Despair  

After arriving in Amri, Tenur was completely exhausted and dying of thirst, so he immediately looked at the first house in his path and approached the open window.

"Please... Please give me some water…," he pleaded as he put his two hands together and waved them for some water.

Ceramic cups were considered luxury items in that society.

During the few weeks that he had been imprisoned near the previous necropolis, whenever he asked for drinking water, Tenur would be led to the water reservoir and had to use his bare hands to get what he wanted.

He had already learned this was normal in this place and gestured how a native would do in his situation.

However, he did not know the society well, although he had heard several valuable things during his weeks of imprisonment...

When he approached that window, someone shouted in his direction, already holding a shabby-looking blade, intent on slashing him.

"Damn, you bandit! Get away from my house, or I'll kill you!" The owner of that small residence that was less than 15 square meters shouted as he lunged towards the frail Tenur.

Although he tried to dodge, given his physical condition limiting his movements, Tenur couldn't do much against his opponent.

In the blink of an eye, he was stuck in the belly and fell to the ground, already unconscious.

This society had serious issues with petty crime, and the laws here did not limit the citizens who decided to take the law into their own hands.

As such, Tenur's actions were considered a danger that could even result in someone's death without the victim's family even being able to complain!

If not for Tenur's luck stumbling with someone who only decided to beat him up after knocking him down, his actions might have been his end in this world!

...

Three hours later...

Tenur woke up feeling pain all over his body as he struggled to open his eyes and found himself in a different place.

Directing his attention to his surroundings instead of the pain which he felt all over his body, Tenur found himself in the garbage with insects crawling all over his body and animals eating the waste in the area.

He winced in pain, feeling repulsed by the smell of rotten food and tried to get up. 'Someone beat me up just because I tried to ask for water?

What the hell!

What am I going to do now? My clothes were stolen, and I even stink now...' He assessed his situation and noticed that everything had become even more challenging for him.

He needed a job and intended to search for one. But how was he going to accomplish this if he only wore underwear?

Tenur had already noticed that even in this poor and underdeveloped society, people dressed enough to at least cover their chests and private parts.

But he was only wearing his underwear, which, by the way, was not sufficient for him...

"I have to get something to wear…" He muttered while looking through the trash as he searched for something to put on.

He saw some food scraps and drooled while watching the animals in his surroundings eat that. However, despite his hunger, he did not allow himself to succumb to what his body desired.

He had the dignity of a cultivator and would rather die than eat the spoiled food scraps in the garbage.

When Tenur stumbled upon something to cover his body better than his underwear, he ignored the piece of hard, black bread lying on the ground and got out of there.

This time, he avoided approaching any houses to ask for water or anything else, instead slowly making his way along while trying to bear the pain of the bruises from earlier.

Since this was a poor society with most people being either slaves or servants, he had no problem walking the streets in garbage rags.

But although slaves dressed better than he did, the difference in the clothing quality was insignificant, and he did not draw any more unnecessary attention.

"Sir, please, is there a job for me?" he asked a man cutting wood near what appeared to be a sawmill.

The woodcutter looked at the scantily clad, dirty, bruised, overweight fellow and laughed. "Are you kidding me, pig? Do you think someone with your physical stature can work in this sawmill?"

Tenur clenched his fists, but his weakness prevented him from doing anything right now, no matter how offended he felt.

He knew that he could only beg.

"Please, sir, I'm starving! You can give me anything to do, and I'll do what you ask for!"

That person was still laughing at Tenur's face when the actual owner of that store noticed the situation and approached.

"What does this person want, Smet? Is he buying something?" the owner asked the guy.

"No, Mister Bres. He is asking for a job."

"A job?" Bres' face became extremely ugly and wrinkled as he saw this fellow who might not even be able to lift a half-meter-long trunk was asking for a job.

Bres then stepped forward and pushed back this pretty-faced fellow.

Although Tenur was considered very ugly in his world, he could be considered handsome in this place!

Meanwhile, Tenur felt like he had taken a powerful blow and was thrown back about 4 meters.

"Ouch!"

"Humph! Learn your limits, bum!

Don't return to my store unless you want to buy!" Bres growled before spitting in Tenur's direction and quickly returning from whence he came under Smet's laughter.

'Damn it!

How will I get a job and pay for my food if this society is so brutal?' Tenur felt desperate, even considering the willpower that kept him from giving up after this defeat all this long.

...

Hours later...

Tenur had tried three other trading places in Amri, but none had received him well, and he had promptly been rejected.

One of them was a tavern that did not need any employees since all its members were people from the owner's family. In another was a restaurant where he had been rejected because he was too disgusting to work in the kitchen, and the restaurant owner also had her daughters already helping her.

This was a big problem for Tenur to face. In this society, the people who owned their businesses usually hired only those directly related to them by family ties.

Hence, rarely would someone hire a stranger like him, making things difficult for him.

Because of this, he failed on his fourth attempt and was once again thrown away by an angry owner.

'What do I do? I'm not getting anything!' he lamented, remembering his hours of attempt trying to find work.

Tenur had not just begged for a job, but in fact, had also said various things trying to convince people to at least give him a chance.

He had a lot of knowledge and knew several ways to improve their income, for example, of one of the restaurants he passed.

But his knowledge would be of no use if the owner of that business did not even want to listen to him.

He might know how to build an empire, but it was useless if he didn't have the power to do so!

It was like knowing the best way to run, but what would it help for if you didn't even have a leg?

It was impressive, but at the same time useless.

He tried his best to sell his ideas, to show how productive he could be, but no one would believe someone strange, poorly dressed, and with a foreign accent, talking about things no one had ever seen or heard of before.

The result of his failure only led him to despair!

And in this situation, he ran to the previous garbage, feeling that he could not take it anymore.

Unfortunately, by the time he arrived at that place, the animals had already finished devouring the best of it, leaving only a stinking, muddy place behind.

Tenur saw no alternative but to drink the mud water there, and soon he was lowered like an animal, drinking a brown liquid as if he were savoring the most delicious drink in the world.

...

Two days later...

After his terrible start in Amri, Tenur continued trying to look for a job but was unsuccessful.

In a society where the possibility of slavery existed, hardly anyone would need to give a job to a stranger!

Tenur realized this and had lost hopes of getting something even remotely decent to ensure his survival.

Due to his failures, he lived on garbage and mud in his last few days, having become even frailer.

During his degrading situation, Tenur hit rock bottom when he saw a slave eating dark bread with no mud on the edges.

'That slave…

He can feed himself better than I can.' He felt attracted to the idea of subjugating himself to someone, even though his rational side told him that by doing so, his future might not be promising.

'I have to become a slave!' Tenur thought to himself.

Tenur knew he wouldn't get anywhere by just trying to become a servant since he was nobody in this society and didn't know people capable of helping him turn him into one.

All he could do was 'DREAM' of becoming a slave, something not so difficult with what he had learned in the past few days.

'I must go to the local human market and make myself available for auction.' He swallowed his saliva and decided to follow that path so that he would not have to die of starvation or a disease generated due to his precarious condition, no matter how daunting the prospect was.