Chapter 2 – First Tutorial Quest (1)
'Hmm?'
When Mao Miaomiao opened his eyes, He found himself lying on a grassland.
'I remember that I was in my room. Where am I?'
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When Miaomiao's eyes adjusted to the new environment, a giant semi-transparent blue screen flashed before him.
His brain reacted fast as he read many novels. This screen was similar to the reincarnation or transmigration stories he knew.
Miaomiao hoped that this was a dream. At the same time, he also wished that it was real.
"A system… Are you serious?"
He pinched his cheek to check if this was a dream or not. Obviously, it wasn't a dream.
Miaomiao looked at his right leg, which should have been amputated because of an accident this year.
It was there. His lost leg was there, fully intact.
"Wow, I've been ISEKAI'd."
Miaomiao began recalling memory before he arrived here, starting from the computer and the questionnaire.
"So, I stumbled upon one of those transmigration traps, eh? It must be because of that stupid questionnaire! Well, I'm grateful that I wasn't hit by a random truck."
He was abducted and thrown into an unknown world. Although this kind of ISEKAI experience seemed exciting in novels, experiencing it first-hand was a nightmare.
What would he do if he met hostile thugs early?
What would he do if he ran into a powerful and arrogant young master?
How could he procure food? What kind of food would be edible in this world?
Where would he live?
Miaomiao worried about his future and his survival. Unlike carefree Japanese protagonists in novels, he didn't trust the system that suddenly abducted him and threw him into an unknown world.
Worrying about his brother, he wanted to return home, "System, is there a way to return to my world?"
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"What!?"
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"…"
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"Oi!!"
The system was crueler than Miaomiao had thought. It threatened to kill him on the first day that he was transmigrated. Now, he was forced to complete the absurd quest.
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Mao Miaomiao felt a burning sensation in his upper belly above his belly button. It was the first time that he sensed something supernatural in real life.
"It feels like I have gastritis. It burns… shit."
The pain subsided after a minute.
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Miaomiao widened his eyes in astonishment. He hadn't completed the quest yet, but the system gave him a small ray of hope.
He had a cheat!
"I see that I have a game system."
Rejoiced by the hint and the new skill that he didn't know what it could do, he uttered the magic word, "System, show me my status menu. What's my level, attributes, and EXP?"
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It was a piece of bad news that he couldn't inspect his status points. Miaomiao had hoped that he would get a game-like menu and numeric evaluation, so he could track his progress like playing a game.
Fortunately, it left him this vital info to compare his strength with others.
'What is muscle tampering? Oh, right. This should be the earliest stage for novices or children that wanted to step into the cultivation world. I read many web novels and there's a lot of similar strength levels and ranks. But if this is the basic stage, how many sub-stages do I have to go through?'
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'Alright. Fair enough.'
Miaomiao checked his body condition, clothes, and his surroundings. There were many questions on his mind, but he needed to know where he was and how his body fared.
Miaomiao had a white shirt, black pants, a leather belt, socks, and black leather shoes on. He recognized these clothes right away since it was his old high-school uniform.
He gazed at his arms and legs. His skin was white and smooth, but his muscle was a bit soft, which was not ideal for a martial art practitioner like him.
After a brief inspection, judging from his muscle mass, fat, and the tenderness of his facial skin, Miaomiao found out that his body reverted back to when he was in his teen, the time when he began attending a gym and practicing a martial art, Muay-Thai. At that time, he was a total beginner at the gym, and he didn't even know how to properly bench-press or deadlift to increase his muscle mass.
Mao Miaomiao confirmed that he became young again. Although he was delighted that his body became youthful, he was sad that his hard-earned muscle, stamina, and toughness that he built for decades was gone.
He scratched his head and played with the tip of his pointy crew-cut hair a bit. The short hair pricked his hands, which was a nice sensation when he used the back of his sharp hair as a hand scratcher.
'This is bad. I have to build muscle and recover my previous stamina again. This body is too weak! Heck, I doubt that I can last a round of sex! How can I complete the quest when my stamina is shit!?'
'Oh well, I can build that back. At least I have my memory and my ring experience.'
Miaomiao pitied that he didn't have the physique of a UFC champion, but he was confident that his muscle memory and experience in professional rings could be useful in this world. Still, he doubted that he could fight against superman cultivators with supernatural abilities.
He started looking around to check his surroundings.
Miaomiao was alone on a plain grassland. Behind him, a dense forest emitted menacing cold air, which hinted him not to enter.
'Where am I exactly?'
Miaomiao walked away from the dark forest. He couldn't stop looking back, worrying that something might suddenly appear and ambush him from behind.
Fortunately, nothing happened.
As Miaomiao walked further for an hour, he could hear the buzzing noise of people. The clip-clopping sound of a dozen horses dragging wheeled carriages became louder.
When Miaomiao turned toward the direction of the sound, he found a wide stone road with over a thousand ancient Chinese people traveling in the same direction.
Without thinking, he approached them. He wasn't aware that he stood out like a sore thumb with his school uniform and hairstyle. Everyone on the road before Miaomiao had colorful robes and long black hair, tied in a topknot. Some of them let their hair down, which reached their lower back.
'Let me count… wow, there should be over a thousand people over there. Is there some kind of event? Why are they moving toward the same direction?'
As optimistic as he was, Miaomiao approached one of the men, who seemed to be in an organization. Everyone there wore similar clothes, brown robes, like a gang in a Kang-Fu historical movie. They also had wooden tokens on their belts. Since they came in a group and have the same uniform, Miaomiao thought they might know more than commoners and peasants.
"Excuse me. Can I ask you for a direction? Where are we right now?"
The brown robe burly guy that Miaomiao asked was an escort soldier, who was trailing behind a decorated carriage. He glared at Miaomiao, "Who the fuck are you, slave?"
'Slave? Dafuq, dude. I'm just asking for some direction.'
Mao Miaomiao's face twitched as he was offended. Still, his mentality was that of a patient old man. He smiled and tried to be friendly, "My name is Mao Miaomiao. Right now, I think I'm lost. Do you by chance know where we are?"
The brown robe soldier looked at Miaomiao from head to toes. He scoffed and spat at Miaomiao's feet.
"I should be the one asking you! Back off, you homeless slave! You're pestering the caravan of the Qing Clan! Scram before I kill you!"
Miaomiao was taken aback. He blurted out in reflect, "Dafuq? What's wrong with you?"
"No, what's wrong with you!? GET LOST!"
"I'm just asking for a direction!"
"PFFT!! GET A BRAIN, YOU DOGSHIT SLAVE!! EVERYBODY HERE IS HEADING TOWARD THE MOUNTAIN GOOSE CITY!!"
Finally, the guy slipped a piece of vital information. Unfortunately, he wasn't a friendly guy that Miaomiao could start a conversation with.
"Ah? A city? Thank you for your information. So, do I have to follow the road and the people to get there?"
"Pfft! Your strength is only at the 1st stage, but you're going to the city and join the sect entrance exam? Look, men! This guy is so full of himself! How about this? Strip and give me your clothes, then I'll let you live!"
All of a sudden, the escort soldier turned into a robber.
'And here, I was trying to be polite... Ah, right. Isn't this a cultivation world?'
Miaomiao adjusted his mindset, and his friendly expression changed into a prideful one.