Family, Korhal, World

After the family dinner, Augustus excused himself, claiming he needed to rest early, and returned to his room from the dining hall.

Within the sprawling estate of the Mengsk family, built upon a cliffside, were hundreds of sumptuously decorated rooms. Corridors with mahogany floors and staircases carpeted with expensive rugs connected the various halls and levels, maintained daily by a staff of servants and gardeners who outnumbered the rooms themselves.

Augustus navigated the corridors, guided by his memory of the gilded portraits of Mengsk ancestors adorning the walls. He ascended a staircase of cherry wood to the floor containing bedrooms and a library, finally stopping before a door marked with a brass plate bearing the English letters "Au" fastened with golden rivets.

Beneath the brass plate was a recruitment poster for the Terran Confederacy Marine Corps. The poster's background depicted the cratered surface of a moon, with the inky blackness of deep space above. Several handsome and beautiful Confederacy officers, like stars, stood on a high, sandy dune, their faces fixed in a uniform, brilliant smile as they gathered together, each extending a hand to grasp a fluttering flag.

A false and ridiculous show, a composite image that was ten thousand times less real than this.

--This was the original Augustus's assessment of the poster. Yet, despite this, he had still affixed it to his door, merely to prove his resolve to join the military to his father.

Adjacent to Augustus's room were the bedrooms of Arcturus and Dorothy. The former's door bore only a similar brass plate with the English letters "AR," while hers was adorned with a drawing of an abstract purple pony. None of the doors had handles or keyholes; where a handle would normally be, there was a square indentation, about two inches on each side and one inch deep.

Standing at the doorway, Augustus recalled for a moment before inserting his right index finger into the indentation. The nameplate immediately flipped over, and a small, circular camera emerged from the door, projecting a holographic screen with a soft blue background before him.

The screen flickered with the following text: Facial recognition complete. Fingerprint recognition complete. Iris recognition complete. Genetic recognition complete. Record uploaded, 24-hour genetic database refresh, unlocking, time: March 25, 2488, 22:37.

This was the world of StarCraft, a future world in the 25th century. A modern person arriving here might have no advantage whatsoever.

Augustus pushed open the automatically unlocked door and entered his bedroom. He switched on the wall-mounted lamp hanging from the ceiling, and the soft white light filtered through the intricately carved white floral patterns of the perforated ceiling, immediately illuminating the entire room. The furnishings were not extravagant. Opposite the door, a window with a bronze frame and lattice panes looked out onto the vast grounds of the holiday villa. Through the glass, one could see the lush, verdant gardens and orchards bathed in the light.

These ever-green plants were vibrant and exuded a rich fragrance. Narrow, gravel paths divided the verdant landscape, leading to the buildings where the servants and guards resided. Beyond the fence, a wider, straighter asphalt road led directly to the landing pad where cool-gray orbital shuttles were docked and to the underground garage filled with various hovercars and armored vehicles.

The other two walls each held a single bed and bookshelves filled with books. Beside the bookshelves hung a selection of firearms, including antique muzzle-loaders, semi-automatic weapons from the colonial era, and the latest electromagnetic guns.

The original Augustus had been very fond of firearms, not just for collecting; he was also proficient in their use. This was one of the reasons Augustus wanted to join the military. If his brother Arcturus aspired to be an explorer, then Augustus's dream was to become a general who commanded the galaxy.

Augustus lay on the bed, beginning to contemplate everything he would face in the future.

"Augustus Mengsk" did not exist in the original story. The Angus family originally had only one son and one daughter, no second son. Rather than saying he replaced Augustus, it was more accurate to say this character came into being because of his transmigration.

The status of nobility at least offered Augustus some advantages. In the brutal worldview of StarCraft, transmigrating at this point in time with this identity was not the worst possible scenario.

Since the eldest son of the Mengsk family, Arcturus, had already joined the Federal Marine Corps and had not returned to Korhal for over eight years, Augustus's parents had many disagreements regarding the education of their only remaining son.

Angus did not wish for both his sons to join the military, so Augustus ultimately could not complete his studies at Stirling Military Academy and had to transfer to a university funded by the family. After Augustus enlisted without his parents' knowledge, he could only start as a raw recruit.

The Terran Confederacy operated under a voluntary enlistment system and did not forcibly conscript from all strata of society. However, after signing up and passing a series of enlistment tests, refusing military service would be considered desertion. As the number of recruits dwindled, this regulation was only written into federal law in the last two years.

The good news was that it was now 2488, and there were still over a decade before humanity's first contact with the other two alien races in the StarCraft universe, the Protoss and the Zerg. Augustus would not encounter any incredible monsters or ghosts for the time being.

Barring any butterfly effect from his transmigration causing humanity's first contact with alien species to occur earlier, Augustus would not encounter the Zerg or the Protoss until after he fulfilled his military service contract and successfully retired. Furthermore, his brother Arcturus was currently a colonel in the Confederacy military, and in the email he sent last week, he stated directly that Augustus would be transferred to his unit after the completion of basic training.

Augustus sighed and stood up, walking to a full-length mirror, facing his post-transmigration appearance for the first time.

The mirror reflected Augustus's handsome face, a testament to his lineage, which carried the noblest and most ancient bloodline of the Terran humans.

Like all the men of the Mengsk family, Augustus was very handsome, with high cheekbones, a nose with an almost aquiline curve, and a pair of bright, sharp, cold-gray eyes. His tousled, dark-gray short hair was neatly styled.

Average, ordinary, passable.

"Mengsk," Augustus softly murmured the ancient and noble surname. In the factories, affiliated cities, and towns established by the Mengsk family on Korhal, they were like true royalty.

Yet, Augustus remembered clearly that in the game's lore, because his father Angus had deliberately rebelled and sought to lead Korhal to overthrow the Terran Confederacy's rule, all members of the Mengsk family except the eldest son Arcturus were later assassinated by three Terran Confederacy Ghost operatives.

As for the specific time, Augustus was unclear.

Would he have the ability to prevent that tragedy when the time came?

Of course, as a transmigrator, Augustus had reason not to concern himself with these matters, to stay far away.

"Knock knock--"

At that moment, Augustus suddenly heard the doorbell ring. The information processor behind the door indicated that the person outside was his sister, Dorothy. Augustus hesitated for a moment, then walked over and opened the fingerprint lock on the door.

A girl with a silver-gray ponytail walked in. She wore a light purple home dress, and her bright, cold-gray eyes blinked. Her expression was so helpless, and her sad eyes instantly clutched at Augustus's heart.

In an instant, many memories flashed through Augustus's mind like an electric current. Compared to the eldest son of the family, Arcturus, who was already twenty-eight, the age gap between him and his sister was not large. Augustus had spent a happy childhood with Dorothy, watching her grow from a little tot dragging a stuffed pony to a graceful young lady.

"Augustus..." Dorothy walked towards Augustus with her head lowered, then suddenly headbutted his stomach.

"They said you might die."

"I promise you, I will never die," Augustus said.

"From now on, you have to write me a letter every week," Dorothy said, lifting her head. A misty haze veiled her beautiful, cold-gray eyes.

Augustus could find no reason to refuse his sister.

"Okay."

He said.

Welcome to invest!