Chapter 2 – Isn't It Fine to Just Lay Low Until I'm Invincible?

Parallel World.

This refers to other worlds that exist parallel to the original world—similar yet different.

In this world, there exists the same universe as the original world, the same planet, and even the same history and people. Yet, at the same time, the course of events has diverged due to certain reasons.

It is possible that species extinct in the original world have survived in this one.

It is possible that nations once wiped out in the original world have been saved in this one.

Under such circumstances, this world continues to develop, eventually drifting further and further from the original world, becoming a similar yet distinct alternate world—this is what is known as a parallel world.

Now, Su Ming has encountered such a situation.

In other words, he has transmigrated into a parallel world, becoming this world’s Su Ming.

According to Su Ming’s knowledge, this world, long, long ago, seemed to be just like the original Earth—ordinary and mundane.

But here, the world has two sides.

One side is the surface, inhabited by various life forms, with humans at the forefront.

The other side is the inner realm, filled with ferocious monsters.

There is no order there, no life forms other than vicious monsters.

The monsters there ceaselessly slaughter one another, feeding on blood, shaping it into a chaotic and dark hell.

That is the Spirit Demon Abyss, a place located on the inner side of the world, inhabited by ferocious monsters known as Phantom Demons.

Originally, the surface and inner sides of the world would never intersect.

Like the front and back of a mirror, they could never reflect, touch, or see each other.

If these two sides never intersected, this world would remain as ordinary and mundane as the one Su Ming originally lived in.

Unfortunately, in this world, for unknown reasons, the human-dominated present world and the Spirit Demon Abyss, home to Phantom Demons, have become connected.

As a result, the distance between the present world and the Spirit Demon Abyss has been infinitely narrowed.

This has led to the Phantom Demons, who feed on blood and are driven by a thirst for slaughter, beginning to invade the present world, posing an unprecedented threat to all life forms there.

Humans are powerless to resist the Phantom Demons.

Not only do Phantom Demons possess supernatural strength beyond human imagination, but their physical structures are also entirely different from humans. Even the weakest Phantom Demon can visibly recover from shattered bones and crushed flesh at a rapid pace, displaying terrifying vitality.

Thus, humans are wantonly slaughtered, devoured, and drained of their blood by Phantom Demons, as fragile as ants.

Especially among the Phantom Demons, some exceptionally powerful individuals possess strength capable of effortlessly altering the terrain, throwing the very land of this planet into chaos.

Therefore, although this world is still Earth, still the familiar Blue Planet to Su Ming, under the influence of Phantom Demons, it has developed many starkly different aspects.

For instance, this world lacks the nations Su Ming is familiar with; even the cities have changed, transformed into massive Base Cities designed to resist the Spirit Demon Abyss and the Phantom Demons.

The city Su Ming currently resides in is a Base City named Longyao City, with a population exceeding 60 million.

And Su Ming has been in this world for a full year now.Despite this, his parents were still the ones he was familiar with, their home remained unchanged—a modest four-bedroom, two-living-room house—and even his neighbors and social circle hadn’t undergone significant shifts. His life experiences up to age 17 aligned almost perfectly with Su Ming’s memories.

Had it not been for the altered cityscape and different family address, Su Ming would have suspected he’d experienced a faulty transmigration.

Yet while his personal history and relationships remained largely consistent, his surroundings and circumstances had transformed completely.

For instance, Su Ming now attended not an ordinary educational institution but a specialized talent development center for combating Phantom Demons—commonly known as the Demon Hunter Academy—which exclusively enrolled Sorcerers and Hunters.

These two professions emerged under the influence of the Spirit Demon Abyss, granting individuals special Physiques and powers that enabled them to confront and hunt Phantom Demons.

Thus, Su Ming became a Sorcerer studying at the Demon Hunter Academy.

Not only him—even Lei Hao and Ye Bai, childhood friends who’d maintained constant contact with him, had become a Hunter and Sorcerer respectively. All three were admitted together as students of the Academy.

First Academy Regulation: Students shall regard the elimination of Phantom Demons, resistance against Phantom Demons, and protection of Base Cities and ordinary citizens as their fundamental duty.

This mandate required students to undertake missions alongside their regular studies. These tasks typically involved hunting low-ranking Phantom Demons that escaped from the Spirit Demon Abyss into the human world, rescuing civilians harmed by demonic appearances, or collecting special materials and items.

Successful mission completion yielded various rewards, including but not limited to monetary compensation.

Today, the trio had accepted a mission to eliminate a Screaming Demon hiding in the warehouse district and retrieve its wings.

Rated merely C-Rank within the six-tier difficulty system (S, A, B, C, D, E), this mission ranked as lower-middle tier. After all, Screaming Demons were common low-tier denizens of the Spirit Demon Abyss—mere cannon fodder. The assignment only reached C-Rank due to the creature’s flight capability and high mobility complicating its elimination; otherwise, it would barely qualify as D-Rank.

Even so, the three nearly botched the operation, almost allowing the Screaming Demon to escape—demonstrating how troublesome Phantom Demons could be.

“Well, what can you expect? We’re just average students at the Academy—not even elites, let alone top performers,” Lei Hao remarked casually after mission completion. He strode out of the Mission Hall effortlessly carrying a Sword taller than a person.

“That’s no excuse for negligence,” Ye Bai retorted from beside him, offering no leniency.

Yet Ye Bai’s lack of counterargument confirmed Lei Hao’s assessment.

Compared to ordinary civilians, the trio possessed significant superiority. But within the Demon Hunter Academy, their academic and combat performances placed them firmly in the middle ranks—neither bottom-tier nor outstanding, merely typical students.If not for this, the three of them wouldn’t have teamed up to complete a C-Rank Mission.

In other words…

“In the Demon Hunter Academy, we’re just minor characters, right?”

Lei Hao spoke with complete nonchalance.

This time, it wasn’t Ye Bai who responded to Lei Hao, but Su Ming, who had remained silent all along.

“What’s wrong with being a minor character?” Su Ming suddenly said: “No matter the situation, all you need to do is run some errands. You don’t have to desperately save the world like the protagonist, becoming a hero in people’s eyes, nor do you need to worry about being sacrificed at any moment like those supporting characters, casually getting killed off. Isn’t that pretty good?”

Su Ming’s argument made both Lei Hao and Ye Bai blink.

Soon after, both of them laughed.

“Indeed, being the protagonist is quite dangerous in these times.” Ye Bai pushed up the glasses on his face and spoke realistically: “Not to mention anything else, just look at the elites in the Academy. They need to complete one difficult A-Rank Mission every month. Whenever danger appears somewhere in Longyao City and the Academy needs to send students to bolster manpower, they’re often the first to be selected, let alone those top students.”

“Exactly.” Lei Hao said carelessly: “Just in our Hunter Department this month, several elite students ranked in the top hundred have sacrificed their lives in A-Rank Missions.”

“Isn’t it the same in our Sorcerer Department?” Ye Bai sighed and said: “Last month, a senior who taught us how to use the Twelve Forms went with an instructor to execute an A-Rank Mission, and he also sacrificed his life. That senior was famously kind, very popular, and quite talented. Many teachers felt it was a pity when he died.”

This was the cruelty of this world.

Those capable of fighting against Phantom Demons were ultimately few in number.

Whether becoming a Sorcerer or a Hunter, neither was an easy task.

In contrast, even the weakest individual Phantom Demon could become a threat to most people’s lives.

If it were just one or two, it wouldn’t be too bad—dealing with them wouldn’t be difficult. But if large numbers of Phantom Demons collectively invaded the present world, it would be a massive disaster.

Because of this, when facing large-scale Phantom Demon invasions of the present world, human Base Cities often found themselves short-handed.

Thus, the lacking manpower naturally had to be drawn from the Demon Hunter Academy. This was why many missions were handled by the Demon Hunter Academy and completed by its students.

Being a Sorcerer or Hunter was such a high-risk profession.

Yet humanity had no other choice but to continue resisting. Otherwise, becoming food for the Phantom Demons would be the fate of all humankind.

Su Ming put it this way:

“My wish is to be a minor character, muddle through until graduation at the Demon Hunter Academy, and even continue muddling along after graduation—absolutely never being the one to charge forward and stick my neck out.”

Su Ming spoke these words with a tone full of conviction.

Neither Lei Hao nor Ye Bai found this strange.

Simply because this wasn’t the first time Su Ming had said this.

The only problem was…

“Minor characters have their sorrows too.”

“Without strength, minor characters are the ones who get killed off the fastest.”

Both Lei Hao and Ye Bai said this.

And this was indeed the reality.Being an extra might mean staying out of the spotlight and avoiding being pushed forward as a scapegoat in dangerous situations, but if you’re too weak, you could easily die from the boss’s area-of-effect attack, becoming a disposable character who doesn’t even deserve a name.

To those unaware, Su Ming’s wish would only seem like a joke.

But…

“Isn’t it fine as long as I survive until I become invincible?”

Su Ming grinned at his two companions.

Lei Hao and Ye Bai burst into laughter.

“Right, just play it safe and develop steadily. Once you’re invincible, all problems will be solved.”

“Just worried that an extra might not survive long enough to make a name for themselves.”

They chatted idly, exchanging banter.

Su Ming trailed behind, a smile still on his face, but his consciousness sank deep into his mind.

There, an interface unfolded like a virtual projection, silent and unseen.

(End of Chapter)