The afterglow of sunset spilled across the tranquil lake, dyeing the water in layers of deep and pale orange. A black stone was tossed up and caught in a little girl’s hand. Her pitch-dark eyes stared unfocused into the distance.
Plop—
The pebble was ruthlessly flung into the lake, shattering the silence as ripples spread across the surface.
“Damn it…” the girl muttered with a frown.
Cang Er, a genius fashion designer of the twenty-first century, had won the gold prize in a national design competition at just sixteen, earning admission to one of the world’s top fashion institutes.
During her studies, she racked up countless awards. Her graduation collection, themed “Future—Interstellar,” was wildly acclaimed, and she became the first enrolled student ever invited to present her work at the international Milan Fashion Show.
Yet just moments before stepping onto the stage to give her thanks as a designer, she collapsed in the waiting area…
When she woke up, she was already in this interstellar age.
Interstellar Year 4026.Along the long river of technological advancement, humanity’s latent genes had continued to be unlocked and recombined. They controlled star systems and yearned for an even vaster universe.
Genetic evolution caused some humans to be born with marks, natural signs that granted them special abilities.
Red marks: Enhanced physical functions. Cells endlessly extended and reshaped, granting overwhelming bodily strength—key frontline soldiers in interstellar warfare.
Blue marks: Deep brain development. Possessing monstrous mental power capable of refining metal materials, designing and crafting all kinds of mechs, even manifesting into physical force to kill without leaving a trace.
Green marks: Healing and cellular regeneration, along with a natural affinity for the cosmos that allowed them to draw upon nature’s power to treat the wounded.
Yellow marks: Control over gravity. They could briefly escape gravitational constraints, making their bodies lighter and more agile. Exceptionally gifted individuals could even rely on sheer speed to fly for short periods.
Humans born with such talent marks were destined to be the protagonists of the interstellar era.
The marks could appear anywhere on the body, varied in shape, but rarely exceeded the size of one’s fist. Their shades ranged from pale to deep—the stronger the talent, the darker the color. Based on color saturation, talent levels were generally divided into low, mid, and high tiers.
It had already been three days since she arrived in this world.
Cang Er sat quietly on a bench beside the lake, several thick volumes on interstellar development history stacked next to her.
With technological progress, humanity had mastered wormhole-jumping techniques. More and more star systems were explored and developed, and based on resources, landmass, and habitability, planets were classified into high, mid, or low tiers.
Celestial bodies deemed unfit for long-term human survival during development were categorized as resource planets or abandoned planets, depending on their characteristics.
The planet Cang Er was currently on was called Moonshadow Star. It was only one-fifth the size of Earth, with just a single crescent-shaped continent covering one-seventh of its surface—the rest was vast ocean. The land was limited, freshwater scarce, and thus it was rated a low-tier planet.
She was in the southernmost part of that continent, in a remote and desolate coastal town—City of Embracing Moon. The humans living here mostly lacked talent marks, and so there were no special academies.
When she first woke up, she had been lying in a small boat hidden by weeds. She wore a faded brown dress, carried a lighter, and a green backpack made from some unknown animal hide, its edges worn smooth until the patterns were no longer visible. Inside were three copper coins and a water flask.
That was everything she owned.
Two days earlier, she had spent two copper coins to buy three history books about the interstellar age, finally learning that:
Ten copper coins equaled one silver coin.Ten silver coins equaled one gold coin.And one hundred gold coins could be exchanged for a single violet crystal coin.
She now had only one copper coin left—enough for either one more book or two low-grade nutrient solutions.
Heavens above—why was she so poor?!
She stretched out her dry, yellowed little hand—only half the size of her adult one used to be. She estimated this body to be around thirteen years old. Her withered hair, yellow and brittle, was tied atop her head with a twig. Sallow skin and a palm-sized sunken face made her black-and-white eyes look even larger.
Facing the lake, she deftly smeared charcoal over the tiny deep-blue tear-shaped mole at the corner of her right eye. She licked her parched lips, rubbed her growling stomach, and decided to go roast the fish she had caught yesterday.
Until she understood this era better, and before she had any means of self-defense, she dared not reveal that she carried a talent mark.
After finishing an entire fish, Cang Er finally felt some warmth return to her body. Perhaps because of genetic changes in humans of this era, her strength had increased and her body had grown more flexible.
Now, she was stronger than she had ever been as an adult in her previous life.
But she also needed far more food and nutrition. Many people had already chosen to replace meals with nutrient solutions—and she desperately wanted to know what those tasted like.
After packing up all her belongings, she lay quietly in the small boat, covering herself with weeds, gazing through the gaps in the leaves at the vast star-filled sky.
She planned to leave at dawn the next day—find a way to earn some money, then head to the central city of Embracing Moon, the only city on the continent with a special academy for gifted individuals.
She urgently wanted to figure out what mental power actually was.
“Mecha design…”
An unfamiliar and distant term.
Still—it should be pretty similar to fashion design, right?