Chapter 388: My Job Panel Has an Anime Art Style? — Chapter 175

The situation was very wrong—he could clearly sense that some unknown force had just interfered with 【Traveler】.

Even the last piece of information proved his feeling hadn't been mistaken.

'But what the **** is this?'

Staring at the four blacked-out characters on his class panel, Li Ang felt a twinge of confusion.

After a brief moment of thought, he hadn't reached any conclusion—after all, there was simply too little useful information.

'Tch.'

With a slight irritation, Li Ang crossed his arms, his slender fingers tapping lightly against his bicep.

Whether it was 【Traveler】 or 【Console Player】, both were talents that absolutely could not be exposed.

But now there existed something that could interfere with these two talents, which he found rather hard to accept.

'A Tier-3 class-holder?'

Li Ang couldn't help but form a guess in his mind.

Since he had never actually seen how strong a Tier-3 class-holder truly was, he didn't know whether his guess was correct.

But very soon, he felt the truth probably wasn't so.

If a Tier-3 class-holder had interfered, then his previous few journeys should have changed—unless the other party had only just noticed him now.

Li Ang felt such a coincidence was unlikely.

'So what exactly interfered with the 【Traveler】 talent?'

Strictly speaking, Li Ang did have some guesses—for instance, why he had inexplicably appeared in this world.

He hadn't, like other protagonists, gotten lucky or been electrocuted into transmigrating.

But what if his coming to this world was precisely because of the 【Traveler】 talent?

Or rather, coming to this world was his true first journey.

Of course, if he followed this line of reasoning, there was one problem he had to face.

That was, even if Li Ang returned to the Main World after activating 【Traveler】, it should still be the world from before his transmigration.

Yet after so many journeys, every place he returned to was this starry sky.

Faced with this situation, there were only two explanations.

One was that the 【Traveler】 talent had indeed only awakened after his transmigration, and his transmigration was merely coincidental—everything was just him overthinking.

The other was—

Before he came to this world—no, it should be said before his transmigration—the 【Traveler】 talent had already been influenced; as for who influenced it—

'It can't be, right?'

Thinking of a certain utterly absurd possibility, Li Ang's gaze flickered slightly, and he couldn't help but click his tongue inwardly.

Although the probability of this possibility was minuscule, after personally experiencing the fixing of phenomena in the Type-Moon world, he felt his guess might not be entirely impossible.

'Sure enough, there's no such thing as a free lunch in this world.'

Thinking this, Li Ang couldn't help but heave a long sigh, then entered Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi.

Yes, he admittedly didn't yet have a thorough understanding of this world, but someone did.

Ottavio.

This former Imperial Baron definitely knew a great deal of information that ordinary people didn't, and might even know what the **** was.

Looking at it this way, Pseudo-Servants were simply too useful—they could boost one's own combat strength while also providing a wealth of intelligence.

Moreover, as time accumulated, the combat power this technology built up would only grow more and more outrageous.

And as Li Ang's 【Living Puppet Master】 line of classes continued to advance, the Pseudo-Servants he could produce would also grow ever closer to their former strength in life.

Until one day, he crafted a true Heroic Spirit identical to their living self.

Having gained experience from crafting 【Christine】, Li Ang was considerably more skilled this time.

Sensing the exceedingly faint soul within the specially-made puppet, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

'Good thing I preserved it in time, otherwise this guy would've really been dead for good.'

True spirit ground down, forever cast into the abyss—

Call it whatever you want, this world had no such thing as reincarnation—die and you were simply dead.

Li Ang did have some fanciful ideas on this matter, but limited by his ability, he had no way to tinker them out for now.

With the Third Magic successfully performed, Ottavio's exceedingly weak soul gradually steadied.

After a while, once that soul had mostly recovered, Li Ang stuffed it into 【Star-Raiding Knight · Ottavio】.

Strangely enough, after he repaired Ottavio's corpse to its original state and crafted it into a Pseudo-Servant, the battered, tattered black armor on the other's body vanished without a trace.

'What a bizarre talent.'

Regarding Ottavio's talent, Li Ang was inexplicably reminded of a certain bizarre hot-blooded manga he'd watched before transmigrating—the characters in it also fought using clothing, or rather fibers.

Every time a fight broke out, their clothes would explode off.

Just as Li Ang's thoughts were wandering, Ottavio, floating in midair, suddenly opened his eyes.

He first scanned his surroundings in some bewilderment, then looked at Li Ang before him: "... You're dead too?"

"Think carefully. I should have implanted all the key information into your mind."

Facing the knight's impertinence, Li Ang paid it no heed and merely replied offhandedly.

After the incident with Christine last time, he had optimized the Pseudo-Servants.

Just as Heroic Spirits in the Holy Grail War would acquire corresponding life knowledge, the Pseudo-Servants Li Ang crafted would also know the necessary information.

For instance, what state they were in.

"..."

Hearing Li Ang's words, Ottavio immediately furrowed his brow tightly and began rummaging through his mind.

Soon after, the 【Star Raider】 quickly understood his situation.

At this moment, Otavio stared at the young man before him and fell silent.

After a long while, he let out a long sigh: "I never expected you to possess such an ability—if the intelligence hadn't said you were an alchemist of the 【One Miracle】, I'd have thought you were one of those lunatics from 【Eternal Evolution】."

"If you're willing to join 【Eternal Evolution】, you could become a Grand Designer outright."

Otavio said this with good reason.

As one of the top professionals, his grasp of his own condition had reached its peak.

Indeed, after his resurrection, his strength had dropped considerably compared to before, but in exchange, his energy recovery speed had become absurdly extreme.

It was at this moment that Otavio finally understood why the dragon before him had seemed to have endless energy during their earlier battle.

Thinking of this, Otavio couldn't help a self-deprecating chuckle: "It makes me look terribly overconfident."

He had based his entire strategy on the assumption that his opponent's condition would decline—but according to the current intelligence, that seemed laughable.

Still, there was another way: deliver a powerful enough attack to kill him in one strike.

But upon recalling the dragon's ludicrous defense, Otavio could only shake his head slightly.

'Numerical values and mechanics? What an apt description.'

After calming his emotions briefly, the gray-haired man looked at Li Ang: "So what do you need me to do?"

"Fight? Or something else?"

"Don't even think about certain intelligence—knowing those details alone would draw attention."

"For example, Your Majesty."

Otavio showed no resistance to his current state.

Though he wasn't as terrified of death as Christine, if he could live, he wouldn't willingly give up his life.

But this also had to do with Li Ang's final choice in their earlier battle.

The 【Star Raider】 had lost with complete sincerity—he felt serving a powerhouse like the dragon before him was no disgrace.

As a knight, pledging loyalty to certain beings was not shameful.

Of course, if Li Ang were replaced by Christine, it might be an entirely different story—though the vampire burnout would likely be kicked to death like a stray dog by Otavio.

Hearing Otavio's words, Li Ang was not surprised.

As the absolute controller of the man, he knew the gray-haired man spoke truthfully: "I do have questions for you—if it's something you cannot answer, you need not reply."

This was also why he hadn't rashly read his memories; after the lesson from the 【Storm】 starbandits, Li Ang preferred caution, for in this world, 【Soul Materialization】 had no immortality trait.

Before Otavio could react, Li Ang asked directly: "Do beings from other worlds frequently appear in the universe?"

At Li Ang's question, Otavio first froze, then his eyes flickered with surprise: "You didn't know?"

"?"

Seeing the youth truly didn't know, Otavio's expression turned peculiar: "I thought you'd already know, given how close you are to the 【Aio Logistics】 dragons."

"After all, they came from outside the universe."

"Or rather, the top executives of the five mega-corporations of the Universal Consortium are mostly extraterrestrial beings—though 【Aio Logistics】 makes up the largest portion."

Li Ang fell silent.

To be honest, hearing such explosive news didn't shock him—he'd already suspected as much since his first encounter with 【Aio Logistics】.

After all, this world clearly wasn't the D&D universe; the only similarity might be the professional system, but even that was merely superficial.

Thinking this, Li Ang continued: "Did they come here voluntarily?"

Otavio shook his head slightly, then wore a look of mixed emotion: "Actually, the Federation and the Empire tried to develop their world—but failed."

"Our universe is peculiar—it occasionally intersects with other worlds."

"Usually, at such times, the Federation and the Empire compete for development rights in those worlds—but when facing certain powerful worlds, they also cooperate."

"As for 【Aio Logistics】, their world… let's just say both sides suffered heavy losses, forcing the Federation and the Empire to grit their teeth and acknowledge their activities in the Controlled world."

As he spoke, the gray-haired man seemed to recall something and added casually: "By the way, the Empire's upper echelons have long rumored that successfully developing a world benefits the Controlled world."

Of course.

Li Ang's eyes flashed with sudden understanding—reality matched his guess closely.

As for the intersections—

In Li Ang's view, it was less like mutual contact and more like this universe actively drawing other worlds closer, and "successful development" was probably just the Controlled world swallowing them whole.

'So… is it world consumption?'

But as he thought this, Otavio's next words made him pause: "But with your strength, the Federation will likely approach you soon."

"When that happens, you'll probably be allowed to train in some worlds under Federation control."

?

Not consumption? But ongoing development?

Li Ang furrowed his brow slightly—the situation was slightly unexpected.

'So it's a difference between a full meal and constant meals?'

Li Ang thought this, and he could think of no other explanation—yet this suggested his 【Traveler】 talent's mutation was likely tied to world development.

'But am I supposed to go alone?'

With a strange thought, Li Ang couldn't help tugging at his lips—he now understood why the Controlled world had only begun meddling with his 【Traveler】 talent after he reached the Fourth Level.

After all, under normal circumstances, controlling a world completely before the Third Level was still too taxing, let alone when many worlds possessed extremely powerful supernatural abilities.

But if so, the restrictions on 【Traveler】—returning to the main world, duration of stay—were probably not inherent, but imposed by the main world to prevent him from fleeing.

Of course, all this was speculation; the true nature would only be revealed when he embarked on his next journey.

'But if I can develop a world alone, wouldn't I also be able to control these worlds like the Federation and the Empire?'

'If so…'