Chosen: Beyond Fate

Chapter 34: Manual Labor

There were twelve aspects of Supreme Benevolence, and the dial was divided into twelve hours. Likewise, Chosen Ones below the level of Celestial Being were divided into twelve levels.

Below Celestial Beings, Chosen Ones were split into twelve levels, grouped into four major realms: Resonance, Metamorphosis, Rebirth, and Transcendence. If mapped onto a dial, that was three hours per sector.

Each level represented a new level of personal growth, moving closer to Supreme Benevolence, while each realm brought terrifying changes that were completely different from anything before.

Based on Ji Jue’s understanding and guesses, Wen Wen was definitely a big shot in the Transcendence Rank, an absolute monster among monsters. As for how strong she really was, Ji Jue had no clue at all.

As for that unlucky guy Lawrence, he had probably been in the Rebirth Realm, somewhere between the sixth and ninth level. He had already shed his weak mortal coil, and even if he got crushed into pulp, he could regenerate instantly.

Unfortunately, in his attempt to use dragon blood to break into the Transcendence Realm, he ran into someone even more unreasonable—Wen Wen—and both his body and soul got completely vaporized by dragon lightning.

Meanwhile, Ji Jue was still a level 1 newbie who didn’t even have a proper matrix yet. He was basically starting from scratch, the most green rookie imaginable. He was ‌the kind of guy who had just created an account and was still googling “best class to play.”

For someone like Ji Jue, a hardcore workaholic with borderline obsessive tendencies, nothing was more unbearable than staring at a progress bar that refused to move no matter what he did.

Skipping a day of leveling? Sure, you could say you were accumulating good karma. But skipping every day... that was why he was so anxious, and his anxiety didn’t help.

The three levels within the first realm, Resonance Realm, were all about developing and surpassing one’s own ability. Outside of ability-related aspects, these Chosen Ones were basically no different from normal people. Eat spoiled leftovers and you’d still get stomach cramps. Take a bullet to the head and you’d drop dead on the spot.

The gap between him and someone like Mrs. Wen, who could beat up Lawrence with her fists, stomp on him, and vaporize him with dragon breath, was unimaginably wide. According to Ye Chun, at this level he was supposed to focus on training his ability, pushing it forward until it reached a certain threshold, then seeking new blessings from the Twelve Supreme Benevolences and successfully leveling up.

But here he was, stuck right at the very beginning. If he told anyone, they probably wouldn’t even believe him. And if they did, they’d laugh at him. After laughing, maybe they’d even write him into some trashy book. He was so miserable that he wanted to scream like one of those screeching rubber chickens.

On top of that, he had yet to obtain a matrix, the crucial foundation for advancing as a Chosen One. Across all Twelve Supreme Benevolences, only two hundred twenty-one registered matrices could actually raise someone to the level of Celestial Being. Every single one was in really high demand. Hell, demand was so crazy that sometimes there weren’t enough matrices to go around.

If you wanted one, you either had to be a direct member of some major organization, or sign an even harsher lifelong contract to sell your blood, organs, and youth, just to get a slot on the waiting list.

Chosen Ones weren’t rare. Forget the ultra-rare Fate Summoning, accidental awakenings or higher-level callings caused by exposure to certain things were happening all the time.

But matrices had to be painstakingly discovered through trial and error by countless predecessors, refined step by step, and finally locked into alignment with a Supreme Benevolence. There just weren’t many of them, so pretty much all the decent ones had been monopolized by the big organizations, like the Federation, the Empire, the Central Lands, the Radiant Church, the Taiyi Ring, the Wasteland Assembly... If you had no qualifications and couldn’t operate in the open, you might as well throw yourself into shady groups like the Dragonrite Society or Nirvana or whatever other hellholes there were.

There were just too many Chosen Ones stuck with nowhere to go if they wanted to improve. Ji Jue wasn’t anything special among them. So for now, even being stuck at a bottleneck didn’t bother him too much. After all, his craftsman progress bar was still moving, right? He’d just grind whichever one he could.

Besides, wasn’t he doing just fine? He’d survived a terrifying incident and even become Professor Ye’s apprentice. Talk about turning bad luck into good. At least he wasn’t cursed anymore and didn’t have to worry about stepping outside and immediately getting hit by a car.

Nice.

Ji Jue lay on his bed, sprawled like a wooden plank, feeling completely at ease. Things were finally looking up. Ever since Lawrence died, things had been getting better. Lu Ling would become an accountant, he’d become an alchemist, Lu Feng would keep fixing cars... everyone would have a bright future.

With that jumble of thoughts, he slowly closed his eyes and drifted into a dreamless, deep sleep.

*** ƒгeewebnovёl.com

Under the same dark sky, there were people who hadn’t slept all night.

“That kid is a big problem.”

In an office inside a building beside an overpass, a photo taken that very afternoon was pushed to the front of the desk. The tracker, who had just rushed back, said decisively, “There’s definitely something wrong with him.”

In the photo on the table, the boy was riding his little scooter and twisting the throttle with a girl behind him, both of them laughing under the sunset’s soft glow. They were in the prime of youth, radiant and full of life.

“What do you mean?” The old man behind the desk froze for a moment, then frowned. “You’re saying... he really has some kind of connection with that woman?”

“Maybe. It’s possible.” The middle-aged man with stubble, Qi Qin[1], lit a cigarette and added in a low voice, “Over half a month ago, when the Fate Summoning happened, the biggest incident in all of Cliff City was the mess caused by the Dragonrite Society. Out of all the survivors, he was the closest one to that Wen woman... But she kept her lips sealed about everything and said almost nothing about the operation. Is it possible she was trying to hide the presence of a Fate Summoning?”

“Have you lost your mind?” The old man, Jiang Jin[2], paused, then looked at him suspiciously. “Are you serious?”

After decades, the sudden appearance of a Fate Summoning had already stirred up the entire Haizhou region. In recent days, countless people had put out bounties, searching for traces of the Chosen One.

It had also put many more people on high alert. Even though Wen Wen hadn’t revealed anything about Ji Jue, her repeated visits to him had not escaped the eyes of those watching from the shadows.

It wasn’t that no one had suspected Ji Jue could be the one chosen during the Fate Summoning. Almost everyone under suspicion had already been investigated, and no one with any possible link had been left out, including Ji Jue. But after thorough investigation and digging, he was one of the first to be ruled out.

“Get this straight, he’s a Cursed One!” Jiang Jin exploded in anger. “You want me to report this to them? Have you lost your mind? Do you really think anyone would believe such nonsense?”

“So many ridiculous things have already happened with the Fate Summoning. A Cursed One becoming a Chosen One isn’t that hard to accept, right?” Qi Qin paused for a moment, carefully watching the old man’s expression. “Besides, even if this guy isn’t a Chosen One, he must have some kind of connection with that Wen woman, right?”

Jiang Jin hesitated, unsure what Qi Qin was getting at.

“Yesterday afternoon, I saw the two of them riding the same motorcycle around Tianmen University. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed that woman could actually smile.” Qi Qin lit another cigarette and took a deep drag. “Is it possible... that they’re dating?”

Jiang Jin’s eye twitched even more violently than before.

Qi Qin continued, “Honestly, that kid’s pretty. Probably fooled more than a few young girls. Besides, even a tree made of steel is still a tree, right? When spring comes, who knows, even a tree made of steel might bloom.”

Jiang Jin’s eyebrows shot into his hairline. No matter how absurd this sounded, what if it was actually true? If that were the case, then there was a lot more they could do with that kid.

Even within the Security Bureau, there were plenty of people who would love to see that woman Wen brought down. More importantly, if they could actually get leverage over that troublemaker, then life in the North Mount District would become a lot easier for everyone.

And most crucially... What exactly did “that side” want?

“Leave,” Jiang Jin said in a composed tone.

Qi Qin stood up and left. After a long while, a voice finally came from behind the door.

“Come in.”

Inside the office, the old man set down the phone. He frowned, and after a long pause, he said, “Do as you said. Investigate, dig everything up, get to the bottom of it.”

He paused, then looked up with sharp eyes. “If it’s really as you said, eliminate him. Understand?”

If that kid really was some lucky pretty boy who had managed to latch onto Minerva, then he could still be useful.

It was already bad enough that Wen Wen had secured a foothold in the Security Bureau, something many people didn’t want to see. If she gained an additional weakness, it would at least give everyone else some peace of mind. But if she actually managed to cultivate a powerful ally chosen during a Fate Summoning, no one knew what kind of disaster that could bring.

Qi Qin grinned, revealing a row of smoke-stained yellow teeth. “Don’t worry, boss. I’m a professional.”

With that shameless declaration, he patted his chest and made his promise.

Just like that, his life in prison began.

***

Setting aside what those lurking in the shadows intended to dig up from Ji Jue, simply tailing a workaholic who valued credits, papers, and grades over even his own life was, without a doubt, not a rational decision. Especially because that workaholic got dragged into graduate school before even graduating. Because of this, he would only become even more obsessed with grinding.

The fake daily life of a graduate student went somewhat like this: standing around in a well-lit, high-tech lab, casually shaking test tubes for show, staring at some mysterious liquid inside, and nodding and smiling at the camera with colleagues.

The real daily life of a graduate student was more like this: picking up trash, doing manual labor, and moving concrete.

Depending on the situation, he might even have to babysit for his mentor, and take part in those legendary middle school tech competitions where big shots were everywhere and PhD students were treated like dirt, all while cooking, doing laundry, and maybe even having to sacrifice a bit of his virtue and dignity.

Thankfully, Professor Ye had never married and had no children. Her only niece was Ji Jue’s senior. Aside from a simple academic interest in Ji Jue’s body, mind, soul, and abilities, as well as wanting to throw him into a furnace or put him on an operating table, she didn’t have any other demands.

So on Ji Jue’s very first day as an alchemy apprentice, aside from running errands like buying milk tea for the senior overseeing him, bringing lunch, helping her grind games, and chatting about gossip, he mostly did... manual labor!

1. The surname 齐 is a Chinese surname originated from the Qi state (齊/齐). In 2013 it was the 113th most common name. 钦 literally means “to respect” or “to admire.” To me, 齐钦 could be interpreted as “one who commands respect” and gives off a dignified and approachable feel. ☜

2. The surname 姜 is one of the oldest Chinese surnames, being one of the original xing (姓) surnames. It is the 60th most common surname in China (2007), roughly 0.34% of the Han Chinese population. The name 尽 literally means “to the utmost” or “to exhaust,” which carry a sense of thoroughness, determination, or even finality.

To me, 姜尽 could be interpreted as “one who gives their all” or “utterly resolute,” and gives a strong, decisive vibe. ☜