Early March, the onset of spring.
The cherry blossoms haven't bloomed yet, but they will soon.
A few days ago, it snowed, and Shinji guessed that it might be the last snowfall before the arrival of the next winter.
At dusk, by the deserted riverbank where the snow had just melted, a blue-haired boy with a still frail body due to his age and other reasons was doing one-handed push-ups by the rapidly flowing river, shirtless.
Sweat had already soaked the ground beneath him, but Shinji gritted his teeth and kept going.
"Two hundred ninety-nine... three hundred."
After counting to three hundred, Shinji finally stopped, his arms giving way as he collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily.
"Grandson, twenty seconds rest time countdown: 19... 18... 17..."
Listening to the familiar voice of Siri in his mind, which had been with him for three years now, Shinji had grown used to it and no longer felt the anger he did initially.
As for why he switched back to Siri, it was because the other Chinese voices sounded too emotional!
What would it feel like to have someone call you "grandson" with emotion in your ear every day? It would drive you insane!
As for Siri... she has no emotions!
Barely managing to get up, Shinji didn't hesitate to strip off his pants, wearing only swim trunks adorned with anime girl designs, and plunged into the rapid river.
The cold water instantly revitalized Shinji, but he didn't hesitate and began swimming upstream with all his might.
Although he was utterly exhausted, there was no choice. After all, he had tasks to complete.
"Grandson, you have 198 meters left to complete today's 200-meter task. Keep going, persist, and I believe you will eventually become an emperor like your grandpa."
Shinji felt an urge to hit the system, but he couldn't, and he couldn't block it either.
A momentary distraction caused Shinji to lose his rhythm, and he was instantly swept far away by the current.
But he didn't give up. Since the day after acquiring this damned system, Shinji had been training his body under the system's daily tasks. It's been three years now.
According to the system, to become a qualified emperor, one must first have a strong physique.
Of course, the system never referred to itself as a system but claimed to be the First Emperor, his grandpa from many lifetimes ago, who followed him to this world to compensate for his father's (Fusu's) shortcomings.
Shinji didn't believe it and even wanted to uninstall it.
Time and again, he struggled, only to be swept far by the cold, rapid river, but Shinji never gave up. After all, the main task progress bar was severely lacking, and without effort on daily tasks...
Finally, just before the last light of dusk faded into darkness, Shinji completed his daily task of two consecutive sets of 300 one-handed push-ups and 200 meters of upstream swimming.
Exhausted, Shinji clung to the riverbank and slowly climbed up, marking his spot with a stone.
If you look closely, you'd see the riverbank covered in markings: five meters, ten meters, twenty meters... all the way up to the current 200 meters.
"Hu——" Lying on the ground, Shinji panted heavily, and it took about two minutes for his breathing to stabilize.
Propping himself up, Shinji wanted to check his system interface for daily rewards, but then he noticed out of the corner of his eye a purple-haired girl with a ribbon on her head, standing on the riverbank, staring blankly at him.
Matou Sakura, originally Tohsaka Sakura, had been adopted into the Matou family for four years now.
Her hair and eye color had shifted towards purple due to the "training" Shinji preferred not to imagine.
That dark, foul-smelling, disgusting, and bone-chilling basement... if he could, Shinji would never set foot there again.
Dragging his exhausted body step by step to his bag placed 200 meters away on the riverbank, Shinji took out a clean towel and roughly dried himself before dressing and slinging his backpack over his shoulder, climbing up the embankment.
"Brother..."
As he passed Sakura, Shinji showed no emotion, maintaining a cold demeanor. Only after walking several meters did he respond coolly.
"Yeah."
Hearing this, Sakura lowered her head and quietly followed behind.
Honestly, over the years, Shinji's attitude towards Sakura had changed from the initial indifference and a mix of bullying and caring before regaining his past life's memories to now cold and distant.
This was intentional. To cover for his daily training and tasks, he had to act as if he discovered the truth and was driven by pride to work hard.
Also, he had to avoid being too kind to Sakura and creating dependence, or Zouken would surely exploit this to twist her personality as a pawn in the Fifth Holy Grail War, just seven years away.
Shinji had no doubt that if he allowed Sakura to rely on him, Zouken would use it against him. That old man had no regard for family ties.
So, until he had the power to protect himself, Shinji had to keep up the act.
Luckily, his acting was convincing. In the eyes of his cheap dad and grandpa, he had realized the truth—that Sakura was the real heir of the Matou family—and hence treated her with increasing coldness.
They probably thought he hadn't given up and was seeking ways to compete with Sakura—like looking through Zouken's old travel records, magic notes from the East, training his body, and learning Eastern martial arts and qigong.
They likely believed he was stubborn and wouldn't just give up, but they didn't pay much attention to him, thinking he was just a talentless waste.
Neither Zouken nor his dad focused on him, pouring all their attention into Sakura, leaving Shinji free to act.
As long as he had enough time...
Checking the floating interface only visible to him, Shinji completed his daily training task with a thought.
Instantly, a cool yet strangely warm and satisfying stream of energy flowed into Shinji's body, almost making him moan, but he managed to hold back.
"Grandson, three years to reach the entry level of a Daoist. Keep it up."
Daoist, akin to a cultivator in xianxia novels, but without spiritual energy in this world. The needed energy could only be obtained through daily task rewards from the system.
It took three years to barely reach the lowest realm of Daoist, but now Shinji was an official Daoist.
He had long memorized the techniques and meridian maps. Ignoring the system, Shinji cautiously attempted his first qi circulation.
Luckily, he succeeded on the first try.
Feeling the spiritual energy gradually transforming into inner energy within his meridians, Shinji was delighted but kept a calm exterior.
Passing by a brightly lit shopping street, Shinji suddenly remembered something and stopped, looking at a jewelry store.
Today seemed to be his poor sister's birthday...