An Apparently Upgraded Ability

The two of them were traveling by carriage at a brisk pace. Li Ke had no desire to run into the Noxian assassination squad behind them, so he kept speeding up, then speeding up some more.

After all, as the saying went, when a carriage was going downhill, someone always had to step on the gas.

"So this is why you drove our carriage into a rock?"

Shen's eye twitched as he looked at the carriage wedged against the rock. It was still usable, but if they didn't get it repaired in the next town, it was bound to fall apart.

"It couldn't be helped. I'm just a weak and helpless, second-rate swordsman, after all. It's only natural that I'd worry about being hunted by Noxians, right?"

Li Ke scratched his head sheepishly. His carriage-driving skills were actually pretty mediocre; he'd already been performing above his usual level earlier. Now that they weren't in such a hurry, he'd naturally crashed.

"Forget it. The next village is close. I'll drive from here..."

Shen didn't want to say anything. He just felt exhausted.

When he first met Li Ke, he'd thought he was a man with a sense of propriety. After getting to know him a little, he'd found him to be a man of grace and wit.

Then, after spending more time with him, he'd discovered that Li Ke was a man with the world in his heart, a chivalrous hero who roamed the land, and a ruler in the making!

But once they'd gotten familiar...

This guy's an idiot! A moron, a complete bastard!

He cursed Li Ke in his mind with the insults he'd learned from him, and felt much better. The feeling that his worldview was being overturned again and again finally faded.

It couldn't be helped. Li Ke had been messing with his head for days. Three days ago, he'd been a disciple of the Balance Order who strictly followed its precepts, avoided alcohol and meat while on a mission, and upheld the principles of secrecy and balance between the spirit and material realms.

Now...

Shen picked up a meat bun and sighed helplessly.

Li Ke had led him astray.

On the surface, he still seemed like the same disciple of the Balance Order he'd always been, but his beliefs were now in conflict. The Balance Code, which he'd once considered the ultimate truth, now seemed stupid no matter how he looked at it.

It was all because of the Ionia Five-Year Plan Li Ke had given him.

It was so detailed, so perfectly suited to his own thinking!

It was as if he'd written it himself after extensive research and investigation!

How could there be someone in this world who understood him so well?!

It was unbelievable!

"Sorry, sorry. I really didn't mean to."

Li Ke yawned as he spoke. It really had been his fault. He'd lost focus because he was so exhausted, and that was why he'd driven the carriage into the rock. But he was so handsome—how could he show weakness in front of Shen, who wasn't nearly as handsome?

So of course it was because his driving skills were bad, not because he'd stayed up all night and couldn't match Shen's stamina!

His kidneys were way better than Shen's! So there was no question of him being too worn out to stay awake!

He could pee farther than Shen, too!

He'd even tested it!

"I get the feeling you're thinking something very disrespectful, but never mind. Get some rest."

Shen felt a subtle irritation. He didn't know why, but looking at Li Ke's smug expression, he could tell that the bastard was mouthing off about him again in his head.

He turned away, feeling dejected.

In just three days, he'd learned so many insults from Li Ke—and he was using them quite naturally in his own thoughts...

What did that even mean?

Could he still call himself the Balance Order's foremost disciple?!

At last, Li Ke could rest for a while. Lying in the carriage, which was nearly falling apart from the impact, he planned to close his eyes and take a nap. He figured that after pushing himself to drive like that, the Noxian assassins shouldn't be able to catch up.

This time, he'd made sure not to let a single person escape. He'd killed them all. If the Noxians could still find them after that, would they have satellite tracking and some kind of all-seeing eye system?

With that thought, Li Ke closed his eyes.

But the instant his consciousness began to fade, he sensed something was wrong.

His ability...

Had grown stronger.

The power of the Void had suddenly surged, and a pull identical to the one he felt when he activated the simulation appeared in his soul.

"What's going on?"

Li Ke was astonished and asked himself the question without thinking.

In an instant, an image of Shen looking at the Ionia Five-Year Plan appeared before him. At the same time, some distorted, blurry "system text" appeared alongside the image.

"Change fate."

Was my ability changing because I'd altered someone else's fate?!

As soon as the thought arose in Li Ke's mind, the Void swallowed his consciousness, plunging him into darkness.

In the darkness, Li Ke felt himself drifting through countless rivers. In a daze, he seemed to arrive in a strange world.

Everyone in this world had their own vegetable garden. The gardens were magical: they yielded crops every few hours, though the more valuable the crop, the longer it took to grow.

So, to make more money, Li Ke kept planting flowers, buying land, and purchasing all kinds of fertilizer.

Finally, after a great deal of effort, he had four plots of land.

But then a problem arose. Since nobody had security cameras, everyone stole vegetables from one another. Li Ke bought a dog, but the dog ended up greeting the vegetable thieves instead.

So Li Ke, after much reflection, decided he couldn't just sit there and do nothing. He had to take the initiative. He left his own land uncultivated and rented a truck to steal vegetables instead.

And then, then he got rich by stealing vegetables with a truck. He cooked the dog, took his vegetables, and lorded it over the whole village.

And then...

Then he woke up.

But suddenly, his mind was filled with all kinds of farming know-how, and in his hand...

"A corn cob?"

Li Ke stared at the corn cob in his hand, a string of question marks over his head. If he remembered correctly, this was the thing he'd just dreamed about: a type of corn that ripened in just a dozen hours.

But how had it ended up in his hand?!

"Wait..."

Li Ke abruptly sat up in the carriage, startling Shen so badly that he nearly jumped out. Shen looked at Li Ke and the corn cob in his hand, a look of disapproval on his face.

"I think farmers already have it hard enough. You don't need to steal their corn, too, do you? Even if you paid a little, it wouldn't be shameful."

Li Ke replied without thinking.

"Shameful? Damn right it's shameful! I, Li Ke, lord it over the whole village! Since when do I have to pay for corn? Besides, corn tastes better when you steal it!"

"Huh?"

Shen looked utterly baffled, while Li Ke couldn't help covering his face.

That memory of lording it over the village was from his dream. In the area around the Wind-Riding Dojo, he'd always behaved himself.

"Slip of the tongue, slip of the tongue."