1 Chapter 1: Journey of a thousand miles part 1
I stared into the mirror.
The reflection of a young boy stared back at me. He had brown eyes, a scar forming an x on his left, he wore bags under his eyes and wore a black and red martial art gi.
He felt familiar.
After staring intensely for a while it seems the person I took over was none other than Jin-Tae, the desert bandit. He was a side character in the novel "Murim King". He didn't show up much and was supposedly the main character's rival but that didn't last long as he was surpassed very early in the novel.
Murim King was a novel that started with the story of a boy who wanted to master martial arts to kill a certain demon.
To put it shortly It was your average revenge shounen story with sprinkles of romance, school life, and slice of life.
I clenched my teeth.
"That Bitch she's gonna pay"
She could've at least put me as a main character, not some weak-ass side character.
A few moments prior I had died or so I thought because apparently, there are reapers that judge you based on how you lived your life, and in their eyes, I did every possible thing you could do wrong in a lifetime.
After reviewing my life they told me I'd be transmigrated into a random novel based on novels I'd already read and I have to survive to the end of that novel otherwise my soul wouldn't be able to reincarnate.
If I knew I was going to transmigrate into one of the novels I read in high school I'd chosen better novels to read.
And thus this is how I landed myself into this predicament. I had no other choice but to get strong enough to survive the epilogue of this novel.
Which was easier said than done.
This sucked not only do I need to survive but I have to watch out for the battle freak.
The heavenly demon.
Not only was he a battle freak but he grew stronger with each fight due to his skill in Heavenly Body which allowed him to learn and improve martial arts almost instantly. He also almost killed the main character and his friends on several occasions.
"And I'm suppose to go against a monster like that who did I piss off in a past life"
I might as well check my stats.
I sighed.
"Status"
"….."
I thought this would be the moment where I'd get a system like all the other manhwas but I guess I was asking for too much.
A blue window popped up.
{Status}
Jin-Tae lvl.1(0/68)
Age:16
Class: Novice
Health:24/24
Ki:0/0
Strength:4/4
Agility:2/2
Stamina:3/3
[Martial Arts]: Martial Body lvl.1
[Weapon Arts]: N/A
Condition: Normal
As I expected his stats were bad but the Martial body was unexpected. With this, I might just be able to survive.
Martial Body.
This skill allowed you to learn and analyze martial arts slightly faster than a normal person but it's a lesser version of the Heavenly Body that most of the main characters in "Murim King" had meaning it was very weak although it could evolve into the heavenly body skill very few managed to accomplish that due to the amount of work needed to evolve it. If I even want to stand even a fraction of a chance then I have to evolve this skill.
Now that I think about it there was that scene. It was during the 25th Binshang tournament arc that Jin-Tae copied his opponent's technique which must have been the martial body skill at work. It'd make a lot of sense that Jin Tae wasn't weak per se but he was in a world with monstrous talents in which his own talent was outshined.
If everything is going by the original story this should be about 2 years before the main story begins which means if I use my time wisely I should be able to at least match the main character's stats by the time the main story starts.
In order to do that I need to become stronger but before that, I need to awaken my Ki. It's essential for a martial artist to have ki. I know of three ways you could awaken your ki according to the novel.
One you could awaken it naturally through deep meditation and years of preparation but when you awaken your Ki depends entirely on you and it could take years. And I don't have that much time for a side character like me, that's not an option.
The second method is to forcefully awaken it by either putting yourself in a dangerous life-or-death situation but the side effect is you could die if your body isn't able to hold your ki properly.
The last method I know of is going to the spirit realm but to do that you have to be on the verge of death or use a strong relic from the spirit world; those are very rare even the main character only managed to find two throughout the whole novel.
After pondering for a moment I came up with a solution.
If I use the thousand fang poison and the ten-year herb I could be able to get the spirit world but only for three days any longer than that and I'll be trapped there forever. That means my first destination is Binshang Village.
I began to look around the room to see if there was anything I could take with me on my trip to Binshang.
After stumbling around all I could find was a map. According to the map I was in the desert just south of Binshang Village.
But Before that, I should increase my stats.
I started to do some basic exercises.
[System has detected a training state]
[Creating Basic Training Task]
It works like that too, maybe getting stronger might not be out of reach after all.
[Training Task Created]
[Basic Training Task(1)]
Pushups [0/100]
Situps [0/100]
Swats [0/100]
Run [0/10 km]
Time limit: N/A
I spoke too soon.
***
I started off with the 10-kilometer run.
I ran in the sand with all my might.
[You have surpassed your stamina limit]
[You have surpassed your Agility limit]
[Agility increased by 3]
[Stamina increased by 2]
I felt a small portion of stamina and agility return.
Although it was a small boost I managed to complete the 10-kilometer run.
It took me 12 hours to complete the rest of the basic training tasks.
[Basic Training Task(1) has been completed]
[Rewards have been sent to Inventory]
'Status'
{Status}
Jin-Tae lvl.1(0/68)
Age:16
Class: Novice
Health:27/27
Ki:0/0
Strength:7/7
Agility: 5/5
Stamina:5/5
[Martial Arts]: Martial Body lvl.1
[Weapon Arts]: N/A
Condition: Exhausted
My stats had gone up but not by much. It was small but it was only a step towards surviving this damn novel.
I should check the inventory.
'Inventory'
"...."
It didn't work?
Thud
A pair of keys fall on the floor.
They were wooden keys and for some reason, it felt like these were connected to the inventory somehow.
I grabbed the keys off the floor.
[Insert Key in hole]
There was only one hole and it was in the door.
I stuck the key in the door and opened it.
The room's scenery changed from a dusty and clutter-filled room to a white and devoid of anything room.
This was the inventory.
I looked around and found the rewards for the training task.
[Desert Bandit's Outfit]- Special skill-[Vanish] lvl.1 added
[Lucky Bandit's Dagger]- Weapon Art [Lucky slash] lvl.1 added
The desert bandit's outfit wasn't good looking and it looked more barbaric. The dagger looked worn out.
I put them on anyway and equipped the dagger
I put the key back in the door and the scenery changed back to normal. It was about for me to leave. After all, I don't have much time to waste.
I packed my bags and headed out the door.
The scenery that hit my eyes was just sand for miles from all I could see. I don't know what I was expecting.
I looked back at the house. It was poorly built and it looked like it was on its last leg.
"Whenever I get the chance I should come back and fix that."
I muttered to myself
The sun's burning rays of heat were roasting inside out as I walked across the sand. Only a few more miles.
[Ding]
Shit.
That can't be good. I've read way too many manhwas not to know what follows after that.
[Mission-Bandit Ambush]
Defeat Bandits [0/5]
Defeat Bandit leader [0/1]
Time limit: 10 minutes
Reward: Random Martial Art
Failure: Random Penalty
