"Come on, just one more page!" he rapidly tapped on his keyboard as he muttered, "Today's the deadline, just a bit and I'll be done…"
He looked at the bottom right corner of his computer, checking the time… 01:61.
"It's tomorrow already! Fuck! – wait… since when did the count go beyond 60 minutes?" just as he looked confused, he felt his head fall back.
'No! I can't fall asleep! It's just been a bit over 40 hours, since when did I get tired so quickly?!'
But it was too late.
His head churned like it was a burning furnace.
…
[Host's Death has been detected]
"What?" a voice appeared in the endless dark void.
[Initiating Immortal Reincarnation System Protocol]
"What system? Am I dreaming?"
[Analysing life and death]
[Age of death: 22]
[Current Life Achievements: 4]
[Total Life Achievements: 4]
[Talents: 0]
[Life Evaluation: E-]
[Initiate Reincarnation: Y/N]
"W-" countless questions appeared in his mind, but he wasn't able to process them.
"I died?!" shock finally settled in, making him realise what had happened.
Silence.
His mind was full of shock and confusion.
An unknown amount of time passed until it receded, an air of resignation and acceptance appeared.
"At least I won't have to write that damn paper. What kinda idiotic prof gives you a paper assignment to complete in three days?!" he felt resentful when he thought of the days that led to his death.
In his last semester of a bachelor, he thought the profs would become less annoying and would allow him to fully focus on his bachelor project. Who knew one of them would instead double down!
His annoyance continued for a few moments before he focused on the game panel in front of him –
"Immortal Reincarnation System? Immortal as in cultivating immortality? Destroying mountains with a wave of the hand, flying on clouds and living as long as heaven and earth?!?!"
No reply came. He waited a bit longer but saw that this system of his wasn't reactive.
Then he asked again, "What is a Life Achievement?"
Right away he felt a flow of knowledge enter his mind.
Anything he achieved in life counted. This meant he had to have done something and achieved at least something by doing it, or at least have done it for some time. They also had to be meaningful and have an impact on his life. Simply swimming a few times a year, for example, didn't count.
"Then what are my life achievements?"
[Life Achievements: Student, Businessman, Gardener, Literature Prize Winner]
"So few?" he asked when he saw them, "Student must be because I went to school and then started studying, right?"
No answer came.
"The little business I did in high school actually counts, even though it was just selling beer to them cuz I was the first who could buy legally? Never mind, I earned a few hundred bucks, it's not too small…" Naturally he had scammed the classmates he didn't like at that time, which benefitted him a bit.
Unfortunately, that was a one-time job.
"Gardener…" a sigh sounded in the void. How long has it been? His father died in an accident when he was young. Since then, the garden was overgrown. His mother tried to care for it, but working two jobs, she barely had time. Seeing this, he took it upon himself and would spend his free time to make it presentable.
Memories of eating together on the freshly cut grass emerged in his mind…
Shaking his head, he regained his clarity and focused on the last achievement, "The literature prize… I had just gotten it a few months ago, heh, seems like I achieved something just in time to be included! Staying up late at night and writing between studying and work, what a hassle. Still, it was so worth it!"
A bright smile appeared on his face as he overlooked all his achievements. They were the chis of his life… well selling beer to underaged wasn't great, but it got him his PC, on which he probably spent thousands of hours. So, in the end, it was worth an achievement.
"These achievements are a bit basic, but a normal person's life can't compare to a cultivator's! Time to reincarnate then!!"
[Initiate Reincarnation…]
…
The bright sun shone down. A young boy stood on a green field, an earthy smell mixed with a sweet scent spread from his body. He rubbed his hands on the side of his shorts, trying to remove the earth below his nails, an attempt to calm his nervousness.
"Lingyu, this year the green grapes you delivered are a bit less than last year. Why is that?" a middle-aged man with a pot belly, wearing long robes, asked the young boy in front of him.
"Manager, Manager Si-" the boy tried to speak but just as he did so, he suddenly felt a headache.
"Tsk, useless. Since it's just your second year, I will allow this negligence. But the menial disciples' evaluation next year will decide whether you can become an outer disciple. If you don't want to be kicked out, then I recommend you quickly learn how to grow these grape vines better!" the man looked at the dry vine that was about to break, shaking his head.
"Are you lazy because you think rogue cultivators have it easy? Even renting such a piece of land would cost more than what an early-stage Qi Refining cultivator like you could earn. Tsk, the sect keeps accepting these green-eared disciples instead of experienced farmers!" annoyance spread on his face as he turned.
Touching the spirit bag at his waist, he calculated the bonus he could receive while walking down the vine hills to another field.
When he was halfway down the hill, Lingyu heard a faint muttering, "Hehe, with this guy failing, I should be able to sell his spot and earn a good sum!"
Lingyu's head kept aching, causing his body to nearly collapse, unable to react to the muttering.
Just then, in the depths of his eyes, a light lit up.
"Huff" Lingyu took a deep breath to steady himself.
'I reincarnated already? So fast? It felt like I had just commanded it and now I'm already here!'
Even though he was shocked, he understood the situation in just a few seconds.
He had indeed reincarnated and the behaviour of Lingyu was largely the same as his own.
And today, on his twelfth birthday, he awakened!
'Cultivators' spiritual roots are tested between the ages of nine to eleven, and I awaken at the age of twelve. Does this mean that I will have one to three years of experience in this world before I awaken?' he could only guess based on the situation.
Just then, he saw his panel appear in front of him again –
[Reincarnation completed]
[Awaken Talents: Y/N]
'Huh? So that talent tab meant that I would awaken them…' when he saw it just a moment before, he thought that since he had no talent, it probably meant his talent depended on his body's talent.
To think he could awaken them!
'Yes, awaken!'
The screen changed as a loading symbol appeared on the panel.
A moment later, three boxes appeared –
[Soul Talent] – [Innate Talent] – [Acquired Talent]
A wave of information fell into his mind.
'Soul Talents are the talents that I awaken based on my life's whole experience, from birth to death. This talent will accompany me in every life! So this is the core talent, right?
Innate Talents are the talents of my current life. I have to be lucky to get one, and if I don't get any, then it's fine too, since most people don't have a talent.
Lastly, this should be the best one, right?'
Acquired Talents – he can choose one to three Life Achievements and awaken a talent based on that achievement!
'The first one is permanent but it's random, I can only hope to get a few good ones throughout my reincarnations. The second one is even worse, random and temporary. But the last one is based on my achievements! Even though it's temporary, by combining and fusing, I can basically guess each time which talent it is.
And the best part!'
He looked at the field around him. Located on a hill, there were many iron threads lined up.
Bound on a wooden pillar at each end, they looked like a laundry line. But what hung from them were green vines, their leaves forming a veil to the ground.
A smile spread on Lingyu's face, 'Since I awaken my talents after reincarnation, can't I just choose the talents that would fit my situation best?'
With a choice came opportunity!
As he was thinking, the loading symbol on the left box disappeared. In its place, an illustration of a stack of books appeared, next to it were sheets of paper and a pen.
[Systematic Learning]
A short description appeared below –
[If you study systematically, you will always learn something]
A look of confusion appeared on Lingyu's face. What did this mean? Why would he study any way but systematically?
Just then, understanding dawned on him.
'In this world of cultivation, only those in large sects with a teacher can learn systematically. The rest, whether rogue cultivators or people like me, minor disciples of smaller sects, we can only learn the things we get. Even if we have an inheritance, it's like getting many books at the same time. We don't know which to read first, which is core literature and which is useless.
He realised how stupid this approach was. How could you learn anything this way? It would result in the learning speed being a lot slower and your knowledge being loose.
'This talent states that I will always learn something… I have to try and see how it works later.'
His thoughts were trying to guess the meaning, but in front of him, the second box stopped loading…
There was no talent.
'As expected…' if he had a talent, it would've been detected, or at least what he had experienced up to now wouldn't have been so mediocre.
Fortunately, the next box was instantly ready.
Looking around the field again, he made a quick choice 'Gardener! Business and literature are useless and fusing them with gardener wouldn't fit well.'
Then he looked at the last, Student. Should he combine it?
'What is a student? Someone who has learned and is still learning. Anyways, it's more passive while gardener is a more active achievement. Let's try it out!'
He made a decision right away, 'Use Gardener and Student to awaken!'
These two words appeared in the box. One at the top, the other at the bottom. Slowly, they seemed to be pulled to the centre of the box.
Lingyu watched seconds pass until the words touched each other.
In an instant, both words were sucked into the middle!
A bright light appeared for a moment. It disappeared in just a second, revealing an illustration.
It was a green thumbprint.
[Experienced Gardener]
[You have a sense for the needs of the plants around you. Observing plants allows you to learn the cause of these needs]
Lingyu looked at it, taking his time to analyse this talent.
'The first sentence should come from the achievement 'Gardener', while the second should be from 'Student'. This should be the manifestation of the 'learning' state of Students. As for Gardener, being able to know the needs of a plant is pretty common among experienced gardeners. In this case, I can know the needs of plants directly without having to spend years planting them.'
He felt that this talent was really suitable to his current occupation of a menial disciple.
While thinking, he suddenly realised something in front of him.
The panel was dissipating and becoming illusory.
"Wait!" he called out, his sound louder than he intended. Fortunately, the manager in the distance had already moved away.
His hands reached out to the panel but he couldn't touch it.
A question appeared in his mind – 'Will there be more reincarnations?'
And another one appeared… 'If I reincarnate again, how will I gain achievements?'
He tried to think of them, but nothing appeared in his mind. Even most of his current achievements couldn't be repeated, and the only repeatable one, Gardener, was something he already got.
Did this mean that he would have no achievements in the future?
A fear appeared in the depths of his heart.
The panel clearly showed him the achievements in his life, which, although rather basic, was still proof of his past life. If he didn't achieve anything in this life, what meaning would this life have?
Yet as this thought appeared, another followed.
If this life was successful, if he could continuously reincarnate… wouldn't that mean he could live countless lives and gather endless talents, until finally, with the hard work of a hundred, thousand or even ten thousand lives, and finally ascend to the immortal realm!