Chapter One: Confessed To and Then Transmigrated

"Yishen, thank you for coming here to listen to me today."

"What I want to tell you is, in fact, I've liked you for a very, very long time."

"..."

"The reserve exam for the Martial Academy is over, and I'm afraid that if I don't tell you this now, I might never have a chance again."

"..."

"These are 999 little paper cranes I folded for you myself. Inside each one, I've written a message for you. You don't have to answer me right away; I just want you to know how I feel."

"......"

In a hazy state, Yishen seemed to hear a gentle, light female voice. A petite figure lingered in front of him for a moment, handed him a glass bottle, then hurried away in a fluster.

The fragments of memory in his mind were scattered and disjointed, but they began to piece themselves together slowly. Only when every piece fell into place did Yishen's pupils suddenly contract.

"What?"

"Did someone just confess to me?"

"Or... did I transmigrate?"

The confusion that came from the merging of memories from a previous life and this one was overwhelming. It took him more than a full minute to sort out what had happened.

He had indeed just been confessed to.

And, he had truly transmigrated.

The one who confessed was a girl from his class, mostly drawn in by his good looks.

As for the transmigration, his mind now contained a jumble of intertwined memories. The cause was unknown, but it was clear this was no longer Earth.

Both bodies belonged to him, most likely something to do with those legends about parallel worlds.

From what he could recall, this world's Earth was called Azure Star. Around the Dragon Boat Festival in 2024, a second sun suddenly appeared in the sky. Immediately after, countless strange dimensional gates opened up, unleashing a flood of monsters that attacked humanity indiscriminately, plunging civilization into chaos.

At the same time, a strange symbol appeared in everyone’s mind. When activated, it could scan all physical attributes. Everything became data, as if the entire Azure Star had turned into a game!

Killing monsters granted experience and sometimes special equipment. After leveling up, one could unlock skills on a talent tree, and even use special abilities to craft gear and potions!

The only difference was that all these things were happening in the real world, causing an unprecedented upheaval in human society!

Now, it was already the year 2058—thirty-four years since the mutation began. Humanity had gradually established protected zones under the monster onslaught and built a new civilization.

At present, Yishen was a student at Second High School in Jingmen Safe Zone, having just turned eighteen. After graduating, he would have the chance to enter the Martial Academy for training. Today was the last day of the Martial Academy's reserve exam—a girl who had secretly liked him for a long time had confessed, and then, inexplicably, he had transmigrated and his memories merged.

"Why did she run away so fast? I didn't even say I disagreed," Yishen muttered helplessly once his thoughts cleared. The girl was already out of sight.

If his merged memories weren’t wrong, her name was either Zhu Ke or Chen Ke—she had little presence in class, petite, but with a development that was rather memorable.

Since she was already gone, Yishen turned his attention to his system panel.

————
[Name: Yishen]
[Class: Mage]
[Level: lv2 (31/200)]
[Health: 90/90]
[Mana: 200/200]
[Base Attack: 8-16]
[Base Defense: 5]
[Strength: 8]
[Agility: 11]
[Stamina: 9]
[Intelligence: 20]
[Spirit: 17]
[Skills: None]
[Talent: Heart of the Mage]
[Items: None]
[Equipment: Simple Tunic (F), Simple Trousers (F), Exquisite Shoes (F)]
[Props: None]
[Contribution Points: 0]
————

"Hmm?"

Actually, after the memory fusion, this data panel wasn’t unfamiliar to Yishen. After all, it hovered before his eyes every day; it was only natural to click on it and take a look.

But this time, the system panel differed from his memories. Not only did he now have the extra class of Mage, but under the Talent section, there was an additional, peculiar "Heart of the Mage"!

Yishen focused on this Mage’s Heart, and detailed data soon appeared.

[Heart of the Mage lv1]
[Special Effect 1: Your skills do not consume mana.]
[Special Effect 2: Your skills have no cooldown.]
[Special Effect 3: Locked]
......

"Damn."

Even with mental preparation, Yishen couldn't help but exclaim in shock when he saw the special effects of the Mage’s Heart.

The descriptions were brief, but the implications were terrifying.

First, no resource cost?

Second, no cooldown?

This was the Heart of the Mage? Wasn’t this the Heart of Invincibility?

Yishen really wanted to try casting a skill, but realized he only had this overpowered Mage’s Heart yet hadn’t learned any skills.

......

"It’s fine. Once I level up, I’ll be invincible."

He silently reassured himself.

Because he had only just turned eighteen and hadn’t joined the combat ranks, his level was stuck at 2. The experience points he had were from a rare occasion when his parents took him along for a bit of monster hunting.

But to ensure student safety in secondary school and prevent conflicts, students weren’t allowed to exceed level 5. Young age meant they couldn’t enter combat zones, and schools had regular checks that limited everyone’s level.

According to current federal regulations, only after high school, upon entering the Martial Academy reserves, would specialized teachers guide students in training, slowly raising them to level 10 and then into the official combat ranks.

But after this transmigration, his biggest advantage over others was his class.

In this era, the Mage class was more valuable than gold.

It was a high-output, long-range class, with plenty of convenient survival skills.

On the market, a Mage transfer certificate was worth over fifty thousand contribution points—equivalent to more than five million in the old world’s currency!

Only families with deep pockets could afford to customize their children's classes. Most ordinary people had to remain commoners for a long time, hoping a transfer certificate might drop from a lucky monster kill someday.

Though Yishen’s family was well-off, they spent where necessary and saved where they could. Saving the cost of a transfer certificate and taking a girl out for some fun was exactly what someone of his status and background should be doing.