The gu world

it has been 5 years since I was reborn in this world.

in my last life, I was just a bartender who spent most of his free time reading manga and novels online.

I don't even know why I reincarnated. did I die? or did some random god decide to randomly pluck me from my original world and drop me in this one?

when I first arrived I took over the body of a ten-year-old boy who had just found out his parents died in the recent beast tide that almost destroyed the clan and injured the current rank 4 clan head.

his original parents were only rank 2 gu masters with D grade aptitude so they didn't have much in terms of inheritance so the clan allowed me to keep it. it wasn't much but it allowed me to survive until now and according to my calculations, the rest of the money will run out just a week into the academy leaving me with just a small house on the outskirts of the village.

without family or relatives left alive I was free to do as I wanted for the last 5 years.

I attempted multiple times to see if I had a cheat in this new life of mine however all my attempts failed miserably and only served to isolate me from the other children my age.

after all, nobody wants to hang out with somebody shouting STATUS in the middle of the park. now that I think about it I should have probably done that in the privacy of my own home.

my last hope for survival in this world relies on whether I can gain a cheat after I awaken my aperture. if not the only cheat I will have is my knowledge of the world I was reborn in and the hidden inheritances around the world the protagonist of the story encountered.

I was reborn in the world of reverend insanity as part of the Gu Yue clan which might make any other reincarnator fear for their life because of the protagonist. however, I have no such fear anymore.

over the past 5 years, I slowly realized that the timeline of my reincarnation was 400 years before the main story and if I manage to change enough in the clan the protagonist might never be born. The Story of reverend insanity was the first online novel I ever read so it always held a special place in my heart so making changes to the world would be painful but necessary to ensure my survival if I ever live that long.

currently, I was on my way with the other 15-year-olds of the clan to the spirit spring under the mountain to awaken our aptitudes. the current statistics for the gu yue clansmen were 7 in 10 awakening their apertures which is much higher than it would be at the beginning of the storywhere it was only 6 in 10. however, by that point, the bloodline of the central continent would be more diluted with all the intermarriage with the mortals over the past 300 years. 

my chances for awakening were quite high considering both my parents were GU masters however they were still not as high as some of my peers since their aptitude was so low.

walking through the tunnel we finally arrived at a large cavern filled with pure white lotus flowers surrounded by small shining lights floating on top of the small pool of water in the central position. off to the side, I could see a large number of elders gathered probably to oversee the awakening ceremony and snatch up any talents for their factions. even 400 years before the story 2 main factions are competing for dominance with the clan leader however their names are different as the families that led them in the story haven't been formed yet

an elder stood at the edge of the pool and started explaining how many steps it takes to awaken each aptitude and how to know when you have reached your limit to avoid anybody from getting injured pushing themself too far.

once he was done explaining he started calling the first teenager to start walking.

"gu yue fang li step forward" 

Fang Li seemed very nervous walking forward. distractedly looking from side to side. from the elder at the edge of the pool to the elders gathered together watching him slowly getting more and more surprised and finally to some of his friends who were silently encouraging him from the sidelines. he was so distracted that he didn't even notice that he stopped walking until he felt his aperture forming.

the elder slowly walked towards him and placed his hand below his stomach and concentrated for a moment determining whether his talent was determined correctly. the elder explained to us earlier on that anybody with b and above qualifications would be double-checked to prevent anybody from altering their descendant's results.

The next words from the elder made every other spectator on the side excited.

"Fang Li 66% B grade appeture"

slowly the discussions on the side got so loud even we could hear them

"already a B grade aptitude"

"Perhaps this batch is more talented than usual"

"maybe there is hope for an A-grade talent"

for some of these kids, this increased their confidence and hope whilst for me this changed nothing. I knew how cruel this world can get from the novel so even if there was one B grade that didn't mean there might even be another one let alone me.

slowly as more and more kids got called forward the expressions on the clan elders' faces got worse.

"Li Di 21% D grade appeture"

"Fe Fe 20% D grade aperture"

"Lao Di 44% C grade appeture"

By the time it was my turn, there were only 2 c grade apertures the rest of the awakened ones were only D rank.

"GU Yue Frank"

I slowly walked past the elder and towards the lake. slowly it got harder and harder to keep moving forward. I only counted the first 12 steps after that I could be sure I had at least the lowest talent.

when I could no longer move forward I did not hear the elder walk toward me to check my qualifications only the words

"Frank 59% C grade aperture