Chapter 1: Dimensional Paradise

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Dead Man, Welcome to the Dimension Paradise

Chu Danqing suddenly opened his eyes. In the darkness, he saw luminous words before him.

"So, I wasn't saved after all."

"Well, of course. Crushed into mincemeat like that, how could I possibly still be alive?" Chu Danqing said with bitter self-mockery.

His death had been an accident. He had been crushed to death by a huge specimen.

As a man with no relatives, no friends, no assets, no debts, and no enemies, he had little reason to curse fate even after dying.

His main line of work had actually been making replicas of mythic creatures for people who enjoyed collecting such things.

This time, he had taken a big commission: to use all kinds of animal bones, scales, and the like to create a replica of a mythical azure dragon.

The client had even given him a set of blueprints, and then he had died in the accident.

Fortunately, he lived alone, so there was no need to worry about relatives seeking compensation from that client. After all, the safety issue had been his own negligence.

A new line of text appeared.

Dead man, are you willing to join the Dimension Paradise?

A countdown accompanied it, with only ten minutes remaining.

"Why choose me?" Chu Danqing asked, staring at the words and the timer, unable to hide his confusion.

He did not think there was anything special about him.

Still, he did not ask what would happen if he refused, or what awaited him when the countdown ended. It would be nothing more than dying again.

You possess the qualifications of a dimensional apostle and have met the threshold for inclusion in the Paradise. At the same time, you are in possession of ???-grade equipment, The Four Divine Beasts of Heaven, Fragmented (reclaimed).

If you join the Dimension Paradise, you will receive additional compensation in the preliminary trial.

When Chu Danqing saw that line, his eye twitched. He immediately realized what the so-called fragmented Four Divine Beasts of Heaven was.

It was the blueprint the client had given him for making the replica azure dragon. The material was an irregular, unknown fabric.

Its origin was unknown. After being damaged and stripped of all power, it eventually made its way into his client's hands, and then was handed over to him as a design blueprint.

Before he died, he had been using the blueprint to verify the replica azure dragon and was already preparing to deliver the finished work when the accident happened.

He even suspected that he might have been nothing more than the shipping package for that Four Divine Beasts of Heaven, with the Dimension Paradise simply picking him up along with it when it was reclaimed.

"That client is really unlucky to have run into someone like me," Chu Danqing sighed. "I am willing to join."

Things had come to this; there was no turning back. He could either wait to die, or join this Dimension Paradise that seemed at least somewhat decent.

At any rate, it was a path to survival.

He had just been about to ask what a dimensional apostle actually did when a flood of data appeared before his eyes.

Revival and reconstruction in progress. Activating semi-datafication...

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Please note: semi-datafication is an auxiliary function. It is only meant to present bodily attributes in an intuitive manner and cannot serve as a complete reference.

Then the countdown refreshed and returned to ten minutes.

Additional compensation for this run:

1: Final evaluation +1

2: Safeguard compensation

Please select your safeguard compensation as soon as possible. In ten minutes, you will begin the preliminary trial. If no choice is made within ten minutes, the first option will be selected by default.

Chu Danqing did not answer right away. Instead, he looked at the newly appeared lines of text.

There were three tabs: Apostle Panel, Mission Information, and Storage Space. More followed, but they remained locked due to insufficient permissions.

So he opened the Apostle Panel directly, and his semi-datafied attributes appeared before him.

Apostle Name: Chu Danqing

Apostle Number: None. Preliminary trial not yet completed; number unavailable.

Attributes

Health: 100% This attribute cannot be fully datafied and will change according to bodily condition.

Energy: 25 Base energy. Current ratio: Spirit attribute x5. Current recovery rate: 1 point per hour.

Strength: 5

Agility: 5

Constitution: 5

Spirit: 5

Perception: 5

(Note: The standard attributes for a normal human are 5 points.)

Beyond that were talents and skills, but both were empty.

Thinking about it, that made sense. His attributes were perfectly standard, which meant he was just an ordinary human being.

Neither chronically unhealthy nor exceptional in any way. This was not some heaven-defying start; he should be at the same starting line as normal dimensional apostles.

"So, what exactly is my duty?" Chu Danqing asked after reading through it.

After signing a contract with the Dimension Paradise, humans with the qualifications of dimensional apostles would travel to various dimensional worlds to carry out tasks for the Paradise.

Upon task completion, the Paradise would grant corresponding rewards. Upon failure, it would deliver corresponding punishment.

Please note, dead man, you have one final chance to ask a question.

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Chu Danqing understood immediately. In other words, it was simply changing workplaces, except this job carried the risk of death.

From the reply, he could tell one thing: he had not yet been hired for this position. Only by completing the so-called preliminary trial could he be considered officially employed.

That was why the Dimension Paradise kept calling him dead man, and why no apostle number had even been generated on the panel.

He chose not to ask his last question just yet. He intended to use it on the safeguard compensation.

There were two options, each a combination of a skill and an item.

1: Basic Summoning Studies + Basic Summoning Arts + Type One Standard Summoned Creature Contract Scroll (common-grade item)

2: Mastery of Ancient Creature Summoning Studies + Ancient Creature Contract Scroll (excellent-grade item)

(Note: Quality tiers for equipment, items, materials, and related categories are divided into common, excellent... insufficient permissions)

Right now, two questions stood before Chu Danqing. The first was why both options were summon-related. The second was why option one could stand alongside option two at all.

If they could be placed together, it most likely meant their value was equivalent.

If nothing unexpected happened, the common-grade contract scroll was probably just an added bonus, while the two basic skills were the true value.

After thinking for nearly two minutes, Chu Danqing finally asked his last question.

"Can it be exchanged for other skills and items?" Chu Danqing really did not want these.

From the item descriptions alone, he could tell that no matter which option he chose, he would have to go out and find summoned creatures himself.

Unable to be changed. The skills are generated through conversion from the professional knowledge of the dead. The two options are of equal value. Please choose with confidence.

Hearing that, Chu Danqing understood why both options belonged to the same summon-type category.

His university major had been the niche field of paleontology.

The skills came from his professional knowledge, and if he did not know something, then he simply did not know it.

More importantly, it seemed to be taking the professional knowledge he knew best and transforming it into something suited for combat, thereby giving him a means of survival.

"Basic and mastery listed in the same row. Excluding the common-grade contract scroll..."

"That means the combined value of Basic Summoning Studies and Basic Summoning Arts is at least equal to one mastery-level skill plus half an excellent-grade item."

"So these two skills themselves must be extremely valuable."

"Let's take the gamble!"

Without hesitation, Chu Danqing chose option 1.

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