?? — A Strange Encounter

A/N: My exams are DONE!! Also, I noticed that it was 1st April and couldn't help myself. Enjoy! (Actual chapter will be out probably this sunday)

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Jennifer walked through the streets of Lienmont, trying to dodge the burning rays of the midday sun that showered upon her with vengeance. The city itself was in the central plains of Zweiril, but she often felt the climate not much better than the southern deserts in how warm it got during the summer months.

She walked, going from shade to shade provided by the buildings before eventually reaching the academy library. The place was slowly turning to be one of her favorite places to be in, due to the quiet it provided. It also helped that the library seemed to contain almost everything that she could hope to look for within it, and more.

If only I had access to the deeper regions of this place. The things I could learn…

Putting the thought behind her, Jennifer walked further into the building. A brief nod to Ithea at the desk later, Jennifer was quickly scouring through the books, trying to find something that would reveal more information on time magic, or perhaps what had happened to the giants when her eyes stumbled upon a decrepit book.

She stared at the odd book that seemed extremely out of place amongst the shelf with every other book layered with enchantments to keep them preserved. Her curiosity sufficiently piqued she picked up the book, flipping it open. A little cloud of dust had her in a coughing fit, her eyes stinging. Jennifer quickly used agile wind to blow away the dust, before taking another look into the book.

Strange characters that she couldn’t recognise were written inside, with what looked to be a list of names and some descriptions. She continued to flip through the book, trying to see if she could find some resemblance to any language she was aware of. Jennifer was no linguist, but she knew a fair number of languages well enough to at least know what she was looking at.

Some words caught Jennifer’s eye, characters different even from the rest of the entries. With strange strokes and symbols drawn that resembled, more so than any other written language. Yet for some reason Jennifer found her eyes drawn to them, a strange tug compelling her to pour her magic within.

Yeah, right. As if I’d go about pouring magic into strange unknown books that have clearly got something shady going on with them.

Jennifer closed the book, putting it back on the shelf as she began her search anew for time related books. A sudden shudder halted Jennifer’s steps that ran through the shelf, she turned to look at the source of disturbance when all of a sudden, words began to float in front of her eyes.

Ding! Integration of Alpha system initiated!

"Huh" Jennifer muttered, staring at the message prompt but the words faded away before she could give them a second look. A system prompt while she was wide awake? That was... unusual. The system messages were a quiet thing, a whisper of the world within your mind, heard near the edge of sleep, or as she'd found out, near the edge of death as well. But in either case, the system was never this loud boisterous thing, and what was that odd chime when it had spoken?

Ding! For awakening the Alpha System, you’ve obtained the title “System Forerunner!”

Processing…

Please check your ‘Status’

"Status?" Jennifer muttered out loud, and almost jumped when a blue screen manifested in front of her face with no warning.

Status

Name: Jennifer Laine
Age: 17
Species: Human
Soul Rank - Unranked

Class: [Resourceful Enchanted - lvl 16]
Titles: Mark of Time, System Forerunner.

Skills:

[Enhanced Mana Sense]
[Twofold Enchanting]
[Quick Repair]
[Hastened Enchanting]
[Lune Stone: Guard]
[Enchanted Glass Creation]
[Lesser Arcane Analysis]

Stats:

Vigor: 20
Strength: 14
Dexterity: 17
Endurance: 12
Perception: 16
Magic: 34
Arcane: 28

“Sera, what is going on?” Jennifer said, looking around confused as she tried to find if there was someone else who was seeing something similar. Why had… the system itself changed? Was it because she had touched that strange book?

She took another look at the screen, reading through it once more. Her skills were all listed out within it, alongside titles? She knew of titles, rare things gained when someone had achieved an accomplishment worthy enough to gain a name forever tied to them. It shouldn’t have been so easy to gain one… unless.

Jennifer found her eye drawn back to the old book. I need to see. Is this an illusion? Mind trick? But then why would they keep something like that out in the open here?

She picked up the book once more, quickly reaching the page upon which she had seen the character. The strange pull tugged at her once more as she saw the words, and even though she did not know the language itself, the meaning of the words made itself aware to her.

“The 3rd Law of Cultivation… Qi = MC^2?”

Thunder crackled around her, as light erupted in a frenzy. The world split in two, as an unending darkness peeked from behind. Then, from within the dark, a man stumbled out, his hair long, falling down to his waist, and with dark black hair and eyes that looked about in confusion.

Jennifer jumped back, clutching the book to her chest as her heart thundered in her chest. She stared at the man as he muttered something, cursing a couple of times as he looked around before his eyes settled onto her.

“你知道这个地方在哪里吗？对不起，我想我有点迷路了”

Jennifer blinked at the man, his words sharp and nasal, different from any language that she’d ever heard of. “Umm, I don’t think I know that language.”

The man’s eyes widened in surprise as he heard the words. “Wait, English? No hold on, this is something different. Similar but not quite. Huh, how strange. I can still talk though,” the man spoke, this time in common tongue and it was Jennifer’s turn to stare.

Her eyes looked the man up and down, observing the strange robes he wore. The clothes reminded her of the garments of people from a far off land, far to the east, but Jennifer knew precious little about the other continents. There was almost no contact between them and Lienmont, with its central location on the continent.

“I still can’t believe I got transmigrated again! Or is this isekaied?” the man muttered, rubbing his chin in thought. “Wait, can I still use Qi?” he added suddenly, before pushing his hand forwards. Fire erupted on his palms and Jennifer found herself, staring, her eyes stuck on the flames.

What? Just how- there was no mana used!

Jennifer stared at the man, as he blinked out the flame. For a moment, dark wisps poured around him, and she saw his form shifting. The color of his eyes inverted, as a sinister aura covered them. The feeling faded within moments and Jennifer felt herself getting more and more confused.

“Who are you?” she asked the man. “A spirit? From this book? But you’re so real and I don’t sense a single spell on you…”

“I think I’m the one who wants to know honestly. Where the fuck is this place? Looks like a library, but a lot more- not modern. Western? A lot more familiar somehow. There’s no Qi here either, but I still have what’s in my dantian. How did I even get here? Last I remember, I didn’t just die again,” the man said, scratching his head.

Jennifer felt her chest tighten at the end of the man’s words. Die again? So has he… died before as well? Does he know something? No, first I need to figure out what in Sera’s name is going on.

“Oh, hold the fuck on. This is a LitRPG??” the man let out a long pained groan, as his fingers pointed at something in the air. Jennifer assumed it was a screen like the one she’d seen.

“Out of Xianxia and in a LitRPG. Fuck me man. Labby isn’t around either. This is such a pain in the ass,” the guy muttered, before turning towards her. “Sorry, I just- anyway, I’m Lu Jie. Not really sure how I got to this world, but I’m pretty sure I’m not supposed to be here. What’s your name?”

Jennifer stared at the man, and the hand he’d extended before she went ahead and grabbed it. “I’m Jennifer Laine. I… think I might’ve got you here by mistake?” she replied and the man calmly nodded.

“Seeing that old, clearly magical book in your hand that you’ve been clutching, I’m assuming it’s that. I’m just surprised that no one came around to check in with all that noise. You’d think someone would notice in a Library.”

Now that he mentions it… Jeninfer looked around in surprise. Why hadn’t Ithea come in to check? Or anyone else for that matter? She hadn’t exactly been quiet, and with so much magic being thrown around, it was odd for no one to notice.

“Oh shit. Come with me,” Lu Jie said, grabbing Jennifer's hand. A strange energy passed over her, before the man ran ahead at inhuman speeds, pulling her along with him. Jennifer stumbled for a moment, before she gathered herself, with a pulse of mana, she flared Agile Wind all around her and began to run on her own.

The two quickly reached the other end of the library, where Jennifer noticed a massive crack cutting the building in half. Outside swirled a storm larger than almost anything she’d seen, with islands that floated across the sky. The sky that the library was now floating in.

“I’m… assuming this isn’t normal?” Lu Jie muttered, turning towards a similarly stunned Jennifer.

She shook her head in response, turning to look at Lu Jie. Just what had she gotten herself into?

“Ah well, crap. We’ll need to find some other way back. For both of us. But for now, since we’re stuck together and might die here tragically and very awfully, how about we both get to know each other better? It’d suck to-” before Lu Jie could finish his words, Jennifer felt something pull at her. Words floated in front of her eyes as she turned, and saw a massive beast flying towards them.

Ding! You’ve encountered a [Tyrannical Abyss Dragon - ???]. Your movement has been restricted for 15 seconds.

“Of fucking course,” Lu Jie cursed.

Jennifer couldn’t help but mimic the sentiment. Sera, I’m so dead aren’t I?