Prologue: Opening the door

Li Lin closed the book in his hands and looked at the figure walking toward him.

"Hey, genius."

A young man with dyed blond hair and a swagger walked over to Li Lin and gave him an affectionate pat on the shoulder.

"When are you planning to leave today? We've all made plans to throw you a huge birthday party."

"Today?"

Li Lin thought in silence for a moment before answering.

"Around eight tonight. No, I'll be free after nine."

"That old turtle really knows how to squeeze every last bit of work out of people."

The young man shot a disgusted glance at a window in the research building nearby and thrust his right middle finger at it. The next moment, though, his smile grew warm again, and he lowered his voice as he leaned toward Li Lin. "Excited, genius? Xue Xue's coming today too, you know. Didn't you two grow up together? Everyone knows she's into you. According to a not entirely reliable source, the young lady might just... tonight..." At that, he gave a couple of mischievous chuckles. "Make the most of it, okay? It's your eighteenth birthday! Starting tomorrow, you're an adult, buddy! Work hard tonight and become an adult in another sense!"

"That's all you ever think about."

Li Lin gave him a helpless look, shook his head and sighed.

"All right, all right, I know. A friend's girl is off-limits..."

Seeing Li Lin's helpless expression, the young man put on an exaggerated look of sorrow and scrambled several steps backward. Then his expression returned to normal, and he called to Li Lin with a smile, "Don't forget! Nine thirty tonight! Be there!"

"I know. Go on, this is a library."

Li Lin quickly glanced at the middle-aged librarian, whose face had already turned livid, but his best friend had vanished through the door by then. Li Lin could only sigh and lower his head, murmuring to himself in a faint, rapid, unbroken stream. If anyone had been able to make out what he was saying, they would surely have been surprised: Li Lin was speaking a completely unfamiliar language, one never used by any people or nation in this world.

He finished the extremely short incantation almost in the space of a finger snap, and the librarian's gaze passed over him just then, as though he were not there at all. Li Lin stood up and carefully gathered the books on the table. None of them had originally been allowed out of the library, but that no longer mattered. He stood there for a moment, then shook his head, returned the books to the shelves and left the library.

He still had many things to do, many...

When Li Lin next looked up from the keyboard, it was already late at night. He looked at the clock before him, which read exactly 9:15.

"This is as far as it goes..."

Murmuring to himself, Li Lin stood up, turned off the computer and went to the research room door. Then he switched off the lights, and his figure vanished in that instant.

Li Lin's friends threw him a grand birthday party. It had to be said that, as long as those drinking buddies of his didn't pour booze down their throats, they could usually pass for respectable people. After all, Li Lin had been specially admitted to the university and was considered a genius. Not only was he exceptionally gifted at programming, he also had a distinctive talent for painting and music. What was more, he was easygoing and unpretentious. Generally speaking, someone like that would attract jealousy and envy wherever he went. But somehow, whatever methods Li Lin had used, there was not the slightest bit of trouble around him. All in all, Li Lin was very popular at school.

For that very reason, at this grand birthday party, even some classmates and instructors who ordinarily exchanged no more than a nod with him came to congratulate him. The younger ones wanted to find a great tree to shelter under, while the older ones wanted an outstanding disciple to carry on their legacy. After all, a teacher could take pride in having taught a genius.

To everyone's surprise, Li Lin, who was already easy to talk to, seemed even more accommodating today. He spoke pleasantly even with people he usually paid little attention to, and even helped several people fix errors and bugs in their programs on the spot. This surprised his best friends somewhat, since he normally disliked helping people that way, but they still slung their arms around one another's shoulders and speculated with mischievous intent that perhaps he was in a better mood than usual because it was his birthday, or perhaps because the beauty would finally...

"Li Lin."

As the party drew to a close, a clear female voice rang out. Li Lin set down his wineglass and looked at the girl before him with a gentle smile.

Xue Xue.

The girl, a year younger than him, was wearing a beautiful evening gown as she walked gracefully toward him, a faint blush on her face. Behind her, her parents, both multimillionaires, greeted Li Lin with friendly smiles. Li Lin smiled politely back, and the two nodded in relief before turning away and pretending they had seen nothing.

"Li Lin, I..."

Blushing deeply, Xue Xue nervously clutched the hem of Li Lin's clothes and raised her clear eyes to the man before her.

"Can I go to your place?"

She asked the question as though summoning all the strength in her body.

Li Lin looked at her slightly trembling right hand, her anxious gaze, and the hope hidden within it.

"Of course."

Then he smiled gently and reached out to stroke Xue Xue's hair.

By the time the party ended, it was already eleven thirty. The two took a taxi to Li Lin's rented home, on the top floor of an ordinary apartment building. The room was plain and unadorned. Apart from the unusually large number of gemstones scattered around, Li Lin's home was clean and tidy, no different from an ordinary person's.

He opened the door and caught sight of Xue Xue out of the corner of his eye. She was holding her phone, her face bright red as she looked at the messages on it. They were surely nothing more than "encouragement" from those friends behind their backs. At the thought, Li Lin gave a helpless, bitter smile, then pretended he had seen nothing and welcomed Xue Xue into his room.

"What would you like to drink? Something from the fridge?"

Li Lin walked over to the refrigerator. He had just opened its door when there was a click, and the lights went out the next instant. Only the flawless white moonlight shone through the glass, reflecting off the gemstones and filling the room with a dreamlike shimmer.

He turned around, sighing helplessly to himself. What had to come would come.

As it happened, Li Lin and Xue Xue's acquaintance had begun rather unexpectedly.

When they first met, Li Lin was five and Xue Xue was four. They met at an orphanage built by Xue Xue's father, when she had come along with him to visit the poor orphans. But Li Lin was the only one who could play with her and take gentle care of her. At first, many people thought Li Lin intended to latch onto Xue Xue's father for wealth and glory, but Li Lin's own hard-earned accomplishments later silenced them. By now, he had become someone fully qualified to rise to prominence, and he had never behaved improperly toward Xue Xue. Li Lin had even successfully helped her father's company design a compact yet versatile piece of software, earning high praise from the middle-aged man known as the Great Bear. As for Xue Xue, her simple fondness at the beginning had turned into attachment, and now, with her feelings of love finally awakening, she understood where her heart lay.

Xue Xue stood in the moonlight, her fair, slender, rounded shoulders looking especially lovely. Perhaps because she had been drinking, her cheeks were faintly flushed, and her eyes held a purity as clear and clean as spring water.

"Li Lin, I have something to tell you."

"I'm listening."

The moment Li Lin's gentle voice reached Xue Xue's ears, her heart began pounding wildly. She clenched her teeth, then took a deep breath before forcing herself to look at the man before her: the playmate she loved, the dependable older brother, the lover she longed for.

"I like you..."

She finally spoke.

"I... I like you more than anyone..."

It was the clumsy, awkward confession of a young girl.

Li Lin felt something stir faintly within his heart.

Then he stepped toward her.

Watching the man approach, Xue Xue closed her eyes, expectant and nervous. She had dreamed of this moment countless times, and now that it had truly come, she was so excited she could barely stand.

Li Lin's large, solid hands came to rest on her shoulders, but the moment the girl deserved never came. She opened her eyes and looked at the man before her with a silent question.

"Thank you."

Li Lin's smile was as gentle as ever, but it held heartfelt regret.

"But I'm sorry."

The words struck the girl's heart like a massive hammer, and her eyes widened involuntarily.

"Why...?"

"I care about you very much, but I'm sorry, Xue Xue."

Li Lin gently stroked her head, then instinctively smoothed a strand of her long hair aside. He had been doing that for the girl before him for more than ten years. Perhaps today was the last time.

"I've always thought of you as a younger sister, and I always will. You'll find a man who's better suited to you."

"But... I can't! And Dad said you... you were very..."

"You silly girl."

Li Lin shook his head with a wry smile.

"You haven't found him because you've never looked. Someone better suited to you than I am is right beside you; you just haven't noticed. Little Xue, I'm truly happy you feel this way, but... I can't accept."

As he spoke, Li Lin gently drew Xue Xue into his arms. Then, without anyone noticing, he slipped something into her pocket.

"I..."

After Li Lin released her, Xue Xue continued to stare at him in disbelief. She was silent for a moment, then spun around and rushed out of his room.

"Whew..."

Li Lin sighed and glanced out the window.

Those best friends of his were still waiting there. They really did have plenty of patience.

"It's almost time."

Li Lin's usually gentle expression suddenly turned serious and cold. He glanced at the clock, then shut the door, held out both hands and began chanting softly.

It was a spell.

And Li Lin was a mage.

Li Lin had not originally been called Li Lin. His name was Loxia Kaiser Erland, and he was one of the most powerful mages on the Morning Wind Continent. But eighteen years ago, in a war to defend his homeland, Li Lin had fallen on the battlefield. In the final battle, he had faced the heroes of the five most powerful nations alone, and, utterly exhausted, had used the last of his strength to cast one final soul spell. The instant the holy sword pierced his body, Li Lin's soul had easily left his flesh, taking his power with it. To avoid being destroyed by the holy barrier, he had been forced to open a spatial rift and travel to another world to recover.

And so he came to the continent called "Earth."

At first, Li Lin was somewhat worried when he discovered that he had transmigrated into the body of an orphan. He even thought he might be sold as a slave or forced to do hard labor. But to his surprise, he discovered that the organization called an "orphanage" actually raised orphans like him without expecting anything in return. They would not sell them off anywhere or make them do dangerous work. Before long, Li Lin became fascinated by this world and could finally set his mind at ease and recover his strength.

On this continent called "Earth," people used a kind of magic they called "technology." To Li Lin, once a great mage, this was simply unimaginable. He could not understand how that steel shell moved without magic crystals or magic circles to power it. Nor could he understand how those enormous objects, which looked large and heavy and indeed were, floated on water or flew through the sky. He also had no idea why a person could speak at one end of a wire and be clearly heard at the other. Even on the Morning Wind Continent, that was a very difficult technique to master. He likewise could not understand why people looked down on gold coins but were so fond of handfuls of rectangular paper—and on this strange continent, even buying and selling gold coins was forbidden?

Fortunately, people merely took Li Lin's questions for the sort a newborn child was bound to ask, and were not surprised by them. Thus Li Lin learned things he had never known before: the people of this continent were keen on digging up ores and a kind of black liquid, and were willing to pay astonishingly high prices for them. Yet they did not permit the hunting of wild beasts, and had even passed laws to punish hunters? How, then, did hunters who made their living killing magical beasts survive? Oh, right, there were no hunters in this world.

There seemed to be no magical beasts either.

He also learned of a mage named Newton, who had discovered why humans stood on the ground: they were all subject to the constant effect of an eternal spell called gravity. He also discovered that a great mage named Edison could actually use ordinary tools to make strange things-for example, making something transparent glow without fire or a magic stone, although if anything went wrong, it would still end up becoming fire. Stranger still, it seemed to be powered by electricity.

What was more, there were no priests on this continent. The people who treated the sick and saved lives were called doctors, and wore white coats. And they never seemed to pray to any god for the power to cure diseases.

It was simply too strange!

Of all the strange and curious things, Li Lin liked computers best. This marvelous magical creation was unlike anything he had ever seen. On the surface, it looked like a magical device with a permanent illusion spell, but anyone could use it, with no need for magical talent. There were even many professions that made a living operating this marvelous magical device, and Li Lin could not help being drawn to its charm. In his view, some things in computers were identical or similar to magic.

Although he had enjoyed himself to the fullest and even greedily learned the knowledge here, Li Lin had never forgotten that going back was his true wish and goal. He did not belong to this world, and he could wait no longer. Moreover, this world had no devices for increasing magic power, so Li Lin could only use money from part-time jobs and scholarships to buy gemstones unusually rich in magical elements and increase his strength.

Everything he had learned here was purely out of interest.

Of course, Li Lin was no fool. He knew he could not simply copy everything wholesale. But he could select the best parts, understand them and adapt them.

Now, it was finally time for him to go back.

"Little Xue..."

Li Lin stopped chanting the incantation and shook his head helplessly.

The reason he had been so good to Xue Xue was not because she was beautiful or because she came from a noble family, as Li Lin believed. It was because, back then, he had seen in her eyes the same pure light he had seen in the eyes of the person he wanted to protect. Thus, his affection for Xue Xue was not that between a man and a woman, but more like the tenderness of an elder for someone younger. Before leaving, he had already given Xue Xue a gift.

There were some things he saw through and understood clearly.

Only eighteen years!

He told himself silently.

Only eighteen years. I can definitely get back!

And today is the best opportunity!

Li Lin began chanting the final incantation. Then dazzling light and ripples began to bloom across the previously bare wall of his room. The gemstones also began to flicker slowly, and tremendous energy gathered amid Li Lin's chanting, arranging itself into a new form and beginning to take its intended effect.

Then Li Lin pressed both hands downward.

"Little Xue? Why did you come down?"

Everyone stared in disbelief at Little Xue, whose face was covered in tears. After all, in their minds, Li Lin and Xue Xue were practically a match made in heaven. They had imagined many possibilities, but had never thought Li Lin would actually reject Xue Xue's confession.

"I..."

"That bastard, did he drink too much or take the wrong medicine?"

The blond patted Xue Xue on the back, then gritted his teeth and prepared to charge upstairs, but Xue Xue grabbed hold of him tightly.

"No, don't..."

She never finished.

Darkness suddenly fell all around them.

As far as they could see, the bustling city had fallen silent in an instant. The twinkling lights had vanished, and not even the sound of cars could be heard. The abnormal scene left everyone standing rooted to the spot. They looked around in fear and unease, and several people even took out their phones, only to discover in surprise that their phones were completely unresponsive too.

"Boom!!!"

With a tremendous roar, Li Lin's room suddenly exploded before their eyes. A dazzling flash streaked across the sky, enveloping everything, as though scattered stars had finally returned to where they belonged.