Magical Alchemy: Rising after contracting with a monster.

"Ryan, the poor kid, got another beating from Lord Holman," one of the two ragged, weak men whispered.

"Yeah, poor thing... He's an orphan, and worse still, the lowest-ranking slave. I bet Holman will send him to the horse stables on the back mountain to replace his nephew who made a mistake. Sigh...""You're right. The back mountain is full of wild beasts, and the food's awful. If anything happens to the lord's horses, the stable boy will probably be in big trouble. But if the lord were home, Holman wouldn't dare do this—he's a knight, after all!"

"Shh! Holman's a sly one. If he hears you talking like that, he'll find a reason to punish you. He likes being called 'Lord,' after all."

The two men, dressed in torn clothes and looking frail, were talking quietly in a corner. Not far from them, in a large courtyard—similar to a schoolyard on Earth—stood three figures: the short and thin Holman, the castle steward in simple linen clothing; Tori, the captain of the castle guards and sheriff, wearing light armor; and a fat woman who seemed to hold a higher status than both Holman and Tori.

"Lady Aria, Ryan was caught stealing bread from the bakery, and according to the rules, he should have his hand chopped off," Holman said with a smirk, bowing to the overweight woman. His words sent a chilling feeling through those who heard him.

"Hmph!" Tori, aware of Ryan's character, knew the boy was far too weak and timid to steal bread. This was clearly a plot by Holman, the cunning fox. But Tori didn't care much. After all, a slave wasn't worth his attention, and he had better things to do, like thinking of ways to seduce the tavern owner in town. His disdainful grunt was simply because he didn't respect Holman's methods.

"Holman, calling me for such a trivial matter... Does the young mistress need someone to look after her or not? You called me all the way from Harry City for this?" Lady Aria, dressed more elaborately than Holman, scolded him. Her face trembled with every word, and her heavy expression was truly terrifying.

"Lady Aria, it's just that the lord is away on duty, and you are in charge here. I wouldn't dare to make decisions without your permission," Holman responded quickly, trying to flatter her, his face full of obsequiousness.

"Well, since Ryan made a mistake, let's follow the rules. But as the lord is a knight, he would want us to show mercy. I'll send Ryan to the back mountain to tend to the horses. He'll be allowed to return to the town once in three months. That will be all. Now, the mistress is waiting for me to prepare her salad," Lady Aria said, turning to leave. Outside, a carriage was waiting with a large sword-like object atop it.

"Lady Aria, Lady Aria, the hunters in town caught a blue fox a few days ago. Should I send the pelt over right away?" Holman hurriedly spoke, following her.

"Oh? A blue fox? That's very kind of you," Lady Aria paused, then smiled in response. Her face, filled with wrinkles, twisted unnervingly, but Holman managed to suppress his disgust. After all, she was the first confidant of the lord and the nominal overseer of the young mistress.

"Alright, boys, take this kid back for some treatment. When you bring things to the back mountain in a few days, take him there too," Tori called out after the others had left. Two guards, armed with swords, dragged Ryan back to the castle, throwing him into the room where he used to stay before leaving. There was no sign of any treatment being done.

"Ouch! Ouch!" Ryan slowly regained consciousness, wincing from the pain in his backside.

"Heaven above! Earth below! Why am I so unlucky? It was just a piece of bread, a lousy black one at that, and I get beaten up! Ugh! This feels like some medieval European world. I, Wang Jin, was a good person. Sure, I didn't do any great deeds, but I didn't do anything bad either. Why did I get reincarnated? I want to go home, watch anime, play games, read novels, and post on forums. I just want to be my old shut-in self again. Oh, at least my butt's just swollen. In ancient times, if there's blood, the risk of infection and death is almost 90%." Ryan lay on the bed, complaining loudly.

It wasn't that Ryan had boldly stolen bread, but rather that Wang Jin, a shut-in from Earth who spent 300 days a year in front of his computer, had woken up to a pile of bread. Though it was dark and rough, the smell of the bread was unmistakable. Half-awake, Wang Jin grabbed a piece and took a big bite. But it was so coarse and unpleasant that he immediately regretted it. Before he could spit it out, he was caught and beaten up. Wang Jin, who was terrified of needles and would rather take expensive medicine than get a cheap shot, had passed out from the beating. When the officials were deciding how to deal with him, Wang Jin had already regained consciousness but didn't dare move. He had to feign unconsciousness, enduring the discomfort. Once the guards left, he finally began to moan in pain.

As Ryan's pain began to subside, Wang Jin, now trapped in Ryan's body, started to ponder which era he had ended up in. However, he was frustrated because Ryan's memories only provided him with limited details. He knew the town was called Terry Town, and the castle was owned by Lord Terry, a great knight. There were also influential figures like Holman, the steward, Tori, the captain of the guard, and the fat woman, Aria, who seemed to hold a higher status than the others. The rest were just ordinary townsfolk. The only other significant memory was of a woman who dressed provocatively; she was the tavern owner, though Ryan had only seen her once. Ryan had no money, and entering the tavern required gold coins, so that was all Ryan's memories offered.

Wang Jin tried to recall more, but he realized that in a medieval European setting, there were countless places that could fit the description. The key terms were "knight" and "gold coins," which would generate thousands of results if he had a browser. To Wang Jin, it was like finding a needle in a haystack. Even worse, he couldn't even escape the situation because Ryan was a slave, not a servant. A servant at least received some wages, but a slave had nothing. Wang Jin thought to himself that if he had some gold coins, he could figure out the time period. As a self-proclaimed otaku , Wang Jin had vast knowledge of many things—everything from the basic structure of aircraft carriers (not in detail, of course) to the construction of firearms, and even how nail clippers were made. He knew a little bit about everything but never to an expert level. It was like the saying goes, "half a bottle of water makes the most noise"—he could talk endlessly, but when faced with experts, he could only laugh awkwardly.

One comforting thought was that he could understand the language, though he felt like an idiot in terms of communication.

"Damn slave society! You get your hand chopped off for eating a piece of bread? Where's human rights?" Wang Jin sighed helplessly, looking at his clothes, which were basically a ragged piece of cloth with a hole in the middle. He shook his head, frustrated, because just a little movement made his bare buttocks feel cold. It wasn't that he didn't want to lie down on the bed, but the so-called "bed" was simply a rough wooden plank. Wang Jin tried to analyze the material, but it was hard to figure out without any clues. The real problem was that he felt itchy and dirty, like he hadn't bathed in years. He knew that in medieval Europe, bathing was frowned upon by the church, which is why perfume was invented in the West.

"My god, this is supposed to be a castle?" Wang Jin muttered. He had decided to go by the name Ryan now, even though he liked his original name better. But using Wang Jin was too risky—it might give him away. Ryan was easier to blend in as. However, Ryan's name and identity weren't quite what Wang Jin had hoped for. He looked at the two-story wooden building, which seemed quite large, though half of it resembled a playground, and the other half was a massive log building with two floors. There were also large wooden fences surrounding it. Ryan's "bedroom" was a small wooden hut next to the fence, with just a wooden plank, a wooden bowl, and a rickety wooden table. The room was sparse but functional. There were no blankets—those seemed to be a legend. Ryan's duties in the castle consisted of collecting firewood and baking bread. The bread was for Holman and Tori, while the other two servants and Ryan only got some thick, black, gooey substance that resembled paste. Ryan didn't have the luxury to care about much else because he realized his body was itching more and more. Slowly, he moved toward the memory of the water source, which was a spring behind the large wooden house, the castle's water supply.

"Not now, Xixi, I'm going to take a bath! Oh my god!" Ryan scolded, referring to Xixi, which was a dog-like creature used for guarding. Xixi was its name, and Ryan, still not used to his new body, scolded it out of habit. But when Ryan looked at Xixi, he froze. He collapsed to the ground, no longer feeling the pain in his backside. Xixi was not just like a dog; it resembled an armored creature, like a pangolin but with a single horn on its head and black scales covering its body. It had massive limbs and resembled a giant lizard. It was clear that this creature wasn't from Earth, and this world was something entirely different—a new and unknown world.