At noon, the sun hung high, its pure white rays scorching the boundless Emerald Forest.
It was too vast, like a breathing deity, nurturing all living things.
Zooming in, by a small lake in a corner of the Emerald Forest, a young man who had been lying like a corpse under a large tree suddenly sat upright, as if he had risen from the dead.
He appeared to be seventeen or eighteen years old, with black hair, blue eyes, fair skin, and a slender build.
Beside him lay a glass jar with a small amount of pale purple liquid remaining.
Suddenly, he slammed his hands on the ground and dry-heaved frantically onto the grass.
After a long while, he finally recovered and rolled over to lie on the grass.
...Anyway... I seem to have... transmigrated, he muttered to himself intermittently, not in Chinese, but in a language he could understand and speak.
Then, he slapped himself hard twice across the face; the burning pain told him this was not a dream.
He was very nervous and panicked, even considering calling 911 for help from the police.
In his previous life, he was just an ordinary office worker, he didn't smoke or drink, he only vaguely remembered the last memory that flashed by... a lottery ticket.
In any case, he had transmigrated, fresh out of the oven.
A new set of life memories in his mind, along with this robe, this appearance... even his body wasn't the original one!
He sighed, not out of deep-seated bitterness, but the lament of a disheartened person.
Every world is equally ruthless, crushing every ordinary individual; heaven and earth are unkind, treating all things as straw dogs!
What could he do if he didn't accept this fate? Should he jump into the lake now, gambling on whether he could transmigrate back?
He told himself not to be foolish and to calmly accept this life!
Dago Heka, this was the name of his predecessor, and the name he was about to possess, the mark of his renewed life.
He endured the severe headache, accepting the fragmented and messy memories of his predecessor.
After a long time, he controlled his trembling body, sat up again, picked up the glass jar on the ground, and stared intently at the liquid inside.
Some black substances were still floating up and down in the remaining pale purple liquid.
This was the culprit that led to his predecessor's sudden death, a bottle of inferior Mental Potion mixed with unknown substances.
Oh, right, this was a world with extraordinary powers, and the intensity was not small, greatly influencing the world's trajectory.
Dago Heka came from a rural area in a remote Town under the jurisdiction of the Wizard Alliance, his family having been ordinary farmers for generations.
At the age of 16, he was discovered to have 'low-level Wizard talent' during a Wizard census and was sent by the local lord to the distant Aynak Wizarding Academy to learn how to become a Wizard.
Aynak Wizarding Academy is located on a not-so-high peak in the Emerald Forest, and is one of the countless small members within the Wizard Alliance, its strength being pitifully small within the Alliance.
But for ordinary people, the Academy was still an insurmountable mountain.
The entire Academy peak was under a huge runic protective shield, tranquil and peaceful, a place Dago, a young Apprentice Wizard, dreamed of ascending.
At the foot of the mountain was Aynak Town, built around Aynak Wizarding Academy, serving as an important supply hub for the Academy.
The Town was managed and protected by the Academy's leisure Wizards, and order was relatively stable.
Dago was one of the countless entry-level Apprentice Wizards at the Academy, existing at the very bottom of the Wizard ecological chain.
According to his predecessor's memories, Apprentice Wizards were divided into three levels, with different markers for each level.
The primary task during the First-level Apprentice Wizard stage was to practice Meditation to sense the presence of Spiritual Power.
This was the lowest level of the entire Wizard ecosystem; at the Academy, First-level Apprentice Wizards didn't even qualify to reside on the mountain peak.
More importantly, a First-level Apprentice must sense Spiritual Power and advance to the Second-level Apprentice stage by the age of eighteen at the latest.
Dago was already seventeen and a half years old, and he had been stuck at the First-level Apprentice stage for a year and a half.
This was enough to show how low his low-level Wizard talent was!
Sometimes he even wondered if he had been manipulated by capital, wasting so much money and time, only to gain a slightly more flexible mind in the end.
So in the last six months, he frantically took a large number of drugs; he didn't want to return to an ordinary life.
Just like a person living in darkness who sees the light, who would want to return to darkness?
Over the past six months, he had spent a large amount of his savings until he was completely broke, eventually resorting to drinking inferior potions to practice Meditation.
As the saying goes, if you often walk by the river, how can your shoes not get wet?
In his memory, he came to the big tree by the small lake as usual today, and after closing his eyes and drinking this potion containing black substance, he began to meditate.
However, what he didn't expect was that the black substance appeared in his Spiritual Space, and like cancer cells, they rapidly multiplied and spread throughout his predecessor's Spiritual Space.
Until they transformed into a dark abyss that swallowed the predecessor's soul consciousness in the Spiritual Space.
What is this? What kind of world is this? Dying suddenly without a word?
After reviewing the memories before his predecessor's soul annihilation, he broke into a cold sweat; this world was too dangerous!
He spent a long time comforting his wounded little heart with countless self-help stories from his previous life before gradually calming down.
Finally, he decided to avenge his predecessor, or rather, his own enemy now, the unscrupulous merchant in Town who had killed his predecessor.
Otherwise, many other First-level Apprentice Wizards like him would fall victim and die inexplicably.
He slowly walked towards the shallow bank of the lake, casually taking off his two deerskin boots and throwing them on the grass nearby.
He rolled up the hem and sleeves of his robe and stepped into the lake water before him, one step at a time.
The cool lake water covered his ankles, slowly enveloping his calves.
Dago bent down, cupped some water, and splashed it on his face, immediately feeling comfortable and completely relaxed.
On the rippling water surface, the image of a handsome young man with exquisite features swayed and blurred: black hair, sword-like eyebrows, blue eyes....
However, his azure blue eyes were lifeless, his skin was dull and lusterless, his face was slightly swollen, and he had two particularly obvious dark circles under his eyes, giving him an overall ethereal, melancholic air.
What a waste of this good looks; if I had looked like this in my previous life and worked as a gigolo, I would have made a fortune by now, Dago said with a hint of resentment, but then he smiled brightly, as it was all his now.
He kicked the water, scattering the reflection before him, and slowly turned to walk towards the green grass on the shore.
He tidied up the scattered items, preparing to return to the 'home' from his predecessor's memories.
His predecessor originally lived in a rented room in the commoner's district of the Town, but after frantically investing all his money into advancing, he became too poor to pay rent and had to move out, ending up on the streets.
Finally, an old hunter named Roland took pity on him and gave him a Shelter in the forest outside the Town to live in.
Dago planned to temporarily stay in the Shelter and strive to advance to Second-level Apprentice Wizard as soon as possible.
His predecessor, who already had little social interaction, completely adopted a reclusive and solitary life.
.........
Following the path to the Shelter from his predecessor's memories, winding through the secluded forest, he finally arrived at a dirt slope covered with dead branches and rotten leaves, where he stopped.
This was a small stone hut built against the hillside, hidden beneath dead branches.
This was his predecessor's current home, and now it was his home too.
Looking at the closed wooden door, Dago felt a sense of security, more or less.
Dago fumbled for the brass key in his cloth bag and opened the wooden door, which was more symbolic than practical.
He walked inside; the small hut was hot and damp, with a faint smoky smell lingering in the air, and some insect-repelling herbs were still smoldering in the stone fireplace.
Insect-repelling herbs are common plants in the wild forest and are essential resources for survival in the wilderness.
The smoke they produce can drive away most insects and beasts in the forest.
The light inside the house was dim, with a roof made of thick tree trunks, and the overall space was not large, only about seven or eight square meters.
Inside, there were only some simple daily necessities: a wooden cot, a table and chairs, a rice jar, a water jar.....
Basically, that was all there was, very rudimentary.
Dago went to the water jar, scooped a ladle of water with a wooden dipper, sat on the stool, and gulped down several mouthfuls of water.
He didn't dare to drink the water from the small lake; in the wilderness, parasitic infections were the most dangerous.
On the wooden table, there was still some leftover, blackened hard bread from his predecessor.
Dago didn't care about anything else; he grabbed the black bread and ate it in large bites.
At this moment, he couldn't care about table manners; the black bread injected some vitality into his withered body.
Deep in his mind, a faint pain still lingered, as if his entire head was being torn apart.
The annihilation of his predecessor's soul, coupled with countless memory fragments flooding his mind, resulted in his brain being a complete mess.
He could only rub his temples, trying to push some of the pain out of his head.
Runes, Wizard Alliance, Aynak Wizarding Academy, Bloodline Origin, Era of Change... these jumbled memories raced through his mind.
The most important thing now was to process the sudden influx of information in his mind — adapting to his new identity, his family, and the layout and direction of the Town and forest.
As for Aynak Wizarding Academy, sorry, his predecessor had never truly set foot through its main gate.
For First-level Apprentice Wizards like his predecessor, who had no talent and little money, the Academy considered them a waste of space even if they were admitted.
The Meditation he was currently practicing was the common Wizard Universal Meditation Method he bought in Town, and even that cost him a considerable amount of money.
What a complete fool!
In the eyes of Aynak Wizarding Academy, these First-level Apprentice Wizards were like leeks to be harvested, one crop after another.
They euphemistically said: The path is at your feet, only Apprentice Wizards who cultivate Spiritual Power independently are worthy of entering the Academy for further study.
To put it bluntly, the Academy only accepted wealthy and talented Apprentice Wizards.
Second-level Apprentice Wizard was the first hurdle to entering the Wizarding World.
They would receive registration and certification from the Wizard Alliance, allowing them to learn spells and thus pry open a corner of the Wizarding World's door.
The Wizard Alliance had a mandatory rule: those who did not advance to Second-level Apprentice Wizard before the age of eighteen would never be registered or certified again.
Is this why you desperately fought to become a Second-level Apprentice Wizard within six months?
Dago sighed sadly.
This was the deepest obsession left by his predecessor in his mind: he must embark on the path of a Wizard, and he must advance to Second-level Apprentice Wizard within six months.
Okay, I promise this; I will exhaust all means to reach the second level within six months!
Dago silently vowed in his heart.
Suddenly, he felt the pain in his head lessen considerably.
Dago's expression changed; it seemed that the lingering resentment of his predecessor had dissipated!
It seems I'm really being forced into this now; I have to do it, even if I don't want to.
Dago's expression softened a bit; the emotional ups and downs, coupled with the dark and stuffy small wooden house, made him feel drowsy.
He walked straight to the wooden bed, too lazy to take off his clothes, and simply collapsed onto it, falling into a deep sleep.