Meteorite from Beyond the Sky

On January 22, 2025, by the Blue Star calendar, it was Little New Year in Hua Country.

Wang An had just finished eating and was lying lazily on his bed, one leg kicking restlessly.

As his finger scrolled up and down his phone, a national news story popped up.

"According to our reporter, an extremely rare meteor shower will appear over Asia at 8 p.m. tonight."

"It will be the largest and shortest meteor shower in recorded history. Experts say its precise cause remains unknown."

Wang An glanced at the star-studded night sky outside the window, his interest piqued.

I wonder what the largest meteor shower in history will actually look like.

Thanks to the well-known Dayun Express, Wang An had been fortunate enough to become a transmigrator. He had thought he would set out on the protagonist's path as a super-rich tycoon or a literary plagiarist.

Instead, he had only awakened the memories sealed in the womb at eighteen.

Relying on a little of his previous life's adult way of thinking, he had studied hard and managed to get into a first-tier university.

Studying required talent and the right educational environment.

In both lives, he had come from an ordinary rural family. No matter how much importance his parents placed on education, it was extremely difficult for a rural child to get into a top university like those in the 958 and 211 programs.

So rather than a transmigrator, Wang An was an ordinary person with a little extra experience of life and death.

Naturally, he no longer had the anticipation and curiosity that people his age felt about many things.

"Life! That's just how it is."

He had no desire to continue the life of toil like an ox or a horse that he had led in his previous life.

With those thoughts in mind, Wang An picked up his phone and climbed onto the roof.

These days, nearly all new houses in the countryside were small multistory homes, with a large, flat rooftop.

Wang An usually liked to set up a recliner there, stretch out his whole body, and gaze quietly at the brilliant Milky Way, feeling his own insignificance and the universe's grandeur until the two became one.

The weather was clear today, with not a cloud for ten thousand miles. As always, the heavens glittered and the river of stars shimmered.

Just as Wang An was becoming lost in the sight, stars that had not been there before began to appear in the night sky.

They gradually brightened and moved, trailing long tails behind them. One, two, seven, eight-more and more appeared, growing faster and brighter.

At a sight that shook the heavens and earth, he felt not only awe but also a little anticipation. After all, a life whose end he could see at a glance was dull.

He immediately propped himself up, pulled out his phone, and recorded it.

Meteors fell across the sky like raindrops on an umbrella on a rainy day, just as dense, just as flowing, and just as likely to leave traces.

Gradually, some of the meteors broke away from their trajectories.

To Wang An, they looked like fireworks, but fireworks flying toward him.

He saw more than ten crash into the endless mountain forests behind the village, while his phone faithfully recorded where the meteors landed.

The meteor shower lasted only twenty minutes, but the meteors were tangible and real. Their arrival told Wang An that this was real.

Just as he thought it was over, an unremarkable meteor flew straight toward his house.

Before he had time to be surprised, he hurried to take shelter inside.

Thud. A dull sound rang out.

Wang An cautiously returned to the rooftop and moved closer to examine it.

A basketball-sized crater had been blasted into the concrete, sending up clouds of dust.

A breeze blew past, revealing what lay inside.

It was a fist-sized meteorite with a metallic sheen and faint, mysterious patterns on its surface.

After making sure it was not very hot, he paid no further heed to things like radiation or heat. He felt that perhaps the change he sought lay right here, and he had to seize this opportunity.

Wang An slowly picked it up with trembling hands.

The instant he touched it, a piece of information entered his mind.

[Intelligent life-form profession acquired. Profession Panel activated]

[Name: Wang An

Essence: 1

Qi: 1

Spirit: 2

Talent: Avatar

Profession: intelligent life-form]

[Avatar]

Function: You possess an avatar in an independent spacetime. He is your counterpart in another spacetime. You are him, and he is you. The virtual and the real can be converted.

[Intelligent life-form]

Function: The Profession Panel provides the profession holder with real-time feedback on profession-holder information.

Skill: Profession Guidance. Based on your soul and spacetime characteristics, it provides guidance for professions below your essence.

As this information appeared, the corners of Wang An's mouth gradually rose.

Countless guesses surfaced in his mind, and all sorts of imaginative ideas from novels flashed past. He picked up the still slightly warm meteorite and quietly examined it.

The patterns on its surface had faded, but the flames of ambition burned in his eyes.

After digesting the information, Wang An slowly calmed down.

His father and mother came upstairs.

"Xiao An, what was that sound just now?"

"Dad, Mom, come take a look."

Wang An's parents looked at the crater in the concrete and the meteorite in his hand.

"Xiao An, is this a meteorite?"

"Yes. Take a look."

He handed the meteorite to his parents and watched their unperturbed expressions. Neither showed any shock at acquiring a profession.

Even though he knew the meteorite had already been used and might no longer grant a profession, he was still a little disappointed.

"This kind of meteorite should be worth some money. Shall I see if there are any buyers online?"

"All right, you decide what to do with it. Your dad and I both support you."

After reassuring his parents for a while, Wang An took the meteorite back to his bedroom and put it on his computer desk.

He threw himself onto the bed and recalled the past.

There had been his secret delight at awakening the wisdom of a past life, his arrogance as a transmigrator, his despair upon discovering how ordinary the world was and how mediocre he himself was, and finally, his acceptance.

As though speaking to himself, and yet also to the world, he said, "Everything begins today."

He unlocked his phone again. Unsurprisingly, tonight's meteor shower had shot to the top of the trending searches.

He watched the densely packed meteors in other people's videos.

Wang An remembered that he had recorded them too, and looked through online videos at the mysterious patterns on the meteorites.

This meteorite that can grant a profession definitely isn't the only one. There's a good chance that all the meteorites from this abnormal shower have that ability.

And according to the hints provided by the Profession Panel, acquiring other professions also requires profession stones.

At that thought, Wang An sprang to his feet and darted over to his computer desk.

He opened the map on his computer and the video of the meteorites' landing points on his phone.

He began calculating and marking the approximate landing point of each meteorite on the map.

On Blue Star, with its population of seven billion, judging from the number of meteorites seen online alone, this is bound to be a scarce resource.

If every meteorite can help someone acquire a profession, then capable powers and organizations will soon go looking for them.

If I collect the meteorites myself, never mind how many I can find-how will I safely store the ones I can't use?

Knowing what those big shots are like, if they find out I collected all those meteorites, they'll stop at nothing. The key is what identity I use to collect them.

He thought of his talent.

Whether I quit while I'm ahead this time or try to get fat in a single mouthful depends on this talent!

With that in mind, Wang An settled his thoughts and followed a faint pull, gradually gathering his consciousness in a space between the virtual and the real.

An illusory body of Wang An stood motionless there. His consciousness touched the body, and the sensations of both bodies converged on a single consciousness.

Wang An understood what his talent could do.

I can make virtual modifications to this body within this 10 × 10 × 10 space, changing its appearance within certain limits. But after one day, it'll sync with my main body and reset.

His consciousness looked around the space. It contained nothing except some white light shining in from outside.

With a thought, the avatar appeared in the room, identical to Wang An. He could do two things at once, and their senses were synchronized.

The avatar picked up the meteorite and vanished. The next moment, the meteorite appeared in the space, and Wang An carefully contemplated these changes.

Wang An breathed a quiet sigh of relief. The final piece of his plan had fallen into place.

Lying back down on the bed, he pondered, Starting now, the avatar will go into the mountains to collect meteorites and try to finish within three days.

Other people in the village might see him.

I can change the avatar into a complete stranger. Even if someone sees him, they won't know who he is. That way, I can lie low and develop without exposing myself.

Now let's see what the Profession Panel can do.

Since this is about acquiring professions, my second profession could be [student]. What about the other professions?

With that thought, he used [Profession Guidance].

Information on [student], [Martial artist], and [qi refiner] appeared.