When Strahd and Bernard woke up, they found themselves in the same white room.

When Strahd looked at Bernard, he noticed that Bernard's body was as healthy and whole as before.

"I was right.We're really getting a full healing at the end of the mission." Bernard smiled bitterly.

Strahd was still hesitant, "Maybe all that village was an AI. Something tells me we were in a VR simulation at the time."

Bernard nodded grimly, "No, I felt Gaia-inspired vibrations from the village guards. They were at least as real as you me."

Strahd looked up at the ceiling and pondered, "Is the purpose of all my being just to be a Lab rat? No, I won't accept it!"

"To the attention of all participants, you are requested to get your mission rewards from the platform. After 1 hour, the new stage will start."

When Strahd looked around he saw that two more people were in the room, the priest in robes in a strawberry safe.

She had a very innocent gaze, and suddenly Strahd found her gaze unusually attractive.

In Strahd's mind, thoughts began to collide quickly and he liberated himself from charm. "Shit, that was very dangerous."

Bernard seemed to somehow be aware of the abnormal situation.Monk spoke, "Hi fellows, my name is Teng. I lived in the world before in the shaolin temple. I would like to know you."

Strahd and Bernard gave their names and did not mention much of their past in the world. The girl's name was Mary.She was preparing for university exams, the girl said.Everyone seemed guarded against each other, but as Bernard and Strahd had a joint past, they were closer to each other.When they got to the platform, they saw the ranking.

Bernard Gaia condensation lv.7

Strahd Gaia condensation lv.3

Mary Gaia condensation lv.7

Teng Gaia condensation lv.3

Strahd decided that Mary wasn't as innocent as she seemed, she couldn't get that much essence with just one pill.In Strahd's mind a neural interface appeared. Mission gifts:

-One Gaiya condensation pill, One skill card roll, Gaia cultivation book.-

Everyone swallowed the direct pills.Strahd felt the Gaia energy grow stronger in his body.

Gaia condensation lv.5!

"I can think faster now and my Gaia essence control has improved even more."

Bernard turned to Strahd, "What is a skill card roll? My luck has never been good. Come on buddy you first"

Strahd didn't like the constant ordering of Bernard, "Just you wait bastard, just wait ..."

Strahd chose the card roll from the mind and a light reflected off the platform screen.

-Card roll initializing-

Like a casino machine, 3 different rows started to spin. When their rotation stopped, a different font and symbols appeared.Mary was surprised, "These letters were in the cultivation book."

A skill card appeared on the screen; -SS ranked Law card: incorporeal body-

A beam appeared from the screen and hit Strahd.Bernard nodded regretfully, "So no stealing skill cards eh."

Before Strahd was surprised, Teng came over to him, "Tell me what is this skill lookalike?"

Strahd noticed a foreign object engraved in his mind The skill gave the feeling that it was another part of him, like walking.Strahd commanded from his mind and suddenly his body seemed to have gone from materiality to abstract.While everyone was looking at him in amazement, after 1 second Strahd's body materialized again and he fell to the ground. He was panting and couldn't get up.Bernard ran to Strahd, "what happened?"

"All my Gaia essence is gone"

It seemed that the more powerful skill it was, the more energy it spent.Bernard gathered up his courage and went to the platform and used the card roll.On the screen the roll was turned again and a new skill appeared

- erosion poison, D rank skill-

"Fucking mother fuck!" Bernard was utterly disappointed and cursed around.

"Maybe Strahd's card was extremely rare and not everyone might be lucky that way." Monk went to the platform with a depressed look.

Teng's skill - Purify B rank skill-

Mary's -short-distance teleportation C rank skill-

Strahd could sense hateful glances around him, and he smiled helplessly.When Strahd looked at the cultivation book, he found a lot of surprising information about Gaia. "Gaia is in all beings in the universe. Without Gaia the universe would all have nothingness.Gaiya cultivation phases in order; Gaia condensation-Gaia mini core-Gaia golden core-Gaia mega core-Gaia Ancient core.The book did not give information about the next stages, but only wrote one sentence; -Next level is gain immortal body-

"Immortality! Like the heroes of samal who divide those seas into two, destroying mountains? Interesting.",Strahd could not hide his excitement.With Gaia, all the elements and matter in the universe can be ruled. It can only be a joke to understand Gaiya by looking at a simple book. Yet it was better than nothing.At the same time, unlike fairy tales, science and gaia could collaborate.Many Gaia application machines were mentioned in the book.

Ding Ding -The new quest will begin soon. Mission goal: Find metacore of low level world. Mission duration: One Year.All the geography information of the low level world is loaded into your brain. The planet metacore is the Gaia basins that it creates as the planet ages. The Gaia mini space, which you will transfer the basin to when you reach the Gaia basin, has been loaded into your mind. Level 2 Standard weapon selection has been activated-

Everyone had anxiety on their faces, One year's time might sound nice, but even short-term missions were a struggle for life or death.When Strahd looked at his weapon selection, one particular weapon caught his attention.

- Poisonous needle - The needle can be controlled with Gaia essence. The maximum distance is 40 meters. As the distance increases, the attack intensity decreases.This was a superb weapon for Strahd. The range of his thin thread was barely 15 meters.

"Is there any other explanation, system?" Bernard called around, but there was no reply.

-Seal opens, all participants will be sent to low level world-

Strahd's field of vision suddenly blurred, and when he opened his eyes again, he found himself in a meadow with the other three.

"It's best to stay together for now. We don't have any tracking devices and we're the only strangers in this world." Monk's suggestion was logical and everyone agreed.When Strahd looked at the information in his mind, he tried to use the Mini space.He could put all his guns in the mini space and recall by commanding with his mind. It was incredibly convenient.When the group came out of the meadow, they entered a forest covered with trees around 20 meters, the trunks of the trees were black and their leaves were red, leaving an ominous feeling with red leaves falling on the ground.Bernard turned to the group and said, "According to the geographical information, when we cross the black forest, we will have entered the northern plain. There are many small-scale villages on the northern plain.There is only one main city in the northern kingdom. As this world is low level, the highest level is the Golden gaia core.My advice is to loot a few villages when we cross the forest and go to a secret place and cultivate.Everyone in the group found the suggestion logical and approved.

Strahd turned to Bernard, "What do you think is going to happen if the mission fails."

"We'd probably die, but I have no intention of testing it." Bernard teased.

Everyone in the group found the suggestion logical and approved.

Strahd turned to Bernard, "What do you think is going to happen if the mission fails."

"We'd probably die, but I have no intention of testing it." Bernard teased.

In the evening, as the group was crossing the forest, a sharp cry was heard in the forest. "What the fuck is that?" Bernard raised his Ax.Then the same cry was screamed again. Only this time it was coming out of many mouths. "This is probably jade-eyed monkeys, Let everyone form the formation." A general catalog of local creatures had been loaded in their memory as well as geographic information. Bernard and the monk held the front while Strahd and Mary were in the back.A monkey jumped out of the bushes above, the monk roared and punched it with his iron-clad hands.

~Boom!~ The monkey's head exploded. "It doesn't look too compelling." Monk looked relieved.Later, hundreds of green glows began to appear through the trees.

"I have a wide range attack skill. It will take time to prepare. 3 protect me.",Mary took action without hesitation, a Tome appeared in her hand.She was spelling something softly.Dozens of monkeys rushed over the group from the bushes.In the foreground, Bernard and Monk fought hand-to-hand, while Strahd was mowing the monkeys from the sides and occasionally from behind with his invisible rope.When the fight reached its peak, the monkeys surrounded the group 4.

"Come closer to me." Mary roared and held up her Tome. "Hell Blast!"

A dome of flame surrounded the group and suddenly expanded 50 meters in diameter. Monkeys within the entire radius of attack remained with only their skeletons.Almost 90% of the monkeys disappeared, and then a nervous rumble sounded.

"Jade eye Monkey King!",It was twice the size of a normal monkey, with gray fur and a muscular body.

"Let's finish this fucking monkey thing." Bernard rushed towards the ape king and swung his ax. The monkey king had a mocking smile on his face.Clank! It held the ax with his bare hands. "Shit!"

A long rumble was heard, and Bernard was blown away at twice the speed he was running.He flew 15 meters back, and blood came out of his mouth when he fell to the ground.

"No good, Mary, do you have a chance to attack from afar again?" Monk looked at Mary anxiously.But Mary was pale and panting.The monkey king started running towards the group with 4 limbs.Thinking quickly, Strahd put the Monkey 10 meters away from the king and threw his thin thread around the Monkey king's neck.~Growl!~The invisible thread did not pierce the Monkey King's skin, but did some damage.

"Now Monk!"

Monk suddenly jumped, and the Monkey punched the king's head with his iron fist. "Bang!"

The animal's head was buried in the ground but was still not dead.The monkey king lifted his head and punched Monk. "I can guard it!"

Monk was a former Saholin priest and was highly skilled at martial arts. He grasped and locked the monkey's arm with a nimble movement.

~Growl!"~The animal was increasingly agitated. Just as he was about to burst Monk's head with his other arm, something pointed entered in his ear and came out of the other ear.The ape king stumbled before he knew what had happened, and with a high thump his body stuck to the ground.

"This venom is really effective, but it can only be so harsh when the needle penetrates directly into the brain or heart.",Strahd had a satisfying look on his face.The remaining monkeys frightened and fled deep into the forest with the death of the Monkey king.When the group came to their senses, they began to share the spoils.Normal jade-eyed monkeys had small Gaia power stones, the stones were between lv.1 and lv.3, but the monkey king had a high quality Gaia power stone.Gaia power stones are dropping from low-level creatures. High-level creatures usually drop Gaia cores as they form Gaia cores.

"This gaia power stone is probably LV.9",Bernard cut off the body of the monkey king and removed the power stone.

"I contributed the most in the war, and the Monkey king was killed by Strahd. Hey Strahd, you can let me get the stone, right? So no one can claim ownership over the stone.",Strahd was only able to nod helplessly with his head.Mary and Monk were not happy about the situation, but they chose not to argue.They had just started the mission. "Not yet." This sentence was crossing everyone's mind.As the group moved through the woods, they gathered a variety of fruit and nutrients, hunted live animals such as deer, and put supplies into their inventory.After the group passed through the woodland, a mountain appeared before them.

"How about using the Gaia power stones and cultivate before we pillage the villages?What do you say?" Monk's suggestion was logical.The group decided to cultivate for 1 week.There were various naturally formed caves on the mountain.Everyone chose a cave and went inside.Strahd's cave was 3 meters wide and was a smooth cave with a dark brown interior. While he was wandering his own cave, suddenly a delicious smell came to his nose.When he went deep into the cave, he saw a green glowing plant. "This is the Oleander of Rebirth!",Rebirth oleander was a plant with a kind of Gaia power. Its use was to restructure the body and make it as hard and strong as steel.In the Cultivation book, extensive information was given about the plant and its use.

"Steel body is one of the body regeneration skills. Although it is one of the lowest level body temper skills, it is sure to be life-saving. With this spiritual herb, I can easily access steel body mastery.Maybe I don't need to make concessions to Bernard anymore.Strahd smiled diabolically.In general, spiritual plants are mixed with different herbs and mixtures to produce cultivation pills, but they can be consumed directly in spiritual plants.The downside is that this method has only low effects and some side effects.Strahd chewed the plant in his mouth without further thinking.

-Gulp- An intense warmth spread over his body.

"Shit, this is a really refreshing feeling. Really..Aaghhhh .... Uuaahhhh",Strahd felt his whole body falling apart and reassembling."GOD!!!...Save muaggghhh...."

He unwillingly started to pee.His pants were full of shit and he was still shitting.

"Auagguhhh ... Somebody help ..... Ahh God..",He had descended very deep into the cave and his voices could not be heard from the outside.This time, he started peeing blood. Blood began to flow from his mouth and ears.Black solid substances began to flow from his skin.He began to puke blackish-red mucus.

-Crack! - "Aaghhhh .... my bones .... Uaahhh....Lord help me!.....",Then every single bone in his body began to break, then his bones began to reunite.The anguish continued for 3 days and the Cave suddenly fell into silence.