Brian instantly regretted taking that deep breath.

He came through the portal gasping. As he paniced, he tripped over something and fell. It didn't hurt, but it sure felt a lot like drowning. Instantly, his hopes of entering the game with dignity and composure were thrown out the window as he lay on the ground trying to catch his breath.

"What a noob!" Someone yelled as they passed.

Several people laughed. Few had the courtesy to try and hide their chuckles.

After a few minutes, Brian felt he could get on his feet and did so. Looking, he saw there was no Portal back to the burly man's office. Instead, there was a set of steps - the ones he had fallen down - leading up to nothing. An odd sight. Just a random set of steps on the side of a bustling road.

And speaking of bustling, as he turned his head, he realized he was next to a large market full of people coming and going. Looking further, he realized the market nestled against a massive wall. Thinking back to the trip to China his Uncle had taken him on as a graduation gift, he reasoned at it had to be taller than the Great Wall itself.

The road he was next to, paved with large bricks almost flush with one another, fed into a massive gate. At times, there were four or five large carts going through it side-by-side. An almost constant stream of people flowed in and out of the city beyond the gate.

Dusting himself off, Brian set about deciding what to do. Finding a work board should be my first priority...

Work boards were a newbies best friend, as far as Brian had heard. A common location where people - usually NPCs - could post odd-jobs and tasks they needed doing. Brian already had a game plan for the type of job he wanted to pick-up. So the first hurtle would be to find a board so he could find the job he wanted.

Without hesitation, Brian plunged himself into the market. His reasoning being that a crowded market, especially one outside the city walls, would be the best place to find newbie-friendly tasks.

As he traveled, he found himself impressed by how realistic the replication was. As far as he could tell, things looked absolutely like they would in the real world. There was even dust in the air, kicked up from the many feet traveling on the dirt paths in the market. As he passed stalls, he could feel heat from ovens and smell delicious food. He knew from his research that he could eat all the amazing virtual food he wanted, but it wouldn't fill him up at all. In fact, there were systems in place to force him out of the game if the Ingenium detected his physical body was hungry, thirsty, or even overly tired. Despite what he must look like in the pod right now, being in Virtual Reality didn't gain him any rest.

Eventually, he came across what he had been looking for. A massive work board with tens of parchments nailed upon it.

Which was when he came across his first problem. He had no idea how to take a task off the board. He tried to simply rip the page off the board, but it wouldn't budge. His attempts at taking the task got him a few chuckles from passerbys, but no job.

"Having trouble, buddy?"

Brian stopped his attempts and looked around.

"Over here,"

Turning to the source of the voice, he saw a giant of a man standing behind a stall to the left of the work board.

"You've got to point at the task you want," The man mimed pointing at the board. "And think, 'This one.' Should cause a pop-up that asks if you want to accept the task."

Brian nodded and did as the man said. This one.

Instantly, a screen popped up at the center of Brian vision.

Docks Looking For LaborThe Louyang Docks are looking for more hard workers. Wages paid by the hour, at the end of each work session. Come to the docks and ask for Foreman Yao.Accept?YesNo

Yes.

Task accepted.

"Thank you," Brian said turning back to the man.

"Not a problem," Smiling.

"Now, how do I find the Louyang Docks?" He asked.

The man, without hesitation, threw back his head and laughed.

Slightly embarrassed, Brian was about to turn and go when the man stopped him.

"Here, come sit down." He gestured at a bamboo stool sitting in front of his stall.

As Brian sat down, the man placed a couple of steamed buns in front of Brian. He was familiar with them as his uncle had made them from time to time when he was growing up.

"I've got no money," Brian warned.

"On the house," The man grinned at him and gestured for him to go ahead.

Shrugging, Brian picked one up and dug in. Damn, this actually tastes pretty good. I think my taste buds are better in the game.

"So I take it this is your first day?"

Brian nodded.

"Well," The man chuckled. "I'm Cao Cao."

Cao Cao struck Brian as the type who would laugh at a funeral. Like someone who would rather remember the good times he had with the deceased, than mope about the loss. He had skin much tanner than Brian's own. He also seemed to be almost seven feet tall, looking silly behind the much shorter stall. His shaggy black hair was pulled back behind a bandana.

"Brian." Brian informed him between bites, much to Cao Cao's amusement.

"First, do you see this?" He said, pointing at a blue string tied around his upper arm. Thinking back on it, Brian had seen a few people in the market with these strings. Well, more than a few.

Brian nodded.

"Most players choose to wear these." He explained. "It helps us find each other and separate us from the NPCs."

"Oh," This was something he hadn't seen on the Net.

"Next, about finding where that job is." Cao Cao stopped talking for a moment and dug around in his pockets. He pulled out a folded piece of parchment and handed it to Brian.

Unfolding it, he found a crude map of Louyang.

"That is a map of the city. Usually, if you wander around aimlessly for long enough, some NPC will come up to you and ask if you know where you're going. If you say, 'no,' he will give you a copy of that map." He finished, gesturing towards the map in Brian's hands.

Brian had heard of the helper NPC, actually. The game left you up to your own devices, but that didn't mean it couldn't help you from time to time.

"If you open the map and bring up the task on your interface, you'll notice a red circle where you need to go."

As Cao Cao explained, Brian did as he said and found a red circle on the edge of the wide river which split the city.

"Thank you," Brian said, smiling at the helpful man.

"Not a problem. Here," He handed Brian two more of the steamed buns. "Put these in your inventory for later."

Brian did. The process was remarkably odd. He concentrated on the word, 'inventory' and a screen appeared. Then he stuffed the buns into the screen and they disappeared into whatever realm the inventory used.

"Alright, you should be good to go for now."

"Yeah," Brian agreed, standing up.

"One last thing,"

Cao Cao would like to be your friend. Do you accept?

Yes.

"If you have any questions, don't hesitate to shoot me a call whenever I'm online." He explained.

"Will do," Brian stuck out his hand for a shake, which Cao Cao obliged. "Thanks again."

Cao Cao laughed as Brian headed out of the market and towards the gate.

**

As Brian approached the Louyang docks, he reviewed his strategy.

The Jianghu had levels, like most games. However, it also had a stat and skill system. And, despite what you might initially think, leveling up wasn't the best way to gain stats - arguably the most important thing in the game. The best strategy was to do an activity which reflected a stat. Moving heavy cargo on the docks, for example, would raise your strength pretty quick.

Most newbie's failed to understand this. Heck, most veteran players, from what he had read, failed to understand it. Brian had been lucky enough to come across a post discussing it on some message board. So Brian's plan was to do hard labor for the first few weeks. He would do this to save up money and raise his strength. Then, he would be free to put his stat points into something much harder to raise; Wisdom.

There were six major stats in The Jianghu. Strength would be his first goal. It would help his melee-based attacks - both with and without weapons - a lot more damage. Plus, it would increase his maximum carry weight, allow him to jump higher, and help give his legs the strength to run faster. Wisdom was the most obscure of the six stats. Most people ignored it, but Brian had come across a Brazilian players blog, where he mentioned the important of Wisdom when it came to Qi.

And because of that, Brian was going to take a gamble and put all of the points he got from leveling straight into his Wisdom. From what he understand, not many players got the hang of the games Qi system. Most seemed to think it was a myth, which resulted in a lot of players with lost potential. He wasn't so worried about whether or not the tip about Wisdom was true or not, though. If he played his cards right, he would end up with higher stats than the average player either way. It might take a lot of effort, but the rewards - if the rumors are true - will be worth it.

Once he got to the portion of the docks located within the red circle on his map, he began looking for someone who seemed to be in charge. He spotted a slightly pudgy man standing on a large box, overlooking the workers with his arms crossed and doing his best angry face. Thinking back to this former Night Guard leader at the warehouse, he seemed the type.

"Hello!" He yelled, approaching the man.

The man frowned down at Brian.

"Whaddya want?" He demanded.

Brian cleared his throat, "A job!"

The man, who he assumed was Foreman Yao, eyed him for a moment before nodding.

"When the river boats dock," He pointed towards a series of boats tied to the docks. "Take the cargo and put it over there." Gesturing at an area with goods stacked high.

"Alright," Brian replied.

"If you have any questions, ask one of the men. Don't bother me unless it's an emergency, you hear?"

"Yessir!" Was Brian's cheerful reply. His time with Bob-the-Wannabe-Police-Chief back at the warehouse had taught him the best way to get on these types' good side was to act cheerful and worship the ground that they walked on. Food helped, too.

"Oh, sir!" Brian called back at the man.

"What?" Yao growled back.

Brian opened his inventory and removed the two steamed buns. He then walked up to the crate and held them up to Yao.

"I have some extra buns that I thought you might like." Brian explained.

For a moment, Yao looked like he would explode at Brian. He didn't, though. Instead, he reached down and took the buns from Brian. Satisfied that he had gained some Favor with the man, Brian turned back to the docks and walked away.

He got to work immediately. The task was simple enough. Grab things off the boat, put things in the designated area for said things. Most of it being barrels or crates, which made it even easier.

The hardest part was not falling over while making the step from the boat back onto the dock with your hands full with something heavy. One of the men he was working with did that, dropping himself and the barrel he was carrying into the water. Luckily for him, there was a river boat nearby, saving him from drowning and the barrel from floating down river.

Despite this, and the fact that the barrel only had cheap wine in it and was completely fine, Yao sent the man away. Shouting promises of how he will never work on the docks again at the mans back.

As Brian worked, he would get an occasional ping and pop-up screen letting him know his strength had increased. As his strength had started at five, like all level zero characters, the pings came frequently. By the time he had finished two hours of work, he was sitting at twelve strength and about half-way to reaching the first level. He was also able to carry the heavy cargo much easier.

There were pop-ups for other stats, too. Occasionally, he would get stamina points. After the first few, he noticed he wasn't so tired. It was an odd experience, working hard only for the work to get easier and becoming less tired as well. Often when he made the "step of faith" as the men called the practice of walking between boat and dock, he would get a dexterity point as well.

From what Brian understood about the stats, Dexterity would make it easier for him to do anything with precision. While Stamina would give him more energy to do things, such as carry heavy crates.

Looking up at the sky, he noticed the sun seemed to be getting lower. The boat traffic at the dock had also slowed considerably. Earlier, a new boat would arrive every five minutes or so. Now the men were sitting around and waiting for up to twenty minutes before a new boat arrived.

It was during one of these lulls that Yao shouted for the men to gather around.

"Works done for today," He kept it short.

The men began lining up in front of Yao, who had jumped off his crate. Brian, not sure what to do, joined them.

One-by-one, Yao told them how long they had worked and handed them coins. It only took a few minutes for Brian's turn.

"Three hours," Yao commanded, handing Brian a handful of coins.

This surprised Brian as, obviously, he had only done two hours of work. He was about to say as much when Yao stopped him.

"You work hard," He commented. "Now get going." He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder.

After nodding in thanks, Brian did just that and got on his way. As he left the docks, Brian sat about counting his coins. Fifty in all. Which meant he had five-hundred Wen to spend. This pleased him a great deal, as the second step in his plan would cost four-hundred Wen. He had expected to need at least two days of working at the docks to get there, so this was a great boon.

The next step in his game plan consisted of finding one of the many book kiosk around the city. He had read a lot about them and they served mostly as places to gather news, but you could also buy some fairly nice Wuxia novels from them. A lot of them written by Heroic Forest, even. He harbored the hope that he would be able to find a translated version of the mystery Heroic Forest novel. However, this wasn't the primary reason he was looking for the kiosk.

No, he was searching for them because of another rumor he had come across. Apparently, a few of these stands had a "private" collection of books. Most of which were actually Kung Fu manuals. Most people didn't find this out, though, as the NPC would need to like you to share the information freely. Brian hoped simply mentioning the private books would allow him to purchase them, but he wasn't sure.

By the time he found a stand, there were already men walking up and down the city streets lighting lamps. He felt relieved to find the stand still occupied, as he had read about how most shops in the city closed up for the day at around sundown. Only taverns and some wine houses stayed open late, for the large number of laborers who stopped working when it got too dark.

The man behind the stand was old and looked frail. Like most older men in the city, he had a beard which fell below his waist line. His hair was white and wispy, especially on the top of his head where he had gone bald for the most part. He gave Brian a gaping smile, revealing a complete lack of teeth.

Brian returned it with a brief, closed lipped, smile of his own. He then busied himself by checking the books on display. Unfortunately, all he found were a couple of novels he had already read, a few he hadn't but had no interest in, and a handful of news broadsheet.

"Mind if I," Bringing his eyes back to the old man. "Er... May I see your private collection?"

For a moment the old man just continued with his toothless grin. Brian was sure the man was insane. However, the old man reached down under the Kiosk and pulled out a stack of thin books. The adrenaline began to pump. His hopes were once again answered. Sitting before him, in a neat stack, was a small collection of Kung Fu manuals. By themselves, they were useless. Basic skills so easy just about anyone could teach you. Even another players. However, the prize he was after required he go this route.

"How much for this one," He asked, tapping the manual on the top of the stack. It read "Basic Punch."

Instead of responding with his voice, the man held up four fingers.

Nodding, Brian counted out forty of his coins and then handed them to the old man, picking up the manual immediately after.

"Thank you. I'll be back for the rest!" He promised, turning back down the road.

Basic Punch was... well, basic. However, it was the first step to entering the Jianghu. Jianghu as a concept, not as a game. As such, Brian was ecstatic to finally experience his first taste of Kung Fu.

Half-running, Brian made his way back a few blocks to a small park he had passed earlier. As soon as he got there, he opened the manual and began to study it.

There wasn't much to study, however. Just three sketches and an equal number of sentences, describing how to throw the most basic of punches. The first depicted a sketch of a man with his legs spread about shoulder length apart. The next simply showed the same figure with his fist tucked between his chest and waist, fingers facing up. The last showed his fist extended forward, fingers facing inward. The sentences echoed what was shown in the sketches, but in written form.

As he finished examining the last sketch, the manual began to glow. Jerking back, he dropped it. It never reached the ground, though, as it completely disappeared half-way down.

You have learned a new skill!

Basic PunchLevel:0Primary:Strength (+1)Secondary:Dexterity (+0.8)

"Ha!"

Basic Punch. Before he had even finished the thought, his body automatically snapped into the position described into the book and he threw a fairly straight punch.

Brian knew from reading a short guide that to activate a skill, he simply had to think about it. Actually executing the punch was something else, though. It was odd how his body just seemed to remember the movement of the punch, as if he had trained how to do it rather than reading a two-page manual.

Brian also knew he would raise a skills level by using it.

Basic Punch has raised 1 level!

He closed the new windows and looked up at the sun. There was about forty minutes before it became too dark to see. So he set about using those minutes to train his new skill. Using Basic Punch over and over got repetitive fast. But it would reap him some nice rewards. First, he would level up the skill itself. This increased the damage dealt by the skill by small percentages early on, but the higher the skill level the higher the damage. As a slight bonus, it would also net him tiny bits of experience points to go towards his overall level each time his Basic Punch went up a level.

Second, it would help raise the two stats associated with it. Each combat skill had two stats which went with it; a primary and a secondary. Each provided a tiny a portion of bonus damage to go with the natural bonus damage each level of the skill gave. Usually, this was an exceedingly small amount. For example, his current strength gave his Basic Punch one extra damage.

Just as he was about to stop for the night, he received another pop-up.

Congratulations! You've reached level 1!

Please distribute your three (3) stat points.

Brian smiled. He opened his character window, which displayed all of his stats, he put all three points into Wisdom. This put him at eight Wisdom. His strength had also risen by another three points, putting him at fifteen. Dexterity had only gone up by one, giving him nine. All-in-all and superb day, he figured. Not many other newbies could claim this much stat gain on their first day.

Checking his skills, he saw his Basic Punch had gone up to ten. He had stopped paying attention to the ping he got each time the skill went up, so he hadn't been sure how far he had gotten. He gave a satisfied nod of his head and closed everything. Time to head off for the night. He could feel a slight hunger and he was sure he would find his bladder nearing full. It would probably take another three weeks of work to reach the goal he was striving for, and he would have plenty of opportunity to train along the way.

Feeling content with his progress, Brian logged out for the first time.

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