Chapter One: What Should I Do If People in Another World Only Have an IQ of Five!

“Little Highness! Little Highness, are you awake!”

As the first rays of morning sunlight pierced into Lin Lei’s bedroom, he was still deep in slumber when the commotion jolted him awake. In a flash, he opened his eyes wide, rolled over, and scrambled under the bed to hide.

A loud bang followed as the bedroom door was flung open. A swarm of elderly men, all garbed in the royal mage’s robes, poured into the room and threw back the covers.

“He’s not here!”

“Damn it, His Highness has escaped again!”

“Why has the little prince become as quick-witted as a rabbit lately? Could he have predicted we’d mount a dawn raid?”

“Highly likely. After all, the little prince has acquired the knowledge of the multiverse and learned the ways of cultivation!”

“Looks like we’ve missed another chance to hear him explain cultivation today.”

The old men chattered noisily among themselves before finally shuffling out of the room one by one.

Lin Lei strained his ears, and only when the last trace of sound faded did he wipe the sweat from his brow and crawl out from under the bed.

“Heavens! These mages have no business to attend to, chasing after me every single day!”

“They just want to learn cultivation from you!” A clear, laughing voice sounded suddenly behind him. “The whole palace’s mages are looking for you. You can’t keep hiding forever!”

Lin Lei spun around. By the window, where just moments before there had been nothing, now stood a beautiful youth in a long robe.

The youth was sixteen or seventeen, with golden hair and blue eyes, exuding an aura as gentle as moonlight. He was Lin Wen, the crown prince of the Elven Kingdom and the source of many sleepless nights for countless maidens. The Elven Kingdom had only two princes: Lin Wen and Lin Lei.

“Brother, when did you get here?” Lin Lei felt a headache coming on; his brother was forever neglecting his royal duties to sneak into his room using invisibility spells.

“And besides, I just told you a few stories about cultivation. If you hadn’t spread them around, this mess would never have happened.”

As a transmigrator, Lin Lei’s previous days had been blissful—eating, sleeping, then eating some more, life as leisurely as it could be. But ever since he’d offhandedly shared some cultivation tales with his brother, everything had changed.

Lin Wen compiled his stories into books—titles like “Covering the Heavens with One Hand,” “The Ordinary Man’s Path to Immortality,” and “Chronicles of the Demonic Sky.” Lin Lei hadn’t even finished telling the tales before the books were already published.

Astonishingly, these cultivation novels became wildly popular throughout the Elven Kingdom, and the archmages began researching the path of cultivation in earnest.

Whether those archmages had lost their minds was anyone’s guess. After just a few days of study, they declared the contents of the novels highly credible and insisted on learning cultivation from Lin Lei.

In no time at all, Lin Lei had become an idol in the Elven Kingdom. The mages revered him, hailing him as a prophet who had inherited the legacy of multiversal cultivation.

“Brother, you’ve ruined me!” Lin Lei looked at Lin Wen with a face full of grievance. If it weren’t for him, Lin Lei wouldn’t have to hide from all those old men.

“I haven’t ruined you. I simply revealed your true worth,” Lin Wen replied, walking over to ruffle Lin Lei’s hair. “Maybe you think those stories are just dreams, but we’ve studied them. Cultivation really is possible, and it could make us elves stronger.”

Lin Lei curled his lip, brushed his brother’s hand away, and went to change his clothes.

With a beautiful youth as his brother, Lin Lei’s own looks were naturally striking. Black-haired and black-eyed, his appearance had even led the elves to adopt the phrase “a beauty who brings ruin to a nation” to praise him, a phrase they’d learned from his cultivation stories.

Why “a beauty who brings ruin to a nation”? Because the newly crowned queen of the Night Elves had, after meeting him, publicly declared her intention to invade the Elven Kingdom and seize him for herself.

In fact, the war on the border had already begun two days before.

“Has the fighting in the Dark Forest stopped?” Lin Lei thought of this as he slipped on his silken robe and questioned Lin Wen.

Lin Wen narrowed his eyes, a cold glint flickering within. “No, that woman won’t give up so easily!”

He walked over to help Lin Lei comb his black hair. As children of the forest, nearly all elves had bright hair and eye colors. Those with black hair and black eyes were destined for greatness—the queen of the original elves had just such features.

“I won’t let that woman take you,” Lin Wen said, his nose twitching slightly as he caught the scent of shampoo from Lin Lei’s hair.

“Brother, is your nose bothering you?” Lin Lei asked in confusion.

“Maybe I’ve caught a bit of a cold.” The crown prince’s eyes flashed with fond indulgence. This little brother was so adorably dense—even after ten years together, he still hadn’t realized Lin Wen wasn’t truly his “brother.”

After a quick wash, Lin Wen produced a mask and affixed it to cover half of Lin Lei’s face—since the Night Elf queen’s declaration of war, the king had ordered him to wear a mask at all times.

“Come on, Father’s summoned us to attend the council together.”

Lin Wen took Lin Lei to breakfast, then led him to the council hall.

The highest governing body of the Elven Kingdom was called the Twin Moons Council. When the two of them entered, the king and all the lords were already assembled.

“Father.”

They each gave their greetings.

The king, a handsome man in his prime, responded with a curt nod. “Sit.”

Lin Wen and Lin Lei took their seats to the king’s left and right. It was Lin Lei’s first time at the Twin Moons Council, and all the lords’ eyes were fixed on him.

“Why are they all looking at me like that?” Lin Lei felt a bit nervous. Spotting a glass of water on the table, he took a sip.

“Now that everyone is here, I’ll announce today’s agenda,” the king said with steady authority. “Since our founding, our elven nation hasn’t had an official name. Today, I’ve decided: our country shall be called Huaxia!”

“Pfft…” Lin Lei spewed his water and burst into a fit of coughing—Father, please don’t do this! When did you get hooked on those cultivation novels as well?

“Lin Lei, do you have any objections?” the king asked, turning to him.

Lin Lei wiped his brow. “At the very least, let’s not call it Huaxia. That’s plagiarism—it just feels… strange.”

“Then we’ll reverse it—Xiahua. Same meaning.”

The king was crisp and decisive.

Lin Lei broke out in a cold sweat. This was a matter of national importance—Father, can you really make such a casual decision in front of dozens of lords?

He glanced at the lords; they were already whispering among themselves.

“His Majesty has clearly read those cultivation novels too.”

“I’ve heard that magnificent cultivation civilization called their splendid attire ‘Hua,’ and their vast territory, flourishing culture, and prosperous morals ‘Xia.’ ‘Huaxia’ means the Celestial Empire.”

“That’s the civilization where a single punch could shatter a planet! Naming ours Huaxia might be presumptuous. But reversing it—Xiahua—is a fine name as well.”

“I think it sounds much better than ‘Elven Kingdom’.”

“… ”

Listening to their discussions, Lin Lei was completely stunned. How could this be? How could these people take novels as the truth? A few books had changed a nation’s name!

Did everyone in this world have an IQ of only five?