Thinking of the outrageous stunts the System had pulled over the years, Shen Wan's thoughts drifted back to when he had first transmigrated here.
Shen Wan was indeed a transmigrator, sent to a peculiar world by Big Truck in order to save someone. After absorbing some knowledge about the current worldview and realizing he had transmigrated, he had very poetically muttered, "Hello there, unknown new world."
Before the words even faded, a cliché "Ding" rang out in his mind, and the System spoke up: "Well, well, not bad. This batch's host is quite the romantic." Ah, the classic System trope, but oh-for-oh was it sweet.
"Well, I really do have a cheat! Come on, big System, introduce yourself," Shen Wan said, pleasantly surprised to find the System's presence.
"Ding. Greetings, Host. I am the Civilization Observation System. As long as you observe the development of civilizations—whether it's their choices after reaching a certain stage, or... well, I can issue rewards to you."
"Huh? Didn't quite catch that. Keep it simple."
"Ding. Foolish Host. Since that is the case, set your mind at ease and complete your missions. First mission: 'Preparation Before Entering the Starry Sea (0/1): Tasked with assisting the current civilization (the Republic of Makas) in entering the era of interstellar migration in the capacity of an ordinary person.'"
"Didn't you say 'Civilization Observation'? Shouldn't I just be watching from the sidelines? Why do I have to get involved?"
"Ding. What is there to observe in a civilization that has just ended a war and achieved planetary unification, yet hasn't even managed to run out of its own planet yet? Obviously, it's much more interesting to help them run out of the planet first and then observe," the System said casually.
"But I don't know a thing! I only managed to score around 600 on the national college entrance exam, and besides, it's been several years since I graduated from university—that scrap of knowledge was long since returned to my teachers," Shen Wan said, crestfallen.
"Relax. Remembering all those knowledge points doesn't mean much anyway. Did you really think your undergraduate-level education could make any substantial contribution to civilizational development? That's called popular education, meant to keep you from becoming a complete idiot," the System mercilessly mocked, before continuing: "Don't worry, I never intended for you to solve the problems yourself. I'll give you a few books, and you just hand them over to the authorities."
"Is that true, Godfather?"
"True." As soon as the System finished speaking, it materialized several books. Shen Wan took a look: *On Special and General Relativity*, *Materials Science for Interstellar Navigation*, *Interstellar Navigation Dynamics*, *Interstellar Navigation Physics*, *Cosmic Space Electronics*, and *Flight Chess Environment Simulation Theory*.
Each book was thicker than the last, but... "Would you mind telling me why there is a book called *Flight Chess Environment Simulation Theory*? What on earth is flight chess?"
"Ding. Oh, that must be a printing error."
Shen Wan broke down: "What kind of excuse is a printing error? System, which pirated publisher did you steal these books from?!"
"Ding. Eh, don't worry about it. It's not like you're the one reading them anyway, what are you afraid of?" The System picked its nose.
Fine. Shen Wan could manage to break down his own defenses, but breaking the System's was entirely out of the question.
"Then how am I, a mere civilian, supposed to make contact with the higher-ups? And I don't seem to have a formal identity. Do you want me to get hauled away as an undocumented illegal?" The information he had just received consisted only of this civilization's historical trajectory and some basic details about living within it; Shen Wan could confirm that he hadn't possessed a body through soul transference, but had crossed over physically.
"Oh, don't worry. This is the first time, so there's beginner assistance. You are already a glorious citizen of the Republic of Makas. As for communicating with the top brass, take out your old Sam-sung phone and check the contacts."
Hearing this, Shen Wan pulled out his Sam-sung S6 Edge—a phone he hadn't changed in seven years. Strangely enough, while this old antique usually required him to input a password to unlock, this time the phone unlocked the very second his finger touched the power button. Shen Wan was baffled.
"Foolish Host, you are going to roam the universe in the future and deal with countless civilizations. How could you possibly still use that old phone of yours? I updated it slightly for you. At the very least, it's now up to the top standards of this world. What was that previous one called again? Even this civilization has long since invented better phones than that."
"What's wrong with this world? Didn't you say this civilization hasn't discovered other civilizations yet? Could there be aliens?" Shen Wan caught onto the crucial detail.
"Ding. You caught me. Actually, this isn't the parallel world of your original Blue Star, but a magnificent world where gods exist."
"Wait, let me catch my breath. What do you mean by gods?"
"Ding. This universe is like a gigantic tree, and this giant tree possesses countless branching boughs. The branches relate to time, and every single leaf at the tip of each section is a star system. These star systems vary in size and environment, and they remain isolated from one another due to imaginary spatial domains generated by Imaginary Energy."
"This sounds a bit familiar," Shen Wan blurted out. "Is this so-called 'god' referring to entities capable of harvesting energy from this tree? And the energy they harvest is called a Path—a special philosophical concept? As long as one can perform actions that align with a Path's philosophy, one can step onto that Path, borrowing the Imaginary Energy within it. And the beings who control these Paths are called Aeons—which are the gods you're referring to?"
"Ding. How do you know that, Host?" The System was shocked; the System was perplexed.
"……I guessed it," Shen Wan tried to cover. Did the System really not know about HoYoverse? That made no sense—it had already mentioned Blue Star, so shouldn't it be familiar with Blue Star's culture? If so, it ought to know about HoYoverse and its game *Honkai: Star Rail*.
"Ding. I don't believe it!"
"Then why didn't I find any memories related to Pathstriders in the memories transmitted to me?" Shen Wan tried to change the subject.
"Ding. The memories issued to you were those of an ordinary civilian. How could an ordinary citizen be allowed to know about the existence of Transcendents? If I hadn't accidentally slipped up just now, you probably wouldn't have found out this is a special world until you completed your first mission—after all, your expression then would surely have been very entertaining."
The subject change seemed successful, but Shen Wan had reached his limit: "You worship the Elation, don't you?"
"Ding. Uh-huh, the System has no religion."
Shen Wan broke down all over again: "You're just a pure troll system, aren't you?"
"Ding. The System is not the troll; the Host is the troll."
After a while, Shen Wan calmed down and continued examining the phone upgraded by the System. The moment he thought about tapping into the contacts, the phone screen automatically popped open the address book window.
"Oh, is this mind control?"
"Ding. And here I thought the Host's vocabulary was too limited to come up with that concept."
Taking a deep breath, Shen Wan decided to temporarily ignore this scumbag of a System before he was driven to an early grave by it right after transmigrating. He looked at the contacts. Familiar names and numbers were nowhere to be found; in their place was a mess of scrambled code alongside a single clearly displayed name: Kaludan.
According to the sparse memories transmitted to him, this individual was the second President of the current Republic of Makas. Unlike the first president, who had been indecisive, this one had used iron-fisted methods upon taking office to purge the domestic dove faction officials. Having secured the support of the Elder Council, he raised the banner proclaiming "There is only one Makas in the world," won the approval of the citizenry, and dispatched troops to conquer the entire globe, achieving unification. Following global unification, he vigorously developed the economy, restoring the civilization across the entire planet to its pre-war level in barely a decade—truly a miracle.