Apollo took a last bite of his bread before patting his belly. As he neared the restaurant, he looked around to see if any workers were nearby before hurrying into his beggar spot.
"Eh? Someone threw their trash here?" Apollo noticed a few slabs of wood, some clothes, and other items he didn't recognize beside his beggar spot.
Come to think of it, I don't have any roof, Apollo thought while looking at the blazing sun. What if it suddenly rains?
Apollo picked up the slabs of wood and the clothes on the side. First, using his strength, he tore the clothes to make strips before placing the wood to form a roof. Then he used the strips to tighten the slabs. After a while, a simple roof was made. It was enough for him to stand and lie down under.
He sat down and brought up his system store.
"System, show me the items that can change my eye color," Apollo ordered the system.
The list in the store started changing until a few items were left.
Apollo bought the cheapest item, which was the "Contact Lenses," a common item from his previous life. It cost him 0.5 Alm points.
After buying it, a white light appeared in the air before it transformed into two contact lenses. Apollo put them on and blinked a couple of times before he got used to them.
There was no mirror nearby, so he went out of his beggar spot and looked for a puddle.
Seeing that his eyes had changed from blue to black, he smiled in satisfaction.
"Perfect," Apollo said. "Time to go to the training ground!"
…
After walking for almost an hour and trying not to stand out too much in the crowd, he finally found the training ground. Along the way, he also sight-saw places but felt bored as the infrastructure of the city was very monotonous. He felt like he was in a rural area but at the same time not. Even if he saw an expensive-looking building, he always compared it to his previous life.
Well, this is just my opinion. Others might find it appealing and aesthetic.
Apollo looked at the hundreds of meters of training ground. There were already cultivators doing their training. They were practicing fighting techniques. Some were alone, and others were in groups.
Their shouts rang in the air, making the scene quite serious.
There was also a wooden weapon rack on the side where spears, swords, bows, and other weapons were placed. But what caught Apollo's attention was the stage in the middle of the training ground with two men fighting gracefully with their fists.
"A sparring arena?" Apollo muttered in excitement but held it back the next second. Thinking about it, it made sense that an arena would be placed in a training ground. Even some gyms in his previous life had this.
Now, where should I test my strength? Apollo looked around and noticed a scarecrow on the side with a vertical stone beside it. He walked towards it and saw that the stone had a shallow trench in the middle with glass covering it. There was also water inside the cavity, though it was currently at the bottom.
Apollo saw that there was writing on the stone. The bottom was the Foundation Building, the middle was the Qi Condensation, and at the top was the Core Creation.
Underneath the Foundation Building were small words.
4th Step.
3rd Step.
2nd Step.
1st Step.
Half-Step.
Between the Foundation Building, Qi Condensation, and the Core Creation, these same words are also written.
"So there are also small stages within Cultivation? These weren't mentioned in the book Big Chub gave me," Apollo muttered before looking at the scarecrow. He already had an idea of how to test his strength.
He took a deep breath and clenched his fist, preparing for a punch, when suddenly a voice made him punch the air instead.
"Who do we have here?"
Apollo looked back with a frustrated expression. He saw a thin man wearing a black and white uniform with a serpent insignia on his chest. Two men grinned beside him.
The thin man was the same one who had given Apollo a silver coin, though now there were no ladies with him.
"Do I know you?" Apollo raised an eyebrow.
"Of course not. I'm not surprised you don't know me," the thin man smiled mockingly. "A beggar like you only knows trash and rats."
These words caused the two young men beside him to laugh aloud.
"You are right, Bernie," one of the young men said.
"I wonder why the city guards let a beggar run around the city," the other added.
Bernie smirked at his friend's remark. He was consolidating his strength, having just reached the Half-Step Foundation Building, when he saw the beggar entering the training ground. Then he remembered him as the beggar to whom he had given a silver coin.
He wasn't rich in the first place; he just wanted to protect his ego in front of the girls.
This world really doesn't lack idiots. Coming here just to make fun of me for no apparent reason? Apollo sighed in frustration.
"You don't belong here, kid," Bernie said. There was no point in trying to get back the silver coin; it was probably long gone.
"This is a public training ground. Don't you know the word 'public'?" Apollo retorted.
"You dare talk back?!" Bernie felt offended. He was now officially a cultivator; how could he let a normal person disrespect him?
"This beggar deserves to get beaten up."
"Yeah, we cultivators are the backbone of this city, we are the protectors while this beggar is nothing but dirt,"
The two men beside Bernie said, their eyes looking at Apollo with disgust.
"Yes! What are you going to do? Beat me up?" Apollo smirked with his hands crossed in front of him, though deep inside he couldn't help but feel nervous.
The three in front of him seemed to be cultivators. What if they were at the 1st Step of the Foundation Building or even higher? His Half-Step strength wouldn't be enough to defeat them!
"You!" Bernie pointed his finger at the smiling beggar. "Don't blame me for this! I'm just going to help the city guards get rid of a beggar then!"
Apollo gulped.