1: Lister Howard

The silver moon hung high, the autumn wind whistled, and bits of chill vied to seep into the moving carriage.

"This damn weather!"

Lister, his body swaying inside the carriage, spat as he tightened the animal skin blanket wrapped around him.

Half an hour ago, he was clearly sleeping soundly in a large bed at a five-star hotel in Luxembourg. He had simply opened his eyes and appeared in this dark and unfamiliar environment.

Fortunately, as an archaeology major in university, he had extreme adaptability, so he quickly accepted this reality.

His current identity was the only son of a Viscount in the Pedan Kingdom on the Oran Continent. His full name was Lister Howard, and he was on his way to his Baron Territory.

His mother had passed away early. Although his father later had several mistresses, he never had any other children, which could be considered 'devoted' in a way.

But a month ago, his father had also died in battle while following his direct Earl, resisting an invasion by the Orc Race.

Thus, Lister happily received a new title—Orphan of Two Lifetimes & Star of Calamity.

Thinking of this, he exhaled a breath of warm air, his face helpless:

"Sigh, an orphan is an orphan. Once is strange, twice is familiar; it's not so bad. At least I'm still a noble lord..."

"But according to the kingdom's peerage inheritance system, I should be a Viscount now. How did I become a Baron?"

Digging deeper into his memory fragments and combining them with the bandit attack he encountered before nightfall... he guessed there was a high probability he had been schemed against. Otherwise, this situation wouldn't have occurred. As for who the enemy was, there was no way to tell from his memories.

"Fine, starting as an orphan isn't enough; you have to crank up the difficulty. Can't you just let me be a noble lord in peace?"

The more he thought about it, the more of a 'headache' it felt like. He subconsciously touched his forehead with his right hand.

"Hiss!" The very real sensation of pain made him let out a soft groan.

He suddenly remembered that during the bandit attack not long ago, his head had slammed into the hard handle of the carriage door. That was likely how his soul had transmigrated into this body.

Amidst the pain, a book emitting a white glow slowly emerged in the darkness before his eyes.

Isn't this the ancient book I dug up in Luxembourg?

Am I hallucinating from the pain?

Startled, he rubbed his eyes hard, but the ancient book still existed, floating in the darkness.

"Could this be my golden finger?" Lister's tone was laced with uncertainty and doubt, but also a hint of hidden expectation.

As soon as he finished speaking, the ancient book slowly flipped open to the blank first page.

Lines of text slowly appeared on the left side of the page, while a full-body human image was drawn from top to bottom on the right.

Lister looked closely and found the image was exactly like him, but the text was so small it made him feel like a tadpole looking for its mother.

Just as this thought arose, the text and image on the page trembled slightly and 'jumped' out.

In a heartbeat, the text that was originally too small to see clearly enlarged to a third of a person's height before his eyes. The image also transformed from two-dimensional to three-dimensional, looking no different from a game attribute panel.

"Cool!" Lister couldn't help but praise softly as he looked closer.

[Character: Lister Howard]

[Level: Unranked Knight]

[Magic: None]

[Equipment: black iron heavy sword, Beast Armor Refined Steel Plate]

[Proficiencies: Swordsmanship (Uninitiated), Spearmanship (Uninitiated), Archery (Uninitiated), Horsemanship (Novice)]

[Skills: Flame Cross Slash (Uninitiated), Storm Spear Technique (Uninitiated), Wind Chasing Arrow (Uninitiated)]

[Items: storage ring *1, 977 Gold Coins, "The Singing Maid at the Banquet"...]

[Other: To Be Unlocked]

The panel information was comprehensive, listing almost every bit of information that could be detected from Lister's person.

But as he watched, he couldn't help but sigh deeply. Too weak... he was practically a 'three-no' product!

No, saying 'three-no' was an understatement; he was completely useless.

Setting skills aside for a moment, as he hadn't even begun training yet.

But in terms of proficiencies, only Horsemanship was at the Novice level. In his previous life, even children on the great grasslands could achieve that, right?

And among the items, what on earth was "The Singing Maid at the Banquet"?

He was a man of integrity!

Moving his somewhat reluctant gaze away, he read all the way to the end.

After finishing, he looked a bit dazed: "Besides displaying my various information..."

"Does this have any other function?"

According to his memories, the Oran Continent was no ordinary world, but a world of swords and magic, filled with various dangers.

Even though he was now a noble lord with subordinates to protect him, he couldn't say he was one hundred percent safe. Who knew if he might be killed by a magical beast in the wild one day?

Without some powerful abilities, with his current status as a minor Baron with no background, he might not even be able to maintain the life of an ordinary noble lord.

Therefore, if he wanted to be the master of his own fate, he had to possess great strength.

But where would that strength come from?

It came from those transcendent professions, such as Knights, Mages, Swordsmen, and so on.

Becoming one of these transcendent practitioners was not easy. At the very least, a panel that could only display attributes wouldn't be enough.

In other words, he still had to rely on himself in the end?

Just as a slightly displeased thought arose, the ancient book buzzed and flipped to the second page. A row of text with detailed explanations appeared before his eyes.

[You have gained the Daily Divination ability. Current Divination attempts: 0/3]

The sudden surprise made him cry out: "Haha, I knew it! How could a transmigrator not have a cheat!"

According to the detailed explanation, Divination was an ability similar to prophecy. It could help him obtain three pieces of information every day, including the locations of treasures, resources to upgrade his territory, various secrets... With this cheat, he could make a big splash in his territory. As far as he knew, his Ironthorn Territory was a very barren land and was frequently haunted by wild beasts.

If he could obtain information through Divination, he could avoid many dangers in advance and then develop his territory steadily.

At this moment, Lister couldn't help but think about how he had been demoted from a Viscount to a Baron... One must know that the peerage inheritance system had been implemented since the founding of the Pedan Kingdom and had never been changed.

Yet now, someone was able to lower the rank he was supposed to inherit by one level. Whether the means were direct or indirect, in terms of power and strength, they were definitely not someone he could contend with right now.

If the disparity in power was truly vast, he had originally been prepared to be a man who knows when to yield, just to save his own life.

But now... the tide of offense and defense has turned!

A man with a cheat doesn't know the meaning of the word fear. Besides, having come to such a world of 'swords and magic', how could he not want to build a grand career?

But thoughts were just thoughts; he was still too weak and needed to develop slowly. As long as he was given enough time, those masterminds who framed him would eventually reap what they sowed.

Snapping back to reality, just as he was preparing to test the effect of the Divination, a low, magnetic voice of concern came from outside the carriage.