A Professional Avenger

The first action Lin Yuetian did to start his job was tidy up his stuff according to how the Original in his memory usually sorted his things up. At least, he cleaned up the scene from the accident last night, enough to make room for his workspace.

The work being mentioned itself was Lin Yuetian checking his ability in magic; from trying out basic elemental magic, to finally inspecting any offensive magic spell he might be capable of.

After checking for quite some time, Lin Yuetian put down his hand with a disappointed look on his face.

“This body really has no talent for combat-based magic…all the talent lies purely in study or research-related magic, huh?”

[“Aren’t you the same?”] The System interjected. [“After all, few people have pure talent in violence-related thing like you.”]

“The 3 missions should be separated and dealt with one by one in this case.”

Lin Yuetian automatically ignored his System’s remarks and started to briefly analyze the current situation:

“First of all, in terms of offensive ability, even the apprentice wizard, Jaden, should be stronger than this body right now, he is the Chief Magician of the Wizard Tower, after all. Knight Kaysen himself was able to dig the bones out of this body, furthermore, being able to roam freely upholding justice for a long time without any accident—is proof that his power should not be underestimated. Among those 3 targets, only Prince Wiener has no magic talent, and even has to rely on Royal soldiers to hunt a weak Wizard—in conclusion, this person’s combat ability is the weakest.”

“—So, let’s go find Wiener to start with!”

[“Big Brother,  are you sure you want to call this rough and simple recapitulation, an analysis?”] The System was doubtful.

“Simple or elaborate, rough or sophisticated,” Lin Yuetian claimed confidently, “—What matter is whether it’s useful or not.”

***

Once Lin Yuetian made up his mind, he would immediately get to it, and no more dawdling around.

Remember, Time is Money. Efficiency comes first.

If it was according to the normal process, when a Wizard had to go outside the tower, they should report or request permission from the Chief Magician. However, Lin Yuetian didn’t bother to waste his time following this kind of regulation. Or rather, he was too lazy to contact any of his targets when it’s not their time yet to die. In his words; don’t waste any of your energy on unnecessary acting!

Lin Yuetian promptly set off to the Jon Kingdom overnight. He frequently boosted his journey with magic to accelerate his speed. With a speed of a thousand miles a day, finally, it took him 3 days to reach the border of the Kingdom.

After using magic to alter his appearance, and another magic to mask his magic affinity, he disguised himself as another civilian who wanted to enter the capital city.

After a day’s rest, Lin Yuetian recovered his mana[1]. After a good night’s sleep, all the fatigue from the journey was washed off. So the next day, he rushed to find his first target full of energy.

—Unfortunately for him, there’s an unanticipated circumstance he didn’t see it coming.

For the first time, Lin Yuetian was faced with a huge obstacle he had never thought of in his missions——

Wiener had been dead for a long time!

***

…It couldn’t be helped, truly.

Actually, if one were to carefully assess the whole situation once again, this outcome wasn’t that surprising. After all, compared to mortal humans, Wizards did have a longer life span.

Meanwhile, the Original Lin Yuetian had been wandering to many places since he left the Jon Kingdom.

Not to forget the fact that during this time he had been involved in not just one but two long-and-deep-tragic love affairs. From being broken by love, coming of the new love, and all the processes repeated—it had been hundreds of years already!

Even if Wiener had however little talent in magic, he was in the end, a mortal. A mortal who couldn’t afford to live for that long.

This outcome was something Lin Yuetian had never considered under his habit of formulating the most efficient way to finish his job (and by his job means that, no one would put any assassination request for non-existent targets).

Lin Yuetian momentarily reflected upon the blunder he made this time.

He spent 1-hour doing self-reflection, and after regaining his motivation again, he left the Inn he slept in for the night, attempting to start his job all over again.

First, he started by gathering information. He went to various places which were often frequented by visitors or other crowds. Lin Yuetian needed to know how Wiener had been before his death. It was important to formulate another approach for this job.

Based on the information he got, Prince Wiener had ascended as the King not long after the Original Lin Yuetian was driven out from this Kingdom. King Wiener I was known as a wise ruler. The nation had been developed well under his hand. Historically, he was a long-lived King according to mortal human standards. Even then, the fact that he had little to no aptitude in magic couldn’t be changed. He couldn’t live as long as a Wizard would. Ultimately, he just lived a little past 100 years, before finally dying of old age. His body later was buried in the Royal Burial Ground of the Jon Kingdom after his passing.

Lin Yuetian, “……..”

***

Lin Yuetian had been left speechless after knowing what happened to his target, Wiener.

He remained silent even after they got back to the inn, or even until he finished his dinner afterward.

The System couldn’t figure out his current state. After pondering for a while, he wondered if Lin Yuetian had been discouraged somehow by this unexpected situation. But how could it be possible? What happened to this world? For Lin Yuetian to be dejected——it seemed so implausible, the System would rather believe Lin Yuetian was silent because he thought the bread for his dinner was not to his liking.

The System was thinking wildly when Lin Yuetian finally spoke.

“There’s something I want to ask you.” He said.

[“I don’t know! I swear I don’t know how this happened!”] The System replied in a hurry.

Before Lin Yuetian further questioned him, he had already started to explain himself as smoothly as one would to spill some beans:

[“In theory, the Original’s wishes, hence our missions, must be feasible to be completed. Previously, when I decided to pick this world I merely chose it on the fact that your body here would have sufficient strength, and the task is relatively simple at first glance. I intend to use this world as a vacation, for you to take a break after what happened in our last world. I really have no clue why all this happened instead!”]

Amid his babble, an idea suddenly whizzed into his mind, [“—Oh! I know! I know what you can do now! Why don’t you go to the System Mall to buy a Necromancer Skill?”]

Lin Yuetian didn’t follow his System’s suggestion immediately, but calmly explained what he wanted to say at first, “That’s not what I want to talk about. I never see it as a problem, to begin with. I’m not someone who can be easily discouraged or provoked.”

“—What I want to ask you is; I understand and memorize the Ghost Refining technique from the last world…So, can I use that skill here?”

The System, [“…”]

Should he admire Lin Yuetian’s mental fortitude, after all? For this guy to actually be able to not only understand but also memorize the Ghost Refining technique, while being cut alive, just…is he for real?

But in the end, the System chose not to think about it and picked another focus:

[“You can try it, go ahead and see if that work. Just go and experiment all you want.”] The System was simply lost for words.

[‘…But, Big Brother, you can spend 1,000 points to buy Necromancer Magic from the Mall. It’s not only faster to get but also more convenient. It’s genuine, no trashy product to cheat you off. It’s more efficient compared to the complicated Taoism Technique, don’t you think?”]

“Efficiency is important, but don’t forget I’m a hard worker and frugal man. If I have my own skill, what do I need to bother throwing my points for?” Lin Yuetian reasoned it with.

[“Hard worker? Frugal?? Big Brother, do you think I already forgot how stalwart you were or how gallant you look when you spent money like dung in the past worlds???”] The System angrily tore down his narcissistic boasting, he couldn’t bear Lin Yuetian’s blatant disregard for his memory capacity.

“As the saying goes, you have to increase revenue—and reduce expenditure.”

Lin Yuetian was eloquent after all, he was unfazed and instead continued to explain his idea, “When you have capital there’s no need to be stingy with oneself. But now there’s no revenue to be increased, I haven’t got any capital yet, so I have to cut any costs to a minimum as best as I could.”

The System couldn’t find any rebuttal, and could only support his choice. [“Fine, fine. Just go and try then.”]

***

In this way, Lin Yuetian really went to test his Ghost Refining Technique.

The System, however, soon ended up regretting his encouragement earlier. The ghost Refining technique meant you need a human body to do it. But, dear, did you forget that Wiener has been dead for hundreds of years??

Lin Yuetian kept proceeding forward with his experiment, however. He broke into the Royal Burial Ground of the Jon Kingdom relying on the stealth technique he was good at. The Burial Ground itself was located behind the church of the God of Light.

It was midnight, and the moonlight silently descended on the crest of the God of Light at the top of the church, casting a shadow on the rows of tombstones below. The pure white statue of an angel placed in the center of the cemetery was carved with a melancholic expression on its face, but tonight it looked especially mournful, as if it’d shed tears in the next second.

Despite being in a place thick with a somber and grim atmosphere, Lin Yuetian didn’t feel anything in the slightest. He dug out Wiener’s body, or now had long become a pile of bones, by directly digging them out with a digging spell.

[“Noooo~~~Save Me~~~”] In the background, the System decided to do some voice-over to reduce the thick sense of blasphemy.

He deliberately exaggeratedly called for help inside Lin Yuetian’s mind, [“Heeelpppp! Es-Oww-Ess—SOS!”]

“Stop yelling. It sounds fake as hell.” Lin Yuetian commented on his System’s voice acting.

“Actually, you can learn how to better scream or howl from the little ghosts in our last world. Some of their ghostly cries were quite frightening. Even I can’t help but shudder a little.”

[“…Brother, if I told you to scram and mind your business and don’t comment, it’s not impolite, right?”]

In this way, the pair of System and Tasker ignored the highly sacrilegious undertones behind their current activity—by joking and laughing with each other.

Lin Yuetian’s movement never stopped as he skillfully drew a formation, sprinkled the raw rice and pine branches he brought along with him, and finally began picking up various parts of bones from the piles he dug out, and threw them on top of the array before he cast the spells.

If it were seen from a 3rd perspective, his action was quite absurd and silly.

But surprisingly, the nonsensical and somewhat comical execution of this Ghost Refining, ended up diluting some of the haze in the System’s heart. At least the psychological shadow was not as heavy as it should be.

If Lin Yuetian did this purposefully for his sake, then the System was willing to admit, [“Big Brother, that’s really gentle of you!”]

***

To the System’s astonishment, that kind of absurd and seemingly random array could actually succeed!

It seemed like Ghost Refining as a technique itself had been automatically adjusted by the law of this world, and was classified into a branch of necromancy. Hence, the technique actually worked just fine.

Soon the dense gray fog rose from the scattered white bones. The fog gradually gathered and condensed into a human form, starting from the legs to the upper body, and finally forming a translucent face of a man with a dazed expression.

Thus, the former King Wiener finally made his appearance in front of Lin Yuetian.

Speaking of which, his current appearance was how he looked when he died. Right now his temples were covered with gray hairs, and his face was full of wrinkles. In other words, his current look was totally different compared to the handsome youth in Lin Yuetian’s memory.

Not long after, Wiener’s consciousness also slowly returned.

When he opened his eyes, the person standing before him was Lin Yuetian, his past lover, one he had betrayed and chased out by his own hand.

The old King was shocked for a moment. The way he looked so panicked was similar to when the System recited Buddhist Scriptures every time. His lips were quivering for a long time, but no words came out.

“Your Highness.” Lin Yuetian greeted him.

He was already tired of waiting, so putting an act based on the Original Lin Yuetian’s behavior, he politely congratulated the old King,

“Welcome back to the world.”

Inside his mind, the System rolled his eyes. [“Is it really worth the celebration to be resurrected only to unluckily meet you soon after?”]

***

References↑1MP in magic stats.