System Update

Wu could barely open his eyes as the moonlight seeped through the thin curtains of the small room. He felt sore, like he had run 5 miles. Shoving off the heavy arm of the culprit, he attempted to sit up. He needed to do something about his sore muscles. Wu looked over at the wooden tub then shook his head, deciding to just go for a swim in the lake. He vanished from his spot on the bed and appeared in the demi plane stumbling on unsteady feet. For a second he swore that something or someone had pulled his shoulder back but after a brief spin to check, he saw no one else, as he already suspected. He turned on his heels and headed in the direction of the lake. The green leaves of some of the bushes behind him swayed silently in the calm air.

He found a shallow part of the lake's bank and sat down in the cool waters with a sigh. Leaning back on a moss covered stone he pounded on his stiff shoulder with a closed fist. Being with Bai was really starting to make him feel 46 again. He really needed to find a way to deplete some of Bai's energy or else he just might die an eight time, he chuckled to himself at the thought. Although he felt more full of mana than ever before, it was too much work trying to keep up with the beastman. Glowing eyes from the shadows also noted this change. He not only jumped from a Grey mage to Blue mage, something that would usually take five to ten years at best to accomplish but he also managed to open his middle dantian, a feat so impossible that no other non-beast mage in history have been noted to have done so. Wu Liang Hui after just awakening as a mage had managed to fill both his Xia and Zhong dantians. The Xia dantian or Lower dantian holds the ability to refine the worldly qi into elixir, hence this is the only dantian mages can open on their own no matter how long they cultivate. The Zhong dantian or Middle dantian was located near the heart and was the focal point of a warrior's cultivation. It allows them to push their bodies past the limits of regular humans and then project their mana outwards. There was only one word to describe this...…..L- Remarkable, for a human that is.

Wu Liang Hui decided to open up the system window to see how many points he had accumulated. He was reasonably, too distracted to read all of the system alerts that he was getting throughout the night. Liang Hui figured that he should have enough exp to buy a lucky spin or two, but his jaw dropped when the window opened.

"over 3k exp?" he gasps, jumping to his feet, "I'm rich!"

He waved his arms around as he danced like a madman. The creature lurking in the shadows of the surrounding foliage tilted its head in confusion, "exp?" It then smiled at Liang Hui's strange antics.

Suddenly a message popped up asking if Wu Liang Hui would like to upgrade the system so he flippantly pressed "ok" without fully reading the message like one usually does when using a computer. To Wu Liang Hui's annoyance the system rebooted in a matter of seconds unlike when it first booted up, he was still in the process of installing a ten foot pole between him and that particular memory. He was further agitated to see that the upgrade wasn't free when a main menu screen suddenly popped up. The system was no longer a simple screen displaying an experience points counter and the lucky spin button. It now had three buttons [Play], [Inventory] and [Quests]; and to the top of the screen window was the exp counter. Wu Liang Hui looked at his remaining exp with a frown; he now had 1850 exp, that upgrade cost him 1200 exp. Though he earned that exp in a short amount of time, it was hard, back breaking work all the same and it was a shame to see all those points disappear in a matter of seconds.

He decided to explore the new options starting with the most interesting, Quests. Unsurprisingly there was only one quest listed : Find the King's Body. He opened it only to be disappointed that he couldn't read most of its description. He could only understand the parts that went over what the system already told him. That he died for the seventh time and the Gods took pity on him and put his soul in the body of a dying mage with the prerequisite that he somehow finds his original body. It was an impossible task, especially considering this was a multi-layered planet, where he was supposed to begin. Scrolling through the gibberish that was the other 75% of the quest description he saw what seemed like an active countdown!

"What the f--k is this?"

The creature lurking in the shadows started silently laughing. Wu Liang Hui was biting his thumb pacing in the lake waters while naked, like a complete madman. Liang Hui couldn't believe that the system was screwing with him like this. He wanted to grab it and stomp on it stupid blue screen then take all of its broken pieces, throw them into his mortar and crush them into the finest dust the world would ever see. How could it not tell him he was working with a timeline? How long did he have? What would happen if he can't find the body in time? This was all going to drive him insane. He could already feel himself losing his marbles as he looked down to gaze at his empty, marble-less hands. It was all too dramatic, the creature felt like his stomach would burst any minute.

Taking a much needed breath, Wu Liang Hui decided to look through the other items in the new system. He needed to see if there was anything else that was important. Opening the play option he saw something new along with the lucky spin game that he had grown used to, called treasure chests. He released the breath he didn't even know he was holding, finally something to be excited about. The treasure chests worked somewhat like the lucky spin however the prizes to be won were limited to level red and over. Meaning that there was no chance of getting a dud. Liang Hui started randomly happily dancing once again much to the creature in the shadows' amusement. It was now laying on its stomach wagging its long tail, its pink tongue hanging out of its smiling mussel. Unknown to the beast, Wu Liang Hui was excited because was given a free key for the treasure chest game otherwise he would have to pay 1000 exp. Rubbing his hands together he pressed "use key". A hologram of a stereotypical treasure chest appeared. The chest opened and a red light shone, Liang Hui figured that the color of the light must indicate the level. Though it was of the lowest level prize that he could possibly receive from the Treasure chest, he was still excited to receive a red level prize.

[[Yamaraja's twin Daggers, 5th life]]

Both Wu Liang Hui and the creature lurking in the shadows were stunned as a pair of daggers materialized into Wu Liang Hui's hands. The creature pressed closer to the edge of the bushes to get a better look. The daggers were a dark almost black silver with an aura that sent a chill down your spine once you looked at it for too long. At certain angles it gave off a crimson glint. Just one look and you could tell these daggers were no joke. A creepy ear splitting smile crawled onto Liang Hui's face. These daggers would go well with his Ghost Step Technique, that was also from his 5th life. His 5th life, if he remembered what he saw in his various dreams about his past selves, was whan he lived as an assassin.

In the dream he had of his 5th life he remembers being told to track down and kill the members of an elusive organization that functioned like a shadow government. Only to return after completing the mission to be arrested for treason. Unknown to him, the king and his seniors had struck a deal, Liang Hui in exchange for a pardon for the assassin's organization. The king didn't want to reveal that his son, the crown prince, was part of the shadow government so they said he died in his sleep and that Wu Liang Hui was the head of the organization. He was said to have killed all of the other members to cover his tracks. He had only figured this all out right before he was hanged. Thus his 5th life came to its tragic end.

Wu Liang Hui closed the Treasure chest window and decided to try Lucky Spin instead as he had enough for at least three spins. As nice as the Treasure Chests option was, it was too expensive. He focused on the screen as the wheel began to spin, so immersed in what he was doing that he forgot that he was standing butt naked in the middle of the lake. Luckily for him the waters were strangely parting for him, as if avoiding him. The creature in the shadows looked on with narrowed eyes. Closely observing it realized that the waters were not avoiding Liang Hui but the daggers he was still holding. It was as if the waters were sentient.

"Huh?"

Liang Hui exclaimed, distracting the creature from its train of thought. He won a Blue level ability called God's eye, but that wasn't what caused him pause. He started to choke. "God's eye" was his old nickname in the lab. His friends and colleagues gave him this nickname because he was great at eyeballing precise measurements and analyzing minute symptoms any subject might have. Any project he worked on was a guaranteed success. Wu Liang Hui blushed as he couldn't believe that this embarrassing nickname followed him into this new world. What "God's eye", it was years of hard work and researching, how would it even translate into this world?

A new window abruptly opened up in front of him, [Analyze]. The option to select what to analyze came up and he selected the daggers in his hands.

[Yamaraja's twin Daggers]

[Level: Red]

[Type: Double edged daggers]

[Effects: Saps the mana of enemy to be absorbed by user]

[Special note: Grows stronger with blood]

He waved the daggers around in the air in wonder then decided to put them away, with just the thought, the daggers disappeared from his hands and onto a shelf in the cabin. As soon as the daggers disappeared Wu Liang Hui was engulfed in the crashing waves of the lake. F- was the only thought in his mind as he struggled to regain his footing. As he stumbled around, hands fraying in the air as the waters swallowed him, he accidentally activated another Lucky spin. This would go unnoticed for now as the waters of the lake filled his lungs. His muscles were still sore and weak, due to him not soaking long enough in the waters to heal, to fight his way back up.

The creature lurking in the bushes jumped to its feet with a start. Racing from its spot in the bushes to dive into the cool waters of the lake when Wu Liang Hui didn't resurface. His wet white fur sparkling in the false sunlight that shone in the demi plane as he resurfaced. Liang Hui layed limply on his broad back as the beast made its way to the shore. He placed Wu Liang Hui onto the soft grass, the creature's breathing rapid. The tiger was frozen in place. He could help noticing how thin and fragile the little mage was. Images of his master laying limply on the ground flashed in his mind merging with the body of the mage. Shaking his large head he refocused on the task at hand. Gently placing one of his large front paws on Liang Hui's chest, he pushed his mana through Wu Liang Hui's meridians. Taking control of the mage's respiratory system he forced the water that had pooled in Liang Hui's lungs out through his mouth. The mage coughed weakly before falling silent once more.

Wu Liang Hui sat up with a gasp. His eyes searched the small wooden room in a confused daze. He was not only still alive but had somehow been moved to the log cabin and wrapped in a blanket, tucked into a corner by the wall of shelves. His soul almost jumped out of his body when he felt something move behind him. Liang Hui scrambled away from the shelves, backing into the large wooden work desk. He smacked a hand over his gaping mouth. The warm pillow that he was sleeping on was a f--king tiger. More specifically, it was a white tiger the size of a motherf--king bear. It had rolled over onto its back in its sleep. A system window suddenly popped up asking if he wanted to analyze the tiger.

"Sure why not, I'd love to know how apt this monster is at killing me," he mumbled under his breath, smoothing his chest trying to calm his heart. It was beating a mile a minute. When the data on the creature opened up he could only mutter, "Oh!"

Name: Bai Huya

Level: Black

Age: 1503

Class: Warrior/ beastman

Skills: Heavenly Tribulation Lightning

Weapon: Straight sword

Still wrapped in the blanket he crawled back over to where Huya was peacefully sleeping. His attitude changed in a matter of seconds. Hovering over the innocent tiger he pokes at its pink snout and grins. He pinched and tugged at Bai's fluffy white cheeks. Wu Liang Hui let out a silent cry. He was so cute and fluffy! The words "Big fluffy baby" echoed in his head. He rubbed his face into Bai's fluffy neck scruff and breathed in his signature woodsy-oaky scent. When he was done he sat back on his knees with a contented sigh. His eyes briefly rested on the books on the shelves.

His eyes went wide and a psychotic grin spread on his face. He could finally read the language. He didn't care how or why. He could finally read the thousands of books in the log cabin. He could finally read and reply to all those letters from Old Li. He could finally read all those blasted handouts from class. Wu Liang Hui felt the corners of his eyes heat up as one by one tears leaked out. He jumped up and grabbed the worn out encyclopedia off the shelf. He covered it in kisses then opened the book. Wu Liang Hui knew exactly what he must do first.

Find a coffee substitute!