THAT'S NOT HOW TO USE MAGIC, O GREAT HERO!!

[chickenandchips]

Reincarnated into world filled with magic and magical culture, Lau Jun Long, paired with his handy-dandy In-brain Memory Chip, faces new challenges along to way to becoming a GREAT DEMON HERO!! An emotional rollercoaster that chronicles the journey of a not-so-kind hero lacking in common-sense of this new world.

Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Martial Arts, Reincarnation, Seinen

Note to Readers: If you exist, please do not reply in this thread. I really appreciate the attention, but a Like, Laugh, or Thank keeps the thread flowing instead of leaving a reply and breaking the story's chain. Thank you in advance!

[chickenandchips]

Opening his eyes to blinding light, everything felt completely different to what it did just moments ago. When his vision started coming back into focus, a long and sharp pain coursed through his head as he began to regain his memories, and what seemed to be someone else's memories.

"Lau Jun Long..."

He mumbled, recalling his name. Jun Long had difficulty calming his mind, however, as his mind was being bombarded with memories both of his own and not of his own. The sensation was unlike anything he had ever felt before. Though the pain lingered for a while longer, Jun Long had already managed to sort out his memories of his own life, and those of a life not belonging to him. It didn't take him much longer than a mere five minutes to do so. His memory problem was easily solved as soon as he remembered how to access his In-brain Memory Chip (IMC) to help him collect and sort all of his memories.

The In-brain Memory Chip (IMC) was an electronic device surgically implanted onto the side of the brain, with a complex circuit system that connected the hippocampus to the parts of the brain that made up the human consciousness. Once connected, the IMC would allow its user to actively organise and access any and all memories. The main purpose of the device is to create a very user-friendly user interface (UI) to allow anyone with at least a basic understanding of their own language to 'bring up' memories of the past. This innovative device allowed Jun Long's world to advance in technologies by leaps and bounds. It was a very powerful, however misused, assistant that made the pursuit of knowledge unneeded.

Jun Long surveyed his surroundings with wide eyes and saw that he was in a dimly lit room. There was a light breeze coming in through the window, and the walls were in a style not familiar to him at first. Everything seemed very new, but also Jun Long knew this room - this was his room.

"Just... what is going on?..."

Jun Long rested his heavy head in his hands as he tried to recall what happened to lead to his current predicament. The 'screen' in his vision pulled up his latest memories from the last hour, and he skimmed through it. What Jun Long found shocked him.

[chickenandchips]

It wouldn't be strange to be a secluded person in this year 30XX, as technology has advanced to a point where everything is just convenient. Food can still be bought from the store, but the days where people would have to blankly stare at the two different brands of the same product were long gone. Education and schooling was still a crucial part of society, but there was no longer a need for such buildings to exist. Having a job, or pursuing a career, was still part of becoming an adult; a part of society, but with the introduction of inter-planetary agriculture and husbandry, the concept of infinite resources was no longer just theoretical.

This and much more had come to be thanks to the invention of the 'In-brain Memory Chip' (IMC) and its ability to function as a perfect information HUB.

With the pioneering of technological advancements to the human body bearing fruit, the IMC opened the door to a complete revamp to society as a whole. Food could now be delivered straight to you via drones and built-in conveyer belts. Education and schooling became near obsolete, as all information was retained and easily accessed via the IMC. Jobs and careers were a thing of choice, as there was no need to conserve resources; there was no need to make money to pay for anything. Everything had become convenient.

Lau Jun Long. 35 years old, unfit, hardcore gamer, complete shut-in.

Describing Lau Jun Long wouldn't require many words. He was just another person who was simply living on a day-to-day basis - much like the other 90% of the world. His daily routine would be to tire himself out with online entertainment, such as virtual reality gaming and raging by himself to random social feeds. Starve himself until he noticed his stomach crying out for food, which usually preceeded stuffing his mouth full with whatever junk he felt like eating at that particular moment. After completely exhausting himself, Jun Long would then proceed to plopping his body onto his bed and going to sleep.

Despite all this, Jun Long hadn't neglected basic studies - sometimes advanced - in most subjects regarding this and that.

Jun Long had stored in his IMC the dictionaries of all five main languages that the world uses, so language barriers would not stop him from his virtual reality gaming. His constant over-use of the IMC, where he'd be so efficient in the use of it that, if any other person was able to see the UI of his IMC, they would not be able to follow exactly what he had done. With the IMC's UI being accessed by a person's ability to focus their thoughts, to be able to navigate through the IMC's UI at high speeds was a show of the individual's worth.

It wasn't uncommon to see people who could navigate the IMC's UI quickly. The average thoughts per minute (TPM) was around 40 to 65TPM per person, and there were many people who were making up to 110TPM on average. These people would usually be in a high standing in society, whether it be from their chosen career paths, or their ability to research new ways to make the world more convenient.

Lau Jun Long wasn't interested in being well-known, in this world. People who are known to perform above the average were all urged to pioneer new technologies or new frontiers in the ever-expanding search through space. Jun Long already knew, at age 10, that he did not want to do anything like that. No. Being a complete shut-in was the life for him.

This would've been the case, until he eventually died of old age, however, standing in a room vaguely familiar - yet not - Jun Long could only begin to wonder just where in the world he could possibly be.

"Just... what is going on?..."

Jun Long thought to himself. His eyes were panning across his surroundings, and the IMC built into his head had already begun whirling its miniscule engine to complete the action it was given. In his vision, the confused Jun Long was now watching his memories from the past one hour. It showed that he was walking towards the toilet when the doorbell chimed and he waddled quickly towards the door.

The doorbell rang once more, as he was just reaching for the door's electronic lockpad which was trendily positioned at shoulder level on the wall next to the door.

"Yeah, yeah! I'm opening it, already. Shit!

Jun Long cursed. He always hated people who tried to rush him.

Inputting the PIN number, which he would've forgotten if he hadn't remembered it to the IMC, Jun Long stood there as the door slid open sideways. To his surprise, there was no one standing there. Jun Long proceeded to use his IMC to scan his vision to search for whoever it may have been that rung his doorbell.

".... Fuck!

Jun Long mumbled aggressively. He stepped out into the bright light of the day, and raised his hand to shade his eyes, to see if there really was no one around. Turning his head to both sides, Jun Long still couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. As he gave up and decided to head back inside, the audio in the recording chimed out with the same melody that was his doorbell.

Finding it very strange, Jun Long spun his body back to facing out towards the front of the house, and tried to locate where the sound was coming from. The melody sounded, once more, and Jun Long managed to pick up where it came from. Stepping out of his door frame, Jun Long waddled towards the sound. The day was warmer than usual, and it made moving his body hard.

Starting to sweat, Jun Long turned the corner at the end of the block to continue tracking down this mysterious melody's source. When it came to this point, in the recording, everything turned to black for a small while, before it came back and showed the room that Jun Long was currently standing in. It was a very different layout and design to anything that Jun Long was used to. The walls were made of wood, and there was no colour anywhere.

"Why the hell did my vision just 'black-out' all of a sudden?!"

Jun Long asked himself. He ran the recording, once more, slowing down the moments just before his vision came to a sudden blackscreen. Shocked by what he found, Jun Long once again felt faint and ended up having to keep his head up with his hands. What Jun Long saw in the last bits of the recording, as he watched it frame-by-frame, was that he had actually been hit by a car that had run itself into the airspace above the walk-path.

"I... died..."

Jun Long mumbled in disbelief.

"What the FUCK?! What am I going to do about my game?!! I finally managed to drag my sorry excuse of a guild to first place!! AHH!!"

He complained, his frustrations not really aimed at the fact that he had died. Jun Long raged for a while longer before coming to a sudden halt - his posture ending up in a weird 'r' shape.

"If I died... then where have I come to? The 'afterlife'?...

Is this where people go, when they die? Am I a ghost?!"

Jun Long questioned himself endlessly until he heard the sound of children laughing coming from outside of his room's window. He walked over to peek outside and saw a scene that made his eyes open wide.

[chickenandchips]

As though being held in a transparent balloon, the children were throwing water at each other. The small group of five laughed together whenever they managed to splash their water on someone else. Kids playing with water was not something out of the ordinary according to Jun Long, however, this situation had him double-taking at the scene.

Though it was just some children playing with water, what made this scene feel out of place was that there was no physical source of water to be seen anywhere around them. Watching intently at one child, Jun Long observed that the water was actually being produced out of thin air! The water would take the shape of a small ball, not unlike that of a water balloon. The child would then take aim and throw it at one of their friends.

It was like... magic!

Filled with curiosity, Jun Long kept watching for a little while longer. There were points where the children would have to take a break for a while, but they would start again not too long after.

"H-hey!"

Jun Long cried out to the kids, when he saw them taking another break. He had to find out just what was going on - where was all this water coming from?

"What are you guys doing?"

"What are you talkin' about, Xiao Fang?"

One of the kids called back to him. The name 'Xiao Fang' rang a bell, however, as Jun Long's IMC automatically activated and notified Jun Long that 'Xiao Fang' was actually him! His name was Lo Bei Fang.

"Come out and play, Xiao Fang!"

"Yeah, Fang-ge! Come play!"

The other kids now took note of Jun Long, who was still watching them through that window. They all wanted him to go join them in their game.

"A... alright! I'm coming!"

"Hurry up, then! The sun's nearly going down!"

"Guys... I'm feeling kinda hungry, already!"

"Shut up, Fatty Long! You're always hungry!"

The children all laughed, again. SPLASH! Jun Long could see that Fatty Long had thrown a big amount of water at the other kid that made fun of him.

Jun Long turned around, and walked out the only door in the room. His body's movements betrayed the feelings that he was used to, prior to coming to this new place. He didn't notice it as he walked towards the window, before, but his steps were lighter, and there was nearly no strain to walk. His usual waddling had now become normal walking! As his mind was racing in the realisation of this, he had already found his way out to the courtyard where the children were playing.

It all felt like a cutscene from his game.

"Xiao Fang! You're finally here!"

"You take so long! Even Fatty Long is faster than you!"

"Ugh! Why d'ya gotta be like that, Xiao Yun?"

"Because you're just a fatty, Fatty Long!!"

SPLASH! Another ball of water was thrown, but it was dodged in time.

Jun Long arrived, but he was still charmed by how this water was just appearing out of thin air! He felt like asking these children how they were doing it, but his IMC was triggered, and the memories of the 'other' person who was named Wei Hung Fang surfaced into his vision, and he quickly learned that he could also do the same thing.

Jun Long's eyes widened slightly, as he realised that this was as he initially thought - it was magic! He raised his hand to eye-level and applied the theory that was being played in his memory thanks to the IMC, and he started to feel a vaguely familiar tingle run through his body and finally out of the raised hand.

Water had started to appear, just like it did for the kids, out of thin air, and had begun forming the shape of a ball. For Jun Long, however, the ball of water had become a size at least double that of the other children's balls of water!

"Hey, Xiao Fang! What are you trying to do? Drown us?!"

One of the kids called out to him. Snapping back to reality, Jun Long lost focus of what he was doing, and all the water that was being suspended in the air fell to the ground and wet his feet.

"S-sorry! I'm not myself, today!"

"I still can't believe it, though, Fang-ge! You have such a high af-af-affunity with magic!"

"It's 'affinity,' Xiao Mei... I bet you haven't been doing your homework!"

"You're so smart, Fatty Long-ge! Haha! You see right through me."

Jun Long started to feel more relaxed and familiar with these kids as he watched them making fun of and laughing at each other. It was foreign to him, but also very heart warmingly close-to-home.

Why he was feeling this way, considering how he had lived his life until now, was very confusing to Jun Long when he tried to think about it. Instead of hurting his head, Jun Long decided to just 'not think about it.'

Jun Long went back to trying out magic, at the same time he ran his IMC to replay the scene of the kids throwing their water balls at each other. Doing this was a most basic application of the IMC, as it allowed users of the IMC to use both visual and aural learning styles to quickly boost one's knowledge of the subject at hand. For Jun Long, there was a sensation of already knowing it without actively knowing it. It was weird!

As the kids continued to bicker cheerfully, Jun Long started juggling a few water balls that he had just created. 'Juggling' is used loosely, here, as he was actually just controlling the water balls to move in a circular path without touching each other. He didn't even need to touch the water balls to keep them moving!

Xiao Mei and Fatty Long stopped bickering when they noticed Jun Long and his water balls. Following their line of sight, the other kids, Fan Wei and Fan Ming stood in awe as they watched Jun Long manipulating the water balls to continously float in a circle.

"Ming-ge! Are you seeing this? What is Xiao Fang doing with his water?"

"I don't know, Xiao Wei... It's like he's throwing the water balls at himself?"

"Haha! Fang-ge! It's so pretty!"

Compared to Fan Wei and Fan Ming's confusion, Yu Xiao Mei was enjoying this new way to use magic. Yu Fei Long and the more quiet Lu Chen were somewhere in between. Yu Xiao Mei rushed to Jun Long to get a closer look and asked if he could do other things with the water balls.

"Fang-ge! What else can you do with your water balls?"

"Uhh... Maybe... this?"

After saying that, Jun Long tried to change the way the water balls were moving. Instead of just going round and round in a continuous circle, he made the water balls criss-cross each other to look like a nucleus. It made the rest of the kids go 'Ooh!'

The kids reacting this way to Jun Long's display of water magic slightly confused Jun Long. He didn't know why they were like this, as the way that Jun Long was using his water ball magic was not all that different in the application. The feel of a normal water ball magic could be described as plucking, like you'd do with a flower. The more you pluck, the bigger the water ball would become. After, the feeling of 'throwing' the water ball could be described as flicking, where one would first create tension and then release that tension quickly. The stronger the tension, and the faster that tension is released, the stronger and/or further the water ball would be thrown. To Jun Long, this was all quite easy to understand and to put into practice.

With his main focus being the feel of the magic, Jun Long was able to create different forms of the same water ball magic.

The temperature in the air had already started to drop, as the sun was quickly setting and night was creeping its way across the sky. The kids were all called back into their own homes, and they all left Jun Long to return to his. It seems that this small group of friends would meet up at this courtyard of the Lo family to play when they weren't doing chores for their parents.

After all the kids had finally left, Jun Long returned to the room that he had woken up in, and activated his IMC to go through the memories of this Lo Bei Fang. Though he was certain that he had died, Jun Long still felt alive. He was alive as Lo Bei Fang, and it seemed that he had come to a different era; a different world.

Jun Long, though generally not an ambitious person, had an amazing TPM and this allowed him, when he was still alive, to play his virtual reality games at championship levels. If he had actually wanted to become famous, he could've easily joined an active Team, and he would've taken them all the way to the top. Pushing his TPM to the limit, Jun Long used his IMC to learn about Lo Bei Fang, and who he was before Lau Jun Long took over.

Opening his eyes, Jun Long had already learned all there was to know about this Lo Bei Fang. He had come to realise that, instead of dying and going to Heaven, Jun Long had actually been reincarnated and took over the poor soul that was once Lo Bei Fang. There was only one thing that Jun Long didn't know about Lo Bei Fang... How he looked.

In this world, there was no such thing as a mirror. Jun Long sat on his bed, and wondered how he was going to find out what he looked like. He just couldn't figure out a way to do it! With his current resources - nothing - he was unable to create a mirror to look at himself.

Giving up, Jun Long started playing his his magic water ball, again. His eyes slowly widened as he thought of a way to see what he looked like!

"Water magic!!"

[chickenandchips]

Jun Long jumped off of his bed, stumbling a little as he landed, and rushed around the room looking for something akin to a wash basin. He finally found a basic wooden tub and started filling it with water. Just as the tub had filled up to around half-way full, Jun Long started feeling an acute, sharp pain that shot down his arm and through his hand all the way to the tips of his fingers. As the stinging sensation continued, Jun Long's body started to go numb.

Jun Long's legs were the first to lose feeling, and his lower torso followed shortly after. Wondering just what was going on, Jun Long realised that it must be the same as in the virtual reality games that he played - his 'Energy' or 'Mana' or 'Spirit' was depleted, and he was suffering from straining his body to produce more water via Magic!

Quickly stopping the flow of magical water from his hand, Jun Long fell to his knees and leaned over the tub to see his reflection. It was the first time that he had seen what he looked like in this new world, even the original Lo Bei Fang had never seen what he looked like. The family that he belonged to must be quite poor - or uninterested in him.

The first thing he noticed was how dirty he looked. It was as if he had just come home after rolling around in a dry dirt field. He had smudges and specks of dirt all over his face and neck. Looking past all the dirt and the smudges, he saw that he was actually not too ugly. His face was completely different to what he used to be; all fat and squinty-eyed. He now had a sharp-looking face where he could actually see his cheekbones, and his jawline. His nose and upper-lip complimented each other, and didn't make the center of his face look like a complete mess.

His hair was the next thing he noticed. It was quite scruffy, and looked as if it had not been washed for a very long time - this wasn't unfamiliar, as Jun Long would rarely wash his hair in his previous life, only when it had become noticeably itchy.

The longer he looked at himself in the water, the more he frowned his pair of soft-angled eyebrows. He finally dunked his whole head into the water, and vigorously thrashed his head about to wash off all of the dirt and oil from the many moons having not washed himself.

It may be commonplace for the people of this new world that he was in to not be hygenic, but even Jun Long felt uneasy with his current state of cleanliness.

Quickly raising his head out of the water to gasp in a mouthful of air, Jun Long pushed his hair back with his hands and then wiped off the water on his face. The evening had already settled into the sky outside, and the temperature of the air had dropped from what it was in the late afternoon. His warm breath could be seen against the dimly lit background.

"It's gotten cold all of a sudden."

The feeling to the lower half of his body had already returned, and he pushed himself up off the ground. Looking around his room, he couldn't really find a towel to dry off his hair. The only thing that could be used like a towel were the ragged clothes that looked like it was made from a potato sack. He didn't want to be cold, during the night, so he thought of trying to find a source of heat to dry himself off with.

"Come on, IMC, this Lo Bei Fang must've had some kind of heater or fire in this house."

Quickly searching through his memories of Lo Bei Fang's life, Jun Long became depressed as there was no such thing as a heater in this world, to Lo Bei Fang's knowledge, and fire seemed to come from Magic.

From what Jun Long saw in his memories from Lo Bei Fang, there were members of his family that could produce fire, but he had never tried doing it. It seems that Lo Bei Fang had yet to learn how to conjure flames like he had seen his family members doing. It didn't stop him from trying it, though.

"Damn, man... This Lo Bei Fang only knew how to watch - he never wanted to play!"

Jun Long went around the house to look for some wood to burn. He found some sitting just outside of the back door. It seemed that his family members would only ever use their fire magic in the backyard so as not to risk burning down their house.

Picking up a few small logs of wood, Jun Long made his way to the fire pit that was dug in the middle of the backyard. He threw them in, and pat his hands together to get rid of the dust. After a moment of triumph, Jun Long jumped into the air and landed in a 'hero' stance, as he pushed his palm out in front of him.

Jun Long stood there looking like he was about to fire a beam out of his hands. He stood there for a short while. The enthusiasm quickly drained from his face, and his smile turned into a frown, as he realised that he had no idea just how he was going to birth flames from his hands the way that he saw his family members doing it in Lo Bei Fang's memories.

"FUCK!! Lo Bei Fang, you useless piece of garbage! Why didn't you ever ask someone to teach you how to use fire magic?!"

Jumping up and down, Jun Long raged for a while before giving up and returning to his room.

[chickenandchips]

Plopping his body on his bed, and falling back into it, Jun Long sighed to himself at how inconvenient everything was in this world. He started feeling homesick, and wanted to play his virtual reality games. Just as he was thinking of how much he missed the taste of BBQ pork noodles, the voices of his family members could be heard from the front of the house.

"Aiya... I keep telling you that you should stop wasting your money on all that make-up from those merchants. You'd be ugly with OR without it!"

"You're just blind, you old bat! You wouldn't know beauty if it hit you right smack in the face!"

"Would you two please hurry up and get inside? I'm hungry!"

Jun Long could recognise these three voices. His IMC was really an amazing and fascinating piece of technology. Not only could it record and playback memories, there was full audio support, too! It was easy to tell that his Grandfather Lo Bei Fung was berating his Aunt Zhang Fei, while his cousin Lo Ming tried to push them into the house to start dinner.

"Grandfather, Aunty and Ming-ge!"

"Ah, Xiao Fang, you're here. Good.

"Xiao Fang, did you get wet playing with those kids?"

Jun Long's elders seemed to be friendly enough. Even though it wasn't all smiles and praise, it seemed that Lo Bei Fang would at least be noticed if he were in the room.

Of the three family members that just returned home, his cousin Lo Ming was the only one that didn't greet Jun Long upon seeing him. Looking back into Lo Bei Fang's memories, it seemed that there was some animosity between the two.

The Lo family, according to Lo Bei Fang's memories, were the top family in Qing Shui town. There were three other families that would vie for the top spot within Qing Shui town. Being the top family in the town meant getting the most resources from the township - not unlike a government taxing their people. Because of the Lo family having been the top family for the last few decades, they have been able to groom their young ones to become the best of the best battle mages in Qing Shui town.

Recently, however, there have been fewer and fewer talents among the youngsters of the Lo family. This was a rising concern for the elders.

Every ten years, there would be a big competition held in Qing Shui town to decide on the top family for the next ten years. The content of the competition would slightly change every time, but there would always be a big tournament set-up to allow all families - big or small - the chance to rise to the top.

The tournament was traditionally a series of duels between the younger generation of each family to see which family had the stronger sense of cultivation within Qing Shui town. It was widely believed that, given time, any practitioner of Magic would be able to cultivate themselves to the highest level. The tournament would allow everyone to see just which family truly deserved the most resources in Qing Shui town - which would allow them to cultivate their younger generation to become the next leaders of the township.

Not only would they be able to become the next leaders of the township, but the family that won the top spot was the only family that was fully supported by the township to send their young to battle mage academies well outside of Qing Shui town. Other families could also send their young to attend those academies, but they would have to fork out the tuition fees and such from their own savings.

Lo Ming was the current top contender in the Lo family, and they were cultivating him carefully and without limit to give him the best chance of winning the upcoming tournament in the next half year.

Lo Bei Fang, on the other hand, was seen as the trash of the Lo family.

Jun Long already knew that previous owner of his body was looked down upon by his family members, and was prepared for their disdain towards him. He didn't take it too seriously when Lo Ming did not greet him upon seeing him.

"Go set the wood for the fire, and grab the pot from the storage, Xiao Fang."

"Yes, Aunty."

"Don't forget to sweep the wood chips, too! I don't want to see any wood chips on the floor when I go out there to start the fire!"

"Yes... Aunty."

Jun Long feigned obedience so as not to raise suspicion. Lo Bei Fang was seen as the dog of the family; just someone to do the menial chores around the house. Jun Long played the part, knowing full-well that his was going to be quite the Cinderella story in the near future.

[chickenandchips]

Jun Long's hair sat flattened and wet atop his head. He perched himself down next to the fire pit full of wooden logs and waited for his Aunt to set it alight. The night air was getting colder by the minute. Just as Jun Long was curling himself into a ball on the ground, his Aunt Zhang Fei walked into the backyard.

"Xiao Fang, what are you doing sitting over there?"

"Aunt, my hair is wet and I'm cold. Could I warm up by the fire for a while?"

"Hmph! Only until your hair is dry! You still have things to do for m-- the family."

Jun Long nodded quietly, not showing the disdain written across his face towards his Aunt Zhang Fei. According to Lo Bei Fang's memories, it was still a secret that he was not accepting of his own living conditions. In this world, many could only bite their cheeks, and accept their fates. Many were branded; marked with their master's family seal. It was a given that those marked with family seals were not people, but items. Objects.

Simply property.

--Author's Notes--

Hey readers (if you exist), I'm trying to find more time to write, now. If there are a few of you that want to get in touch with me, for any reason at all, please just PM this account. I'm not some amazing writer, but I aspire to entertain. Hope you're enjoying the story, so far! I really liked reading all those light novels and xianxia, and I'd love to get better at writing it.

At the moment, I'm working a full-time AND part-time job. I'm paying off a mortgage and raising my kid haha! Please keep supporting me with your Likes, Laughs and Thanks!