"Hmm... So I am reincarnated! The hell?" John looked at the metal bars in front of him, a frown appearing on his face.
An hour ago, he was walking to his college when a truck accidentally hit him, and the next time he opened his eyes, he was in this cave jail.
He never imagined that his normal, boring life would take such a turn.
After arriving here, he also gained the memories of the previous owner of this body. It turned out he was a war prisoner.
About ten months ago, he was captured by the Blue Sapphire Clan after his clan, the Blue Rain Clan, was annihilated by them. He had been a servant in the Blue Rain Clan, and after being captured, this was his life now.
A prisoner.
This world was also different from his previous one. Here, martial arts reigned, and John was just a mortal servant captured by the Blue Sapphire Clan.
Sighing, he looked down and saw his ragged, yellowish clothes. In the past ten months, he had lost a lot of weight, and there were many blisters on his palms and dried-out lesions on his body.
"Am I cooked or what?" He was perplexed but strangely calm. Even in his previous life, he hadn't been very fond of living. Always bored, he had sought ways to end his misery as painlessly as possible.
When the truck hit him, he thought his wish was finally being fulfilled, but it turned out Murphy's Law was real: what could go wrong, would go wrong.
He was now alive again, in a new body and in an even worse environment than before.
"What should I do? This universe might reincarnate me again if I try to end it."
"Ahh... At least they should have internet!" He was extremely dissatisfied with his current situation, not knowing what to do.
Standing up, he looked around. This was a damp and dark place, a cave with minimal lighting. Outside his cell, a small lamp flickered, nearing the end of its life.
After standing in front of the iron bars for a few minutes, he got bored and turned around.
"Ahhh..." He stretched his arms and yawned. "Looks like it's time to sleep," he murmured, looking at the straw mat in front of him.
"Eh... It's good enough." He quickly lay down on his stomach, and in just ten seconds, he was fast asleep, not even caring that he was currently in jail.
Soon enough, carefree snores started resounding in the cell.
"Tink! Tink! Tink!"
About an hour later, his cell bars were suddenly struck rapidly by what seemed like a stick.
"Ahh..." John jolted awake from his sweet slumber, his eyes groggy and his head aching slightly.
"Who?" Wiping the drool off his face, he turned his head and saw a fat man standing outside his cell. The man had an angered expression, as if seeing John was an insult to his eyes.
"Stupidface! What are you looking at? Get up! Time for daily duties!" the fat man yelled and spat at John.
John, who had just been awakened from his sleep, tried to dodge the bullet-like spit, but due to his delayed reaction, it hit him on the face.
"The hell?" He quickly wiped the spit off his face, disgusted.
The fat man smirked at John with a disdainful expression and walked to the next cell.
John looked around and found a small mug of water nearby. Dashing toward it, he quickly cleaned his face and hands. "Shit! My luck is getting worse and worse." Sighing, he sat down on the straw mat, and memories of the fat man and his daily duties came to mind.
"Oh... So his name is Fatmaster Spit Man? What a funny name, but it does suit his personality." John nodded in understanding.
"He's also a cultivator at Skin Refinement. Better stay away from him; cultivators are dangerous, after all. I don't want to be reincarnated into an even worse world than this." He sighed and stood up.
Cultivation was divided into many realms. The first was Body Refining, followed by Spirit Formation, then Core Formation. John didn't know the realms beyond that.
Body Refining was also divided into sub-stages: Skin Refining, Bone Refinement, Marrow Refinement, and finally, Blood Refinement.
Fatmaster Spit Man was at the Skin Refining realm. Although it was just the beginning stage of martial arts, he was still at least ten times stronger than a normal mortal.
"Time to do my daily duty. From what I remember, it should be mining spirit stones."
Spirit stones were the basic currency of this world, and as a prisoner, he had the daily duty of mining them from the spirit stone mines.
Spirit stones had many uses. They contained pure Qi that could be used to enhance one's martial level and also served as currency in this world.
He looked around and saw that his cell was now open. Many other prisoners like him were walking in a certain direction, probably toward the mines.
They were all soulless, with slouched postures. It was clear that jail life hadn't served them well.
John looked at them and sighed. "It's not that bad, though. Work, eat, and sleep. Hmm, no worries about social standing." A slight smile appeared on his face.
"Maybe this place isn't as bad as I thought," he murmured. He was about to walk out of his cell when a panel suddenly flashed in front of him.
His body froze. "A system? I even got a system?" He was amazed. In his previous world, he had read about systems—cheats granted to newcomers in a different world.
A system helps a transmigrator grow, like leveling up and giving out strange gifts.
John took a deep breath and looked at his system.
[Steady Upgrade System]
[Host can upgrade anything he wants to the level he desires, but only one thing at a time.]
[Select a thing or action to upgrade.]
[Info]
[Name: John Coral
Age: 23
Cultivation: None
Upgrade Slot: Currently Empty. Select anything the host wants to upgrade and set a limiting level.]
John read about the system, and a frown appeared on his face. According to the system, he could upgrade anything he wanted, but only one thing at a time.
He also had to set a limiting level for the thing he wanted to upgrade.
For example, if he wanted to upgrade a weapon, he could place it in the upgrade slot, and it would automatically upgrade steadily to the limiting level.
If he set the limiting level to twenty, he wouldn't be able to upgrade anything else until that weapon reached level twenty.
John nodded in understanding. I have to set the limiting level low, so if I need to upgrade something else, I can do so easily. He sighed.
This system was good, but it had its limitations. He would have to think everything through before committing.
"I can upgrade an action or an object. Hmm." He looked around and found nothing suitable to upgrade.
"From what I've read about cultivation novels in my previous world, all cultivation techniques start with breathing patterns. It should be good if I upgrade my breathing."
After thinking for a bit more, he concluded that upgrading his breathing would be the right choice.
He opened the system again.
"Add breathing for upgrade and set the limiting level to level five," he murmured. Just as he did, another panel flashed in front of him.
[Breathing has been placed in the auto-upgrade slot. The limiting level is set to level five.]
[Note: Host cannot upgrade anything else until level five is reached.]
He read through the panels and nodded, then clicked on the info.
[Name: John Coral
Age: 23
Cultivation: None
Upgrade Slot: Breathing level 1 (1/100) (upgrading at one point per 10 minutes)]
He saw the information and nodded.
"At this rate, it will break through to level two in about sixteen to seventeen hours," he guessed.
With a satisfied smile, he dismissed the panel and walked out of his cell. As he had been standing there for a few minutes, many of his cellmates had already gone to the mining area, and he was the only one remaining.
"Hell! I'm late. I'll get beaten up if I don't hurry." He quickly started running through the cave barefoot and soon reached a small opening. This was the place where they got a pickaxe and a large straw basket to collect the spirit stones.
John quickly slung the straw basket onto his back, picked up a pickaxe, and walked toward the mining area.
Fortunately, he wasn't too late, so none of the guards troubled him. Soon enough, he found an empty slot in the mining area and started hammering his pickaxe.
The walls were made of tough stone, and just chipping away at them took all of John's strength. It was grueling work.
But he didn't stop hammering, as that would result in a harsh beating. From the corner of his eye, he saw Fatmaster Spit Man walking around with his baton-like stick in hand.
The man had a disdainful gaze on his face as he looked at the workers. He even struck some if he caught them slacking.
John kept his distance and silently chipped away at the hard rock.