Chapter 2: Life 4, Age 16, Martial Disciple 1

Sensation crashed into me. This time, however, I was prepared. I did not scream out. I did not fall over. I did not move. Having died three times now, my mind was... blank. I was still uncomfortable in the kneeling posture, but I could at least hold it. When you start in the correct position, it is much easier to stay in the correct position. “Rise!” the middle-aged man barked. I, along with everyone else, stood up. This time, I was able to much more easily blend into the crowd. “Follow!” We again began to walk the same path back to our houses. Now that I could understand everyone, I was hoping to listen in on conversations around me to get a better feel for what was going on, but no one was talking. I hadn’t noticed this the last two times. However, the walk wasn’t too long, and we quickly came to the residential area where that guy gave his little speech. “Your qi has awakened, and you have all received your blessing from the Heavenly Dao. Find a house and meditate on the nature of your blessing. In two hours, we will begin taking you to be tested. Do not cause any trouble during this time.” That last sentence seemed to be directed at a small group of young men. Standing in the center of that group was the red-robed youth who had just killed me. I went inside my little house and sat down to think. I had two hours. In two hours, someone would take me out to be ‘tested’. I wasn’t sure what that involved, but I could guess they would probably like to know about this system I had access to. Oh, and the fact that every time I died, I would be sent straight back to the start of all this. I didn’t know all the dangers this place held, but the fact that I died two times in quick succession told me it wasn’t safe. So, I would try to keep my cards close to my chest. No reason to tell people things they didn’t need to know. ‘Blessing’ was the same word the voice in the void had used, which meant that my blessing was the System and ability to reincarnate. I would not be sharing that information with them, so I needed to have another answer ready to go. I didn’t know what a normal blessing would be, nor how to fake one. Fortunately, I had an easy way to solve this problem. “System, I want to know about blessings from the Heavenly Dao.” The cost of information about the Heavenly Dao and its blessings is not possible to calculate at this time. Alright, so that’s not happening. How about... “System, I want to know common knowledge and beliefs about blessings from the Heavenly Dao. Things everyone knows, or think they know, about the topic.” Information on beliefs regarding blessings from the Heavenly Dao. Cost 5 credits. That suggests there is hidden information that is extremely important. Something to keep in mind, but not something I can act on at the moment. “Purchase!” Confirmed. 12 credits remaining. It is commonly believed that a blessing of the Heavenly Dao can be nearly anything. Blessings enhance the blessed in some fashion. A weak blessing may allow the blessed to know how much to water a plant. A strong social blessing may allow the blessed to charm everyone they meet. The most prized blessings typically enhance a person’s martial prowess. An example would be gaining the ability to create a tiger out of fire that would fight alongside the blessed. However, such blessings are rare and are only obtained by the truly virtuous. Credits expended. Transaction complete. “Buy the Rank 1 Healing Pill.” Purchase confirmed. Item deposited in storage. 1 credit remaining. I sat there, but no pill appeared. “Where is my pill?” No response. “System, give me my damn pill!” No response. “System, how much for information about the location of my pill.” Would you like to purchase basic information about the System storage space? Cost 1 credit. “No, damn it.” I could figure this out on my own. A storage space, a place that stores items purchased from the system. It wouldn’t be a physical location, that didn’t make any sense. So, it had to be something like an inventory in a video game. So, how did you open it, and how did you take things out? “Inventory,” I said. Nothing happened. “System Inventory.” Nothing. “System Storage.” No. Maybe it’s not voice command. Maybe I just will it to happen. I focused my mind on wanting to take a pill out of storage. I tried to visualize a pill moving from ‘somewhere’ and appearing in my hand. A small, round pill appeared in my hand. I was pleasantly surprised when it worked. Instead of immediately swallowing it, I tried to put the pill back into storage, but nothing I did had any effect which meant the storage was probably only one way. “Here’s to you, Su Fang,” I said, tossing the pill in my mouth. Energy surged through my body. Bones that were slightly out of place were moved back into alignment. Microcracks in them that I would have never noticed disappeared in an instant. The many lingering problems caused by malnutrition slowly disappeared. I felt like I had been reborn, again. The constant low-level pain I had barely noticed had vanished. Maybe I would still die to a single punch, I had no idea, but I definitely felt like I had more of a future now. As I waited in my small house, I began doing a few basic exercises. There was barely any room to move, but I still wanted to get adapted to my new body as best I could. Basic sit-ups and push-ups gave me a sense of my current strength. It still wasn’t high, but I was at least able to complete a dozen push-ups before my arms gave out. I performed a little shadowboxing to help with my muscle coordination. We had been told someone would come to take us for ‘testing’ after two hours. The testing may have started then, but I was clearly not high on the priority list. After nearly four hours someone finally came and opened my door. “Follow me,” he said in a neutral voice. I exited my room. Time to see what future I had on this Nine Rivers Continent.