TBR CH171

The barbershop scissors made a low, soft “hissing” sound. The pungent smell of hair dye filled the air. As his hair, wet and plastered to his scalp, was slowly consumed by black, Roland closed his eyes, deciding to use this time to clear some things up.

Thanks to science. He couldn’t just point a staff at himself and cast a powerful color-changing spell now.

While “Abyss Continent” painted a vivid background, in some respects, it took stereotypes to the extreme. Before Archmage Roland became famous, people’s first glance at him would be drawn to his bright golden hair, leading them to believe he was a reckless hero, a loyal knight, or an arrogant noble.

In the modern world—

When he first walked into the shop, the barber looked at him as if he were a delinquent forced by his parents to get a makeover.

Roland still preferred the fundamentalist image of a mage: draped in a dark black robe, with hair as deep as night, drifting gloomily and in character around a mage tower.

On the battlefield, mages never needed to be as conspicuous as warriors. Their silvery-white spells could illuminate half the sky, yet they themselves remained hidden in the shadows.

Based on this, Roland was very satisfied with the black hair he was about to have.

His thoughts then naturally drifted to the recently opened main storyline of “Abyss Continent.” Roland was already intimately familiar with the historical part, and regarding the player’s identity—the summoned star of salvation—Roland had heard of this prophecy long ago.

When the Abyss Demon King Kriesmeier killed his father and brother to be crowned king, breaking the seal and returning to the Mirar Continent, bards sang prophecies about him destroying everything. This sounded terrible, but the accompanying prophecy was slightly more optimistic: heroes from another world would appear on the Mirar Continent, and these heroes would be the only hope capable of conquering the Demon King.

Neither he nor Kriesmeier had scoffed at such prophecies back then.

Now, Roland closed his eyes, recalling the scene he saw in the main story animation. His name appeared with an enamel-like silhouette, which only vaguely outlined the Archmage’s demeanor back then. His staff was inlaid with a small piece of solidified moonlight, his hair sparkled like black gemstones, and his eyes seemed to see through everything with a profound and compassionate gaze.

It perfectly fit the image of a wise man who died young.

The guide introduced: “…Archmage Roland stepped forward, went to the Demon King’s Castle alone to face the enemy, but disappeared without a trace months later. Due to his great contributions during his lifetime, he was bestowed the title of ‘Saint,’ and people respectfully call him ‘Saint Roland.’ Brave adventurers! The Archmage left behind many precious legacies on this continent, can you find them?”

The guide looked forward solemnly for a moment, not seeing anyone.

So he lowered his gaze and saw a black cat desperately wagging a mage staff with its tail.

But it didn’t matter. Countless new heroes would arrive in this world every day, and treating them differently was unnecessary. The guide simply dutifully completed his work. Besides, none of them had truly defeated the Demon King Kriesmeier. With just one swing of his scythe, players were chopped into scattered data, only to be reassembled at the resurrection altar.

He certainly wouldn’t know that if anyone in this world knew where Saint Roland’s legacy truly was,

—It would definitely be this black cat in front of him.

Dyeing his hair would take some time, but it was almost done now. Roland had used this process to sort through the key information he had acquired so far, roughly planning what to do next in “Abyss Continent.” He certainly wanted to directly control his character to rush to the Demon King’s Castle, but with his current strength, he probably couldn’t even defeat the guards at the city gate.

Don’t rush, Roland told himself. Can’t rush.

The young man paid and turned to leave the barbershop, stepping into the bustling urban traffic. His jet-black hair softly framed his ears, giving him an entirely different demeanor, yet it blended perfectly with something in his eyes. Now he could seamlessly blend in with the A University students around him, appearing refined and scholarly.

Scholars rush towards the highest truth, like moths to a flame, capable of bursting forth with brilliant light in an instant.

In his previous world, Roland’s talent rarely made him yearn for a goal like this. Only the most complex, the most passionate, the best things could ignite him.

And Kriesmeier had been waiting for him for a long time.

“So,” Shan Bin concluded, “Even if I get amnesia, I’ll never forget my game account with maxed-out gear.”

He made this conclusion in his dorm room, to sparse replies. Someone mumbled a lazy agreement from their bed, and the clatter of keyboards was constant. Although Shan Bin’s dad owned an internet café near A University, Shan Bin’s grades were only good enough for him to get into Licheng Vocational Technical College, which was further away.

The college was a mixed bag of people. Although Shan Bin had a good personality and was well-liked wherever he went, he hadn’t become completely familiar with his roommates. The flamboyant young man didn’t feel bored; he just scanned the room and then cozily leaned towards the desk on his right.

“What are you doing!”

The other person startled, instinctively raising his voice and covering his computer screen.

“Aren’t you just playing ‘Abyss’?”

Shan Bin felt a bit confused instead. “What’s there to hide? You weren’t like this before.”

Shan Bin’s roommate was named Bai Shi. His name was gentle and refined, and he was quite handsome, but he was very gloomy. At this moment, he was cautiously covering his computer screen, looking at Shan Bin as if he were a piece of dirt. Shan Bin shrugged, choosing to back off. The other party’s family background was much better than the other roommates, so it wasn’t unusual for him to look down on them.

Only when the red-haired young man gradually walked away did Bai Shi relax.

He still felt his heart pounding. After removing the hand covering the screen, what was exposed to him was a strange interface that did not belong to the game. Bai Shi cautiously tried to call out in his mind: “System, are you still there?”

After about two or three seconds, a reassuring buzzing sound of current hissed:

“Hello, Host, you have successfully bound to this system. Do you have any other needs…”

Bai Shi tried not to let the excitement show on his face. He had never imagined that a scenario like something out of a novel would happen to him. Just a few days ago, he was playing “Abyss Continent” on his computer when a tempting ad pop-up suddenly appeared, claiming to be able to inject cheat scripts into the online game, which could not only modify game data but also make the characters in it utterly devoted to him.

Since “Abyss” was released, many cheaters had tried to hack its program, but none had succeeded. Bai Shi was half-skeptical, yet couldn’t help but be tempted, so he quickly clicked download.

The second he clicked download, he inexplicably felt a dizzying sensation.

When he came to again, this entity calling itself the System was in his mind. The other party seemed to know Bai Shi’s preferences intimately and called Bai Shi the chosen one. It told Bai Shi that “Abyss Continent” was a special game, and in the future, the game world would merge with the reality he was in. At that time, everything he had in the game would come true.

As for the System’s function—it was to give Bai Shi a cheat tool that could allow his stats to be boosted while easily conquering numerous NPCs.

Although the System included the villain Kriesmeier as a target, which made Bai Shi, who prided himself on being straight, a bit displeased, upon closer thought, having the game’s biggest villain unilaterally obsessed with him was quite satisfying. Moreover, in “Abyss,” there were still many female characters waiting for him to conquer, such as the always aloof Saintess Marlene…

In Bai Shi’s mind, he was already living a beautiful life with a harem.

However, reality was not that simple. Although the system modified his weapon stats, the overly realistic combat simulation made Bai Shi confidently click to start combat, only to be attacked by monsters and left in a sorry state.

In the favorability interface provided by the system, he spent two days and “only” managed to capture two female characters.

What vexed Bai Shi the most was that while the targets he had conquered showed infatuation towards him and obeyed his other commands, they could never progress further. Even when he once suggested that the other party remove her outer robe, she suddenly looked at him with a strange gaze, and his favorability even dropped by two points. Bai Shi had to make it up by sending gifts.

Perhaps he could only wait for the day the worlds merged. Bai Shi thought, as he opened the data modification interface provided by the system. These past two days, he had been cautious when opening “Abyss,” but as he accumulated more and more in-game money and divine artifacts, he gradually felt an unbearable itch to even take many screenshots and post them online.

The System stopped him and told him not to be too high-profile.

At this moment, Bai Shi’s heartbeat finally slowly calmed down. If his inexplicably approaching roommate had seen the data modifier interface, his game cheating would have been exposed, which would be a huge disadvantage for him. Fortunately, he reacted in time.

He slowly let out a breath.

“Nothing much,” he said to the System, “I’m thinking about who to conquer next. I heard the Kingdom’s princess is incredibly beautiful, but the two girls I’ve been charming say they’re not strong enough to help me get in. I’ll go clear that Mage Tower dungeon. Isn’t there some… uh, Archmage’s legacy? Though the women inside are too fierce, not really my type.”

The Archmage’s legacy…

The System calculated the data that needed to be modified, briefly recalling the game character it had killed. However, this thought was merely a fleeting flicker, never to be remembered again.

Roland returned to “Zero Distance Internet Café” with his newly dyed hair.

Although it was already late, Licheng was still bustling with traffic, as if it would never stop. He was mostly unfamiliar with everything here, but through cultivation of observation and disguise abilities, he successfully convinced others that he simply lacked common sense, rather than having a serious mental problem.

Actually, the rules of modern society were not difficult to guess.

For instance, needing to wait at traffic lights, being carried along by crowds, and crossing black and white zebra crossings. The game world Roland came from didn’t have animals like zebras; instead, it had pegasi and dragons that didn’t exist in the real world. But these were all miracles of creation, and Roland simply decided to be more cautious when speaking.

Another example: faucets that dispense water with a twist, light switches that illuminate rooms, and air conditioners that constantly blow cold air on hot summer nights. Being immersed in this, one could enjoy unprecedented convenience; in the continent he came from, even the most skilled artisans could not accomplish such feats.

However—

Roland extended his hand, feeling the cold air blowing from the air conditioner, deep in thought.

Chemistry and physics; true scholars always embrace complex fields of knowledge. Whether it was water, fire, electricity, or machinery, as the most outstanding mage on the Mirar Continent, he believed he could master them all.

Shan Sheng looked at him, slightly puzzled why he was staring motionlessly at the air conditioner. “Is something wrong with the air conditioner?”

“No,”

Roland finally turned around, his amber eyes suddenly shimmering with a bright light, then he simply smiled. “It’s just that I vaguely recall that the place I used to live didn’t have anything like this. If I can remember how to get back, I’ll install one myself.”

His current location was on the second floor of the internet café, which was Shan Sheng and Shan Bin’s living area. The living area had an extra study room, which Shan Bin’s father had originally prepared for him when he was studying. Later events proved that this young man truly had no interest in studying, so the study remained unused.

Now, a unfolded folding bed was placed in the study, with neatly arranged bedding on it.

Shan Sheng rubbed his hands and said, “Xiao Luo, do you think the environment here is alright? You can stay here for now, right?”

Roland had already noticed all the noteworthy aspects of the room when he entered. Although he had a place in another world, his demands for living quality were not very high; he basically only needed “a place to nest,” so he found it perfectly acceptable. However, his gaze fell on two noteworthy items, and after some thought, he asked:

“The books in the cabinet, can I…”

“Yes,” Shan Sheng looked at him with a touch of emotion. “More than yes. Ah, if only my son loved studying as much as you do. But most of these books are textbooks and study materials I bought for him. If you need anything, just tell Uncle.”

The books in the cabinet probably never expected to see the light of day again. All the textbooks Shan Bin had used from childhood, including “Third Grade English” and “Seventh Grade Physics,” had not been discarded but were neatly stacked in the cabinet. However, these textbooks held more value for Roland than any other books.

Roland then shifted his gaze: “And the computer in the study, can I use it normally too?”

“Why not?”

Shan Sheng said, “We have no shortage of computers here. You can even use one in the main computer room, I’ll set up a card for you.”

“No need, no need.” Roland’s lips curved. “I can’t trouble you that much. Uncle Shan, didn’t I say I could be an internet cafe manager here? If there’s any work, you can give it to me. Even though I haven’t done it before, I learn very quickly.”

This wasn’t a lie at all, but Shan Sheng waved his hand indifferently:

“No rush, we’re only reopening tomorrow night. You just got discharged from the hospital, your body hasn’t fully recovered. If you really want to help, just patrol during business hours and check for any young-looking faces, check their ID cards. Hmm, that’s it. You rest well tonight, don’t think too much, I’ll tell you about the specific tasks tomorrow.”

With that, seeing nothing else to instruct, Shan Sheng closed the door.

Roland pulled out his phone from his pocket and glanced at the time; it was 11:05 PM. He quietly stood up, first pulling out a few textbooks from the bookshelf and placing them by his bed, then suppressing his thirst for knowledge, he still chose to sit at the computer desk. The computer made a crisp “beep” sound when it started up.

This computer was originally used by Shan Bin.

However, he generally stayed overnight in the school dormitory now. Roland quickly found the familiar icon on the desktop, double-clicked it, and a huge red moon enlarged before his eyes, the login screen once again filling his entire vision.

No matter how many times he saw this image, it always plunged him into deep shock. The composition and completion were impeccable. The Demon King’s arrogant and cruel golden eyes seemed to look down on anyone who met his gaze through the screen. The blood on the blade and the dark, hollow skulls silently proclaimed his past victories, and the overwhelming wings almost entirely obscured even the blood moon.

Roland entered the account and password he had registered that afternoon, and the screen instantly faded.

The chilling image faded from view, and what appeared before him was still the black cat with the low-quality staff hooked by its tail. The black cat stood in the center of the vast Starlight Forest and “meowed.” The area had been completely cleared by it, and no new monster groups would refresh for a while.

In other words, to advance the plot, he would have to look elsewhere.

This was just how things happened.

If everyone he met hadn’t been rambling about “Saint Roland’s legacy,” Roland wouldn’t have remembered that he had indeed left a teleportation array in Starlight Forest. He always left traces everywhere. The Archmage’s room was densely covered with various arrays, many of which he had forgotten the purpose of, but he somehow coexisted peacefully with them.

He placed his fingers on the keyboard’s arrow keys, canceled automatic movement, and controlled the black cat to walk in a certain direction…

A moment later, the black cat suddenly appeared on his former bedside table.

Or rather, on the safest bedside table in the safest room in the safest mage tower on the entire continent.

The Mage Tower was an optional dungeon for players, and countless players tried to infiltrate it every day, attempting to find the so-called legacy. But this was not an easy task.

First, every floor of the Mage Tower was riddled with dangerous traps. Players could fall into a large hole filled with spikes, lava, or swamps at any time, and then be forced to respawn directly in the newbie village. These traps were basically every three steps and updated regularly; no guides could be found online.

Second, the Mage Tower was inhabited by the strangest group of people on the continent. And they very, very much disliked being disturbed.

Finally, ever since the Demon King Kriesmeier attempted to blow up the entire Mage Tower, the protective magic array left by Archmage Roland during his lifetime was completely activated. This enveloped the Mage Tower in an indestructible barrier. Since this was Roland’s lifelong work, no one had yet been able to solve this problem effectively—the array only allowed some people in while directly rejecting others, with no discernible pattern, as if it were a living entity.

It wasn’t that players hadn’t complained, “Why am I specifically denied entry?” but the official “Abyss” always maintained its low-key and mysterious attitude, offering no response.

However, some lucky players did find something in the Mage Tower, just as the protective magic array, despite blacklisting Demon King Kriesmeier, still couldn’t stop him from turning the Mage Tower upside down.

Roland in front of the screen looked at the messy room on the top floor of the Mage Tower, wondering how many people—including his dear students—had made such a mess after his “death.” However, he could still feel some regret and nostalgia for the past times. The black cat circled in place a few times, lightly stepping on the internal furnishings of the room, then stepped onto an unremarkable floor tile.

First, three light taps.

Then, seventeen continuous taps, and finally, twenty-five longer sounds…

No one was more familiar with Roland’s own room than he was, and of course, no one could find his own legacy faster. Accompanied by a strange and extremely complex code, a click echoed from somewhere in the Mage Tower, and then, a staff descended from the sky.

Roland controlled the black cat to prick up its ears and pounce forward, silently snatching it.

He tried to keep his movements quiet, as he didn’t particularly want to disturb others here—or other animals. After all, his current in-game form was just a fragile black cat.

However, things don’t always go as planned.

The screen in front of Roland suddenly became covered in an ominous red glow. A huge, listener-trembling alarm suddenly buzzed, clearly intending to broadcast the theft that had just occurred. The red light was a warning that the player’s life was in danger, illuminating the young man’s amber pupils in the late-night room.

Roland sighed deeply.

How could he not have thought that his students would install a dozen detection spells in his own room?

The game screen seemed to slightly distort with the alarm sound. In the center of the Archmage’s former room, a black cat with a staff coiled by its tail was rapidly thinking about which direction to escape quickly.

Whichever direction, it definitely wasn’t the front door—

Because the door burst open with such force that even Roland, the room’s owner, felt a pang of distress. What followed were two sharp silver fangs, dripping with venom that could kill on sight, now falling from the wide-open maw of a python. The python’s cloudy vertical pupils, upon seeing the black cat in the room, suddenly gleamed with cruel light.

Unlike the mindless monsters in Starlight Forest, this python had strong magic resistance properties. Its owner had meticulously cared for it, which made it a thoroughly dangerous species for Roland in his current form.

Roland straightened his back, staring intently at the computer screen, controlling the black cat to retreat inch by inch. The black cat’s fur was bristling all over from the pressure of its natural predator, and a faint purring sound came from its throat.

At this point, the disadvantage of being a pure animal race became apparent—compared to a monster with maxed-out stats, an ordinary black cat, no matter how fast it ran, could not possibly outrun the giant python’s gaping maw.

A dialogue box suddenly popped up on the screen, followed by a familiar voice.

“Truly, anyone dares to act wild on my mentor’s territory. If teacher were still alive, he would… huh?”