Chapter 1: The Otherworlder

Autumn, Dawn Kingdom – Border Town of Bianshu, Northeast Frontier

Far from the Weishui River, a newly cultivated experimental field lay ready for testing new crops. A few tender green shoots grew sparsely, but most of the seeds either failed to sprout or had already withered from scorching.

A poorly dressed farmer paced back and forth at the edge of the field, hoe in hand, his face filled with anxiety.

In the distance, a man in noble attire was approaching hastily, followed closely by a rare sight—a female knight.

The young nobleman had a distinctive head of silvery curls, and his light crimson eyes beneath his brows reflected a trace of worry. Though not devastatingly handsome enough to steal hearts, his refined features exuded the gentle elegance of a cultured man.

The female knight had long blue hair. Even tied into a single ponytail, the ends still reached her waist. Beneath her willow-like brows were a pair of deep blue eyes. Though her face was delicate and pretty, it was expressionless—cold and aloof like a beautiful ice queen.

Upon seeing them approach, the farmer hurriedly set down his hoe, rushed over, and bowed low in greeting, afraid of offending a noble.

“Good afternoon, Lord Marquis.”

Glancing over the state of the field, the marquis furrowed his brows and turned to the farmer.

“It failed again?”

“Yes, Lord Marquis. I tried all the wheat seeds and other crop varieties you provided. No matter how much I watered them, most of the seeds didn’t sprout. The few that did soon withered and died.”

The farmer answered cautiously.

“How could this be? Is there really no solution at all?”

The marquis raised his hand and rubbed his forehead. Disappointment was written all over his face.

Aside from the land along the riverbanks, the rest of the area couldn’t be cultivated. Worse, the amount of arable land and its yield were shrinking every year. It seemed Bianshu Town could never become self-sufficient in food production.

After a brief hesitation, the female knight behind him bit her lip, stepped forward, and tried to console him.

“Lord Owen, there must be a way. It’s not time to give up yet.”

“Thank you, Mapel. I haven’t given up—I’m just trying to figure out what to do with the town from here.”

Forcing away the disappointment, Irwin composed his expression into one of determination. He couldn’t let his chief knight worry for him.

Then he reached out, patted the farmer’s shoulder, and expressed his gratitude.

“Thank you for your hard work over the past six months, helping me test so many seeds.”

“N-no… it wasn’t hard work at all, Lord Marquis!”

Being thanked by a noble left the farmer flustered, struggling to speak clearly.

“Besides, my land’s been cursed anyway—it can’t grow much of anything.”

But right after he said that, the farmer’s face clouded over with worry. He’d tested so many seeds without any success. Would the marquis still honor the promised payment?

Hesitantly, he asked carefully:

“Um, Lord Marquis… I’ve completed the testing task you gave me. I was wondering… is the final reward you promised still valid?”

“Of course it is!” 

Owen said cheerfully, then turned to Mapelle.

“When we return, go find Clive and have him take 20 silver coins from the treasury and give them to him.”

“Yes, sir.” 

Mapel nodded.

Side note: 1 gold coin = 100 silver coins = 10,000 copper coins.

“That’s wonderful! Thank you, thank you, Lord Marquis!”

The farmer was overjoyed. With that money, he wouldn’t have to worry about the coming winter.

Just as he was about to follow Mapel to collect the money, he noticed her expression turn sharp. Her right hand was now resting on the hilt of her sword.

Was she about to silence him? Over 20 silver coins? That couldn’t be right…

Forget the money, I want to live!

Without hesitation, the farmer dropped to his knees, nearly pressing his forehead to the ground as he cried out:

“Lady Knight, please don’t kill me! I beg you! I can forgo the reward!”

He knew pleading was his only option—fighting or fleeing would only make things worse. Against a trained knight, escape or resistance was a death sentence.

“Lord Owen, please be careful.”

But Mapel ignored the farmer entirely. She drew her longsword and quickly stepped in front of Owen, assuming a defensive posture.

What’s going on?!

Confused, the farmer turned his head—only to see a deep, pitch-black hole appear above the experimental field, as if space itself had been pierced.

The black hole sucked in the surrounding air like a vortex and quickly grew to the size of a watermelon.

From within emerged a silver-glowing orb, roughly the size of an egg. After it passed through, the black hole vanished. The orb floated in midair for a moment, then locked onto Owen as its target and shot forward.

“Don’t even think about it!”

Mapel rushed forward and swung her sword at the orb with both hands.

But just as the blade was about to strike, something strange happened. The orb split into two, dodged the attack, then reformed into one and continued on.

Mapel’s face shifted from confusion to panic.

“Get out of the way!” 

She shouted back at Owen.

If he could, Owen would’ve loved to dodge—but the orb seemed to have a mind of its own, chasing him relentlessly. After barely taking two steps, the orb struck him in the head.

But there was no explosion of blood or fractured skull. Instead, the orb seemed to melt into Owen’s forehead.

His body stiffened and collapsed to the ground.

“Lord Owen!!!”

As consciousness slipped away, the last thing Owen saw was a panicked Mapel rushing toward him and the farmer kneeling helplessly in fear.

…

When Owen opened his eyes again, he found himself in a vast, white expanse. He was still wearing the same clothes from when he had visited the experimental field.
And he still vividly remembered what had happened before he blacked out.

In front of him was a table and two chairs, with someone sitting on one of them.

The person had black hair and black eyes, an extraordinary presence, and slightly yellow-toned skin. His clothes were quite strange—he wore a white shirt underneath a black outer outfit, neat and tidy, with a knotted blue silk ribbon on his chest.

Owen had never seen such clothing before, but it somehow felt very formal, like something one would wear on a special occasion.

“Amazing! The experiment worked! I’ve proven the existence of parallel universes!” 

The person muttered to himself excitedly.

Parallel universes? What is he talking about? Owen couldn’t understand a thing. Wait!

Suddenly, Owen realized with shock that he could actually understand what the man was saying—even though it clearly wasn’t the language of this world.

That meant they could communicate. Regaining his composure, Owen fired off a series of questions at the man.

“Who are you? Where is this place? You—”

“Stop! I know you have a lot of questions. There’s plenty of time now. We can talk slowly. Please, have a seat.”

He gestured to the empty chair opposite him. Owen didn’t hesitate and sat down decisively.

“Would you like something to drink?”

“Anything is fine.”

“Then let’s go with black tea.”

With a snap of his fingers, two small teacups and saucers appeared on the table, filled with steaming black tea.

Although surprised by the sudden appearance of the tea, Owen stayed calm and reached for the cup. He wasn’t worried about poison—someone with such power could easily kill him if they wanted to, no need for such petty methods.

As the tea touched his lips, a sparkle flashed in his eyes. The flavor was rich and lingering—this was truly good tea!

“Oh?”

Seeing this, the man looked slightly surprised. 

“You’re quite calm in the face of the unknown. Good mental strength.”

“Panicking won’t help.” 

Owen replied, setting the cup down. 

“Can I ask questions now? Who exactly are you?”

The man took a sip of his own tea and replied unhurriedly, “Don’t be so hasty. Before asking someone else, shouldn’t you introduce yourself first?”

“I am Owen Eisen, Marquis of the Eastern Border Town of the Kingdom of Dawn.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Lord Eisen.” 

The man nodded with a smile. 

“I am a citizen of the Earth Union, a major shareholder and board member of the Xichuang Group, Li… Hmm, let’s use my foreign name—Winston Li. That’s my name.”

After the introduction, Owen looked completely confused. Apart from the name, he didn’t understand anything else.

“Pfft!”

Winston couldn’t help but chuckle, then said.

“I knew you wouldn’t understand. Let me rephrase. I’m not from your world. I’m from another world. Now do you understand?”

“This…”

Owen almost blurted out, “That’s impossible!” but held it back. Thinking about how he was currently in some unknown space, and all the strange things about Winston, perhaps his claim of being from another world was true.

“Fine, let’s assume you are from another world. Then where am I right now? Don’t tell me this is that other world you spoke of?”

Winston shook his head. 

“Of course not. This is your spiritual world—or rather, your dream. When you wake up, you’ll find yourself lying in bed.”

“A dream, huh…”

Upon hearing that, Owen let out a breath of relief. Good—he was still in his own world. He had a lot of matters to take care of.

Looking up at Winston, Owen asked an important question.

“What do you want to do?”

“What do I want to do? My experiment is already complete. Interdimensional Probe No. 3 successfully broke through the barrier between parallel universes and allowed me to meet someone from another universe.”

At this point, Winston changed his tone.

“But, seeing how underdeveloped your world is, I suddenly had a new idea. Lord Eisen, when I arrived, I noticed you were having some difficulties, something to do with the land. What if I told you—I have a way to make your land cultivable and grow food? Would you believe me?”

“What did you say? Is that true?”

Owen’s previous calm disappeared, and his emotions surged. He couldn’t be blamed—if the man could solve the food problem in the border town, how could he not be excited?

“No need to get so worked up. What I can offer goes far beyond that.” 

Winston smiled. 

“Let’s put that aside for now. We can talk about something else first.”

“What do you want to talk about?” 

Owen asked.

“Everything about your world. And of course, I’ll tell you what mine is like as well.”

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