Chapter 3: Sakura Kinomoto, the Girl Favored by 'Tendo'!

Ye Hui sat in the back row of the classroom, bored out of his mind as he gazed out the window at the scenery. The teacher kept reading aloud from the textbook.

Just like in his previous life’s language class, whenever the language teacher picked up the book and began reciting, it was the perfect opportunity for students to drift off mentally.

Having just reported to the “Immortal Sect,” the system had undergone many changes. Compared to the other students, Ye Hui wasn’t sleepy for once.

He noticed Sakura doodling on a piece of paper. Leaning over, he took a quick glance.

Sure enough, she was drawing the battle companion she was about to recruit—Kero, the sealed beast Cerberus.

“No wonder the system recognizes her as the world’s protagonist. Her cultivation talent really is impressive!” Ye Hui sighed inwardly.

Looking at Sakura, then at himself, a wave of sadness welled up within him.

Then he thought: since the system labeled him as having a “mixed spiritual root,” maybe it was trying to be polite. If he didn’t have any spiritual root at all, he wouldn’t even qualify as an outer disciple, and the system might well bug out. He probably wouldn’t even get the “mixed root” evaluation.

Without the system, he’d just be a nobody in this world, living off mundane money, rolling around on his three-meter-wide bed, occasionally forced to take miserable trips around the world, embracing a few foreign beauties here and there...

And Sakura? Her magic had just awakened, yet she could foresee the future through dreams, subconsciously wield magic, and casually break the seal of the Clow Cards.

That was the true “heaven’s chosen” girl!

Comparing oneself to others was truly futile!

At this moment, Sakura was still puzzled about what she had seen in her dream.

“Strange… was that me?” Ye Hui heard her mutter from the front row.

Of course, he knew exactly what Sakura was confused about. In that prophetic dream, not only was the Kero she just drew present, but also a magical girl wielding a wand and cards, whispering something before leaping from a tall building...

“How adorable! What is that?” Tomoyo leaned over to look as well.

More than one student had gathered to watch Sakura draw.

Even the language teacher noticed.

Before Sakura could explain her dream to Tomoyo, the teacher called on her to continue reading aloud.

“Starting from line twelve…”

Tomoyo kindly offered a class tip.

“Is this the magic orange? Because it just conjured a butterfly…” Sakura read aloud.

Ye Hui hadn’t paid much attention at first, but as he recalled the teacher’s reading and glanced at the text, his eyes instinctively narrowed.

“System, are you sure I’m in the real world?”

[Verification complete. Host is in the real world and has not entered the Immortal Sect’s trial illusion.]

The wooden desk warmed under the morning sun, but Ye Hui felt a chill in his heart as he looked at the textbook.

The passage Sakura was reading, like Tomoeda Town, was something unique to this world.

How could it be such a coincidence?

On this very day, Sakura dreamed of future scenes.

On this very day, the story she read was about magic.

On this very day, she happened to break the seal of the Clow Cards...

Too many factors!

This made Ye Hui suspicious.

Was this all a miracle of creation, a sign of magical power, or... arranged by predecessors? Perhaps he had been trapped in a dream all along!

If it wasn’t a dream, was all this really just coincidence?

“Forget it, I don’t want to think about it. Even the ‘friend system’ has bugs; I shouldn’t be asking this idiotic system…”

If the system was telling the truth and this wasn’t a dream, who could have orchestrated all this?

Most likely, it was Clow Reed working behind the scenes.

Maybe not even intentionally.

Of course, even if it was deliberate, Ye Hui was powerless.

“Fortunately, whether in the anime or manga, Clow Reed is portrayed as a somewhat eccentric character still in a latent phase, prone to sudden outbursts…”

Ye Hui recalled that in the lore, this magician could foresee the future and was very powerful.

His world had lost the joy of the unknown.

So Clow Reed liked to watch fresh things and unexpected twists.

“Too bad this dumb system isn’t helpful—doesn’t even have a function to block prophetic knowledge…”

If it did, Ye Hui could show Clow Reed what ‘stirring things up’ and ‘surprise’ really meant.

Ye Hui grumbled as the translucent system panel quickly unfolded before his eyes, invisible to everyone else—even Sakura with her magic.

That was a pleasant surprise!

[Emotion points: 137 (Sakura Kinomoto 72, Tomoyo Daidouji 65). Redeem 1000 points for a chance event map.]

[Unlocked features: Inventory (1 cubic meter), Secondary Profession (requires item activation), Quest Log (expand list).]

[Pending reward: Outer Disciple Gift Pack x1.]

“System, did you skim off some emotion points for yourself?” Ye Hui muttered silently.

At the same time, he kept his head down, pretending to take notes to avoid being called upon to read aloud.

This was the result of his years of schooling in the previous life.

[If the host has questions, please report error logs.]

Ye Hui groaned inwardly.

Monopolies were truly ruthless.

“What about the other students? The teacher? Did I perform all this in class with no gain?”

The morning interaction with the world protagonist Sakura was vivid in his mind, and exchanging with Tomoyo also earned emotion points.

Even without being bound as a soulmate, Tomoyo, as a supporting character, contributed many emotion points.

Why didn’t the other supporting characters in the class?

[View system logs?]

There were records?

Ye Hui was stunned for a moment, then quickly checked.

It turned out these characters lacked sufficient bonds with Ye Hui.

Or rather, in this cultivation sect, their importance was less than that of the main characters.

They were extras in the “Immortal Sect.”

Whereas a gifted protagonist like Sakura had great influence with every move.

Though Ye Hui didn’t know where far away that was.

He just easily managed to gain emotion points by proximity.

After bonding with Tomoyo, Ye Hui checked the system logs and finally understood the truth about emotion points.

Online games usually have a friend system.

The game interface Ye Hui had designed hadn’t even begun beta testing before he was dragged into another world, and the original friend system crashed in this magic realm...

[Warning: Detected world rule conflict, “Friend feature” disabled... converting “Bond Points” into “Emotion Points,” game interaction parameters extended to reality...]

Ye Hui’s pen suddenly stopped, ink blotting the paper.

So that was it!

Reading further, he understood.

After system adjustment, for ordinary people to contribute emotion points, there had to be some interaction—what they called building bonds.

In Sakura’s country’s stories, whether love or hate, any two connected people could be said to have a bond; they didn’t have to be deeply loved or family.

Even with extras, if Ye Hui interacted enough, their bond would strengthen mutually.

After class, a few bold girls surrounded Ye Hui, whose black hair and handsome looks caught their attention.

“Ye, do you really know Chinese kung fu?”

“Hello, Ye Hui, my name is…”

“Immortal cultivation, Ye-san, you’re so funny!”