A few hours earlier;
The sun had barely begun to climb over the eastern peaks of Mount Philanos when Qin Wei stirred from his sleep.
The delicate knock on the chamber door came twice before a familiar soft voice followed, "Young Master, it's time to wake up." The voice belonged to Vanessa, the ever-dutiful personal maid assigned to him by the House Griffin.
Qin Wei groaned and blinked slowly, pushing himself up from the soft bedding.
Vanessa entered gracefully and bowed slightly as she approached. "The wedding begins around the auspicious twelfth hour of the day, Young Master. You have to start preparing for the wedding right away," she reminded with practiced courtesy.
"Yeah… I know," Qin Wei murmured, rubbing his eyes as he slowly sat up on the edge of the bed.
As Vanessa gave another bow and turned to heat the bathing water, Qin Wei muttered under his breath, "Today is the wedding, huh. Never expected to marry someone as soon as I transmigrated." Stretching his body, he got down from the bed, "I might as well get ready. Well, at the very least, she is a beauty that I would never have gotten in my past life."
But just as he mentally prepared himself for the wedding, a faint shimmer flickered before his eyes, with a chime rang in his head.
*DING!
A holographic screen blinked into existence midair.
EMERGENCY MISSION TRIGGERED!
Title: Escape the Wedding
Objective: Exit the House Griffin Estate and descend Wudang Mountain
Time Limit: 06:00:00
Reward: +10 Talent Points, +Wood Element Affinity
Qin Wei's pupils shrank. He blinked and read it again. "Escape the wedding…?" he muttered in disbelief while his eyes narrowed. "And get ten talent points and wood element for it?"
The screen hovered silently.
While he processed it, Vanessa's voice called gently from the bathroom. "The water's ready, Young Master."
She walked back into the room calmly as faint steam followed her. The flame energy still lingered around her fingers, a sign that she had personally heated the water with her fire element affinity.
"I will send the service maids in," she added politely.
Qin Wei snapped out of his daze, stiffening slightly. "No." he blurted.
Vanessa blinked in confusion.
He coughed lightly, then tried to correct his tone. "I mean… there's no need. I'll bathe by myself today."
Her brow raised slightly. After all, this is a notorious Playboy who is famous for being a lecher. Why was he refusing service maids to bathe him? But she said nothing of it. "As you wish, Young Master. Your wedding robes and ceremonial attire will be delivered shortly."
Qin Wei nodded, trying to calm his racing thoughts as she gave a respectful bow and exited the chamber.
The moment the door closed behind her, he collapsed into the nearby chair and stared at the floating mission screen. "Ten talent points… and a wood element," he whispered. "Now that changes everything…"
"Aria, now, admit yourself. You definitely want me to escape this marriage, don't you?"
*Ding!
[As I have mentioned before, host, each choice has a different destiny.]
"Then that means running away has a better destiny, right?"
At that, the system stayed silent.
Qin Wei didn't push the matter either. There's no need to. He stood up quickly and mumbled. "Open, Character Interface."
He navigated the system's functions by scrolling down, finally stopping at Library.
He clicked on it. "If escaping gives me such rewards, I can risk my life for a bit."
The 3D virtual tome opened with pages.
"But how do I get out?" His voice was grim as he flipped the pages. "Under the eyes of the House Griffin? No way I can walk out the front gate… teleportation is the only way."
"Aria, can you recommend a perfect skill needed to escape?" he asked.
The system responded immediately, but not with positive news.
*Ding!
[None can do, host. Your destiny must be chosen with your own hands.]
"Ugh... you ruthless system... fine, I'll look for a way on my own. Who needs your help? Hmpf..."
He quickly tapped into techniques, muttering as he flipped the pages. "Come on, come on… I need something fast, clean, short-range, even D-grade… no, that's too basic…"
Yet, what greeted him was exactly what he feared.
Flash Step: 5000 credits
Void Blink: 9000 credits
Heavenly Gate Hop: 20,000 credits
Shadow Bridge: 15,000 credits
Lightning Sovereign Seal: 11.7 million credits
Every teleportation or space-bending technique cost more than he had. Far more. The cheapest was five times his entire budget.
His heart sank, frustration burning low in his gut.
And then, a flicker of a thought appeared in his head.
"Wait a minute..."
He blinked, then slowly looked up at the hovering tome again, eyes sharpening. "Shadow Bridge Technique was from the novel I haven't published. That means... I can use the ones from the latest one I didn't get to publish back in my past life," he whispered, realization dawning in his tone.
*Ding!
[I believe I mentioned you could use the powers from your 25 fictional works. And you only published 24 novels. Isn't that obvious, host?]
"Shut up. Who asked you... I don't need running commentaries. If you can't help me, then don't speak and irritate me," Qin Wei snapped at this system. The latter stayed silent.
As Qin Wei thought about it, a skill appeared in his head to escape this wedding. His fingers moved with renewed vigor, flipping through page after page of locked techniques. "Where is it… where is it…" he mumbled with eyes that seemed quite desperate.
Ten minutes passed. Then twenty.
And then, click.
A page shimmered open with a faint hum.
Qin Wei's heart leapt, finding a perfect one at last.
Ripple Drift
Rank: C
Credits: 800
Effect: The user activates a temporary ripple in space and drifts up to 10km in a chosen direction. Cannot pass through the rank-10 or above space barriers. Cooldown: 400 minutes.
Qin Wei couldn't help but grin. "I made this for a minor villain who escaped every time just before getting caught by my main protagonist. Little did I expect that this was going to help me earn the wood element in this reality."
His finger hovered over the purchase button for only a heartbeat.
Click.
[800 credits were deducted]
A new notification appeared:
*Ding!
[You have learned the Ripple Drift Technique. It has been added to your Skill Interface.]
Qin Wei exhaled deeply and leaned back as his heart still raced. "Perfect."
Now, he had the tool. All that remained was execution.
He turned his gaze toward the window, where banners and red streamers fluttered in the rising sun.
"Let's see…" he murmured, pacing now. "I have maybe five and a half hours left. As the guests arrive, even the entire city will be on high alert. My best chance to escape is within the next hour."
He cracked his knuckles. "I need to time it perfectly… location, direction, destination…"
The Ripple Drift technique allowed him to choose a direction but not fine-tune the exact landing point.
Still, it was far enough to get beyond the House Griffin's detection array. He just needed to pick a direction where no patrols would be stationed and time the activation right.
His eyes flickered as he activated his Heaven's Eye.
"Let's get out of this place," he said under his breath with a smirk forming once more on his lips.