Chapter 1 The Owl Postman
Early morning, a ray of sunlight pierced through a gap in the curtains, illuminating the sleeping face of the boy. Albert was still asleep, but would soon be.
The door to the second-floor room near the stairs was quietly pushed open, and a brown-haired girl poked her head in, her large brown eyes fixed on the still-sleeping boy in bed. She softly called, "Albert, it's time to get up."
Seeing that the boy didn't respond, the girl pouted in dissatisfaction, pushed open the door, and went inside, followed by a British Shorthair cat.
"Tom, please." The girl picked up the shorthair cat and placed it on the bed, gently brushing its tail against the boy's face twice.
Albert, who was still fast asleep, reached out and brushed the cat's tail off his face, opened his eyes, looked at his mischievous sister, covered a yawn, and greeted her, "Good morning, Nia!"
"Daddy said he's taking us to London today," Nia blinked, looking at Albert, "to get your Eton College uniform made, and to buy the items on the list."
"Okay, I got it, I'm changing." Albert covered another yawn, picked up the short-haired cat that was stretching its paws on the sheets, put it on the floor, stretched, started changing, then washed up and went to the living room for breakfast.
"Did you stay up late again last night?" Daisy placed a sumptuous breakfast on Albert's plate.
"Son, we'd better hurry, today's schedule is a bit full." Herb spread out the letter from Eton College that had arrived a few days ago on the table, his face beaming with pride.
It's well known that private schools in England are where elites are cultivated, and Eton College is among the best. To get into this school, one must meet two criteria: talent and wealth.
The Andersons are middle-class in Britain; the couple runs a law firm and has some savings.
Albert, in particular, is considered a genius, not only excelling academically but also winning numerous inter-school competitions.
Whether Albert was truly the genius in everyone's eyes, only he himself knew.
Genius?
No, Albert never considered himself a genius. Albert had a huge secret: he was a time traveler.
As for why he was labeled a genius, he himself was baffled.
A child who didn't even know what a Rubik's Cube was, yet he could easily solve a scrambled 3x3 Rubik's Cube.
In the eyes of most adults, this was genius.
In reality, he could solve the Rubik's Cube because he had played with it in his previous life and knew its secrets, so he knew how to solve it.
As for how to maintain his genius image, Albert wasn't worried about being exposed at all, because he had the legendary cheat code!
Time travelers come with cheat codes; online novels are truly amazing.
This story begins when Albert was seven years old, when he discovered a panel suddenly appearing in his brain.
The panel had two main functions: accepting quests and allocating skill points.
Sometimes quests would appear, and completing them would grant experience or skill points. Experience could be used to upgrade skills, while skill points would directly upgrade a skill by one level.
Albert's first skill was fluency in English, which he spent many years developing to level 3.
If the average British person's English fluency is level 2, then an average English teacher is level 3.
If he maxed out his technological skills, Albert could become a genius scientist.
Of course, Albert never wanted to be a scientist, nor did he have that desire in his previous life.
In his past life, he loved reading and eventually became an ordinary online novelist.
He wrote several books, accumulated a small fortune, lived a carefree life, and did what he loved every day.
In other words, he was a lazy bum in his past life.
As for how he transmigrated?
It's embarrassing to admit.
One day, he was watching a Mr. Bean movie on the sofa, casually picking up an apple and eating it while watching. Because the movie was so funny, he forgot he was chewing and choked to death on a piece of apple at the age of thirty.
When he woke up again, he found himself as a baby, spending many years in this house in a daze, and then adopting a cat again, also named Tom.
Of course, the name actually comes from the Tom and Jerry cartoon.
When he was seven, a game panel suddenly appeared, making Albert question his existence, even wondering if he was an NPC in some game.
Later, finding no players, he considered the panel a blessing inherent to transmigrators.
Connecting transmigration with a cheat code meant becoming a winner in life.
Albert didn't have grand ambitions; he felt he'd have a few relationships after adulthood, a simple and easy job after graduating from university, and ideally, get married before thirty, accumulating enough wealth to squander for a hundred years, allowing him to live the rest of his life freely and carefree.
To achieve this future, Albert had already planned to enter Wall Street after graduation. Relying on his maxed-out economic skills and the remaining memories from his past life, he believed he could quickly earn a lot of dollars.
However, panel skills weren't easy to level up, especially after level two, each level requiring a large amount of experience.
Albert needed to complete tasks to earn experience and skill points, and being admitted to Eton College was one of those tasks.
"Son, what are you thinking about?" Herb cut his steak with a knife, looking at his son who was lost in thought.
"I was thinking about what I want to be when I grow up," Albert said, stuffing a fried egg into his mouth and swallowing it.
"So what do you want to be when you grow up?" Daisy asked curiously, the couple rarely hearing their son mention his dreams.
"Finance," Albert replied without hesitation.
"We thought you wanted to be a scientist or an astronaut." The Andersons exchanged glances.
"What's finance?" Nia was unhappy to be excluded from the conversation by her family.
"Finance is lucrative," Albert said, looking up. "While you're at it, buy me a few books on economics, consider it an early birthday present."
"Son, don't mislead your sister. Only the really capable can make money in this field." Herb's face twitched, and he coughed lightly, covering his mouth with his fist. "Besides, we're not exactly poor."
"Alright, eat breakfast, stop talking nonsense," Daisy interrupted. "Nia, remember to drink all your milk."
"Oh!" Nia didn't really like milk.
Life after his rebirth was wonderful: a lovely younger sister, a harmonious family, a comfortable life, and a golden finger that would lead him to the pinnacle of success.
If there was one thing that bothered Albert, it was definitely the food in England.
He had previously been skeptical of online claims that England was a culinary wasteland, given that the British generally preferred a simple and comfortable lifestyle.
However, after experiencing it firsthand, he no longer doubted the accuracy of those descriptions.
After finishing their meal, the Anderson family helped clear the table, closed the doors and windows, and prepared to leave together.
Just as Albert opened the door of his Ford and was about to climb into the back seat, he suddenly heard Nia exclaim in surprise, "Look, an owl?"
The Andersons looked in the direction their daughter was pointing, and saw an owl flying towards them. As it swooped over their heads, it dropped a letter at Albert's feet.
At that moment, the Anderson family's expressions froze.
An owl, delivering mail? When did owls start working as postmen?
(End of Chapter)