001. Magic!
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Late at night, under a hazy drizzle, the roads were mostly deserted, with vehicles rushing by and splashing up puddles.
The last bus of the night came to a slow stop at the bus station. A skinny boy swayed his way to the door, waiting for the driver to open it.
“Hey! You okay?”
The driver looked back, expressing concern for his only passenger.
“I’m fine.” The boy squinted, half-asleep. As the door creaked open, he leaned on the railing to step off the bus, but suddenly stumbled and fell right into a puddle.
The driver spotted this through the rearview mirror and jumped out to check on him, just as the boy squeezed his eyes shut.
…
Nightmares swirled in his mind, a jumble of random images flashing by.
A gigantic evil dragon, meteors crashing through the clouds, thousands of black armored soldiers, towering mountain peaks…
Fragmented images flooded his brain as the loading bar of his mind reached critical overheating.
Finally, the slideshow stuttered to a halt. The last picture was of a girl, her expression one of disbelief as she looked down at the blade piercing through her back, collapsing onto the ground, and then into darkness.
Lin Nan jolted awake.
His eyes opened to a stark white ceiling, and upon looking around, he realized he was in a hospital room.
“Awake?”
Beside him sat a boy his age, sporting a reassuring square face, dressed in black, and built like a brick—one look and you’d think he was a gang member.
“What are you doing here? Where am I? I…” After a stream of confused questions, Lin Nan’s eyes glazed over as he finally muttered, “Who am I?”
“Did your brain get fried or something?” The boy chuckled, “You were out in the rain with a high fever, so it’s no wonder you went face-first into a puddle. Good thing I found you, or your dad would’ve killed you!”
“Huh?” Lin Nan stared blankly at him, head spinning; the familiar face gradually started to seem strange. He instinctively tilted his head, frowned, and asked, “Who are you?”
“Did your brain really fry?” The boy paused, then helplessly explained, “Your classmate from middle school to university, your roommate, and your League of Legends buddy.”
“???” His head tilted even more, but for some reason, Lin Nan’s feminine gesture didn’t feel out of place.
“I’m your dad, Chen Yao.”
Upon hearing this, Lin Nan’s eyes suddenly cleared up as if by reflex, and he spat out, “I’m your dad! Next time I’m not playing support for you! d*mn!”
“Seriously? Keep pretending, and I’ll actually think you’ve gone nuts.” Chen Yao stood up, looking annoyed. “Get up already; the doctor said you can go home now.”
His head didn’t feel fuzzy anymore, nor did it hurt, although he was still a bit dazed. Lin Nan quickly scrambled up and followed Chen Yao out of the hospital. After all, hospital bills are no joke.
With the paperwork done and the remaining bills collected, Lin Nan stepped outside. Looking up at the midday sky brought a puzzled expression to his face.
“What time is it?”
“Eleven o’clock. You were playing corpse from ten last night, so you’ve been out for thirteen hours.” Chen Yao yawned, hands stuffed in his pockets. “I didn’t sleep a wink, and neither did your dad; couldn’t even get through on the phone.”
“Probably just shifted at work,” Lin Nan shrugged, making excuses for his father.
But as he spoke, he fell into confusion again, memories of his father popping up. One was the truck driver, often away on business, while the other was the strict parent who’d drilled him on magic since childhood.
Chen Yao, oblivious to Lin Nan’s strange behavior, waved down a passing motorcycle taxi while chatting on his phone.
After around ten minutes, they arrived home.
An urgent question nagged in Lin Nan’s mind—who the heck am I?
His home was located in the urban village of the county center, a three-story self-built house where his family had long rented the third floor.
He reached his door, unlocked it, kicked off his sneakers into the shoe cabinet, and walked barefoot inside.
The apartment was a two-bedroom, one-living-room layout; while clean and tidy, it lacked furniture, giving it an impressively poor vibe.
He didn’t dwell on that and headed straight to his bedroom.
His room was cramped, holding a bed, a computer desk, and a simple online-purchased wardrobe, completely stuffed to the brim.
Lin Nan plopped down on his bed, brows knitted, alternating between being confused and having those “Aha!” moments.
Gradually, thanks to his rich reading experiences, he started piecing together what was going on.
A soul from another world—Lilith, the powerful character—had invaded his body. For some reason, her soul got sucked into his, causing a change to his own soul.
Lilith was a witch from another world, akin to a demon king, having lived over three hundred years, boasting immense power and a massive flood of memories that muddled Lin Nan’s own recollections and even twisted his understanding of things.
He glanced down at his tightly crossed legs, sighed deeply, then opened them wide like he used to.
Memory issues aside, it seemed like his body still bore the influence of that soul.
For example, his body occasionally performed Lilith’s habitual movements without him realizing—it was hard to notice when they happened.
Or he might blurt out words in that other-worldly language.
Or even worse, Lin Nan seemed to have learned how to use magic.
Despite soon becoming a sophomore, the inner twelve-year-old within him flared with excitement.
“Spirit of Flame! Hear my call! Fireball spell!”
While shouting this spontaneously concocted “incantation,” he extended his hands, adjusting his body as he recalled memories, slowly feeling warmth in his palm. A tiny flame flickered momentarily before disappearing.
He let out a muffled groan, as if his heart had been hit by a hammer, making it hard to breathe for a moment.
But then he received some strange information.
Magic consumes mana, that was a given. However, this was Earth; the ambient magical energy was super scarce, reducing what should have been a fireball the size of a basin to mere flickering sparks in his palm.
Furthermore, each magical spell required a “key” to unlock it—like with the fireball spell, the key was to hold your hands in flames for thirty minutes to experience its brutality before you could use the magic circuit; otherwise, it would backlash like it did just now.
Also, the key for levitation was to jump from a hundred meters high and feel the wind’s agility before being able to use that spell.
“Is this asking me to d*e?”
Lin Nan helplessly noted his cheeks were puffing up again.
He slapped his cheeks a few times—it’s not like he was a girl, nor was he a cute little kid. If he made such feminine gestures outside, there’d be a high chance he’d be called a sissy.
The elemental-type spells had tough unlocking conditions, but spells from other genres seemed relatively easier to unlock.
Transformations, cross-dressing—unlockable!
Maybe it was one dangerous ordeal against another that pushed him past his limits?
