Transmigration is, simply put, the act of traversing time and space.
Colloquially, it refers to an event where a character, for some reason or another, has their body or consciousness transported to a different spatial environment.
In the Celestial Empire, where the webnovel industry thrives, transmigration is practically a dime-a-dozen trope.
Perhaps lightning decided it wanted an intimate encounter with the protagonist, maybe it was a sudden, unannounced car accident, or perhaps one foolishly clicked "yes" on a message from some great ball of light...
In short, for a myriad of reasons, the protagonist enters a new environment and begins their journey.
The inexplicably transmigrated youth stood on a bustling street, his expression bewildered.
Judging by his appearance, he was a handsome young man of about fifteen or sixteen.
His features were delicate, his face comely, and he wore a uniform with a distinct British academy style. On the back of his hand was a red mark resembling a tattoo.
Li Zihan was a transmigrator from the Celestial Empire.
Fourteen years ago, back when he was still a university student in the Celestial Empire, he encountered a purveyor of transmigrations—Truck-kun. At the time, thanks to his considerable agility, he managed to dodge it.
It was a close call; he was almost flattened by another truck that darted out from a different road.
Fortunately, no harm came to him.
To celebrate surviving the near-fatal accident, Li Zihan decided to go home and cook himself a grand meal.
And then... the natural gas line in his house exploded.
That explosion blasted him straight into the Moon World—a place rich in natural gas, or rather, rich in natural gas explosions.
Perhaps because his status as a transmigrator was somewhat special, he was discovered by a certain damned old geezer capable of observing parallel worlds and became his disciple.
Honestly, being a disciple of the Jewel Old Man, Zelretch, was a perilous affair. Within the Mage's Association, "Zelretch's disciple" was practically synonymous with "being turned into a cripple."
For that old man with his twisted sense of humor, tossing his disciples into different timelines of different worlds for an adventure was quite an amusing pastime.
And such a pastime, for his disciples, was downright lethal.
The young man, who had just prepared his holy relics and was about to summon Karna to fight in a Holy Grail War, twitched at the corner of his eye as he looked at the Command Spells on the back of his hand.
"Fuck!"
Even though he strongly suspected that damned old geezer was hiding in some godforsaken place, peeping at him, Li Zihan couldn't stop himself from cursing aloud.
He had plans to acquire something from the Holy Grail War, get a power-up, and prevent himself from ending up inexplicably crippled like his predecessors.
But that damned old geezer hadn't given him any time to develop at all, directly tossing him into another world.
Sensing that his upcoming situation would be extremely dangerous, Li Zihan's face darkened.
Although he didn't know which worldline he was on, as part of that damned old geezer's "amusement," nothing good was definitely going to happen next.
Li Zihan, who wouldn't even be surprised if he encountered a Dead Apostle disaster next, crouched down and pressed his hand against his own shadow.
A magus possessing the attribute of Imaginary Numbers was a stalker capable of inserting their hand into the gaps between dimensions.
The Imaginary Number space, which does not exist in the human world but is perceived to exist, is akin to an alternate dimension. Items, and even living beings, that enter it become unbound by space-time, existing independently of the world.
Imaginary Number mages with some proficiency would all rely on their unique properties to create spatial capsules to store their Mystic Codes and collections.
Li Zihan was no exception.
As a heretic in the magus world who viewed magecraft as a mere tool, Li Zihan had used money earned from stock trading to acquire some rather flashy weaponry in the Beacon Country.
Upon obtaining them, he used magecraft to reinforce the weapon frames and then inscribed Runes on some of the consumables.
Those low-cost, high-power Mystic Codes were all stored by him in a space based on Imaginary Numbers.
He wasn't worried about being spotted by passersby while retrieving his Mystic Codes and causing a panic.
By expanding the simplest suggestion magecraft into a Bounded Field, he could make all onlookers ignore him.
This kind of magecraft, which easily brought to mind unhealthy things like some "Hypnosis Academy," was a minor spell that could be cast with a mere flick of a finger or a blink of an eye.
Surveillance from technological items like cameras could also be shielded by an equally minor optical distortion magecraft.
"Calm down, calm down! Don't be rash!"
Without any warning, a rather loud, mechanized synthetic voice boomed in Li Zihan's ears. Li Zihan's hand trembled, and he failed to open the space storing his Mystic Codes.
Glancing around and seeing nothing, Li Zihan remained silent for a moment, then tentatively asked.
"Who might you be?"
"I'm the system bound to you!"
Like a husky charging forth, the mechanized synthetic voice quickly replied.
System?
I have something so high-end on me?
Li Zihan, who had always thought he'd missed the era of state-allocated systems, was stunned.
"I'm the Hero Cultivation System, you know!"
The seemingly a-bit-ditzy System-kun, seeing its host dazed, proudly introduced itself.
"Ever played a JRPG? That kind of hero."
A hero, in essence, is a brave individual who saves people from crises.
Later, it became a common character type in JRPGs and anime.
They generally possess the following characteristics:
Designated by an irresistible, unnatural force such as fate, deities, or specific weapons/equipment, possessing uniqueness.
They appear in conjunction with a great crisis and are ultimately destined to resolve said crisis.
They possess a high sense of responsibility.
They will receive all sorts of inexplicably selfless help from various people.
And this system seemed to exist precisely to cultivate such heroes.
"You want me to be a hero?"
The youth, who lived in the general environment of the Clock Tower and, while perhaps not a great villain, certainly didn't seem to have any connection with that "hero" stuff, had a subtle expression.
"Yep!"
The system, which seemed to have completely disregarded compatibility and simply bound a random host, affirmed.
The youth, feeling like he might have stumbled onto the path of one of those ridiculously overpowered, wish-fulfillment protagonists, felt a stir in his heart.
Although he didn't know why this system had chosen him, since it was a system, it should be pretty powerful, right?
His desire to pummel the Jewel Old Man into the ground wasn't just a day or two old.
"Is there a newbie gift pack or something?"
Li Zihan, feeling he could try to develop a bit, then go back and uphold the Golden Spirit by beating up the thousand-year-old geezer, recalled plots from novels he'd read in his previous life and asked.
"The newbie gift pack is one wish within my capabilities."
The system's reply was surprisingly potent, not like one of those trash-tier systems from a cheap webnovel site.
Hearing this, Li Zihan's eyes lit up.
A wish within the system's capabilities? Although he didn't know how vast the system's capabilities were, it was certain that this newbie gift pack had a lot of room for manipulation!
"It has already been granted."
Before Li Zihan could even get excited, the system abruptly added.
?¿
If this were a manga, a whole row of question marks would surely be visible above Li Zihan's head.
"Already granted?"
Li Zihan was thoroughly bewildered.
"Mm-hmm." The system's reply was very certain.
Receiving such an answer, Li Zihan desperately searched his memories, then came up empty.
He had no recollection of anyone asking him what his wish was.
"Did I make a wish?"
Li Zihan's expression was one of utter confusion.
As its host classmate was bewildered, System-kun very considerately prompted.
"In your dream, didn't you say you wanted a different start?"
In my dream?!
Li Zihan remembered. After formulating his plan for the Holy Grail War, he did indeed have a dream while sleeping, and in that dream, he had indeed complained.
"This start of mine is miserable enough; it would be great if I could get a start where I can get chummy with beautiful girls."
And then, he was transported to this world.
"Can I change my wish?"
Li Zihan, feeling as though he had instantly lost a hundred small objectives, felt his eye twitching.
Not only had he lost a wish, but he might have also missed the Fourth Holy Grail War he had anticipated for so long.
"Nope, can't do."
System-kun, clearly not offering any after-sales service, stated very seriously.
"..."
The handsome face of the magus who had used up his wish in a dream was etched with a silent 'motherfucker'.
Li Zihan took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and repeated this several times to calm himself down.
"So, where is this place?"
The magus asked the thing calling itself the Hero Cultivation System.
According to the system, he had been sent out of the Moon World and into another world.
And upon entering a new world, intelligence and the like were clearly very important.
"This is Nagazora City, at the end of January 2014."
Nagazora City? That name sounds a bit familiar.
The magus, feeling like he'd heard this place name somewhere before, fell into deep thought and began to recall where.
Memories from his past life, where he'd practically been a 'lore custodian' for such things, began to surface. As these memories awakened, his expression gradually changed.
"This is the Honkai World!"
Author's note: P.S. Don't flame the protagonist's name; this naming-impaired author really couldn't think of anything better.