[Your authority is too great for your physical body. Your body cannot handle the burden.]
[Adjusting burden: You no longer have a physical human entity in this world as the price. No one is able to see you in soul state except the chosen one.]
[Please find a chosen one to bind. Once bound, authority usage will be unlocked.]
[Gain temporary partial authority: Compass of ————————]
"This compass points to the north," he said as he fiddled with the compass in his hand that had suddenly appeared—a compass that looked like something from ancient times, cracked at the front, with a taotie divine beast carved on all four sides.
The compass moved across his fingers like he was playing with a coin, one knuckle to the next. The thumb nudged it forward, the index lifted, the middle followed—each finger rising and falling in a quiet rhythm. It never slipped, never paused, circling back again like it always had, as if it simply should be that way, before he put it away in his pocket.
This compass should normally give pressure, or at least a strange feeling, even in its partial state. But unfortunately, it had met someone who could not feel such things.
Feeling strange? Pressure?
What were those?
"I need a medium to carry my 'soul'?" he thought as he recalled the information given to him before.
"Wait… where did my memory come from? No body, no brain, yet I can think and have thoughts…"
This was the first time something like this had happened to him, as his body had already disappeared after the system's notification.
If the body is the vessel of the soul, and memory is stored in the soul, then what is the point of the brain? And if there is something that can act as a brain to read the soul's information, then it returns to the same question—what reason is there for the body to exist?
"I will know it eventually," he said.
He chose a cheap suit, poorly fitted; unbranded jeans; and a black necktie, slightly crooked—just like what he usually wore—as his medium.
As he made his choice, the clothes suddenly appeared in a caravan heading north. No one seemed to see them or even notice, and he seemed to be bound to them.
—
At a certain village—
At noon, when the sun was high in the sky—
"Shi Da, come and help your mother clean the chicken, and call your sister to help gather water from the well!" the rough man with tan skin and big muscles shouted across the house. He wore rough linen clothes—enough for protection against the wind, but nothing more.
"Coming!" Shi Da answered as he ran across the field, chasing the pig around while wearing tattered linen clothes.
This is the Wang family, including Wang Da, the pillar of the family, and Wang Shi, the mother of Shi Da and Mei. Wang Da is a blacksmith in the village, and Wang Shi is the daughter of a neighboring farmer.
"Mei, wake up! Wake up!" Shi Da shouted as he ran to the shack behind the house. Mei liked to come here and sleep on hay during this time.
Inside the shack, where farming tools were kept, was Mei, wearing the same tattered clothes, full of patches from many repairs.
"Brother~ stop shouting so loud, I'm sleeping," Mei said with annoyance as she stretched her body.
Both Shi Da and Mei are twins—Shi Da was born first, and Mei later.
"Sister, did you hear that the meteor became big news yesterday? Even the rice caravan from the city talked about it at the inn," Shi Da said loudly as he sneaked closer—or what he thought was sneaking—then threw himself onto the hay and sat beside his sister.
"They even said something about the imperial family sending out a decree, but who cares about that? I can't read," Shi Da added as he made himself comfortable, forgetting why he came here in the first place.
"Brother, stop talking… I just woke up," Mei said, still sleepy.
"Also, father's birthday is tomorrow, right? What should we give him? Last time we plucked all the chicken feathers to make him a necklace, father and mother almost scolded us to death," Mei said as she remembered.
"Oh, I almost forgot—dad said you should go gather water," Shi Da said as he grabbed his sister's hand and dragged her toward the main village road, running along the left side of the brick-paved path.
The left side was for walking, and the right side was for carriages.
At that moment, Mei seemed to see someone sitting inside a passing carriage on the right.
Something surfaced in her mind.
He drank his coffee at noon. Same brand. Same seat. Same posture. He read the same type of magazine. Animals today. Yesterday too. His left pinky raised slightly when holding the cup—
It was not boredom.
Nor was it habit.
It was simply… as it should be.
Cheap suit. Poorly fitted. Unbranded jeans. Nothing memorable. Black necktie slightly crooked. No attention to detail.
On the verge of forgetting and remembering, his style of clothing was not something she had ever seen before—yet there was nothing she could use to describe it. It felt as if he had been born with it, even though she did not understand what that meant.
As she felt confused, the man was already gone—not long after noon had passed, as if he had never been there at all.
"What's wrong, sister?" Shi Da asked as he noticed she had gone too quiet while he dragged her along the street, unlike usual.
"Nothing… just a nobody. Nothing worth remembering," Mei said, as if it were only natural, as if nothing was wrong.
"What is she talking about? Maybe just some random caravan hand…" Shi Da thought, not thinking too deeply about it.
Desolation exists everywhere. But the moment it is noticed, it begins to fade. Not because it disappears—but because no one wishes to hold onto it.
"It's noon already?" he said as he looked at his wristwatch and drank his 12:00 coffee.
Same brand. Same posture. He read the same type of magazine. Animals today. Just like usual. His left pinky raised slightly when holding the cup—not out of elegance, just habit.
It should not be possible—not yet bound to a soul—yet he was able to appear briefly.
With just his soul, he should not be visible to others. It was some kind of burden one should bear as [System]. But it seemed someone or something had granted him special privilege, so he could maintain his routine, and it seemed not even the burden could stop this.
Cheap suit. Poorly fitted. Unbranded jeans. Black necktie, slightly crooked.
It was just a routine, a repeat of the same old thing. Nothing wrong with it. As it should be. As it had always been. As if nothing could ever break this normal routine.
Just a normal routine. Nothing wrong with it at all. And no one should care about his habit.
And he didn't seem to feel it—no, he couldn't feel anything wrong with it. Not even the thought of where all those things came from.
"Hm…? The compass is gone," he said as his soul returned to its normal state, impossible to perceive by others once again.
The compass that should have been in his pocket was gone, and he had not even noticed it.In front of him, a line of text appeared.
[Mei]
[Existence]: 67% ↓ (72%) * (Low-Tier Chosen One)
[Memory Imprint]: 10% ↓ (20%) ** (+40% within village)
[Fate Thread]: Slight fluctuation detected
[Potential]: Low–Medium
— Physical —
[STR]: 0.4
[AGI]: 0.5
[VIT]: 0.6
[INT]: 0.7
[PER]: 1.2
[Warning: Target has briefly perceived you]
[Status]: Minor Desolation Affliction ↑ (3 Days)
*Existence: Measures how strongly you are anchored to the world itself.
At 100%, you are a true Child of Destiny.
**Memory Imprint: Measures how strongly you are remembered by living beings.
At 100%, your presence burns into their minds at first sight and becomes nearly impossible to forget.
[Requirement met. Would you like to bind?]
"In this village, there should be people better than her. Even the world whispers that she is not the best choice," he said as he bound himself to Mei.
At that moment, the entire world seemed silent. The world cried in anguish—like a man selling stock at a high price when it could sell for higher, like a child whose toy is not the one he wants.
"She is not the one you want… so consider it her blessing that she is the one who saw me. You are not the one to decide that—but Him."
[Invincible Dao Heart Immortal-Seeker: Watching with interest and curiosity]
Even though he did not know what or who—or even what kind of "thing" it was—the mere thought of that entity brought a response.
Not a voice. Not a presence.
Just… acknowledgment.
For a brief moment, his thoughts trembled.
The word surfaced in his mind—something beyond "Him," something closer to its true form.
"——"
The moment it formed—
His consciousness wavered.
Like something pressing down from above.
Heavy. Vast. Unreachable.
As if even the act of naming it was a kind of transgression.
Yet…
For an instant, it was just right.
As though something had acknowledged his right to be equal.
But—
Having the right was not the same as being able to bear it.
The weight of that word was not something his existence could withstand.
The thought collapsed before it could fully take shape.
Silence returned.
…
In the end, he called it "Him."
Not because it was correct.
But because—
That was what it should be.
Like the way things fall when released,
or how the flow of time moves forward without question.
There was no need to think about it.
No need to understand it.
It was simply… that way.
Things fade.
Things are forgotten.
Things return to nothing.
And yet—
It does not end.
It continues.
Unnoticed. Unchanging. Eternal.
So there was no need to resist it.
No need to question it.
He followed the flow, as he always had.
And there was nothing wrong with that.
The first life had been drawn into desolation.
Would it survive and become a new life form capable of surviving here…or would it return to the shore?