Chapter 1: Possession

　　In a dim and slightly damp small room, a soft thudding sound suddenly rang out.

　　“Ouch…”

　　Accompanied by this half-pained, half-complaining voice, a young man in his twenties jumped down from the attic. He rubbed his head, which had collided with the wooden frame, in pain, and helplessly looked around.

　　This was a stationery and sundries shop, run by his family for decades since his grandfather’s generation. The many elementary school students in front of the shop were the main customer base. Although business was never booming, it was more than enough to support the family.

　　But all of that was in the past.

　 Unpredictable things happen in life; after inheriting the family business, his parents died in a car accident. Not wanting to spend his life guarding this shop, he had no choice but to sell it off.

　　Now that the price had been settled, he was here for the final cleanup.

　　At this moment, looking at the somewhat familiar yet strange surroundings, he unexpectedly felt a bit reluctant to part.

　　As a child, he grew up playing here and had deep feelings for everything in the shop. Those Animal Chess, Aeroplane Chess, Army Chess, Chinese Chess, Go, those soccer balls, basketballs, volleyballs, ping-pong balls—he had happily played with them all day without ever feeling bored.

　　In a daze, he seemed to see a small shadow playing here without a care in the world.

　　He didn’t know how much time had passed when he was suddenly startled awake by a commotion.

　　Raising his head in surprise, he immediately saw thick fog rising from all directions, with occasional sparks visible.

　　Oh no, there’s a fire.

　　He sprang up, ready to escape, but the roof beam had already crashed down heavily.

　　In the final moment, pinned hard under the eaves, only one thought flashed through his mind.

　 How could I be this unlucky!

　　※※※

　 “Young Master Bennett, wake up, wake up…”

　　An urgent voice seemed to come from an incredibly distant sky. His eyebrows twitched a few times, and finally, he slowly woke up.

　　In his sight, an old man with white hair was looking at him anxiously. Only after he was fully awake did the old man visibly breathe a sigh of relief.

　 “Young Master Bennett, you’re finally awake. You really scared this old man.”

　　The young man was stunned. Although he had just woken up and still had a splitting headache, he could guarantee with absolute certainty that he had never seen this old man before. And he called him Young Master Bennett… No one had ever called him that in his life.

　 Perhaps seeing the pain in his eyes, the old man quickly comforted him: “Young Master Bennett, just rest easy, I’m here for everything.” He said angrily, “Taking advantage of Miss Bennett’s absence to try and seize by force—how outrageous.”

　　The young man was about to speak, but his gaze suddenly froze, staring intently at the old man, speechless.

　 Because he suddenly realized that the old man’s clothes were extremely strange, nothing like any attire he knew. If he had to say, perhaps he’d only seen such clothes in period dramas.

　 The old man stretched out his aged, liver-spotted arm and gently rubbed the young man’s chest a few times, softly reassuring him: “Don’t worry, Miss will definitely come back.”

　 The young man forced a slight smile, keeping his mouth tightly shut, afraid that if he opened it, he would let out a scream that would startle even himself.

　 Outside the door, a sharp voice suddenly rang out.

　 “Logan Bennett, are you awake? If you are, good—hurry up and press your handprint, your grandfather doesn’t have time to waste with you.”

　 The young man’s eyes twitched, and with a “boom” in his head, countless memories surged forth like a tide.

　 Yes, here he had a completely unfamiliar name, Logan Bennett. And he had lived on this land for sixteen whole years.

　 This was a world of gods, a magical world where chosen geniuses and starlight were everywhere.

　 And he had a prodigiously talented older sister. After their parents died, it was this sister who single-handedly raised him. But now, this sister had entered a dangerous place for a trial and had been missing for half a year.

　 It was said that if someone went missing for a month in that perilous place, it was almost certain death.

　 Although he was unwilling to accept this fact deep down, almost everyone had already concluded that this genius woman had perished in that dangerous place.

　 And with his sister’s disappearance, more and more malicious eyes turned toward him.

　 Logan Bennett took a deep breath, pressed down with both elbows, and actually forced himself to sit up from the bed.