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Sam frowned. "Why stay away from the rifts?"
"The Void energy leaking from those rifts is highly corrosive," Robin replied. "Anyone without a powerful enough mind will be easily corrupted."
"In this version of the world, even a peak expert like Qian Daoliu—or even a semi-divine successor to a Godhood—would be corrupted if they stayed inside too long. That's exactly why the Douluo world issued this request."
"Son of a... and you're still letting me go?" Sam's lip curled.
A high-level parallel world? That meant he couldn't rely on the power levels from the novels he'd read. He didn't think for a second that he was stronger than someone like Qian Daoliu in a high-fantasy setting. That guy was a Limit Douluo, a hair's breadth away from becoming a god! Even if Sam didn't know exactly how strong that was, it sounded terrifying.
"You have the Hades Armor," Robin noted. "That corrosion will have zero effect on you."
"Fine, fine." Sam rubbed his temples. "I'll notify Kurama and the others first. I don't know if they'll even want to go. There's still a fair bit of risk involved."
Sam sent out a notification via the guild tokens to Kurama, Elsa, Seven, and Feng Baobao. Everyone arrived quickly, except for Feng Baobao, who was likely still in the middle of a mission.
"A trans-dimensional mercenary mission?"
Kurama padded over to Sam's side, eyeing the Douluo quest on the mission board. "What's the deal with this?"
"I guess this is the whole reason the Trans-dimensional Guild exists in the first place," Sam said with a shrug. "Saving the world... it feels a bit weird to say out loud. I'm a bit old for that kind of chuunibyou stuff."
"Wait," Elsa blinked. "Save the world? Us?"
"Whoa, I'm just a heartless professional assassin," Seven said, scratching his head and pointing at himself. "You want me to save the world?"
Sam looked at him. "The pay is good."
Seven's eyes turned into currency symbols. "Boss, when do we leave?!"
Elsa and Kurama just stared. Seven, you are truly a lost cause.
"How strong are the enemies?" Kurama asked, looking at Sam.
Sam didn't have an immediate answer. He genuinely didn't know how the power levels of this parallel world compared to the Naruto world. If it were the original story, he could give a confident answer, but this was different.
"Robin, give us a breakdown," Sam requested.
"In this parallel world, aside from a few specific gods, the others are roughly on the same level as the Sage of the Six Paths," Robin explained. "However, they stay in a place called the Divine Realm and don't interfere with the continent."
"The strongest on the continent are Level 99 Limit Douluos. Their strength is roughly comparable to the Uchiha Madara of your world."
"???"
Sam froze. Comparable to Madara? Since when did Madara become a standard unit of measurement? No, wait—if that was the case, then he could actually take someone like Qian Daoliu in a fight!
Holy crap, the 'basement' fantasy world really is just a basement!
Sam felt a wave of relief wash over him. As long as the gods didn't descend, they were basically invincible.
Robin's voice echoed in his head, sounding unimpressed. Took you long enough to realize.
"Combat systems vary from world to world," Robin continued. "Because world laws differ, power levels and destructive capacity aren't universal. In some worlds, the weakest person is a Rank 5 or 6, while in others, the strongest doesn't even hit Rank 2."
"Therefore, the Guild has established a unified power scale for all worlds. In this parallel Douluo world, a Level 99 Limit Douluo is only a Rank 6. The targets for this mission are, at most, at the beginning of Rank 5."
"Phew, that's not bad," Sam muttered to himself. "At least those monster-level soul beasts haven't been corrupted, or we'd be in real trouble."
"Rank 5?" Seven asked curiously. "Then what rank am I?"
"Rank 3, High-tier," Robin replied.
"Wahaha! I'm actually a Rank 3!" Seven cheered like an idiot. "I guess this Douluo place isn't that impressive after all~"
"Don't get ahead of yourself," Robin warned. "Beyond Rank 3, every step is like a new heaven. To a Rank 4, you're basically a child. Not to mention a Rank 6 Limit Douluo—they could take you out with a single look."
Seven: "..."
"You can check your own rank using your guild tokens," Robin added. "I suggest you look before deciding whether to take the mission."
"It has a function for that?" Sam asked.
Robin went silent. You are a total failure as a Guild Master. Just delete yourself already!
Curious about her own strength, Elsa checked her token. "Oh? I'm actually a higher rank than Seven. I'm Rank 4."
"What?!" Seven's face morphed into a shocked meme. He blurred over to Elsa's side to peek at her token.
Then, he went into a corner to sulk. "I can't believe it... I'm the weakest one here..."
Though Seven had regained his memories and possessed vast combat experience, Elsa wasn't the girl she used to be. Now that she could control her ice powers, her strength was growing at a terrifying pace. If they actually fought, Seven would probably be frozen solid before he could even get close.
"I'm Rank 5," Kurama announced.
An expert on the level of Madara... Rank 6, huh... Kurama wasn't focused on the mission targets; he was eyeing the peak of that world's power.
"Uh... I'm actually Rank 6," Sam said quietly, looking at his own status.
Seven: "!!!"
Kurama: "???"
Elsa: "Wait, really?!"
"That's your comprehensive strength," Robin chimed in. "Honestly, with all the 'cheat' items you have, you should be ashamed you're only Rank 6."
Sam sighed. "Yeah, yeah, my bad."
"....."