Alternate Dimension Game: Happiness is all that matters!
Chapter 254 - 234 Dragon and the Little Boy

Chapter 254: Chapter 234 Dragon and the Little Boy

"Let me show you the power of the Dragon!"

Lately, Wang Hao had become obsessed with playing with the "Dragon," an Immortal Level Strange Object he acquired, and he couldn’t pull himself away.

"Reincarnated as a Strange Object" was no simple little game; the more he played, the more he realized how broad and deep the content was, filled with random elements!

And the random events encountered by a Strange Object in its youth determined its direction of development in adulthood.

This way of nurturing was somewhat akin to raising human children.

The worldviews and values of humans are mostly cultivated in their childhood. Trying to alter them in adulthood is enormously challenging.

Similarly, the random events encountered by Strange Objects in their youth determined their adult superpowers, behavioral patterns, and corresponding rules of idealism.

The Dragon had died many times, wasting quite a few points.

Yet, it had also grown strong!

"Playing with an Immortal Level Strange Object is so much more thrilling!"

"Breathe fire for me!"

Whoosh~ Whoosh~

A large swath of Strange Objects was incinerated to ashes, and the exhilarating feeling of unparalleled slashing was addictive.

...

It was on this day that Wang Hao, controlling the "Dragon," arrived in a spacious canyon. Like many regular games, bosses, treasures, secret realms, and holy lands all helped the Dragon grow.

The leveling process was cliché but effective.

In the canyon, there was a bright orb flickering, as if some reclusive treasure was about to emerge from the earth.

"Another goodie to eat," thought Wang Hao, hurrying over.

Random events like this did indeed occur in the Etheric Abyss.

With the random combination of information and matter, there’s a minuscule chance of finding heavenly treasures. This is akin to the "infinite monkey theorem": if a large number of monkeys randomly type on a typewriter, given enough time, they might eventually reproduce all the books in a museum.

And the Etheric Abyss was an infinite collection; as long as the probability wasn’t zero, it would happen.

After a wild bout of fighting, Wang Hao cleared the surrounding Strange Objects and found himself leveling up.

[Immortal Creature: Dragon, Current Level: 14]

[Spiritual Strength: 135254]

[Physical Strength: 178900]

[Cruelty: 124534; Compassion: 3540; Chaos: 214207; Order: 97862; Compassion: 0; Envy: 0; Fear: 0]

[...]

These peculiar parameters determined the direction of evolution in adulthood.

Just reaching level 14, with Spiritual Strength at 135,254 and Physical Strength at 178,900, filled Wang Hao with pride.

"As expected of an Immortal Level behemoth, its potential is practically boundless. When facing an enemy, just crush them, and that’s that."

"If it were a human, they’d have to proceed with caution, probing and trying, to overcome a Strange Object... The difference is immense."

What would it be like to have a Mythical Level Fire Spark?

These are two different styles of games. "Reincarnated as a Strange Object" is all about reaction time, operation, and strategy; with an Immortal Level Fire Spark, one could unleash a wave of unequaled slashing for dopamine-style happiness.

Whereas "Cross-dimensional Game" mainly tests puzzle-solving, exploration, and discovery for endorphin-style happiness.

Because the two games had such distinct styles, it wasn’t the case that if you played one, you wouldn’t want to play the other.

A switch once in a while is also quite nice.

Just then, the light orb before him gradually cooled down, and Wang Hao saw a little boy in black clothes, eyes closed, lying on the ground.

"Eh, a human who wandered in here unintentionally? A side quest?"

He immediately perked up. Right now, this "Dragon" had ample cruelty, lacking compassion; it was more chaotic than orderly.

If it evolved to the end... it probably wouldn’t be anything good!

That contradicted his image of a well-rounded youth with good learning, good thinking, good work, good discipline, and good style!

"When’s this guy going to wake up?"

Humans did occasionally wander into the Etheric Abyss.

Especially some humans with strong Spiritual Power who sometimes project themselves during dreams.

But this little boy in black clothes was clearly one who had physically entered, meaning, he had used some special Transmitter Strange Object.

...

The Dragon exhaled a heavy breath, sensing the unique soul essence of the human, and subconsciously secreted an acidic saliva.

This saliva fell upon a rock, and with a "sizzle," the stone cracked open.

Bubbles emerged from the rock, forming a faint black smoke.

"What are you doing, want to eat? This side quest I finally found, you want to eat? No way!" Wang Hao quickly controlled the young Dragon to step back to avoid accidentally splattering the saliva and inadvertently killing the boy.

The little boy, upon hearing the sound of stone cracking, panicked and opened his eyes wide, his hands gripping tightly as he searched for what the enemy might be.

Next instant, he raised his head, his pupils dilated, to see a nearly hundred-meter-tall behemoth resembling stone, raising its head proudly, a pair of eyes larger than cars staring at him.

Black scales shifted with each breath, in and out, the majestic body hiding muscles as tough as steel.

A sense of deadly danger enveloped his mind!

But the disparity in strength was simply too great, even if he wanted to escape, it was futile.

Shivering uncontrollably, he was terrified!

...

The "Dragon" began to move restlessly again, its mouth drooling copiously.

This viscous fluid, like giant slimes, dripped down in globs.

Wang Hao couldn’t help but curse, "What are you doing? Just a mosquito leg that’s not even enough to fill a tooth gap, and you want to eat it?"

...

As the giant creature slowly retreated, the little boy heard a "rumble" sound. The hard scales, reflecting the cold light like wrought iron, saw the other party retreat hundreds of meters, the sense of deadly danger slowly lifted.

His face distorted into a contorted mess, his voice trembling, "Can you... can you not eat me?"

"I... I’ve come to find my mom."

Is this indeed a quest?

Wang Hao perked up, commanding the Dragon to take a large step back.

This Dragon was too stupid; it lacked human intelligence. Everything was commanded by the Player, and left to its own devices, it would eat the little boy on instinct.

Of course, this was also a reflection of its current character: brutal yet lacking in order, and intelligence as well.

Since the Dragon had not attacked him, the boy’s courage grew a bit, his hands coming together to form a fist, "Um... you don’t want to eat me, right? Can you understand human language?"

The "Dragon" exhaled a turbid breath unconsciously, lifting a huge gust of wind that nearly blew him away.

The little boy picked himself up from the ground, said fearfully, "Can you... can you understand what I’m saying?"

The "Dragon" remained indifferent, staring at him.

The little boy suddenly got an idea, "If, I mean if, you could help me find my mom... I could give you some benefits! Like human food, or perhaps some treasures. I would give you all of my belongings!"

The "Dragon" stood there, unmoved—in other words, it was receiving a scolding from the "Great Will."

The boy’s face fell, aware of the existence of the "Etheric Abyss," concepts like "strangeness," "death."

This was a world filled with existence and competition, governed by the law of the jungle, a dark and cruel world.

The "Transmitter" required half an hour to cool down.

He might not... survive half an hour with this gigantic creature around.

Luckily, the massive being remained motionless on the ground, or perhaps only considered him an ant, only occasionally shaking its head and gnashing its teeth, or exhaling a noxious breath that sent him tumbling across the ground.

The little boy always felt that this colossal life form was toying with him in jest.

Dejectedly sitting on the ground, he muttered, "Alright, you’re probably toying with a mouse the same way one plays with a cat... but if you don’t want to eat me, maybe you could listen to me for a moment."

"My mom... she’s disappeared. In order to fight against a terrifying existence, she looked for a way forward in the Etheric Abyss... It’s very hard, extremely difficult. That terrifying existence, it’s probably stronger than you... many levels stronger."

The "Dragon" remained indifferent, naturally, it didn’t understand human speech.

"She told me, in the Etheric Abyss, anything could happen. So she came here, seeking the chance that might arise."

"She was wearing a red dress, woven from gold thread silks," his tone clearly dipped, "a garment hard to destroy, a birthday gift I gave her after saving for a long time."

The Dragon exhaled another murky breath.

But it didn’t blow the ant away.

It faintly sensed the boy’s feelings of loss.

How boring.

"I just came here to see, to find out why my mom disappeared... Now, I might know the answer. Here... she might... she might have... But without seeing the truth for myself, I can’t give up. I really can’t offer you any reward."

The little boy just sat there on the ground, hands clenched into fists, neither crying nor laughing, expressionless like a wooden doll.

He didn’t even seem like a child.

...

Wang Hao felt this was some kind of special scenario, a quest reward or something, but he didn’t care at all.

Naturally, the little boy couldn’t offer much of anything great.

He just wanted to farm the Dragon’s Attributes, to add some like [Compassion][Mercy], to facilitate choosing a direction for future Evolution.

...

"My mom’s work is usually very busy... she works for a special organization..."

"She hasn’t smiled much these past few years, a bit pessimistic, feebly feeling that our world is beyond saving... actually, there are some things I can’t say. Even more so here, some existences might overhear."

"They’ve been very strict with my education because I’ve inherited some special Talents. So this time I snuck here, then... I met you." The little boy spoke incoherently, randomly blurting out whatever came to mind.

...