1 1.1: Under the cherry blossom rain

"Master...?" Little Star tilted his head to the side as he looked at the dazed youth in front of him. He asked, "Are you alright? Why don't you rest a bit before going back?"

The youth was very handsome with skin white and smooth like jade, clear blue phoenix eyes and rosy red lips. A small dot of a mole was underneath his left eye, accentuating his gorgeous looks. Even his current dazed eyes and his tightly pursed lips didn't diminish any of his natural charm.

Bai Yu woke up from his trance and slowly raised his head without looking at the cute little boy floating around him in concern, saying, "I'm fine. Don't worry. Since our work is done here, let's go."

'He says that again...how can I not worry about him when I see him look so sad every time we complete our tasks in every world?'

Little Star worriedly watched his master for a while longer before sighing in defeat.

'Forget it. There's nothing I can do to help him other than try my best to find the one he has been looking for. Hope we can find him soon...'

"Then master, we will be going back to the system space." said Little star.

Right after his voice fell, Bai Yu' s sight darkened and a wave of dizziness hit him. When he opened his eyes again, he was already inside an empty white space with no ends nor corners in sight. Looking at this already familiar scene of pure white, Bai Yu felt dejected inside his heart.

'Again, I couldn't find him. How many worlds have I already been to? Five? Or six? No matter where I search for him, I still can't find that person...that person whom I can't even remember clearly.'

When he first woke up in this empty space, he found that he had lost his memories about his past. But even then, the bugging strange feeling that kept on creeping inside his heart, the pain of his heart being slowly squeezed by a hand made him realise something. And that something was his deep rooted desire to find that someone who still remained hidden deep inside his heart, like a thorn that refused to be plucked out from his flesh, even after losing his memories.

He was at a loss, in confusion about his own feelings and of his past. He didn't know what to do to relieve the pain on his chest when a little boy that looked around 2 years old, calling himself a system, appeared before him and offered him a contract where he will travel through different time and space to complete tasks and in exchange, he can search for the person he was looking for in those worlds after he finished his tasks.

He finally found a path to walk upon, a choice filled with uncertainties yet he chose it just in case. What if he missed this chance and he could never unravel the truth hidden with the cover of an amnesia for his entire life? And what really made him make this difficult choice was....because he really wanted to see that person, whom he could no longer remember, again.

Getting out of his thoughts, Bai Yu looked at the transparent blue system interface showing the task completion rewards.

[Ding! Task complete!

World difficulty: C grade

Completion rate: 100%

Side tasks completed: 3 (+10,000 credit points)

Main Task rewards: 50,000 credit points.]

[Ding! You can choose two skills to learn for free.]

Bai Yu indifferently swept his gaze through the rewards then chose 'martial arts' and 'medicine' skills from the list of skills for him to learn.

Little Star asked, "Master, how long would you like to stay in the training space?"

Bai Yu said without hesitation, "Until I master the skills."

Little Star sighed and complied then sent him to the training space.

It was already a familiar line for him. The same with no originality in it.

..

After spending a very long time in the training space, Bai Yu got out of the space and said, "Let's start."

"Alright, master!" Little Star cheered and waved his little hand.

[Initialising transfer.....]

The familiar feeling of dizziness hit Bai Yu and he closed his eyes.

'This time...I hope...'

[Ding! Transfer complete!]

.....

....

Bai Yu opened his eyes and immediately felt the discomfort in his body after a few seconds of adapting his soul to the body.

His body felt heavy, his head light and dizzy. He would feel pain like being pricked with needles whenever he tried to move even a little. All in all, it was very uncomfortable and annoying.

Bai Yu knitted his brows tightly in a frown and laid limply on the bed, giving up his struggle. Staring at the canopy with embroideries of flowers and qilin that looked quite exquisite yet worn out and at the old yet good-looking furniture in the room, he said, "Little Star, send me the information."

"Yes! Sending right away!" said Little Star as a huge amount of information about the task world as well as some unfamiliar fragments of memories pieced together inside his head. It took him a while to look through all of it and finally had some understanding about his current situation.

This world was set on ancient era of warfare where the continent was under the rule of 3 main kingdoms: Eastern Long, Western Hu and Northern Lin. The three countries vied for the territories and resources under the rule of each other, and waged war both in the battlefield and court, the battleground of politics, to become the supreme leader of the continent.

He was currently in the Eastern Long country as the unfavoured and sickly Seventh Prince, Xiang Wang*, Long Ji Wei*. He is the second son of the late Empress Xian De, who died right after giving birth to him due to blood loss. Because of this, the Emperor QingLong*, the father of Long Ji Wei, blamed him for the death of his beloved Empress and refused to look at him again after handing him over to Consort Gui*, who was childless and not favoured in the imperial harem.

{A/N: Xiang Wang is his title that is given to the sons of the Emperor where Wang as in Prince. In this case, he is a QinWang, the prince of first rank. Xiang means to miss sb. It also means auspicious.}

{Long Ji Wei: Long as in Dragon, Ji Wei as in ascension. (you know what I mean.) QingLong =Azure dragon. Consort Gui= Noble consort}

Consort Gui was neither hot nor cold* towards him, only raising him perfunctorily till he became an adult and moved out to his own mansion outside the imperial palace.

His childhood wasn't filled with any happy or warm memories. As a Prince with no mother and the lack of care from his father, his life was full of hardship and burdened by illness. Since small, he was subject to bullying and mistreatment from the other princes to even the lowly servants due to his sickly body and timid nature.

{A/N: Neither cold nor hot= Not very close to each other. Indifferent.}

Although he was the true son of heaven, the only son of the late Empress and also the only rightful person to inherit the throne, he was still seen as the most useless prince among his imperial brothers. Some pitied him for his poor fate, some mocked him for his timidity, some hated him for his status while some took pleasure to his misfortune.

But no one could have ever thought that the seemingly weak and timid, sickly seventh prince who was only 19 years old now to actually be someone who hid himself very deeply. He was neither timid nor useless in actual truth but instead he was very smart and had learnt since he was very small to hide his true self behind a mask to survive in the imperial harem and not fall into the hidden claws and open threats of the scheming imperial concubines.

The only pity was his body ridden with an unknown illness that still dragged him down. His maternal family wasn't very well off after the death of the Empress and was only a duke house with empty title and no power in court. He only had some loyal servants and hidden guards left to protect him by his mother to call his own.

Nowadays, the capital city was brewing hidden storms and waves underneath the bustling and peaceful facade. The Emperor was getting older and muddled as he indulged himself in entertainment more than handling the court matters.

The princes were no longer small children and had their own thoughts and ambitions while the nobles were seriously preparing themselves for the upcoming storms and considering which side they should choose to support.

Because of this, the Emperor was constantly on guard against his sons and his paranoia made him become colder and ruthless while handling the matters of court. Only that, fortunately or not, Long Ji Wei wasn't affected by all these matters as no one paid him any attention. After all, what could possibly a sickly and useless Prince with no background nor support do at this turbulent times, right?

Bai Yu finally felt some strength in his body after resting for a while and got out of the bed slowly. He nearly lost his footing and staggered back a little before he managed to balance his body by supporting himself on the pillar near his bed.

"Master, be careful!" Little Star cried worriedly as he watched him slowly walk towards the copper mirror placed inside the dressing room parted with a folding screen painted with mountains and rivers.

Heeding no thoughts to his worries, Bai Yu slowly got to the front of the copper mirror and saw a vague figure reflected on it. Although it wasn't very clear, it still showed the elegant and refined beauty of the person with a hint of sickly and delicate touch to it. The tear drop mole under his left eye gave an enchanting feel to his dark phoenix eyes which sometimes shone in an icy blue colour under the light of the sun peeking in from the open window.

It was his true appearance if omitted the sickly and frail look of his current body. When he did a task for the first time, he got to know that he could keep his true appearance in all the task worlds with only a bit of change. He thought it was very convenient as he didn't want to really have a face of a stranger when he looked at the mirror staring back at him.

And he also thought that it might be a bit of help when searching for that person. Maybe that person will recognise him after seeing his original appearance?

He sighed helplessly at himself. Who knew when that would be? Maybe...that person was no longer....no no, he should stop thinking any further.

Shaking off the thoughts from his mind, Bai Yu coughed a bit and called out in a low voice, "Xiao Mo."

Right after he called out the name, a young man dressed as a eunuch quickly but respectfully came in from the door. He greeted him with a bow and said, "Wang Ye*, you called for this servant?"

{A/N: How others of lower rank call a Prince.}

Bai Yu nodded slightly and let him rise. "Mm. Help me get dressed."

He then looked out of the window to see the sun up in the sky, a cool breeze occasionally blowing in from the window. It was late in the morning yet the Xiang Wang Fu was very quiet like a graveyard. The wang fu although had little number of people, it was still very abnormal to be this silent when other's households' would be bustling with activity. But this didn't bother him at all as he even liked the peace and quiet. It was just his body felt colder than ever today but he just endured it.

"Yes." Xiao Mo bowed again then quickly helped him get into a simple cotton padded black robe made of a slightly better cloth with some silver linings around the edges of his wide sleeves and collar which was held by a black belt and paired with simple black boots. A black cape draped on his shoulders. His long black hair was partially secured with a simple jade coronet and the remaining was set free like a waterfall behind his back.

Even though he was dressed very plainly, the elegance and dignified aura emitting from his pores didn't fade even a bit and made him look more like a proud son of the heaven. The calm and indifference inside his deep black phoenix eyes seemed to unconsciously put pressure upon anyone who gazed at them, like two black holes pulling them into the trap hidden behind those deep pools of watery eyes. His sickly frailty almost non-existent.

Xiao Mo was a bit stunned at this sight as he couldn't help but feel that the prince was a bit different than usual today. But where it was wrong, he couldn't point it out no matter how he thought so he just let this off his mind.

He said, "Wang Ye, would you like to have your breakfast now or wait till lunch? Also, you haven't taken your medicine yet so if you do not have an appetite, at least drink a bowl of porridge to have medicine?"

Bai Yu just nodded without any care. "Hm. Arrange it however you want."

"Y-yes. Then please wait for this servant to bring your meal." After saying that, Xiao Mo bowed and retreated from the room with light footsteps. He kept his head down until he got out of the door and finally raised it to reveal a puzzled look on his face.

'Am I just being oversensitive or did something happen to Wang ye?'

Without dwelling into this thought any further, he just shook his head and continued walking when he suddenly noticed the open window.

'Hm? Who opened the windows of Wang ye's room?'

With a frown on his face, he quietly went forward and closed the window tightly. Only then did he turn around and leave to do his job.

Bai Yu got out of his bedroom and went towards the main hall where his study was located.

This was the place where Long Ji Wei frequented more usually and he always had his meal there while practicing calligraphy, reading books or painting.

Although he was just an unfavoured prince, he was still someone from the imperial clan so his condition was still far better than common people. His study had a wide collection of various books ranging from poetry, philosophy to military strategy books. They were arranged neatly on the bookshelves and the whole place was clean and tidy.

The weather in the early spring was still a bit cold in the morning. Sitting on a wooden chair near the tightly shut window, he could hear the birds singing merrily and the leaves rustling on the trees. It was very tranquil inside. The brazier inside the study let out crackling sounds in the background, making the room warm.

Bai Yu enjoyed the peace in silence and finally called out for the system interface. Looking at the transparent blue panel, he indifferently curled his lips.

[Task world difficulty: B grade

Main task: Ascend the throne within 3 years

Reward: 100,000 credit points

Side tasks: Not discovered yet]