A night passed.
As the first light of dawn appeared on the horizon, Alex finally managed to sort through the memories in his head and understand the sequence of events.
First of all, he really did die. This left Alex speechless. He had always considered himself a cautious person.
He was used to preparing for various unexpected risks, from a breakup with a girlfriend to a company bankruptcy, from a cash flow disruption to a partner absconding with the funds, from being mugged to encountering a drunk driver while crossing the street.
Alex had always anticipated and prepared for these potential risks, enjoying a life where everything was under control.
His philosophy was to respond to changing circumstances with consistency, which contributed to his success.
But what Alex never expected was that the world is full of unforeseen surprises.
For instance, when he jumped into the river to save someone, he never thought that after successfully rescuing the person and seeing them off in an ambulance, he would be struck by a high-voltage wire that snapped suddenly above him.
Even more unexpected was that he not only died but, upon opening his eyes again, found himself transmigrated to another world.
The circumstances surrounding the owner of the body he was transmigrated into were quite perplexing to Alex.
In essence, the situation was not complicated. The small noble family into which Alex was transmigrated possessed a secret treasure.
Not long ago, a group of paladins from the Holy Nation approached the small noble, claiming that the treasure passed down in his family was an evil and ominous item and demanded its surrender.
Naturally, the small noble refused and drove the paladins away. He thought nothing more of it until that very night when the paladins returned, raiding the estate and committing a massacre.
This small noble, named Williams, was merely a minor baron who had never witnessed such brutality.
Terrified, he fled with the family treasure, hoping to seek assistance from other noble families in the city, only to discover that the Holy Nation had publicly declared the Williams family to be in league with a heretical cult, issuing a kill-on-sight order.
In this land, the Holy Nation held a revered status, and a minor noble like Williams was insignificant in comparison.
Left with no choice, they continued their flight but ultimately failed to escape the Holy Nation’s pursuit, meeting their demise here.
From a third-party perspective, Alex would undoubtedly think that the Holy Nation was one of those hypocritical institutions, noble in appearance but corrupt within, indulging in heinous deeds.
However, after absorbing Williams’ memories, Alex frustratingly discovered that the Holy Nation’s charges were not entirely baseless.
According to Williams’ memories, although his family outwardly worshipped the Goddess of Order, they were actually devout followers of a cult called the Doomsday Cult.
This cult believed in the end of all things, claiming that one day everything in the world would be destroyed, including the gods, and the God of Destruction would rise to rule the world.
The cultists’ mission was to weaken the forces of order to prepare for the return of the God of Destruction, involving all sorts of nefarious activities.
Naturally, the Williams family engaged in various dark and sordid deeds. Alex thought that even if the Holy Nation hadn’t intervened, according to the laws of his previous world, the family would have been executed a hundred times over.
How did he end up transmigrated into such a troublesome person?
Thinking of this, Alex felt a headache coming on. Other people who transmigrate either become characters with deep vendettas or hidden talents. Why did he end up as a universally hated cultist?
Even more frustrating, absorbing Williams’ memories revealed that not only was he now a wanted criminal in the Holy Nation, but he also couldn’t stay with the Doomsday Cult.
The reason was simple: according to Williams’ memories, the so-called cult treasure had been destroyed by him during his escape!
The process of the treasure’s destruction was equally ridiculous. Facing the Holy Nation’s pursuers, Williams decided to take a desperate gamble by activating the treasure, aiming for mutual destruction.
However, whether due to incorrect steps or bad luck, the treasure shattered with a "pop" when Williams infused it with magic, causing him to pass out – and thus Alex’s arrival.
Deservedly doomed to be hunted forever!!
Alex could imagine that if the cultists of the Doomsday Cult found him and he couldn’t produce the treasure, death would be inevitable.
Like all cults, regardless of the world, they had endless methods of torture that would make one wish for death.
In this light, perhaps being captured by the Holy Nation might be better; at least they’d give him a swift death with a single stroke...
Moreover, Williams’ memories revealed that this world had a highly developed power system, with magic, paladins, dragons, undead, and various other creatures and beings.
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Not to mention gods and divine envoys... Unlike the fraudulent religions of Alex’s world, these cults truly had connections to higher powers!
In comparison, although Alex had some skills, he believed he stood no chance against magic and those miraculous sword techniques.
As for his transmigrated body? Ha, Alex already knew that Williams was only at the level of an apprentice knight, and the Doomsday Cult hadn’t blessed him with any divine power. According to Alex’s observations, any one of those paladins could easily defeat him ten times over.
But fortunately, this world was full of surprises.
Thinking of this, Alex raised his hand, and with his movement, the previously seen magnificent, heavy book appeared once again.
This time, Alex carefully observed the book that appeared out of thin air in his hand. It looked as thick as an encyclopedia but was unexpectedly as light as a feather in his hand.
The black, heavy cover featured a luxurious, radiant gemstone in the center, surrounded by silver circles radiating outward, resembling the orbit of planets in the universe.
Opening the book, Alex saw his name at the top of the page. In the center was an indentation, currently holding a beautiful white gem, its surface shrouded in a cold mist, giving it an icy feel.
At the bottom of the interface were three options: [Summon], [Enhance], and [Teleport].
This was the Map of Myriad Dimensions, the treasure Alex received after coming to this world!
And most importantly, this was the game system he had designed before his transmigration!
Looking at the familiar cover, Alex couldn’t help but twitch his mouth. Previously, he only had a guess, but now he could confirm – this was indeed the system he developed!
This was a new mobile game still in development, called "Map of Myriad Dimensions." In this game, the player is a young person, with customizable gender and avatar. According to the game’s setting, the player would be swept into a spatial-temporal vortex for some reason, awakening to find themselves in a new world, where they would encounter a book called the "Map of Myriad Dimensions" and begin their new journey.
In the game, after obtaining the "Map of Myriad Dimensions," the player becomes a "Dimensional Mage." As the name suggests, this is a mage who travels across various dimensional worlds.
The mage can use the map to teleport to different dimensional planes to complete various tasks and earn dimensional points.
These points can be used to summon soul stones containing the power of beings with strong souls from other planes, or to enhance the attributes of these soul stones.
At this moment, Alex was equipped with the soul stone he obtained from his first "novice summon" – the Lich King Arthas.
As the creator of this game, Alex naturally knew how to use the soul stones. There are two ways to use a soul stone.
One way is to simply "embed" it into the Map of Myriad Dimensions. This way, Alex can gain a permanent buff, providing a certain degree of enhancement.
Unless Alex uses dimensional points to enhance the soul stone, this buff only offers a limited boost, much like leveling up in the game to gradually gain new abilities and skills.
The other way is to fully activate the power of the soul stone. During activation, Alex can use all the abilities of the entity, almost identical to the original.
For example, in his previous battle with those paladins, the power he used was entirely the true power of the Lich King.
In front of this Scourge King, even the official paladins of the Holy Nation were fragile and easily defeated.
However, the activation mode, though impressive, comes with many limitations. Firstly, after activation, it enters a cooldown period, similar to a skill cooldown.
Secondly, the activation itself has a limited number of uses. For instance, the [Arthas] soul stone that Alex summoned can only be activated five times in total. Once the activation times are used up, the [Arthas] soul stone will completely shatter and disappear.
This leaves Alex with only two choices: summon other soul stones or… face certain death.
[Executor: Alex]
[Dimensional Points: 0]
[Equipped Soul Stone: Arthas]
[Gains: Undying King (50% increase in perception of undead, 50% increase in damage to undead, 50% increase in defense against undead)]
[Strength: E]
[Agility: D]
[Constitution: E]
[Perception: D]
[Charisma: D]
[Equipped Skills: None]
[Exclusive Quest: Curse of Frostmourne]
[This cursed sword craves souls filled with agony. Your task is to satisfy its desire – Frostmourne is hungry (requires the holder to obtain no less than 1000 soul power in the next mission world; success will grant a random reward +1, failure will result in the holder being cursed by Frostmourne, countdown 24H)]
"Damn it..."
Seeing this quest prompt, Alex couldn't help but grind his teeth. He already knew that the soul power mentioned was likely human souls.
To complete this task, Alex would have to kill a thousand people… They are not a thousand pigs! Even if a thousand pigs lined up for him to slaughter, it would probably take a day!
But to abandon the quest? Ha… Alex wasn't new to Warcraft and knew very well how terrifying Frostmourne’s curse was. There was no way he could withstand it.
However, what frustrated Alex even more was that he didn't know how he ended up with this item. Alex clearly remembered that he had only completed the main framework and setting of the system, and hadn’t finished the soul stones or other quest planes.
The programming team hadn't even started, so how could he summon a soul stone, especially the Lich King’s soul stone, through this semi-finished product?
And then there's the dimensional teleportation...
"Ah..."
Looking at the interface in front of him, Alex sighed deeply. If possible, he really didn’t want to complete this quest. After all, no one knew where the system would take him. But if he didn’t go, Alex knew that with his current strength, once the Holy Nation’s people arrived, he would be captured without a fight.
Alex had considered hiding in the mission world, but unfortunately, he knew that each mission world had a time limit.
Additionally, like the soul stones, every time Alex returned from a mission world, the teleportation function would enter a cooldown period, taking time to reactivate.
Therefore, Alex could neither hide indefinitely in the mission world nor continuously perform tasks to avoid the pursuit of the Holy Nation and the Doomsday Cult.
He had no choice but to enhance his strength. Moreover, Alex had a premonition that if he didn’t go to the mission now, he might never get another chance.
His premonition was usually very accurate.
"Teleport!"
With this in mind, Alex didn’t hesitate any longer. He closed the map with a snap and murmured. Immediately, the heavy Map of Myriad Dimensions in his hand transformed into rings of light, encircling Alex. The next moment, his figure disappeared, and the scattered light quickly dissipated into particles, vanishing.
"Swish… Swish…"
Not long after Alex disappeared, the sound of flapping wings filled the air. Several winged, pure white pegasus descended from the sky, landing where Alex had hidden.
"My sister, did you find anything?"
A man riding a pegasus, dressed similarly to the silver-white paladins Alex had encountered, stared at the ground and asked in a low voice. The female paladin on another pegasus closed her eyes, sensing for a moment before shaking her head.
"I didn’t sense any presence, Brother. I think the target has left."
"Curse those cultists…"
Hearing the female paladin's response, the man clenched his fist tightly.
"Not only did they kill our comrades, but they also desecrated their corpses and souls! Such actions are unforgivable! In the name of the Goddess of Order, we will not let our fallen comrades die in vain! Justice will be served!"
With that, the man waved his hand forcefully.
"Let’s move, continue searching. That cultist cannot be far! Search the area thoroughly!"