Rays after rays pierced the sky, chirps, and squeaks, an orchestra of birds and insects set a joyous mood to welcome the new day, washing away the dark symphony of the night. His eyes opened, a deep breath left his chest. Stretching his hands up, a yawn wafted along, setting his body in girly curves, he didn't care about the bugs watching. He moved his mouth as if chewing on something and sucking on his teeth. Looking down, he dangled his leg descending from the tree, he did more stretches as he let out weird moans, he enjoyed the full morning menu.

"fortunately meditation helped me keep my mind in check, otherwise...." He took out some nuts, and throw them in his mouth, as his mind took off.

'Ok I survived this first night, but what am I gonna do in the long run!'

'I can't just keep living in the forest!'

He has to decide his future plans, without a clear direction he can't focus on the present, living day by day. It was clear he needs to power up, but he can't do that in the forest. It was full of dangers, with fewer cultivation resources, and knowledge. The beasts have some beast cores, but they can't be used directly, they needed refinement. Unless they are of neutral or of the same affinity as the consumer element, and he needs to risk himself to get them.

Should he return to the clan! now that they made a move on him they would act more urgently to get rid of him. Even if they didn't, his movements would be restricted, and he would be stressed out of his mind. Any wrong move would let him meet the grim reaper. Since they seized the power, there are high chances they might not bother anymore, shamelessly kill him right then and there, without even wasting their time, slandering him with something.

Right then, a memory related to the trial floated to the surface, other than tradition or courage, the youngsters take the trial in preparation to send them to school. It was a big school in a neighboring big city their clan affiliated to. His level was at the 3rd level of body tempering, it took him 4 years since he started sensing Qi. It was excellent for a child of 10 in his small city, it only satisfies the minimum criteria to enter the school though. Considering his options for a while, he couldn't stay in the forest nor go back to his clan, neither he finds it appealing to go to some unknown place.

'OK! I think school is the answer for now!'

The school should provide some security, though the risks remain, it's in no way comparable to the forest or going back to the clan. He can grow stronger there and prepare for the worst, the only problem was, 4 months to go till the entry day, In the last month of summer. He will prepare in the meantime and contemplate his options.

'Now! now! and now! hahaha'

'My beloved system, show yourself'

STATUS Name: Lee Xiaode Age: 10 Main Affiliation: The Fire Snake Clan Strength: 6 Agility: 7 Toughness: 2 Vitality: 2 Stamina: 9 Qi: 7 Soul: unknown Elements Affinities: Lightning: 10 Fire: 6 [+]

'system are you kidding me, how the hell am I affiliated with the fire snake clan, those guys are trying to kill me, remove that sh*t!'

[understood]

'Hoo, you really gonna do it, this system is really friendly heh, I'm sorry for my rudeness hehe'

'Ok let's see what we got here!' his eyes went down state by state, suddenly they popped out.

'Holy moly 10 lightning affinity, overseer sorry I doubted your sincerity, you're the man!'

He liked lighting so much, it was his favorite element. A train of memories flashed through his mind, his wide smile arced down.

'What kind of stupid joke is this, this scum!'

'Does he prepared his revenge to this extent! it can't be a coincidence!'

The lightning affinity he was so happy to own, turned out to be a forbidding element in this kingdom, it's reserved for the royal sect. Anyone training in lightning or possessing related resources was punished by death, no exception.

'F**k your whole family!' he cursed for a long time, whoever had made this rule, and anyone who agreed to it. After running his mouth on the full royal family, the last bits of steam puffed.

'Fortunately I have another affinity, otherwise, I would have started to pray for another transfer'. He decided to keep his prayers for now, as my trump card, he could work with what he got.

'let's not piss off the overseers, I have extreme hell phobia and allergy' the overseer said before something about sending him to hell. Even though he didn't seem to be God, the Creator, he certainly has some say in this matter, he thought.

He took another look at his status, his brows knitted a little bit.

'system why the soul state is unknown'

[The user didn't test enough the power limit of his soul, the other states are calculated based on the analyses of the host memories]

Feeling like another disappointment is about to great him, about his untrained soul, he brushed that off for the moment.

'Hmm, at least this system is cooperative, I give him that'

'System how is my power compared to others'

[the user basic states and fire affinity are above average, lightning affinity is superior based on the host memories]

'not bad!'

[The host environment is of the low end based on the host memories, so the analysis estimates might be inaccurate]

'Well sys, that was unnecessary! really!'

'System you can OMIT that [based on the host memories]; I GOT IT!'

[Understood]

Recollecting over the system answers, and his experience looking for food. He didn't have time to think about it carefully back then, it seems the calculations are based on acquired knowledge. It doesn't seem like those omnipotent systems that he read about in novels, he didn't know why, he started to feel uneasy about this. like the disappointment you get once you start to see the flaws in your overpriced smartphone!

Thinking about it some more his eyes glistened a little bit, maybe this isn't as bad as he thought. He thought of an idea to test the water.

'System show me a map of the continent'

'cancel, instead, show me the map of the kingdom'

[Please wait, analysis is ongoing...]

Waiting for the map to load, his thoughts flowed the significance of that, the possibilities of his system. A map appeared in the transparent interface interrupting him. a circle was drawn labeled with thick words, The Nine Boulders Kingdom. Inside it, a circle about sixth of it, by the name of Thunder Gods' Kingdom, named after the ruling sect Thunder Gods. Many small circles were inside, except for 2 territories, that were drawn in more details. In the south of the kingdom was the Fire Snake City named after his clan. not far from it, to the north, a city stretched separated by a big forest, The Divine Lotus City was about 10 times bigger.

[note that the map is inaccurate, the host didn't travel often, so the positions and size is but raw estimations, more data is needed]

"So this small shitty kingdom in the mouth of another kingdom is trying to stop me from using lightning heh"

"f*** that! I will use it even if it means I leave this god damn kingdom"

"Anyway as long as I have the knowledge, the system can do wonders with it heh, this is great!"

'Ok now what should I do' he closed the map interface, thinking about his next stop. There is so much he could worry about, he remembered something.

'System show me that map again'

He looked at the map, in particular, a label was in the zone of the forest where he resides. His head bent forward, the interface kept its distance away from him, the muscles around his left eye pulsed.

"System what do you mean by safe zone, damn it?"

[It's a zone in the forest close to the human settlements known to be less frequented by monsters]

"This useless mind! all it's good at is bringing me bad memories"

"It would have saved me a lot of stress! sh**!..."

He decided to train a little bit to cool off his anger, he found his way to the clearing. Looking around making sure no one around he moved. A step after another, punches mingling with trusts, the sun kept rising until he a sound came from behind, light steps closed on him.

He runs and looked back, his eyes almost popping out, only to find a small fox looking back at him. It was the size of a chihuahua, with a thick orange fur, big amber eyes, big ears, yes all of those. It screamed at his senses with come right here, and rub this cute little fox. He lived enough though, to understand that beauty has nothing to do with character. Though humiliating he didn't let down his guard, this small fox might be dangerous, he felt that this little fox wasn't a normal one. Even though it has a similar feature to earth, it looked ferocious for some reason.

'It's him, why the hell is this fox stalking me!'

He decided to face him this time, he was more confident in himself, he wasn't about to let his self-esteem got any lower. He didn't know what it wants so he didn't know how to deal with it. The good thing though, it doesn't seem the little fox wants a piece of him, it showed no hostility.

'It didn't think of me as his mother or something'

'There's no way it wants to be my familiar, I can't be that lucky,' with all the bad news he hoped for some change. But he tried lotto a few times when he was young to learn lessons about luck.

His thoughts come to an end. His body faltered awkwardly, as the little fox suddenly barked, high pitched barks compared to dogs, annoying bark.

'What... what's the problem with this guy, just when I started to get a good impression of him'

His eyes bulged a little bit, his head swung right and left. Even though it was a safe zone, it said less frequented not, void of beasts. Worse it means this place was safe for humans.

'Is this guy trying to kill us both'

'Shut the f*** up'

'Shut up this mother f***'

He grabbed a stone, but he hesitated wither to threaten it, he doesn't want to escalate the situation. They could go their separate ways like gentlemen.

"Shhh, shhh, good boy"

"Stop it! this bastard!"

The little fox just seemed to disagree, it just won't stop barking, he eventually throws the stone at him. The fox just tilted his head and lets it go past him like it was a joke, that kind of confidence didn't sit well with him. Fortunately, the little fox stopped barking, and it didn't seem it intend to pursue the matter, it kept looking at him.

He grabbed his forehead shaking his head. In the end, he was forced to listen seriously to its demands. The fox as if taking note of the change in his mind, it turned in a different direction and started to bark before it takes off, it stopped again, turned its head and stared at him.

'So you want me to follow you, OK!' he deliberated for moments before he said.

"Look, little boy, I don't care what you want to show me, I'm a busy man here I don't have time to waste, go look for somebody else!'

Pestered by the little fox for a long time, he followed it in the end. It didn't take them much when a clearing appeared, a rocky spot was further ahead surrounding a part of it. As they come close, a creature slowly made its appearance from between the rocks, It was a bigger version of the little fox, a fierce version. What was more notable about it, other than a frown, were canines reflecting the light between its sharp teeth. And what was more worrying though was its size, it was bigger than a dog, he didn't feel welcome here, so he excused himself backing off slowly.

'That's wasn't our deal mother f***, does this bastard just brought food to his parents'

The little fox runs to its parent and rubbed its head on its legs, seeing this filial piety didn't bring tears to his eyes. No curses spat out either, instead, sh*t almost shot holes in his pants, if not for a limp that the bigger fox made sometimes as it steps out.

'You would succeed as a businessman, you just convinced a stupid as* to offer himself for free'

The little fox barked some sense into its parent, because he saw the frown disappeared from the latter as it looked at him. But he didn't put his guard down, he feared that maybe it told its parent that's he was a stupid prey. He would offer himself without need for violence or something, he lost his trust in the little fox.

'So what now! are they gonna fight me together or what!' as he looked at fox limp, a made a positive idea to comfort himself.

'Maybe he thinks I am some kind of doctor, would they attack if they got disappointed'

If these animals were smart enough to ask for help they should be smart enough to ask something reasonable, or so he hoped.

'Ok let's think!'

'This guys seems not your average animals'

'Maybe I can communicate with them as in the novels'

The bigger fox suddenly started to stroll toward him, the limp barely visible, Majed followed each of its steps, with his eyes bulging, his breaths increasing, and his heart boomed alarmingly. With each step closer his rates increased until the fox body caught on fire, its long fur danced with red flames, he didn't enjoy the beauty, the fox bolted toward him.

'F*ck! I was really tricked'