A Magical World

Municipal Library.

The historical area where no one had set foot for a long time was covered in a thick layer of dust, and a young man was searching for something inside.

"Not there... still not there..."

The young man muttered to himself, somewhat disappointed.

He shook his head.

He closed the book.

Swish!

A sharp pain.

A long bloodstain was slashed across his hand.

"It's like this again..."

The young man gave a wry smile. He had already been careful enough, yet he never expected to be scratched by a page. However, he was not surprised; to be more precise, he was used to it.

His name was Chen Feng, twenty-two years old this year, and from the day he was born, bad luck accompanied him.

He had almost choked to death drinking milk right after birth, his parents died when he was one, the old man who raised him died at three, and the orphanage he lived in went bankrupt when he was ten. Later sent to other orphanages, until he reached adulthood, a total of thirteen orphanages he stayed in went bankrupt for various reasons.

Aside from that, something bad inevitably happened every time he went out.

According to his incomplete statistics, up until now, he had been scammed by old ladies eighty-five times, suffered car accidents thirty-six times, been targeted by thieves seventy-six times, fallen into sewers ten times, and been chased and bitten by dogs fifteen times. Being able to stumble and live until now was already a miracle in itself.

Comparatively speaking, today's events were nothing at all.

His purpose in coming here today was also to search for the legendary "Lucky Artifact".

He did not believe in this sort of thing, but the events he had experienced from childhood to adulthood forced him to believe that luck actually existed in this world, and what accompanied his entire life was bad luck! Therefore, ever since he understood things, he had browsed through all mythological biographies, searching for items that could turn one's luck around!

Good Luck Beads, Jade Carps, Four-Leaf Clovers...

He had tried every object representing luck, and all of them were completely useless!

His bad luck had never changed.

Until one day, he saw some written records in materials left behind by his late father—the Stone of Destiny, which legend said would change one's destiny upon possessing it.

His father was an archaeologist who had studied antiquities his entire life without unearthing anything of value, and instead ended up getting himself buried inside one. Regarding materials about the Stone of Destiny, he hadn't left behind much either. Over the years, Chen Feng had visited all sorts of strange places, yet the so-called Stone of Destiny had never been seen.

Did that thing really exist?

He was very skeptical.

His demands really weren't high; he just wanted to live like an ordinary person, and nothing more.

Yet...

Living?

No, simply staying alive was already very difficult. Every time he went out, he had to be one hundred thousand times vigilant, and with even the slightest relaxation, he could possibly die halfway!

To him, this world was a battlefield everywhere.

"Where on earth are you?"

Chen Feng sighed, unconcernedly taking alcohol out of his backpack to disinfect the wound, and wrapped gauze around his hand. As someone who got injured every single day, his backpack was a small medicine chest.

The sky had already dimmed.

The library was also about to close. Chen Feng prepared to leave, but his foot slipped, and he staggered, crashing into the bookshelf beside him as a stack of books came tumbling down with a clatter.

"Dammit."

Chen Feng cursed inwardly.

He just knew it wouldn't go this smoothly!

He looked at the place where he had fallen. There were some water stains on the ground. Raising his head, he saw that this place was in disrepair, and the roof was actually leaking.

"Really..."

Chen Feng smiled helplessly.

Bad luck was at work again.

Climbing up with a sore body, he was just about to leave when he suddenly froze. Among the pile of ancient books that had tumbled down, there was a particular book that caught his gaze.

The title of the book was—"Fortune".

"This thing..."

Chen Feng was somewhat curious. There were actually books about luck?

He carefully opened it. It extensively introduced all kinds of strange fortunes, from cosmic astrology to constellations. Chen Feng had seen quite a few of them in other books, and most of the content was utter nonsense; this book felt more like a pirated omnibus priced at twenty bucks a copy.

"I really overthought it."

Chen Feng gave a self-deprecating smile, then his expression suddenly stiffened.

Because on the brand new page he had turned to, a name strikingly appeared—the Stone of Destiny!

It didn't matter which ancient texts it had been pirated from, because the introduction about the Stone of Destiny here was unprecedentedly detailed.

Stone of Destiny: The legendary luck-turning artifact.

In legends, there existed a force surpassing ordinary power. It was invisible and intangible, yet it influenced everything. To this day, no one knew what kind of power it truly was, only that it might be related to luck, and the Stone of Destiny possessed the power to control it!

"It really exists!"

Chen Feng was so excited his mouth felt dry.

Following the introduction, he flipped to the next page, his eyes widening abruptly!

The picture appearing on this page was of the Stone of Destiny. It was also the first time Chen Feng truly saw what the Stone of Destiny looked like, and he was completely dumbfounded.

It was an object the size of a coin, with some strange patterns on it.

"This is the Stone of Destiny?"

Chen Feng's voice was somewhat trembling—not because of what the thing looked like, but because this thing... Chen Feng had trembling hands as he pulled open his collar, revealing the item hanging around his neck, which was precisely the Stone of Destiny mentioned in this book!

"How is this possible?"

Chen Feng was shocked.

The Stone of Destiny, he had been wearing it all along?

This item obtained by his father when he was excavating tombs back then, the gift his father gave him when he was born, and also the only memento his father left behind for him, was actually the Stone of Destiny? But if it was the Stone of Destiny, why was he still so unlucky?

Fake?

Or rather, was this a replica made by his father?

Suppressing this sudden shock, Chen Feng continued reading downward.

According to legend, the Stone of Destiny possessed extraordinary power, but wanting to use it was not easy. Before the Stone of Destiny was officially activated, it would continuously absorb the surrounding luck until it absorbed enough luck to be enabled. Therefore, without sufficient ability to activate it, possessing it might be a nightmare for you.

"Damn it!"

Chen Feng couldn't help uttering a foul word.

Absorbing surrounding luck?

His entire body turned ice-cold. He finally understood where his bad luck came from! This Stone of Destiny that his father had dug out from an ancient tomb had stripped away everything he had!

"This thing..."

Chen Feng instinctively wanted to pull it off, but couldn't budge it at all.

This was the only memento left by his father, as well as his only spiritual sustenance. He had never taken it off, yet today, when he wanted to take it off, he couldn't remove it at all!

"Can't it be removed by conventional means?"

Chen Feng calmed down and looked down again.

The Stone of Destiny could not be removed once worn. Only after activation could one control its power. If you inadvertently obtained it, then activate it.

Immediately following that, the back provided a method for activation.

Chen Feng looked it over; it wasn't too difficult. He just needed to lay out an array formation using his own blood, and then place the Stone of Destiny in the center.

"Just like this?"

Chen Feng frowned slightly.

He felt something was wrong, but the temptation to get rid of this damned bad luck was far too great for him. He dreamed of throwing these things away and living a life of his own!

"Let's try it."

Chen Feng tore off the gauze.

Blood trickled down his fingers, drawing a bizarre array formation on the wooden floor. Chen Feng's expression was unprecedentedly solemn as he crouched on the ground and placed the Stone of Destiny right in the middle of it.

Hum—

A trace of bizarre radiance flashed past.

Chen Feng's mind shook violently.

It worked!

The blood-condensed array formation transformed into a flashing red light, and the Stone of Destiny burst into an astonishing halo. Just as Chen Feng was thrilled, he saw a line of small characters reflecting within that red light: "When the Stone of Destiny is activated, it will absorb all surrounding luck to replenish the energy required to operate the Stone of Destiny."

Not good!

Chen Feng's expression changed drastically.

Absorbing all luck? This damned pirated book didn't write about this at all! The Stone of Destiny hadn't activated even after absorbing luck for twenty years; what would happen if it absorbed all luck in an instant?

He had no idea whatsoever!

Run!

Without any hesitation, Chen Feng turned and sprinted outward.

However, at that very instant, the entire library shook violently.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

An earthquake!

Chen Feng didn't even manage to escape before he was submerged by boulders filling the sky. Complete darkness fell before his eyes, and he lost consciousness. Amidst his haziness, he only remembered a dazzling flash of golden light from the Stone of Destiny around his neck.

At night.

A certain news channel.

"At six o'clock this afternoon, a minor earthquake occurred in our city, and the municipal library collapsed on the spot, causing one death. According to investigations by relevant departments, it may be related to shoddy construction..."

Darkness before his eyes.

Chaos in his consciousness.

A long time passed.

Chen Feng's consciousness returned, and he slowly opened his eyes. The blurry world became clear, yet it remained pitch black, and a strange fishy stench filled the vicinity.

"Where is this?"

Chen Feng looked around with some doubt.

The surroundings were shrouded in darkness, and the faint glow flashing on his wrist allowed him only to see that this was a cave; beyond that, farther away, there was only darkness.

"Strange, didn't I die?"

Chen Feng was shocked.

Looking at the faintly glowing wristband on his wrist, and then feeling memories that completely did not belong to him, he suddenly understood.

He had time-traveled!

He had previously looked up all kinds of mythological biographies and naturally read quite a few novels as well. Recalling the golden light just before his death, Chen Feng understood somewhat: the Stone of Destiny had absorbed all the luck and triggered an earthquake, but the successfully activated Stone of Destiny had allowed him to survive a narrow escape and travel through time to this place!

"I survived!"

Chen Feng was excited.

Of course he was excited, because that damned bad luck had finally vanished! However, what kind of world was this exactly? Right at that moment, the original owner's memories all surged forth.

Chen Feng reviewed the memories and immediately found himself in utter awe.

This world was somewhat similar to Earth, yet vastly different. After making major breakthroughs in genetic research, the entire world entered the Gene Era. Human beings could not only develop their own potential, but also undergo genetic fusion with genetically mutated beasts, allowing almost everyone to possess a Gene Ability!

Some people used these abilities to work, becoming industry elites. Meanwhile, others possessed super-strong combat power after fusing genes, and were referred to as Gene Warriors.

The world changed because of this.

The emergence of Gene Abilities allowed the entire world to enter a state of high-speed development.

Moreover.

Unlike Earth, where resources were nearing exhaustion and forced humanity to search for outer-space planets, this continent, this planet, was humanity's greatest asset! This world possessed its own moon and sun; this was a place with an extremely high degree of similarity to Earth, except for its volume! The volume of this planet was countless times that of Earth! The continental landmass was vast and boundless, surpassing Earth's area by over ten thousand times!

This world did not lack resources!

Because up until the present moment, the development progress of the continent was only 18%!

Even though human technological standards could already easily travel to extraterrestrial planets, many places on this planet still left humanity too terrified to set foot there!

For instance—the ice sheet of the Land of the Far North!

Legend had it that the place was affected by some special ability, causing time to come to a near standstill; those who stepped inside would never be able to walk out alive! The Gene Guild had once dispatched a squad of Gene Warriors there, but never received any news from them again.

For instance—the volcano at the Summit of Burning Heavens!

Legend had it that an ancient mutated beast slumbered there, having once drunk a river dry in a single gulp, and ever since then, that place had become a forbidden ground for humanity.

Similar places were everywhere.

This was a dangerous world, and also a magical world!

Flowing light and vibrant colors flashed through Chen Feng's eyes.

This world was even more magnificent than he had imagined!

Furthermore...

This was merely a part of it.

According to the original owner's memories, the marvels of the Gene Era spawned many astonishing technological devices.

Some people continuously fused genes to possess ultra-high combat power, while others evolved magical Gene Abilities through constant gene fusion.

For instance—Luo Yuan, the founder of Storm Technology, the world's largest tech company.

His ability was datafication; holders could release some mysterious abilities to check their own genetic state and mental state, and even judge the moves they had mastered based on muscle memory. Because his gene was non-combat-oriented, he had been looked down upon by countless people.

However, after years of experimentation, Luo Yuan extracted those arcane and mysterious energies, manufactured them into a wristband that everyone could wear, and created a generation of legends!

As long as you activated the wristband, you could detect your own condition.

Therefore.

To this day, this world was not only a Gene Era, but also a Data Era!