Chapter 1: First Meeting

“Name?”

“Xia An.”

“Age?”

“Twenty-three.”

“Recent graduate?”

“Yes.”

The interviewer lifted his gaze from the resume and looked at the young man across the table.

The thin youth quickly forced an almost fawning smile.

The young man wore a cheap, ill-fitting suit—the sleeves were so wide they nearly reached his fingertips.

It was obviously rented at a bargain price.

Due to long-term blood selling and malnutrition, he was so thin he could be blown away by the wind.

But his eyes alone were incredibly bright, as if shining with a dazzling light.

A decent kid, the interviewer thought as he flipped open the resume.

Seeing the comments and the near-perfect grades, he felt even more impressed with Xia An.

“Looking at your school grades, they’re not bad at all.”

Hearing this, Xia An’s eyes lit up.

“Not at all, not at all. You flatter me.”

But the interviewer’s next words froze the smile on Xia An’s face.

“Do you have any professor’s recommendation letters?”

Xia An forced a smile.

“No… no.”

Recommendation letters weren’t something you could get just by having good grades.

“Is that so?”

The interviewer showed a look of regret.

He was a good prospect, but without a recommendation letter, it’d be hard to compete with the others.

“Go back and wait for notification. We’ll give you a reply then.”

The interviewer’s meaning was clear.

Whether it was an illusion or not, the atmosphere on the streets felt more oppressive than before.

Xia An silently stepped around a tramp groaning on the ground.

The neon lights stung his eyes.

Outside the city’s glass dome, the never-ending acid rain and thunder rumbled with a dull roar.

Dejected, he returned to the door of his cheap rental apartment.

The electronic lock projected a full-hologram countdown of the repayment deadline.

[Installment Loan Repayment Countdown: 1 day, 1 hour, and 7 minutes]

[Total Loan Amount: 145,211 credit points]

[Current Repayment Amount: 300 credit points]

[System detected account balance remaining: 70.8 credit points]

[A fast loan package from Fortune Group has been prepared for you…]

Annoyed, he swiped away the collection reminders and loan advertisements.

Xia An pressed the door handle to enter, but it locked tight.

[Now playing landlord’s message:]

[You’ve been behind on rent for a month now. If I don’t receive the rent by the next due date, either pack your bags and get out, or prepare to face a lawsuit.]

The voice message finished, and the locked door handle clicked open again.

Xia An entered the room and collapsed onto the bed, utterly exhausted.

He’d been transmigrated for three days now, and he completely understood why the original owner had chosen to kill himself.

To get into university, he’d borrowed a loan that would take thirty or forty years to pay off, but after graduating, he couldn’t find a job at all.

Now he couldn’t even afford the rent.

If he didn’t find a way to make money soon, he’d end up like the tramps on the streets.

How the hell was he supposed to handle this…

In his previous life, Xia An had died young from overwork at his desk.

He thought being reborn was the system’s compensation, but it turned out he’d just been thrown into hard mode to keep grinding.

He propped up his tired body and forced himself to muster his spirits again.

It wasn’t time to give up yet.

Having a second life, Xia An didn’t want to waste it in mediocrity.

Dressed properly, he prepared to go out again.

Suddenly, a voice echoed in his mind.

[Simulated Life System has been loaded.]

[The host can experience different lives and obtain massive amounts of credit points.]

[Do you accept?]

Is my golden finger finally arriving?

Xia An’s eyes lit up.

So there’s always a way out!

“Yes!”

[First life has been loaded…]

[Character Background: You are a newly promoted Grand Magister of the Deep Blue Magic Tower, young but terminally ill. You urgently need a disciple to receive your full inheritance. One day, you somehow end up in a town near the magic tower and encounter an exceptionally talented refugee girl. Moved by a love of talent, you take her as your disciple and raise her.]

[Mission Brief: Target name is Luo Ya. Head to the target location and bring her back. Train her to become a Grand Magister. Mission deadline: ten years (you only have ten years left to live). The higher Luo Ya’s magic level at settlement, the greater the reward.]

[During this period, real-world time stops.]

[Reward: 88,888 credit points]

[Begin?]

88,888 credit points!

Xia An’s eyes gleamed.

That would be enough to tide him over for a good while!

“Yes!”

Xia An felt his vision blur, as if an invisible force was tearing and devouring him.

When he came to, he was in a modern European-style aristocratic room.

Xia An blinked in confusion.

In the floor-to-ceiling mirror, a long-haired young man in a pale blue robe with white patterns blinked back at him.

Xia An pulled up his long sleeves, turned around in place.

The young man in the mirror also turned, the long hem of his robe dancing lightly.

Well, not only did they look the same, but the name was the same too.

His mind now held the original body’s memories, which greatly influenced his way of thinking, as if he had truly become the original.

As for the terminal illness…

Xia An’s current body temperature was extremely low, almost numb, like hypothermia.

Only ten years?

Through the panoramic floor-to-ceiling window, the human town below was nothing but blurry black specks in the snow.

Then I’d better hurry.

***

In a human town near the Deep Blue Magic Tower, in the slums.

Inside a filthy, stinking shack, dozens of children were trembling, huddled together like penguins in the wind.

Recently, war had broken out again among the nearby kingdoms, turning villages and fields into scorched earth.

A massive wave of refugees had flooded into the territory of the Deep Blue Magic Tower, and these children were part of that wave.

The Deep Blue Magic Tower was powerful, with dozens of Sages.

It remained neutral in the war, and the surrounding kingdoms dared not offend it in the slightest.

But the Tower’s attitude toward the refugees was casual—it set aside a piece of land and let them fend for themselves.

Those with talent were picked, and the rest were ignored.

These children in the shack were the ones left behind after the mages had made their selections.

They had been driven out of warm buildings into this drafty shelter.

Sobs occasionally rose within the shack, echoing with the wind and snow outside.

The children understood: they had been abandoned.

Among them was a girl with golden hair and emerald eyes.

She hugged her knees, her head lowered, tucked into a corner.

Her eyes were unfocused, the light long gone from them.

In the midst of that despairing silence, footsteps suddenly sounded from outside the shack.

A hand gently pulled aside the curtain.

The children stared wide-eyed, amazed by this mage with exquisite features and clearly noble status.

Why would someone like this come to a place like this?

Could it be… he had come to pick a child?

Instantly, all the children cast longing gazes at Xia An.

Under the scrutiny of those eyes, Xia An instantly locked onto Luo Ya in the corner.

He walked over to her.

A pair of finely crafted black boots appeared in her vision.

Luo Ya snapped out of her daze of extreme hunger, looked up, and saw the young man with black hair crouching in front of her.

Xia An frowned at the dense scars covering Luo Ya’s arms and legs.

Her shoulder-length golden hair was scattered, long malnutrition making it dry, frizzy, and tangled.

It was clearly unwashed for a long time, full of filth and odor.

It had lost its luster, dull and lifeless.

Her skeletal body trembled, ribs clearly visible through her thin clothes.

Bruises from beatings covered her body, and several wounds had festered and oozed pus.

She’s been bullied by other children.

The town officials would give the refugees relief porridge, but it was barely enough to fill their stomachs.

Naturally, some kids would steal others’ portions.

Luo Ya, being weak, was always the one bullied.

Often she couldn’t eat enough.

And because she couldn’t eat enough, she grew even weaker.

“From today onward, you are my disciple.”

Xia An spoke.

Luo Ya was clearly stunned.

The other children’s faces twisted with jealousy.

“I… I…”

Her voice was hoarse from not speaking for so long.

“Get up. Follow me.”

Xia An draped his robe over Luo Ya.

Under the children’s dagger-like stares, Luo Ya stumbled out of the shack after Xia An.

Xia An hung his Blue Crystal Pendant around Luo Ya’s neck.

Miraculously, Luo Ya found that the wind and snow no longer affected her.

She didn’t feel cold at all.

“Th… that.”

Luo Ya had a belly full of questions.

Who was this noble mage?

Why had he chosen her?

The wind and snow drowned out her tiny, mosquito-like voice.

Xia An walked ahead at a normal pace, but the weak Luo Ya obviously couldn’t keep up.

Seeing Xia An growing farther and farther away in her sight, all her questions vanished.

Only one thought remained.

Wait for me…

Don’t leave me behind…

As if hearing the girl’s heart, Xia An noticed her struggling and slowed his pace.

Luo Ya stared at his back.

That silhouette gradually overlapped with her father’s in her memory.

Back before the war broke out, when she still had a happy family, whenever she went out with her father, he would always stop like this and wait for her.

In a daze, Luo Ya mistook Xia An for her dead father and instinctively reached for his hand.

The moment she touched his hand, an icy cold jolted her back to reality.

Her small hand recoiled as if shocked.

Xia An’s body was many times colder than the snow and wind.

Even a touch could cause frostbite.

Luo Ya finally realized what she had done.

Her face flushed bright red.

“I… I… it’s not…”

Reaching out and grabbing someone’s hand when we just met… He’s going to hate me, isn’t he!

Seeing Luo Ya’s anxious unease, Xia An realized it was because his body temperature was too low and had frostbitten her.

He clicked his tongue in annoyance.

But Luo Ya completely misunderstood.

Her face turned pale with fear.

Oh no, oh no!

He’s unhappy!

Is he going to leave me behind!

Luo Ya was on the verge of tears.

She saw Xia An searching for something.

He’s looking for something to punish me… Luo Ya thought fearfully, trembling all over.

Punishment is fine, just don’t leave me behind.

Anything is better than that…

Then Luo Ya saw Xia An pull a pair of gloves out of his Dimensional Pocket.

Huh?

After putting on the gloves, Xia An extended his hand to Luo Ya.

For a moment, Luo Ya stood frozen.

He’s…

Realizing what was happening, she placed her small hand in Xia An’s.

Although Xia An’s hand was slender and delicate, holding it felt incredibly secure.

Two figures—one big, one small—hand in hand, left two sets of footprints, one large and one small, on the snow-covered cobblestone path.

Luo Ya held Xia An’s hand and gazed at his mesmerizing profile.

A strange emotion stirred in her heart.

My fate is now tied to this young man.

Where will he lead me?

They turned at the end of a street, entering another road.

Luo Ya’s small eyes widened.

A towering blue spire, piercing the heavens, stood at the far end of her sight.