contemplating.
In terms of preciousness, external soul bones should have a lower priority than hundred thousand year soul rings, not to mention this isn't even the ninth soul ring.
But here, external soul bones are included in the S-rank difficulty mission reward, indicating they are definitely not ordinary external soul bones.
External soul bones, although possess growth potential and cannot be treated like ordinary soul bones, undoubtedly have differences in quality.
External soul bones generally match the soul master's own martial soul attributes, but the soul beasts that produce external soul bones vary, resulting in differences in the skills and characteristics of the soul bones, as well as their strength.
Taking external soul bones that have appeared in the original timeline as an example: Tang San's Eight Spider Legs, Hu Liena's fox tail, Bibi Dong's Six-Winged Purple Light Wings, and even later on, Huo Yuhao's Evil Eye and Dark Golden Terror Claw, the differences in strength between them are immense.
"Anyway, I just need to max it out."
With previous experience, Su Cheng naturally wouldn't choose a mission of a lower difficulty level.
"However, the more direct assistance I provide, the less the final settlement reward will be. In other words, my focus should be on 'cultivating,' but I cannot intervene too much during the process of seizing power."
[You have selected the final mission goal for this simulation: Cultivate someone to ascend to the throne of the Star Luo Empire.]
[You can choose one of the following characters as the cultivation target for this simulation: Dai Mubai, Zhu Zhuyun, Zhu Zhuqing.]
"Hmm, these three individuals..."
Su Cheng looked at the list of characters, habitually analyzing.
"Since the three are listed together, it indicates that no matter who is chosen, the overall difficulty will not differ much."
After the previous simulation, Su Cheng somewhat summarized some patterns.
Different difficulties inevitably lead to different rewards.
Even the talents given have their own characteristics and can play a role in the process of completing the mission. There are no useless talents.
Just like in the previous simulation.
The seemingly mediocre "medical genius" talent proved to be extremely helpful to him in the end. Even when combined properly, its effect can far surpass top-tier cultivation talents like twin martial souls and innate full soul power.
This is enough to illustrate the point.
Because in the simulation, what he needs to do is complete the mission and then measure the balance of gains and losses in all aspects based on this, without needing to be personally powerful.
This is completely different from his aspirations in reality. In reality, everything needs to be developed around his own strength.
But the three options in front of him do not have any additional hints about bonus rewards, indicating that each of these choices has its own pros and cons.
"If I want to accumulate more knowledge in this simulation, I probably need to consider it carefully. Just need to identify their respective advantages and eliminate the options I don't need."
After the previous simulation, he somewhat tasted the sweetness of knowledge-type talents like "medical genius."
Is it useful to cultivate to be strong in the simulation? Returning to reality, he's just a weak soul master.
But knowledge can be carried out, laying the foundation for his future development.
Su Cheng looked at the options in front of him, gently rubbing his chin.
"In theory, Dai Mubai should be the most suitable candidate. After all, he is the legitimate heir of the empire, and only needs to defeat Davis to ascend the throne. His identity is his biggest advantage.
"But the question is, can he do it? Dai Mubai has obvious flaws in his personality. Without external help, it's difficult for him to succeed. And I can't intervene directly. Being in the Star Luo Empire, it's also difficult to connect with Dugu Bo, and I don't know if I can get my hands on Immortal Herb.
"Most importantly, if I choose him, I probably have to give up on theoretical knowledge-type talents."
He then looked at the other two.
"Zhu Zhuyun is actually a good candidate. But I don't know enough about her and how deep her relationship with Davis is. But since she can perform soul fusion skills, she should be competent.
"If there's no chance to break their relationship, Zhu Zhuyun may not be willing to betray Davis, and the manipulation difficulty here is too high.
"Instead, Zhu Zhuqing, although slightly weaker in talent and far less in status than the first two, her strong character is more important than anything else.
"Talent is not a problem, as long as it's not too bad, there's a chance to make up for it. But those with weak minds, no matter how powerful they are, are ultimately weak."
[You have selected Zhu Zhuqing as the cultivation target for this simulation.]
[You can choose the initial character:]
[1. High-ranking official of the empire, settlement bonus: 0-20%]
[2. Youngest teacher at the Star Luo Royal Academy, settlement bonus: 20%-50%]
[3. The theoretically illegitimate child of the emperor with no inheritance rights, settlement bonus: 50%-100%]
[You can choose three talents from the following ten talents as initial talents:]
[Variant Martial Soul, Innate Full Soul Power, Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring (Ninth Soul Ring), External Soul Bone (Mask), Battle Master, Sword Genius, Soul Scholar, Dual Talent, Max Charisma, Max Affinity]
[Initial character selected: The theoretically illegitimate child of the emperor with no inheritance rights.]
[Initial talents selected: External Soul Bone (Mask), Soul Scholar, Max Affinity.]
Choosing the theoretically illegitimate child of the emperor as the initial character is mainly because Su Cheng wants to personally experience the wonders of soul fusion skills.
Since there happens to be this option, it shouldn't be missed.
As for talents, he dares not choose Innate Full Soul Power.
As an illegitimate child of the emperor without inheritance rights, having the talent of Innate Full Soul Power would be suicidal. The crown prince Davis is not someone to be trifled with.
Su Cheng is clear about the succession standards of the Star Luo Empire's throne.
Any member of the royal family with the White Tiger Martial Soul, as long as they can defeat other heirs, even if you are a bastard, you still have a chance to ascend to the throne.
The biggest problem with this background is how to survive the early development stage.
No matter how Dai Mubai is targeted, he is at least one of the legitimate heirs and won't die from accidents before the outcome is decided.
If you become an illegitimate child with Innate Full Soul Power, forget about supporting Zhu Zhuqing, you first need to survive various assassinations.
On the contrary, with talents of relatively average strength, you naturally won't be the primary target. Davis also doesn't need to take the risk of angering the emperor to deal with him.
After all, from all aspects such as age, background, resources, and status, he is not a threat.
The "Sword Genius" talent, however, is something Su Cheng really wants.
But with only three slots available, and having chosen "Soul Scholar," it would be too arrogant to take a talent like "Sword Genius," which is likely to have no effect in this simulation.
His martial soul is not a sword-type martial soul this time.
With the character and talent selections complete, the screen changed again.
[You can choose the mission mode:]
[1. Guided Exploration Mode: The simulator will propose stage task options based on the progress of the mission, accumulating final settlement rewards in stages.]
[2. Free Exploration Mode: The main mission will not be divided into stages, providing higher freedom, but the final settlement will have a certain degree of additional fluctuation.]
"Is it because of the extra years of accumulated energy?"
Su Cheng thought for a moment and chose the second option.
He's no longer the novice he was at the beginning and can make suitable choices during the mission.
[Free Exploration Mode selected.]
[Note: Everything in life simulation is a projection of the real world and will also affect the fate of the base world. Please take it seriously.]
[Simulation starts.]
With the prompts appearing, Su Cheng's consciousness instantly detached from his body, entering another seemingly real and illusory world.
...
Hi everyone, I'm so sorry! Unfortunately, my phone was stolen recently, which means I won't be able to update chapters for a few days 😭. I'm working on getting some temporary access to update from another phone, so there might be some delays. I'll be back with regular updates as soon as possible. Thank you for your understanding!