Roughly counting them up, what worlds were these?
Siren, Silent Hill, Fatal Frame, The Cabin in the Woods, Crystal Lake, Friday the 13th, and so on...
Compared to these worlds, until dawn was practically a starter village. After all, the most powerful monster in it was just a Wendigo. The only real concern was the curse left on Blackwood Mountain. Given that all eight main characters in the original story could achieve a 'total survival' ending, it was clear that as long as one's abilities were strong enough, even an ordinary person could make it out alive.
But for Fatal Frame and Siren, one couldn't exactly say that an ordinary person could survive through hard work alone, right?
The spreading Red Water infection, the omnipresent vengeful spirits, and the causal loops caused by time travel...
Unless you were an extraordinary individual, as an ordinary person, you might as well just accept your fate. That way, you could at least die with some style.
Wrong! Even in death, you would suffer!
Asa didn't want to prove he was an ordinary person. Currently, his strength was merely a bit greater than an average person's, and his reflexes were a bit faster—and that was it.
When it came to dealing with anomalies, he lacked the proper means.
What was even more terrifying was The Cabin in the Woods. In its background lore, an organization hidden behind the scenes sealed away the Evil Gods that could destroy Earth. Every year, they had to offer five sacrifices to the Evil Gods to keep them in their slumber.
The movie's story was about the final sacrifice failing, and in the end, the Evil God Cthulhu-esque entity reached out its giant hand and flattened the entire world.
It wasn't just America; the sealing processes in places like Japan and Europe also failed.
It fully demonstrated that the end of the world was predestined.
In this world, individual struggle was meaningless; one could only consider the course of history.
Asa could only pray that he was just guessing blindly. Maybe it was just another horror story about an old house in the deep mountains?
Like Evil Dead or something.
Staying in a world that could be destroyed at any moment, Asa didn't think his current power could stand against an Evil God capable of destroying Earth.
Furthermore, besides this Evil God, Samantha's trophies also hinted that things like Quetzalcoatl existed on this continent.
So what about God? Hell? The Eastern Pantheon?
Just thinking about it revealed how deep the waters were; Asa couldn't handle it.
Of course, it wasn't complete despair. Asa could start by farming some monsters that were closer to ordinary humans to raise his level or obtain monster materials. Then he could develop steadily, grinding through monsters level by level. As long as he didn't go seeking death by challenging high-difficulty dungeons like The Cabin in the Woods, Silent Hill, or the Fatal Frame series right at the start, he could still develop peacefully for a while.
This world definitely contained more than just the highly recognizable dungeons he could find online. In the midst of a calm life, there must be more unknown things hidden. The sudden surge in missing persons cases in recent years was proof.
So, he should first find some Ogres, Slashers, Ghouls, and the like to grind his level.
While he was thinking about how to act in the future, a pair of snow-white arms came from behind, wrapping around Asa neck as moist red lips pressed against him.
Mwah.
"What are you looking at? Not sleeping yet?"
By the way, Asa was currently staying in Samantha's studio apartment.
Having just finished rolling around in the sheets with the apartment's owner, Samantha, and with her soft body pressed against his broad back, Asa heart remained as calm as a still well.
The truth was, the situation was too deep, leaving him with little interest.
Asa didn't turn around; he slightly tilted his body as Samantha rested her head on his shoulder and hugged his chest.
Standing behind Asa, Samantha also felt uncomfortable with her own bold actions.
To be fair, she was a cool-headed person. Normally, the closer a relationship was, the more rationally she would view it.
This was also why Samantha hated those immature kids in her class who only had parties and mating on their minds.
Truth be told, Samantha wasn't familiar with Asa before. But who wouldn't feel their heart flutter when, right before death, they saw their savior appear like a hero to protect them?
Originally, Samantha wanted to start with dating to gradually understand his values, personality, and family background before taking the next step.
But with the arrival of the police at dawn and the conversation after the interrogation, she had ultimately crossed the final line.
To put it simply, her hormones had taken over.
Did she regret it?
Not at all.
Hugging Asa chest from behind while completely naked, Samantha had leaned here last night. Feeling the pleasure of hormones and dopamine intertwining for the first time was more like an electric shock than anything she'd done herself.
Asa let Samantha cling to his back while he thought about how to find supernatural events in this world without alerting the authorities.
But Samantha kept rubbing against him, and it was really...
"Samantha, haven't you had enough rest?"
"Have YOU had enough rest?"
Samantha retorted, her tone full of provocation.
Asa turned his head slightly, his breath brushing against Samantha's cheek and causing a flush to spread across her face.
She had rested enough, but the feeling was so wonderful she wanted to go again.
However, Samantha's gaze flickered downward, followed by a flash of cunning:
Since he wasn't in the mood, she would just have to help him out.
Her white body slid down as Samantha hid under the computer desk below.
Asa checked the information and suddenly sucked in a sharp breath of cold air, making a negligible contribution to global warming.
With a focused expression and a determined gaze, he continued browsing the web. A burst of inspiration actually led him to a legitimate way to come into contact with those supernatural events.
That was to become a so-called related practitioner—be it a detective, Wizard, cultist, or missionary—finding one that suited the current environment.
If those sounded bad, he could just call himself a Demon Hunter.
By starting with solving everyday incidents, he could make a name for himself until victims facing difficulties reached out to him voluntarily.
On one hand, Asa could collect money to improve his standard of living, and on the other, he could obtain supernatural materials through the incidents. It was practically a triple win!
The clients would have their troubles solved, Asa would gain money and supernatural items, his strength would grow positively, and as his reputation grew, he could solve even more problems.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if things went this way?
Asa looked up at the ceiling and let out a long sigh, feeling heartfelt admiration for his own idea.
Samantha's eyes rolled back; she was choked up.
The next day, after sharing a hearty breakfast with Samantha, she looked like she wanted to say something as they said their goodbyes.
Asa understood; she was waiting for a word, or perhaps, a promise.
"See you next time, Samantha."
Asa gave no promise, nor did he deny their relationship.
Nominally, the two seemed to be boyfriend and girlfriend, but in reality, Asa had never said it out loud.
Some words couldn't be said casually. If he admitted it, wouldn't it only bring greater disappointment to others?
The existence of the Goddess Contract meant Asa was destined to live up to his name; if he couldn't give someone what they wanted, it was better not to give them hope.
As he turned away, Asa saw in Samantha's eyes three parts anger, three parts misery, three parts self-pity, and ninety-one parts longing.
Such emotionally charged eyes were truly pitiable.
But the Favorability System told Asa that Samantha's favorability hadn't dropped because of this.
Finding his home's location on the map, Asa was about to go back and check it out when he suddenly saw the name of the street where his rented apartment was located:
No. 114514 Elm Street.
Elm Street... was it the Elm Street he was thinking of?
"Hey, Samantha, why don't we grab lunch together while we're at it?"
Samantha, filled with disappointment and grievance, had only taken a few steps when she suddenly heard Asa shout from behind.
"You?"
The blonde girl had looked back several times at Asa departing figure, but he hadn't looked back once.
She thought she had misjudged him, but was it actually that he couldn't bear to leave?
Samantha wanted to give him the cold shoulder, but in the end, she couldn't help herself and nodded.
Oh no, why did I agree to this bastard's words again?
...
The world faded into grayscale.
Asa officially named the until dawn world the 'Hell World,' a comprehensive world containing horror movies and games.
And there might exist strange creatures like Satan or demons from Hell.
As for whether God existed, it depended on whether a worldview with God had been merged into it. Even if it had, he seemed like an old man who enjoyed slacking off.
Returning to the resident evil world, Asa took a hot shower and let out a comfortable sigh in the bathtub.
He couldn't go back to his home in the Hell World, but staying at Samantha's place forever wasn't an option either.
Perhaps the girl was very happy to live together, but Asa didn't think that way. A peaceful daily life was just that—daily life. He still had to aim for becoming stronger step by step. If he spent all day either doing it or getting it, it would be easy to lose his ambition to pleasure.
An extraordinary world and extraordinary abilities were waiting for Asa to excavate.
Another reason was that he didn't know if the currencies of the two worlds were interchangeable; otherwise, Asa was prepared to act as a cross-world merchant.
The effect of the Golden Rule needed time to play out. He could pick up money just by walking a few steps on the road, but unfortunately, he hadn't walked many steps in the new world.
The development plan for the Hell World had to be temporarily shelved.
Asa prepared to visit a new ticket world first to see what type it was.
If it was a simple dungeon, he would speedrun it; if it had a deep background full of untouchable existences like the horror world, he would focus on Cyberpunk 2077 and resident evil first.
Asa took out that black knit hat, which contained the Wendigo Soul.
Materials of the same type could upgrade the summoning ability, making it stronger and increasing its duration.
He didn't know how this soul operated. It didn't seem to consume any spiritual energy or physical strength—or perhaps the stamina it consumed was so little that it couldn't keep up with Asa recovery speed, making it seem like it consumed no power?
The materials in his hand were rapidly consumed, and the Wendigo's size and endurance also increased quickly.
In the end, the Wendigo turned into a monster the size of a truck.
Persistence: A, Range: A!
Even so, the even more giant Wendigo didn't develop any brand-new abilities; it still relied on its three-trick pony of Lure, Pounce, and Ambush.
But its weaknesses had vanished. Asa tried letting the Wendigo get close to fire, and besides showing some distaste, it didn't suffer any substantial damage.
That was good enough.
Next was the ticket to the new world.
With a thought, the golden ticket appeared from the system warehouse in front of Asa, floating in mid-air before slowly dissipating.
The background music began to play.
The melodious sound of a lute, a low-pitched female vocal, and a heavy rural atmosphere made Asa instantly perk up.
This familiar background music... there was no mistake!
The world of Witcher, one of the 3D elders!
[Please name the new world.]
Without a second thought, Asa named it directly: [Sorceress]!
[The new world is named the Sorceress World. Do you want to go to the new world now?]
"Of course."
Although the Sorceress World contained a large number of monsters, it wasn't so grim as to have world-destroying threats or time loops. Its upper limit was quite a bit lower than the Hell World.
But this was exactly what Asa wanted. Develop first, then go wild.
The main strategy was to stay steady.
Additionally, he was very much looking forward to what kind of abilities he could obtain in the new world.
His vision went black as his consciousness sank into darkness.
...
Over 3,000 years ago, the Conjunction of the Spheres occurred.
The dimensions of different parallel worlds collided and ruptured, causing multiple worlds to intersect. Thus, magic was born, and monsters descended.
Cold, shaking.
Asa woke up with a start.
Every time he traveled to a new world, the thing that gave Asa the biggest headache was: why couldn't he be conscious during the first transition?
Did traveling between worlds also involve the setting of breaking the body and then reassembling it?
He opened his eyes, and words spoken with an accent rang in his ears:
"Hey you, finally awake."
What the hell, bro?
His first reaction was to subconsciously think he had traveled to the wrong world and become a commoner at the execution dock in Skyrim.
But soon, Asa realized he hadn't traveled to the wrong place because these words came from the mouth of someone he was very familiar with—a gentle yet magnetic female voice.
[Discovered important female plot character Yennefer. Establishing a bond with her can yield rewards.]
Going straight to the game's main theme right at the start?
Asa saw clearly that the beauty was sitting slightly behind him. Her black gown was elegant and noble, her skin was as white as snow, her black hair fell like a waterfall, and the black ribbon around her neck further highlighted Yennefer's delicate skin.
The Sorceress was looking at him with a bold and fiery gaze.
She was astride a black horse, while Asa himself was in the trailer of a horse-drawn carriage, completely naked.
Yes, except for hair, there was nothing on him.
Fortunately, only the Sorceress was behind him for now; otherwise, Asa would have to worry about being taken advantage of by some other man.
So, what was my relationship with Yen?
How should I talk to ancient people to easily gain favor?
Asa was stunned. Since his background identity in the new world was entirely arranged by the system, he had no idea who he was. He could only smile awkwardly and say:
"Good evening. Do you have any spare clothes?"
Why did it feel like she was some kind of female predator, just staring at his 'big steel cannon'?
Asa was shy and bashful by nature, so he could only cover his eyes while standing tall.
A set of clothes was tossed onto Asa face. He breathed a sigh of relief and quickly put them on.
A moment later, a handsome young man appeared before Yennefer.
The Sorceress nodded in satisfaction and then asked:
"Shen, as an Herbalist, did you once encourage a young girl named Yennefer?"
She knows me? Herbalist? Yennefer? Encouraged?
Asa worldly wisdom began to turn.