Boarding the train, I took out my notebook. I needed to check the further events and make notes in the pages related to Xi'an and subsequent actions. After all, I had significantly altered the canon, but according to my calculations, it wouldn't be too noticeable until Xi'an, meaning the most important events would repeat as they should.
Why do I need to preserve the canon? A rather foolish question. Knowledge of the future is very useful. Thanks to it, I managed to earn two million, which are in my account and will increase by ten percent in a year. Also, considering that the oceanic race will attack anyway, I cannot influence it in any way, so a hero is needed to save everyone. In the original, this hero was Mo Fan. I could change the canon and become this hero myself, but I don't want to. I'm simply too lazy to deal with such foolishness.
I don't want to save the world or try to change it for the better; there's zero benefit for me from it. So, the best option is to raise Mo Fan as a hero and ensure he gets all the necessary perks for it. So far, it's going well. The canon's tendency to happen helps me. I need Mo Fan to be of the same strength or even stronger, but not weaker.
Another reason to adhere to the canon and raise Mo Fan as humanity's demon-hero is the problem of the Holy Court and the Holy City, as well as the Association of Five Continents. Initially, they didn't bother me much, as I planned to become an ordinary mage, but after awakening two elements with a secondary spiritual seed, it might lead me into confrontation with these organizations.
I remember how in the original, the Holy Court destroyed everyone with unique abilities. Among them were Qin Yu'er and Zhang Kong, Pin Zhou Lun, Mu Ning Xue almost died, and Mo Fan himself. So, with my natural gifts, I will definitely be on their radar and in danger. Problems will arise especially if I reveal myself while saving the world; I will be killed. And I have to save it if I want to survive. But even without saving the world, I will still have to use my powers for self-development, and I might get caught by them. The best option is to follow the canon and hide in the shadow of Mo Fan's threat, seeking ways to become strong enough not to fear either the Holy Court or the Association of Five Continents.
At the very beginning of the story, due to the threat of spoiling everything, I had to play the role of a passive, slightly cowardly guy to instill in Mo Fan the foundations of his ideas and strength, as well as his hatred for injustice and the black church. So, I was almost tied hand and foot, but there were opportunities in Bo City to increase my strength. The main one was the leakage of the sacred spring, thanks to which the one-eyed wolf almost became the pack leader. I successfully used it, becoming a mid-level mage.
The second opportunity was to earn money on bets during the duel between Mo Fan and Yu An. For this, I needed initial capital, and the more, the better. Although I wasn't sure if the Mu clan would organize a betting pool. To acquire money, I used Kun San. With the first bet of a thousand yuan, I sparked a desire for revenge in him, after which I used this desire to increase the maximum bet to ten thousand the second time. He's not foolish enough to bet ten thousand so easily. After that, all that was left was to win my money. I was lucky that Mo Fan gave me another ten thousand for living expenses and that the betting odds were quite high.
The third opportunity came during the tragedy of Bo City, namely, almost free awakening. I spent only a thousand yuan on viewing awakening stones, learned that they existed in Bo City, and where they were stored. True, during the tragedy, many things went wrong, but it's not scary. The main thing is that the core essence of the events didn't change, and special changes and problems might arise for me due to the Lin sisters and my hidden identities, although it's quite amusing.
But what do I want to achieve? What am I striving for? That's an interesting question. Closing the notebook and putting it in my pocket, I leaned back in my seat and relaxed, recalling the goals I set for myself eleven years ago when I first arrived in this world.
Essentially, the first goal is the most banal of all possible: to survive in all the nonsense that is happening here, as well as the invasion of the oceanic race. Well, and it would be nice to enjoy this life, not just run from monsters. For example, killing monsters, I like that. What is needed for this? Correct, great strength. Hence, my second goal: to gain this strength, which will ensure my complete safety. Where to get this strength? Even with my talents, I will only be one of the strongest if I cultivate diligently. I will easily be crushed by the ruler of the south, or a group of curse mages.
Here, I need to remember that there is no modern weaponry in this world; magic has replaced it. Yes, there are amenities of civilization, cars, planes, and televisions with phones, but no firearms, no tanks, no nuclear weapons. One might think that magic replaces all of this in this world, yes, probably. But mages are not everyone; they are an elite caste of society, no more than thirty percent of the planet's population. I don't think the remaining seventy percent easily accept the rule of mages and their inability to defend themselves against monsters.
The absence of modern weapons can be attributed to the impossibility of mass production due to the inability to obtain resources on such a scale as in my past world. But they build airplanes, don't they? And why gunpowder if you can use fire stone dust and sparks from lightning stones? I even took down the pack leader with their help. These technologies have significantly strengthened humanity. However, it's nowhere to be found, not even in books is there a single mention of its creation, yet there is mention of gunpowder creation.
Thinking about this dilemma, I came to the conclusion that someone doesn't need firearms, even in the hands of ordinary people. Referring to the original, I found confirmation of my guesses, namely, the death of Pin Zhou Lun. If the higher-ups of the magical association eliminate the development of magic to maintain power, why can't they ban the development of modern weapons, even if based on magic? So, it turns out that only high-level mages and curse mages can oppose them, or a huge crowd of high-level mages. They simply sweep away everyone else with a wave of their hand. Why would the authorities give everyone on the planet the opportunity to kill themselves? Although here the question arises of who would control it, but with the local bigwigs, this option is quite possible. Plus, firearms and bombs are quite weak in the early stages of development. In the old world, they had to go through a path of almost five hundred years to become useful enough.
However, I am not entirely sure of my hypothesis, but the complete absence of weapons gives me confidence in its truthfulness. So, until I fully understand this issue, it's better not to mess with such weapons. This method of gaining strength is postponed. I need to look for other ways to gain strength, but what? Here, creatures and people with abilities that don't fit into the usual knowledge system come to mind. These include: totems, archangels of the holy city, the demon in the form of Mo Fan, Len Jue with corrupt faith, and the holy spirit of the Parthenon, which resurrects people; by the way, he is sitting opposite me.
The question is, where does their strength come from? There are no answers to this in the original. But I have an idea about this, but it still needs to be verified. Faith energy is to blame for everything. Firstly, totems are almost immortal monsters, belonging to higher commanders, and these are the weakest of them! Where did the totems come from? Correct, they were monsters that protected people before they gained magic. But did they already have these miracles of power then? Unknown. What if they only appeared during the protection of people? Then where did they come from? I believe it's all thanks to the power of faith generated by people when they praise, believe, hope, or experience other emotions towards a living being. Those monsters learned to absorb faith energy, and it changed their souls and bodies, giving them the ability to be reborn and cool unique abilities.
Secondly, archangels, where did they come from? As far as I can tell, the first archangels were powerful mages who gained the ability to transfer, to reincarnate part of their soul, along with cool unique abilities. Doesn't it remind you of anyone? Correct, they are totems in human form! Therefore, they appeared the same way as totems. A group of the first seven curse mages in the west united and began to protect people. They deified them and began to transfer the power of faith, which the first archangels used for their own strengthening and changed their souls.
Thirdly, the holy spirit of the Parthenon, where does it get the ability to resurrect and transfer from one owner to another? This is also similar to totems and archangels. Here is my vision of the situation. Long ago, perhaps during the time of the first archangels, there was a healing mage girl who created the blessing element, who reached the level of a curse mage in her magic and became known as the greatest healer. People began to worship her and transfer the power of faith, which she used for her own strengthening, gaining the ability to heal people. She founded the Parthenon and after her death, she possessed her successor, bestowing upon her the power of resurrection.
Fourthly, the powers of the demon Mo Fan and Len Jue. They are also connected to faith energy, only a corrupt one, appearing from negative emotions. Len Jue collected it directly along with emotions, which is why it looked like that, but what about Mo Fan? According to my theory, the blood pearl, the carrier of demonization, is a clot of corrupt faith energy purified from emotions. This can be inferred from the fact that the energy of demonization and the crimson demon are similar, and the demon was born from this energy.
However, these are all hypotheses and guesses; they still need to be confirmed, and for that, one needs to understand what faith energy is. It is practically impossible to work with Jiaxing Xia now, as the spirit of the Parthenon is not active in her, and besides, I lack the necessary knowledge. It remains to wait for Mo Fan's demonization moment and, if possible, obtain the blood pearl for experiments. So, this method is also postponed, unfortunately. But the last one remains.
My talisman, a beast's tooth, which has been with me since my rebirth. I need to dedicate myself to its development, supplying it with souls, and also understand what it is. It resembles totem vessels but is one. It would also be good to understand where it came from. Another important way to strengthen myself is to develop my innate seeds, which requires resources. Plus, my cultivation in the city is noticeably slower than in nature, so it's best for me to work as a hunter. Moreover, by working as a hunter, I will gain access to their database and obtain the necessary information.
Another of my goals is to explore Russia in this world and find out why it never appears in the original. So far, I know that the Russian Federation is a superpower, one of the five countries on the Security Council of the Association of Five Continents, not participating in international university games, not providing its resources to other nations, but also not taking them from others. Also, on the territory of the Russian Federation, there are at least four monster empires: Caucasian, Siberian, Ural, and Altai. However, the list may be expanded, as the Siberian and Altai empires are poorly studied and there may be other empires in the territories assigned to them. It will be interesting to visit Russia sometime.
"Well, yes, I'm from another world. A world of science. There, schools don't study boring magic, but rather various scientific theories. Everything around is explained by science, not magic. What magic! Almost no one believes in it," Mo Fan said, pulling me out of my thoughts.
"What nonsense? If it weren't for outstanding research in the field of magic, where would household appliances, computers, and vehicles come from? Not to mention that the train uses lightning energy to move. Indeed, the younger generation... they have no respect for history, no respect for their predecessors," said an old man sitting on the other side of Mo Fan.
"Elder, my son likes to say peculiar things, please don't pay attention to him. Are you also going to Shanghai?" Mo Jiaxingg said. He easily knew how to strike up a conversation, that's something he couldn't be denied.
"Yes, I finished a seminar in Xiamen and am returning to Shanghai," the old man waved his hand. "I am a history professor at Minzhu University."
"Elder, does Minzhu University look for any special applicants?" Mo Fan asked. "Don't worry about it, young man."
"Only if an applicant has a very unusual talent. Otherwise... yes, it's not common for someone to be admitted to Minzhu just like that," the elder said, then looked at Mo Fan assessingly and asked, "Do you want to enroll in Minzhu University?"
"I've been planning to enroll there for a long time," Mo Fan replied, then looked at me and added, "My brother also wants to get in there."
"You'd better take the unified magic exam as soon as possible. And regarding admission based on talents, don't think too much about it; spend your time studying. The most outstanding and promising students get into Minzhu. If you can distinguish yourself and pass the exam better than several thousand students, consider yourself gifted."
"So, in the end, do applicants with talents have advantages in admission?" Mo Fan couldn't calm down.
"Of course, they do, but I don't think an ordinary person can handle the tasks for the gifted," the elder said dryly, discouraging and frightening Mo Fan. I think it's not worth mentioning that all mages of the middle level who have just finished school are admitted there.
"Excuse me, do you know about magical artifacts that ordinary people can use?" I asked, finally formulating the question in a way that wouldn't reveal my knowledge of modern weapons to Mo Fan.
"No, there has never been anything like that. Although, a long time ago, at the beginning of the second millennium AD, there were weapons in China that used gunpowder for shooting. But with the arrival of Western powers, these weapons and their research were forgotten and practically completely destroyed," the elder replied, lost in thought. "And why do you need this, young man?"
"Oh, just for my own development," I smiled. So, my theory had gained another confirmation. "And how effective were these weapons?"
"It's commendable to be interested in history. They say they could seriously wound or kill weak servants, but they had no effect on stronger opponents," the elder replied. I didn't ask him anything else, as questions about totems, archangels, demons, and the power of faith were, firstly, too advanced information for Mo Fan, and secondly, knowledge of these individuals would raise questions for an ordinary guy from a backwater. If archangels are more or less known, then few people know about demons and totems.