I Want to Open a Little Door to the Golden Throne

Zhou Yun's expression turned somewhat annoyed,

Before the knocking began, he had failed to catch the footsteps outside the door,

This body's physical condition was not very good,

The golden flames from the Golden Throne had reshaped this body down to every cell, but they had only restored it to a healthy state, removing the physical damage that alcohol and a sedentary lifestyle had inflicted upon the scholar. They had not improved his physical abilities,

This body was inferior to that of the diviner, who had struggled through the lower hive before undergoing Greyfax's harsh training. It was even less comparable to that forest hunter's body,

That forest hunter's body... looking back now, it truly had been extraordinary,

Back then, Zhou Yun's senses had been razor-sharp. He could detect the faintest sounds in the woods, distinguish the footsteps of every kind of beast, leap easily onto tall trees, and run fast enough to compete with agile animals... and that had supposedly only been an ordinary forest hunter.

Awakening a body's memories often required external stimuli. There had been nothing in that forest but endless jungle, so Zhou Yun had not awakened many of the hunter's memories,

Now that he thought about it carefully, could that forest, full of bizarre giant beasts and wild animals, along with the hunter's superhuman physique, have been... Caliban, the homeworld of the Lion Primarch, Lion El'Jonson?

The moment he considered that the hunter's body had belonged to a Calibanite superhuman, Zhou Yun immediately felt that the scholar's physical condition was perfectly reasonable.

That cursed place was filled with giant beasts warped by the influence of the Warp. Even a demigod among men like Lion El'Jonson had to put in some effort to kill one. Kairos Fateweaver, Tzeentch's chief daemon, had even been mistaken by Lion for an ordinary Calibanite giant beast when it attacked him. That alone showed how absurd Caliban's difficulty level was.

And the coming-of-age ceremony for Caliban's native mortal knights was hunting a giant beast... To hunt those monsters, those noble knights in the forest had even learned to build power armor, power swords, chainswords, and bolters by hand.

No wonder the hunter's physical abilities and hunting skills had been so terrifying if he could survive as a hunter in that hellhole.

Zhou Yun pondered as he waited,

The knocking outside grew increasingly urgent,

After Zhou Yun focused his mind, the hunter's skills began to function again, while Greyfax's teachings helped him make a judgment,

The breathing outside, the force of the knocking, and the pacing footsteps born of impatience all wove an image of the person beyond the door in Zhou Yun's mind,

The person outside should be female, between sixteen and twenty years old, around one meter seventy tall, weighing about forty-five kilograms, healthy, and knocking with both urgency and hesitation. She did not seem certain anyone was inside.

Only when the knocking stopped, and the person outside apparently decided that no one was home and turned to leave, did Zhou Yun step forward and open the door,

It was not that he was being cautious. He was simply traumatized,

When he had been the diviner, that bad woman Greyfax had loved launching surprise attacks on Zhou Yun for no reason, training his precognitive abilities,

But it had to be said that Greyfax's training really had saved Zhou Yun several times... although his precognition had eventually screwed him over anyway.

The door opened, exposing the woman's back to Zhou Yun,

She was indeed around one meter seventy tall, slim and willowy. Her long black hair fell over her white fitted blouse all the way to her waist, bound at the ends by a hair tie and gently swaying with her movements,

Upon hearing the door open, she froze for a moment before quickly turning around,

Zhou Yun saw that her still-youthful face had originally been filled with concern,

But the instant she saw Zhou Yun, her expression turned furious.

"You're back? Why didn't you open the door? Did you go gambling again last night?!"

The girl almost immediately rushed at Zhou Yun, trying to grab his collar.

Zhou Yun instinctively stepped back and twisted aside. The girl brushed past him and charged into the room, her footing slipping as she nearly fell to the floor.

Zhou Yun reached out and grabbed her wrist, preventing her from falling.

The girl clenched her teeth and glared at Zhou Yun with a look of frustration and anger.

"Let go of me," she said sharply.

"Did you say thank you?" Zhou Yun asked without changing expression.

The girl's face instantly twisted up. She shook her wrist, trying to break free of Zhou Yun's grip, but unfortunately, she failed.

Zhou Yun merely looked at her.

"...Thank you." The girl forced out the two words as though they weighed a thousand pounds.

But Zhou Yun still did not let go. He simply continued, "What do you call me?"

"..." The girl took a rough breath. "Thank you, Uncle Zhou Yun."

Uncle...

That word triggered the memories Zhou Yun had been trying to draw out.

He remembered now. This girl was his niece, the daughter of his elder brother who had died in battle.

The wife of Zhou Yun's brother had died early, while her father had been conscripted into the war against the Elyrium barbarians. He had followed Consul Conor into battle and died in that far northern land, leaving not even a body behind. All that remained were compensation money and the child who had been nine at the time—the girl standing before Zhou Yun.

"Tita." Zhou Yun released Tita's hand.

He noticed something else as well. The girl called him Zhou Yun.

That was interesting. It seemed it was no coincidence that the diviner had also been named Zhou Yun.

Presumably, this was the Emperor's mighty power.jpg,

Zhou Yun's existence had likely already completely replaced that scholar in everyone's perception.

That was normal. The Warp was a dimension of will. For the Emperor, who possessed almost limitless psychic power, twisting that small piece of perception was effortless.

He did not know how broad the scope of that replacement was, but Zhou Yun guessed it probably extended across the entire world.

If he had a choice, Zhou Yun would rather that powerful psychic force be used somewhere more practical, such as giving him psychic power on the level of Primarch Magnus right now...

Tita pulled back slightly from Zhou Yun, then, as if venting her anger, kicked the wine bottle on the floor. It slammed into a corner of the room with a crisp clatter,

At the same time, Tita noticed the half-length of rope lying on the floor... Her expression froze. She looked up and saw the other half still hanging from the beam,

Finally, she turned and saw the distinct strangulation marks still visible around Zhou Yun's neck.

"What were you trying to do?" Tita's voice became very quiet, filled with fear.

"I opened a little door to the Golden Throne. Only after sticking my head through did I realize my body wouldn't fit." Zhou Yun sensed the atmosphere becoming gloomy and tried to lighten it with a joke.

Tita clearly did not understand what the Golden Throne meant, but Zhou Yun's tone enraged her,

She let out a resentful growl that instantly reminded Zhou Yun of the beasts in Caliban's forests. Then she lunged at him with astonishing speed, her open palm flying straight toward his cheek,

Zhou Yun had intended to let her slap him and vent some anger, but unfortunately, the hunter's instincts and Greyfax's training kicked in, causing him to dodge without thinking.

If I don't unbind this damn dodge key, it'll screw me over sooner or later... Zhou Yun thought as he watched Tita brush past him again, lose her balance, and stagger toward the wooden table by the window.

Zhou Yun stepped forward, wanting to steady Tita, but she caught herself against the tabletop and regained her balance. She turned to look at him.

Guilt appeared on Zhou Yun's face as he considered how to apologize.

"It's fine." Tita noticed the apology in Zhou Yun's expression, and the anger on her face finally faded into helplessness,

She sighed, turned around, leaned against the table, and braced both hands on its surface,

Her slightly chubby oval face wore a faintly bitter smile as her thin lips pressed together.

"If it weren't for..." Tita raised a hand and pointed at Zhou Yun's neck. "If not for that today, you'd still be doing much better than you were these past few days. You didn't even spend the entire night at the gambling den, and I actually got to see you at school."

Better than the past few days... Zhou Yun's expression stiffened. In his memories, he saw Tita trying to stop the scholar from going to the gambling den, only for the scholar to elbow her in the face and send her sprawling to the ground.

Come on, man, that's some serious Mamba mentality.

Wait, that wasn't right. In Zhou Yun's memories, the scholar had treated Tita rather well before. How had things worsened so quickly over the past few months?

Was gambling really this harmful? As expected, gambling and drugs were things you absolutely could not touch!

Just as Zhou Yun figured out how to apologize, Tita's fingers resting on the table touched the stack of IOUs.

She turned back in confusion and picked up the stack of IOUs,

"These are IOUs? How much do you owe..."

The instant Tita saw the amounts written on them, her expression froze,

"Over a thousand denars on a single IOU? The first repayment deadline is the twentieth of next month?"

"Have you lost your mind? Do you want to become a debt slave?"

"Wow, there's slavery here too!"

(As usual, updates will be posted every night at 8:08.)