Chapter 300: Contradictions

Chapter 300: Contradictions

“Hmm~” Zheng Yichen watched the witches playing volleyball on the beach. He put his sunglasses back on and returned to his previous lounge chair, leisurely sipping his juice. Although he really wanted to join them, looking at his current body size, he figured it was better not to. As for using an Alchemical Avatar?

In this kind of environment, why bother using a fake body? Either just watch from the sidelines, or find a way to join in for real.

The beach, which previously lacked liveliness, had subtly gained new people under Zheng Yichen’s indication. Although they did not venture too close to the area where the witches were, they still brought new energy to the place… Even though none of those present were human, having moving figures around was still better than having every area look empty, right?

“Are the places you come from… all very good at having fun?” After playing for a while, the game of volleyball had lost much of its appeal for the witches. After handing it over to the Ghostly Little Maids, they temporarily returned to their own lounge chairs. Following Zheng Yichen’s example, especially Dan Marina, whose lazy expression from the bottom of her heart really made it seem like she came to the beach just to relax.

Unlike Loris and Irene, who still wore stiff smiles, Annie’s reaction caught Zheng Yichen’s extra attention. She seemed to really want to join the Ghost Maids and continue playing, but held back due to pride… That conflicted look made Zheng Yichen click his tongue in secret. This witch had such a great mindset; her age was much greater than any of the witches present.

Yet her current behavior was like the youngest one. So really, you can’t judge anything by appearances.

“I can’t speak for other places, but where I used to live, the level of fun here can’t even compare. Even if this world developed its entertainment for another ten years, it would still be the same!”

Zheng Yichen’s words were not empty. After all, the Otherworld was a world focused on martial prowess, with far too little entertainment. Drinking, hunting, martial contests, gambling, seeking women… That was basically it. Most crucially, there wasn’t even a game like Gwent… Ahem!

Drinking and hunting need not be discussed further; they were similar to those on Earth, except the variety of alcohol wasn’t as rich. As for martial contests… how much did combat alone account for? However, in this aspect, Earth seemed inferior to the Otherworld due to differences in power levels. As for gambling, the Otherworld was also primitive. Although they had something similar to dice, Zheng Yichen had seen it—it still wasn’t as convenient as dice.

As for playing cards? After asking the general populace of the Otherworld, their answer was… What is that thing?

Accessible sports entertainment like soccer, basketball, badminton, table tennis, billiards, tennis, golf, etc.—this world did have balls, but the variety was completely outmatched by Earth’s. Video games? On Earth, the development of such things was explosively rich. If not for insufficient conditions, Zheng Yichen was still far from being able to create magically modified video games. He would have attempted to develop a magically modified computer long ago!

However, this involved too many things, and Zheng Yichen couldn’t manage it for the time being. Although the Alchemy Core, primarily made of Soul Material, had a large information capacity, that capacity was not unlimited. Coupled with the complex magically modified programming, even if he could solve the Alchemy Core problem, the programming part was what troubled Zheng Yichen the most… That would have to wait until he grew stronger and his mental capacity increased in the future…

In any case, given the chance, he would definitely make a prototype first. As for cost? Hah! Forgetting whether it would be accessible to common people, there would certainly be no shortage of people willing to spend money on it once it was made. Issues like cost could be solved gradually later. This was probably the difference between the Otherworld and Earth.

On Earth, when certain things developed enough, costs could be reduced. After all, much of those costs were technical, and material cost fluctuations were not large. Thus, a trend emerged: the more mature the technology, the lower the cost. But in the Otherworld? Even if the technology was mature enough, the material costs for certain things still wouldn’t drop!

Take Magic Potions, for example. Even if Zheng Yichen developed a foolproof Elixir Formula with a 100% success rate, where you just needed to toss materials into a vat without doing anything else, or even if he couldn’t achieve that, he could try creating an automated magic potion blending furnace. You toss things in, and blended Magic Potions come out. Technical costs would drop immediately, and such a furnace could even be affordably priced.

In the future, although the price of Magic Potions might fluctuate, it wouldn’t plummet drastically. This was due to material costs. Foolproof production was possible, but the key was that the materials for making Magic Potions didn’t appear out of thin air. As for low-cost material substitutes… Zheng Yichen could only say, difficult!

Even without actually attempting breakthroughs in this area, he knew that if an Otherworld-style magically modified ‘Computer’ were really created, the biggest and hardest problem to solve would be that price and performance would be directly linked. It wouldn’t, due to technological maturity, become as widespread as on Earth, where you could get one for a few hundred if you wanted!

Never mind video games; the Otherworld also lacked things like bungee jumping, roller coasters, and Ferris wheels. So if you really compared entertainment, Earth was undoubtedly the best. There were too many people thinking about fun things and developing them for fun. Even those without the ability to develop could contribute ideas and creativity.

“Then the place you used to live sounds quite negative…” Irene thought for a moment. She couldn’t imagine at all what a world with such rich entertainment would be like…

“Negative?” Zheng Yichen disagreed with Irene’s words. Negative people existed everywhere, and Earth was no exception. “Individual negativity doesn’t mean the whole is like that. If it were truly negative, how could there be such rich development? In this world, not to mention those with power, life for commoners is truly difficult. But where I used to live, as long as you weren’t in certain poor countries, commoners lived quite comfortably. Although sometimes you might sigh that life was worse than a dog’s, the commoner level was genuinely comfortable.”

“At least, they could enjoy more than some wealthier families in this world. Eating meat every meal, three meals a day—this was common.”

“…Hard to imagine.” Irene fell silent for a while before speaking sincerely. Although individual strength could decide many things, it couldn’t decide everything. The kind of scene Zheng Yichen described was not something one, two, or even a dozen strong individuals could determine. They could be great at causing destruction, but development? Could you pick one out of ten?

Commoners could live that kind of life, and it was common and everyday, not just on holidays… This meant that world as a whole was strong. Even if not in terms of combat power, it was still a kind of strength.

“As a beneficiary, I have no particular comments, nor any special foresight or analytical perspective. But although we did well in this regard, that was largely due to living in a different environment.” Zheng Yichen thought for a moment and said, “Where I’m from, there were no super-strong individual fighters capable of taking on a thousand alone or destroying cities with a wave of a hand. We didn’t even know if supernatural powers existed; it needed verification. So we could only develop through other paths.”

“Development not reliant on special powers is easier to popularize.” Irene nodded. This world also had such situations, but many developments were overshadowed by special powers. The farming tools used by commoners were a good example. In the past, hoes were very primitive, so commoners’ productivity was low. Asking Spellcasters or Warriors to help? They’d need to be willing!

They worked hard to cultivate their skills not for farming… But occasionally, someone improved the hoe, increasing its efficiency, and after it spread, commoners’ productivity improved without other factors changing.

“Popularization is one thing, but what’s truly impressive is widespread popularization in every aspect.” Zheng Yichen looked at the artificial blue sky. When mobile phones first appeared, who could have imagined they’d eventually evolve to the point where you could buy one for a few dozen dollars? Some were even given away for free. As for computers? Zheng Yichen remembered when he was a child, having a computer at home gave the most direct impression of being wealthy. He wasn’t a professional and couldn’t evaluate Earth’s development speed.

But Earth’s development branches… they truly covered every aspect, with few shortcomings. It wasn’t like in some anime where the tech tree often went askew. On Earth, roughly speaking, whenever there was a major breakthrough in one area, it always brought a leap forward in a large wave of development branches. Then these branches would carry other branches forward further.

“I kind of want to see that place.”

“…I also want to go back and see.” Zheng Yichen shrugged, his expression conflicted. Before crossing over, he didn’t have the seemingly predetermined identity of being an orphan; he genuinely had a complete family, even a younger sister who, like himself before crossing, had the potential for height advantage.

“So do you have any leads?” Irene asked. She wasn’t asking blindly without reading the mood; in this world, there existed Derivative Worlds. Those Alien Races were remnants of past Derivative Worlds. In ancient times, it was common for some strong individuals to ‘travel’ to Derivative Worlds. The mysteries of space were also magical; even across vast distances, with the power of space, it was like the distance of a sheet of paper.

“How would I know?”

Derivative Worlds? Zheng Yichen knew about them, but those were connected to this world, like many small balloons attached to a large balloon. That distance was like the ends of the earth to ordinary beings in this world. Even knowing this, they could never reach it in their lifetimes, unless they were lucky enough to encounter certain stable spatial cracks or something and accidentally entered a Derivative World.

Under this premise, Zheng Yichen thought it wasn’t strange for those with power in this world to be able to enter Derivative Worlds, as long as they could touch such barriers. Breaking space? Related Magic was rare, even nearly extinct, but it definitely existed!

Take Spatial Expansion, for example. That was a kind of power that interfered with space, and the next step could be attempting to break it.

Could Earth be one of the Derivative Worlds in this world? Zheng Yichen didn’t know, and he had mixed feelings about this hypothesis. If it really were, then he would have a great chance to go back and see. But… who wouldn’t want their home world to be powerful enough? Before crossing, he desperately wanted his country to rise rapidly and become powerful. After crossing, Zheng Yichen’s perspective was no longer limited to his country but placed on his entire world.

Under this premise, how could he not want his world to be sufficiently strong, rather than just a mere Derivative World attached to some other world?

But then came the problem. The possibility of returning to a Derivative World was high. If it were truly an independent and powerful world, then his chances of returning would be infinitely close to zero. Even if, after many years, he really found a way back to his world, considering his current body and thinking about Earth’s apparent lack of supernatural power… would he be shut out?

Like a little kitten that ran away for a few days, fortunate enough to return home and wanting to be affectionate with its mother, only to be met with hostility, Zheng Yichen felt not only conflict but also an inexplicable fear.

Seeing that Zheng Yichen didn’t want to talk more on this topic, Irene didn’t press further. She had lived long and had enough experience, but she still couldn’t read minds. Plus, Zheng Yichen’s face wasn’t a human face. Even if she deliberately tried to read his emotions and possible thoughts from his eyes and some facial expressions, she couldn’t guess completely. Without knowing what Zheng Yichen was thinking, she could still tell he was feeling very conflicted.

“Such a homebody~” Dan Marina, lying on her lounge chair nearby, unable to hear the conversation, gently shielded her eyes with her arm, opened them, and looked at Zheng Yichen who was gulping down his juice.

“I love home, I’m proud of it!” Zheng Yichen glared fiercely at Dan Marina. Couldn’t she just go with the flow instead of deliberately making sarcastic remarks? What’s wrong with loving home? He was born on Earth, grew up on Earth, his roots were there. Why shouldn’t he love it? Putting it sentimentally… some things, you only feel precious after losing them.

“So nice. At least you still have something to love.” Dan Marina gently shook the drink on the small table beside her and said casually.

“…” Zheng Yichen’s mouth twitched. He turned over, not looking at this woman anymore. As for the sarcastic remarks that wanted to burst out, he couldn’t utter a single word. Everyone had their own difficulties. At least, how long had he been crossing over? How long had Loris and the others lived? Their hometowns might have been destroyed hundreds of years ago. Going back to see would only be a newly formed area or wilderness. At least he didn’t have to, like them, occasionally be moved by the scenery to remember the past.

Facing away from Dan Marina, Zheng Yichen didn’t notice that after he turned, Dan Marina made teasing expressions at Loris and Annie…