***
After waking up in the straw bed, Li Minglüe's first reaction was to assume that it was a dream.
But the evil system gave him a time limit of quarter of a day.
This system was definitely not one of those kinds systems that had check-in bonuses and constant freebie missions.
So, naturally, he tried summoning the system to check if it existed for real, or it was just a figment of his imagination.
[Systemmaker System
Host: Li Minglüe
Realm: Fanren[1]
Active Missions:
-
The elegantly designed minimalist yet informative interface of the system did greetings with Minglüe's pupils.
Shit.
Shit, shit, shit shit, shit.
Li wanted to cry right now.
He didn't want to get started right away!
Let him eat some more noodle first!
Too much, too fast!
When he was slowly starving to death, that was acceptable, at least he was in control of his own situation and could recover.
Here, the system just said 'Haha lol do this or you go bye-bye die-die'
Alas, in a few seconds, he managed to recuperate and take the reins of his emotions back.
He had to play the hand he was dealt, not the hand he wanted.
He had 39 silver coins left.
Well, he had to find a slightly more permanent residence and food source that wouldn't cost so much.
But the current immediate danger was the stupid system mission.
He went back out into the market area, and scouted out for a wheelbarrow.
The first one he noticed was a shabbily made wooden one. It only cost a single silver coin, so it was very affordable.
The second was a better made wooden one. This one didn't have any holes in it, and in addition the edges were straight. A considerable increase over the previous one, but it cost 2 silver coins, double the price!- though still affordable.
The third was practically the same as the first, except it cost 3 gold coins instead. It didn't even have a brand name, so it wasn't relying on that either. The only reason Li noticed it was due to the sheer absurdity of the price.
What were they smoking?
The fourth one was a really luxury that was made out of metal and had spirit lights attached to it. It cost 10 silver coins! Still more affordable than the previous one, somehow!
Li bought the last option. Now he had 29 silver coins left.
He then bought a stack of feed-grade hay from a farmer for 1 silver coin, and a dry tarp for 2 silver coins. 26 silver coins left.
He then bought some thin black fur, a wooden handle, 2 sheets of paper, and squid ink, as part of a calligraphy set for 12 silver coins. 14 silver coins left.
Finally, he used 10 silver coins to buy a tiny cauldron and some pieces of cheap tin (this was a bargain, the merchant was selling all their stuff in preparation for moving elsewhere), and 2 to buy firewood. 2 silver coins left.
He used the wheelbarrow to transport all of these items to outside the main part of town, where no one could see him, though he know he couldn't get past the gates since the guards wouldn't allow an unlicensed man to transport goods to outside the city.
First, he set fire to the firewood, and put the cauldron over it, and the tin inside the cauldron.
There, he stripped out the spirit lights from the wheelbarrow, and excavated out their contents like ice cream.
He threw a fifth of the contents onto the firewood. Upon contact, the firewood roared and he felt the temperature increase slightly near him, far from the burning of the wood. Thankfully, nothing exploded.
He put the hay inside of the wheelbarrow, and laid the tarp over it. Then, he carefully arranged the scooped out contents of the spirit lights in a random yet not messy fashion.
Li checked the time left on the clock.
1h, 13m
Evil system...
Li put some of the ashes from the firewood onto the wooden handle and attached some of the thin black fur onto the brush, and spread some more of the ash over his face as make-up.
He then used the other side of the brush to carve a circular hole the size of a the small wheels of the cart in the middle of one of the pieces of firewood. Checked the tin, still solid, but starting to soften.
He then took another fifth of the light insides and smooshed it into a paste in the created hole before mixing it with the hay and doing the smooshing with the same quantity again. He then put all of the paste onto somewhere on the wheelbarrow and cleaned the circular hole free of the paste.
He then took one of the wheels off of the wheelbarrow, and carved an official seal with the full authority of no one onto it.
The tin had melted, and Li poured it into the circular hole he carved up before. He then put the wheelbarrow wheel on top, with the carved seal side facing the tin.
Li dipped the brush in the ink, then drew some fundamental characters like fire, water, qi, etc on the pieces of paper in beautiful calligraphy.
Thankfully, in this instance, he had been forced to take calligraphy lessons as a child.
After, he used some more of the ash to paste the papers onto the sides of the wheelbarrow and darken its edges.
He took the wheel of the wheelbarrow off of the tin which had now solidified again and attached it back onto the wheelbarrow.
He then picked up some mud from the ground as rubbed the wheelbarrow's edges and wheels with it, especially taking care covering up the seal carving.
He pinned the seal onto his chest.
He swiveled his way around Heihua coming back around to the area where the gate was, making it seem like he just entered the city, and headed out towards the major part of town again.
Slowly strolling forward, Li then began lying through his teeth.
"[Uninterpretable gibberish] Sect! Recruiting new disciples~! No cultivation experience needed!"
Li was suddenly stricken with the memory of a magic show backstage he saw once.
He pulled out a piece of extra firewood and used to support himself, making him look like he was slightly floating upward.
Continuing to stroll forward he pretended to casually drop one of the silver coins.
"Ah? Which sect is that? I've never heard of it, must be from far away."
"Look at him nonchalantly bleeding money! They must be rich!"
"Are? Is he floating? What realm can you do that in again?"
"Oh, so this is a cultivator looks like..."
"What is he carrying in a wheelbarrow, exactly? Cultivation supplies? What's he gonna do with them, exactly?"
"You idiot! He is far away from his sect, he has to carry food so the newbs don't die of starvation!"
Only the merchants who sold him some of the supplies and the people near that area would be slightly suspicious, but Li made sure to avoid the location of those stalls.
He quickly glanced at the time left.
15m 20s
The evil system added seconds onto the display! He was really short on time now.
He quickly pretended to look at something then show an expression of alarm.
When Li stopped walking, a small crowd gathered up around him.
At this time, it was important to assert his authority!
"All who wish to join the sect, please line up right here immediately, and don't make a fuss about it!
"I just received a notification from Sect Master saying I need to do this in a fourth the time it takes for an incense stick to burn[2] or less!
"Those who don't follow as I say won't be taken in!"
The city residents were a bit taken aback.
"Wow, he's harsh..."
"The real harsh one is the sect master, what in the world is that time period for recruiting disciples? You'd be lucky to recruit just one in an hour!"
4 people stepped into a line in front of the wheelbarrow.
Li got lucky.
Li had a gut feeling he had a piece of paper for them to sign. Sure enough, searching around, he procured a piece of paper the system had seemingly prepared for him. He also had the knowledge this paper would regenerate once signed.
How convenient!
However, as much as Li wanted to just accept them and finish this, simply getting them in with no inspection would be seen as suspicious!
Why would a big name sect recruit random cultivator wannabes?
Li raised and pointed his finger at the line of four people, and revealed a fabricated expression of deep surprise and shock.
"Wow! The heavens favor me, seeing as you all have great cultivation roots!! All of you would make perfect disciples!" Li continued to lie through his teeth shamelessly.
"I am not even sure whether my talent surpasses any of yours or not! All of you will become heaven-defying genius big-shot talents!! [Uninterpretable gibberish that sounds vaguely positive]!!!"
This flattery worked perfectly, and three of the people were now bashful, while one had a look of arrogance and I-knew-it.
"Please, all you 4, sign these papers and join this sect! I'll nurture all of you personally! In fact, I need to ask sect master to make a new branch right here so I can cultivate all of you the best I can!"
The opening a branch part did not make much sense, as opening a new branch probably just worsens the cultivation resources available, but thanks to the immense flattery overshadowing this, no one noticed.
Li procured a brush in addition and let the 4 people turn into 4 disciples of his, a person who was still an ordinary mortal.
The blind leading the blind...
[1] "Ordinary person"
[2] approx. 8 or 10 minutes