"I’m... Not dead?" He mumbled as he slowly lifted the sheets beneath him. He had woken up with a mega headache and was very disoriented. His eyelids slowly opened to reveal the room he found himself in, as his gaze fell upon the white net canopy used as protection over his bed and the finely polished red wood that was carved.

Images of last night’s accident flashed in his mind as he slowly sat up on the bed. The sheets slowly slid off him as he observed his dressing. It was as if he was featuring in an ancient historical drama where he had to wear robes like a royal. "This is strange. I can’t seem to remember when this happened."

Slowly, he pushed himself up, trying to get out of bed when he caught a glimpse of a fair, slender hand. Missing a heartbeat or two, he wondered. ’This is not my hand."

He began to panic immediately as he raised his hands to caress his own face.

"My Lord, you’re up already?"

A soft and gentle voice slowly called out to him. A girl had just entered the room. Her dress flowed down as it wiped the floor. Her expression was very respectful as she took a bow.

"Joan?" He called out to her easily as memories began to flood his mind like a torrential rain.

Filled with bewilderment, he now knew his identity.

He now bore the name Simon Ashbourne, the Twelfth Prince of the Eldorian Empire.

[System bonding has begun...]

He had transmigrated.

Simon had no choice but to accept this fact.

The good news? He was a prince and even had his own Domain.

The bad news? His Domain was the poorest, most remote territory and ridiculously far from the capital city.

And to make it even worse, his land bordered the grasslands, home to the reavers clan that could invade his domain at any moment.

It even gets worse since the current Emperor, Alaric Ashbourne, was ageing, and the Crown Prince was weak, constantly at risk of being deposed. The throne was essentially up for grabs.

With all these at hand, the princes are engaged in both overt and covert power struggles, scheming against each other with the intent to eliminate their rivals.

Escaping wasn’t an option for Simon, even if he was exiled to his domain. He was still a prince and, as such, a threat to the crown.

He lacked favour in the sight of the emperor, leading to his exile to this desolate place.

Exiled at a very young age of thirteen, the emperor had never been summoned back for him in the course of five years since he was exiled. Compared to his older brother by just a month, he still resided in the capital with the emperor despite repeated urges from the council to assign a domain for him. The emperor still refuses.

The Crown Prince, the sixth, second, third and fourth princes all remained in the capital. Only the fifth prince had a domain like Simon’s, but his land could not be compared to Simon’s as his was far more well-to-do than Simon’s wasteland. All the other princes were no dead reducing the competition just between the seven princes.

Coming to a quick realisation of why he was ill-treated. His mother had no noble background, compared to the other royals who had blood ties to the houses that dominated the Eldorian Empire.

"Not favoured? So what? At least I don’t have to deal with pretending to be close to the emperor. In my own Domain, I can be as carefree as I want."

Simon slowly motivated himself, but life in his Domain was far from easy.

Not only was the land poor and desolate, but all resources were controlled by the local aristocratic houses.

These powerful houses ruled like warlords, to the point where the common people only recognised the noble houses, not their prince.

The original Simon was ignorant and weak, unaware of how dangerous this was. But the new Simon understood completely that these noble families were like obedient dogs when interests aligned, but ruthless tigers when they didn’t.

After grasping his current situation, Simon sighed. He was living in hell.

Just then, he remembered he was a transmigrator, and as usual, he would most likely get a golden finger.

[System bonding complete]

[Profile]

[Name: Simon Ashbourne]

[Class:]

[Level: 1]

[Rank: Novice]

[Stats]

[Intelligence: 20]

[Creativity: 10] 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

[Influence: 5]

[Crafting: 20]

He had successfully bonded with a system as he scanned through his details for some reason, his class was left empty. He still didn’t know what the system was all about. With a thought, another menu popped up.

[System Type: Creator Node]

[Description: The system holds every human knowledge ever heard of since the first era. Users can decide to use this knowledge themselves or share it with others.]

[Activate: Yes/No?]

Simon instinctively chose yes. ’What did he have to lose again?’ He thought to himself. With this, he could rebuild his new wasteland into an eutopia.

Excitement surged through his body as he felt the System within his mind.

An overwhelming flood of knowledge crashed down like a towering mountain.

From ancient to modern technology, an encyclopedic collection of literature, blueprints for every industrial product, formulas for material production, and even cutting-edge technology.

"Creator Node? A true magic finger!"

From lamenting over his domain a while ago, he was now excited to explore.

With this system of his, he could build a civilisation from nothing.

This ability was perfect for his current situation.

His land was impoverished, but with the System, he could develop technology to boost productivity.

With these tools, he could control resources and wrest power from the noble houses.

Otherwise, these aristocrats would remain a looming threat.

With a clear goal in mind, Simon grinned like an idiot.

"My Lord? My Lord?"

His silly smile terrified Joan.

In the past two days, the prince had been critically ill; if he suddenly went mad or worse, died, every servant in the castle would be executed.

Even though the prince was not favoured, he was still royalty.

Joan’s eyes slowly welled up as if to pour tears as panic and sorrow overtook her.

"My Lord!" She choked, her voice trembling.

Her crying snapped Simon out of his thoughts.

He looked at his personal maidservant, the same age as him, with delicate and refined features.

From what he remembered, Joan and Ysabeau were sent to him by his mother, Lady Isolde, just a few days ago.

The original Simon had obviously begged for them for certain reasons.

However, before he could do anything, he had died.

"Why are you crying? I’m not dead."

Simon understood Joan’s fear.

Even though she had only been in the castle for ten days, her timid nature was already obvious.

Joan immediately stifled her sobs, whispering, "My Lord... I thought... You had gone mad..."

During this era, ’madness’ was often associated with evil spirit possessions.

Simon rolled his eyes. "Nonsense. Instead of worrying, why don’t you let me check your body?"

"Check... My body?" Joan blinked, utterly confused. "What does that mean?"

[Examining the body through sight, smell, questioning and touch. Notwithstanding observation of physiological structures.]

The previous Prince Simon was cowardly, weak, and ill-tempered, one of the reasons the emperor disliked him.

However, the new Simon had no intention of imitating his predecessor’s personality. There was no need, after all, in his own Domain, he was the absolute ruler.

Besides, Simon had always been a carefree, bold, and shameless person. The idea of pretending to be meek and irritable was unbearable.

Now that he understood his relationship with Joan, he couldn’t help but secretly rejoice.

After more than twenty years as a nerdy engineer, his ascetic life had finally come to an end in this world.

Simon smirked mischievously. "Checking the body means examining through sight, smell, questioning, and touch and, of course, observing physiological structures." The system was a very helpful tool as it delivered him the right answer.

Joan’s tears turned into laughter. "My Lord, when did you learn to diagnose illnesses? I know what sight, smell, questioning, and touch are, but... What is a physiological structure?"