Wizard: My skills can be upgraded indefinitely.

pain.

It felt like being stabbed into the bones by thousands of red-hot needles.

It's like a rusty saw slowly sawing through the spine.

When Ian "woke up," his first feeling was pain.

It wasn't a hallucination; it really hurt.

He moved his fingers, and his knuckles seemed to be rusted, making a "crack" sound with each bend, accompanied by a sharp pain as if his muscles were being torn apart.

He took a breath; the air was thick with the smell of rust, dust, and some kind of stale, rotten odor.

His eyelids felt as heavy as lead, and it took him a lot of effort to open them even a crack.

My vision blurred, and the world spun around me.

The first thing I could see was the gray sky.

This isn't normal gray; it's a deathly gray, like having an ashtray upside down on your head, suffocating you.

A few streaks of dark red light leaked through the gaps in the thick clouds, casting shadows all around.

Then, there's the architecture.

He lay in the ruins, with broken stone slabs at his feet and several broken pillars stuck haphazardly in the ground beside him.

The pillar was covered with black, vein-like vines.

In the distance, there is a collapsed archway, with half of the wall still standing, the plaster peeling off to reveal the charred bricks and stones underneath.

The wind blew through the cracks in the ruins, making a mournful, whistling sound, like something was crying.

Ian took another breath, his chest burning with pain.

He tried to raise his hand and touch his chest; it felt sticky and slippery—it was blood.

There was a lot of blood, which soaked through the tattered robe he was wearing. It was half-congealed, cold, and hard.

"Li Xing..." This is the name of the body.

Filled with despair, resentment, and a final, almost inaudible plea, like shards of broken glass, pierced his mind.

And before disappearing, leaving behind the last fragments of memory.

Twilight City, Star Mark Family, descendants of nobles.

The two brothers, Li Xing and Li Yao.

Last night, a rebellion broke out in Maple Leaf City, resulting in a major riot...

The city fell, I was separated from my brother, and I was hunted down...

Severely injured, I fled... fled to the ruins of this ancient observation platform...

The picture was intermittent, like a broken old film reel, flashing briefly before going black.

The final image captured was the blurry silhouette of a boy being pushed and shoved to the other side amidst the chaotic crowd and flames.

He turned around, his face full of terror, his mouth agape as if he were shouting something, but you couldn't hear him.

"Li Yao..." Ian murmured the name, feeling as if sand was stuck in his throat.

Then, even stronger emotions surged up.

Resentment, anger, hatred, and... longing.

To revitalize the family, find his brother, and seek revenge.

This was the wish that Li Xing made to the void with the last bit of his soul power before he died.

It was also the "price" that Ian promised to pay when he signed that contract.

"Hoo..." Ian closed his eyes, forcing himself to calm down.

The pain was real, and the injuries were severe, but the body wasn't quite dead yet.

Or rather, at the moment of his arrival and merging with that dissipating soul, he forcibly held on to his last breath.

He needs to figure out the current situation first.

Ian tried to mobilize his mental energy, but a sharp, needle-like pain suddenly pierced his brain, causing his vision to go black.

No.

The spiritual sea of ​​this body is like a shattered mirror, covered with cracks.

Ian possessed a faint golden spiritual energy, so thin it was like air; the slightest movement of it caused his soul to tremble.

Crystallized filaments, frost rays, gravitationally collapsed spheres...

None of these magical arts they relied on for survival could be used.

It's not that it can't be used, it's just that the "rules" of this body and this world are vastly different from those of the wizarding world.

He is now pitifully weak.

But... it's not like there's nothing at all.

Ian endured the pain and sank his consciousness into the depths of his mental sea.

"I knew... you would be there."

In the center of that shattered sea of ​​consciousness, a semi-transparent interface, shimmering with a faint light, floated silently.

Name: Li Xing (Ian)

Age: 21

[Realm Level: Mid-Awakening (63%)]

[Bloodline: Star Drawer (Slight Awakening)]

[Status: Severe injury (ruptured internal organs, excessive blood loss, fractured left shoulder bone, minor contamination and erosion)]

【Skill:

Starlight Perception (Bloodline Skill) - Proficient (72%)

Star Step (Bloodline Skill) - Beginner (41%)

Basic Swordsmanship (Rune Art) - Proficiency (65%)

panel.

You've never let me down!

Although the style has been simplified and its functions seem to be limited to the system of this body and this world, it still exists.

Ian stared at the description following "seriously injured" and twitched the corner of his mouth.

"The game starts on hellish difficulty..."

He tried to move his left leg, wincing in pain, but the bone wasn't broken.

My right arm can move, but I can't use my left shoulder at all; even the slightest movement causes excruciating pain.

His internal organs felt like they had been shredded, and every breath he took smelled of blood.

He looked at the wriggling vines climbing all over the pillar, and they seemed somewhat familiar.

"This world... has truly been corrupted by the abyss."

These monstrous things... must be "creations" left to this world by the abyss.

There's also the "Awakening Stage" on the panel. After absorbing the memories, he roughly knows his current strength.

Cola Novels: turn the page and you're in another world.

Compared to his true form, he's a complete weakling.

Similar to a mid-to-late-stage apprentice in the Wizarding World, perhaps even worse.

Ian braced himself against the ground and slowly, bit by bit, sat up.

With every movement, the wound reopened a little, and warm blood seeped out, staining the robe even darker.

He leaned against a broken stone pillar, panting for a while before he could barely suppress the dizziness.

Then, he began to check his belongings.

A deflated leather water bag hung from his waist; he shook it, and only a small portion of murky water remained inside.

He pulled a small cloth bag from his pocket, opened it, and found several pieces of black dough as hard as stone.

There was also a small packet of powder wrapped in oiled paper, which smelled of bitter herbs; it was probably a medicine for wounds in this world.

Most importantly, there was a pendant hanging around her neck.

A silver chain hangs from which hangs a jet-black stone, about the size of a pigeon's egg.

The surface is rough and covered with fine pores, but it feels heavy in the hand and has a unique warm and smooth feel.

The core of a fallen star.

The most treasured heirloom of the Li Xing family.

Ian held it and felt a faint energy flowing slowly inside.

The energy is extremely pure, like the quietest star in the night sky.

This energy resonated faintly with the thin golden mist in his spiritual sea.

"One of the sources of the Star-Drawing bloodline...?"

He tucked the pendant back into his clothes and placed it close to his body.

Then, from the deepest part of his pocket, he pulled out a thin leather booklet, the edges of which showed signs of frequent handling and wear.

The cover is a dark, somber blue, with a few distorted characters written in some kind of silver paint.

He didn't recognize the characters, but he could "understand" their meaning.

【Bloodline Secrets: Star-Guiding Chapter】

Once opened, it was filled with densely packed runes and diagrams, also written in silver ink.

There are also some diagrams illustrating the flow of energy in human meditation.

Many parts were already blurred and illegible, and the pages were yellowed and brittle, as if they would crumble at the slightest touch.

"The Path to Bloodline Advancement..."

Ian quickly flipped through the pages, and with his near-second-level wizard's spiritual essence and comprehension, he soon grasped the core of the matter.

The extraordinary power in this world originates from bloodlines and runes.

Bloodlines were exclusive to the nobility before the Cataclysm, while runes are the orthodox path to transcendence in this world.

"Star Drawers"... a legendary ancient bloodline that resonates with the gravity of stars, subtly influences gravity, and possesses an exceptional sense of direction and energy attraction.

It is very special and rare, especially since it is related to "gravity".

Ian's heart skipped a beat; his gravity magic...

This might be one of the core gains he made when he projected himself into this world.

But it's too early to think about these things now.

He closed the booklet and carefully put it away.

The most urgent thing is to survive, treat the injuries, and then...

Finding his lost younger brother, Li Yao.

According to Li Xing's fragmented memories, a riot broke out in Maple Leaf City last night, and he and his brother were separated in the chaos.

Li Xing was seriously injured and desperately escaped from the city, hiding in the ruins of an ancient observation platform that had long been abandoned in the desolate mountains outside the city.

This place is relatively secluded, but it's definitely not safe in the wilderness.

Ian leaned back, ears perked up, listening intently to the sounds around him.

The wind was still howling, and in the distance, there seemed to be the low, intermittent howls of some wild beast.

Its voice was painful and distorted, unlike that of a normal animal.

Deep within the ruins, a faint rustling sound could be heard, as if something was crawling through the rubble.

Danger is everywhere.

Ian took a deep breath, enduring the excruciating pain, and began to try the most basic "star-drawing" meditation as recorded in the "Star Mark Codex".

He needs to regain some strength as soon as possible, even if it's just a little bit.

As consciousness sank in, the wisp of pale golden mist in the sea of ​​consciousness began to slowly rotate in accordance with some mysterious rhythm.

The Starfall Core in his chest was slightly warm, and a trace of cool, pure energy seeped out.

It seeps into the body through the skin, slowly repairing broken wounds and moisturizing dried-up meridians.

It was very slow, as slow as a snail's pace.

But it is indeed effective.

On the panel, the words "Seriously Injured" flashed slightly after the "Status" column, and the progress was almost invisible to the naked eye.

At the same time, the proficiency of [Starlight Perception] slightly jumped from 72% to 72.01%.

Ian was certain that as long as there was progress, that was good enough.

In this world, the "positive feedback" talent on the panel seems to manifest as an ultra-fast learning speed for any skill and bloodline ability, and even the ability to optimize and break limits.

As long as you practice, you can improve quickly.

This is his greatest asset in this perilous wasteland.

Time passed little by little.

The dark red light in the sky gradually dimmed, and the deathly gray clouds pressed down even lower, as if they were about to collapse.

The rustling sounds from deep within the ruins grew closer and closer.

It was accompanied by a teeth-grinding, bone-grinding "crackling" sound.

Ian suddenly opened his eyes.

A faint golden glint flashed deep within his pupils.

He leaned on the stone pillar and struggled to his feet.

My left shoulder still hurts terribly, but the bleeding from my internal organs seems to have stopped somewhat; at least my breathing isn't as excruciating anymore.

He looked in the direction the sound came from, into the shadow of the archway that had mostly collapsed and was now covered in black vines.

Two pale green dots of light appeared in the darkness.

Then came the third regiment, the fourth regiment...