章節 2: Chapter two

The brick house looks beautiful and amazing. The ancient Chinese architecture influence can be seen in the house design and the layout. The curved roof structure that shape like a horn, the wooden verandas, the beautiful brick fence surrounding the house and a slightly uncared Chinese orange tree plant in front lawn give a feeling of tranquility and peace into the house atmosphere.

However, there is also a trace of western architecture influence can be seen around the house. At the end of the curved roof, a statue of gargoyle decorated the roofing design. High ceilings and huge clear glass allowing the natural light to come into the room also can be traced back to the western architectural influences. Several stained glass windows can be seen decorated in some of the windows solidified my observation about the melting pot of influence between western and eastern influence during the construction of this house and possibly the other housing too.

The house is located at the edge of the village. Because of that, the front lawn and the backyard are bigger and wider from other houses. Seeing the front yard and the backyard of the house, I already have a few ideas on what to do soon. Creating and planting a small garden for vegetables and herbs is a must. Maybe I can build a hen house for extra meats and eggs. The open space of the backyard is perfect for a small garden and a hen house. There is even enough extra space for the chickens to roam around the backyards.

After entering the house, I was surprised to find out there is traces and signs the house has been occupied before. The house has one master bedroom, a studies, a meditation room, a moderate size kitchen which fully furnished with kitchen utensils and fire stove, a big size oven, a dining table and a big two-door coldward, a specialize made cupboard enchanted with some sort cold and limited stasis magic.

The bedroom and studies filled with personal items of the previous occupier. The wardrobe also filled with his clothes too. At the bottom of the wardrobe, there is a medium-size footlocker. The footlocker is unlocked and also filled with previous owner belongings. There are two magic bags, a set of notebooks bundle up together, two jar of unknown pills, and a pair of plain dagger with a belt sheath. I took the dagger and wear the sheath. The sect official long coat cover up the dagger hiding it from the prying eyes.

In the studies or should I say library because the room has been enchanted with an enlargement enchantment. Rows of bookshelf already filled to the brim with books and notes. A large hardwood table with a most comfortable looking chair place in the middle of the studies. On the table, a tied-up book just sitting there in the open asking to be read by other people, and by other people I mean me.

As I suspected, the book is a diary of the previous tenant. I took some times to read his latest entry. What I found shocked me greatly. Reading the diary, it became apparent that the price of sect winning the century-long war recently was pricier than told by those facilitators. The diary owner wrote that the Mana Gathering disciples and Mana Condensation disciples died because of the war has reached around sixty to seventy percent fatality. The enemy sect deliberately targeting the sect workforce out of spite because of their loss.

The assassinations and massacres of both Mana Gathering disciples and Mana Condensation disciple resulting in the logistics and supply chain of the sect front line broken and disrupted. Both stages disciples are the main labor force to complete any job that mortals can't do such as Alchemy, Enchanting, spirit grains plantations and many other jobs that the chosen, nobilities and inner court disciples refuse to do because it was degrading to their standards and statuses.

To solve the problems, they recruit lots of low talented mortals but somehow still be able to reach the refinement stage. The highest they can cultivate is probably only at the Perk of Mana Refinement Stage. Only a small percentage of the recruits will be able to achieve a Foundation Establishment stage but cannot proceed further in their cultivations by their estimations.

By expending the recruitments, sect can replace their decreased work force. Those untalented new outer disciples will continued to do all of the dirty jobs around the sect and keep providing resources to the sect upper echelons.

Because of the enemy sect attack, the logistic and supply chain was disrupted. The sect's ability to act efficiently at the front line was greatly reduced. On account of the disruption, a small group of the enemy's main sect fighting forces successfully escape from the sky crow sect encirclement.

Even though some of the enemy's fighting forces escaped the encirclement, the war was already won when the enemy sect's patriarch was slew. Many of the enemy core fighting power are also killed.

Enemy's sect treasure and wealth were plundered and all of their land annexed. Thousands of their workforce subjugated and most of them are only villagers since most of the outer disciples killed in action. However, the fate of many crippled enemy cultivators is unknown. Some say they were bound by the unbreakable bond curse and asked to serve the sect indefinitely, and some say the woman are turned into the sex slave for upper echelons amusement.

Using the sect expansion excuse, they hired those untalented but capable to cultivate cheap laborers to make their life easier and they succeed to do just that. More than half of the quantity of the recruits only has a blank pendant and I included. 99% of the recruits will spend all their life to fight for meager resources and scrapes what was limitedly available to them while the true resources go to the nobles and upper echelons.

The diary told a lot of other unrelated stuff about the life of its owner and his passion for enchanting. It was not the time nor place for me to read the diary right now. I put the diary into the footlocker in the wardrobe intending to read it in the future. I continue the house tour but there is no more treasure unearth. The bathroom has an indoor plumbing and there is a huge tub for use, I hope there will be a hot water enchantments came along with those indoor plumbing. I desperately need some hot water bath after staying a week on a cramp ship without a proper toilet.

I spend some time to clean the house and throw away the previous tenant belongings that not needed such as his bedsheet, boxers, clothes and any spoilt food. After the cleaning and airing the house by opening the windows wide open, I filled the tub with hot water and spend sometimes at the kitchen preparing a sandwich to curb my hunger. I spend close to an hour soaking and taking a relaxing hot bath while enjoying my handmade sandwiches.

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Notification:

Perk:

Transmigrated Extra

- This perk allows you to determine the person that has the Main Character Aura. Only Work within ten meter radius from the host.

Notification:

You have found the main character, get to know he/she to open up further options.

Notification:

The main character has left your area of influence.

Notification:

You have found the main character, get to know he/she to open up further options.

Notification:

The main character has left your area of influence.

...(the same notification repeated several times)

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I opened the system to find out about the blinking red dot that keeps blinking on the peripheral of my view. What I found was a slew of the same repeating notification about finding the existence of the main character. The unknown and unreadable perk from before also got clear up. Seem to me, I need to find out who is the main character. Finding him or her is the key to get a more clear picture of what the perk do.

This evening assembly is the perfect place for scouting who is the MC. Seeing the notification, I'm 80% sure that mc is among the new disciples recruitments drive and staying on my courtyard too. I already plot a perfect plan but finding a perfect place to identify the MC proves to be quite a challenge. My original plan is to arrive early and camping in front of the main entrance. Surely my MC radar can detect if him/her walk by when the MC headed to the assembly.

However, fate is not on my side. First, there are no main entrance and people can come from anywhere except from underground. Second, most of the disciples already assemble in front of the tower. Here I am proud of my forward-thinking, feeling confident because I went out early to beat the mass but in reality, I was one of the last outer disciples from island 831 to arrive in front of the tower. There no need for me to scan, because the radar already registering the MC presence in the early-bird crowd. On the bright side, I at least eliminate two out of two hundred new disciples on this island. On the bright side, I finally confirmed that the MC is among the new disciples intake.

We were ushered into the tower that shapes like an incomplete circle if you look it from the bird-eye views. Inside the tower, we were greeted with the most lavish banquet I have ever seen in my life, neither here nor there. The performance of Chinese traditional instrument give a joyous feeling. It is like the new chapter of your life just opens up. It is like the start of a new story, new pages of your life.

We mingle and introducing ourselves to each other. Even though most of the new disciples' ages are around ten years old, the prospect and experience made them more mature from what I expected. Circumstances force them to be an adult faster, be it because of their family or because of other reason such as living in a dangerous world.

I found a few potential friends and allies to be made during the feast. Many of them came from a country I never even heard of. Many of them a from a peasant class, and the rest are from a middle-class family such as a small merchant family, a blacksmith family, or a town guard family. I tried to talk one by one with every new outer disciple here but there are too many of us. Time is not on my side, there is still not enough for me to find the MC and I only capable eliminating the MC candidate one by one.

So far, I only eliminate fifty disciples as a potential MC, there are one hundred and fifty more disciples that need to be check. I need to change my approach. I think this feast is the only opportunity for me to find the MC. After this feast, we will be too busy with class and cultivations, there will be no more another large scale assembly in the near future. This feast is maybe the last one for a reasonable time.

After some thinking, I decided to retreat to the outer crowd and maybe work my way inward until I find the MC again. When I see notification, the latest notification said that the MC already left my area of influence. I work my way out, took some pastry and drinks, and headed to one of the patios that sprawled around the ground floor of this tower.

Imagine my surprise when the notification shows that I found the MC again. I look around and found to potential candidates. A boy and a girl that talking or arguing with each other by the look of their body language. Seem the arguments just became heated because I can hear the yelling from ten meters away. I need to sneak out to hear about the arguments. I put aside the pastry and drinks on the floor and jump behind the bush sneaking toward the couple without breaking my eyesight on them. As I got closer, more tidbits about the quarrel became clear.

*******

"Forget about it, I'll never dissolve our betrothal no matter what your side offers me. This is what my late grandparent want, what my parents asked me to do before they went missing and I intend to honor it as I should." said the boy.

"Are you out of your mind? You are crippled, your cultivation base disperses overnight. It has been a year, and there is no improvement in your cultivation anymore. You stuck at the beginning of the Gathering stage. My family will not allow this. You better think about it carefully Lie Jie. Think about it, I will come back three days from now and I hope that I can buy the contract peacefully. Tell me what you want for compensation, I'll bring to you tomorrow." Said the girl with silver hair. Both of them argued back and forth several more time and finally, the hero seems to agreed with the heroine demand.

That conversation was the legendary chinese cultivation xianxia cliche tropes. The hero with a bright future and godly talent in cultivation and magic fall from his high horse because of something or the other. Because of that, he can cultivate no more or his cultivation drop down to the base level or something like that. Then come the finale, his long-time sweetheart or his fiance or his betrothal came by to dissolve the engagement and everything will start from there.

I left them not long after. I need to plan my next move since the MC has been identified. Without me knowing, I just realized that my system status has changed.

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NAME: MOBS EXTRA

AGE: 10

PATH: UNDECIDE <You have a year to decide your own path>

GRADE: 0

STAT:

BODY 1.0

MIND 1.1

SOUL 1.1

SKILLS:

PERKS:

TRANSMIGRATED EXTRA:

- This perk allows you to determine if the person has the Main Character Aura. Only Work within a 10-meter radius from the host.

- The main character has been found:

- Lie Jie: Grandparents and parents was a nobility of Sky Crow Sect upper echelon. Both of his grandparents fall during the century war, and both of his parents are missing in action during the war too. The life Steele of both his parents is still stood tall in sect's main record department meaning both of them are still alive but somehow can't go back to the sect because of unknown circumstances.

NOTIFICATION:

NEW QUEST

As the main character, Lie Jie must have some secrets inheritances. Found out what it is, for further details.

****************************

Fuck! There it goes my plan to avoid the main characters like a plague. Do I need to befriend him to complete the quest?

I look one more time toward the couple before I can make my decision. From afar, I can see the arguments seem to finish up. The girl flew away leaving the boy alone. I don't know what I will do but I know I will need to make a decision now. Do I do what the system asked or avoid MC like a plague?