"Did I transmigrate to the Coiling Dragon World?"
Jason closed the atlas in his hands and set it on the stack of books before him.
He had transmigrated in his sleep. As for the reason, it might have been a natural gas leak, an earthquake, his building toppling over, or sudden death from working long hours-who knew? In modern society, there were simply too many things that could make a young man who had just started working transmigrate.
It had been ten days since he transmigrated. The original owner of his current body had also been named Jason, which was convenient enough. As for his identity, he was an eight-year-old "prince" who attracted little attention.
His imperial father had many favored consorts. The original owner's mother was a consort of relatively high standing, but the original owner had few memories of his "imperial father."
For the past ten days, Jason had been working hard to assimilate the original owner's memories. To keep anyone from noticing anything amiss, he had avoided meeting people close to him as much as possible.
Only today had he realized that the original owner actually had no one close to him. His father usually couldn't even remember that he had this son, while his mother, who came from a noble family, spent her days competing for favor. She had provided her son with the basic necessities of life, but otherwise paid him little attention. She had even complained in front of him, "Giving birth to you ruined my figure," and said other things just as excessive. The servants who looked after him belonged to his mother's household, and he had no personal attendants.
So, after roughly reviewing the original owner's uneventful eight years of life, Jason had mustered his courage and gone to the place where the princes and princesses usually studied to find some books on history and geography. From the original owner's memories, he had discovered that this world seemed to be the Coiling Dragon World!
The original owner had only received an elementary education, and his own lack of confidence and ambition meant that he knew little about the world's history. Only now, after reading several books on history and geography, was Jason certain that he had transmigrated to the Yulan Continent of the Coiling Dragon World.
Yulan Calendar, year 9005. The Yulan Continent, the Rhine Empire, the imperial palace in the capital, Rhine City. Second Prince Jason Rhine.
His father was Maisiji Rhine, the current emperor of the Rhine Empire, and his mother was Aidema Wumaier. He also had an older brother, an older sister, and a younger sister.
He-that is, Jason Rhine-had been reclusive and out of favor since childhood, though he had never lacked food or clothing. He had received a basic education and could read and write without difficulty, but he certainly couldn't make a living on his own outside the palace. As for cultivation, he had only begun physical training as a warrior less than a year ago. His talent as a warrior was average, and his aptitude for magic had yet to be tested.
Jason sorted through his current circumstances. They were neither good nor bad.
At least he wasn't destitute and wandering about with no access to cultivation. But things weren't so good that he could awaken his bloodline and soar to greatness like the protagonist, Linley.
Jason had read the Coiling Dragon novel back in middle school, and he had once fantasized about transmigrating to the Coiling Dragon World. For example, he might become a Spined Iron-Armored Dragon and open his eyes to find himself staring at a newly awakened Linley; transmigrate as Clayde, king of Fenlai, steal renqi, kill Hogg, usurp another's place to become Linley's adoptive father, and reach the pinnacle of life; or even transmigrate into Alice and, with a man's understanding of other men, act out a world-shaking tale of love and hatred with Linley, loving and fighting each other-
Fortunately, none of that had happened. Jason's current life was quite comfortable.
I'm already eight. There should be a magic aptitude test this year, so I'll wait and see what my elemental affinities are first. If my talent is good, becoming either a mage or a warrior would be fine. Once I'm an adult, I'll go out and travel. The struggle for power in the imperial family is too fierce, and I wouldn't be good at it. If my talent is really too poor, I can only start down the warrior's path, become a junior officer in the army, and then try to comprehend the Edicts of Destruction.
As for relying on the protagonist, that's impossible for now. There are still roughly nine hundred years until he's born. If I don't reach the Saint-level, I won't live long enough to see it.
"Who's there?" A voice interrupted Jason's thoughts.
"Oh, it's me, Teacher Faustino."
"Prince Jason? Have you recovered from your fall? What are you doing in the study? The others should be doing their warrior training at this hour." Faustino was a language teacher at the palace.
"I've mostly recovered. I'll resume classes tomorrow. I just came to look around today," Jason said politely. After chatting with him briefly, Jason left.
As for Jason's injury, he had accidentally struck his head while walking ten days ago, splitting it open. He had been unconscious for a day, which was also the direct cause of Jason's transmigration.
As for whether it had really been an accident, surely nothing about the imperial family could be false!
After leaving the study, Jason headed for the training ground. He wanted to see exactly what warrior training involved.
On the Yulan Continent, every child needed basic warrior training, whether they intended to become a warrior or a mage. A healthy body was the foundation of cultivation, and the same held true even for mages.
The packed-earth training ground covered more than a thousand square meters and was a little larger than the sports ground at Jason's university in his previous life. It was where the palace's underage children trained; everyone else had separate training grounds.
There were more than forty children on the training ground, along with five warrior instructors and more than a dozen attendants.
A separate area of the palace had been set aside for schooling. The emperor's children were not the only ones who studied there; the children of princes, the children of some powerful cultivators in the palace, and some children who attended as study companions learned there as well.
Jason had come to familiarize himself with the training routine. Although his memories had returned, his muscle memory couldn't be restored, and he didn't want anyone to notice anything amiss.
A tall, slender girl walked over. "Jason, how are you feeling?"
"Imperial Sister Yunika, I'm almost completely better. I can come back to class tomorrow," Jason replied stiffly.
"That's good. When I saw you a few days ago, you were still groggy. I was worried about you for quite a while."
In Jason's memories, Yunika was his eldest sister and the second child of the current Rhein emperor.
Jason's eldest brother excelled both at governing and as a warrior, and great hopes had been placed on him. As for his youngest sister, who was only two months younger than Jason, she was doted on by everyone and had been taught magic from a very young age by her mother, who was a mage. Both were strong contenders for the throne.
Jason, who was introverted and taciturn, and Yunika, whose heart had belonged to someone since childhood, had both been tacitly assumed to have given up their claims to the throne, both by themselves and by the empire's ruler and ministers. As a result, Jason got along reasonably well with his siblings, especially Yunika. The two were very close.
"Remember to visit Imperial Father and Imperial Consort Aidema," Yunika reminded him.
"I will, I will."
Jason was somewhat reluctant to meet his imperial father. It wasn't because of their blood relationship, but because the man was the ruler of a nation, surrounded by experts, and occasionally even received Saint-level experts. If anyone noticed anything amiss, Jason would be finished.
In the end, he chose to visit the emperor's chambers at eight in the evening. At that late hour, surely the guards around him would have gone home to sleep.
When he reached the chambers, Jason respectfully asked a guard to announce him before he was allowed inside.
"Imperial Father, your son Jason has come to see you."
But it was not his father, Maisiji Rhine, who answered. It was a familiar woman's voice.
"Is that you, Jason? Come over here to Mother." It was Jason's mother, Imperial Consort Aidema.
Jason raised his head. Well, there were so many people gathered at this hour. Why were the emperor, empress, consorts, princes, and ministers all here, along with his younger sister Lucy?
Only after his stern-faced imperial father nodded did Jason dare walk over to his mother.
Imperial Consort Aidema was dressed up in all her finery today as well. In Jason's memories, she was always like this. As Jason saw it now, she must have been born with a desire to show herself off, to the point that even her maternal instincts were suppressed.
After nodding to Jason, Emperor Maisiji resumed his conversation with the people around him.
"Of my children, the youngest, Lucy, is seven. Yunika is eleven, and Jason as well-they're all in the right age range. It's time for them to be tested in the clan's secret realm. Vittorio, you'll lead them this year. Gather the clan's children who are of the right age."
Prince Vittorio was the current Rhein emperor's younger brother.
Jason stood quietly beside his mother, trying to keep as low a profile as possible.
The clan's secret realm? Does the Rhein Imperial Family have some secret inheritance? Well, all right. It would be strange if a great clan with a long history in the Coiling Dragon World didn't have something to rely on. The original novel didn't mention it, but since there's an inheritance, that's a good thing.
Jason listened silently, trying to infer something from the conversation.
The group made no attempt to avoid speaking in front of Jason, and words such as "bloodline concentration" and "affinity" reached his ears.
It seems this isn't a strictly guarded secret. Jason took an unobtrusive look around. His mother, several other consorts, and he himself were not particularly high in status.
The Rhine Clan shouldn't be a branch of one of the Four Ultimate Warrior Clans. Otherwise, they would have contacted Linley in the original novel. Could they be descendants of some divine beast?
Jason thought back over what he still remembered of the original story. Truth be told, his memories of it were hazy. After all, he had been working when he transmigrated, not a college student with so much time to read novels.
Even so, he remembered that experts from the Higher Planes had descended on the Yulan Continent ten thousand and five thousand years ago, respectively. The direct cause was Beirut seizing the Sovereign Sparks.
The battle ten thousand years ago had been more intense, while the conflict five thousand years ago had been somewhat less so. The Rhine Clan had probably developed from the bloodline left behind by one of the Deity-level magical beasts involved in those two events.
Jason briefly speculated on the matter.
That may be why the Rhine Clan has relatively few descendants, Jason thought. The emperor is in his prime, yet he only has four children. That's a lot compared with the Dragonblood Warrior Clan, of course, but far too few for an ordinary human family.
Jason found another piece of evidence.
Eventually, the others dispersed, leaving only the emperor's family.
"Jason, have you recovered?"
"Imperial Father, I've fully recovered. I plan to return to class tomorrow." Neither the original owner nor Jason himself was good with words, and his speech was stiff. No wonder he was out of favor.
"Good. In a few days, someone will take you to have your aptitude tested. Prepare yourself beforehand." Emperor Maisiji nodded with neither warmth nor coldness.