"Feels a bit easier than in my previous life."
Raize deftly controlled the puppet-like Tang Sanzang and Wukong, skillfully dodging boss attacks or using skills to evade them. The price was rapid mana consumption.
However, Raize still remembered some of Dream Westward Journey 1's bugs. Any player who had played the game would remember them—these were part of the game's earliest defining traits.
To recover mana, all one had to do was remove equipment to lower the maximum mana cap, use natural recovery to refill it, then put the equipment back on.
This bug was never fixed and could be seen as a form of balance for the original game. Without using it, defeating the Bull Demon King was truly difficult. Of course, it wasn't absolutely impossible—but Raize didn't need many attempts to clear it this time.
Dream Westward Journey 1: Seven Demon Kings Arc—fully cleared.
[ Ding, congratulations to the player for completing the game! ]
After quietly watching the final ending sequence, the completion notification appeared on schedule. The voice echoing in his mind snapped him back to attention, his gaze locking onto the clear text before him.
He felt both nervous and excited about what reward he would receive.
This time, the reward wasn't given directly. Instead, as before, a massive light screen appeared, along with a large roulette wheel he was extremely familiar with.
Every grid held something different—equipment and accessories from Dream Westward Journey, recovery items like spirit peaches and spirit water, and most importantly, the Tang Sanzang and Wukong characters he had personally trained.
These two grids were the most eye-catching. Both characters were level 36, wearing equipment Raize had obtained himself.
They were character templates. If he could draw one, it would greatly increase his strength.
[ This game-clear reward will be determined by random draw. The player has five chances. ]
Raize's eyes were fixed primarily on the two character templates, then on the equipment and accessories. He most wanted the character templates, but there were only five chances.
"Start it…"
Raize murmured in his heart. The roulette wheel began spinning rapidly, then gradually slowed, finally stopping on [5,000 Supreme Spirit Peaches].
Spirit peaches were recovery items in Dream Westward Journey, used to restore health.
[Congratulations to the player for obtaining 5,000 Supreme Spirit Peaches.]
[Supreme Spirit Peach: A heaven-and-earth spiritual fruit from the world of immortals and gods. Delicious and rich in flavor, it contains powerful, pure medicinal energy and spiritual energy. Consuming it restores vitality, enhances training strength, cleanses the body, and extends lifespan.]
"Hmm… not bad. Five thousand peaches can be used as training resources."
It wasn't an unlucky start. Drawing training resources was decent, though failing to get what he most wanted left him slightly disappointed.
These five thousand Supreme Spirit Peaches weren't just recovery items from the game—the effects described made them extremely valuable.
Just the lifespan extension alone would drive countless powerful figures of the world mad with desire.
They could also be used to repair the internal injuries Raize sustained from using Eightfold Thunder Annihilation.
"Ahm…"
Raize took out a spirit peach from his backpack space. It was slightly smaller than a basketball. Even before eating it, a strange fruity fragrance wafted out, and he could feel pure energy flowing within. Unable to resist, he took a big bite.
Sweet, vibrant flavor filled his mouth instantly, not inferior even to the fantasy ingredients he had eaten before.
The peach was plump and perfectly textured.
After quickly devouring it down to the pit, Raize felt warmth spreading through his abdomen as an extremely pure energy wave dispersed throughout his body.
Already prepared, he immediately activated Eightfold Thunder Annihilation to infuse the energy.
Aside from the absorbed portion, the dissipating energy also seemed to repair some subtle internal damage caused by Eightfold Thunder Annihilation—minor injuries that hadn't yet accumulated too much.
Within Eightfold Thunder Annihilation was a technique that injured the user severely to gain overwhelming power: Eightfold Thunder Shared Lament · Blood-Weeping Thunder Destruction.
This move sacrificed the body to boost internal power. After using it, the lightning of Eightfold Thunder Annihilation would turn a horrifying blood-red, with power multiplied several times over.
It was a desperate, all-or-nothing move. To this day, Raize had never encountered an enemy who forced him to risk his life like that, so he had rarely used it.
"Nice. Continue drawing—use up the remaining four chances."
Tossing the peach pit into his backpack space, Raize patted his stomach in satisfaction and continued the draw.
As the wheel spun again, the first few draws yielded other items, all missing the character template zones. Only on the final draw did Raize finally relax.
His anticipation turned into tension, then joy, as the last draw stopped on the puppet monk wearing a robe and holding a nine-ring staff.
It was none other than the Tang Sanzang he had trained himself.
First came an equipment item.
[Congratulations to the player for obtaining 'Seven Stars Guard'.]
[Seven Stars Guard: Accessory. The Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper. Grants the power of the Seven Stars, enhancing attack, defense, critical rate, speed, health regeneration, and mana regeneration.]
[ Congratulations to the player for obtaining "Black Tortoise Armor" ]
[Black Tortoise Armor: Equipment. A suit of armor said to be forged from the scales of the Black Tortoise. Once equipped, it is virtually indestructible, embodying the defensive stance of the Black Tortoise. Greatly enhances the wearer's vitality, defense, and recovery.]
This was the equipment Raize obtained: one accessory and one piece of defensive gear.
Among accessories and weapons, it belonged to the very top tier. Personally, Raize would have preferred Sun Wukong's Ruyi Jingu Bang.
After all, his own combat style treated offense as the best defense. Still, being able to obtain equipment of this level was already extremely good for him.
[ Congratulations to the player for drawing 300,000 "Soul Essences" ]
[ Soul Essence: Can be absorbed and infused to strengthen soul power, increase energy and mental strength... ]
In Dream Westward Journey, these souls were originally used to learn active and passive skills. Now that they had been extracted, they had become resources that could be directly absorbed and refined.
Strengthening soul power and increasing energy were exactly the areas where Raize was lacking.
[ Congratulations to the player for drawing the character template "Tang Sanzang" ]
[Tang Sanzang: A Buddhist monk who trains yin-attributed energy. A caster-type character. Main abilities include Ice Dragon Wave, Profound Ice Formation, Water Phantom, Heavenly Sweet Dew, Water Demon Burst. Passive abilities include...]
"So this is… the power of the Tang Sanzang I trained?"
After the roulette wheel in front of Raize disappeared, a Buddhist swastika symbol imbued with icy coldness and sacred compassion appeared before his eyes, then transformed into a streak of light and entered his forehead.
The moment this cold and holy Sanskrit symbol entered his body, Raize felt the energy within him rapidly expand. His ice-attributed power was directly assimilated into this new force.
Streams of cold yet gentle compassionate mana were generated throughout his body, flowing through his veins and slowly merging into his organs and acupoints. Aside from the initial chill, all he felt afterward was a refreshing coolness, extremely comfortable.
"This feeling of being reborn… nothing surpasses it."
Sitting on the computer chair with his eyes closed, Raize felt a massive surge of power circulating continuously through his body's great cycle. His internal organs grew stronger, and he suddenly expelled a dense stream of filthy black energy from his mouth, rank and foul-smelling.
Raize immediately opened the window to ventilate the room and let it disperse.
After checking himself and consulting the system within him, he confirmed that his body had indeed undergone a cleansing.
That foul black energy had been the first turbid breath he absorbed when he was born into this world, hidden deep within his body. Now, washed away by the power from Tang Sanzang, it had been completely expelled, granting him significant enhancements inside and out.
Not only did his appearance become even more handsome, his actual strength had increased by a large margin.
"Time to stabilize this power. I can also use the resources I gained to train."
Raize moved to the mirror in his room, then entered the separate space created for him by Sei. After sitting cross-legged, he took out resources from his backpack space and began training.
With his eyes closed as he meditated, countless golden sunlight-like particles surrounded Raize, along with dense firefly-like points of light. These were Soul Essences he had obtained, only a small portion of them.
In his meditative state, Raize could clearly observe the inside of his body and feel countless energy particles being absorbed. His acupoints began gathering energy, and his entire network of mana paths became unobstructed.
After fusing with the Tang Sanzang template, the fierce lightning within him gained a strange new quality.
Its tyrannical and violent nature did not diminish, but the damage it caused to his own body was visibly reduced.
Internally restrained, externally dominant. No longer overly tyrannical toward himself, yet even more oppressive toward enemies.
This result was extremely satisfying. Raize understood well that excessive rigidity led to easy breakage.
As he circulated Eightfold Thunder Annihilation and absorbed external energy, the acupoints within Raize's body continued strengthening him.
His five senses sharpened dramatically. His vision extended farther, able to perceive even the vibrations of a fly's wings like visible patterns. He could see clearly at night as if it were daytime. The combat benefits were self-evident.
Crack crack crack...
Bones throughout his body resounded continuously, growing tougher, the sounds ringing like a chain of firecrackers.
Hiss hiss hiss!!
As his muscles expanded and contracted, sharp hissing sounds rang out. His pores burst open, jets of pale white mist spraying out from his skin.
As the mist surged around him, dull thunderous sounds echoed from his internal organs.
『Name』: Raize Yotsuki
『Race』: Human
『Strength』: 240 (physical power) [+70]
『Constitution』: 261 (vitality, defense, endurance, abnormal resistance, etc.) [+70]
『Agility』: 260 (movement speed, attack speed) [+70]
『Spirit』: 500 (mental activity, willpower, neural reaction speed, perception) [+70]
『Energy』: 600 Chaos Energy (a positive-attribute energy infused through self-training and external factors; enhances physical attributes and has lethal suppression against dark and corrupt beings)
『Techniques』: Eightfold Thunder Annihilation, Eightfold Thunder Cataclysm
『Abilities』: Inhale and Copy, Primordial Sacred Radiance, All-Rounder, Weapon Mastery, Chaos Acceleration – Ultra-High-Speed Movement, Lightning Manipulation, Buddhist Arts: Mystic Ice Subjugation, Flame Control
His attributes had increased considerably. No new skills were added, but his original frost manipulation had changed.
It became [Buddhist Arts: Mystic Ice Subjugation]
All of Tang Sanzang's active abilities were contained within it, and the passive power had already fused into Raize's body.
Thanks to the power of Dream Westward Journey's Tang Sanzang, the cool ice-attributed force within him was now nearly on par with the lightning he trained through Eightfold Thunder Annihilation.
"Hah—!"
Feeling the abundant Ice power within him, Raize drew in a deep breath and exhaled forcefully.
A bone-chilling torrent of frost surged out, carrying the force to freeze everything. It swept forward like an icy gale. The space before him seemed to enter a frigid winter, freezing clouds and cold air infiltrating everywhere, invading limbs and bones alike.
Dense, jagged pillars of ice erupted from the ground. If anyone had been standing before him, they would have been frozen to death instantly.
The shattered earth and stones from his previous training were immediately assaulted by the frost, exploding into icy fragments that scattered throughout the cheap spatial zone.
Just as Raize was about to suppress his aura and stand up, the door to the alternate space behind him suddenly opened.
Wearing only a pure white nightshirt that barely covered her hips, exposing long, slender white-stockinged legs, Sei floated in.
In just a few blinks, she arrived beside Raize. With her holy golden eyes blinking, she examined the frozen forest before looking at him and saying, "Looks like you've gotten stronger again. But why do I sense something similar to those bald monks' aura in this frost..."
The moment Sei entered, she sensed the change in Raize's presence—a qualitative transformation.
His overall strength had leapt forward compared to before.
She also immediately noticed the strange new power mixed into his strength. It wasn't negative, but somewhat similar to the power carried by orthodox Buddhist monks and Buddhas in this world.
She had seen Buddhism before.
It was only similar, not identical, which made her uncertain—but her guess was correct.
'Regardless, it has no negative impact on Aize, and it's quite compatible with my holy power.'
Sei placed her hand on Raize's shoulder to examine him briefly, then withdrew it after a second. Confirming he was fine was enough.