New Century Warriors

"That sounds a bit dirty. Did he secretly curse me?" Raino muttered to himself.

Moreover, Lei Ye remembered that he was an A-level explorer, which was achieved by relying on his teammates to carry him through a series of battles. His actual combat strength was quite average. So what kind of concept is this ASS?

"Wow, that's amazing!" The saleswoman stopped the flashing, cool lights, and when she looked up at Lei Ye again, her eyes were practically sparkling with hearts. "You're really amazing, Boss Lei!"

"...Can you tell me what this ASS means?" Raino was really confused, but after hesitating for a moment, he decided to ask.

"You designed this, huh? It's all thanks to you! Since the aptitude testing module was added, no talented newcomer will be overlooked by the guild. This is a huge help in resisting evil," the counter lady leaned forward and handed Raino a brand new guild card. "Your work card is complete. Regarding the question from earlier, please look here. The three values ​​on it are 'Stamina,' 'Magic Power,' and 'Mental Power.' And the less important data below... Ah!"

The saleswoman stepped back awkwardly and apologized repeatedly to Lei Ye, "I'm so sorry, I was just explaining how to use the new guild card to newcomers and forgot that you're the creator. How could you not know how to use it?"

I really don't know how! Please keep teaching me!

Lei Ye complained inwardly but remained outwardly calm, trying his best to remember everything the saleswoman said.

A simple analysis of what she said makes it easy to understand. The current guild registration process has added a qualification test. Lei Ye's ASS represents physical, magical, and sanity respectively. This value sounds impressive, but Lei Ye is not happy. He felt that the A-rank he had worked hard for before sounded pretty good. How did he suddenly become an ass-level explorer?

But the upgraded guild card is indeed a high-tech gadget. Lei Ye casually pressed a few buttons on it, and all the information about talent evaluation, various attributes, and skill descriptions was hidden, presumably entering a hidden state.

There must be other functions to inputting magic in specific places, but Lei Ye can't try them all here, the guild is in a mess right now.

It gave him a strange sense of déjà vu, like the protagonist in an old-fashioned isekai novel who gets his talent tested on a magic crystal ball and becomes an overnight sensation. When Lei Ye first entered the guild registration information, he really looked forward to such an event, but nothing happened. It was as bland as getting a membership card at a barbecue restaurant. Now that he actually encountered such a scenario, he was unhappy. If he concentrated, he could hear everyone's whispers.

"I've always thought his physical strength was incredible. I once asked him to make a hammer for me, and I saw him carry a piece of iron that was half a person's height by himself."

"That's so fake. He probably modified the guild card data just to show off. I've never seen him use any magic."

There were both positive and negative opinions, with significantly more voices of doubt, and almost all of them suspecting that he was faking it to show off or something.

I'm innocent! I'm still half asleep, okay? I don't have that kind of thought in my head.

Lei Ye was absolutely certain that this was not a lie by "Lei Ye". His hearing was now so strong that it was somewhat annoying, and his dynamic vision also seemed to have been enhanced. As long as he concentrated, every detail was reflected in his eyes, and every little thing was clearly visible. As for his physical strength, he had not yet directly felt it, but he remembered the muscles he touched when he first woke up, and they were all genuine.

As for why this change occurred, Lei Ye didn't think about how hard he had worked in the past five years, because he had never slacked off in the other five years as well, yet achieved nothing.

Lei Ye was thinking about that extra skill.

How disgusting...

This isn't the place to think. There are quite a few explorers around who seem eager to come closer and strike up a conversation. I've already gathered a lot of information, so I'll go back 'home' and organize it first.

Just then, the guild's doors were opened in a rather rude manner.

It was as if the gates of heaven had suddenly opened, and angels had descended from the curtain of light that shone down upon the world.

"master!"

A strangely dressed, petite girl with long, snow-white hair burst in, panting. She seemed to have run all the way here. She was in a hurry and started shaking her head as she entered, looking for someone. Finally, her gaze settled on Lei Ye, and she jogged over as if she had breathed a sigh of relief.

Lei Ye couldn't help but stare at her. This little girl, who looked to be less than 1.5 meters tall, had an extremely eye-catching head of long, snow-white hair, bright red eyes, and a face as cute as a work of art. However, there was a huge and terrifying cross-shaped blood scar on her left cheek, which made people sigh.

What caught Lei Ye's attention most was her wing—a single, snow-white wing growing from her left back, forming a beautiful symmetry with the feather decoration on her right shoulder. If she had a pair of wings, it wouldn't be so noticeable, but she only had one, making it look very familiar...

"Why!"

Lei Ye suddenly clapped his hands.

This wasn't the first time he went into the dark alley to try and save that child, but he didn't have the money to buy him anything!

It had been so long that Lei Ye thought he had forgotten it, but the scene was still too vivid in his mind: the dried, filthy pool of blood, the wounds all over his body, and the dying child covering his body with a single wing. It gave people the feeling that he would die soon if he didn't do something. At that time, Lei Ye really couldn't come up with that much money, so he had to leave.

But now she is alive and well. Although her face bears the scars from that time, the child is lively, bouncy, and adorable, with a pair of beautiful big eyes.

"You didn't die either..." Raino was inexplicably moved.

Lei Ye recognized the little angel but didn't know her, because he had no memory of being with her. However, she seemed to be a very familiar and even close person to him. She came straight to him, almost sprinting over. Then she circled around Lei Ye like a fly, patting and hitting his body. After checking that he was unharmed, she stood in front of him with her hands on her hips.

"Honestly, you just disappeared while I was buying groceries. At least leave a note for me. Besides, doesn't Madam hate it when you come to places like this? If you're caught, you'll be punished by being made to write in the dark room again. This time, I'll keep it a secret for you. Madam, please don't let it slip when you get back from your business trip."

What an energetic child with such expressive features.

In truth, Raino's mind was still in turmoil. Perhaps it was his S-rank sanity that kept him calm from the moment he saw Loya's severed hand until now.

Just watching her dart around on her short legs gave Lei Ye a strange feeling of being injected with strength, and his tense nerves were somewhat relieved.

She gracefully turned her body and bowed in all directions.

"I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry! My husband has caused you all trouble. I'll take him home right away!"

With that, she grabbed Lei Ye's hand and strode away from the Explorers' Guild with him.

She held Lei Ye's hand tightly and walked ahead. Lei Ye didn't feel any romance at all; he only had the feeling of walking a dog on a leash. This child gave him the feeling of an energetic little pug, and she kept talking to Lei Ye as they walked.

Lei Ye didn't know how to interact with her properly, so he just mumbled "uh-huh" and "yeah" to appease her.

On his way "home", he walked slowly, observing the subtle changes in the familiar neighborhood. Overall, there seemed to be no major differences. The people on the street were the strangers. First, he saw some explorers he had met once before but who had been confirmed dead. He also saw some suspicious people who had never appeared in Hillius before. All of these people knew Raiye and greeted him kindly.

This must be a world where he never called for his mother everywhere, which is why he sees so many kind people.

It's too troublesome to always refer to things as "this world" or "that world." Let's change the way we refer to them.

Just like two save files in a game with different paths, divided into save1 and save2, he lived for five years in the first world, while as the protagonist of that world, he now appears in the second world, where he did not team up with Luo Ya but instead became partners with Ye Lei as the starting point.

The change occurred too early, causing a powerful butterfly effect. Some people who originally lived in the Line 1 world disappeared, while those who originally died in the Line 1 world reappeared around Raino.

For example, the little thing he's holding.

As soon as she got home, the little angel started spinning like a top, running through the bedroom. Lei Ye followed behind her and realized that there were several more rooms and even a small courtyard behind another door in the bedroom. However, considering the ample funds in the storage bag, it was not surprising that there was such a big house.

The little angel first went to the kitchen, activated the magic tool to boil water, washed her hands, and then quickly took out the ingredients from the storage bag to start cleaning. After soaking the preliminarily processed ingredients in water, she took out a huge mop that was taller than herself from the storage bag and began cleaning.

As she ran around pushing the mop, she turned around and muttered a few words about Lei Ye, who was always following behind her.

"Master, if you have some free time, would you like to write a few words? It's not that I think you're dirty, but there are so many footprints on the floor I just cleaned. Also, did you do your physical training properly this afternoon? I can keep your sneaking off to the guild a secret, but if you neglect your training, I'll still report you to Madam."

She's shining... What a wonderful mother she is.

If you're not my mom yet, please be my mom someday.

But now...

He realized the problem when the little angel started doing housework with ease: the little angel was actually living under the same roof as him. So how could he perfectly disguise himself as Raino from Line 2 without the little angel noticing anything?

Lei Ye took a deep breath, trying to make his tone as gentle as possible.

"Please don't do this, my little angel, help me! Think about how we started, think about our bond—"

"Ugh, don't call me that!" Hearing the words "little angel," she trembled violently, dropped the mop, ran back, and threw herself into Raino's arms, playfully punching his stomach with her little pink fists. "Please... call me Venus! Honestly, every time you want me to secretly help you, you have to tell me about the past, even though you know I'll be shy..."

Because she was so short, she had to raise her head very high to look at Lei Ye. She put a finger to her lips and said, "Then let's rest well today, really, just this last time."

Great, you guessed right.

Because whenever Raino recalls the slave he first met on Line 1, he calls her "little angel" in his heart, then by the same token, Raino here must have used that term as well.

Speaking of the name Venus...

No, it might just be a name. If we asked Raino, who knows about "Venus de Milo," to come up with a good name, this would certainly be suitable for this one-winged little angel.

"I still remember when I first bought you..." Raino said again.

"I was very weak back then, and I didn't understand much about human affairs. Looking back now, I'm still very grateful to you for taking care of me... I can say as many words of gratitude as you want! But please let me finish my work first!"

Lei Yexin said, "You absolutely mustn't say things like you don't understand human affairs. Last time I heard someone say something like that, I got my ears pierced and went deaf."

"Okay, okay, I understand. Keep working. Thank you for your hard work, Venus."

"Yes, sir!"

Venus snapped to attention and saluted, revealing a bright, childlike smile.

In short, we managed to avoid being exposed and even gained some additional information.

He patted Venus's little head and hurried back to his bedroom.

Sit down in the chair and take out the notebook I used during the day.

The information here is far too limited, as the writing only goes up to the few pages that Raino has read.

Lei Ye first wrote two words on it: "Ye Lei", and drew a big red circle with an arrow pointing to the other two words: "Big Octopus".

As an author who likes to write the ending before the beginning, Lei Ye first identified the true big boss of his world.

Despite the seemingly calm surface of Line 2, the true peace and tranquility ultimately depend on how Ye Lei is dealt with.

Are we going to fight Ye Lei?

The battle with the giant octopus refreshed Lei Ye's understanding of the combat power system in this world. Even after taking all the advantages into account, he still didn't think there was any way to defeat this guy.

So now he has to do the same thing he thought before: try to maintain the status quo, pretend to be Raino from Line 2, continue to live in this city, in this home, and around that indescribable thing, and pretend that nothing has happened.

The only struggle they could make was to secretly investigate her weaknesses. If they couldn't find them, they would have to continue living like this.

Is there a solution?

Some brothers, some.

Lei Ye then wrote down two more words: "Demon King," and circled and pointed to three more words: "Dump Truck."

Lei Ye had also observed the Demon King's battle and initially judged that Jiao Tu's strength was incredibly powerful, but not as overwhelmingly strong as Ye Lei's. In particular, Lei Ye's base stats in the second route were quite high, so as long as he collected enough mothers, he still had a chance.

The prerequisite is to secretly find Mom right under Ye Lei's nose... Good heavens, this is difficult.

Moreover, even if he secretly found enough mothers, secretly infiltrated the Scorched Earth, killed the Demon King, and successfully escaped by dump truck, this process wouldn't count as saving the world, because it would leave behind a very beautiful Ye Lei in Hillius.

So, he is less a hero who saves the world and more like a deserter who runs away.

...Let's deal with this later.

Lei Ye wrote two more words at the very bottom: filth.

He thought and thought, and in the five years since he got Line 1, he had never heard of this term before.

Therefore, the only clues to look for are on Line 2. You can't figure it out just by thinking. However, judging from how familiar people on Line 2 are with this word, they might be able to find the answer in the library without having to ask anyone.

That's enough. Raino put his notebook away. These were his main tasks for now. In addition, he needed to figure out how to perfectly disguise himself as Raino from Line 2.

Thinking this, Raino closed his eyes and sensed the body...

...I felt a sense of frustration.

It's like someone who has been suppressing themselves for a long time.

Based on Lei Ye's own estimation, this meant he hadn't been able to relieve stress for at least a month or two.

The pressure was already immense...

Lei Ye searched under the bed and every place he might hide the sacred relic, but found nothing. He then carefully checked his storage bag again. Compared to Line 1, he was now incredibly wealthy in terms of supplies and materials. He had everything from large gold coins and precious metals to monster materials and various magical items that Lei Ye couldn't understand, but he still couldn't find the sacred relic.

Oh my god, could it be that after talking to Ye Lei, he simply didn't redeem it?

This is ungrateful, Raino from Line 2! You deserve to die!

(...)