The Fukaros Familia, starting from DanMachi.

In the far north of the continent, where the cold wind blows year-round, lies Dragon Valley, one of the world's three great secret realms.

Legend has it that the roar of a dragon can tear the sky apart, and its breath can freeze everything.

However, a hundred miles away from this treacherous land, there is a small village that has been almost forgotten by the world.

The afternoon sun pierced through the sparse clouds, casting a warm glow.

The large tree at the village entrance has lush foliage, casting dappled shadows.

A white-haired, blue-eyed boy was lying under a tree, a blade of grass dangling from his mouth, squinting his eyes, looking utterly bored.

"Eight years."

The boy muttered to himself, his gaze fixed on a semi-transparent blue panel in front of him, where a slowly scrolling loading bar remained almost unchanged.

"Hey system, are you even capable? You're not some embarrassing system that crawled out of nowhere, are you?"

The boy's name is Fenyu.

For him, this world was both familiar and strange.

Eight years ago, he was still struggling to make a living in another world. As a naturally gifted worker, he worked overtime until late at night. On his way home, he encountered the Hundred-Ton King. He tried his best but could not defeat him, and the Hundred-Ton King's performance increased by one.

Then he transmigrated to another world. For some unknown reason, he became young again, his body returning to the state of a one or two-year-old, and even his hair and eye color changed.

He also had the standard perk of time travelers: a cheat code.

A system called "Entangled Fate" is said to be able to summon the fantastical characters, weapons, and even abilities from his memories once it is fully charged.

But this system is really unreliable.

In the past eight years, it has only successfully activated once initially, and due to an unknown error, the summoned character was sent to a completely different time and place.

Based on the limited feedback from the system, the other party seemed to have been transported to the distant past and reborn in the "Celestial Realm".

Celestial Realm… Fen Yu chewed on these two words, a bitter smile appearing on his lips.

He certainly knew what that meant.

This is a world where gods, bored, descend to the mortal realm to live alongside humans and form "familias."

Isn't this the setting of an anime he watched in his previous life, "Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?"

The reason he was so certain was because of the person who had rescued him from the wilderness eight years ago.

He still remembers that he was in a daze at the time, and only felt a pair of slightly cool hands pick him up.

He struggled to open his eyes and saw a cold and beautiful face, with long silver hair fluttering slightly in the wind, and eyes that were always tightly closed, as if unwilling to see the world at all.

She wore an elaborate black gothic dress, exuding an air of nobility beyond that of an ordinary person.

Her name is Alphia.

Eight years is enough time for Fenyu to match his memories with reality.

Both the world's center, Orario, which adventurers yearn for, and the thousand-meter-high rock wall that separates the village from Dragon Valley, prove his conjecture.

Alphia was the monster he remembered, hailed as a genius by the gods, belonging to the Hera Familia, and a LV.7 "Silent One".

With the addition of the hearty uncle in the village, named Chardo, who was always wiping his greatsword, Fenyu had completely given up the struggle.

He has indeed arrived in this world, which is fraught with danger yet full of opportunities.

The lazy time under the shade of the trees came to an end quickly.

Fen Yu spat out the white grass stems he had been chewing, sat up from the grass, and patted the dust and grass clippings off his pants.

Sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting dappled patterns of light on him, creating a warm and pleasant atmosphere.

"It's time to go back."

He muttered to himself, his voice carrying a familiarity he himself was unaware of.

"If I don't cook soon, that woman will throw a tantrum again."

Alphia's temper was even colder and harder than the millennia-old ice deep within Dragon Valley.

She would never show mercy to Fen Yu just because he was only ten years old.

Those seemingly slender hands, when swung, carried terrifying force; each strike seemed to shatter his bones.

But Fenyu also admitted that through repeated "discipline," he learned to dodge, to observe, and to find weaknesses in the opponent's attacks amidst excruciating pain.

Nowadays, even if all the children of his age in the village, including the orc children known for their strength, were tied together, they wouldn't be a match for him.

But he's not a masochist.

Who would rather get beaten up for no reason than have a peaceful meal?

Sometimes, especially in the dead of night when he is so aching all over that he can't fall asleep, a burning resentment will ignite in his chest.

He would clench his fists and vow to himself: Just you wait, Alphia. When I grow up, when I become an adventurer, one day I will defeat you and pin you down.

His greatest wish was to one day stand before her and defeat her fair and square as a strong man.

He desperately wanted to see a look of astonishment and shock on that perpetually unchanging, icy face.

That was his savior, and the person who raised him.

This debt of gratitude is as heavy as a mountain, but this desire to challenge is like a wildfire, burning ever brighter.

However, reality proved to be a cold shower.

"It's that damn system again..."

Fen Yu sighed.

He seemed bound by some kind of rule, unable to accept any divine "favor".

"Blessings" are a unique product of this world, and one of the few ways for mortals to become stronger.

The gods of the lower realm use their own divine blood as a medium to inscribe sacred words on the backs of mortals, thereby stimulating the dormant potential within them.

Only those who receive blessings can become adventurers, accumulating "experience points" through fierce battles with monsters, constantly leveling up, and climbing to unimaginable peaks.

Having survived eight years of Alphia's hellish "training," Fenyu's physical abilities have long surpassed those of his peers.

This talent is enough to catch the eye of any god who desires to expand their clan.

In the past few years, quite a few deities who have traveled here have indeed taken a liking to him.

They raved about him, believing he was a born adventurer.

Without exception, when their fingertips traced his back, attempting to inscribe the grace, the divine blood was like a drop of water on a lotus leaf, unable to penetrate no matter what.

His body seemed to be protected by an invisible barrier, rejecting the most fundamental laws of this world.

After repeated failures, even the gods could only give up in regret.

Fen Yu gradually became known in the area as a "freak who couldn't accept favors," and no gods bothered him anymore.

He guessed that this was probably the work of his half-dead "Entangled Fate" system.

Perhaps, only when it is reactivated will I have the chance to embark on that long-awaited path.

......