Markets and Multiverses (A Serial Transmigration LitRPG)
Chapter 337: Pool of Reincarnation

“All right, what do we need out of our next world?” I asked. “We should make a plan before we start wandering around the Market again. We have… a week or two? Before our bodies start decomposing with us still inside of it. We have enough time to do some searching.”

“I think we should aim for a Tier 2 world,” said Sallia. “That kind of world should be easy for us to handle, especially if it has a weaker magic system. It strikes a good balance between profitability and growth potential, since we’re not strong enough to tackle really high tier worlds. Also, if we can find a pool of rebirth that guarantees we end up in a less technologically developed world, that would be ideal. I would have some time to shine near the beginning of the world, while Felix would have some time to shine as he pushes the world towards an industrial revolution. Miria could set herself up as a great magical healer, and Anise would have time to develop her spells. I think it’s the best possible setup we could have. More importantly, anything defending such a low-tier pool of reincarnation is probably manageable for us.”

“I don’t think that’s the best path forward,” said Anise, as she shook her head. “It would be better if we ended up in a higher Tier world. At least Tier 5 or 6. If we go to a really high-power world, we’ll have a much more developed magic system to draw upon and learn from. In addition, there will be a much higher density of essence in the world, which will make it way easier for us to develop our own abilities and do more research. We won’t get as much influence Achievement, since we’ll be weaker relative to the rest of the world. However, it’s worth it, because we’ll probably get better ability evolution options and have a higher growth potential overall. Besides, as long as the world isn’t too absurd, Felix should still be able to do something based around founding an economic empire.” Then, Anise frowned, and wriggled uncomfortably. “Umm… if you’re okay with that, Felix? I was originally thinking that we could focus on ability development, and then you could focus on doing the same kind of thing you did last world. Focusing on economics and governmental positions is useful, but you should do whatever makes you happy. If you don’t want to help fund your Ability evolutions, that’s also fine. It’s your Achievement.”

Felix snorted.

“I’m perfectly happy funding all of your growth if I get another really good world. We’re a team. I just don’t know if I can pull something like that off again. Last world, I was able to slip into the government because I had a lot of passion for the subject, and we were located in a colony that had just thrown off its previous government. They had a desperate need for people with the right expertise, and we were university students in a world were education was just starting to become more accessible. Basically, the circumstances all turned out just right for me. I don’t know if I can do that again - but I’m willing to try. 

“But you guys can definitely count on me if you need Achievement. I’m not the best at direct combat, and even though I’m fixing that, I doubt I’m ever going to do the same amount of damage Sallia can with the same amount of Achievement investment. I’ll do my best with what I have… but I don’t have the same talent for combat you three do. I’m just glad I can still help.”

I took a step closer to Felix, and engulfed him in a hug. “You’re always helpful, Felix. You’re good at planning and items.”

Felix smiled as I pulled away, and I felt a smile tug at my lips. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to traverse the multiverse with.

“All right, I personally think that both ideas have some merit,” said Felix. “The real question is whether the benefit of going to a higher tier world is really that significant. It’s true that having more essence and a stronger magic system is useful… but I’m not sure if that outweighs the extra difficulty we would face.”

“I’ve also been thinking about our next world, and I had a different idea,” I said. “I think there are two types of worlds that would fit us well.”

“Oh?” asked Sallia. “All right, what’s your idea?”

“The first type of world that I thought would fit us is a world with some type of native ‘Status Screen.’ I remember that one or two Market visits ago, we saw a world claiming that worlds with their own System were the best for new transmigrators. I didn’t think about it very much at the time, but I did think about the topic while we were hitting up stores. Why would ‘Status Screens’ be so important?

“I figure it’s growth potential. Most magic systems that we have encountered have some sort of ‘natural limit’ to them. The rune magic system, for example, has a specific upper limit to the number of runes we can manifest, based on the grade of the Ability and the Absorption essence stat. Felix’s binding essence Stat will always limit how much alchemy he can do, and how creative he can get with his prosthetics. None of these magic systems have an innate way to upgrade our essence stat, either. Whatever we’re born with, we’re stuck with until the following world.

“However, if the world we were reincarnated into had its own Status Screen, that might not be the case. It would probably depend on the specific world we landed in, but regardless of how it worked, a ‘native’ Status Screen could let us ignore our natural growth potential and just keep improving. Of course, that also means that the natives would probably be stronger… but we wouldn’t suffer a disadvantage from being ‘newer’ transmigrators with weaker stats. In short, it would give us a level playing field. If we can outperform our natural limits, we should have the best of both worlds. We would have a strong, useful magic system to use for our Ability evolutions, and we would also avoid suffering huge penalties for being way weaker than the stronger members of the planet.”

Felix looked thoughtful.

“That’s a good point,” he said.

Sallia and Anise also looked thoughtful at my reasoning. Finally, Sallia nodded. “All right, I’m sold. That sounds like a way better idea than my own plan. It incorporates the best of Anise’s idea, and the best of my idea. But you said you had two ideas?”

I nodded.

“The other idea I had was going to a Garden world.”

Felix frowned. “Garden worlds? You mean, the worlds where the Market artificially messed with the laws of reality somehow, making it particularly easy to learn a specific type of Ability? I don’t think we’ve seen any pools of reincarnation that lead to Garden worlds, have we? And even if we did, odds are that the world would be built around making some ridiculous Ability ‘easy’ to unlock. What if we go to a Garden world, and we learn that it’s built around making it easy to learn dancing skills, or something like that?

“Not to mention, Garden worlds were based around the Market keeping control of them. The Market has been destroyed for an unknown amount of time. It wouldn’t surprise me if most Garden worlds have fallen into disrepair, or even collapsed entirely.”

“Hmm.” I frowned. “I didn’t think about the Garden worlds possibly collapsing. We’ll have to be careful about that. However, I doubt that Garden worlds are ‘random.’ The Market is all about advertising, so I imagine most Garden worlds will tell us exactly what kind of Abilities they’re focused on.” Then, I shrugged. “I’m not saying it’s a perfect solution. As you said, we haven’t seen a pool of reincarnation that leads us to a Garden world yet. A System world is probably more realistic. I just think we should try to find one that fits us, and then settle for a System world if that proves impossible.”

“I think Miria’s plans both have merit,” said Anise. “For a Garden world, we do need to be careful. However, most worlds seem rather hard to destroy entirely. Otherwise, people of the Market would definitely advertise all sorts of ludicrous ways to survive dimensions collapsing.With how mercantile the Market was during its heyday, I don’t believe for a second that they wouldn’t have tried to profit off of this. So while a few ‘Garden’ worlds might have collapsed, most should still be fine… just in some level of disrepair.”

Felix nodded. “I suppose that makes sense. I don’t know if a Garden world would be useful for us after falling into disrepair, though. Even if the only thing that falls apart is whatever makes it ‘easy’ to learn certain Abilities there, it would still become a major issue for us.”

I shrugged. “That’s fair. We don’t know much about how things like dimensional terraforming work yet.”

Anise shrugged. “How about we keep an eye out for both? We can consider a world with a native System our first plan, and a Garden world our second plan? And then we just see which one we find first?”

Sallia frowned, and then nodded. “Sounds good to me,” she said.

I nodded, and turned towards Felix. “What do you think?”

“I think it’s a good enough plan for now,” he said. “We can always reassess when we start finding a few more pools of reincarnation.

I smiled.

Our goal was decided. Now we just needed to find what we were looking for and defeat the defenders. I had enjoyed our time in the Market, but I was ready for a new world. It was almost time to set out on our next journey.