In the One Thousand Islands, deep within the inverted ocean, the Lu Family private island was the largest and most luxurious out of all the islands in the One Thousand Islands.
As the overlords here, it was only natural for them to prosper and pick the best island. No king can refuse royalty.
The Lu family is no different than a royal family, and no one roaming the Thousand Islands dare to offend them.
Strength was law when roaming the seas, and the Lu family happens to have exactly that.
Rumours say that the patriarch was a member of the pirates king party, and was even the vice captain!
It's said that the pirate king roamed the Inverted Ocean and found immortality, and ever since then, the pirate king's party disbanded. Whether that's true or not, has nothing to do with Lu Feng, who was currently dozing off looking into the endless sea.
Lu Feng was an odd one out in the Lu family. He was born smart and was praised highly by his elders, but when they found out that he had a five elemental spirit root, a lot of their enthusiasm vanished, but they were still kind to him.
As for why Lu Feng was so smart when he was a child? He was a transmigrator and couldn't be bothered to play childish games, and played chess with the elders.
Chess could relieve a lot of his boredom, and he could also listen to the stories his elders told him.
By listening to his elders, Lu Feng learned that the world he was in was no means a pure cultivation world. Although the world had spirit roots, spirit roots merely brought Qi into the body and that's it. No Qi Refinement, no Foundation Realm, no Golden Core; there was jack squat.
Qi in this world wasn't something to use to gain immortality, but to mold as a means to attack and strengthen oneself.
The more Qi one had, the stronger you were. It also allowed you to use some extraordinary techniques like walking on water or punching out fire.
Lu Feng once saw an elder sneeze out ice once. It was an incredible thing to watch.
But the problem for Lu Feng is that the five elemental spirit root simply cultivated Qi way too slowly, making his steam as a strongman shatter.
Another year has passed. No matter how much I try, the Qi in my body seems to never really increase. Lu Feng rested the palm of his hand on his left cheek and kept staring out to the distant sea.
I really wanted to be a pirate in this life seeing that my family is the overlords here, but… Sigh, with my weak body, I'd just be in their way. Should I take Elder Ming's idea seriously? No, no, no! Studying is such a drag. If I'm forced to learn sailing techniques and maps, I'd rather start my next reincarnation.
Lu Feng sat silently on his wooden chair as he occasionally took a sip of the tea in his hand. The sun was rising, showing a beautiful reflection in Lu Feng's eyes, making him look rather dazzling even with his messy black hair getting in the way.
I turn fifteen in roughly five minutes. Most boys in the clan officially start their adventures at this age, but little old me has to sit at home and talk to a bunch of saggy old men. I guess it was my doing that caused this, but the five elemental spirit root didn't help! Lu Feng gulped down the rest of his tea as he thought about his spirit roots.
He was born in the most powerful family, but had the worst spirit roots. It was like God was playing a joke on him.
Getting up from his seat, Lu Feng went to his kitchen to bring out some fruits and snacks, but before he could enjoy himself with some nice fruits, a screen suddenly appeared in front of his face.
What the hell? Lu Feng blinked a few times, thinking it was the long exposure to the sun that caused his eyes to see a lot of blue, but when he started to focus on the blue screen that popped up, his heartbeat suddenly quickened.
RPG Cultivation System
Name: Lu Feng
Level: 1 (10/100)
Techniques: Thousand Hands (LVL 1) Chess (Level 1)
Professions: Blank
Inventory: Basic Manual
XP: Blank
Skill Tree: Not Active
Map
"I'm not hallucinating… I'm not hallucinating… I'm not hallucinating…" Lu Feng paced back and forth while muttering to himself.
The appearance of the system just changed his entire life plans. He was planning on just slacking off and giving some of his advice on some stores to make them gain more profits, but with a system… His dreams when he first came here can be achieved!
So It's not impossible to become a pirate in this life after all…
Although he was quite lazy, every lazy person has a dream. Now that his dream is possible, and could grow strong enough to adventure the Inverted Ocean, Lu Feng now wants to set off on his first adventure now!
But he quickly calmed down. If he showed some talent, the family would allow him to become a member on one of their pirate ships. He could first use this as an opportunity to understand the pirate world.
Currently, Lu Feng had no experience on being a pirate. He only knew the theoreticals, but theory means nothing compared to experience.
Taking in some deep breaths, Lu Feng took a bit of an apple and opened up the basic manual in his inventory.
Opening it up, Lu Feng couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. The manual only talked about some basic things about the system like levelling up and using the map. It didn't go into detail about the system at all, but at least he knew that the system had no consciousness and would appear when he wanted it to.
As to how to level up? Killing people or sea creatures. He could also grind them slowly when he worked on his profession. Every profession will give a certain amount of XP everyday deepening on the rank and the importance.
And that's all the manual said, and told him to explore on his own.
Lu Feng didn't mind this at all. He could guess a few things about the system and make his own judgement when the time comes. For now, he was theorizing about what his level actually does.
Hmm. It says that I have Ten XP in my overall level, but of course I haven't added any XP to it so how does it have ten points? Could levels be based on Qi? This isn't a wild assumption, as this world is mainly based around the amount of Qi in this world. If this is the case, what is the highest level in this world? Is there even a limit on how much Qi one can bear? Perhaps the pirate king knew alongside our patriarch back then, but that was over three hundred years ago, and that old dog actually had eighteen children. God knows if this was passed down or lost and misinterpreted.
Now that I have the ability to reach the peak of this world, my thoughts are getting quite bold. Curiosity kills the cat, and I'll eventually find out these things. For now, I should go to the elders and state that I want to join the family pirates as an official member. Although some of them might be worried, they should still let me join them. I should also state I want to be a part of the combat crew, and show them my Thousand Hand skill that has been mastered.
Strange, why does the system only say my Thousand Hands skill is level one? Lu Feng's eyes lingered over the level one Thousand Hands skill.
Thousand Hands Skill is a technique passed down in the Lu family. It's a skill that allows one to have hands faster than sound, which is great for theft and disarming weapons. It's not an attack skill as it only affects hand speed, not arm speed.
Most people in the family practise this skill as it helps with using hidden weapons, and requires little Qi to use. Even the current Lu Feng can use this skill, but according to his father, his Thousand Hand skill is on par with some elders, so why is it level one?
With some confusion, Lu Feng clicked on the Thousand Hands skill on the system, and a prompt suddenly showed up.
Thousand Hands level up requirements: Must reach level ten and need the Pearl of the Night for further improvements.
Pear of the Night? Isn't that something only the Pearl Pirates have over at Soda Islands? But why do I need the Pearl of the Night for? It merely acts as a light source on boats over there.
Lu Feng was a little confused, but left it as that, and hurried up to finish his apple and see his father.
Not long later, Lu Feng walked out of his apartment and walked a door down to his parents place.
That old geezer, he better be up. Daring to kick his only son out and claim that "You're ruining my happiness at night. You should know what I mean right?" Tch, the look on his face when I straight up said that I was purposefully cock blocking him was beautiful. I'm such a filial son.
Lu Feng knocked on his parents door, and waited for the door to open. After ten seconds of waiting, his father finally opened the door, exposing his clear shaved beard to Lu Feng.
"Brat, why are you here?" Lu Dong asked, looking down at his son.
Lu Dong was seven feet tall, a whole foot taller than Lu Feng.
"What? It's not night time now is it?" Lu Feng responded with a gentle smile.
Lu Dong's lips twitched, and invited his son into the building.
"Say what you want. You never come around for simple chit chat and would rather stay locked up in your room. If it wasn't for those elders inviting you to play chess, you'd never come out." Lu Dong said, bringing over some tea.
Lu Feng politely accepted the tea. It's not in his bones to give up free stuff.
"As you know, today is my fifteenth birthday. It's also the day I choose whether I become a pirate or not." Lu Feng said, taking a sip of the tea. The tea was sweet, unlike his bitter tea at home.
Lu Dong's eyes narrowed, and he sat there in silence for a bit before finally saying, "You want to be a pirate?"
"Perferably on the combat crew." Lu Feng said.
"With your five elemental spirit root? Are you asking for death?"
"Father, this isn't some spur of the moment thing; well, I take that back, but still, I believe I have the talent in what it takes for being a pirate."
"Talent, huh." Lu Dong bobbed his head back and forth for a bit, seemingly deciding something.
"How about this, I'll bring you somewhere and you must execute my orders to a tea. If you fail once, I won't let you become a pirate and suggest to the elders for you to further your studies."
"Bring me somewhere?" Lu Feng muttered, and agreed to his conditions.
The two of them sat there in silence for a while, knowing very well that becoming a pirate means risking your life. If it wasn't for the fact that this world is ruled by power, Lu Dong would've never allowed his son to be a pirate.
"Feng'er." Lu Dong spoke, breaking the quietness in the room.
"Hmm?" Lu Feng looked up in confusion.
"Don't tell your mother about our conversation, yeah. She still hoped that you'd go to her family's side and become a merchant."
Lu Feng nodded his head slowly. Although he was a transmigrator, he still cared about his mother, but not so much about his father.
"Good."
"Huh? What's good?" A female voice suddenly sounded, and a beautiful figure stepped out from one of the side rooms.
"Nothing, the old man plans on buying more alcohol and plans on giving me a few things." Lu Feng said casually.
The veins on Lu Dong's forehead throbbed, and a bitter smile appeared on his face.
"Honey, don't listen to his nonsense. I have been planning on taking him to the elder hall since he turned fifteen today. Don't you want him to be a merchant? Maybe I can convince the elders to let him take over a store or something. Anyway, with our son's intelligence, I don't think the elders will treat him badly." Lu Dong said, trying to clear his name.
Qin Yun nodded her head but her shoulders dropped slightly.
"Sigh, the world isn't peaceful as it once was one hundred years ago. According to my family, the ship of the pirate king was seen on the Otheside. Luckily Feng'er doesn't have to become a pirate because of his five elemental spirit root. It's truly a blessing in disguise."
Lu Feng smiled awkwardly at his mothers words. He still wanted to become a pirate even if the seas were in chaos. Even if they were, the Lu family holds a tight grip over the Thousand Islands.
"The Otherside? Do people still dare to adventure out there?" Lu Dong said in surprise, but then thought it over. "Hmm, I guess the rumours of immortality haven't left the gaze of the seas then huh."
Lu Feng understood his fathers words very well. The Otherside is filled with supernatural things, and even the strongest people of this world might not return intact.
"Could the pirate king's ship become a ghost ship?" Lu Feng said his speculation.
"Not impossible, but the meaning behind that is extremely terrifying if true." Lu Dong said, frowning.
"Perhaps that is the pirates king's 'Immortality'" Lu Feng joked.
The pirate king was never found again after they disbanded. No one knew where he went, but there were some records saying that he was sailing on his ship.
"Immortality is just utter nonsense. Those pirates who believe that immortality exists have wood stuck in their head." Lu Dong mocked, and took a sip of his tea.
"Becoming a ghost is a type of immortality, no?" Lu Feng chuckled, but also believed that true Immortality must come at a steep cost.
"You two, stop talking about ghosts and immortality. It will bring bad luck to the family." Qin Yun said, dissatisfied with them talking about eerie things.
Both Lu Dong and Lu Feng shook their heads with a helpless smile and finished their tea.
"Alright, follow me to the 'elder hall.'"
Lu Feng nodded his head and followed his father outside the house.
The Lu family island was truly beautiful, with cobble pathing with marble railings trailing the seas. It was like a luxurious beach vacation in Lu Feng's past life, but now he gets to see it everyday. Even if he didn't have spiritual roots, living here would be a step up from his past life.