CSMCDB - Chapter 6
Chapter 6
Be that as it may.
Wen Yuncheng was extremely satisfied while eating. But after she finished, she started to feel the sting of those two points again. "But they were only one point each!"
[Cultivate. Improve. The Long Aotian cultivated by our Long Aotian Growth System is no ascetic! As my binder, you must constantly grow stronger and slap others in the face, but you must also live well and treat yourself kindly!] 1947 declared with rare and utmost seriousness. After saying this, however, its tone softened. [Isn't it just two points? Go beat up Wen Ziyu once a day, and you'll get two steamed buns every day. Kiddo, just think, if even the steamed buns are this delicious, aren't you curious about other foods?]
Wen Yuncheng rubbed her stomach. It would be a lie to say she wasn't. …Treat herself kindly?
Wen Yuncheng had always thought 1947's purpose in binding her was to regulate her behavior and force her onto a path it had planned. She never expected 1947 to say something like this. She thought… in a system's eyes, there was no need to treat the host as a person.
1947: That's why I treat you as my kiddo.
[Besides, as long as you go to the dueling room every day…]
"You're going to issue the same mission every day?"
[Of course not. From now on, you'll be going there to slap faces.] 1947 denied it flatly. A system had its principles; it couldn't just do whatever it wanted. There were basic rules! [It's about the challengers. Those people in the audience, although they didn't despise you today, if you go every day, hog the ring, and bully them, someone is bound to grow to despise you. Then you'll have a steady income of one point per day.]
"…That makes a lot of sense." Wen Yuncheng was tempted. She nodded and quickly left the kitchen, preparing to take a bath and go to sleep. "But those are still my points, not freebies. Even if they were free, they'd still be mine once given to me, and I'd still feel the sting."
1947 was momentarily speechless.
1947 was at a loss for words.
1947 could only watch as its host went to take a bath, turning into a giant mosaic, and retreated into its data stream in seclusion.
Why had no previous host been like this? 1947 grit its teeth. Fine, let her be stingy. 1947 could even accept her inadequate hardware; couldn't it accept a host who was a bit of a miser? She was probably just scarred by poverty and hardship. Seeing its host wolf down a one-point steamed bun so ravenously she nearly choked, 1947 suddenly felt a sense of peace.
[Kiddo, as long as you complete your missions diligently and work hard to improve, once you become an outstanding Long Aotian, you can eat whatever delicacies you want from the store.] 1947 paused, then added: [Those who bullied you will only be trampled under your feet, and as time passes, they won't even be able to glimpse your shadow.]
Wen Yuncheng waved a hand dismissively. She took clean clothes from her storage ring, changed, and then drew water to wash and hang her old clothes to dry before entering her room and lying down on the wooden plank bed. The hard bed made her bones ache. Wen Yuncheng turned over, found a relatively comfortable position, and prepared to sleep.
Of course, she knew what 1947 was saying. In the novels she'd read, a max-level Long Aotian never went back to the beginner village to bully their old enemies. After all, it was beneath them and didn't satisfy the need for showing off. It would only happen if the enemies were brainless and blind, and the Long Aotian was pretending to be weak to catch a bigger fish. Of course, another reason was that those enemies usually didn't live long enough to see the Long Aotian reach max level.
Wen Ziyu, the Wen Family… they would probably live for a long, long time. Wen Yuncheng thought drowsily. After all, once her talent was tested, she planned to leave this place. She had money and wasn't worried about survival. With those two missions, even if she couldn't reach Star Practitioner or level ten, she could at least reach the third layer of Star Apostle. At that level… she could apply to an academy.
She could… start her academy life.
Just before drifting off to sleep, Wen Yuncheng vaguely heard the system's "ding," but the words that followed sank into darkness along with her thoughts.
"1947! Do you just feel uncomfortable if you don't screw me over for a single day?!" The moment Wen Yuncheng woke up, she did a simple wash-up, stretched, and was about to eat the leftover dry steamed bun from her storage ring when she saw 1947 open the mission list. Below the mission to leave the Wen family, another one had appeared.
[Mission: Enroll in an Academy.]
[Requirement: As a Long Aotian, how can you study at an ordinary academy! The host is required to enroll in Star Academy within one year!]
[Reward: 500 EXP, 30 Points]
"Isn't that too little EXP? I calculated it, and I'll need 2560 EXP just to get to level ten." Wen Yuncheng found the 500 EXP reward far too shabby.
[Who told you the EXP requirement always doubles?] 1947 clicked its tongue but didn't elaborate or change the mission reward.
"!!!" Wen Yuncheng was shocked. "Then how much EXP will it take to level up in the future?"
[You'll find out when you break through to Star Practitioner.]
Fine. Wen Yuncheng swallowed the steamed bun with some cold water, hastily finishing her breakfast. Then she went out to buy two more sets of clean clothes and stocked up on some food in her storage ring. After her shopping trip, she went to the dueling room again to try her luck.
After activating the system, her leveling system no longer belonged to the Starry Sky Continent. Although the system's level could be measured by testing instruments, she had no Star Power in her body and had lost the talent to absorb it for self-cultivation.
Therefore, while other family disciples needed to meditate at night to absorb Star Power, use various star liquids to aid their cultivation, and learn all sorts of combat techniques and secret arts to better unleash their Star Power, she didn't need to.
She just needed to do missions, level up, earn points, and learn skills.
She had thrown all the steel blocks she bought into the crafting template, which now showed a countdown timer. Around lunchtime, she would get the… parts for her mechanical armguard. After a simple assembly, Wen Yuncheng would have her first piece of novice equipment.
By lunchtime, Wen Yuncheng had only defeated two challengers. Seeing the crafting template display "Crafting Complete," she jumped off the ring, planning to eat lunch first.
"1947, neither of those two challengers gave me any points. It looks like no one will be willing to fight me anymore."
[Host, you need to learn how to trash talk. You have to taunt them,] 1947 said. [For example, you could reveal that you've already reached the second layer of Star Apostle.]
"…That's a good way to make people hate me."
[Despise is the number one producer of points,] 1947 said with utter frankness. It thought for a moment and added, [And the number one producer of face-slapping opportunities.]
She had a simple meal in the family canteen, where the food was a bit cheaper than outside. She couldn't afford it before, but now that she had money, she could eat as she pleased.
"I thought the family head would want to talk to me and ask about my recent changes," Wen Yuncheng remarked suddenly as she put down her bowl and chopsticks.
[Of course, if he hadn't tacitly allowed you to be bullied all these years, to the point where you could barely feed yourself,] 1947's electronic voice was laced with sarcasm. [His favorability toward you is 'Despise.']
"…Alright, alright." Wen Yuncheng took her bowl and chopsticks to the collection point, wiped her hands and mouth, and left the canteen to head back to the dueling room.
Her parents didn't care about her existence. Or rather, they knew she was a fake son, and raising her was just a means to maintain the engagement and preserve some value. As such, when her talent first awakened, she was showered with concern and love. That concern, care, attention, and fervent praise was so overwhelming that Wen Yuncheng often thought of the famous line from The Guillotined Queen: "All the gifts bestowed by fate have already been secretly marked with a price."
She had received so, so much back then, so it was destined not to last.
It didn't last…
And so now, she had lost it all.
Provoke her clansmen? Be despised, even hated, by everyone? It didn't matter.
Wen Yuncheng told herself it didn't matter.
She stepped onto the dueling ring, looked down at her clansmen with contempt, and spoke:
"Do you not even have the courage to challenge a waste like me?"
"I was unable to cultivate for five whole years. You've had such a head start, yet you're even worse than a waste… Heh, how laughable."
"Is no one brave enough to come up? You won't even dare to spar? Is there no one?"
At the end of the day, Wen Yuncheng looked at the three points she had earned and sighed deeply. She checked the time and, under the cover of night, snuck into Wen Ziyu's courtyard, holding her breath so as not to alert the guards. After all, this was her own home, and the Wen family wasn't some great clan; their night patrols were lax.
Wen Yuncheng slipped into Wen Ziyu's room, grabbed a vase, and smashed it over the person in the bed. With two points in hand, she bolted. As the guards rushed in in a panic and Wen Ziyu clutched his head, raging at the shattered porcelain on the floor, Wen Yuncheng had already climbed a wall and escaped through the back courtyard.
[…Kiddo, can we please not earn points through such petty thievery?] 1947 felt a little embarrassed.
"Oh, stop it. If I were a Star Practitioner, I'd break into his room and beat him up every night," Wen Yuncheng said, glancing back to make sure no one was following before relaxing. "But for now, points are hard to come by. I'll take what I can get."
Seeing her point total turn to 19, Wen Yuncheng returned to her room in high spirits. She took the parts out of the crafting template, and they clattered all over the floor. Unconcerned with propriety, she lay on the ground, pulled up the blueprint, and stared at the parts with a growing headache.
"1947, is this blueprint right? These parts are tiny. How am I supposed to assemble this?" Wen Yuncheng looked from the diagram to the actual parts, completely unable to tell which was which. This was harder than a jigsaw puzzle. It was terrifying.
[The host is requested to figure it out on her own. Assembling machinery is one of the essential skills of a Mechanical Master.]
Wen Yuncheng: …
Fine, you win.
Wen Yuncheng worked late into the night. After being tempted to smash the parts on the floor five or six times, she finally decided not to torment herself any longer. She took a bath and went to sleep.
Of course, the armguard still had to be assembled, but that was a problem for tomorrow.
It took Wen Yuncheng a full three days to finally assemble the mechanical armguard. After finishing, she realized it was only for her right hand.
"The mechanical armguard is only for one hand?" Wen Yuncheng put it on; it was like wearing a mechanical armguard. She clenched her right fist, and with a thought, a sharp steel spike emerged from the tip of the armguard, incredibly sharp.
[You only made one,] 1947 stated calmly.
Wen Yuncheng: ?
Comments
Post a Comment