As for the matter of opportunities, Zhong Yi soon stopped dwelling on it.
If he kept fixating on opportunities and grew depressed when none came his way, that obsession could easily turn around and consume him.
Just as before, Zhong Yi spent most of his time at home studying the hybrid offspring of various Pals. His breeding notebook was densely packed with notes, and it nearly covered the breeding results of every known Pal.
However, he went out exploring somewhat more often than he used to.
“Not bad, not bad! There are so many new Pals on that Sakura Island again!”
Zhong Yi returned to the base completely satisfied. The joy of exploration had already driven the disappointment of missing out on an opportunity from his mind.
“Hmph!”
Zuo Yi glanced at him before turning her face away.
“How strange. Am I really that annoying?”
Zhong Yi dejectedly rubbed his chin and walked over to a mirror to examine himself, utterly confused.
“Hm? Who’s that? The Desert Tower Master?”
Zhong Yi stared at the white-haired middle-aged man wandering around the base in the distance, stunned.
He was Marcus, the master of the Fourth Tower in the desert.
His identity was that of an arms dealer and the head of the guards throughout the various regions.
He possessed astonishing wealth, and his influence reached across the entire Pal continent.
In Lu Ze’s modified version of Palworld, Tower Masters could be captured.
Moreover, they were rare special beings who could speak, possessed distinct personalities, and demonstrated genuine intelligence.
However, capturing each Tower Master required fulfilling a corresponding condition.
The condition for capturing the first Tower Master, Zuo Yi, was still unknown. Aside from Zhong Yi, almost no one seemed capable of adding her to their party.
The second Tower Master, Lily, had yet to be captured by anyone.
After all, only Lu Ze knew that Lily’s capture condition was not harming any Pals that joined her party. So far, only Li Moran appeared to have met that requirement.
However, Li Moran was single-mindedly focused on challenging all kinds of powerful monsters and had never shown any interest in the Tower Masters.
The third Tower Master, Axel, had the simplest unlock condition. All one needed to do was challenge Axel five times at any difficulty level, after which Axel could be captured.
Mu Yawen and Axel shared similar interests. She had gone to challenge him whenever she had nothing else to do, and she became the first cultivator from the Firmament Sect to invite Axel into her party.
The Marcus standing before them was the master of the Fourth Tower.
To everyone’s surprise, when Zhou Qiaoling encountered Marcus again after clearing the tower, she captured him with a Pal Sphere with astonishing ease.
Based on Marcus’s identity and personality, Zhong Yi deduced that the hidden condition for capturing him was very likely having a certain amount of money on hand.
As it happened, Zhou Qiaoling was famously a Hoarder…
Zhong Yi turned his head and, sure enough, spotted Zhou Qiaoling inside the base as well.
At that moment, she was lying contentedly in the hot spring used by the Pals for relaxation. Anubis stood beside it, gazing longingly at the water while silently fuming.
“Junior Sister Qiaoling, why did you bring Marcus back to the base?”
Zhong Yi asked curiously.
“Him? Don’t get me started!”
Zhou Qiaoling gritted her teeth resentfully and began recounting her recent experience taking Marcus out to explore.
The Tower Masters of this world were not decorative figures like the ones in the original game. They possessed a set of fairly formidable combat skills.
Although they were somewhat inferior to the divine beasts of the late game, they could definitely rank among the T1 tier.
Zhou Qiaoling had brought Marcus along simply for the novelty of it and fought alongside him.
The bond between Marcus and a cultivator was increased through the gold earned by the player.
Zhou Qiaoling was the greatest Hoarder in the world, so Marcus’s bond level rose rapidly.
Unlike in his previous life, the Tower Masters actually possessed Partner Skills.
However, these skills could only be unlocked once the bond level reached eight.
Zhou Qiaoling and Marcus’s bond level quickly rose to eight, successfully unlocking the Partner Skill: “Spend a Fortune to Recruit Soldiers.”
Marcus gave a grand wave of his hand. Countless gold coins were flung into the sky, and then a group of fully armed guards appeared and joined the battle.
“Oh? That actually sounds pretty powerful.”
Zhong Yi immediately became interested.
“What part of that is powerful…”
Zhou Qiaoling gazed at Marcus in the distance with overwhelming resentment.
“The fortune he spends to recruit those soldiers… is all my money!”
“Uh… In that case, I understand.”
Zhong Yi froze for a moment before immediately expressing his sympathy.
For an ultimate miser like Zhou Qiaoling, spending money to use a skill was practically a nightmare.
No wonder she had tossed Marcus into the base to work the moment she got the chance.
“Little girl, as the saying goes, a fortune spent will eventually return…”
Uncle Marcus threw his head back and laughed heartily from the side.
“Then hurry up and pay me back!”
Zhou Qiaoling glared at him viciously before immediately walking over to the control console and assigning Marcus to the Gold Factory.
The Gold Factory was a newly unlocked facility that could produce gold.
However, it consumed an enormous amount of mental energy, making it the most miserable place to work in the entire base.
Uncle Marcus, who had been so carefree only moments before, instantly knitted his brows and lowered his head beside the gold-making machine, beginning to painstakingly produce coins.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
Zuo Yi immediately took a disgusted step backward.
“I’m not going to work in a place like that!”
“So the Tower Masters have Partner Skills too…”
Zhong Yi murmured to himself.
Back then, he had assumed that Tower Masters without Partner Skills did not have a particularly high combat ceiling, which was why he had left Zuo Yi at the base to work.
Now that he knew upgrading their bond could unlock Partner Skills, he naturally began to consider the possibility.
With that thought, he smiled and extended his hand toward Zoe.
“No more working. Come with me!”
“Eh?”
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
