"Ugh! I hate this place." Looking at the piles of bricks in front of him, Yang Ze couldn't help but mutter under his breath.
Just a week ago, he, too, was a proud resident of the Blue Star. Living and enjoying his life in comfort. But who would have thought that one day he would inexplicably wake up in an unfamiliar world and an unfamiliar body?
The first thing that came to his mind was that he was having a lucid dream. But after a few hours, realisation hit him when his stomach cried out in hunger. He wasn't dreaming... he had truly transmigrated into an unfamiliar world.
After the initial realisation, he was overwhelmed with panic. He had occupied the body of a fourteen-year-old boy with the same name. Not only was the previous body owner an orphan and had no relatives, but his life was filled with countless hardships, too. He had to do hard labour just to survive and meet daily needs. Other than the broken house at the end of the town, he didn't have anything on his name.
"What a mess." Yang Ze even believed that the previous body owner died due to overworking. He didn't want to follow the same fate as him, so, just like the previous body owner, he too joined the labour division and started working odd jobs in the town. Though the work was hard, at least he wouldn't starve to death. As for whether he too would die from exhaustion and overwork... he didn't consider it for the time being.
He thought about looking for other jobs, but didn't want to make any hasty decisions, lest someone notice anything odd about him. After all, this was a rather backwards world. Who knows what they might think or do once the people here realise that he is not the same person.
Picking up another brick, he carefully laid it down while his mind was lost in thought. His task right now was to work on the construction of a new road that would connect them with other towns and would ease travel.
Thankfully, the weather here was always lukewarm and even a bit chilly, making it comfortable to work under the sun.
Seconds turned into minutes and minutes into hours, and before he realised it, it was already evening.
"Ugh!" Stretching his body, Yang Ze looked around. He wasn't the only one working on the road construction. There were plenty of people, but kids like him were a rarity. He even had a feeling that he was given this job out of sheer pity.
But whatever the reason might have been, he didn't think too much about it. After patting the dust off his hands, he turned around and joined the queue leading to the small stall where a burly man in a neat uniform was handing over the payment.
Waiting for his turn, he looked at the scenery around him.
Right now, he was living in Yunshan Town. The town was surrounded by a mountain range, with tall mountains in the distance, all covered in thick green forests. Only the front part of the town didn't have any mountains, so it was open and flat.
A clear river flowed through the middle of the town, like its lifeline. The road they were building went further out, passing through smaller hills. These smaller hills paled in comparison to the towering mountains behind the town and were mostly covered in grass. It made the view interesting; on one side, there were forests on tall mountains, and on the other side, open grasslands.
The only city wall was at the front. It was made completely out of wood and stood around six meters high and two meters thick.
Even though the town was small, with just about ten thousand people, it had everything one needed. There were shops, blacksmiths, butchers, restaurants, and even four martial arts halls. Yang Ze didn't know much about these halls; the memories from the previous body owner were in shambles, making it difficult to remember anything. After his arrival, he only observed the halls from a distance, afraid to go any further.
"Here..." After receiving five bronze coins as payment, Yang Ze soon left towards the restaurant. Five bronze coins weren't much, and perhaps he could only save one, but for the current him, they were enough to fill his stomach.
After paying two copper coins at the entrance of the restaurant, he finished his bowl of pottage before heading back to his house. Throughout the journey, he silently observed his surroundings.
Though the world wasn't advanced in technology, the town was surprisingly organised and clean. The houses were neatly arranged, and the roads were laid with bricks, giving off a pleasant look.
Yang Ze's house was located at the end of the town, in the middle of the mountain. Though the journey was rather tiring, the view from there was equally beautiful. He could see the entire town from there. The only problem with this house was that it was in a tattered condition, and the danger from the wilderness was always at his doorstep. Just after he arrived, he even heard wolf howls in the distance. This made him throw away the idea of venturing into the forest for hunting and gathering.
After taking a bath, he changed into another set of worn-out robes before sitting in front of his house, enjoying the distant view.
It wasn't until almost an hour had passed that he let out a yawn before complaining in a soft voice.
"Just how long is this damn thing going to take?"
In front of his eyes was a small transparent box that only he could see. It was a loading screen. When he first saw it, Yang Ze was ecstatic beyond words. He didn't need anyone to tell him what it was, after all, as a veteran reader of countless novels, how could he not even know that this was his goldfinger.
At the start, this thing progressed at a rapid speed, but now... now it was stuck at 99% for days, making him extremely uncomfortable.
"Forget it." There was no use thinking about it. Shaking his head, he stretched his body before heading to his room and falling asleep. The daily labour left him with little to no energy to do anything else. Though he could still hear the distant wolf howls, he had gotten used to them now. Ignoring the commotion, he slowly drifted into sleep.
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When Yang Ze opened his eyes the next morning, he wasn't greeted by the usual sight of his worn-out roof; instead, what came into view was a transparent screen that had changed completely.
Gone was the 99% loading screen... replaced by a new row of text.
~~~~~~~~~~
[Name: Yang Ze]
[Age: 14]
[Realm: None] (Newbie Benefits Active)
[Technique: None]
[Skill: None]
~~~~~~~~~~
"What the..." For a moment, Yang Ze thought he was dreaming. But with every passing second, his eyes went wide as his heartbeat accelerated.
"Finally... OH MY GOD." Thinking about the past few days, he almost shed tears of joy. Without wasting another moment, he jumped out of his bed and began to pace outside his house.
"Okay, so how does it work?" He kept on looking for a long time, but there were no changes.
"System?" He called out nervously, hoping for a response, but there was none.
"Any newbie gift pack?" He called out again, since there was something called 'Newbie benefits active', there should be a gift pack as well. He waited... and waited... but was met with silence once more.
For the next fifteen minutes, he kept on shouting various things, hoping for a response. But got nothing in return.
Almost an hour passed, and the only thing he figured out was how to open and close the panel in front of him.
"It says techniques here." After playing with the panel for a while, Yang Ze focused on every aspect before looking at the technique section. The first thing that came to his mind after seeing this was the four Martial Arts Halls in the town.
If he can get any techniques from there, perhaps he could understand how this panel of his worked.
With this in mind, he thought for a while before gritting his teeth and deciding to head to the town to understand more about the martial arts hall. For an orphan whose sole focus was on survival... for such a person to suddenly visit the Martial Halls... It would inevitably raise some eyebrows. But thankfully, the previous body owner was a loner, and even if there was a risk, it was a risk the current Yang Ze was willing to take.
Even though it was barely six in the morning, the town was already full of life. A light fog hung around the buildings, and a soft breeze occasionally passed by, swaying the dimly glowing paper lanterns. The whole town looked almost dream-like. Yang Ze stood still for a moment, quietly admiring the scenery before continuing on his way.
He didn't know the names of the four martial halls or what they taught. So, he just chose one at random and walked in that direction. The smell of food from nearby stalls drifted through the air, making his mouth water. But he held himself back; he didn't have the money to spare for such things.
"I'll eat them all once I have enough money," Yang Ze muttered under his breath. It became a small goal; one day, he'd earn enough to taste every dish in the world.
After wandering for some time, he finally reached his destination.
In front of him stood several beautiful buildings made of a kind of wood he didn't recognise. The four buildings were surrounded by a tall wall, forming a boundary that kept everything inside hidden. There was only one entrance, guarded by a middle-aged man who looked like he was half-asleep. Above the gate, a wooden plaque read: Iron Fist Hall.
After arriving in front of the gate, he could already hear bursts of shouts. From the corner of his eyes, he took a quick peek inside only to see different rows of children, some his age, while others older than him were practising diligently. They would take deep breaths, throw the punch, take a stance and then do it again. From their expressions, it was clear that they had been doing this for quite a while.
"Are you here to register?" While he was still observing them, a sudden voice startled him awake.
Turning around, he saw the middle-aged man who had now woken up was looking at him with a teasing smile.
"How can I register?" Since he was here to learn, he might as well admit it.
"You!?" The man looked at him from top to bottom before shaking his head. The boy in front of him looked like he was barely twelve, with a frail body. He could see his sunken cheeks and almost visible bones. His hair was in a mess, and the robe he was wearing was so old that its colour had faded. Just one look and the middle-aged man already knew that the boy was either an orphan or someone who came from a poor family.
He had seen children like him many times, each one thinking of changing their fate and hoping to join the Hall.
Shaking his head, he just spoke in a flat voice, "Fifty silver coins for registration and twenty silver coins for one month. You need to pay for six months in advance. The total is one gold and seventy silver coins."
After speaking till here, he closed his eyes again. He wasn't afraid of Yang Ze looking at the training inside or making any waves. After all, what could such a frail child possibly do?
"One... ONE..." After hearing the man's words, Yang Ze's eyes went wide with disbelief. For a moment, he thought he had misheard. One Gold Coin... What was the concept?
Every day after working from morning till evening, he would earn five bronze coins. If he managed to gather one hundred bronze coins, he would have one silver and a hundred silver coins would make one gold coin.
He calculated for a while before coming to an answer. Going by the current rate of him saving 1 bronze coin every day, it would take him almost 47 years to reach 1 gold 70 silver of fees.
Even if he didn't spend money and lived without food and water, it would still take him almost 9 years to save this much money.
"Heh." He just shook his head with a bitter smile before turning around and leaving the place.
"Tch. Poor pauper." The moment Yang Ze turned around, the middle-aged man opened his eyes and spat out in annoyance. He was thinking about putting a sign there listing the requirements. This way, brats like these won't disrupt him in the future. The more he thought about it, the more he found the idea pleasing.
Yang Ze's steps paused upon hearing him curse, but he just shook his head. The man wasn't wrong. At the moment, he was indeed poor. He thought about it and decided to visit the rest of the three Martial Halls too.
It took him almost an hour to visit the remaining three Martial Halls, but in the end, he was unable to join any one of them. Every single Martial Hall has the same fee structure. The last Martial Hall even shooed him away the moment they saw his outfit.
In the end, he was just aimlessly wandering around when his steps suddenly halted as his eyes narrowed into slits as he looked at the old, worn-out book placed in front of a small shop.
"True Iron Fist technique."