Kaito Nami's last memory of Earth was face-planting onto his keyboard after a brutal 16-hour coding marathon. The energy drink cans littering his desk had promised him wings; instead, they'd delivered a splitting headache and the kind of exhaustion that made his bones ache.
So when he woke up to silk sheets instead of his crusty anime body pillow, and the scent of sandalwood instead of three-day-old pizza, his first coherent thought was: *Did I finally die?*
His second thought, upon opening his eyes to an ornate ceiling painted with dragons and phoenixes, was: *Oh shit, I'm in one of those novels.*
Kaito bolted upright—or tried to. His body felt wrong. Lighter, but also... weaker? Like someone had replaced his moderately-out-of-shape programmer physique with something made of rice paper and wishful thinking.
"What the hell?" His voice came out different too. Smoother, younger, with an accent that definitely wasn't his Tokyo-born Japanese.
The room around him screamed "ancient China" but with a fantasy twist. Jade ornaments that glowed with faint light. Scrolls covered in characters he somehow could read despite never learning Chinese. A bronze mirror that probably cost more than his entire apartment back home.
Stumbling to the mirror, Kaito got his third shock of the morning.
The face staring back at him wasn't his.
Gone was his 28-year-old, perpetually tired, haven't-seen-the-gym-in-years face. Instead, a handsome twenty-year-old with sharp features, intelligent dark eyes, and the kind of scholarly aesthetic that screamed "I read poetry and look beautiful doing it" gazed back at him.
"Okay, okay, don't panic," Kaito muttered, gripping the edge of the lacquered table. "Transmigration. This is transmigration. I've read enough webnovels to know how this works. There should be—"
**[DING!]**
A blue screen materialized in front of his face, and Kaito yelped, stumbling backward.
**[HAREM SYSTEM INITIALIZING...]**
**[LOADING... 69%...]**
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me."
**[LOADING... 100%]**
**[HAREM SYSTEM ACTIVATED!]**
**[Yo, what's good, my dude!]**
The text on the screen shifted, and suddenly a voice echoed in Kaito's head—young, masculine, and dripping with the kind of casual bro energy that belonged in a college dorm, not a fantasy cultivation world.
"Who—what—" Kaito sputtered.
**[Name's Bro System, bro. I'm your new wingman in this crazy-ass world. Congrats on not being a corporate slave anymore!]**
"Wingman? HAREM System?!" Kaito's voice cracked. "What kind of—"
**[Ay yo, chill. You transmigrated into this weak-ass scholar body, right? Ye Fan, twenty years old, cultivation talent more mid than a Tuesday afternoon. But homeboy had mad skills in politics and war strategy, so the Emperor's forcing him to marry some general's daughter. That's where you come in, bro.]**
Kaito's head spun. Memories that weren't his suddenly flooded in—not completely, but in fragments. The Imperial Academy. Long hours studying ancient texts. The sneers of fellow students who could cultivate circles around him. The Emperor's decree, delivered just yesterday...
"Wait, wait, wait. Marriage? I'm getting married?!"
**[Yeeeeah, buddy! Tomorrow, actually. To Zhao Yue, daughter of General Zhao Tian. And lemme tell you, bro—she is FINE. Like, cultivation world supermodel fine. But here's the thing...]**
A status screen appeared:
---
**[HOST STATUS]**
**Name:** Ye Fan (Kaito Nami)
**Age:** 20
**Cultivation:** Foundation Establishment (Late Stage)
**Physique:** Scholar's Body (Weak)
**Talents:**
- Political Acumen: SSS
- Military Strategy: SS
- Administrative Management: S
- Cultivation Talent: D
**Special Abilities:** None (Yet)
**Harem Members:** 0
---
**[CURRENT SITUATION]**
**Quest:** Survive Your Wedding Night
**Difficulty:** Hard
**Bride:** Zhao Yue
**Bride's Cultivation:** Core Formation (Early Stage)
**Danger Level:** She could literally snap you like a twig, bro
---
Kaito stared at the screen. "She's... stronger than me?"
**[Way stronger, my guy. Like, two full realms stronger. In this world, cultivation levels go: Body Refinement, Qi Gathering, Foundation Establishment—that's you—then Core Formation, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, and it keeps going up from there. You're basically a mortal compared to real cultivators.]**
"And I'm supposed to... what, exactly?"
**[Build a harem, obviously! That's what I'm here for! Every time you add a new woman to your harem, deepen relationships, hit certain milestones—BAM!—you get rewards. Cultivation techniques, pills, special items, all kinds of dope shit. The system's gonna help you go from zero to hero, bro.]**
Kaito rubbed his temples. This was insane. He was in a cultivation world, in someone else's body, with a frat bro AI telling him to build a harem.
"What if I don't want a harem?"
**[Bruh. BRUH. You're literally getting married tomorrow to a smokeshow who can kill you with her pinky finger. The Emperor set this up 'cause he wants you to spy on General Zhao through his daughter. You think you got a choice? Your survival literally depends on making this work!]**
"Spy?!" Kaito's stomach dropped. More fragmented memories surfaced—a private audience with Emperor Shen Long, thinly veiled threats disguised as opportunities, the understanding that Ye Fan was being positioned as an informant.
**[Yeah, man. Emperor's shady as hell. He wants you close to the General's family, probably to keep tabs on the military. You're a political pawn, bro. BUT—]** The system's tone shifted, becoming almost encouraging. **[—with my help, you can flip the script. Get strong, build your power base, protect yourself AND score some beautiful ladies along the way. Win-win!]**
Kaito wanted to argue. He wanted to wake up back in his apartment, realize this was all a dream induced by too much caffeine and too little sleep.
But the silk under his fingers felt too real. The qi he could somehow sense flowing through his weak meridians felt too real. The impending political nightmare felt way too real.
"Fine," he muttered. "What do I need to do?"
**[THAT'S MY BOY!]** The system practically cheered. **[Alright, let's start with the basics. First quest is already loaded:]**
---
**[QUEST: FIRST IMPRESSIONS]**
**Objective:** Successfully meet your bride-to-be, Zhao Yue, and don't completely screw it up
**Rewards:**
- Beginner's Cultivation Technique
- 1x Minor Qi Gathering Pill
- Zhao Yue's Initial Favorability Rating
**Failure Penalty:** She thinks you're trash and the marriage becomes hell on earth, bro
**Time Limit:** Today (She's arriving this afternoon for the pre-wedding meeting)
---
"This afternoon?!" Kaito yelped. "I just woke up in this body!"
**[Yeah, no pressure though, right? Haha! Look, here's the deal: Zhao Yue is dutiful as hell. Her pops told her to marry you, so she's gonna go through with it. But the girl's got feelings, man. She wants respect. She wants love. She's scared you're gonna treat her like crap or dump her when you climb higher in the court or cultivation world.]**
A smaller window appeared with a portrait—and Kaito's breath caught.
Zhao Yue was stunning. Long black hair that cascaded like a waterfall. Eyes like dark jade that somehow conveyed both strength and vulnerability. Features that could've been carved by a master sculptor. Even in the formal portrait, her figure was evident—curves that the elegant robes couldn't hide.
**[Told you she was fine! But bro, she ain't just a pretty face. Girl's a prodigy—music, arrays, combat, all of it. She's achieved Core Formation at nineteen, which is nuts. And she's probably nervous as hell about this arranged marriage too.]**
Kaito swallowed hard. Right. He wasn't just dealing with some game character. If this world was real—and everything indicated it was—then Zhao Yue was a real person with real feelings.
"Okay," he said slowly. "So I need to... make a good impression? Show her I'm not going to be a terrible husband?"
**[Exactly! You got those SSS-rank political skills in this body, use 'em! Be genuine, be respectful, show her you're not gonna be a dick. Easy mode, bro.]**
"Nothing about this is easy mode," Kaito muttered.
A knock at the door made him jump.
"Young Master Ye?" A female voice called from outside. "Are you awake? The tailor is here for your wedding robes fitting, and your instructor requested your presence for morning meditation."
Right. He was Ye Fan now. A scholar at the Imperial Academy. He had responsibilities, a schedule, a whole life he needed to pretend he'd been living.
"I'm awake!" Kaito called back, trying to match the tone from Ye Fan's memories. "I'll be out shortly!"
**[Nice! You got this, my dude. Just act natural, don't blow your cover, and when Zhao Yue shows up, turn on that charm. I'll feed you info as needed. We're a team now, bro!]**
Kaito looked at himself in the mirror again. The young, handsome scholar stared back, looking as uncertain as Kaito felt inside.
"Okay, Ye Fan," he whispered to his reflection. "Let's not die in our first twenty-four hours. That's got to be a record we can manage."
**[HELL YEAH! That's the spirit! Now get dressed—those robes in the wardrobe are fresh. You got a general's daughter to impress in a few hours, and bro, you are NOT showing up looking like you just rolled out of bed.]**
Despite everything—the insanity of the situation, the pressure, the complete upheaval of his entire existence—Kaito felt a small smile tug at his lips.
He was in a cultivation world. He had a system. And apparently, he was getting married tomorrow.
"This is either going to be the greatest adventure of my life," he muttered, moving toward the wardrobe, "or the fastest way to get myself killed."
**[Why not both, bro? Why not both?]**
Yeah. This was going to be interesting.
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**End of Chapter 1**
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Thank you for reading 😊 📚