"The Gu Yue Clan, a noble clan of righteous Gu Masters who reside as the undisputed rulers of Qing Mao Mountain. A clan highly respected for its powerful ancestors who marked their era with their legends."
*Turning Page*
"Specializes mainly in the use and refinement of Moonlight Gu, a Gu Worm specializing in medium-to-long range attacks."
*Turning Page*
"More clan propaganda"
*Turning Page*
"Propaganda again..."
*Turning Page*
"Oh, this time it's not propaganda, let me see, -The Fourth Great Clan Leader fighting the Demon Monk-, ...of course it would be narcissism."
*Thum*
As soon as the yellow book written in what appeared to be Chinese characters was closed, a voice sounded with a tired sigh. "In short, I am in a world where everything is based on the use of mystical insects."
The owner of the voice smiles slightly and murmurs, "An entire civilization where everything transcendental is built on the cultivation, use, and refinement of worms called Gu."
"To master Gu Worms, one must first awaken their Primeval Sea, and then become a Gu Master. And just like the cultivators in all Xianxia novels, this world also classifies people by aptitude, which is divided into four grades: A, B, C, and D."
"Obviously, like any good Xianxia, this power system has a corresponding scale for both Gu Worms and Gu Masters, but surprisingly, it is simpler and easier to remember than those of other cultivation worlds, since here they are simply divided into levels from 1 to 9 for both Gu Masters and Gu Worms."
The owner of the voice places the book on the table in front of him and gets up from the chair he is sitting in, his bare feet touching the cold wooden floor, causing a slight shiver on the surface of his skin. With firm and silent steps, he walks across the room toward a small glass window.
The room was large but had little space available, as most of it was occupied by large bookshelves. In the center, a wooden table occupied the front of the window, with three chairs on it, a larger one against the window and two smaller ones on the opposite side.
Running his hand over the closed windowpane, he ignores the fierce storm outside and observes his reflection, a young but weak, malnourished, and thin body, carrying a face so ordinary that it would be lost in the crowd. Looking at his reflection, he feels a little disgust and murmurs, "Of all the options, I had to transmigrate into a rickety young man."
Putting his hand on his face, he smiled ironically, "Although, thinking about it now, I have the perfect profile of a cliché Xianxia protagonist. To be transmigrated into the body of a native with all his memories of another world intact."
"Being despised for having little talent compared to the genius of the current generation." Recalling the memories of this body, he knew he had an absurdly talented older brother who spat out poems as fast as pigeons shat on his car.
"Having his beloved stolen by the supposed genius of the current generation." Again, he remembered a young woman that this body had feelings for, who was forcibly snatched (according to his thoughts) from his hands by his talented twin.
"And the cherry on top... A system!" Smiling contemptuously, he looks at the floating screen in front of him.
-------------------------------------------------------------
『Name: Fang Zheng』『Level: -Null- (Mortal)』『Race: Human』
⁅Potential: 0⁆
-----------
Specialization Tree:
///-///-///
-----------
[Constitution: 1] [Aptitude: 8] [Spirit: 4]
-------------------------------------------------------------
Skill Sheet:
///-///-///
-----------
Fang Zheng almost felt like crying when he saw this screen, but it wasn't out of happiness – "My life has turned into a cliché powerscaling fanfic."
After composing himself, he moved away from the window and walked toward the door of the room. Touching the door, he slipped his hand into the small gap that served as the door handle and pulled it to the side, and the door slid open.
As soon as the door opened, he found himself facing a room secondary to the office he was in. The room had Chinese-style sofas and armchairs along with a tea set in the center. It seemed to be a rest area. He ignored everything in the new room and headed for the door on the opposite side.
After a few more turns and other rooms, he finally arrived at the residential area of the 'small' house he lived in. Pulling the door to the side again, this time he found himself in a straight hallway with a few doors on the sides.
Fang Zheng was surprised to see the bedroom door at the end of the hallway open with natural light coming from inside. He knew from his memories that this room belonged to his twin brother Genial.
He also knew that tomorrow would be the awakening ceremony, the most important event for all the young descendants of the Gu Yue clan, as it would be the day when they could finally ascend a step on the ladder of power in this world, where the wheat would be separated from the chaff.
And knowing his twin brother, he knows how strict and rigid he is with his routine, always going to bed early and waking up early, almost never straying from his routine. Not to mention that his brother is not known for being anxious; in fact, he is quite cold and rational.
Fang Zheng stopped in his tracks for a moment and fell into deep thought. "Come to think of it, that's strange. According to my memory, my brother wasn't always like that, he changed after our parents' death."
Fang Yuan was an outgoing boy and acted like a "normal" child most of the time, despite his high maturity for his age, but that was normal in this world considering that everyone is already an independent adult from the age of 15.
Everything changed when his parents died. His personality suddenly took a 180-degree turn. He now almost always had a neutral and stiff expression, and out of nowhere he started writing poems and short stories for the village.
Scratching his chin with his right hand, Fang Zheng thought. "Speaking of which, the creations: 'Jiang Jing Jiu', 'Yong Mei,' and 'Jiang Cheng Zi,' which he recited, are famous works in Chinese literature from the land where I come from."
As if in a flash, Fang Zheng realized, "Maybe he's a transmigrated soul like me, he just arrived earlier. He must have transmigrated after our parents' death into that young man's body, hence the abrupt change in personality."
Of course, there is also the possibility that the death of our parents caused him trauma that forced him to become like this. I need to confirm this with my own eyes. With curiosity born from his thoughts, he heads towards his older brother's room to see him in person.
His brother's bedroom door quickly came into view thanks to his long strides, and in seconds he stopped in front of the half-open bamboo door. He then gently pulled the door aside and saw his brother standing in front of the open window.
The room was spacious and tidy, with a large bed in the center with two nightstands on either side, a study table next to the window with a comfortable armchair.
A wooden wardrobe stood in the corner of the room, separated by a cherry blossom-patterned screen, along with what appeared to be a bathtub.
The heavy rain outside splashed on his brother's young face, the storm winds wildly swaying his long black hair like a black silk banner.
That was Fang Yuan, his older twin brother, or at least the one whose body he had taken over. Fang Zheng finished opening the door and as he was about to step into the room, he saw his brother turn his head to look at him.
*CRACK-A-BOOM*
A thunderous clap of thunder rang out across the skies of Gu Yue Village, but that sound did not affect Fang Zheng in the slightest. What really affected him was the look his brother gave him.
Fang Zheng's already weak body trembled and faltered before those eyes. Unconsciously, he lowered his head, his blood began to circulate more slowly through his body, lowering his body temperature, and his skin became paler.
It was a natural reaction, as if his body was reacting to the gaze of a predator and trying to play dead. Those eyes were not those of a human being, that apathy towards him and the fire that burned in his pupils like a burning brazier.
It wasn't a cold, emotionless gaze, but a gaze that said that if necessary, he would surely lunge at Fang Zheng's jugular. Before reincarnating into this world, Fang Zheng had been a renowned psychologist.
So he was good at reading people, and Fang Yuan's eyes were truly fascinating and frightening to him. How could someone so young carry such a flame in their eyes?
"I felt fear just looking at him?!" Fang Zheng asked, unable to believe what was happening.
"That wasn't a physiological reaction of the body I took over, it wasn't trauma that awakened memories. It was something more natural, something I really felt." Taking a deep breath, Fang Zheng raised his head and looked at his twin brother again.
"It's you, huh, my twin brother." Fang Yuan raised his eyebrows, his expression quickly adapting, returning to one of cold indifference.
Fang Zheng was surprised by the change. To an ignorant person, he had hardly changed his expression at all, but to Fang Zheng, he had completely changed his expression in a natural and smooth manner.
There is a difference between the fire of human determination and coldness towards problems. What Fang Yuan did was go from a determined look to an indifferent one in seconds. The fire in his eyes was also masked, replaced by an icy wind.
"This guy is dangerous!" Fang Zheng made that clear in his mind. "To have such control over his emotions and expressions requires a lot of control and training. He is definitely a foreign soul like me."
Or worse, he could be one of those bastards who went back in time thanks to a convenient plot device. Fang Zheng was frightened to think about it. Imagining a monster who had lived for hundreds of years possessing his youthful body again, and with future knowledge to boot, made him paranoid.
"I can't let him find out about me so soon." Making up his mind, Fang Zheng began to act like the same shy and introverted boy he remembered from his memories.
Lowering his head and looking at his fingertips, he said, "I saw that my older brother's window wasn't closed, so I thought I'd come in here and close it. Tomorrow is the Awakening Ceremony, it's so late and you still haven't gone to sleep, older brother. If uncle and aunt knew, they would probably be worried."
[You have successfully learned a new skill: Acting]
[You engage in Acting, Experience +5]
[Current: Acting - Level 1 (5/100)]
Surprise flashed in Fang Zheng's eyes, he hadn't expected unlocking a skill to be so simple. "So to unlock skills, I just have to perform the corresponding actions."
"Worried..." It seemed as if Fang Yuan's eyes could pierce through his head. He stared at him for a while and then laughed quietly. That laugh sent shivers down Fang Zheng's spine, so to give more credibility to his persona, he gripped the hem of his shirt tightly.
[You engage in Acting, Experience +5]
[Experience +5]
...
As Fang Zheng continued with his act, his system beeped constantly in his head. Seeing the experience points filling up the skill bar caused an intoxicating feeling in Fang Zheng.
Not to mention that every experience point added to his skill made him instinctively feel how to improve his acting, almost as if he were under the influence of some brain stimulant.
"You can leave now." Fang Yuan's voice snapped Fang Zheng out of his reverie.
Nodding quickly, Fang Zheng said, "All right, see you tomorrow, big brother!" And then he quickly left the room.
As soon as he left Fang Yuan's room, he closed the bamboo door and ran to his room, which was not far away. As soon as he entered his room, he closed the door and turned the device that locked the door.
Fang Zheng's room was much simpler and more humble than his older brother's, with only an old bed in the corner of the room and a small table near the wall with a wooden chair.
His clothes were stored in a wooden chest next to the bed, which also served as a nightstand where he placed a small candle made of animal wax, the only source of light in the room besides the window, which was covered with a dark curtain.
After locking the door, he felt more at ease and lay down on the bed with his right hand on his forehead and opened the panel of his system. He spent a long time studying the panel and trying to understand as much as possible about it.
He already had experience with how the "Skill Sheet" tab worked and was satisfied with it. As for the attributes, he also considered them to be fairly self-explanatory, so he ignored them. What intrigued him was the "Specialization Tree," which was empty, and the "Potential," which was at 0.
"Maybe I'll have to level up some skill to see some change in the panel," Fang Zheng wondered.
"What other actions can generate skills?" Thinking about this, Fang Zheng jumped up and started doing push-ups on the cold wooden floor.
"1, 2, 3, 4, 5..." As Fang Zheng pushed the floor with his arms, he constantly looked at his system to see if there were any changes.
"22... 23... 24... Ugh." Fang Zheng was more surprised by how weak his body was. He had barely done a set of 30 push-ups and already felt his arms shaking and sweat dripping all over his body, not to mention his breathing, which felt like his lungs were about to fail at any moment.
"Damn sedentary depressive." He couldn't help but complain between heavy breaths.
"2... 5... Agh!" Fang Zheng fell to the floor exhausted, his body trembling. Forcing himself to look at the system, he saw that no change had occurred; he had not gained any skills from this. "What a waste of effort..."
Forcing himself to get up from the cold floor so as not to catch a cold, Fang Zheng staggered to his bed and sat on it, resisting the urge to lie down, because if he lay down, he knew he would end up falling asleep, and that was not what he wanted.
After all, he still needed to test a few more things. Waiting for his breathing to return to normal for a few minutes, Fang Zheng resumed his attempts. He hooked his feet under the bottom of the bed and began doing sit-ups.
And again, his body almost had a heart attack. Sitting back down to regulate his breathing, Fang Zheng tried almost every exercise he could remember, but none of them activated any abilities.
"Ugh. My whole body hurts." With his body still tired from the grueling testing session, Fang Zheng walked over to the chest beside his bed, took the candle off the lid, and placed it on the floor before opening the chest.
Following his memories, he took a small box that he kept inside the chest. The box was about the size of two hands, made of light wood, and already worn, as evidenced by the problems with the hinge and the marks on its surface.
After taking out the wooden box, he closed the chest and placed the candle on the lid again. Using the candlelight, he opened the wooden box, and the light revealed its contents to Fang Zheng.
It was a set of ointments and herbal medicines. Following the instructions in his memory, he took a gray ointment that smelled like mint and rubbed it lightly on his sore muscles. The ointment gave his body a refreshing sensation that relieved some of the tension in his muscles.
He then took a small white pill the size of a peanut and crushed it with his hand on his tongue along with a small pink flower. The flower was tiny, smaller than a fingernail, but it had a strong smell like rue.
Fang Zheng grimaced as he touched the flower with his tongue, but chewed it anyway. This was the natural healing process created by the natives using medicinal plants, each with its own function. The combination he used was useful for those who had just exercised so that they would not wake up feeling unwell the next day due to muscle pain.
[You have successfully learned a new skill: Phytotherapy]
[You are involved in Acting, Experience +12]
[Current: Phytotherapy - Level 1 (12/100)]
"That..." Fang Zheng really didn't know what to think now. He had spent the last few hours doing all kinds of tiring exercises, but received nothing, while he only took some medicine and gained a new skill.
Calming down, he thought rationally: "There must be some reason why this happened. Physical exercises did not result in any skills, but an objective action resulted in a new skill."
"There is a possibility that I am doing the exercises incorrectly, causing the system to not recognize them, which seems unlikely. But there is also the possibility that actions involving some kind of knowledge or wisdom are not rewarded by the system."
–Actions such as "Acting" and "Phytotherapy" are skills that generate knowledge, so they are rewarded with knowledge. That's right, when I gained experience in these skills, I felt my brain become more active, as if it were teaching me the right path. –
–But exercise also generates knowledge and discipline; exercise also has something to teach. Perhaps the knowledge it generates is not enough or is too mundane for the system. –
–There is also the possibility that both of my theories are wrong and that the requirement for the system to recognize skills is completely different from what I theorized, but these possibilities already give me a direction to base myself on in the future. –
"Actually, there is a way to know if this system really chooses skills that generate knowledge." Fang Zheng stood up and positioned himself in the center of the room.
He adjusted his posture, positioned his two arms in a high guard near his chin, spread his legs, and bent his knees. Then he started slowly, first with a jab with his right, then a cross with his left, and finally a right hook.
Starting to move his feet, he began to take small jumps as he spun around the room repeating the movements. His muscles were already warmed up, so he began to imagine a phantom opponent in front of him and started to stage a boxing match.
After fighting his shadow until he was exhausted, he finished with a right cross and saw the notification pop up in his vision.
[You have successfully learned a new skill: Boxing]
"Hahaha, I knew it!"