Chapter 1: Nous's Invitation
“I’ve done it! I’ve done it! This old Daoist has finally done it!”
Inside a cave nestled within a vast snowfield, a handsome young man stared with fanatical intensity at a miniature glowing tower. The smile on his face was so wide it was physically impossible to suppress. If the ground beneath him weren’t so uneven and hard, he might have started wriggling around like a ecstatic maggot right then and there.
“A genius! I truly am a genius! A genius among geniuses!”
His name was Su Ran. He was a transmigrator who was both lucky and profoundly unlucky. Half a year ago, a truck driver had sent him to another world to meet a performance quota. Most young men would have been overjoyed at the prospect, but Su Ran was different.
He had faced a “collapse start”finding himself stranded in the middle of a boundless, frozen wasteland.
Fortunately, he was bound to a system. By completing tasks, he could earn opportunities to choose rewards. To compensate for his disastrous start, the system had provided one free choice and enough supplies to last a year.
The choices were: “The power to crush every living being in this current world” or “Wisdom that exceeds all imagination.”
At that time, Su Ran was so cold he could barely move. Yet, the freezing temperature had left his mind exceptionally sharp. He wasn’t seduced by the promise of invincibility. He chose wisdom.
The reason was simple: with a system, this wouldn’t be his only chance to choose. He decided to enhance his brain so that when future opportunities arose, he could use his superior intellect to make the most optimal decisions.
What followed was straightforward. After receiving this wisdom and putting it to use for a while, he realized it wasn’t just a simple increase in IQ. It was the power of “I fink it works”the ability to manifest reality through sheer cognitive conviction.
With that kind of wisdom, what did raw power matter? He wasn’t some brute who liked using his fists. To win with a smile while one’s enemies turned to ashnow that was style.
In just six short months, relying on his “I fink it works” wisdom, he had successfully constructed the Plasma Spark from the Ultraman series! (Or something close to it.) It was an artificial sun capable of evolving a human into an Ultra. Its light filled the entire cave.
“This definitely works better than a campfire!”
Considering the importance of this power, he thought it over for a long time before deciding to take that light and shove it directly into his body. It had been designed to adapt to the human frame, and since it was built with limited resources, it wasn’t quite as powerful as a true sun. It wouldn’t kill him.
“Hiss!”
The moment the light of the Plasma Spark merged with his body, Su Ran sucked in a sharp breath. Even if it wouldn’t make him explode, the sensation of that energy permeating his cells was terrifying. He felt the power radiating outward from his chest, and his body suddenly stopped responding to his commands.
Did I get the wrong script?
Without control over his muscles, his balance vanished. Su Ran fell straight to the ground, staring blankly at the ceiling. Before he lost control over his eyelids, he blinked hard. Then, everything went pitch black.
There was no sensation, no lightnot even the light of his own imagination.
Did I actually screw up?
Just as Su Ran was about to sink into despair, a piercing red light appeared, occupying his entire field of vision. A massive machine appeared before him.
“I thought I was making a Plasma Spark... what the hell is this?” He stared blankly at the giant mechanical head.
“Question: What species are you?” the massive machine asked.
“I... probably, maybe, I’m still human?” He lifted his arm. By the red glow emanating from the robot’s eyes, he could see that his skin still looked human. He was a bit disappointed he hadn’t turned into an Ultraman. Not even the power of “I fink it works” could manage that? As expected of something so idealistic.
“Negative! You are not a carbon based lifeform,” the giant machine countered.
“I’m not? Then I must have succeeded!” His joy at his successful experiment outweighed his curiosity about this mysterious machine.
“Question: Are you life?”
Su Ran didn’t answer immediately. He basked in his joy for a while, calming his heart before responding.
“Of course! In my view, anything that possesses thought and emotion is life, even if its heart doesn’t beat!”
“...”
The red light flashed for a long moment before the machine spoke again.
“Are you willing to become an Emanator walking the Path of Erudition?”
Su Ran fell silent. He began to think. Half a year of isolation and his fanatical devotion to research had made him forget the details of the game he once knew: Honkai: Star Rail. He had even forgotten the appearance of the Aeon of Erudition.
That was why he hadn’t recognized the machine at first. In the game, you usually only saw that big red light from the side, never face-to-face. After all, his superior intellect was meant for big things; he didn’t have time to dwell on old video games.
Until now.
A snowfield...
“Is this... Jarilo-VI?”
“Negative. This is a primitive planet. The lifeforms here are incapable of outer space travel,” Nous answered, crushing his expectations.
“Fine then.” Su Ran felt a pang of disappointment. He had hoped to run into Bronya or Seele. “I am willing to accept your blessing. Being an Emanator has no downsides for me.”
He wasn’t a conspiracy theorist. He remembered the lore of Star Railhumans couldn’t judge the morality of Aeons using their own values.
Light returned to his vision. Su Ran woke up in the cave. Feeling the surging power within his body, his dampened joy flared up again.
Soon after, a message echoed across the cosmos:
Su Ran, Genius Society Member #85. Located on a remote and tiny planet. Created a near-perfect form of sapient life, incapable of being calculated or understood in composition, possessing the traits of long-life species.
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