An Owl's Letter Shattered the Dream of Becoming Rich

This was a cramped, dimly lit room in rather poor condition. Judging by the peeling, pockmarked walls, it had probably last been maintained over a decade ago.

The four old wooden beds and the table beside them were much the same, polished smooth with age—anyone who took one look would feel the weight of time.

This was a room on the second floor of St. Mary's Orphanage, located in Camden, London.

St. Mary's Orphanage had been around for nearly two hundred years.

Its name made it clear that it had originally belonged to a church.

But these days, churches were not doing particularly well either, leaving the orphanage desperately short of funds.

After looking around, Ted examined his tender, pale little hands and confirmed that he had transmigrated—and that his soul had taken over someone else's body.

The date was June 30, 1991. He was in an orphanage in London, an orphan, eleven years old.

What he could be sure of was that he had a cheat, because there seemed to be a ball of golden light in his mind. As long as he focused, he could receive information—System initializing...

His current name was Ted Epiphany.

Ted contained the meaning of a supreme gift.

Epiphany referred to the Feast of the Epiphany, and also meant a sudden realization.

The reason the Matron had given Ted this name was that on the night of January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany, she had dreamed that someone spoke to her.

She could not remember the details of the dream, but when she woke and opened the door to check, she found the newborn Ted swaddled at the orphanage entrance.

The Feast of the Epiphany was also called the "Festival of Manifestation." It came from the Greek word epiphaneia, literally meaning "manifestation" or "being made known," referring to "the three times Jesus revealed his divinity to the world." It held an important place in Christianity.

So the Matron believed it was an auspicious sign, adopted him, and named him Ted Epiphany.

It roughly meant "the holy gift of the Epiphany."

"Ahaha, I transmigrated~ What a wonderful thing~" Ted leaned against the wall at the head of his bed, hands tucked behind his head, cheerfully poking fun at himself.

St. Mary's Orphanage was not in very good financial shape, or to put it bluntly, it was only a few steps away from shutting down.

Religion had declined by now. Since the Declaration of the Rights of Man in 1789, religion had become secularized.

After more than two hundred years, churches were still everywhere, but they were a far cry from what they had once been.

In another ten or twenty years, if a priest wanted to make the news, he could only do so alongside a Little Boy.

So while he would not starve at the orphanage, balanced nutrition was a bit of a joke.

Ted felt around his ribs. Every single one stood out clearly.

It was not as if he had much reason to complain. Having another chance to live, what was there to complain about?

Still, his current situation needed improving somehow. Malnutrition would keep him from growing tall.

He needed to find a way to make some money. Not much—just enough to improve the food.

"Tch, not easy." Ted pondered for several minutes and realized the situation was not promising.

In his current condition, he could not do physical labor, and no one wanted child laborers.

He could not exactly beg, could he? Eh... there were no resources he could use... Resources? What did he have? He suddenly remembered something and turned toward the corner. There were some miscellaneous little trinkets and personal belongings there, along with an old guitar whose paint had long worn away! This guitar was practically an elder of the orphanage. It had probably been given to an orphan by a kind couple seven or eight years ago.

Before that orphan was adopted, he gave the guitar to a younger orphan.

When that orphan was adopted, he gave it to Ted's roommate. But Ted's roommates had all been fortunate enough to get adopted as well, and in the end, they left the guitar to Ted.

A guitar passed through six or seven pairs of hands—it was practically an orphanage heirloom! There were four wooden beds in this little room, yet all three of his roommates had been adopted, leaving only him.

Ted picked up a small round mirror and looked himself over. The child had fair skin, delicate features, bright eyes like painted lacquer, and was undeniably adorable.

That did not make sense!

Oh, he understood now.

Black hair, black eyes, yellow skin—Asian, or more specifically, Chinese.

Well, Koreans, Japanese, Southeast Asians, and Chinese still looked quite different. At least Ted could tell.

"Fine, no point hoping to get adopted. I'll have to rely on myself and build something from scratch!"

The older he got, the less likely adoption would become.

Ted picked up the guitar and strummed the strings to test the sound. It would do.

After tuning it, he tried playing.

Honestly, the Old Guitar was a little too large for his eleven-year-old body. He was not much taller than the guitar itself.

But having one was better than nothing. Busking was better than begging.

The next day, the cheat still had not changed.

Ted found an old map of the district and, recalling his limited experience going outside, began considering where to busk.

Too far would not work. His little body could not walk that far.

Safety came first. He could not go somewhere too chaotic. It would be terrible if, instead of improving the food, he got kidnapped and sold.

There also had to be plenty of foot traffic, preferably somewhere leisurely. Places with too few people, or where passersby hurried along to handle their business, were not good choices.

Fortunately, Camden, where he lived, had the famous Camden Market. He could pick a spot off to the side and sing while playing.

He hoped the lords and ladies of London would be kind-hearted.

But not too kind-hearted. They could not bear to see poor people~ It took twenty minutes to persuade the Matron. After all, it was nearby—a little over ten minutes on foot—and the public safety was fairly good.

With the orphanage in its current state, she was only moved that Ted wanted to help contribute to household expenses.

On the first day, the Matron accompanied Ted. He played and sang for over three hours before his throat could not take it anymore and he packed up.

He earned 4 Pound Sterling and 35 pence.

That was probably enough for two or three KFC meals these days.

After all, an eleven-year-old boy singing and playing on the street was quite eye-catching.

Thanks to his previous life, Ted was decent at both singing and playing. Most children also had fairly good voices.

And Ted was familiar with many classic European and American songs.

So quite a few kind madams and ladies offered their help.

Praise them~ May they all give birth to Twins!

On the way back, Ted and the Matron bought lots of cheap fruit and vegetables.

The Matron was overjoyed. "Little Ted, I never expected it, never expected... This lets me rest much easier too."

She had not expected Ted to have such a skill. At least when he left the orphanage in a few years, he would have a way to earn a living.

The Matron and four or five others had to care for dozens of children, from one- or two-year-olds to teenagers. Even though she paid Ted more attention than most, she could only make sure he had enough to eat and was not bullied.

If one asked whether she knew Ted could sing and play, she only knew that Ted liked fiddling with that Old Guitar. As for who had taught him, she had no idea, and it was not important.

Several days passed, and Ted had grown familiar with the routine. The Matron was reassured and no longer needed to follow him every day.

Over the past two days, Ted had found some old newspapers and magazines and roughly confirmed the situation.

Good. There were no signs of history having changed.

The dates of World War I and World War II, as well as certain major events, had not changed.

In other words, he had been reborn in London, with a cheat system that had been stuck rebooting—the startup speed lagged behind 100% of users nationwide.

Even without this cheat, he could not go wrong in the future with his knowledge of what was to come! Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Tesla... Woohoo, he was taking off! "Hahaha, I'll become a Monopoly tycoon someday and achieve financial freedom while lying on piles of cash~"

Ted picked up another old newspaper from last year and began browsing through it.

There was no useful information, but in the corner of the fourth page, he spotted an urban legend.

It said several drunks had seen a horned half-man, half-goat monster in the wilderness outside the city?! See? Even major newspapers needed sales.

They might as well claim there were succubi outside London. The sales would definitely go through the roof.

The headlines could be:

"Shocking! This gorgeous monster was found outside London?!"

"Why were grown men left weak in the knees after sobering up?!"

"Warning! If your kidneys are weak, do not go to the outskirts!"

Instant bestseller~ For several days in a row, Ted's earnings remained fairly good. He used most of them to buy groceries for the orphanage and kept a little as pocket money.

Then, on July 7, Ted returned from packing up at the market. Before he even had time to catch his breath in his room, before he could take the guitar off his back, he heard someone knocking on the window.

Ted froze in fright. This is the second floor!

Looking closely, he saw an Owl outside the window.

It had an envelope in its beak and was peering curiously at him!

Ted took a deep breath and carefully opened the window.

The Owl hopped inside and dropped the letter onto the windowsill.

Ted cautiously reached out. Seeing that it had no intention of biting him, he picked up the letter and looked at it—the envelope was heavy Parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink:

"Mr. Ted Epiphany, St. Mary's Orphanage, Camden, London."

There was no stamp.

He turned it over. A red wax seal covered the flap, stamped with a crest: a shield bearing a capital "H," surrounded by a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake.

Looking at the letter in his hand, Ted knew that his dream of becoming rich had probably been shattered.

But that was all right, because a dream of becoming a wizard had arrived! Dear friends, a new journey had begun once more~ Woohoo, takeoff~