The silver armor of the Azure Guard soldier shimmered under the dim, greasy light of the Slum of Shadows like a cruel joke. To any other beggar, this man was a god of death. To Han Ryu, he was a walking pile of unpaid debt.
The soldier, whose name tag read 'Officer Chen,' looked at the unconscious Old Man Grumble and then at Han Ryu. His lip curled in disgust. "You? A filth-covered rat like you expects me to polish your boots? Do you even have boots under that mud, vagrant?"
Han Ryu looked down at his feet. They were wrapped in tattered burlap and secured with twine. He sighed, a sound of profound disappointment.
"Technically, these are bespoke 'Dust-Walker' wraps, handcrafted from the finest recycled Han silks," Ryu lied with the straightest face in the world. "But I wouldn't expect a common foot soldier to understand high fashion. Now, are you going to kneel, or must I wait for your commanding officer to teach you manners?"
[System Notification: Host is 'Acting Like a Boss' while looking like a 'Soggy Mop.']
[Condition Met: Delusions of Grandeur.]
[Generating Spiteful Qi... +50 units.]
The Internal Void
As Officer Chen's face turned a shade of purple usually reserved for overripe plums, Han Ryu's mind drifted. It was a defense mechanism whenever life became too "peasant-like," he retreated into his memories.
Inside his mind, a purple interface flickered to life. It looked like a scroll written in ink that refused to stay still.
[Status Window: Han Ryu]
Current Rank: Bottom-Feeder (Level 2)
Cultivation Path: Heavenly Desolation Scripture (Spite-Type)
Body Constitution: 'The Fragile Orchid' (One hit and you're done!)
Core Stats:
Strength: 4 (Equivalent to a very angry housecat)
Agility: 12 (Hard to catch when running from debt)
Audacity: 999+ (MAX)
Hygiene: -450 (Even flies are hesitant)
A housecat? Ryu's mental voice screamed. I am the Scion of the Han! I should have the strength of at least a mid-sized tiger! Maybe a small dragon!
[System: Error. Current caloric intake is 'Half a moldy bun.' Tigers do not live on hope and dust. Please increase 'Face-Slapping' activity to upgrade stats.]
Ryu groaned internally. This System was as snarky as his old calligraphy tutor, but with significantly less respect for his noble bloodline. He refocused on reality just as Officer Chen's sabre cleared its scabbard. The sound of steel on leather was like a cold splash of water.
The Duel of Dignity
"The Han Clan was executed for treason," Chen spat, his voice echoing in the narrow alleyway. "Their survivors are nothing but ghosts. If you truly are that arrogant brat Han Ryu, then my day just got much more profitable. There's a bounty on your head dead or alive."
"A bounty?" Ryu perked up. "How much? If it's less than ten thousand gold taels, I shall be deeply insulted."
"It's fifty silver pieces," Chen said, stepping forward.
Han Ryu's heart skipped a beat. Fifty silver? The indignity was physical. It felt like a slap. I used to tip my stable boys more than that for brushing my horses! My hair ornaments alone cost three hundred silver!
[Host is feeling 'Financial Indignation.']
[New Skill Unlocked: 'The Beggar's Royal Strut' (Movement Technique).]
Description: Move with the elegance of a king, even if you're tripping over your own rags. Increases evasion based on how much the enemy despises you.
Chen lunged. The sabre whistled through the air, aimed at Ryu's neck. It was a standard Azure Guard "Horizontal Reaping" strike powerful, efficient, and utterly lacking in grace.
In the past, Ryu would have died instantly. His dantian was a graveyard of broken meridians, shattered by the poison the assassins had used the night his family fell. But as the blade approached, the Spiteful Qi in his gut surged. It wasn't a flow; it was a violent, jagged explosion.
His body moved on its own. He didn't just dodge; he strolled. With his hands behind his back and his nose pointed toward the sky, Ryu took a casual step to the left. The blade missed his ear by a hair's breadth.
"Too slow," Ryu critiqued. "Your form is stiff. Did you learn to sword-fight by watching a drunken lumberjack?"
Chen roared, turning the slash into a vertical cleave. Ryu leaned back further than any human spine should allow and the blade passed harmlessly over his chest.
"And your footwork!" Ryu continued, his voice rising in comedic fury. "You're stepping like you're trying to squash cockroaches. It's unsightly! If my father saw you, he'd give you a copper coin out of pity for your lack of talent!"
[Enemy Frustration Level: 85%.]
[Spiteful Qi Conversion: 2x Multiplier Active.]
Chen was no longer fighting a bounty. He was fighting a headache. This beggar wasn't just dodging; he was lecturing. The soldier swung wildly, a flurry of strikes that should have turned Ryu into mincemeat.
Ding! +10 Qi.
Ding! +15 Qi.
Ding! New Title Gained: 'Trash Talker of the First Order.'
Ryu realized he couldn't keep this up forever. His "Fragile Orchid" constitution was beginning to wilt. His breath came in ragged gasps, and the smell of the alley was becoming overwhelming. He needed to finish this. He gripped his dirty bamboo pole the Jade Dragon.
"It's time for your final lesson, Officer," Ryu said. He suddenly stopped moving.
Chen saw an opening. He thrust his sabre straight for Ryu's heart. "Die, you arrogant freak!"
Ryu didn't move his body. He moved his pride. He channeled every ounce of Spiteful Qi into the tip of his bamboo pole.
"Secret Art of the Fallen Moon: The Peasant's Rebuke!"
Ryu didn't strike the sword. He didn't strike Chen's chest. He poked the soldier's big toe with the end of the stick.
It looked pathetic. It looked like a joke.
But the Spiteful Qi traveled through the stick, through the soldier's boot, and directly into his nervous system. To Chen, it felt like a bolt of lightning had just been hammered into his foot.
"GAAAAAH!" Chen screamed, his eyes bulging. He clutched his foot, hopping frantically on one leg. The dignity of the Azure Guard vanished as he accidentally sliced his own cape in his panic.
Ryu stepped forward, using the bamboo pole to trip Chen's remaining leg. The soldier went down with a heavy clank, his face landing exactly where Old Man Grumble's had been in the fish guts.
[Combat Victory!]
[Loot Acquired: 1x Azure Guard Sabre (Common Grade), 5 Silver Coins.]
[System Comment: You just beat a trained soldier with a stick. You're still gross, but you're a slightly more dangerous gross.]
The Politics of the Gutter
Ryu leaned over the fallen soldier and deftly plucked the five silver coins from Chen's belt. He looked at them with a mixture of nostalgia and disgust.
"Silver," Ryu sighed. "So heavy. So common. But I suppose one must start somewhere."
But he wasn't alone. As the "Golden Son" stood over his fallen foe, a dozen pairs of eyes watched from the shadows. These weren't the low-level beggars who feared Old Man Grumble. These were the Rat-Kings, the enforcers of the Slum of Shadows.
Their leader, a man known as 'Iron-Gut' Mao, stepped forward. He was a mountain of a man, bare-chested despite the chill, with a chest covered in scars and a heavy meat cleaver tucked into his belt.
"You've caused a lot of trouble, 'Young Master'," Mao growled, his voice like grinding stones. "The Azure Guard doesn't like losing soldiers. They'll burn this whole block down looking for you. Give us the silver, and we might forget we saw you."
Ryu turned. His legs were shaking, and his vision was swimming from the effort of the fight. But he didn't let it show. He straightened his tattered collar and looked Mao in the eye.
"Forget you saw me?" Ryu laughed, a sharp, aristocratic sound that seemed out of place in the mud. "My dear Iron-Gut, you should be paying me for the privilege of seeing me. I've just upgraded this alley. From this day forward, this territory belongs to the Han Clan."
The other beggars gasped. Mao's eyes narrowed. "You and what army, beggar?"
Ryu pointed his bamboo pole at Mao's nose. "Me and the fact that I just defeated a soldier of the Azure Guard while suffering from a severe lack of plum cakes. Imagine what I'll do to you after I've had a nap."
[Audacity Multiplier Triggered!]
[Aura of the Fallen Noble: Active.]
For a moment, Mao saw it. He didn't see a beggar. He saw the shadow of a dragon behind the boy a broken, dirty, starving dragon, but a dragon nonetheless.
"Fine," Mao spat, stepping back. "Keep your silver. But if the Guard comes back, you're on your own."
"Naturally," Ryu said, turning his back on them a move of supreme confidence that was actually just him trying to reach a wall to lean on before he fainted. "Now, someone find me a leaf. I refuse to carry this silver in my hands like a merchant."
The First Step of the Climb
As Ryu walked out of the alley, his head held high and his stomach screaming for mercy, he didn't see the dark figure watching from the rooftops. A woman in black silk, her eyes narrowed in confusion.
"The Han heir… using the Dog-Beating Arts of the Beggar King?" she whispered. "But he's doing it with the posture of a Sovereign. This… this must be reported to the Shadow Pavilion."
Ryu, meanwhile, was busy arguing with himself.
System! he thought. Can I use this Spiteful Qi to fix my hair? I look like a bird's nest had a bad day.
[System: Negative. Spiteful Qi is for combat and survival. If you want to look good, you must earn enough 'Prestige' to unlock the 'Luxury Pavilion.']
Typical, Ryu thought. Even the voice in my head is a lowly servant with no sense of style.
He headed toward the city gates. The journey from "Weak to Strong" had officially begun, and Han Ryu was going to make sure the entire Murim world felt the sting of his bamboo pole and the sharpness of his tongue