Yue Country, Luling County, Dayu Mountain.
In a deep, long cave, gusts of wind blew in from the outside, making a wailing sound like ghostly howls, causing the burning fire in the cave to shudder uncontrollably.
A chilling sensation emanated from his body, and as Lu Yuan was struck by the cool breeze, he slowly awakened from his slumber.
At that very moment, countless memories came flooding in, causing him to scream in pain, his head splitting and his body trembling on the ground.
After a while, the pain in his head receded, and as his consciousness returned, Lu Yuan gasped heavily. Gathering some strength, he stared into the dim depths of the cave and muttered to himself, "Did I travel through time...?"
As he spoke, he couldn't help but touch the smooth, cold floor. The slightly damp sensation was clearly transmitted to him, along with the chilling wind that continued to blow in, making him shiver uncontrollably.
All these experiences were telling him one thing: he had indeed traveled through time.
Lu Yuan sat motionless on the floor for a long time, almost half an hour passed before he finally accepted this reality. Struggling to sit up, he looked around at his surroundings and recalled his current identity.
Lu Dalang, a hunter who lived on Dayu Mountain, eked out a living by hunting.
His father was killed in a hunting accident when Lu Yuan was twelve years old, and his mother passed away due to overwork and illness two years later.
Now sixteen, Lu Yuan had been living alone for two years, residing in the mountains. The cave before him was his home.
Recalling these memories, bitterness filled Lu Yuan's heart. "This is... a nightmare of a beginning."
As a modern man of the 21st century who had read countless online novels, the notion of time-travelling was not unfamiliar to him.
Traveling through time was one thing, but at least let me be reborn as a Great Luo Golden Immortal, God Emperor Dao Master, a member of the royal nobility, or even an aristocratic family?
At the very least, I could accept being a poor scholar, a landowner, or a merchant.
But now, he had traveled into the body of a hunter who had lost both his parents and had no place to call it a home, living in a cave on a mountain like a wild man. What kind of cruel joke was this?
Being a hunter wasn't an easy life.
Days spent wandering through the dangerous forest, seeking prey alongside predators like tigers and wolves, with venomous snakes and wild beasts lurking everywhere.
Simply put, it was a job that could easily cost him his life if he was not careful.
Lu Yuan didn't believe that he, a modern man who couldn't tell grains apart and lazy on physical labor, could survive in this treacherous environment.
Even if he had a healthy hunter's body now, he felt his chances for survival were slim.
"I have to change. Change is essential."
A strong conviction surged through Lu Yuan's mind, but he was soon brought back to reality by the sudden growl of his stomach's intense hunger.
Well, it seemed he hadn't eaten for a whole day.
The more critical survival instincts quickly occupied Lu Yuan's thoughts. He got up from the ground and began searching for food.
His eyes glanced left and right.
In the dimly-lit, three-meter-wide chamber, a wooden pillar stood in the center, with traces of age and grooves on its surface.
Above the pillar, several branches extended out, with seven or eight pieces of something hanging on them, swaying in the wind.
Without hesitation, Lu Yuan approached and took down a piece of preserved meat prepared by his previous self. He found a tree branch nearby, skewered the meat, and began roasting it over the fire.
Adding some more firewood to the already half-burnt flame, the dying fire in the cave became warm once again.
Feeling the chill in his body dissipating, Lu Yuan continued to turn the meat over the fire while contemplating his future.
He couldn't continue as a hunter, it was too dangerous, he never knew when he would be killed by a wild beast.
However, if he didn't become a hunter, what could he do with his current identity?
Lu Yuan pondered the society he now lived in.
His previous self was just a hunter, who spent his whole life on Dayu Mountain. The most he would do was trade the hunted game for silver in the county town at the foot of the mountain and buy necessities to bring back home.
So, the previous self knew very little about the outside world.
All he knew was that he lived in Yue Country, within Dayu County of Luling County, and that he lived on Dayu Mountain within Dayu County's borders. Beyond that, he knew nothing.
And as a hunter, he was commonly referred to as one of the Mountain People.
But the identity of a Mountain Person wasn't recognized by the government; they were not official citizens.
In other words, Lu Yuan's current identity was not registered with the government. Though he lived within Yue Country's borders, he was neither a subject of the nation nor under the rule of the king.
Was he an illegal resident?
Upon realizing this, Lu Yuan's vision darkened once more.
As a modern man, he certainly understood what kind of fate awaited a person without identity in this world.
There would be no protection under the law, and if somebody killed him, nobody would care. He wouldn't be able to purchase land or a house, nor could he legitimately accumulate assets.
He couldn't take the imperial exams, he couldn't do business, and he couldn't even travel for an extended period, as long-distance trips required a special pass.
Simply put, Lu Yuan was now an illegal, stateless person, without identity.
With this realization, he felt on the verge of breaking down once again.
Thankfully, after a series of crushing blows, his capacity for coping was now far stronger than before, allowing him to barely hang on.
But understanding his current identity dashed all his plans of becoming rich through invention and making a name for himself as a public scholar.
There was no other way; a person without a legal identity could crush all his hopes.
"So, my only way out now is..."
Lu Yuan took a deep breath and began to call out desperately in his mind, "System!"
That's right, in such a nightmarish beginning, other than the indispensable system of a traverser, he couldn't think of what else could turn the tables.
However, after calling out several times, there was still no response.
"God Finger!"
Still no response.
"Grandfather! Tathagata Buddha! God! Daoist Lord! All the gods in heaven...!"
Lu Yuan shouted the names of all the gods and immortals he knew, yet still received no response. Despair filled his heart. "Could I be the legendary traverse protagonist with the worst starting point and no God Finger?"
Even though he kept shouting in the comment section in his previous life about not relying on God Finger, insisting that the real protagonist should rise through their own pure strength...
But those were trivial matters, mere lip service.
At this moment, when faced with reality, only a fool would not want a system or God Finger!
"Could it be that I was punished for shouting too much back then?" Regretting his previous actions as a keyboard warrior, he wondered if he had brought this upon himself.
And as if sensing his thoughts.
A burst of blue light suddenly appeared in Lu Yuan's mind the moment this idea crossed his mind, illuminating his despair.