Renhai waved his hand, dismissing the two guards.
"You two may leave."
The men exchanged a brief look of surprise. Neither of them spoke what's on their mind but the faint flicker in their eyes showed their confusion.
Normally, anyone brought in from the mist plain would be examined immediately by the town physician first. But their lord hadn't even bothered to order it.
That could only mean one thing: Renhai was certain the young man wasn't wounded at all.
Without a word, they gave a bow, turned on their heels, and strode out of the room.
The heavy doors shut with a deep thud, sealing Kai and Renhai alone in the hall.
Kai stood stiffly, his eyes darting toward the man in front of him. He wasn't sure what Renhai wanted him to do and the silence and his half narrowed eyes only made the uncertainty heavier.
All he could do was hope the task ahead wouldn't be too difficult.
Renhai's sharp voice cut through the quiet. He said, "Tell me… do you remember what realm you're in now?"
Kai froze. His brows knit together.
"Realm?" he thought, confused.
Renhai's expression didn't change. He only saw the boy's frown as a man struggling to recall his memories, not as someone thinking blindly for the meaning of that word.
Kai's mind raced.
"Realm… Did he mean cultivation realm?"
He had read about such things in various web novels back on Earth. It must be that.
But the problem was… he had no idea what his own cultivation realm was supposed to be in this world.
"Wait, the system!" Kai thought suddenly.
At once, he called to it in his mind.
A familiar chime rang and a translucent blue screen appeared before his eyes.
[Status Window]
Name: Kai Lin
Title: (None)
Level: 5 – Mortal Courier
EXP: 0 / 100
Stats:
Strength: 16
Speed: 18
Stamina: 17
Balance: 15
Awareness: 16
Dao of Service: ??? (Locked)
—
Available stat points: 10
—
Kai's eyes scanned the screen quickly.
"There's no cultivation realm section?"
Then his gaze lingered on the line of 'Level: 1 – Mortal Courier.'
"Mortal Courier… could that be the equivalent of a realm?"
It was the only answer he could come up with right now. It was his only answer.
He swallowed nervously, then forced the words out.
"I… I'm a Mortal Courier."
The uncertainty in his tone made his chest tighten, but Renhai's response eased him.
"Hmm." Renhai's sharp eyes flickered, and he gave a slow nod.
Kai exhaled in relief, resisting the urge to wipe sweat from his palms.
"So it worked. That must've been right…"
Renhai walked to the other side while still studying him with a thoughtful gaze.
"Still only a Mortal Courier, but you're already this strong… interesting. Or even unusual. But strength is strength. And strength is all that matters."
Kai forced himself to remain silent, though countless questions bubbled inside him.
He wanted desperately to ask about cultivation realms, about what came after Mortal Courier, about this world's system of power.
But if he revealed that he didn't know anything about something so basic, Renhai would grow suspicious.
So Kai kept his head slightly bowed, hiding the worry in his face, and let the silence stretch for a while.
Renhai put his hand behind his back. Then, with a measured voice, he said, "I happen to have a package that needs to be delivered."
Kai blinked.
"A… package?" he repeated in disbelief.
Renhai gave him a firm nod.
"Yes. If you are this strong then you must be a capable Courier. I don't know what your past is, nor do I care. I have sheltered fugitives, wanderers, even men who claimed to have forgotten their own names. None of that matters. What matters is that they all delivered my package when the time came."
Kai's mouth went dry.
Deliver a package? In a cultivation world?
His mind stumbled over the words.
"This doesn't make sense," he thought, baffled. "Shouldn't cultivators be asked to hunt magical beasts, fight other cultivators, or guard treasures? Why… Why is he asking me to deliver a package?"
However, Renhai spoke as if it was the most natural request in the world. As if strength and cultivation existed for this very purpose.
His tone carried weight—certainty—that made Kai hesitate.
Then he remembered his system.
The status window had clearly listed [Mortal Courier].
The way Renhai emphasized the word Courier made it click in Kai's mind.
"Could it be… in this world, being a Courier really is a cultivation path?"
Kai felt his thoughts spinning wildly, dizziness pricking at his temples.
He wanted answers desperately. But he couldn't let Renhai suspect his ignorance.
Renhai's chuckle broke through his daze. "Heheh, I can see you're still tired. Don't worry, I won't send you out immediately. You'll be fed, rested, even treated properly. Only after that will you take the job."
The man's tone was oddly casual, but his eyes gleamed with sharpness, as if testing Kai's reaction.
—
Later, Kai sat alone on a single wooden bed in the inn room Renhai had arranged for him.
His body finally relaxed, but his mind refused to relax.
"This world…" he muttered under his breath. "It isn't what I imagined at all."
Back on Earth, he had read a lot of cultivation novels. Cultivators fought beasts, humans, entire sects, striving endlessly to climb realms and touch immortality.
Power was everything. Battles were everything.
But here?
He was being asked to deliver packages as a cultivator!
His hand dragged down his face, a long sigh escaping his lips.
"Again… I ended up as a deliveryman. Even after transmigrating…"
He sat in silence, staring at the faintly glowing mist beyond the window.
It wasn't fully certain yet. Maybe there was something more behind this.
Maybe Courier cultivators had their own mysteries, their own paths to greatness.
But if he wanted to know, he had to find out on his own or asking very carefully.
—