Chapter 1: The Weight of a Second Chance
The straw mattress prickled against my bare back, a harsh reminder of my new reality. It had been exactly seven days since I woke up in this world, crammed into the damp, cramped servant quarters of the Lin merchant family.
I sat up, rolling my shoulders. My joints popped, a dull ache lingering in muscles that didn't originally belong to me. My name was now Xingzhao Lian. I was an orphan, eighteen years old, and a first-tier martial artist. In this world, stepping onto the martial path supposedly elevated you above the common mud. But a first-tier guard was barely a step up from a laborer; I was just a meat shield the Lin family paid a few copper coins a week to stand in front of their merchant carts.
I grabbed my standard-issue iron-ringed blade from the floor, running a thumb over the nicked edge. I need more strength, I thought, the familiar anxiety gnawing at my stomach. If a bandit raid hits the caravan tomorrow, I'm dead.
Suddenly, a sharp, metallic chime echoed directly inside my skull.
[SYSTEM AWAKENED.]
I froze, nearly dropping the blade. My heart hammered against my ribs. A System?
A ragged breath escaped my lungs. Of course. How could a transmigrator be left completely bare-handed? Was this it? Was it finally my time to rise above this miserable guard-dog existence?
System, I thought, keeping my face perfectly still in case any of the other guards in the barracks were awake. What can you do? Give me the breakdown.
Blue text materialized in my vision, flickering slightly as if struggling to maintain power.
[FUNCTION UNLOCKED: CHRONO-SIMULATION.]
[You may anchor your current point in time. Upon activation, your consciousness will regress to this exact moment. You will retain all memories and martial arts mastery.]
[WARNING: Physical cultivation realms do not carry over unless a Special Scenario is triggered. WARNING: If the host is killed before manually activating the simulation reset, you will suffer TRUE DEATH.]
I stared at the glowing blue letters. My initial elation cooled into a heavy, suffocating dread.
This wasn't an overpowered cheat that would feed me pills and instantly turn me into a god. It was a save state. One misstep, one failure to trigger the reset before a blade took my head off, and my second life would end permanently.
What about an AI assistant? I asked mentally. Or a newbie gift package? A starting pill? Anything?
[SYSTEM ENERGY CRITICAL. ASSISTANT PROTOCOL REMOVED.]
[For basic diagnostic information, host may speak the command 'Status'.]
[GOODBYE. GOOD LUCK, HOST.]
The blue light dimmed, leaving a faint afterimage in my retinas.
"Wait," I whispered aloud, panic flaring. "System? Where is my newbie gift package? Just give me a cultivation manual before you go to sleep!"
Silence. Only the faint snoring of the guard in the bunk across from me answered.
I cursed under my breath, dragging a hand down my face. A low-power System. No guide, no handouts, just a brutal trial-and-error mechanic. I only had surface-level knowledge of this world from the original owner's memories. If I wanted to survive, I had to play this incredibly safe.
"Status," I muttered.
A fragmented window popped into view.
[ STATUS ]
[ ? ] (Click for System Characteristics)
Name: Xingzhao Lian
Cultivation: 1st Tier (Body Strengthening)
Martial Arts Mastery: None
Talent: E-Rank
Understanding: F-Rank
Luck: D-Rank
I stared at the screen, my jaw clenching. E-Rank talent. F-Rank understanding. My stats were utter garbage. No wonder the original owner had taken seventeen years just to scrape into the first tier of Body Strengthening.
I closed the screen with a thought. Pitying myself wouldn't keep me alive.
From the fragmented memories I'd inherited, I knew there were nine tiers of martial cultivation in this world. I was at the absolute bottom. And unlike the foolish protagonists in the novels I used to read on Earth, I harbored no delusions about my enemies.
Men and women who lived hundreds of years, who clawed their way to the high tiers over mountains of corpses—they were not arrogant, brain-dead fools who would send weak subordinates to test me. They were ruthless, paranoid predators. If I offended even a minor elder or a wealthy young master, they wouldn't monologue; they would simply erase me to tie up loose ends.
If I drew the attention of anyone powerful, I would trigger my simulation and reset immediately. Better to be a coward and live than be brave and die permanently.
I strapped the heavy iron blade to my waist and pushed open the wooden door of the barracks, stepping out into the pre-dawn chill.
My path was clear. Keep my head down, guard the Lin family carts, and figure out how to break through to the second tier without drawing a single eye