Kouryuu Calendar, 412.
The point in time when Rudeus was promoted to a Water Saint-ranked Mage, and the second year since Lokkishi had settled in Buena Village as Rudeus's tutor.
The southern foothills of the Red Dragon Mountain Range, north of the Fittoa Region.
In the night, the deep forest lay in vague shadows beneath the moonlight. Mountain winds blew down from the dark ridges of the Red Dragon Mountain Range, slipped through gaps between the branches, and swept through the orange firelight in the woods, brushing across a somewhat youthful face.
The campfire's flames reflected in his dark gray eyes, flickering restlessly.
The charred stick suddenly snapped with a crisp crack. Its owner blinked, then lowered his head to look at the map of the Asura Kingdom in his hands.
—At the center of his vision, a circle had been drawn in vermilion ink around the northern edge of the Fittoa Region. Four Chinese characters were written within it.
Buena Village.
The map's owner rested his cheek on one hand. He looked young, yet his expression was steady. Sharp, upturned brows gave his face a trace of resolve.
"In about another day's walk, I'll be able to see Rudy."
Allen, a transmigrator.
Before dying and coming to this other world, he had been working overtime, conducting road-condition tests for the autonomous driving system of an internet car company. Since he had participated in every stage of the previous rounds of development and testing, Allen had been very confident in his company's driving system's safety.
So he took out his phone, slacked off, and continued reading Mushoku Tensei—the Snake's Foot Arc.
Perhaps sensing his love for reincarnation from his tightly furrowed brow, the driving system had been extremely considerate toward its overworked employee.
The speedometer needle suddenly shot up, breaking one hundred kilometers per hour in three seconds, before executing a stylish drift into a turn!
Straight into a heavy freight truck that had long been waiting in the roadside blind spot!
By the time someone found him, his phone was embedded in Allen's forehead. His eyes were wide open, and he had not gone peacefully.
He was twenty-five years old.
He had reincarnated into the Jobless World as an infant, and nine years had passed in this world so far.
Coincidentally, this world's name was the same as in his previous life.
Of course, not in Chinese. It was a homophone in the Jobless Reincarnation world's "Human Tongue." Thanks to its inverted sentence structure being similar to Chinese, and because he had not been hindered by his native language, Allen had mastered it quickly.
He pinched his temple, looking rather helpless.
"What a shame. I was only four when Rudy was born, so I couldn't travel all the way to Buena Village and take part in the first major event of the main Jobless Reincarnation story."
As soon as he finished speaking, lines of text like smoke and dust materialized in the air before his face. After testing it many times, Allen had confirmed that this writing did not appear on his retina. It was an illusory hallucination directly observed by his soul, leaving no trace visible to others.
Jobless Reincarnation Transmigration Guide.
The host must participate in the "major events" of the Jobless Reincarnation world, leaving behind a mark of your own amid the tide of the Jobless era and within the eyes of the protagonist and supporting characters.
Based on Rudeus's main-story growth path—childhood, Tutoring Period, adolescence, and adulthood—you must obtain a participation score of sixty out of one hundred in every stage to reach the passing line. Failure to do so by the deadline will result in the loss of host eligibility for the Transmigration Guide. The consequences are unknown, but you will most likely be erased from existence by temporal-spatial rejection.
Allen looked at the system panel, and the corner of his mouth twitched.
When he realized he had transmigrated and become an infant, he had been thrilled. Although he had died rather miserably in his previous life, being able to reroll with the standard transmigration-orphanage package was already an enormous blessing.
Wasn't having a mother great?
More importantly, transmigrating to another world meant he no longer had to clock in early every morning with dark circles under his eyes, right?
Then, while his vision had yet to fully develop during infancy, when he could not even clearly see his own mother's face, his soul had "seen" the foster mother who had recreated him in this world—the system.
The word "erase" on the panel had even been bolded, underlined, and highlighted in red Song typeface.
How heartwarming.
Allen pushed those thoughts out of his mind and lowered his gaze along the text.
Current stage: Childhood. Total participation score: 2 points.
Available advancement paths:
Path of the Mage (abandoned): Obtain Demon God Laplace's Mana Factor. Increased mana capacity, mana affinity, and doubled magical aptitude.
Gift: Possess a wonderful head of green hair. Cost: The body cannot circulate battle qi.
Path of the Swordsman (selected): Obtain Dragon God Orsted's Dragon Saint Battle Qi Core Embryo. Reduced mana consumption when converting battle qi, battle qi affinity, and doubled swordsmanship aptitude.
Gift: Possess a sturdy, well-built body. Cost: Mana recovery speed equal to Orsted's.
Current sword style levels (based on the average swordsmanship level of all swordsmen at each rank in the Jobless World; if the host's swordsmanship advances to within 10% below the average level of the next rank, the system will update automatically):
Sword God Style: Intermediate.
Water God Style: Advanced.
North God Style: Intermediate.
Over the past nine years, Allen had looked at this system panel thousands upon thousands of times. Yet whenever he saw the phrases "wonderful head of green hair" and "sturdy, well-built body," an image still involuntarily surfaced in his mind.
Mother River God, named the Transmigration Guide, rose from murky, viscous waters, holding a green-haired pretty boy in her left hand and a dark-skinned, muscular bro in her right.
Then she smiled and asked the host, "Which one did you drop?"
Allen felt utterly at a loss.
As for why he had chosen the Path of the Swordsman, abandoned the Laplace Factor, and refused to follow the script to become a second Rudy—
First, swordsmen were stronger in the Jobless World setting. In Japanese light novels, "sword" was a general term for single-edged blades and double-edged cold weapons. Out of personal preference, Allen still leaned toward learning swordsmanship where every slash cut into flesh.
Second, the Dragon Boss's Dragon Saint Battle Qi was simply too good. He was the ceiling of combat power among those who had acted in the main story. There was no reason to choose the Laplace Factor instead.
It definitely was not because that wonderful green hair had affected his rational judgment.
"Lokkishi is supposed to leave Buena Village this year. I've already been delayed by a few months. I hope I'm still in time to meet her."
In the winter of 411, Allen had already decided to head for Buena Village. Since he had missed the major event of Rudy's birth, he naturally had to make it in time for Rudy and Lokkishi's meeting. Though he was still young, he had made thorough preparations in order to leave his original environment and participate in major Jobless events.
But some unexpected circumstances had still occurred, leaving him wandering beneath the Red Dragon Mountain Range for several months. He had only arrived near Buena Village at the end of spring in 412.
"If I miss this one too, then for my childhood score, I'll have to place my hopes on Sylphy, Rudy, and his family. That's risky. Lokkishi is far too important in Mushoku Tensei."
Allen waved his hand, scattering the smoky text before him, then smoothed the tangled strands of hair by his forehead.
Supporting himself with his sword, he stood.
The campfire illuminated him. Though he was only nine years old, he had already reached one meter sixty in height. His well-proportioned frame filled out the Swordsman's Outfit, riddled with tears and gaps, until it sat straight against his body.
Yet he had no interest in admiring the "gift" the system had given him. Narrowing his eyes, he turned his head to look to the side.
Beyond the campfire's glow, the viscous darkness shifted with the wind.
Four figures emerged from the darkness and stepped into the firelight.
The only premium Mushoku Tensei fanfic on Qidian. It was not a crossover power fantasy, nor was it a bulldozer-style harem story. The first thirty chapters used the Butterfly Effect on the original plot to lay the groundwork for original developments. After chapter thirty, it shifted into primarily original storytelling. Volume one reached its climax at chapter seventy-six. If you're in a reading slump, give it a patient try. They're all free chapters, so you can't really lose out.
Stacked armor: The story's underlying framework was a system-conspiracy theory involving the Human God. There was mind-reading. If the protagonist's interactions with the system occasionally seemed a little unreasonable while reading—those were foreshadowing.
Casting: Eris's older brother, a hostage left behind in the royal capital.
I hope everyone enjoys reading. May your lives be happy, and may your work and studies go smoothly.
Before you continue