Solaris

A great scholar once wrote in his book that the sunset of Northern Lands is the most beautiful. This statement of his never received criticism or opposition from any person.

With the setting sun that was slowly dying the sky red along with the dust in the air, the scenery was as beautiful as it could have been.

At this time, a small carriage was traveling on the dirt road at a fast speed. The carriage was made up of wood with giant curtains covering the top, back, and front of it. Overall giving it a decent appearance. On both sides of the curtain, a figure of Boar was painted.

In front of the carriage, a man in his late thirties was sitting there quietly, with a small lit lamp. The light from the lamp was enough to illuminate the somewhat dark surroundings to a certain degree.

Compared to the outside, the inside of the carriage was completely different. A young boy with dark hair, blue eyes, and fair skin was standing naked. One glance at him, and one could see the perfect sculpted muscles that were throbbing with power.

"Holy shit."

Looking at his body which was vastly different compared to before, Xen was speechless. Right now he was poking his body with his fingers.

Clenching his fist, there was a sense of power he never felt before.

"Wait, does that mean."

After muttering for a second, Xen pulled down his pants and looked there.

"Oh my fucking God."

Xen almost screamed out loud. After taking a long time to change into new clothes, he slowly sat down and looked at the screen in front of him.

[Name: Xen]

[Cultivation: Muscles Refining]

{Begin Story: YES/NO}

Xen wanted to click on 'YES' but stopped himself from doing so. This was vastly different from the game.

"If I remember correctly, there is no such thing as body refining or aura refining in the game. And the puppet that I met. If taken by this world's standard, one is already at the realm of muscles refining the moment they start the game."

"Didn't the guy say that one needs exercise and time to step into the muscles refining? Why am I already in this state?"

Even after thinking for a long time, Xen couldn't make out anything. Tired, he took a deep breath and looked at the screen in front of him again.

"Young master. We are here."

His train of thoughts was suddenly interrupted by a loud voice.

"Coming."

After a loud shout, Xen picked up his cloth bag and jumped out of the carriage. After coming out of the carriage, the first thing that greeted his sight was dimly lit lights in the distance.

In front of him, a small village was built on an open field. The village wasn't big. Just a single glance and one could see ten to twelve houses there. Surrounding the village was a small wooden wall. There was only one entrance to the village, and that was from the front.

Just behind the village, one could see the forest which went on as far as the eyes could see.

Walking towards the village, there wasn't anyone in sight. In front of the gate, two small torches were placed, providing light to the surrounding area. On this pitch-black night, they were working as beacons for the travelers.

"What are you doing? Let's go."

Looking at the driver who was standing there silently, Xen asked with a frown.

"My journey ends here young master. I must return."

After a brief silence, the driver continued.

"That house in the distance. The one with two standing torches. That is the house of the steward Lu. You should take over from him."

"I wish you good luck fifth master."

After giving him a bow, the driver jumped back on the carriage and drove away.

"What the fuck?"

It took a long time for Xen to process what happened. After realizing that the driver left him for good, Xen cursed loudly. He just wanted to rush and beat up the driver.

"Forget it."

Controlling his emotions, Xen walked towards the house the driver pointed to him.

....

"How long is he gonna take."

Inside a small house, a middle-aged man was pacing back and forth. Yesterday evening, he received a message that someone from the main family is going to overtake his work.

"Let's hope he is not difficult to work with."

With a bitter smile, the man hastened his pace. He couldn't understand why someone from the main family was coming to this God-forsaken village. There weren't any valuable resources here. Even the population here was around thirty. The only thing they had worth value was the evergreen woods.

These evergreen woods were the type of woods that were mainly used for construction. Not only were they numerous in numbers, they even grew up rapidly. It took around two months for an evergreen tree to mature from seed. They just need to go to the forest to search for those trees or plant them themselves.

Manager Lu was content with this life of his. There was no fighting, there was food, clothes, and basic needs. He only needs to transport the wood back into the main house. Though there weren't any good rewards, there weren't any dangers either.

"Knock, Knock."

His train of thoughts was suddenly interrupted by a knocking sound on his door.

"Thump."

After controlling his beating heart, he opened the door slowly.

The moment he opened the door, the figure of a young boy came into his view.

"Hello, manager Lu. My name is Xen, and I am here from the main family."

...

While Xen was busy introducing himself, a different scene was playing out in the city where his house is located.

In a dimly lit room, some people were sitting silently. Other than the luxurious clothes, they all had a pendant with a sparrow erected on it.

"Why? Why didn't we take any action?"

A middle-aged man with red hair was shouting at top of his lungs.

"Calm down."

On the main seat, an old man who seemed to be in his seventies replied in a cold tone.

"Calm down? How can I calm down? We could have kidnapped the kid. If not for you stopping me, we could have been discussing the terms with those damn boars."

"Yeah, he is right."

"I agree."

"Why didn't we take any action?"

Suddenly the hall was overtaken by the sound of questions.

"Sigh."

The old man took a deep sigh before shaking his head in disappointment.

"You all overestimated the value of that kid and greatly underestimated the head of the boar clan."

After a brief silence, the old man continued.

"The head of the boar clan, Selio wanted us to take action. It's not that he is confident in saving his son, but he just wants an excuse to take action against us."

The hall was suddenly plunged into silence. Some of them were silently thinking, while others were discussing among themselves.

"Think about it. That boy is useless either way. Even after knowing that we might be planning to take action against him, he sent his son alone. He was waiting for us to take action. The moment we kidnapped his son, he would have attacked us under the guise of justice."

The old man took a deep breath before uttering the final words.

"Sacrificing a useless boy to deal with an entire clan. You could guess his appetite."

After this sentence, none of them spoke anymore. Right now, one could see the helplessness and anger on their face.

....

"And that is all."

In a small house, Xen was listening to the man in front of him while eating stale bread.

"Okay. I am tired now, we will talk again tomorrow."

Standing up slowly, Xen slowly walked outside to wash his hands.

"By the way, where am I going to sleep tonight?"

"Aaah!"

After a brief panic, the steward Lu looked at Xen and replied in a nervous tone.

"Back... You can sleep in the backroom. I have already prepared your bed."

"Thanks".

After thanking him, Xen walked towards the room before slumping on the bed. He was tired, too tired.

If there was one thing that he needed the most, it was sleep.