My parents couldn't help but drop their jaws on the floor when they saw Vivian Nymanne Morgana at the doorstep.
"Hello," Vivian said with a bow and introduced herself. "I'm a close friend of Tian Xing, and I'll be living in City Bei starting today. I just thought I should greet you because Tian Xing has taken good care of me for the past few days."
"Ah, of course!" Mom nodded quickly, a smile spreading across her face. "You're more than welcome to visit!"
Evidently, it appeared that she was misunderstanding something. She wasn't the only one. As my parents spoke to Vivian, offering her a drink as she took a seat at the dining table, Tian Yang shuffled over with a knowing glance.
"Your girlfriend, big bro?"
"No," I said.
"Not yet," Vivian said at the same time, which made my parents happy for some reason. I tried not to roll my eyes.
Clearing my throat, I leaned back in my own seat.
"Vivian, so what are your plans for later? Where do you intend to stay?"
"That's where you come in," she replied mischievously. "I'm going to need your help with that."
"Are you asking to live with us as a prospective daughter-in-law?" Mom asked, delighted. "You're more than welcome to!"
"As much as I would love that, that is a bit too fast. Even if I'm all right with it, I think poor Tian Xing will be scared off, and I wish to consider his feelings as well." Vivian shook her head, much to my relief. This wasn't some romantic comedy, after all.
"Then what will you do about your accommodation?" Dad asked, concerned.
"Tian Xing is supposed to introduce me to the department he works for and we'll come to an arrangement. I plan to enroll in the same university as him."
I was mistaken. This was definitely a scenario lifted right out of a romantic comedy.
"Okay, let's get that done as soon as possible."
"I apologize for the short visit, but I'll be sure to stay longer the next time I drop by." Vivian rose and bowed.
"It's totally fine," dad assured her with a wave of his hand. "Get all the important things done first. You can always visit us whenever you want next time, but please let us know beforehand because we might be out or have plans."
"Of course. That's a given."
I wasn't even sure what the point of this scene was, except to either enact some sort of comedy skit that fell flat on its humor or to show the readers that my family remained relevant to the story somehow. You know, because most manhua protagonists tended to forget their family completely as the story went on. At least I wasn't a Japanese anime protagonist – for some reason, they almost always lived alone, which somehow led to them cohabitating with the heroine…or a harem, if it was that kind of show.
Luckily, neither of that happened in reality.
Instead, I brought Vivian to Sprue, where Lin Xue and Shang Xiao were already waiting for us with a delegation of psychics and normal people staff. They weren't holding weapons and acting paranoidly, but they weren't exactly welcome either. They regarded Vivian warily, their hands twitching nervously as if they expected her to order an orbital strike or something.
"This is the commander of the…uh, intergalactic empire you were talking about?" One of them asked Lin Xue. She nodded.
"I don't know the details. You'll have to ask them."
I hadn't told Lin Xue everything about the Holy Terran Empire, and I didn't expect her to keep it a secret either. I had no choice – the portal was held in the department of Sprue, and the truth would come out eventually. What I could do, however, was control the amount of truth I told them – enough to convince them that we were behaving in the best interests of humanity and leave us alone, but conceal other salient points that would have the entire world's government running around in a panic and declare war on us or something.
Having shared my memories, Vivian was vaguely aware of the circumstances.
"I apologize for the late introduction. I am Vivian Nymanne Morgana, a commander of an intergalactic empire. Do not worry, the empire has long since been broken and scattered, and so I do not come with an army on my back, or with warships. I have no intention of conquests and the like, and I am only making Earth my home so that I can seek refuge with fellow humans. In exchange, I will do my best to protect this planet from alien threats."
The Sprue staff exchanged skeptical glances, which Vivian picked up on.
"I know you have reason to distrust me, so I will not attempt to persuade you further. I can only prove with my actions the next time an incident occurs. For now, though, I would like to request you for your assistance?"
"What sort of assistance?" One of the staff members asked suspiciously.
"Please hire me," she replied. "I hope you can provide me with an adequate accommodation and a new identity to allow me to live here on Earth normally, as well. in return, I will work as your employee and enroll in your affiliated universities, alongside Li Tian Xing preferably because I need his help to acclimatize to this world. I will also provide you whatever information I have on the galaxy and its affairs, though please be warned that most of my knowledge is outdated now because I have been in stasis for thousands of years. I believe Lin Xue and Colonel Shang have already informed you of that."
"Yes, they did." The staff member glanced at the duo, who nodded. He took in a deep breath. "Fine, we'll help you then, with your identity, employment, enrollment and everything. However, I hope you will not object to being supervised by us."
"Not at all." Vivian was confident, and I had a feeling that she could circumvent their surveillance and hack into security footage if she needed to. Aegis and Arondight certainly could do that, and Vivian also possessed similar devices and advanced technology that surpassed anything that had been invented on Earth.
With that, everything was decided, and we returned to our lives. I bade farewell to Vivian, who was escorted away by Sprue staff, and finally went back home.
There were a few important things that had transpired during my time away from Earth. I had been away longer than I had expected, and I didn't think there would be several major events.
The most important one was that the world champion of Starcraft 2 was Oliveira, whose real name was Li Pei Nan, and a citizen of our very own republic, even beating the pro gamers of Han Country in a global tournament known as Intel Extreme Masters Katowice. Formerly known as Time, Oliveira came back from 2 games down to beat Reynor 3-2 in a best of 5, defeated herO and eventually Maru 4-1 in the finals, which was a best of 7. He made history as the first Chinese Starcraft 2 world champion, especially since he was considered an underdog.
"Amazing…"
Being a fan of Starcraft 2, I watched the replays of his matches with zeal. The placement of his tanks was incredible, particularly in the mirror matchup against Maru. His tenacity and refusal to give up despite being 2-0 down against Reynor, after achieving Marine splits against Banelings were admirable. I had seen a match or two when he was Time, one of my favorite matches being his game against Silky where he made good use of Thors and Battlecruisers to slowly destroy a Zerg infestation. Even back then, he was a consistent but not very well-known player. He wasn't even as prolific as Has, who was known for his Protoss Cheeses. To think he had come this far…
I watched his interview after he won the final, and couldn't help but be touched. I could totally relate. Last year, at Atlanta, he didn't perform very well at the Intel Extreme Masters tournament and was eliminated very early. I could understand how devastated he was. But his dad encouraged him and told him not to give up.
"In my heart, you'll always be the best player."
Taking his dad's words to heart, Time changed his name to Oliveira (probably because he was a huge fan of Charles Oliveira from the Ultimate Fighting Championship), practiced about 15 hours a day, and forced himself to improve tremendously. He was also a massive inspiration.
"If a normal person like me can become a world champion, then nothing is impossible."
I leaned back in my chair and watched the screen, pondering on the words. Glancing at Arondight and Aegis, who were in their human forms and hanging out on my bed for some reason, I took a deep breath and clenched my fists.
That was right. I doubted Li Pei Nan could be considered "normal" – not any ordinary person would have the resolve and dedication to practice 15 hours of Starcraft 2 a day. Not any average person would have the resilience to stand back up from a devastating defeat and have the courage to brave a global tournament again. Not everybody had a supportive father who was enthusiastic about his son being a professional gamer. He was selling himself a little short there. But his words resonated in my heart.
"Nothing is impossible, huh?"
Honestly, as much as I loved Starcraft 2, I had found myself plateauing at Diamond. I could never be a pro gamer, and to be frank, I had neither the time nor desire to pour twelve hours a day into gaming. I had other aspirations.
"That's right, Tian Xing. There are other goals awaiting you."
I almost jumped when I heard Vivian's voice in my head. She giggled at my reaction even though she wasn't supposed to be able to see me.
"We're connected telepathically."
"Yeah, I figured." I sighed. "What's up?"
"Training, of course. I'm still your mentor. We'll continue meeting daily if possible so that I can teach you more swordsmanship. We'll also go through tactics and strategies, though you're more than welcome to continue enjoying your Starcraft 2 videos and watching replays of professional gamers if you like."
They were more entertaining than 90 minutes of soccer, that was for sure.
"Understood. Thank you, ma'am."
"Just call me Vivian. We don't have to be so formal with each other. We're married…ahem, I mean equals. Partners."
She was about to say that we are married, wasn't she? Wasn't she!?
"Anyway, I'll pick you outside your house tomorrow, so keep your schedule open. I might have given you the upgrade module for Arondight, but to properly harness his new power, you need the appropriate training."
"I know. Thank you."
Glancing at Olivera's ecstatic expression, tears of joy running down his cheeks as he lifted the trophy, I closed the video and hardened my resolve.
That was right. Nothing was impossible. I might not have any aspirations of being a world champion, but I wasn't going to make any excuses and hold myself back from being a commander of the Holy Terran Empire.
A whole galaxy awaited, the Empire's ancient technological relics scattered across its vast breadth and waiting for me to collect them.