"Outsider, your journey ends here." The white-haired, golden-eyed Sustainer of Heavenly Principles appeared before the glowing orb of the system core.
With a wave, crimson-black matter surged.
[Beep—Ultimate Life-Crafting System detects world rule attack. Evading… Evasion failed.]
[Hostile entity confirmed: World Authority Controller.]
[Victory odds: -1.24, unwinnable. Activating backup hidden energy.]
"Self-destruct, huh? Extraworldly thing," the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles muttered, frowning at the exploding core before vanishing.
Only one line lingered.
"Some remnants linger in the mortal realm. No matter—insignificant."
And why not? Host and system were dead. A bit of debris wouldn't stir trouble.
The affairs of Celestia's throne meant nothing to Wang Sheng. He was long gone.
The healer found his body, sprawled lifeless on the floor, breathless, after returning from gathering herbs.
He alerted the village chief. They arranged a funeral.
Wang Sheng's luck held a flicker. No coffin, but the villagers, grateful for his contributions and ideas, gave him a tombstone. His only grave good? That shattered "mirror"—his phone—in the villagers' eyes.
The first day after his death, the sun rose as usual. The healer felt a pang of unease, but others carried on.
A week later, rainy skies blanketed the village. Kids occasionally mentioned the man who taught them math.
A month later, the chief's experiments bore fruit. Stable mushroom yields emerged. He shared the news with other prominent village families, planning to spread fungal cultivation. They mourned Wang Sheng's loss—his mind held more wonders, the chief said.
Half a year later, Tarou, the chief's son, returned with a merchant caravan. Hearing Wang Sheng's deeds, he was moved. He proposed a shrine to honor him. A sage like that? If they didn't venerate him, other villages would call them ungrateful. Plus, fungal cultivation was a feat worth recording. Tarou, with the chief's approval, planned to document it for Ritou's magistrate, hoping for a minor hereditary title.
A year later, the chief earned a low-ranking samurai title, kyūshi, heritable.
Three years on, the village, thriving on mushrooms and fungi, renamed itself Little Mushroom Village. That year, fungal cultivation spread to nearby towns, and livestock rearing took off.
Five years after Wang Sheng's death, Little Mushroom Village flourished. Even common folk ate meat monthly. The chief rebuilt the shrine. More venerated Wang Sheng.
Ten years later, surrounding villages flocked to Little Mushroom Village. Its population and land boomed, upgrading it to Little Mushroom Town. With thriving livestock, the town's spirit shone. Many youths joined the Shogunate.
Twenty years after his death, a miko from Narukami Island, wielding sakura branches for a ritual, passed through. Learning of Wang Sheng and inspecting his shrine, she registered it and reported to the Grand Narukami Shrine. Private worship became official. Devotees grew.
Fifty years later, the Little Mushroom Festival, honoring Wang Sheng, became the town's official celebration.
Fifty-five years after his death, he stirred.
"Where… am I?" Wang Sheng's soul drifted in a gray haze.
"Didn't I die? Is this Teyvat's underworld? Feels… off."
"Hm? This is—" He touched something. "My phone? Fixed?" (His mind was foggy.)
Ecstatic, he pressed the power button.
The phone lit up—no display, just a boot sound, transforming into a stream of light that merged into him.
"This…"
"Are you protecting me?" In his perception, he was swept into a raging river—not of water, but information.
Absorbing fragmented data, he pieced together his location.
"The Ley Lines."
It matched the info flooding him. Among the fragments were slivers of others' lives, sometimes shaking his sense of self.
Yet, every so often, scattered light motes fused into his soul, anchoring his identity.
"I had something… the system?"
"Right, it bailed." As he spoke, a light screen appeared.
System: Hongmeng System 2.0.1 (Developer Mode) + Unknown Biological System (Pseudo-Brain + Neural Soul Operation System)
System Level: LV0 (Level evaluation inherited from Ultimate Life-Crafting System)
RAM: 8.0GB + ?
Storage: 243GB↑ + ? (Soul-stored data) / 256GB (Hardware storage) + ? (Soul-stored data)
Battery: 100↑/100 (Charging)
Health: 0/200 (Health evaluation inherited from Ultimate Life-Crafting System)
Stamina: 0/10 (Stamina evaluation inherited from Ultimate Life-Crafting System)
Status: Dead (Overflowing Spirit/Healthy & Energetic, Sub-Healthy/Lethargic, Minor Injury/Illness, Severe Injury/Gravely Ill, Near Death, Terminal/Life-or-Death, Dead) (Status evaluation inherited from Ultimate Life-Crafting System and host)
Theoretical Knowledge: Otherworldly Knowledge LV4 (50.1/100), Inazuma Common Knowledge LV1 (29.4/100), Inazuma Herbalism LV2 (28.8/100), Inazuma Linguistics LV2 (30.5/100), Culinary Theory LV6 (11.1/100), Mathematics LV3 (21.6/100), Fitness Theory LV4 (89.9/100), Wellness Theory LV4 (90.0/100), Elemental Theory LV1 (10/100), others omitted (Theoretical knowledge evaluation inherited from Ultimate Life-Crafting System)
Practical Experience: None
Abilities:
Record LV5 (50.0/100)
[Description]: Sublimated from phone recording, Ultimate Life-Crafting System's module, and host's own recording ability.
[Traits]: Eidetic memory, memory palace, search engine.
Transmission LV5 (50.0/100)
[Description]: Sublimated from phone transmission, captures external stray information.
[Traits]: Information discernment, capture, download.
Delete LV1 (99.9/100)
[Description]: Sublimated from phone deletion, removes unnecessary memory files.
[Traits]: None.
Firewall LV1 (99.9/100)
[Description]: Sublimated from phone firewall and human-related concepts, blocks certain malicious intrusions.
[Traits]: None.
Evaluation: None (Editable)
Proficiency Notes:
Proficiency comes from daily experience. Optimizing actions builds proficiency, but it depends on the host's talent. The system can't create nonexistent experience.
Under Hongmeng System 2.0.1, proficiency can be enhanced via mathematical modeling.
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Want to read ahead? Early chapters on: patreon.com/ShadowKage