June 1991.
Amid the pastoral ridges, a boy of about eleven squatted on the ground, staring intently at a blade of grass beside him.
It was just an ordinary foxtail, swaying in the summer breeze. Yet he gazed at it as though it were a rare treasure. Slowly, he raised his hand and touched its tassel with his fingertip.
The air rippled like water. Before his eyes, the foxtail began to grow at a visible speed. Its fuzzy tassel swelled, becoming plump like a ripe head of rice.
"It really works! The system is real!"
The boy's clear eyes lit up with excitement as he watched the transformation.
His name was Leonard William, no longer an ordinary boy of eleven. What set him apart was his past life—he had once been a professional bounty-hunting "cleaner" before arriving in this world.
That old identity no longer mattered. Here, in the English countryside of the Cotswolds, he was simply Leonard, a rural boy. And this year, at eleven, Leonard finally received his cheat—the Plant Master System.
The system granted him the ability to tame plants and optimize them with special skills. Just now, when he had used the ability on the foxtail, the system immediately responded with a prompt:
[You have used the innate skill: Optimize Growth. Target maturity increased, and a random beneficial mutation was granted to the host.]
[Poaceae family, foxtail: Mutation direction—edible value and nutritional content increased by 1000%.]
"Phew... System, open the panel."
Eager to confirm it, Leonard called up the system's interface:
Host: Leonard
Novice Plant Apprentice (0/100)
Innate Skill: Optimize Growth (Accelerates plant growth and produces beneficial mutations)
The panel was simple, but Leonard had no doubts about its power.
He had just optimized a common foxtail—normally nothing more than fodder for livestock—and it had nearly turned into rice. What did that mean? It meant fortune.
On a small scale, he could one day buy a farm and get rich just by planting crops. On a larger scale, he could become an agricultural scientist, transform seeds, and gain both fame and fortune.
That was worth far more than his old life as a bounty hunter.
With a mix of "Damn, I'm incredible" and "Damn, it'll still take me at least seven years to be incredible," Leonard trudged slowly home.
The Cotswolds was a land of picturesque beauty, famed for preserving the essence of the English countryside. Leonard's home was part of that scenery—a farm on the very edge of the village.
He lived there with his only relative, his grandfather Londo, who supported them through the farm.
As for Leonard's parents, he had never seen them. Neighbors said they'd died in a car accident. So it seemed the parents of transmigrators really were cursed.
His grandfather was a peculiar man. Though he treated Leonard decently, his moods shifted unpredictably, as if shaped by some childhood misfortune. If Leonard hadn't been a mentally mature transmigrator, he might have grown up sullen and withdrawn.
When Leonard returned, the unlit house was dim, but he knew his grandfather was there—Londo seldom went into town. In the past, he had handled errands himself, but after Leonard turned eight, he sent the boy instead.
Thankfully, the farm was self-sufficient. They only needed to sell things like salt or spices; otherwise Leonard would have had nothing to bring back.
Grandfather Londo seemed to hold the townsfolk in contempt. It wasn't about wealth or poverty—it was a cold, superior disdain. Leonard had no idea where an old country farmer got such arrogance.
Feeling his way in the dark, Leonard lit the kerosene lamp by the door and carried it into the house.
There was one thing about his grandfather that baffled him most: it was the late twentieth century, and yet their home had no electricity. No appliances, no farm machinery—everything was done by hand. If not for the animal products around the house, Leonard might have thought his grandfather was an extreme environmentalist.
"Grandpa, I'm home."
Leonard entered the living room with the lamp. There sat Londo on his favorite deer-hide rug, holding a letter, his expression caught somewhere between sorrow and joy.
Was he having an episode?
Leonard's heart skipped. His grandfather wasn't young anymore; senility could strike at any time.
"Are you all right?"
He hurried forward, reaching to help him up. But the moment his hand touched Londo's arm, his grandfather gripped him with the strength of iron tongs.
The kerosene lamp crashed to the floor. Oil spread across the rug, flames leaping up, but Londo paid it no mind. His fervent gaze locked on Leonard.
"Leonard, you've been accepted to Hogwarts!"
Leonard stared at him in shock.
What? Hogwarts?
This is the world of Harry Potter?
I've already planned out my future, and now you want me to become a wizard?