Wang Xi watched the girl step into the elevator before closing the door. He carried the takeout and the package back to the living room.
'Ning Meng?'
He thought to himself.
'What a strange delivery girl... and courier.'
There was nothing wrong with a young woman working two jobs, but her attitude was a bit too serious. She was even role-playing.
The aroma from the bag quickly pulled Wang Xi's attention back, and he stopped overthinking things.
"Well, what's done is done. Time to eat."
He opened the insulated bag, took out the four or five food containers inside, and started to dig in.
Stir-fried pork with chili, hot oil-drizzled dried tofu, braised pork knuckle, mapo tofu, and a taro and vegetable soup.
Wang Xi's mouth was slick with grease as he ate. The little man in his heart had its palms pressed together, kowtowing repeatedly.
'I thank the heavens and the earth! I thank my parents! I thank the fact that the food in this new world is just as good as in my past life!'
He wiped away his snot and tears, feeling secretly relieved.
What a tragedy it would have been to transmigrate to a culinary wasteland.
Surely there aren't transmigrators out there eating nothing but bread and dried fish every day, right?
Wang Xi almost laughed out loud.
"COUGH, COUGH COUGH COUGH—"
He couldn't catch his breath, half-choking on the chili oil. He hastily grabbed his cup and gulped down several mouthfuls of water before letting out a relieved hiss of air.
As he ate, Wang Xi unwrapped the sealed wooden box.
Inside, nestled in black foam, was a purple Stone Ingot about three fingers wide and half a palm long. In the center of the ingot, the fine print "170g" was engraved.
Wang Xi carefully took it out and examined it closely.
"It seems the officials of this new world mastered mature Magic Stone smelting techniques long ago..."
It really did look like a gold bar.
But Gold is malleable, resistant to oxidation and corrosion, and extremely stable. Humanity has studied it for millennia; it's an old friend.
Magic Stones, however, were completely different. They had only appeared in the last decade or two and were a mysterious resource born from disaster, completely alien to humankind.
From this detail alone, Wang Xi could glimpse the unimaginable amount of time and effort the Five Great Countries of the new world had invested in researching and exploring Extraordinary Power.
It was a remarkable feat to have developed so many technologies in such a short time and to have built a nearly complete system centered around the extraordinary.
"As expected, the greatest strengths of us terrifying upright apes are our adaptability and creativity."
Wang Xi remarked with a sigh of admiration.
What doesn't kill humanity will only make it stronger.
"I just wonder if my parents had a hand in this technology..."
He thought of his parents, who were Maze Researchers. In his memory, the two of them spent most of their time at the research institute; the moments they had spent with him were few and far between.
He shook his head, pulling his thoughts back to the present.
Wang Xi gripped the Magic Stone, and with a thought,
SWOOSH—
The purple Stone Ingot vanished from his palm, and text flowed from the dark fissure in his mind:
[Energy: 200]
[2 draws available]
Wang Xi's face lit up with joy.
It was just as he'd guessed: 1 gram of Magic Stone provided 1 point of Energy, giving him just enough for two draws.
And the e-commerce in this new world was pretty reliable, too. 170 grams meant 170 grams, not a fraction less.
If this were his past life, he might have received a two-kilogram basket of purple sweet potatoes instead. And when he tried to use the "tenfold compensation for fakes" policy, the seller would have unleashed their own brand of bullshit jujitsu, an un-targetable, un-reportable domain of pure frustration. The thought alone was terrifying.
Remembering the time he received eleven water cups with cartoon airplanes on them, Wang Xi's fists clenched hard.
'Time to draw cards!'
He slurped down the last of his soup and threw down his chopsticks.
The fissure in his mind slowly opened.
Two white clusters of light appeared, one on the left and one on the right, distinctly separate and not interfering with each other.
'Two Independent Card Pools? One for Wendy and one for Little Sugar Man. Convenient!'
With that thought, Wang Xi selected "Wendy" first.
100 points of Energy vanished instantly. The white light on the left flashed, then shone brilliantly.
"A Swordsman without a sword is like a tiger without its fangs and claws? Hmph, I refuse to believe that..."
Wendy's voice echoed in his mind.
BZZZT—
In the living room, a ball of light materialized in front of Wang Xi.
He cupped his hands to receive it.
A cool card appeared in his palms.
[Iris Body Technique: Battlefield Fighting (Skill Card)]
[Quality: White One Star (Upgradable)]
[The twenty-six-year-old Female Knight, baptized by the fires of war, mastered and integrated military fighting techniques to develop a physical combat style focused on efficient kills and conserving stamina. She once killed over a dozen armored bandits with her bare hands.]
[Upon use, you will become proficient in battlefield fighting and gain complete control over your body.]
"A permanent body technique!"
Wang Xi was delighted.
It was another Passive Skill Card.
Teacher Wendy really was a "treasure trove." All three Universal Cards he'd pulled from her were top-notch.
Without the slightest hesitation, Wang Xi activated it.
The Card dissolved into light and covered his body.
In an instant, Wang Xi felt fighting techniques materialize in his mind, and his body felt as if it had already adapted, ready to use them at any moment.
With his current physical fitness, which was comparable to an athlete's, it was like giving a tiger wings.
Wang Xi eagerly stood up, shaking out his arms and stretching. He threw a few simple punches, then shifted into a stance with elbow strikes and kicks.
The wind whistled with his punches. Compared to his previous crude and unsightly movements, his current posture and form were incredibly natural, even possessing a certain pleasing grace.
'If I run into one of those saccharified monsters again, I could probably take one down one-on-one without the chainsaw.'
Wang Xi clenched his fist, silently assessing his own strength.
'Even if three or four of them surrounded me, it should be fine. I could find opportunities to take them down one by one. But if there were more than that, it would be a different story.'
'Continue!'
He once again issued a command to the Kaos in his mind.
His final 100 points of Energy were consumed, and he drew from the remaining cluster of light.
"So sweet! Just like you, Mommy!"
A little boy's laughter rang out.
Another card appeared in Wang Xi's hand.
The card face depicted a melting blue hard candy.
[Blueberry-flavored Sugar Coating (Skill Card)]
[Quality: White One Star (Upgradable)]
[Seems to be a type of Candy Magic created by a Witch living in the forest. Initially, this magic was only used for decorative purposes.]
[Upon use, your body will be covered in a layer of hardened blue sugar coating with a blueberry scent, which can be used for defense. Each use consumes a certain amount of Magic Power (if you have no Magic Power, it will consume double the stamina).]
"Interesting."
Wang Xi smiled, holding the Universal Card.
Obviously, this was an Active Skill Card.
He just didn't possess the "Magic Power" it consumed, but luckily, he could substitute it with double the stamina.
He tried activating it.
BZZZT—
The card in his hand flashed and merged with his body. It could be materialized or stored within him.
This was the difference between an original Universal Card and an Artificial Card. Artificial Cards could only ever be held in their physical form.
CRACKLE CRACKLE CRACKLE...
Wang Xi raised his hand. A layer of pale blue substance began to cover his skin, starting from the tip of his index finger and spreading at a visible speed across the back of his hand, his wrist, and up his arm.
Soon, his entire forearm looked as if it were wearing a sleek, shiny blue glove.
Wang Xi tried bending a finger to tap on it. It made a dull THUD THUD sound.
A very strange texture.
It had the hardness of metal, yet it was as flexible as leather.
He had a feeling that, if he wanted to, he could cover his entire body in this "blue sugar coating" in under a second.
If he added the Cupid's Protective Suit on top of this, with double the defense, he could probably take a direct hit from the sugar pellets those sugar-men spat out and only suffer a flesh wound.
'Another tool for survival.'
Wang Xi was quite satisfied.
He lowered his arm, and the "blue glove" rapidly faded, dissolving like a mist of starlight. A faint scent of blueberries lingered in the air.
Wang Xi exhaled deeply. He felt as if he'd been jogging for seven or eight minutes, his heart beating slightly faster. This was only a tentative use and hadn't consumed too much stamina.
'Without any so-called Magic Power as a source, I can't maintain this for long by forcing it with just my stamina.'
He now had a basic understanding of the card's consumption rate.
'Hmm, I can probably keep it up for about five minutes.'
...
...
「Two days passed in a flash.」
The days of paid leave were comfortable. Wang Xi barely left the house, spending most of his time in bed.
He scrolled through his phone and watched some livestreams.
His awakened memories gradually merged with his original ones, and with the help of some high-intensity internet surfing, he deepened his understanding of this new world.
His female colleague, Zhu Yuhe, saw that he wasn't replying to her messages and didn't bother him any further, which was a relief.
It was just past eight o'clock this morning.
Wang Xi was already sitting eagerly on the living room sofa, his body relaxed and his eyes closed.
[Projection Entrusted]
[Current World: Fairy Tale]
[Exploration Level: 0.01%]
[Cooldown Complete. Descent Available.]
'Descend.'
Wang Xi issued the command.
The slender fissure in his mind named Kaos opened, and a brilliant light shot out, an invisible force pulling at his consciousness.
In an instant,
Wang Xi felt his surroundings change.
He opened his eyes again—
He was no longer in his living room.
His vision was hazy and moist, filled with steam.
He was leaning back in a wooden bathtub, soaking in warm water. A clean white towel was draped over the edge of the tub next to his hand.
Two pairs of small, delicate hands, one on his left and one on his right, were scrubbing his body and gently massaging him.
Wang Xi was stunned for a moment.
Then, in his peripheral vision, he caught sight of two maids, about seventeen or eighteen years old with their blonde hair tied up, diligently helping him bathe.
'I'm... out of jail?'
He was surprised.
'Looks like Wendy didn't kill me... So what on earth happened during the time my projection was entrusted?'
The time flow between the two worlds was roughly 1:7. Two days in the Main World meant two weeks had passed in the Fairy Tale World.
Strictly speaking, this was his third descent.
The first two times, he had been trapped in a jail cell.
When Wang Xi first awakened his memories in the Main World, he had become aware of Kaos in his mind. That was also when he first opened the gate to the Otherworld.
Unfortunately, he'd been thrown into prison the moment he arrived, completely bewildered by his situation. Only after repeatedly wheedling information out of the guards did he manage to get a rough idea of his identity and what had happened.
In this Otherworld, his name was "Gai Farrell." He was a down-on-his-luck nobleman from Count Randall's Domain and the fiancé of the Count's Daughter, "Sierra Crawford."
Randall was located in the northern part of the Stag Kingdom, where it guarded the border for the Queen and deterred the Northern People.
Unexpectedly, Randall's Knight Commander, one of the Count's most trusted right hands, Wendy Barov, secretly colluded with the enemy. While the Count was away on a visit to the Dunkel Duchy, she joined forces with the Northern People to attack the Count's Domain.
The attack was sudden, and the domain fell.
Everyone, including Sierra and Gai, the Crawford Clan, and many of the domain's high-ranking officials, were all taken prisoner.
Wang Xi had thought of many plans and tried to escape repeatedly, but he had never managed to get out of the prison.
But now, for some unknown reason, he had suddenly been released.
"Hey, do you think Lord Gai will ever wake up?" the maid on the left asked in a whisper.
"I don't know." The other maid shook her head and answered hesitantly. "I heard Lord Gai was... *cough*... traumatized by Wendy."