Chapter 163: Riding Coattails Is All the Rage This Year (Part 1)

Nicole felt that rather than being reborn a thousand years into the past, it was more like her younger self had just received the memories of her thousand-years-older self.

Since she only possessed the knowledge of her future experiences without deeply empathizing with them, she lacked the worldly weariness expected of a wizard facing the twilight of her lifespan with no hope of advancement. Instead, she retained the vibrant energy characteristic of a young girl and remained full of hope for the future.

She was still that cheerful, happy, impulsive, and eccentric second young miss of the Barov family. Her personality had not been severely altered by her future experiences; she had merely matured slightly in her thinking.

Reflecting on her past life, however, she ultimately concluded that wanting to achieve success entirely through one's own efforts required someone with the patience for solitude and extraordinary perseverance akin to Teacher Martin. Even then, Teacher Martin had only achieved success at the very end of his lifespan.

Nicole certainly did not want to wager a millennium of her life on such an uncertain outcome. Besides, simply imagining a life like Teacher Martin's felt stifling to death, so she discarded this path without hesitation.

Granted, Nicole now possessed the cultivation experience of a Golden Wizard from her past life. If she were to cultivate step by step, her achievements would undoubtedly far surpass those of her previous life. Having roamed the Astral Realm, however, she was acutely aware of how terrifying geniuses and cheaters were, knowing full well that she could never compare to them. Her past experiences had left her somewhat lacking in confidence.

Yet, she still possessed a better, more convenient, and much safer path!

That was to latch onto a powerful backer!

Taking advantage of the era before Emperor Bill's rise to prominence, she needed to quickly hitch a ride on his coattails!

After analyzing the situation, she knew that since Emperor Bill had the demigod prophet Gerala by his side, she could not be certain whether her secret would be discovered. Nicole figured that Empress Gerala's realm was not yet very high, so she probably wouldn't notice for now, but as time went on, it was hard to say.

Therefore, attaching herself to either Emperor Bill or Empress Gerala carried certain risks. After careful consideration, Nicole found the optimal benefactor: Princess Catherine.

She was going to hug the cat's leg!

As a former cat-groomer to the royals, this happened to be right up her alley.

Thus, following her rebirth, Nicole sought out numerous cats to practice on, ensuring her professional skills hadn't rusted. Fearing discrepancies between contemporary and future feline diets, she even had master chefs prepare various cat foods and compared them with the recipes she had mastered in the future. Finally, she successfully fused contemporary and future cat-food-making techniques into one.

Nicole felt as though her cat-rearing abilities had broken through a bottleneck, reaching an entirely new realm. Setting aside future eras and considering only the present age, she believed that when it came to raising cats, she probably had no rivals throughout the entire Astral Realm!

She figured that the moment she met Princess Catherine, she would undoubtedly win her favor. By the time Princess Catherine embarked on her journey to prominence, countless rewards would rain down upon her. Given Princess Catherine's personality, she would surely offer casual pointers on wizardry practice from time to time, or help her through a soul illusion when needed, causing Nicole's rank to skyrocket all the way. It couldn't possibly be more delightful!

Therefore, while practicing her skills after her rebirth, she also began posting bounties at Grimm Academy to search for the whereabouts of Emperor Bill and Princess Catherine. Naturally, she hadn't forgotten to change her name. After all, the name Fula would eventually become a taboo in the Astral Realm, and there was no need to invite trouble because of it.

Hard work pays off. A cadet named Kain completed the mission and provided information on Princess Catherine. Finding Princess Catherine essentially meant finding Emperor Bill. She remembered that it was because Emperor Bill's youthfully arrogant behavior had provoked a terrifying enemy, accidentally resulting in Princess Catherine's physical body being destroyed and her transforming into a nether cat by coincidence. Filled with guilt ever since, Emperor Bill had always kept Princess Catherine by his side as if she were his own younger sister.

At that moment, she once again received a recommendation letter from Teacher Martin via the Dark Moon Chamber of Commerce, but she unhesitatingly shoved the letter to the very bottom of her spatial pouch.

However, when she excitedly followed Princess Catherine's trail to track down "Emperor Bill," this "Emperor Bill" seemed to have run into some complications!

Why was Emperor Bill named Andy Charles? Why did he show zero interest in alchemy? Why wasn't Empress Gerala by his side?

Wasn't he supposed to be making a name for himself in the royal capital through alchemy by this point? How could there be such a massive discrepancy?

Ah, ah, ah! Nicole felt like she was going insane. Later on, she figured it out: her rebirth must have triggered the butterfly effect, altering the timeline. Clinging to Catherine wasn't her top priority anymore; the most crucial task was steering everything back onto the correct track.

Initially, she had doubted whether Andy was the real Emperor Bill, or if he truly was Emperor Bill but had changed his name to Bill Williams due to certain developments.

Aside from re-verifying the core sign that Emperor Bill always kept Princess Catherine by his side, she took advantage of the periods when Andy was bullshitting and particularly fond of chatting with her to probe him.

The probing process went like this...

Nicole: "Club President, I changed my name not long ago. Have you ever had the thought of changing your name?"

Having transmigrated and finding the name Andy Charles terribly awkward, Andy actually preferred his Chinese name, Andy, from his past life, yet he was forced to use this one due to the cultural and social environment. He figured that once he grew strong enough in the future to ignore these influences, he would eventually change his name back.

So he replied, "Change my name? I still need to! But the timing isn't right yet."

Nicole: "I see..."

Nicole: "Club President, you're originally from Dallas City. Do you know a girl named Gerala? When I went there last time, I saw her—such a lovely and admirable girl!"

Reminded by Nicole, Andy thought of Gerala far away at Silverwing Fortress. Thinking about how he had caused her to lose her parents, a wave of intense pity welled up in Andy's eyes...

Screaming wildly in her heart, Nicole thought, *That's the look! That's the exact look! If you aren't Emperor Bill, then I, Nicole, have lived my past thousand years for nothing!*

Yet her probing continued. Knowing that Emperor Bill possessed a secret treasure called the Haistrey Magic Mirror, she tentatively mentioned that she had lost a spatial pouch three days ago; it didn't contain any secret treasures, but it held quite a few magic crystals. She was planning to post a commission offering a high reward to find it.

Andy told her to hold off on the bounty for a bit; he would try to help her look for it first. Shortly afterward, Andy told her the exact location of the spatial pouch.

Bingo! A bullseye! The only slight flaw was that "Emperor Bill's" alchemy skills left room for improvement, and the Prophet Gerala wasn't by his side. Nicole felt that her biggest mission right now was to make "Emperor Bill" develop an interest in alchemy. Gerala's absence was actually a good thing; had she been around, she might have detected something amiss with Nicole or intervened for some reason.

Consequently, she subconsciously stopped mentioning Gerala in front of "Emperor Bill," opting instead to chatter on incessantly about alchemy during her conversations with Andy...

Sometimes, Nicole would sigh inwardly, realizing that the path of latching onto powerful backers wasn't as easy as it seemed!

Teacher Martin was right indeed—no one succeeds effortlessly!