I reign supreme in the Western fantasy world for eternity.

The top floor of the magic tower at the Royal Capital Magic Academy.

A magic crystal lamp burned on the desk until late into the night. The Vice Dean Theodore Sterling sat at the desk, with seven or eight yellowed manuscripts spread out in front of him. Each manuscript came from the three-locked cabinet deep inside the forbidden library.

He rubbed his dry eyes, his fingertips pausing on a faded piece of writing.

"...After retiring, Dean Ren went into seclusion in the Eastern Territory. In his later years, he focused his research on 'physical tempering,' believing that magical circulation was not the only path for mages. According to records, he once broke the spine of an adult wyvern with his bare hands and withstood three forbidden spells without casting any protective magic."

Theodore flipped through a dozen more pages and suddenly saw a note that had been crossed out and rewritten: "It is said that due to an accident during a magic experiment, his son contracted an incurable magic deterioration disease. The old headmaster exhausted all his knowledge to create the forbidden technique [Hibernation], which can freeze the time of the person being cast on and send them into the future to wait for the possibility of a cure. As the price, he lost his name."

He stared at the line of text for a long time, then paced back and forth in front of the long table.

The news that the new hero had uprooted the sacred mountain with his bare hands and carried the entire mountain on his shoulders had already spread throughout the academy. Students were discussing it animatedly in the cafeteria, and even the professors were privately speculating about the origins of this "Hero of Strength."

Theodore had only recorded it as a special case until this morning, when he accidentally came across the manuscript of that particular dean while sorting through the belongings of the past deans.

In the Eastern Realm, with their powerful physical bodies, they break through the shackles of magic...

What if the new hero is a descendant of the former dean, or even the offspring who was "sent to the future"?

He stopped and took out the spare communication crystal he used to contact the dean from his sleeve, then channeled his spiritual power into it.

Theodore placed the two manuscripts side by side on the table, remained silent for a moment, then took out the communication crystal and infused it with spiritual power. After a long while, the water mirror lit up, and the dean's voice, crackling with static, came from the other end: "What is it now? I just finished reading one..."

"Dean, I've found something that might be related to the new hero."

"Oh? Tell me about it."

Theodore briefly explained his findings. There was a few seconds of silence on the dean's end, followed by a soft "Hmm": "So you think he's a descendant of that dean?"

"Isn't this obvious? Such a powerful physical body is extremely rare in the world. If it weren't for inheritance—"

"Theodore," the dean interrupted him, a weary laugh in his voice, "tell me first, what time is it where you are—no, what time is it?"

"...at dawn."

"Then go to sleep," the dean said. "Does it matter whose descendant he is? The fact that he pulled out the holy sword shows that he is of good character, and the fact that he is a student of our academy shows that he has feelings for the academy. That's enough."

Theodore was about to say something more when a rustling sound of turning pages came from the crystal, followed by the dean's muttering to himself: "And if you've actually read those online novels, you'll find that achieving sainthood in the physical body... is actually quite common."

"What did you say?"

"It's nothing. I'm hanging up now; I still have two hundred chapters to read."

The water mirror went out.

Theodore sat under the lamp, staring at the two open manuscripts before him, motionless for a long time. Outside the window, the night in the capital was turning from inky black to deep blue, and the outline of the church steeple in the distance was gradually becoming clear in the dawn light. He finally sighed, closed the manuscripts, locked them back in the cabinet, and got up to walk to the window.

At the same moment, on Earth, in a corner of a city library.

The dean closed the last book, took off his reading glasses, rubbed the bridge of his nose, and his face was filled with an indescribable expression.

He put the book back on the table, leaned back in his chair, stared at the ceiling for a while, and then suddenly said in a low voice, "What a joke... How could someone become that strong just from reading online novels?"

He flipped to the back of the book cover, glanced at the introduction, and then casually flipped through the contents. It was full of terms like "Foundation Building," "Golden Core," and "Nascent Soul," which were exactly the same terms he had heard from Ji Tian.

The dean closed the book, then suddenly remembered the young man who called himself "Li Feiyu," suspecting that his name was borrowed from online novels, and muttered to himself:

"Could he really have a system? An old man? Or some other kind of cheat code, which is why he finds online novels useful... It can't be 'the power of my thinking,' can it?"

……

Early morning, Elf Royal Court, Border Fortress No. 3.

Ophelia got up before dawn.

She sat on the windowsill, her short, silvery-white hair fluttering slightly in the morning breeze. In her hand, she held a few pieces of polished tortoise shell, her fingertips gently stroking the surface texture.

A moment later, she opened her eyes and let out a soft sigh of relief.

"Found it."

She changed her clothes and walked out of the room, where Ji Tian was already waiting at the end of the corridor.

He had already changed into the silver-white light armor of the warrior, with the holy sword hanging at his waist, and the holy mountain shrunken to the size of a fist and embedded in the hilt.

"Where?"

"About thirty miles to the northeast, there's an abandoned watchtower. The Shadow Demon is lurking there, seemingly observing the border defenses."

Ji Tian nodded and held the holy sword in his hand.

As early as yesterday, Ji Tian had Ophelia divine the location of the Shadow Demon, since scouting and prophecy were much faster than searching by scouts.

"Do you need me to come with you? I can help you predict his route," Ophelia asked.

"No need, you stay and protect them."

Ji Tian took a step forward and, using only his physical body, sped northeast along the hilly area outside the city walls.

A series of clear footprints were left on the ground, each step breaking up the hardened soil beneath their feet.

Not long after, he stopped in front of a half-collapsed watchtower: broken walls and overgrown weeds, it looked like a building that had been abandoned for hundreds of years.

His gaze fell on a darker stone slab at the base of the tower than the others—the dust there was unevenly distributed, indicating that it had been moved not long ago.

"No need to hide anymore, come out yourself. Today is your last day to breathe freely."

No one responded, but the three shadows beneath the stone slab scattered and fled in three different directions.

"Trying to run away?!"

Ji Tian chased directly towards the Shadow Demon with the strongest aura.

The Shadow Demon was incredibly fast, weaving through the shadows like flowing water, almost blending into the shadows, yet Ji Tian's gaze remained fixed on it.

He leaped over a protruding rock, and upon landing, he used the momentum to spin, his body sweeping across several meters, directly blocking the dark figure in front of him.

The shadow demon reacted quickly, its body transforming into several scattered shadows before landing, attempting to escape from different directions.

Ji Tianyi spotted the other party's true form with a single glance, raised his hand and grabbed one of the shadows. The shadow twisted violently in his palm, then was forcibly pulled back by the edge of his grip.

The remaining shadows lost their main body and dissipated in the air.