The neon lights illuminated half of Roshar City on the night streets. Lucas sat silently in the speeding black car, gazing at the dazzling city through the window.
"Young master, we’ve arrived."
The car stopped at its destination, and a middle-aged man dressed in a butler’s uniform respectfully opened the door, inviting Lucas to step out.
Before him stood a spacious three-story white-walled villa, surrounded by seemingly endless gardens and courtyards. In the heart of this land-scarce city, such a vast estate spoke volus about the status and wealth of its owner.
In stark contrast, Lucas’s malnourished, frail fra and his faded, worn-out clothes made him seem utterly out of place here.
Led by the butler, Lucas entered the brightly lit villa hall. The luxurious sofa was already occupied by a group of people who seed to have been waiting for him. As soon as he stepped inside, they rose to greet him.
At the forefront was a middle-aged man exuding an air of nobility. Beside him stood a beautiful young woman with a gentle smile, flanked by two girls in pink short skirts. Their faces were strikingly similar, clearly identical twins, distinguishable only by their expressions—one blushing shyly, the other confident and poised.
Lucas had never seen such beautiful twin girls before and wanted to admire them longer, but his gaze was involuntarily drawn to another person in the hall.
It was a young woman in a black dress, her long, waterfall-like black hair tied back, revealing her fair neck and collarbones, which seed to shimr under the light, creating an illusion of flowing water that made one want to take a bite. Her breathtakingly beautiful face was frozen in icy disdain.
Among everyone present, she was the only one who hadn’t stood up, and her eyes burned with undisguised resentnt as she stared at Lucas.
"Lucas, welco ho. You’ve suffered all these years."
The middle-aged man stepped forward and patted Lucas’s shoulder, his tone warm and natural.
"I am your cousin, Jas Everleigh, current head of the family. This is my wife, Uta. These two are our daughters, Evelyn and Lily." Jas turned his head, noticing the black-dressed young woman still seated, and a flash of irritation crossed his brows.
"This is my daughter, Sarah. Sarah, aren’t you going to greet our guest?"
The black-dressed young woman nad Sarah acted as if she hadn’t heard Jas, her expression and posture as immovable as an iceberg.
Seeing Jas about to lose his temper, Lucas quickly cleared his throat and bowed slightly. "Lord Everleigh. Lady Uta." He nodded politely to the twins, then glanced again at Sarah.
The formal address felt appropriate because Lucas wasn’t actually the real "Lucas" but a transmigrator from Earth with the sa na.
Lucas had been born in a small, insignificant city, with an average family, unremarkable looks, and diocre grades. He attended an ordinary university and, in his senior year, found an equally ordinary job in his hotown.
He had assud his life would continue uneventfully, but on the night of his graduation, he drank too much, ran a red light, and was struck dead by a speeding truck.
When he woke up, Lucas found himself transmigrated into a very strange world.
This world’s technological level was similar to Earth’s, but its societal structure remained feudal. More importantly, this world had mana, Wizards, and all sorts of fantastical beings and objects.
At first, Lucas was thrilled, but he soon realized he had transmigrated into the body of a penniless orphan with no qualifications to practice Wizardry. He was stuck running a tiny, dilapidated grocery store in a small town.
Just as he was cursing his fate, a stranger showed up and inford Lucas that he was actually the last surviving mber of a distant branch of the Everleigh family.
The place Lucas had transmigrated to was the Great Sun Empire, where the upper echelons consisted of eight noble families, each holding hereditary titles of duke.
These aristocratic families not only occupied key positions in the imperial court but were also long-standing Extraordinary clans.
The Everleighs were one of these eight noble families, and Jas was the current family head.
"Now that we’ve t, can I go back to sleep?"
Sarah’s icy voice cut through the tension in the room.
Facing the girl’s hostility, Lucas didn’t feel the slightest displeasure. On the contrary, he found his distant cousin’s sharp tone intriguing.
After all, Lucas was just a transmigrator. He had zero emotional investnt in this noble family drama unfolding before him.
Sarah didn’t wait for Jas’s response. She stood up and walked toward the staircase at the side of the hall, heading to the upper floors of the villa.
"It is quite late. Uta, you all should retire as well."
Suppressing his annoyance, Jas instructed the beautiful young woman to take the twin girls upstairs.
"Lucas, co with ."
Jas led Lucas to his private study on the second floor, closed the door, and the two sat down.
"Lucas, do you know about your family’s history?"
Lucas shook his head. "Only that we were distant relatives."
Jas sighed. "Your ancestors were the younger brothers of my great-grandfather who chose to live as commoners. Over generations, the connection beca faint, and your branch was nearly forgotten. When I learned you were the last of your line, living in poverty, I knew it was my duty to bring you into the family fold. The Everleighs take care of their own, no matter how distant."
Jas spoke with practiced sincerity, though Lucas noticed his fingers tapping restlessly on the armrest.
Lucas nodded with apparent gratitude, but inside, he remained wary. He’d already uncovered hints that his parents’ deaths might not have been accidental, and that his "rescue" might serve so hidden purpose in the Everleigh family’s power struggles.
"Your ancestors were minor nobility from our family’s third branch," he lied smoothly. "When the civil war broke out eighty years ago, they chose exile over politics. We thought the line had died out... until we found you."
Lucas nodded with feigned gratitude. Lucas had already learned the truth behind Jas’s sudden "generosity." The man a murderer who needed a spare heir. This man has killed his parents and is the planner of all this.
The only reason Lucas was brought back now was that Jas had no sons left. Jas’s eldest son, nad Jason was twenty four years old. He had been studying at the Imperial Academy and was sent out for training during the sumr break when he died unexpectedly.
With his only son gone, Jas began his plan to bring child from distant branch, giving Lucas the chance to co into contact with the top nobility of the Great Sun Empire.
Jas doesn’t accept an female for the heir of his family.
So, how did Lucas know all this? The answer lay in the fact that Lucas had a System.
Just one day before Jas found him, a chanical voice suddenly echoed in Lucas’s mind. The voice called itself the System and said it had chosen Lucas to carry out an ultimate mission.
The System explained that this world originally had a treasure called the "Primordial Core Pearl," which could provide an endless supply of mana.
However, the Primordial Core Pearl was suddenly sealed for unknown reasons, leading to the current scarcity of mana. Lucas’s task was to find the Primordial Core Pearl and break its seal, which was why the System was called the "Mana Revival System."
Aside from assigning missions, the System naturally had various functions to help Lucas find the Primordial Core Pearl as soon as possible.
The first and most important function was the ability to form a "Blood Pact." As long as Lucas obtained soone’s blood through non-violent ans, the System could bind that person to him in a Blood Pact. Once the pact was ford, Lucas would gain absolute control over the other person’s body, able to dictate their life or death with a single thought.
The second function was the Shop. Forming a Blood Pact would grant corresponding points, which could then be used to exchange for various items in the Shop.
The third function was the Omniscient feature. As long as Lucas asked a question, the System would provide the truth about the world. However, the System was not all-knowing. It could only answer low-level objective facts.
For example, the System could tell what soone ate for their last al but could not predict what they would want to eat next, because "thoughts" and "intentions" were subjective matters beyond the System’s perception.
With the help of the Omniscient function, Lucas had long known the truth about those past events, so he didn’t believe a single word of Jas’s performance. But disbelief aside, Lucas still pretended to be moved on the surface.
After recounting the past, Jas’s expression turned solemn. "Lucas, the children of our Extraordinary clan usually start cultivating at the age of five or six. You’re already twenty two now. If you follow conventional thods, I’m afraid it’s too late. Especially since I’ve already arranged for you to enter the seventh grade at the Royal Academy. Your classmates have been cultivating for over ten years."
The Royal Academy was where the children of noble families, including the Royal family, received their education. In addition to cultivation, they were also taught other subjects.
Students typically enrolled at the age of fifteen, starting in the first grade, and graduated from the ninth grade at twenty four. So after graduating from the Royal Academy, one could beco an official, join the military, go into business, or enter into a marriage alliance.
"Then what do you think I should do?" Lucas sensed that Jas had sothing else in mind.
Reviews
All reviews (0)