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"And… publish." 

A bright screen illuminated the dark room as a youth stared unblinking into it.

This youth was the author of a revenge novel where the main character had suffered many grievances as a child, before growing up to be insanely overpowered to return his grudges tenfold.

The novel plot was super cliche but that was made people enjoy it. The satisfaction of watching someone go from weak to utterly crushing their enemies. 

The main character, Ye Ran, came from humble origins. His family was quite poor but they always had enough to eat. The world they were in was heavily dependent on one's merit. Without a good core, you were basically as good as dead. 

The cores were something that was innate, it was either you have it or you don't . Ye Ran's dad was blessed with a core, but it was weak and useless. Allowing them to only barely scrap by day by day.

You can imagine the shock on the family members face when they realised that Ye Ran's birth had been different from his siblings. 

Cores usually form when the person reached 15 years old. But on some rare cases like Ye Ran's , he was born with a red glow around him. His power was so strong that it manifested when he was just out of the womb.

Cores were essentially just containers that were able to store energies in the world. Having a better core meant that you were able to store more energy. Each person was also born with different amounts of talent, this talent determined what level their core could be levelled up to. 

Each person was also more attuned to one type of energy, for example fire. This will boosts their attack power if it used fire energy.

Thus the story began, of him being an underdog before he learnt to control his power, to rising to the peak of humanity with no one to contest him.

"The story will conclude soon."

The youth said with a light laugh. It originally started as an idea in his head and he had never thought it would actually sprout into a monster of a story. 

The ending he had in mind could be considered good, but many readers were mad that Ye Ran's family didn't get a love interest at the end of the story. Plus they're over the top comments of how they could feel the protagonist loneliness through the screen.

Actually, the youth had indeed also felt that Ye Ran was lacking some love and affection. After reaching the top, no one dared to go close to him, fearing his wrath. Ye Ran was always kept at a certain distance as a form of respect.

So being the genius that the author is, he left a note saying it's up to the readers to decide whether Ye Ran had an end game or not, as even if the story ended, Ye Ran's journey will not end.

Feeling proud of himself, the author patted himself on his back. But who would know that a hand had emerged from his monitor before grabbing on to the hand of the youth.

"What the heck!?"

The youth let out a high pitched screech as the hand made of fire started burning his skin. He tried to pry the hand away, but only ended up burning his other hand instead.

While he was busy finding solutions, he didn't realise that the hand was actually pulling him closer to the monitor and in one quick motion he was pulled in.

***

The author, Ming Ze, had always lived a peaceful and calm life. Having been born into a rich family, he never really had to lift a finger or suffer any sort of pain. A job was more of like a hobby for him, the wealth of his family could lasts for many generations and his older brother was going to take over the family business anyway. 

The older brother had always doted on Ming Ze, and wouldn't mind his little brother living a stress free life without working a job.

All until that fateful night where he was burned for the first time in his life, the pain almost enough to kill him from rage. No one has ever done such outrageous thing to him before!

And so, he was dragged through his monitor and into the novel he wrote, Blazing through the world.

After a few beats of silence, Ming Ze woke up with a shock. 

What the heck just happened!?

He scurried to his feet, before peeking into his pants. Good, it was still there. Feeling a bit relieved, he began to take a look around his surroundings. Being an author of a typical weak to strong novel and a veteran reader, he had long knew what happened.

This was a chance given to him by god, he was transmigrated into a novel! This was his time to finally get the first hand experience of those main characters.

Ming Ze saw that he was currently in a wooden shed and noted that no sounds could be heard near him, he heaved a sigh before plopping back down to the ground.

He began looking up down, left right, trying to find a system that was supposed to guide him.

"Hmm, no system? Whatever, not like I liked those things anyway." But he might've spoken too soon as a little pup crawled from under the bed.

Its small little body was cute but it held a fierce look in its face. Its white fur was pristine and his shining golden eyes stared at Ming Ze.

"I'm way better than a system, I will be your guide in this world!" 

The dog can speak? 

Ming Ze only stared incredulously at the pup that was standing proudly, as if waiting for him to kneel and thank it. He reasoned with himself that it was just a guide like a system before accepting the fact that his experience was going to different.

"Okay, Mr Pup. Can you tell me where am I and what's my purpose of being here?" 

"Stupid author! You can't even recognise your own story! Whatever. You're here to make the protagonist, Ye Ran, find love in his lonely life. This shed you're in belongs to one of the side characters in the novel that you could not be bothered to give a name to." 

The pup growled, annoyed by the creator's own stupidity.

"Eh? I didn't know him being lonely was such a big deal. Besides, how am I supposed to meet him?"

"You live in the same village as him!"

That was when everything clicked in Ming Ze's mind. He was that one childhood bully when Ye Ran didn't know how to control his powers and talent. This side character had taken advantage of Ye Ran's forgiving character and bullied him everyday because his parents were the poorest in the village.

"Oh no, at least tell me I haven't started bullying him yet?"

Ming Ze said in a panicked tone, those who wronged Ye Ran never had a good end. The least painful one he wrote was being burned alive till nothing remained. And the worst, Ming Ze didn't even want to think about it.

"See for yourself. He lives in the outer parts of the village." The pup said with a snicker and it barked happily.

Ming Ze only threw a sideward glance at it before speeding off, not forgetting to bring a few extra pieces of cloth and a healing kit together with him.

After running for 5 minutes and not even halfway through the journey, Ming Ze could already feel his legs giving out. Why was this body just so weak?! Although Ming Ze was a loser living off his parents and brother's money, he at least lived a healthy lifestyle and exercised regularly to have a lean build.

But this body, although living with a better off family, didn't eat much. Ming Ze could only reason it as this body was picky.

Slowly but surely, a small little wooden house appeared in his view, it looked, terrible to say the least. The wood was moulding and dirty and the house didn't seem big enough to hold a family of 7.

After panting for a bit, Ming Ze straightened his back as he first looked around the house to see if he could spot a wild Ye Ran.

Then he saw him, a small child at the age of 12, lying on the grass motionlessly. Panic began to rise in Ming Ze's body as he hurried over.

What beheld him was a peaceful sight, a small face without imperfections, relaxed and tranquil. This guy surely was the protagonist. However, as Ming Ze's eyes moved down to check the rest of his body for injuries, he was met with a horrific sight. Blood soaked through his shirts and shorts with deep gashes across his arms and legs.

"Ye Ran!" Ming Ze couldn't believe the injuries on such a young child, he felt deeply pained as he tried calling him awake, fearing the worst.

While Ming Ze was stressed about Ye Ran, the injured guy in question had a slight smile on his face as he felt cloths being wrapped around his arms and legs.

A small smile quirked on his lips before Ye Ran opened his eyes.

The world seemed to pause for a moment. Those crystal clear blue eyes with a light hint of red that made it seem purple at the same time. The innocent and naive eyes of a pure hearted soul stared at Ming Ze, almost knocking the air out of him.

Maybe I've really made him too lonely in the story…

Unbeknownst to Ming Ze, tears began to form and slide down his youthful cheeks. Ye Ran's eyes being as clear as they were, showed a the sadness beneath the pools, the eternal lack of warmth and affection.

"I'm so sorry Ye Ran…" Ming Ze choked out between sobs as he shakily bandaged Ye Ran up.

Ye Ran only furrowed his brows, as he stared at the boy helping him. But he quickly erased the anger from his face and replaced it with a light smile. 

"May I ask who are you?" The tone was neither angry nor joyful, just plain.

"Uh I, I." Ming Ze suddenly felt himself in an awkward position, the pup never told him the side characters name. He was also hit with the fact that it wasn't him who caused the injuries and that they haven't met yet. So the mixed feelings of relief and anxiety mixed together, making him unable to speak.

"Ruff!"

The pup in question suddenly crawled out from the cloth bag Ming Ze used to carry the healing supplies. Others would've heard it as a normal bark but to Ming Ze, it was, "Your name is Ruo Chen."

Ming Ze, or now Ruo Chen couldn't help but feel relief and anger at the sight of this smug pup. But at least he could finally answer such a challenging question as to what was one's name. He quickly wiled his face before replying.

"It's Ruo Chen." Ruo Chen quickly said before going back to focus on bandaging the rest of the injuries.

"Well, Ruo Chen, thank you for helping me but there really is no need." Ye Ran said with almost a sneer as he crossed his arms while looking at the pup.

And the pup looked back with an equally arrogant look.

Wait I'm an idiot, this freak of nature was born with a core that resonated with fire and wood energy. Ye Ran could just lay within the nature and slowly absorb its energy to heal himself.

"Ah right I'm so sorry!" Ruo Chen then began to keep his supplies but was stopped by a hand.

"But, please continue." Ye Ran said with a furrow of his brows.

Ruo Chen didn't know why Ye Ran would respond like that but continued to bandage the rest of the gashes. The pup somehow crawled up his back to sit on his shoulder as it watched.

"So how did you know I wouldn't need bandages?" Ye Ran asked as he narrowed his eyes.

Because I'm your creator!

But Ruo Chen couldn't possibly say that out loud so he just replied as coolly as possible.

"Everyone has secrets and we shouldn't pry."

The pup couldn't help but roll its golden eyes when he heard that reply. Ye Ran only stared at Ruo Chen's clumsy but gentle hands, his gaze relaxed as he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

When Ruo Chen finished, he looked at the wooden house and then back at Ye Ran. He couldn't help but feel pity and wanted to ask if Ye Ran wanted to go with him.

Ruo Chen knew Ye Ran's family treated him almost like a monster after they realised his true powers and was often left out by his siblings.

"Do you want to hang out?" Ruo Chen asked while diverting his gaze, this was just too embarrassing for him. He had never been the one to ask and this was his first.

"Hang out?"

Ye Ran glanced at the wooden house again, a strange mix of emotions surged up on his face before he smiled sweetly.

"Yea sure."

The smile made Ye Ran glow, it was an endearing sight.

How could his parents have the heart to leave him out?

And so the two set off to the center of the village where Ruo Chen stayed. The pup occasionally barking at the little animals nearby.