The Start

"..Tsk, the novel would have been so much better if not for the protagonist."

Reading the final chapter of 'Versatile Mage', I couldn't help but complain to myself. Honestly, it's one of my favorite Chinese novels, though the anime did mess it up a bit, the novel is way more intriguing.

Shutting my phone down, I couldn't help but wonder about the story. A bad habit, I guess, always lost in dreams, wondering about the novels I just read, coming up with new ideas for me to enjoy.

The world-building and balance are just top tier, no bullshit of China numbwa one or excessive racism. The only problem may be the protagonist, Mo Fan.

A lot of arrogance and perversion are filled up in him, though moderate compared to other Chinese main characters, but still annoying.

"Sigh... should I write a Fanfic on this?"

Yeah... I should, I guess.

***

TRRRIINGG

A loud noise of the alarm echoed through the worn-out room, causing the man sleeping soundly to stir.

"Ugh."

A groan couldn't help but escape the young man's lips as he covered his oceanic blue eyes from the intense sunlight.

"Once again... that dream."

Throwing his head back, Damon couldn't help but complain, closing his eyes, wanting to experience the pleasure of sleep once again.

"Sigh... it's been almost sixteen years now."

Yeah, sixteen years... sixteen goddamn years since he arrived in this world.

Almost sixteen years ago, Damon was reborn in this world of magic, or more specifically, a world of the novel 'Versatile Mage' or 'Quanzhi Fashi'.

He didn't know how it happened, but yeah, he somehow ended up in this world. He was just a high school graduate in his previous life, a novel enthusiast with a hobby of writing some small fanfictions of the novels he read.

'But who would've thought I might someday experience the same fanfiction scenario?'

He still remembers as clear as day when he finished reading the novel *Versatile Mage* after Mo Fan ascended to become the half magic god and decided to write his own fanfiction on it.

He wasn't even able to write three proper chapters before dozing off at his table, and when he woke up, he found himself in this world of the novel as an infant with the same backstory as he had set up for his main character, Damon Crown.

A pitiful child taken in by Bo City orphanage after his parents died during their visit to China in a large-scale terrorist attack arranged by the Black Vatican.

"Sigh... If I knew this would happen, I would've made myself a prince of some country."

Chucking to himself, Damon muttered before getting up from the old creaking bed, stretching his perfectly toned body that was showered by the sunlight.

Creak!

Cracking his back as he stretched out fully, Damon looked at his own reflection in the mirror. Black hair adorned his handsome face, and his half-naked upper body was packed with chiseled muscles.

His gorgeous blue eyes couldn't help but admire himself as he looked at his reflection in the mirror before playfully winking at his own reflection.

"Well, thankfully, I made myself hot," Damon muttered to himself with a narcissistic grin before making his way to the old bathroom to get ready for school.

When he was designing the character for his fanfic, which is now himself, Damon just went with one of the most repeated combinations a weeb can make: black hair with blue eyes, standing at six foot three, a hot chick magnet with a huge asset.

The three chapters Damon wrote before traveling to this world were all about a depressing backstory, overpowered cheat, and handsome appearance.

That was all Damon wrote about, and now he's experiencing the same thing.

Damon's parents were just tourists who came to China to pay homage to his father's late teacher, where they got caught up in the terrorist attack and lost their lives, leaving Damon all alone.

Being under the state of emergency after the attack, instead of handing Damon back to the US, where he was born, authorities decided to admit him to one of their own orphanages and raise him there.

So yeah, that's how Damon grew up under the care of this old orphanage. Growing up in China, especially as a foreigner with a distinct appearance, wasn't easy. The racism is still there, but it was somewhat manageable for Damon.

Unlike other kids playing around in their childhood years, he dove into books, understanding the difficult concepts of magic and beasts from an early age, focusing on getting scholarships to study at schools and getting preferential treatment from the authorities, unlike other orphans who are ignored because of their improper upbringing and no interest in studies.

Scholarships and schemes by the government were the only way for Damon to earn a bit of money and secure free education in this magical world.

Being a world very different from his old world, even after having so many ideas to earn money, he couldn't implement them because of the differences in this world and hence just stuck to studies, earning scholarships after scholarships.

Fastening the shoelaces, Damon grabbed his school bag, all ready for his new day at school, leaving the old building.

"Whoa!.. look, look!"

"That man has wings!"

"Oh fuck, a Mage!"

A large gust of wind flew past Damon as the children exclaimed, looking at the sky. Following their fingers, Damon looked up in surprise at the man flying high in the sky.

Illusory wings grew from his back, flapping as the man flew past the sky in the blink of an eye.

Looking at the sky, Damon's eyes widened in shock as he looked at the bright sky. His heart beat at its full pace as excitement kicked in, staring in a daze, not at the figure that caused the children to exclaim, but at the translucent screen that popped up in front of him.

[Ding! System loading...]

"Finally."