Going Home

"I choose to be a wizard."

After those words were spoken, the room fell silent for a long while.

Gu Changgeng said nothing. He picked up the cup of water, long since cold, took a sip, and set it down again. His knuckles tapped twice on the tabletop.

"You can think it over again. If you want to change your mind, there's still time—we can arrange for you to become a psychokinetic at any time."

"No need." Chen Chuan shook his head.

Gu Changgeng stared at him for a few seconds before slowly nodding.

He pulled a sheet of paper from the stack of files on the table and spread it out.

It was a star map, made up of concentric circles. A point was marked on the outermost ring, as small as a speck of dust.

"Do you know where our Blue Star Federation stands in the Wizard World Alliance?"

Chen Chuan shook his head.

"At the very bottom." Gu Changgeng tapped the speck of dust with a fingertip.

"A low-level plane. To put it nicely, we're a member of the Wizard World Alliance; to put it bluntly, we're their vassal plane. Our resources are plundered, and we have to send troops whenever there's a plane war. What we get back never comes close to what we give up. If our Blue Star Federation didn't still have more than three fourth-tier professionals holding the fort, I'm afraid we'd have been used as a cannon-fodder plane and thrown into some war long ago."

He looked up.

In those eyes, Chen Chuan saw a helplessness he couldn't hide.

"In the Wizard World, wizards have the final say. Every president the alliance has ever had was a wizard of the seventh tier or above."

The room fell quiet again.

Chen Chuan suddenly understood why the major general had lost his composure on Awakening Day, and why this general was willing to sit here with a senior in high school, spending cup after cup of water waiting him out.

"If you fail the exam, you'll die," Gu Changgeng said calmly. "Blue Star will hold a respectable memorial service for you, put your name on record, and then wait for the next Spirit Branch."

"..."

"But if you pass," Gu Changgeng's voice finally stirred with emotion, "Blue Star's position in the alliance can rise a great deal. Only if you grow stronger will our Blue Star Federation have a chance to survive."

Chen Chuan lowered his head and looked at the "dust" on the table.

A speck of dust so small it was almost invisible.

He thought of his sickly body in his previous life, of the life that had ended abruptly. He had once thought that transmigrating here was a second chance heaven had casually tossed him, another life to muddle through.

But now, a speck of dust was waiting for him to hold it up.

He raised his head, determination in his eyes.

"Then what should I train for these three months? Mental power?"

"You can't train mental power." Gu Changgeng waved a hand.

"The Wizard World looks at your initial value—whatever you're born with is what you have. I told you, they only want absolute geniuses."

Chen Chuan was stunned.

"Then what do you want me to train?"

"How to stay alive."

On the second day, Chen Chuan regretted asking that question.

He was stuffed into a training uniform and thrown onto the training field with a group of new recruits.

Drill, combat, cross-country running, crawling, first aid, wilderness survival... By the end of the day, he lay facedown on his dormitory bed, unwilling to move a finger.

The first time they ran cross-country, he came in last.

The soldiers ahead grew smaller and smaller in the distance, until all that remained was the dust they kicked up. He gritted his teeth and trudged onward, his throat full of the taste of iron, his lungs feeling as though someone had them in a vise.

The instructor in charge of him was surnamed Zhou. He had an old scar on his face, didn't talk much, and was ruthless in training. When Chen Chuan dragged himself across the finish line, Instructor Zhou offered only two words:

"Too slow."

Chen Chuan lay on his back in the grass, staring at the sky, unable to utter a word.

He gave his previous life some serious thought—he had spent three years bedridden, unable even to go downstairs.

And now, in this life, he was actually training to run twenty kilometers cross-country.

This counted as a work-related injury too.

Gu Changgeng came to see him once, standing at the edge of the field with his hands behind his back.

"Tired?"

"Tired." Chen Chuan gritted his teeth. "Elder Gu, I'm going to take the wizard exam. Isn't making me train like this a bit of a waste of my talents?"

"A waste of your talents?" Gu Changgeng glanced at him. "When you go to the Wizard World in three months, if it really is like people out there say, and you have to step on others to climb higher—first think about how you plan to come back alive."

Chen Chuan shut up.

On the seventh day of training, while Chen Chuan was catching his breath at the edge of the field, a Silver-Winged Gryphon landed in a flurry of wings.

The knight on its back swung down and casually patted its neck. The Griffin shook its feathers, and a film of light so faint it was almost invisible flashed over its body and vanished.

Something stirred in Chen Chuan's mind.

The deep crimson panel in his mind lit up without warning.

[Analyzable target detected: Windproof Barrier (wind element · basic)]

[Target level: ranked · first tier]

[Estimated time required: 26,000 hours]

[Analyze?　Available analysis slots: 0/3]

Chen Chuan recognized the film of light.

On the day he arrived, while he was on the Griffin's back, the wind had slipped around his body and converged behind him into an uplifting current of air. This was what had done it.

He stared at "26,000 hours" for a long time before finally leaving the [Analyze?] prompt alone.

A first-tier spell to block the wind would take nearly three years to analyze.

There were only three slots in total, and a spell that was clearly auxiliary would take three years—he didn't have that long to live, or that much patience.

The prompt on the panel faded away on its own. The [Available analysis slots] line remained at "0/3" from beginning to end.

It should have been because of the difference in rank. Forcing an analysis of a spell or technique above his own level greatly increased the time required.

And right now, he didn't have a single decent target.

He looked up at the lawn in the distance—so many magical beasts were lying, running, and flying around there. Surely he could find at least one apprentice-level beast.

What he didn't know was that, among the magical beasts here, the Silver-Winged Gryphon really was the only one with a spell.

On the tenth day of training, Chen Chuan went to see Gu Changgeng.

"Elder Gu, I'd like to call home."

Gu Changgeng looked up at him for a few seconds.

"Go ahead." He lowered his head again. "Say what you should, and you know what you shouldn't."

The call went through, and someone picked up after three rings.

"Chuan'er?" It was his mother, her voice quick and trembling. "Where are you? Your teacher came by and said the military district had picked you. That's a good thing, right?"

"It's a good thing, Mom." Chen Chuan leaned against the wall. "I'm doing fine. I'm eating well and sleeping well. Don't worry."

"Then when are you coming home..."

"Soon."

After hanging up, he stood there for a long time.

Then he knocked on Gu Changgeng's door again.

"Elder Gu, I'd like to go home for a visit."

Gu Changgeng didn't answer immediately. He closed the old booklet and tucked it into the stack of files.

"All right."

"Thank you..."

"Don't thank me yet." Gu Changgeng cut him off. "Someone has to go with you."

Chen Chuan blinked. "Go with me?"

"Right now, you're more valuable than anything in Nanli Base." Gu Changgeng lowered his head again. "If anything happens on the way, I can't take responsibility, and the Blue Star Alliance can't afford the loss."

It was the first time Chen Chuan had heard his value compared to a machine's.

After driving for most of the day, the car turned into the old district of Great Banyan City.

The building was still the same, and the crooked tree was still downstairs. Several patches of plaster had fallen from the walls, just as he remembered.

Standing outside the building, Chen Chuan suddenly felt a little afraid to go up.

When he died in his previous life, he had been in an old building just like this one. He had lain inside, watching the tree outside the window, day after day.

"Chuan'er?"

Someone called from upstairs.

He looked up. His mother was leaning halfway out of the window, her hair uncombed and her apron still tied on.

"You're back?!"

That shout yanked him back from more than ten years ago.

Chen Chuan smiled and headed upstairs.

The smell of food drifted through the stairwell. He pushed open the door to find a whole table of dishes already laid out, still steaming—his mother had probably started cooking as soon as she got his call.

"You've lost weight." She circled Chen Chuan, reached out and pinched his arm, and her eyes instantly reddened. "They didn't treat you badly, did they?"

"No." Chen Chuan guided her back into her chair. "I've been eating and drinking well. I've even put on weight."

"What weight?" His mother wiped the corner of her eye and piled food into his bowl. "Eat more, eat more."

His father sat across from him, eating with his head down. After a long while, he finally muttered:

"Over there... is it dangerous?"

Chen Chuan paused.

"It's not dangerous," he said. "The training's just tiring."

His father grunted and asked no more, but he ate that meal especially slowly.

That night, Chen Chuan lay on his little bed, which he hadn't slept in for so long, listening to the cicadas outside. He couldn't fall asleep for a long time.

The next evening, footsteps like pounding on a door sounded in the stairwell.

"Chuan'er!"

Before the door even opened, Zhao Tie's voice squeezed through the crack.

His 1.9-meter frame planted itself in the doorway, filling it completely.

"When did you get back? My mom only told me this afternoon!" Zhao Tie plopped onto the sofa, his eyes roaming over him. "You've lost weight. Do they feed you enough there?"

"They do." Chen Chuan poured him a glass of water. "What about you? How's it going at the military district?"

"Tiring!" Zhao Tie slapped his thigh, grinning, both proud and ready to complain. "Training every day, running every day, but I can take it. The instructor even said the day before yesterday that with my build, I've got a shot at changing classes to a knight."

His eyes lit up when he said "knight."

"When I really do contract a magical beast as my mount," he said, gesturing so wildly that his arms whooshed through the air, "Chuan'er, you'll be the first person I take flying."

Chen Chuan looked at him and smiled.

"Sure."

"Don't just say 'sure.'" Zhao Tie leaned closer and lowered his voice. "Seriously, what exactly were you picked for? Everything's so mysterious. A hero? An official? Have you made it big?"

Chen Chuan picked up his water and took a sip.

"Classified."

Zhao Tie stared at him for a long while before finally deflating and falling back onto the sofa. "Fine, fine, classified. When it's not classified anymore, I'm making you drink three big glasses."

Chen Chuan smiled without answering.

There were some things he couldn't say, and didn't want to say.

For instance, he was actually more afraid than anyone—whether he would make it to the Wizard World in three months or not.

As he saw Zhao Tie out, the fellow turned back in the stairwell and shouted:

"It's a deal! Three big glasses!"

He stayed home for two days.

Early on the third morning, it was time for Chen Chuan to leave.

His mother fussed at the door, stuffing fruit, cured sausages, and everything she thought he might need into his bag. His father said little, walking him all the way downstairs and patting him on the shoulder without a word.

As the car drove out of the alley, Chen Chuan saw the crooked tree in the rearview mirror, and the old couple standing beneath it.

He looked away.

Just then, he caught sight of the street corner.

An inconspicuous black car was parked diagonally opposite the mouth of his family's alley. Someone sat inside, half his face hidden in shadow. But that build, that posture—

Chen Chuan recognized him.

Chen Shaohua.

All the way from Nanli Base to here.

He was the "someone" Gu Changgeng had said would follow him.

Chen Chuan didn't go over to greet him. He leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes.

By the time he returned to Nanli Base, it was already dark.

Gu Changgeng was still in that windowless room, leafing through a booklet.

"You're back."

"Mm."

"Everything all right at home?"

"Yes."

Gu Changgeng nodded and pushed the booklet over to him.

"Take this. It's information about the wizard academy test that I collected from other planes. Take it back and read it later."

Chen Chuan took it. The booklet was very new; it had probably just been hastily put together.

After flipping through a few pages, he suddenly spoke.

"Elder Gu, if I don't make it back, please take good care of my family."

Gu Changgeng paused, then nodded.

"Remember, in the wizard academy test, you climb over other people's lives. Whether you become one of the defeated is up to you alone."