Deciding to enjoy his breakfast and prepare before going toward the city, Lin Fang casually entered the village inn. Instantly, the lively scene became deathly silent, with the villagers almost shoving their faces into their plates, and constantly shivering. He felt like a tiger in a flock of sheep.
"HEY", calling the dazed waiter, he ordered his breakfast, before closing his eyes and starting a new simulation.
[does the host wish to consume 4 souls to activate the simulation?]
"So it doubles after each breakthrough", Lin Fang guessed, before confirming.
[Ding, simulation starting...]
[Ding, Talent refresh in progress...]
[Congratulations! You have refreshed the following talents:]
[Overly Polite (white grade) - The user has an uncontrollable urge to be excessively polite, even in the middle of battle, constantly bowing and apologizing to opponents.]
[Echoing Voice (white grade) - The user's voice always echoes, regardless of where they are, making even whispered conversations sound grand and overly dramatic.]
[Grudge-Bound Genius (green grade) - The user's ability to comprehend martial arts techniques is increased greatly, however, they become increasingly petty, taking offense at even the slightest perceived disrespect.]
After reading the introductions to the talents, Lin Fang was speechless.
He could understand the echoing voice talent, after all, the simulator gave him plenty of talents like it before. But the overly polite talent almost made him spit out a mouthful of blood.
Just imagining himself profusely apologizing mid-battle made his face turn green, "so some talents can even affect my temperament", he wondered, "I have to be more careful of this demonic simulator".
"Wait! What if the three rewards happen to be all clown talents, would I be crippled forever?", cold sweat dripped down Lin Fang's back, and he vowed to become kinder to the simulator.
His gaze turned to the last talent, "This is a good one, but I can't choose it as a reward because it will affect the real me".
"Also taking grudges won't affect the simulated Lin Fang too much right?", His eyes became uncertain.
"I choose the Grudge-Bound Genius", he declared while filling his mind with the idea of finding a new cultivation technique.
[Ding, talent selected successfully, simulation starting...]
[at 18 years old, you reached the peak of your cultivation technique, so you decided to go to the closest city; White Stone City, to seek a better one]
[when you reached the city gate, you noticed that the guards asked you for a higher entry fee, and although you had the money, you couldn't swallow the disrespect, so you instantly attacked killing the two third rank guards with a couple of punches]
[the city gate descended into chaos, and you made use of it to flee the scene and hide inside the city]
[days later, you joined a small noble family, becoming the bodyguard of a Baron and finally discovering that you are on the outskirts of the Radiant Sun Empire]
[the city guards issued a bounty for you, but the baron decided to keep your identity hidden because he was desperate to protect his noble title by making achievements for the empire and it all depended on your second rank might, so he gave you a full body armor to hide yourself]
[due to your deep knowledge of the dark forest, you managed to make plenty of achievements, destroying multiple bandit hideouts and killing several beasts that were closing in on the city]
[the baron overjoyed with your achievements, rewarded you with the cultivation technique passed down in his family; the Verdant Heart Sutra, and a sword technique he had found in his youth named the Falling Star Blade]
[you decided to start training the Falling Star Blade, despite the baron warning you that nobody managed to comprehend it]
Lin Fang nodded his head in approval, "That's reasonable", After all, switching from a fire-based technique to a wood-based technique would take a lot of time and would even regress him back to the third rank, so unless he couldn't find a fire-based technique, he's better off training combat techniques.
[at 19 years old, you finally reached the initial stage in the falling star blade]
[at 21 years old, you reached small achievement in the falling star blade]
[at 22 years old, at a party, you were enraged as you heard some nobles mocking your full body armor, and assuming that you are wearing it because you are very ugly]
[A few days later, you sneaked into those nobles' mansion to assassinate them, but what you didn't expect was that it was a trap and a whole ambush was awaiting you inside]
[you fought valiantly and using the falling star blade you even managed to kill two second rank martial artists, but like an arrow at the end of its flight, your qi was depleted and you died at the hands of a first rank martial artist wearing a guard's uniform]
[due to your death, the simulation is ending...]
"Heavens! This white stone city is a land of crouching tigers and hidden dragons, even the city guards have a first rank martial artist", Lin Fang's face was etched with a deep frown.
"I wonder who prepared the ambush against me", he pondered, "could it be the baron? He betrayed me after I made enough contributions to keep his title?", his face turning a little ugly.
The more Lin Fang thought about it, the more it appeared that the baron was responsible. After all, he is the only one who knew of his wanted status by the guards, and the expert from the guards just happened to take part in the ambush, it can't be a simple coincidence.
Not to mention the fact that he also probably knew about the petty temperament of the simulated Lin Fang, which is why they made use of it to lure him into the heart of the ambush.
Lin Fang's eyes turned cruel, "I don't mind making your life a little harder once I'm I get there".
Although he isn't as petty as the simulated Lin Fang, turning everything into life and death grudges, he isn't merciful either.
Though it appears that he spared the village, he had actually killed all the martial artists in the village and took all the cultivation techniques leaving them with no way to cultivate and therefore completely crippled.
"why do I feel like I made the perfect starting village for a protagonist to be born?", he chuckled, "sad backstory? check. Villain? check. completely crippled village? check. he only has to look up to the sky and declare that the heavens always leave a way for the poor and young and his journey would start", Lin Fang exploded in laughter, reminiscing about the times he read those cliche novels and felt like he was loosing brain cells.