On January 1st, in the 232nd year of the solar calendar.
Ye Zhibi stood atop the castle's high tower, gazing at the flourishing city, as several Raccoon Demi-human maids helped him into a solemn and magnificent ceremonial robe.
Today was the day His Eminence Joshua, the Pope of the Wisdom Church, would crown him. Rulers from various kingdoms, including elves, dwarves, demi-humans, dragons, orcs, and humans, would come to offer their congratulations. This was his territory, yet two and a half years ago, when he first reincarnated onto the Atlantis continent, he was so weak he couldn't even walk.
Unlike protagonists in other novels who appear with invincible golden fingers, he had nothing back then and was ridiculed by many. Ye Zhibi didn't care much; with the experience and abilities gained from countless setbacks, he manipulated those who had once looked down on him, sending all those self-important enemies to meet Sun God Dibolo.
Ye Zhibi took out a book titled 'Reincarnator's Diary' from the bookshelf. This was a book he wrote, for himself, occasionally looking back at his past hardships to appreciate his current good fortune.
He turned to the first few pages, and the story began at the very start.
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First Rebirth.
In the 229th year of the solar calendar, probably October, Ye Zhibi couldn't remember the exact day. Back then, there were no watches, nor the Eye of Horus to read data.
Stone Village, a remote small village in the Desert, with only a few hundred people, surviving on the spring from the Wisdom Goddess Relic.
"This character reads 'rye', it's a type of food."
The woman before Ye Zhibi, with her healthy, wheat-colored skin, was Sophia. She was the village chief's daughter-in-law. The village chief's son had left the Desert, leaving behind only a small girl named Pol.
Sophia patiently tried to teach Ye Zhibi to read the words in the book. She would also find real objects to show Ye Zhibi, then write characters in the sand tray with her finger.
Ye Zhibi found learning very difficult. He truly didn't understand how Reincarnators in other novels could speak the Another world's language as soon as they arrived.
This was his second month in Stone Village, and under Sophia's careful guidance, he could finally communicate normally with the villagers.
That day, Desert Bandits arrived in Stone Village. They only had sticks, and the villagers held weak stone weapons. It should have been an evenly matched fight, but the villagers, seeing the bandits' ferocity, surrendered one after another. The village chief had just taken people to the Wisdom Church to fetch holy water. In such a situation, most people would choose to hide in their houses.
But Desert Bandits were not magical beasts; they could open doors, or rather, smash them down.
The villagers were dragged out like chickens, kneeling in rows on the scorching sand. Among them were Ye Zhibi, who was learning the language, and Sophia, the village chief's daughter-in-law. The only good news was that Sophia's daughter, Pol, was lying on the rooftop and hadn't been discovered.
Ye Zhibi didn't quite understand the words spewing from the Desert Bandits' mouths; perhaps they had an accent. He only knew these people were uttering insults, and judging by their expressions, perhaps even lewd remarks.
The bandits didn't find much treasure, and there was absolutely no edible food. No one expected to find delicacies in the Desert. Their purpose for coming was for women.
The delicate-looking Sophia became their primary target. Several thin, scar-faced bandits grabbed Sophia and headed towards the house.
They were not much stronger than the villagers, even slightly weaker in physique, but no one dared to lead a rebellion.
A bandit guarding the door saw Ye Zhibi's eyes wandering and kicked him hard, cursing at Ye Zhibi. Even if he didn't quite understand, he knew the bandit meant for him to mind his own business.
Ye Zhibi clutched his stomach and lay on the ground. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the anxious Pol on the rooftop. She was holding the rapier she had brought from the Relic. Ye Zhibi waved at Pol.
Pol threw a tile far away, and as the bandit turned, she tossed the rapier to Ye Zhibi. He immediately erupted, piercing the bandit's shoulder with one thrust. Unfortunately, it didn't hit the heart.
"Cooperate!" This was a word Ye Zhibi had just learned, hoping he hadn't misremembered it.
Seeing this, the villagers stood up and tackled the bandit. Ye Zhibi pulled the rapier from the bandit's body to prevent him from retaliating.
Ye Zhibi entered the house with the rapier. Sophia had already been forced to the foot of the bed, her eyes filled with tears. The bandits were completely unaware of the approaching danger. One could only say that the stone house had good sound insulation, or perhaps the quicksand in the Desert absorbed sound, similar to how one cannot hear people speaking too far away when standing in heavy snow.
There were two people in total. Someone had turned their head when Ye Zhibi first entered. He chose to deal with this person first. The rapier plunged into the person's heart without resistance, and blood splattered all over him like a fountain from the Wisdom Relic.
Ye Zhibi quickly pulled out the rapier and swung it, but the person easily dodged. His body hadn't fully recovered; he was already panting after just a few movements. The bandit took out a sharpened wooden stick from his waist and began to fight Ye Zhibi.
The bandit mumbled incessantly. Finding an opportunity, he struck Ye Zhibi with a blunt weapon. Ye Zhibi felt dizzy and his body went limp, but the bandit didn't want to kill the 'rabble' in front of him so quickly. He clasped both hands around Ye Zhibi's throat and lifted him.
The bandit said another sentence, and he finally understood.
"I want you to watch with your own eyes as your woman is defiled by me." The bandit said this to Ye Zhibi. The bandit took out a rope from behind and tied Ye Zhibi.
Just as Ye Zhibi was about to lose consciousness, the bandit suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood at him, his eyes gradually losing focus.
It was Sophia; she had picked up the rapier he had thrown.
Ye Zhibi sat weakly on the ground, breathing heavily. He gave Sophia a strained smile and said, "Are... you... alright!"
Sophia also said a lot, then quickly went to the cabinet to get medicine to apply to him. Ye Zhibi only understood a few words: I'm fine, and thank you, sir.
With someone leading the way, the villagers finally mustered the courage to drive away these hateful bandits, but not all women in the village were as lucky as Sophia.
Ye Zhibi could see the unwillingness and shame in their eyes.
When the village chief returned, he looked at Ye Zhibi with new eyes, even taking out his treasured good wine, which he had kept for many years, to share with Ye Zhibi.
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Seeing this, Ye Zhibi revealed a genuine smile.
Princess Jasmine, the elf, lounged lazily on his desk, teasing a black and white cat, and asked, "Lord Peter, what makes you so happy?"
"What else could it be? Lord Peter's rags-to-riches story, of course!" The cat actually spoke.
"Sir, may I see?" Jasmine looked at Ye Zhibi with her beautiful, ruby-like eyes, full of hope.
"No."
"Hmm~ I want to see!" Jasmine grabbed Ye Zhibi's hand and shook it hard. She knew no one could resist her coaxing, and this Lord was no exception.
"I said I wouldn't let you see because a diary isn't meant for others to read, but if you want to hear it, I can tell you tonight when I'm free," Ye Zhibi said with a smile.
"No~ I want to hear it now." Jasmine pouted unhappily.
"Alright, alright, I'll tell you now."
The kitten shook its head and said, "A femme fatale!"
"The incident happened on a certain day in the 229th year of the solar calendar. I came to this world..."
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A loud roar woke Ye Zhibi from the darkness. He thought the first thing he would see was low, white walls and a dim bedside lamp. But he seemed unable to see anything; a stinging pain came from his eyes, like being in a murky, dark sea. Anyone would feel fear in the deep sea, and Ye Zhibi was no exception.
He seemed to have just seen a faint light below.
He struggled in terror, flailing his arms. In the chaos, he felt a piece of rubble below. His foot found solid ground, and with a forceful pull, accompanied by a harsh grinding sound, he could hear water flowing out from beneath where he had pulled out the stone.
After the surrounding water had drained, he realized he was in a dusty, translucent container, with a breathing tube still inserted in his nose and mouth. The tube leading to his esophagus still had some yellow food residue emitting a disgusting odor.
"Where... am I?"
Ye Zhibi finally calmed down. He forcefully pulled out the tubes from his nose and mouth, and a wave of nausea rushed to his brain. Tears uncontrollably streamed from his eyes; when had he ever suffered such torment?
He touched the lingering liquid around his eyes, nose, and mouth, looking at the translucent container in front of him, covered in cracks.
He heard a loud noise; something must have exploded just now, and shattered stones had shot at the container.
The container, once cracked, fell apart with a touch. Ye Zhibi stepped out. His feet were cut and bleeding by the shattered stones, and his palms showed pink, tender flesh from wounds, probably from cutting himself when pulling out the stone fragments.
Next to them were two other containers, both shattered beyond recognition, their inner walls covered in solidified black blood clots, and human figures could vaguely be seen inside.
The liquid in the containers had long since dried up. Looking closer, one could see sharp shards of rock had pierced both individuals' chests and heads; they were likely beyond saving.
Their shriveled bodies suggested they had been dead for a long time, yet Ye Zhibi had only just woken up to the sound.
After a quick observation, Ye Zhibi noted the high ceiling, supported by massive granite pillars. Above, intricate stone carvings adorned with transparent gems were visible. Mysterious engravings covered the pillars, and the walls held rusty swords and shields that looked like centuries-old antiques. This place resembled an ancient emperor's tomb.
Through the openwork stone carvings, two moons, one large and one small, could be seen in the sky. The large moon was dark red, and the small moon was pale blue.
If nothing unexpected happened, Ye Zhibi thought, he should be in Another world.
“By the way, where am I? I was just sleeping at home. I didn’t die from overwork, I didn’t fall asleep playing a game, I didn’t go to a convenience store in the middle of the night, I wasn’t hit by a dump truck, I wasn’t stabbed while saving someone, and I certainly didn’t touch the railing on the top floor. Crucially, I didn’t even see a beautiful guiding goddess. Why did I transmigrate?!”
There was no time for such fantasies. He was barely clothed, blood flowed ceaselessly from his right hand, and his body was so emaciated that he could count his ribs. He didn't know how long it had been since he last ate. The thought of the yellow residue on the soft tube made him want to vomit, but his stomach was completely empty.
Walking to the spot of the recent explosion, he could clearly see the dry, cracked earth and withered ancient trees outside the stone hall. A little further away was the endless Desert. Sandstorms could rise hundreds of meters high but couldn't approach this place by an inch.
“It seems I won’t be able to leave anytime soon. I was imagining how wonderful Another world would be!” Ye Zhibi’s voice was hoarse and weak, but he had no time to care about such things now.
He wondered what could have blown open the sturdy granite building. Was it technology from Another world? Or magic?
Ye Zhibi shook his head and walked straight back, struggling to push open an unlatched stone door. Behind it was a hundred-meter-long corridor.
“Let’s see if there are any clothes or food here first.”
Leaving the stone hall, he came to a garden, at least in name. The garden's soil was long cracked, the plants all withered, but a spring in the courtyard had not dried up.
Ye Zhibi walked to the spring, washed his wound with the water, and saw his reflection in the clear spring. He was a scrawny young man, with deep-set eyes, a slightly high nose bridge, and dry, straw-like grayish-brown hair drooping over his head. His eyes were lifeless, and he felt utterly drained.
“Forget it! Compared to those two in the stone hall, being alive is already very lucky.”
After cleaning up, he continued forward. Ahead was a temple-like hall.
Ye Zhibi dragged his weak legs into the dim hall. Inside, he saw that the deity worshipped was not God or a Daoist patriarch, but a damaged and cracked white jade statue of a Goddess. This statue was quite unique; she wore a monocle over her left eye and held a massive book in her right hand, her gaze intently fixed on the book before her.
Staring at the statue for a long time made him dizzy. At this moment, Ye Zhibi felt a dizzying sensation. He pressed his head hard, about to collapse, and leaned against the altar in front of the statue.
“Isn’t this cloth and grain?”
After a while, he finally recovered somewhat. He noticed a red bolt of cloth, cracked black bread, and some dried cactus-like items on the stone table beneath the altar.
“Someone still comes to worship in a place like this?”
Regardless, Ye Zhibi picked up the black bread and bit into it, but the bread was incredibly hard, almost breaking his teeth.
Looking at the black bread, which bore a row of white teeth marks but remained completely untouched, Ye Zhibi couldn't help but think that this was no food; it was a weapon one could wield to beat someone. Fortunately, the dried cactus was chewable, though its taste was not commendable, falling into the category of barely edible.
After eating and resting for a while, he finally recovered some strength. He draped the red cloth over himself, then took the bottles and jars from the altar to the garden to fill them with water. He returned to the stone hall to take a rusty rapier from the wall, strapping it to his waist, as he was currently too weak to carry the longer swords and shields.
Ye Zhibi, with the mindset of exploring a game map, wandered around these stone halls and discovered a tall building not far from the stone hall. There was a path paved with white stone bricks, which clearly stood out; its style was completely different from the sacrificial stone hall.
At the end of the path were two lifelike stone lions, but for some unknown reason, these two lions had a pair of wings growing from their backs. Were they griffins? This further convinced Ye Zhibi that this was Another world, and of the Western fantasy novel type.
The tall building was constructed of unknown white stones, exuding a sacred aura. The building had no doors, and one could see inside at a glance: plants, flowers, insects, and enticing red fruits.
“I hope it’s not an illusion!”
Ye Zhibi cautiously peered inside; there was no danger. Excitedly, he grabbed an unknown fruit and bit into it. The sweet juice stimulated all his senses; he seemed to have never tasted such a delicious fruit before.
After devouring the fruit, he was quickly drawn to something glowing ahead. “What is that?”
He walked deeper into the woods and discovered a treehouse. Inside the treehouse was also a statue of the Goddess, similar to the one on the altar, but much smaller, only human-sized, seemingly even a little smaller than a normal person.
The statue no longer held a book but three glowing orbs. Closer inspection revealed them to be a gold-rimmed monocle, a white leather glove for the left hand, and a blue gemstone ornament.
From the perspective of his previous life, the gemstone was more attractive, so he instinctively reached for it.
The stone Goddess statue disappeared, the tall building disappeared, the orchard disappeared—everything happened so suddenly. All that remained were layers of steps and a huge stone disk under his feet, along with the warm blue gemstone in his hand. Closer inspection revealed a tiny heart beating in the center of the gemstone.
Several blue threads grew from the top of the gemstone, embracing Ye Zhibi like a pair of hands. The threads wrapped around the back of his neck, and the gemstone adhered to his chest, slowly melting into his flesh, leaving a magical array-like emblem on his chest.
“I don’t know what this thing is. Is it a starting weapon? And the old cliché of three items.” Ye Zhibi couldn't tell whether this was Another world or a game set in Another world.
“By the way, why can’t I take all three pieces of equipment? Why force a choice of one out of three?”
Ye Zhibi felt much better after eating the strange fruits from the orchard, or perhaps it was because he took the blue gemstone. At least he no longer felt dizzy.
Besides some pitch-black caves, there didn't seem to be anything else worth exploring in this Relic. Even if someone forced him, Ye Zhibi wouldn't dare to go in! It was time to go outside and take a look. And to fill these bottles and jars with some food and water, after all, it was a Desert out there.
Fortunately, he found some sealable bags, like discarded camel-skin water skins. Ye Zhibi tore off a piece of red ribbon from his body and tied all these bottles and jars around his waist.
Finally, he found some iron shoes from armor in the sacrificial hall. Considering the Desert's temperature, he went back to the garden to find some withered flowers and grasses, which he tied to the soles of the shoes and stuffed inside them. They fit just right. Although they felt a bit lumpy, they could at least provide some insulation.
The Desert has large day-night temperature differences; with some plants stuffed in, he wouldn't be roasted during the day and frozen into an ice pop at night.
Ye Zhibi took one last look at himself in the water, couldn't help but shake his head, and laughed at himself. This was not the spirited appearance of someone who had transmigrated to Another world; he looked more like a scavenger.
He held the rapier in his hand, checked his equipment, feeling confident. Then he pushed open the Relic's great door. The swirling sand relentlessly lashed his face, almost grinding his previously container-soaked, smooth skin into roughness.
He used the red cloth on his body to cover his mouth and nose, preventing sand from blowing into his lungs.
It is said that to get out of the Desert, one must walk in one direction. Here, there was neither a compass nor a direction marker, so he could only walk towards the sun. He needed to be careful because the sun would shift in different directions over time, so he had to pay attention to the changing position of the sun when it was at its brightest, otherwise, he would be circling in the Desert his entire life.