Whose world-class drama are they criticizing?

"Hey, what are you spacing out for!"

Miss Jasmine interrupted Ryan's thoughts, excitedly boasting, "I've come up with an absolutely awesome and creative idea!"

Today happens to be the first day of the new year. She is wearing a beautiful red velvet dress, wrapped in a snow-white scarf, wearing fluffy gloves, and snow-white mink fur boots.

The fireplace was burning, casting a red glow on her profile.

"Lian Ryan."

Jasmine said excitedly.

"Let's write a novel together and publish it. Let's start with a million words. When we get to the ending, we'll start to get all sentimental and add all sorts of realism."

The female lead was a street singer in her past life, and was also a contracted beast of a powerful being, while the male lead has some kind of clones.

The clone gained self-awareness, and the female supporting character fell in love with it, refusing to let the male lead touch her. In the end, the male lead lost all his abilities, was possessed by the clone, and was sued by the female lead and imprisoned.

"I find it amusing to think about the expressions on the readers' faces when they eat Shi."

"With a story this realistic, we're sure to get killed by angry readers."

Jasmine was full of confidence.

"...You already thought of this kind of ridiculous idea on the 100th day." Ryan said with a dark expression, "And how can you write a million words in just twelve hours? Am I a tentacle monster?"

"Hey—"

Miss Jasmine drooped her ears. Alas, she had been shamelessly copied by her future self.

"Can't even write a million words a day?"

She gave Ryan a disapproving look, then put pressure on him instead: "You useless thing."

Is it really fun to put pressure on someone who's bad at hand?

Ryan was dissatisfied.

Today is the first day of the new year. The snow that fell last night is melting on the eaves. Fireworks are going off outside the window. The brilliant fireworks are shining in the sky, and Lu Mingcheng is bathed in a red glow. The tower chimes three times.

"Miss Jasmine, it's almost New Year's Eve."

Looking at the dejected Jasmine, Ryan laughed out loud. This stupid, pretentious intellectual can have whatever he wants; he's definitely going to enjoy himself to the fullest, and even death can't stop him.

—See you last year.

Chapter 172 New Talent: Death Apostle

Main Quest: Stealing the Lu Ming Encyclopedia

【time left】

[2]

Two years have passed since Ryan began his suicide attempts.

365 x 2 x 2 = 1460 times.

It has died 1460 times.

Each time the body dies, it is reborn intact. Ryan gets younger with each death. The biggest change, however, is on the spiritual level.

If it were a regular second-circle warlock, dying so many times would probably have driven him insane.

Even among the various esoteric sects that believe in 'death,' only a handful of the younger generation can die a thousand times. Even among death believers, dying a thousand times would drive them insane and cause their souls to break down.

His prolonged contact with death not only deepened Ryan's understanding of death, but also tempered and strengthened his spirit.

【Spirit 0.1】

Spirit, or soul, is the fourth category outside of Eden's three fundamental systems: physical strength, power, and magic.

Physical strength determines the number of times a martial art technique can be used, while power determines the power of that technique.

Magic power determines the number of times a spell can be used, and corresponding to physical strength, mental strength determines the power of the spell.

However, spiritual attributes involve the soul and are different from strength and physical strength. They are invisible and intangible and cannot be improved through physical exercise.

Therefore, most sorcerers can only effectively enhance their spirit and thus open up the spiritual realm after mastering spells that can touch the soul.

After unlocking the Spirit attribute, you can use 'Blessing' to add points and level up.

Generally speaking, that's usually beyond the Third Ring Road.

Therefore, warlocks are late-game heroes, and their early-game development is far inferior to that of warriors.

Aside from a few genius warlocks, who can develop mental attributes at a low rank.

Their training method is extremely simple. Physical exercise is physical torture, so mental training is mental torture. The more intense the torture, the faster the training.

For example, there were geniuses in the Vatican who used all sorts of methods to train their minds. Some would run naked in parks, squares, or even churches, using mental shame to torment in order to strengthen their willpower.

Drink five bottles of water before bed and you'll be able to stay awake all night.

I resisted the urge to scratch after being bitten by a mosquito for an hour.

Confess your love to your goddess.

I get up as soon as the alarm rings.

The accumulation of everyday details allowed them to develop their spiritual attributes ahead of time.

Compared to orthodox religions, esoteric religions are much faster in this regard, after all, they are more ruthless.

Ryan's ability to develop his mental attribute ahead of schedule was an unexpected bonus, largely thanks to the Gray Death Church.

Everything is difficult at the beginning, but you can improve gradually after that.

Besides, he'll be dead for at least another ten years.

...

【time left】

[3 years and 6 months]

This is the third year.

Ryan is three years younger; he's only thirteen this year.

Jasmine is one year older than him, so she is fourteen years old.

The only thing that bothered Ryan was that he was thirteen years old and had not yet developed, and was very weak, while Jasmine was taller than him.

In the past, Jasmine always stood on tiptoe to see him; now it's his turn to stand on tiptoe to see Jasmine.

What drove Ryan to despair most was that the closer he got to suicide, the more desperate he became.

This height difference will only get bigger.

Ryan sighed. He told jokes about flat-faced people all day long, and now he was going to be flat-faced himself.

"how?"

Jasmine looked at Ryan triumphantly. Her height advantage made her incredibly confident, and her ears perked up, adding another 2cm to her height, making the height difference between her and Ryan a massive 5cm. She sneered, "Little brother, you're not convinced?"

"Do not."

"I'm just pitying you."

Ryan looked at Jasmine with pity and smiled: "I didn't expect that you would be the same as you are three years later."

"Nonsense!"

Jasmine was furious, thinking Ryan was just spouting nonsense again: "I'll definitely be taller in three years than I am now! Much taller!"

That is indeed true.

Ryan's height increased rapidly, and Jasmine was not far behind, blossoming into a graceful young woman three years later.

but.

“I wasn’t talking about height.” Ryan glanced at Jasmine with pity, shook his head, and sighed softly.

"what?!"

Jasmine got anxious.

Ryan died today by being bitten to death by the enraged Miss Jasmine.

...

Each time Jasmine died, she became younger, both physically and mentally.

As agreed, Ryan would tell her the truth about the world after each death, and her reaction would vary depending on her age.

"Wow, what a cringeworthy setting! So cool! Hey, are you trying to commit suicide?"

This is how she answered when she was thirteen.

In the same year, Ryan's mental capacity increased by 0.05.

"I...I don't want to die with you."

This is how she answered when she was twelve years old.

That year, Ryan's mental strength also increased by 0.05.

Are you out of your mind?

This is how she answered when she was eleven years old.

Therefore, Ryan concluded that eleven years old was Miss Jasmine's rebellious phase.

Teenagers often say things they don't mean.

"Please stay away from me, go to hell."

She spoke coldly and aloofly, keeping everyone at arm's length and refusing to speak to Ryan: "What a useless young master, I hate you the most."

Why is it that everyone else gets cuter as they get younger, but Jasmine gets foul-mouthed as she gets younger?

Ryan blinked. "But my physical age is only ten years old. Why should I put pressure on a ten-year-old?"

Thankfully, Ryan is a little bastard.

"Waaaaah, I can't take it anymore!" After saying that, Ryan started swinging on his neck in the room.

"Eh?"

Miss Jasmine watched as Ryan wandered around the room, assuming he was threatening her. But after a while, when nothing happened, she was completely bewildered.

"No, it's not..."

She took a half step back, her shoulders trembling, her lips trembling, her eyes slowly turning vacant and then dark, finally losing their light: "No, that's not what I meant...no...I just..."

On his deathbed, he was able to see an eleven-year-old girl holding his body and crying. In such a desperate situation, even death would be worthwhile.

So this was the painless way of dying that Ryan had been searching for.

That beautiful, yet despairing expression, coupled with murmured words of regret, and tears welling in its empty eyes—watching it too often is actually good for your mental and physical health.

That year, Ryan's mental stamina increased by 0.1!

Soaring, surging.

My mental state immediately improved a lot.

As time passed and more people died, Ryan's spirit grew stronger, and his understanding of death deepened. With his increased proficiency, the second mutation occurred.

This occurred five years after Lane's suicide.

It was exactly the 3650th death.

Having died three thousand times without going mad, throughout the history of the Death Church, let alone the three branches such as the Ash Death Church, the Eternal Sleep Church, and the Night Church, even the main church headquarters has rarely seen young people reach this level.

Eden's job system is linked to 'proficiency', just like Ryan running a marathon.

The rare entry related to "death" has finally appeared.

【Death Apostle (0.1)】

You can feel death.

With the appearance of this entry, Ryan gradually began to hear whispers he couldn't hear before.

At first, there were incoherent whispers that would drive most people crazy, but Ryan gradually began to understand their meaning.