“A Guide’s most crucial function in society is to assist Sentinels by providing mental soothing, preventing them from experiencing power degradation or even the tragedy of mental collapse. This also allows Sentinels to charge ahead on the frontlines and protect the Empire more effectively.”
“The efficiency of mental soothing is tied to a Guide’s mental strength as well as their compatibility rate with the Sentinel. The higher the compatibility rate, the better. Naturally, that applies to a one-on-one scenario. Field Guides are universal types; regardless of compatibility level, they must perform soothing for all Sentinels. The more universal a Guide is, the softer and more harmless their spiritual body tends to be.”
“Now, release your spiritual bodies. Be careful to control them do not let them cause trouble.”
The tiered lecture hall was filled with youths who, upon the teacher’s instruction, released their spiritual bodies.
In an instant, various animal-shaped spiritual bodies hovered around the classroom, affectionately clinging to their masters.
Only in the corner of the very last row sat a slender youth who remained motionless, quietly observing them. Curiosity was irrepressible in his bright black eyes.
He asked the System in his mind, “Why do spiritual bodies seem to have autonomous consciousness, just like real animals?”
System: [Host, a spiritual body retains its master’s subconscious mind.]
Lin Fu: “Oh.”
The System comforted him: [Host, you are unable to release yours because of a mental toxin. Don’t worry. As long as you save one person, the optimization process can purge most of the mental toxin.]
Lin Fu uttered another faint “Oh.”
The youth beside him leaned closer. “Here, look at this.”
He extended his hand toward Lin Fu. A small silver-gray squirrel scampered quickly from his other shoulder, crouched obediently in his palm, and tilted its head to look at Lin Fu with curiosity.
Lin Fu thought to himself: A small creature like this, I could crush it just by sitting on it.
Even so, he could not resist poking the squirrel’s fluffy tail with his finger.
Taking advantage of the gesture, the squirrel wrapped its tail around Lin Fu’s finger, completely unabashed around strangers.
The young boy’s face flushed red instantly as he growled softly at his spiritual body, “Let go of your tail!”
The squirrel glanced at him, unmoved, and wrapped its tail even tighter.
The commotion in the corner drew attention, and sneers gradually rose from the surrounding students.
“Shang Jiarui really isn’t picky at all, being friendly with a useless trash like Lin Fu. Look at how useless his spiritual body is.”
“What are you talking about? He’s still the young master of the Lin family, after all. Even if he’s a useless person with no mental strength, hasn’t the Lin family refrained from officially disowning him yet? Of course he’s worth currying favor with.”
Shang Jiarui’s face turned grim, but he glared at them without voicing a counterargument.
However, the small squirrel in his palm was displeased. Bristling with fur, it launched itself forward and bit down hard on the nape of the nearest person’s neck.
“Ah! Shang Jiarui, you lunatic! Hurry up and take this dead squirrel back!!”
The teacher at the front walked over briskly. Seeing the student’s blood-drenched neck, his delicate eyebrows knit tightly together. “Shang Jiarui, what did I say before class?”
He cast a cold glance at Lin Fu, his tone growing even chillier. “What? Lin Fu has no hope of becoming a qualified Guide, so you don’t plan on becoming one either? Your grades in my class are entirely voided. If you want to end up like Lin Fu, you can drop out right now.”
Shang Jiarui stood up furiously, locking eyes with the teacher, and opened his mouth to say, “Then I’ll drop—”
“Drop out of what? Sit down.” Lin Fu, who had remained silent the entire time, held him down and said calmly, “I’ll drop out.”
His bright black eyes clearly reflected the faces of everyone in the classroom. There was not a trace of embarrassment or distress, nor was there any lingering reluctance. “Rest assured, teacher. Once I step out, I won’t claim to be your student, so as not to ruin your reputation.”
“I assume you wouldn’t deliberately make things difficult for a student out of personal resentment, right?”
The teacher replied proudly, “Of course not. I never do such things.”
Lin Fu: “Oh.”
He patted Shang Jiarui’s shoulder. “Hang in there and study hard. I’m leaving now.”
Water-like ripples shimmered on the portal beneath the academic building. Lin Fu stepped out with his hands in his pockets, crossed the maple-covered bridge, and looked up at the sky, letting out a long sigh.
The original host was truly pitiful; out of so many people around him, Shang Jiarui was his only genuine childhood friend.
Lin Fu had been blown up by an artillery shell before he even realized what was happening. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in this body sharing the same name, witnessing a completely unfamiliar world, and bound to a device calling itself the “Salvation System.”
It had taken him three days to barely figure out the situation in this world.
This was a Sentinel-Guide world where humans were divided into Sentinels and Guides.
Sentinels possessed powerful physiques and mental strength, but their mental power was extremely unstable.
Guides had fragile bodies, yet possessed stable mental power that could soothe and regulate a Sentinel’s mental state.
Because the two were indispensable to each other, a warped social structure had formed. Every imperial citizen was recorded in the StarNet database upon birth. On the day they turned eighteen, they went to a local matching institution to test their compatibility rate. Guides would marry the Sentinel with whom they had the highest compatibility upon reaching adulthood.
The young master of the Lin family had also participated in the test at age eighteen. The result, however, showed zero compatibility with every Sentinel across the entire Empire. Furthermore, he was diagnosed with Mental Deficiency Syndrome, becoming famous across the interstellar network overnight.
Mental Deficiency Syndrome was a rare, incurable condition. Those afflicted had no mental strength, making them equivalent to dead weight. Far from just his classmates, even the Lin family viewed Lin Fu as a disgrace, needing only one final push to erase his name from the family register.
Subjected to constant humiliation, the young master had locked himself in his dormitory three days ago and committed suicide using medication.
When he woke up again, he had become Lin Fu.
Squeezing his soft, weak arm, Lin Fu recalled the feeling of powerlessness when he had barely managed to hold Shang Jiarui back earlier.
Had it been his original body, a casual slap from him would have left a youth of Shang Jiarui’s build with no room to struggle.
The requirement given to him by the System was to save people. As long as he saved someone, he could obtain energy to help optimize one of his abilities.
Saving people was fine, but as for which ability to optimize, that had to be his own choice.
Hands in his pockets, Lin Fu walked briskly toward the administration office.
Within a few minutes, he stepped back out, having successfully completed the process, with an added sum of money on his optical computer.
The school had been eager for him to drop out quickly to avoid tarnishing its academic image. Had he not been a member of the Lin family, he would have been kicked out long ago.
Now that he was willing to drop out voluntarily, they lost no time refunding most of his tuition fees, finalized all the paperwork, and saw him off.
Carder was an academy for nobles, with steep annual tuition. The Lin family had paid his tuition all the way to graduation in a single installment, so the refunded sum was more than enough for Lin Fu to rent an apartment and live comfortably without worries for a full year.
He packed up his belongings in the dormitory, rented a place overnight, moved out, and began preparing to find a suitable location to save a life.