Astral Body

Li Feng couldn't remember how he got out of the car or how he returned home. All he knew was that Stark Industries really existed in this world.

Slumped on the bedroom sofa, Li Feng stared blankly at the Captain America poster on the wall.

If Li Feng had come to an Otherworld that just happened to have a company called Stark Industries, he could still understand that. But this world had both Tony and Captain America. There was no need to say anything more, was there? This was definitely the Marvel Universe—the dangerous world where Purple Chin could wipe out half of all life with a snap of his fingers.

Li Feng's mind was a mess. In his original world, he had a loving wife and a child who had just begun to babble.

Honestly, if he had a choice, he would rather pay someone to take this chance to transmigrate off his hands. He wasn't Long Aotian, nor did he have cheats or a system. Without any golden finger, he neither could nor dared to play the hero in the Marvel Universe.

He was just an utterly ordinary person. Right now, all he wanted was to return to his original world and hear his child call him "Dad."

After a long while, Li Feng returned to his room with a bitter smile, intending to pack his bags and return home.

He had no choice. Compared to New York, where danger came wave after wave, he felt that as an ordinary person, he would be much safer in his homeland. Besides, with his knowledge of future developments, he figured he could get into real estate.

Even if he couldn't become a property tycoon, he could at least become a landlord and never worry about food or clothing for the rest of his life. Maybe he could even find his wife from his previous life and renew their old bond.

Tony still had several years before becoming Iron Man, so there were nearly twenty years until Purple Chin snapped his fingers. Even if I died, it wouldn't matter. The superheroes would bring me back to life five years later anyway. I could just treat those five years as an extended vacation.

While planning what to do after returning home, Li Feng entered this body's parents' room. He wanted to see whether there was anything valuable left that he could sell as startup capital for investments back home.

To raise as much money as possible, Li Feng searched with extreme care, afraid that his lack of the previous owner's memories would cause him to overlook something like a safe.

And he really did find something good behind the desk in his parents' study—something good enough to change his plans to return home.

A Sling Ring, a notebook of spells written in Chinese, and a diary that thoroughly explained the principles behind those spells?

When Li Feng found the Sling Ring and immediately recognized what it was, he was still a little stunned. He could hardly believe that one of this body's parents had been a Mage.

Though in Li Feng's eyes, the Mages of the Marvel Universe were really just Monks who used Mana.

Could someone who couldn't even conjure a Fireball call himself a Mage?

Even Gandalf, that melee Mage, had put all his skill points into constitution, but at least he had learned a lighting spell to blind his opponents.

What about you people? Other than Ancient One, that overpowered cheat who had lived for who knew how many years and absorbed power from the Dark Dimension, who could throw the spells in their hands from a distance? Among the rest of the Mages, aside from Portals, what other spell could be cast away from the body?

What about Fireball Spell, the signature spell of Mages? Apart from a few big shots, which of the other Mages could use it? Magic shields in their hands, air blades in their hands—their fighting style reeked of close combat. Were you trying to carry forward the melee spirit of High Inquisitor Gandalf?

Complaints aside, Li Feng grinned as he put the Sling Ring on his right hand. He clearly remembered Mordo saying in the movie, "Mastery of the Sling Ring is vital to spellcasting. It allows us to travel freely between universes."

Although in the movie, Li Feng had only seen Mages use Portals as transportation while traveling around Earth, never to move between universes, it was still a supernatural artifact. Should I go to Kamar-Taj in Kathmandu and find Master Ancient One? Since one of my parents was a Mage, maybe Ancient One would accept me as her disciple.

After putting on the Sling Ring, Li Feng sat at the desk and opened the diary his parents had left behind.

After a long while, Li Feng felt a headache coming on. The diary did belong to his parents, but its true author was his grandfather. It also explained that, due to poor aptitude, the previous owner's grandfather had only learned three spells and ultimately died of old age with regrets.

As for his parents, although his grandfather had taught them a little, their aptitude was even worse than his. Naturally, they had given up learning spells.

Li Feng felt helpless. Although he desperately wanted to become a powerful Mage, according to his grandfather's diary, Li Feng had also received his grandfather's teachings when he was young. As for his aptitude, it was only slightly better than his father's, and still worse than his grandfather's.

In his grandfather's words, it would already be pretty good if he could learn two spells in this lifetime.

Li Feng rubbed his forehead and thought for a while before deciding to try cultivating for a time anyway. After all, the body was still the same body, but the soul had changed. Maybe his aptitude was actually good now.

Closing the diary that recorded his grandfather's arduous journey of learning spells, Li Feng opened the spell notebook.

The notebook recorded the three spells his grandfather knew.

A Portal that could teleport ten meters away, a Mirror Dimension capable of imprisoning something the size of half a mouse, and an Astral Projection spell that lasted only seconds.

From the diary, Li Feng had already learned how important the Astral Body was to spell cultivation.

For a Mage to successfully cast a spell, not only did they need to concentrate, they also needed to draw upon Mana.

Ordinary people had Mana or energy in their bodies, but it was so weak that they could not sense it at all. The Astral Body was different. It could not only strengthen one's ability to sense Mana, but also allow a Mage to draw energy from various universes.

It could be said that Astral Projection was an essential skill for a Mage to become powerful.

Li Feng lowered his head and carefully read the cultivation method for the Astral Body word by word. His future was at stake; there was no such thing as being too careful.

After a long while, as Li Feng attempted to practice Astral Projection, he felt a strange sense of familiarity. It was probably the body's instinctive memory from the previous owner's past practice.

It was truly strange. Other transmigrators got all kinds of cheats, but when it came to him, not only did he have no cheat, he did not even have the previous owner's memories.

Fortunately, his grandfather's notes were written in Chinese. Otherwise, he might have missed his chance to become a Mage. He was a terrible student, after all. There was no way he would put in the effort to translate an English version of the notes.

A while later, a transparent Astral Body rose from the chair.

Before Li Feng could cheer three times in celebration at succeeding in Astral Projection on his first try, he stared in confusion at his Little Belly and at the physical body sitting motionless in the chair.

The physical body was still the same body, but Li Feng's Astral Body did not look like it. His Little Belly had already told him that his Astral Body had the appearance of Li Feng from his previous life.

In his Astral Body, Li Feng also sensed that his connection to his physical body was slowly breaking. If his Astral Body did not return before that connection was severed, he would completely lose his body and become a wandering ghost—one stranded in a foreign land.

Li Feng did not dare think any further. He hurriedly made his Astral Body return to his physical body, then lowered his pale face and read the knowledge concerning Astral Bodies, hoping to find some clue that could resolve his current doubts.

At the same time, he gave up on going to Kamar-Taj. With his Astral Body and physical body so mismatched, it would be strange if Ancient One, who spent her life defending against invasions from Otherworlds, did not grab him by the throat and ask what species he was.

Li Feng found no clues in the spell notebook, but he did find records about Astral Bodies in the diary.

The Astral Body was a projection of the soul. Whatever the soul looked like, the Astral Body naturally looked the same. Furthermore, the physical body and soul were closely connected and influenced each other. In other words, the soul's appearance influenced the physical body's appearance, and the reverse was also true.

Li Feng repeatedly pondered the words "closely connected" and "influenced each other," then suddenly understood something. My soul belongs to a middle-aged man with a Little Belly, completely unlike this physical body. That's why my connection to this body is still so weak, and why my reactions were so slow when I woke up in the hospital.

After these past few days of recovery, my reactions are still slow, but they're within the normal range. So the physical body and soul are gradually strengthening their connection through their mutual influence?

By that logic, after some time, my soul will also become youthful, and then my Astral Body won't lose its connection to the physical body as soon as it leaves it.

But it won't make the physical body age faster, will it? After all, my soul is influencing the body too. Probably not. Compared with a physical body, something like a soul, which seems to be energy, should be easier to change.

Thinking of this, Li Feng scratched his head and decided that until his soul had completely fused with his physical body, he had better not use Astral Projection.

Opening the spell notebook and looking at the section on basic cultivation, Li Feng once again studied it word by word. As the old saying went, without a solid foundation, how could one build a towering structure?

As Li Feng carefully studied, he failed to notice that shortly after his Astral Projection, a Black Mage in robes sensed the fluctuation of a spell. He hurried to Li Feng's residence and, after glancing at Li Feng from afar, breathed a sigh of relief.

The Mage knew that Li Feng was Old Li's grandson and that he had practiced for a time as a child, only to be forced to give up because his aptitude was too poor.

The Mage smiled and muttered, "I rushed over as soon as I got the alert, and it turned out to be this little brat causing trouble."

The Mage shook his head and turned to leave. "As long as it isn't an Otherworld creature invading, it's fine. If the little brat is interested in spells, let him be interested. Without a mentor to teach him, his future... heh."

At this moment, Li Feng, who was repeatedly studying the basics, also realized what mistake he had made.

The Three Sanctums on Earth were no pushovers. They monitored Mana fluctuations across the entire world...

Realizing this, Li Feng stood up to close the window, but his delayed reaction struck again. Damn it, I only used Astral Projection for a few seconds. Why is my connection lagging again? Am I even allowed to play games anymore?

Several days later, Li Feng had sold everything he could. He had no choice. What work could he do with a body that kept lagging?

Without work, he had no source of income. What would he use to practice spells?

Most importantly, he could not even speak a sentence of English. What job could he find? If he did not sell the family property, was he supposed to live on air? Even a Mage could not fill his stomach just by breathing air, and besides, he was not even a Mage yet.

In New York, where else could Li Feng, someone who did not know English, survive?

After thinking for a few seconds, Li Feng took all his belongings and rented a small single room in Chinatown. He had no choice; until he had a source of income, he needed to spend sparingly.

And he stayed there for two years.

Over those two years, Li Feng did odd jobs during the day to earn some pocket money and learn English. At night, after returning to his small room, he studied the basics of spells and meditated constantly, preparing to speed up his progress when he formally began practicing spells in the future.