20demayo Chapter 1 Unfortunate Labor Service
Chapter 1 Unfortunate Labor Service
In the sparse bushes, several rabbits were nibbling on the tender green grass. Fluffy white clouds floated in the azure sky, and the occasional clear bird song could be heard.
In the jungle, a thin figure stumbled in, carrying a corpse. He suddenly burst in, startling the surrounding animals and causing them to scatter.
He tossed the corpse aside, and the air filled with the stench of blood. Panting heavily, the man turned and ran, finally returning to a small campsite in the woods about fifteen minutes later. His legs gave way, and he collapsed weakly onto the ground.
The man's name was Zhou Ye. At this moment, he gazed at the sky, his eyes filled with confusion, and his heart was filled with endless melancholy and bewilderment.
In my past life, I was an urban white-collar worker who enjoyed hiking in the countryside during holidays. How did I inexplicably end up traveling through time on a perfectly safe route?
The person who traveled through time and merged with the other was also named Zhou Ye.
This Zhou Ye is a farmer, only fourteen or fifteen years old. His parents have both died, and he is the only one left in his family. He has never left the vicinity of his village.
This other world resembles an ancient feudal society. The government levies exorbitant taxes, landlords oppress the people in every way, and the poor at the bottom suffer from hunger and cold. Most of the common people, like Zhou Ye, are malnourished; although they barely survive, they are rather thin and weak.
The only difference is that, according to the village elders, the outside world is far more terrifying, filled with man-eating monsters and martial arts masters capable of shattering rocks and breaking gold. Without a doubt, this must be a high-level martial arts world… right?
Just over a month ago, the government conscripted laborers, and the county town needed a large number of people to dredge the waterways.
The county town where Zhou Ye lived had many industries, including several mines, as well as hides, materials, and herbs from the surrounding deep mountains. These were transported to various places through the county town's docks, so the waterways needed to be dredged regularly.
Unfortunately, Zhou Ye was on the list of those to be forced into labor. He was gathered together with several thousand other people.
However, upon arriving at the scene, Zhou Ye and his group were secretly selected. Several soldiers then escorted them into the mountains, where they built this camp and made Zhou Ye and his men cut down trees and make charcoal day and night.
Since the county town has a population of over one million and also has mines and smelting facilities, fuels such as firewood and charcoal are essential for the county town.
Furthermore, the farmland and forests surrounding the county town mostly belonged to local wealthy families, and outsiders were not allowed to enter to cut firewood or hunt. They could only go to the distant mountains.
However, there are ferocious beasts in the mountains, and even powerful monsters in the deep mountains. Therefore, cutting firewood and making charcoal is relatively dangerous. The price of firewood and charcoal in the county town is also relatively high.
That's why dredging the waterways was the government's job, but the money from selling firewood and charcoal was their own.
Since there were so many common people serving corvée labor, and they were all poor laborers who brought their own food and worked for free, why not select a few to do private work? Therefore, the officials and soldiers guarding them began to collude, and in the end, they threw Zhou Ye and his men into the mountains.
Of course, they wouldn't dare venture deep into the mountains; they would stay in the outer areas of the mountains where the danger is relatively less.
For more than a month, Zhou Ye and his men worked from morning till night under the urging of the soldiers' whips, and had already produced and transported several batches of charcoal down the mountain.
It must be said that it was indeed somewhat dangerous, and we did encounter wild beasts several times, but with the help of our numbers, we managed to drive them away safely each time.
But no one expected that this time they would provoke a group of wild boars. Under the rampage of the wild boars, neither the soldiers nor Zhou Ye and his laborers could withstand such a group of boars. Some died, and some fled.
The original owner must have died in this chaos, which ultimately led to Zhou Ye transmigrating into this body...
……
Panting heavily, Zhou Ye slowly sat up from the ground. To his surprise, the transmigration bonus arrived on time, and a virtual panel appeared before his eyes:
[Zhou Ye (Ordinary Person): 14]
Root bone: -3
Comprehension: +3
[Basic Data]
Health Points: (30/80 Extremely Weak)
Strength: -3
Agility: -2
Constitution: -3
Essence: +4
Charisma: -2
[Technique]
[Martial Arts]
Basic chopping (beginner): Not even a beginner (0/10)
Free attribute points: 5
Note: New player gift pack has been received, 5 free attribute points.
Zhou Ye was quite familiar with this kind of data analysis of the body. He studied it carefully.
For ordinary people, the average value is generally 10, and plus or minus 2 is considered normal. The difference is simply that they are stronger or weaker.
However, in this body, on the one hand, there is long-term malnutrition; on the other hand, the patient is young and not fully developed. Therefore, most of the negative values are relatively high.
The most notable stats are +3 to Comprehension and +4 to Spirit. This is likely due to the fusion of two souls, resulting in these higher values.
Root Bone and Comprehension are key stats; if you need to add points to them, 5 free attribute points can only add 1 point. The rest are basic stats, and 1 free attribute point can add 1 point. As for Health, 1 free attribute point adds 10 points to the maximum.
Of course, besides allocating attribute points freely, if you can supplement nutrition, strengthen training, or promote physical development, those basic stats can also slowly increase.
Another factor is health points, which are also relatively low. It's like being constantly in a sub-healthy state. Below 50, it becomes weak; below 30, it becomes extremely weak; and below 10, it's a near-death state, almost completely losing the ability to move.
As for the emergence of the martial art—basic chopping—it's probably because of the recent tree-cutting and firewood-gathering... right? Although it's a low-level martial art, it's still a martial art.
Furthermore, basic martial arts skills also have data bars, which could very well be a permanent certificate with no bottlenecks? So as long as you keep working hard, you will definitely succeed in the end.
Of course, the most pressing issue right now is survival. We need to complete the allocation of free attribute points first.
Zhou Ye pondered for a while. The first time he added points was very important. The worst thing he could do was to add points evenly, because then he would want to be good at everything but actually be good at nothing.
Charm is definitely unnecessary; I can't rely on my looks to make a living in this desolate wilderness. Spiritual essence... is also unnecessary; I don't know what its function is for now.
Health points and constitution should also be excluded. It's not that these two are unimportant, it's just that the original values were too low. Even after adding 5 points, a weakling is still a weakling.
That leaves only strength and agility.
However, after adding 5 points to strength, it becomes +2. He went from a relatively weak ordinary person to a relatively strong ordinary person. He's still within the realm of an ordinary person. If he encounters a ferocious beast or monster, he'll still face instant death.
Since that's the case, let's go for agility then? In any case, +3 agility is already beyond the realm of ordinary people. Whether or not we can resist, at least we'll have a chance to escape?
With that in mind, Zhou Ye didn't hesitate to increase his agility by 1, 1, 1...
Shortly after, Agility: +3