The dark, cramped room was somehow stuffed with two wooden beds, a wooden table ready to fall apart at any moment, two relatively intact wooden chairs, and a stove covered in dust and grime. This left only a narrow aisle just wide enough for a person to squeeze through.
A faint ray of light filtered in through a small transom on the southern wall. Illuminated by this beam, dust motes drifted aimlessly through the air, floating as freely as untethered mayflies.
In the flickering light, a skinny teenage boy lay flat on one of the slightly damp wooden beds. The boy—named Gaode in both his past and present lives—used the faint light to survey the dusty, cramped room, inhaling the lingering scent of mildew in the air. The surroundings were dead silent. This place felt less like a residence and more like a claustrophobic prison cell.
"Are you saying I've been unconscious for almost a day?" Gaode finally spoke, asking the boy who could ostensibly be called his roommate.
"I thought you were dead! You scared me to death!" The boy who replied was extremely frail. Gaode's own build was already considered skinny, but this boy was much thinner, looking severely malnourished. His small stature made him appear to be only eight or nine years old.
Of course, Gaode knew the boy was actually thirteen. He was the exact same age. In his previous world, a thirteen-year-old was merely a child. But here, a thirteen-year-old was already treated as an adult.
Why had his "former self" been unconscious for almost a day? More accurately, how had his former self died? It must have been that very death that allowed him to take over this body. It was a simple deduction.
Unfortunately, Gaode had absolutely no recollection of how his former self had died. He didn't even know where he was, what his current circumstances were, or the name of the roommate standing before him. Fortunately, it wasn't a total blank; his predecessor had left him with a portion of his memories. A few things that Gaode considered truly important were etched clearly into his mind, impossible to shake.
Perhaps, for his former self, the time spent here had been far too painful, so those memories simply weren't passed on during the body takeover. Gaode figured this might actually be a good thing. If he had inherited every single memory of his predecessor, who would he be? His predecessor, his original self, or a newly fused personality? He had no desire for his sense of self to change. The downside, however, was that he urgently needed to figure out his current situation.
As luck would have it, he didn't need to painstakingly fish for clues. His roommate, Amy, was already rambling with lingering fear, offering answers without Gaode even having to ask.
"I knew this day would come. Even though you're the only one among us who can independently concoct the Basic Spider Venom Potion, Gaode, it means absolutely nothing in the eyes of Mage Seda..."
Amy paused, glancing at Gaode's expressionless face. Seemingly afraid he had offended him, he mumbled, "I mean, we're called apprentices, but everyone knows Mage Seda doesn't treat us like humans at all. We're just his human lab rats and free servants.
"So, Mage Seda doesn't care about our abilities whatsoever."
Hearing this, Gaode could already guess how he had ended up unconscious. Key word: Potion testing.
Beside him, Amy was still chattering away. It was obvious that Gaode's previous state had terrified him, and he needed to talk to relieve his anxiety.
"I'm telling you, I checked your breath earlier. You weren't breathing at all, and I couldn't hear a heartbeat. You were as dead as dead could be! I can't believe you woke up after all that. If you weren't sitting here talking to me perfectly fine right now, I'd suspect you were an undead Ghost instead of a human!"
Amy slapped his thigh, thrilled by his roommate's resurrection. In a place like this, a companion was his spiritual pillar. Besides, if Gaode had died, it likely wouldn't be long before it was his turn to test a Potion.
"Could it be that the Potion Mage Seda brewed was a success?" Amy guessed.
The thought made him even more excited. If it had really succeeded, an overjoyed Mage Seda would surely give them a few good days. Moreover, maybe they wouldn't be needed for Potion testing anymore? After all, the Potion was already complete.
Gaode, however, wasn't nearly as optimistic. He knew the truth. The Potion brewed by the Mage Seda that Amy kept mentioning had not succeeded. Rather, it had successfully sent Amy's good roommate to the afterlife.
Gaode rubbed his still-throbbing Sun temples, focusing his Spirit to organize his thoughts. As a mathematics student at Jing University, the country's top university, he had been pulling all-nighters at the campus library to rush his graduation thesis. Utterly exhausted, he had slumped over his desk for a short nap. When he woke up, all he saw was billowing smoke and a blinding, bloody red. Endless tongues of fire had been licking toward him, leaving no room to struggle. Once a fire broke out in a place like a library, it was nearly impossible to stop. Thus, Gaode's fate had been sealed.
People who studied mathematics were generally rational and disbelieved in the occult. However, the ironclad reality told Gaode that this body was no longer his own, and it certainly wasn't a case of reverse aging. An incredibly metaphysical event like transmigration had actually happened to him.
Between Amy's ceaseless chatter and his own occasional probing questions, it had taken only half a day for Gaode to grasp his current predicament. He was an orphaned street beggar whom Mage Seda had taken in as an apprentice and brought to this Medicinal Garden. His duties involved tending to herbs, concocting Potions, running errands, and... testing Potions on his own body.
Aside from Mage Seda, everyone else in the entire Medicinal Garden shared the same apprentice status as Gaode and Amy. The number of apprentices was kept at around ten year-round. However, this was a dynamic stability. Every so often, Mage Seda would drag an apprentice away to test his newly brewed Potion. None of them knew exactly what Potion Mage Seda was trying to create; they only knew he had consistently failed and never succeeded. And with every failure, the test subject would die on the spot, with zero chance of survival. Whenever the number of apprentices in the Medicinal Garden dropped below five, Mage Seda would go out and bring back a fresh batch of about five new apprentices to maintain the numbers. As for where they came from, they were almost all orphaned beggars like Gaode.
"Why not try to escape?" Gaode asked Amy thoughtfully, sorting through the somewhat chaotic thoughts in his head.
"Are you crazy?" Amy cried out in shock. "Did you forget? Mage Seda branded us with a Tracking Mark! No matter where we run, he has a way of Tracking us down. If we stay, we can at least eke out a living, but if we dare to run, we're dead on the spot!"
A Tracking Mark... Gaode's gaze narrowed as he fell into deep thought. If transmigration was metaphysical, then this world was the metaphysics of metaphysics. This was a world where Magic existed.
Yes. Magic.
The Magic in this world was entirely unlike the superstitious methods of drawing talismans or chanting incantations used by a Sorcerer. It was a true art of miraculous transformation, a heaven-defying power that could alter objects and reality through unscientific means. The Tracking Mark Amy mentioned was a form of Magic.
As a top student who had received a modern education, Gaode should have scoffed at such mystical powers that supposedly only existed in fiction and film. Deep-rooted beliefs were not something Amy could shatter with just a few words. The reason Gaode accepted the concept of Magic so easily was quite simple.
He licked his chapped lips and looked toward the nearby stove.
Without Gaode making any physical movement, the clay pot hanging over the stove suddenly levitated. It drifted over the rickety wooden table and tilted slightly, pouring boiling hot water straight into a cup resting on the surface. The clay pot then settled gently onto the table, while the cup full of hot water lifted off and floated smoothly over to Gaode.
Gaode reached out, took the cup, and took a small sip to moisten his throat, which was parched from a day of unconsciousness. Then, he simply let go. But the cup didn't fall. As if defying gravity, it remained suspended in midair and glided back to the table at the same steady pace.
Throughout this entire process, Gaode hadn't moved a muscle besides glancing at the stove. Amy hadn't moved either, and there was no third person in the room. It was as if an invisible third party—or an unseen hand—had completed this uncomplicated sequence to pour Gaode a glass of water.
Had this happened in Gaode's original world, it would have been a profoundly terrifying sight. Yet, both people in the room maintained normal expressions, acting as if this bizarre, supernatural event was an everyday occurrence.
Gaode appeared calm on the surface, but a storm was already raging in his heart. His predecessor hadn't left him any memories of daily life, but had passed on all the knowledge he possessed. This included language, his understanding of the world, and most importantly, his knowledge regarding Magic and Potion brewing. No matter where one was, knowledge was always the most precious commodity. Thus, Gaode felt incredibly fortunate that his predecessor had left him the things that truly mattered.
And the move he had just performed was one of the only two Tricks his predecessor had mastered.
[Mage's Hand] (Transformation Series, 0th Ring):
Within the Casting Distance, a floating Ghost Hand appears and persists until the Magic ends or is actively dismissed. If the Ghost Hand moves beyond 30 feet (10 meters) or if Mage's Hand is cast again, the existing Ghost Hand disappears. The Mage's Hand can perform simple actions, such as manipulating an object, opening an unlocked door or container, or pouring out the contents of a vial. However, it cannot carry objects weighing more than 10 pounds (approximately 4.5 kilograms) or activate magical items.
For a Mage, it was merely an insignificant Trick, yet it brought Gaode an indescribable sense of shock.
He marveled, "Mage's Hand...
"It isn't even considered Magic; it can only be called a Trick...
"This is a world with true mighty power and truth...
"The mighty power of the law, the truth of the art... This is...
"Magic!"