Chosen: Beyond Fate

Bam.

It happened in a flash. Ji Jue closed his eyes, opened them again, and the entire world had changed.

One moment, he had still been at the designated association site in Cliff City, where several people wearing the emblem of the Starcore Association had guided him into the center of an esoteric totemic formation and warned him not to move or resist. The next moment, his vision went black, and the world spun around him.

It felt as though he had been strapped to a giant wheel and spun around several times. Countless streaks of light racing past him vanished all at once.

Finally, the world revealed itself to him. From somewhere in the distance came the loud sound of waves, completely different from those of Cliff City. Damp sea wind rushed against his face. In the blink of an eye, the faint chill of early winter had given way to the blazing heat of summer. He had already arrived on the other side of the world, somewhere in the Endless Sea between the Empire and the Federation.

This was where the association’s headquarters stood. Under the brilliant sunlight, the vast white city built across the island gleamed dazzlingly. Ji Jue felt his watch vibrate, and a notification suddenly popped up.

[Navigation data updated: World Node · Starpivot]

What was this supposed to be? Had he just unlocked a new fast-travel point?

After that instantaneous teleportation, the Doomsday Express had automatically recorded the new location in its system. Across the vast blank expanse of the map, three glowing points now appeared. One was Cliff City, and another was the former site of Spring City, both far to the north. The third was near the center of the map, where Ji Jue currently stood—Starpivot.

But what exactly was a World Node? He had no idea.

While he was still looking around in bewilderment, a staff member on the raised platform picked up a megaphone and urged everyone along. “Candidates participating in the examination, please leave the arrival area as soon as possible. Follow the signs and staff instructions along the way to proceed to the examination site.”

More candidates continued to arrive through the Starcore Association’s gateway in flashes of light. Unlike apprentices experiencing teleportation for the first time and staring around at everything in confusion, some of them moved with practiced ease. Either this wasn’t their first time dealing with something like this, or their teachers had already warned them what to expect.

𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

As one group passed by, someone chuckled and remarked in Imperial, “Another country bumpkin. Why are there so many this year? Move aside. You’re in the way.”

Ji Jue’s smile never wavered. He turned toward the apprentices behind him, his expression growing even friendlier as he replied in equally fluent Imperial, “Your mom’s dead.”

The smug smile on the apprentice’s face froze.

Before he could even process what he had heard, Ji Jue added, “I killed her.”

“You!” The apprentice flew into a rage, but his companions hurriedly grabbed him and stepped between them.

“Don’t start a fight here. There’s no need to stoop to the level of some broke nobody like him.”

“Your mom’s dead too,” Ji Jue added with complete sincerity, “Yep. I killed both of them.”

Both men’s faces turned red at first, then dark with fury as their fists clenched.

Unfortunately for them, the association staff had noticed the commotion. Several Chosen Ones in charge of security fixed them with cold, warning stares. The two candidates looked furious, but they could only grit their teeth and glare at him.

“I’ll remember you. Just wait until the exam is over.”

Ji Jue scoffed and brushed nonexistent dust from his sleeve. “You think I, Zhou Cheng, am afraid of you? If you’ve got the guts, come find me in Ship City. I’ll rip your heads off!”

“Fine. Just you wait!”

The older of the two kept a firm grip on his companion and finally dragged him away.

After that, no one else bothered Ji Jue while he admired the scenery. The candidates leaving the arrival area split into two streams as they approached him, veering around on either side as though avoiding an invisible reef and leaving a wide, empty space around him.

Much better.

Ji Jue whistled and gazed at the distant scenery as he leisurely followed the road ahead.

As expected of the association. They really are loaded!

He had still been mourning the 410,000 Fedra registration fee earlier, but the exam hadn’t even started yet and he already felt like he was getting his money’s worth. This was essentially a free three-day trip to association headquarters with transportation included!

Just having the Starcore Association open a gateway specifically for them would normally cost far more than four hundred thousand. And that wasn’t even counting all the materials the association would provide during the exam. None of them were outrageously expensive on their own, but given Ember’s painful exchange rates, Ji Jue did a rough estimate based on the number of candidates who had come through the gateway in just the past half day and nearly gasped in shock.

At market rates, teleporting this many people would cost at least one or two billion Fedra. Even with the Taiyi Ring’s close relationship with the Starcore Association and whatever bulk discount they could negotiate, there was no way it would be cheap.

Considering how shamelessly the association monopolized material prices, that registration fee of a little over four hundred thousand Fedra was probably the last bit of mercy it showed apprentices.

It was said that before the Age of Chaos, something called a “time difference” had once existed in the world. When morning arrived in the Federation, it could already have been night in the Empire. But nowadays, aside from a few scattered mentions buried in ancient texts, no one remembered such an almost fantastical phenomenon.

Beneath the same morning light, candidates from all across the mortal world followed the signs toward the examination hall. Not too far, a winding road descended from the platform halfway up the mountain, and before long, the vast, magnificent city lay right before them.

Unlike previous years, this year’s examination was being held inside a temple-like building beside a partially ruined tower. Quite a few people had gathered in front of the enormous doors to take photos as mementos.

Ji Jue naturally joined in. He recorded a video and sent it to all his friends. “Would you look at that? I’ve made it to Starpivot, the greatest city in the world for craftsmen!”

Grinning, he flashed a peace sign at the camera. Behind him on the screen, he spotted a familiar face and raised an eyebrow. Hm? Isn’t that Young Master Lou? Don’t mind him. Anyway, folks, let’s look at the Association building over there instead!

“Hey! What’s with that look?!” Lou Feng asked, enraged.

Ji Jue flashed an innocent grin and slung an arm around the guy’s shoulders, completely ignoring the disgust on Lou Feng’s face. “I’m just emotional. I couldn’t be happier running into an old friend so far from home. When did you get here?”

“Right around the time you started declaring war on everyone else’s mothers.” Lou Feng shot him a cold glance. “You’ve got guts. Aren’t you worried you’ll get thrown out of the exam for picking ?fights?”

“Relax. I read the candidate rules. As long as I don’t actually throw a punch, it doesn’t count as a fight. If I’m ever in danger, I’ll call security right away.” Ji Jue grinned. “Have a little faith in the association’s security!”

“I stopped having any faith in them the moment they let a menace like you take the exam!” Lou Feng snorted and tried to put some distance between them, only to find Ji Jue clinging to him like glue. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t shake him off.

“How come you’re here too?” Ji Jue asked curiously. “Did Master Kong start pushing you again?”

“This has nothing to do with her. It was my decision. You think everyone’s like you, running around begging people for signatures just to apply for an exam? Even if I don’t pass, I can at least gain some experience.” Now that he knew Ji Jue well enough, Lou Feng had already figured out exactly where to hit him where it hurt. He offered him a disdainful smile. “Besides, my family’s rich.”

Ji Jue didn’t care in the slightest and stuck even closer. In the process, he accidentally planted a foot squarely on Lou Feng’s polished leather shoe. “Come on, no need to be so formal with me. As the saying goes, you rely on family at home and brothers when you’re away. And what’s yours is mine, right? Have you eaten yet? I haven’t. Spot me some cash, come on.”

“Fuck off!”

“Hey, don’t be like that. Didn’t we say we’d be partners for li—”

“Shut the hell up! You still have the nerve to bring that up?! I’m gonna fucking kill you!”

And just like that, the two shoved and bickered their way into the crowd.

At the very top of the ruined tower beside the examination hall, two figures overlooked everything below. Jiang Tongguang grinned and scratched his chin, sighing with genuine appreciation. “Ah, to be young again.”

Gustav sneered and flicked the report in his hand. “You call that youth? One of those fine young men you’re admiring was just getting into it with other apprentices on the association’s ley-line transport platform. He’s another troublemaker, just like his teacher. No matter how polite and respectful he looks on the surface, it’s nothing but a mask for his arrogance. He never really takes anyone he considers beneath him seriously.”

“He’s that bold?” Jiang Tongguang raised an eyebrow. “Quite the nerve. Where’s he from?”

Gustav waved a hand and pulled an application form out of thin air, tossing it over. “Cliff City in the Federation. His registered workshop is Tidesound.”

“Tidesound? Which Tide—oh, right. Ye Xian?” Realization dawned on Jiang Tongguang, and he laughed. “Her student? Then that’s perfectly normal. He hasn’t torn anyone apart with his bare hands yet, so I’d say he’s already showing considerable restraint. Though Ye Xian taking on a student at all is the part I find strange.”

He studied the application in his hand. “So who exactly is this young hero?”

“Who knows? The association’s Haizhou branch rates him highly. He took part in the recent conflict in Spring City and apparently performed quite well. I heard that if it weren’t for the friction between Haizhou and Central Province, he might have been awarded a commendation outright.”

“Let me see...” Jiang Tongguang tossed the application back into the air and pulled out the relevant records. After reading for a while, he clicked his tongue in admiration. “Born to an ordinary family, no history of Chosen Ones anywhere in his ancestry, less than a year of training, and yet three masters were willing to stake their names on him. That’s a more impressive backing than even the disciple of that old dragon in the Empire. No one else this year has a lineup like this. Impressive.”

He didn’t express disdain simply because Ji Jue was only an apprentice or came from no distinguished background. It was quite the opposite. For an Ember Chosen One with neither family connections nor foundations to have come this far in less than a year already put him far ahead of countless second-generation heirs born with silver spoons in their mouths.

“If you ask me, deliberately raising the difficulty this year and leaking all those rumors to scare people off may have had the opposite effect.” Jiang Tongguang put away the files, crouched at the edge of the tower, and looked down over the crowd, pointing out candidates one by one.

“Setting aside the sponsored trainees from the Security Bureau and the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics, let’s see... Dragonheart, Clock Tower, Nine Seals, White Sail, Five Flora, Seven Rivers, Northwind, Direwolf, Concord, Hundred-Eyed Giant... Hmm, and Tidesound under an alias. Pretty much every major workshop of any reputation in the Association has sent an apprentice. Aside from the direct and collateral legacies of the Three Grandmasters, there’s even a trueblood from the Empire.”

He sighed softly. “We’ve really gathered quite the lineup this year.”