Chapter 1: Where am I?
Chapter 1: Where am I?
Sui Meng woke up with a confused look on her face.
Where on earth was she?
All she could remember was going to bed in her apartment after a night of drinking with her colleagues.
She found herself in a large hall filled with young teenagers. The people around her were wearing strange uniforms, she noticed instantly that all the uniforms were not the same.
The uniforms at the front of the hall were white with golden stars running along the sides of the sleeves.
In the middle had red uniforms with silver streaks across the chest area while her uniform and those of others in the back was just a plain black with no additional ornaments.
She turned to her neighbour and tried to ask him what this place was, but he simply shot her a disgusted look and turned around. Sui Meng always had a fiery temper and that boy pissed her off quite a bit.
“Hey, I’m talking to you! Turn your damn head around and look at me!” she spoke loudly. Her seat was located at the far end of the lecture hall so the man standing at the front and apparently saying something could not hear her.
The boy ignored her and continued to pretend that she did not exist, Sui Meng frowned and was about to tap him on the shoulder when she heard the whispers echoing around her.
“Look at that waste!”
“I still can’t believe our academy took in a hybrid trash…”
“Didn’t you hear? She is the only heir to her house”
Hesitantly, she pulled back her arm and looked at her desk for any clue to her identity. Aside from a single bottle of unknown liquid and a small silvery tablet there was nothing else.
Sui Meng glanced at her arms and saw a gentle delicate hand with no calluses.
She did not have a mirror to look at her appearance but could tell that this was not her body, before she could explore further, she was surprised by a buzzing sound coming from the tablet and a small notification popped up.
[Sophie my dear daughter I hope you are paying attention in class. Do not worry about the nobles around you.]
[Your old man is still the head of a prestigious Duke house and I can bankrupt their families at anytime!]
Even across text, Sui Meng could feel the love and warmth coming from the message. Whoever sent it clearly meant to express care for her.
“Sophie? Sophie? Is my name Sophie?” Sui Meng muttered to herself.
Bam!
Sui Meng clutched her head in agony as a wave of memories swept across her mind, her hands began to tremble, and she hurriedly put her head down to pretend to sleep.
Sophie was a hybrid daughter of the Duke Peterlor and an unknown humanoid species, her mother died in childbirth and the duke refused to take another lover.
Despite having non-human races in the Earth Federation, there was a strong sense of discrimination by the upper nobility who saw hybrids as diluting the purity of the human race.
The Duke against the judgement of his advisors and peers had claimed that his half human daughter would be the heir to his household.
This raised alarm bells and even the royal family sent him a letter urging him not to be rash.
Perhaps if Sophie was a cultivation prodigy, there would be a reluctant sense of acceptance from her peers, but she was far from it.
Despite having the best cultivation resources and techniques available, she was still on stage two of qi body.
The other nobles her age was on average, stages six and seven of qi body with some prodigies even reaching the rank of qi spirit stage one.
Now her reputation was in shambles and she was seen as both a hybrid and cultivation trash, this caused her personality to be timid and withdrawn.
No one except her father was on her side.
The only memento she had from her mother was small star shaped necklace that hung from her neck. Her father made her promise to never take it off, but Sophie was a bit frightened by the necklace.
The necklace as far as she could remember always fit her perfectly, from early childhood straight to her current age. It was like the material could grow alongside her own increase in height.
Sophie was quite a beautiful girl with slender pale skin and budding curves that hinted at the heart breaker she would become.
Her appearance was as close to an ordinary human as possible with the exception of her pointy elf-like ears and pupils which were golden in colour.
Sophie suffered from low self esteem from all the bullying, so she hid her face behind a curtain of hair.
“My dream is to become a powerful lady my dad can be proud of”, a long forgotten memory echoed in Sui Meng’s head and she jerked upright from the desk with a gasp.
Her head was throbbing slightly with pain, but it was quickly ignored as Sui Meng struggled to understand what had happened to her.
In the memories she saw everything from Sophie’s point of view and her emotions were indistinguishable from her own.
It was like the two girls had become one with both memories and personalities.
Sophie’s desire to become strong was now felt by Sui Meng who had unfamiliar emotions dancing across her heart.
She gave a reluctant sigh and whispered back to the voice in her head,
“I don’t understand how I came to occupy your body but I promise to try to fulfil your dream at least until I can find my way back home.”
Sui Meng did not hear a reply from the voice but got the feeling that the faint presence in her mind had disappeared at least for now.
Sui Meng was gone but her new life as Sophie Peterlor had begun.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
A clear bell sound rung from the speakers overhead and the students around her began to pack up and exit the hall.
Sophie found a small carry bag as her feet and placed the small bottle and tablet inside. She followed the footsteps in her memories and arrived at the great library of the Royal Academy.
Even though she had the memories of the previous Sophie, there was a need to double check the information and learn more about the world around her.
This planet was obviously not earth as she could see a gentle blue sun with three moons hanging in the sky.
The buildings around her were silvery grey in colour and had looked like they were built straight out of the ground seamlessly.
Sophie approached the library with a spring in her steps, she had a small smile on her face hidden by the long hair draped across it.
Sui Meng may have hated reading but after she had gotten Sophie’s memories, she also inherited her love for books. Books served as a quiet escape and were a welcome distraction in her life.
The door to the library was flanked by two imposing statues, one was of the Greek titan Atlas holding the globe on his shoulders while the other showed a man she did not recognise.
The man was fiercely punching the air and one could get a sense of power and majesty radiating off the statue.
Sophie looked at the two statues curiously and scanned her wristband on the door with a practised motion. There was a small buzz and the door slid open to reveal the library inside.
It was unlike anything she had ever seen before as there were no books to be found anywhere.
Instead small pods could be seen scattered around the open room with students inside, Sophie wandered around in confusion but saw nothing else other than the pods. She searched around till she found an empty one and pressed the small button on the side.
With a slow hiss, the pod door swung open to reveal a comfortable chair and a long desk inside. Sophie stepped in cautiously and the door locked behind her.
The desk was brown and resembled a log on a tree. There was a small indent the size of her wrist band in the middle of the desk clearly meant to hold the band.
Sophie placed the wrist band on the hole in the desk and heard a mechanical voice echoing around the chamber.
“Accessing virtual library.”
“Student No.13923 requested Access.”
“Access Granted!”