The Undying Immortal System

Dying is hard. No matter how many times I experience it, it doesn't get any easier.

I could say that the first time was the worst, but that would be a lie. I've had many deaths worse than the first. Still, the first time I died was the only time I truly believed it would be my end. That caused a different kind of pain.

My first life was long ago. So long ago that I can barely remember anything about that time anymore. After my first death, I endured a dozen lives filled with nothing but pain and suffering. Then, once I found my footing, I began to experience the joy and wonder of living in a brand-new world. All of this, of living innumerable lives without end, has made my first life feel so distant. So… detached.

I've even forgotten my name from that first life. It's disappeared in the long river of time.

I do remember having a sister.

I can't remember anything about her anymore, not even her name, but I remember caring about her. She was my only family at the end. Allowing these memories to fade is one problem I have not yet fixed. Not yet. Forgetting makes living easier.

When I died, it was sudden. My sister had gotten into some kind of trouble, and I was in a hurry to save her. It was rushing that led to my death.

Maybe it's strange that I don't even remember the details of how I died, but I've died so many times since then. All I remember anymore is that I had a sister, she was in trouble, and I wanted to save her.

I do, however, remember what came next.

My consciousness floated in an empty void. Everything was nothingness. I could not see. There was nothing to see. I could not feel. There was nothing to feel. Time passed, but it was impossible to know how long I stayed there.

What is your desire?

I had no ears, but the question echoed through my mind. The voice was commanding, as if all things must listen when it spoke. It was the entity I would later come to know of as the Earthly Dao. It was a being that controlled, not ruled, but controlled, an entire world.

My final thoughts echoed through my mind.

I wanted to live. I wanted to live for my sister.

That is compatible. I can grant you a new life. You will have the chance to see her again. You will even have the power to help her in any way she requires, eventually.

Do you accept this blessing?

Yes!

Agreement noted.

Sensation crashed into me.

I was kneeling. The ground beneath me was packed dirt. A gentle wind blew through my hair. The air smelled clean and had the slight chill of a day in early spring.

I opened my eyes to see that I was in a large courtyard filled with people kneeling on the ground. There had to be dozens of us lined up in tidy rows. Everyone had their eyes closed and looked like they were in deep meditation.

I was so shocked I shouted something and tried to bolt to my feet, but I stumbled.

"闭嘴!"

At the head of the courtyard, a middle-aged man stood on a small platform and glared at me. I had no idea what he was saying, but his 'shut the hell up' face didn't need any translating.

I quickly shut the hell up. I didn't know what was happening, or why I suddenly appeared here, but I would try to play my part until I could understand.

I tried to get back into the kneeling posture everyone else was in, but my discomfort was obvious. Fortunately, not long after my outburst, everyone else in the courtyard began to open their eyes. When the last person awakened, the man up front shouted again.

"起立!"

Everyone started to stand, so I followed along.

The courtyard we were in was surrounded by red-plastered walls nearly eight meters tall, and the area of packed dirt we had been kneeling on was surrounded by a border paved with large gray bricks. At the head of the courtyard was the carved, dark wood platform the shouting man stood upon.

To the left of the platform was a massive red double door. It was adorned with seven rows and seven columns of large brass studs laid out in a rectangular grid.

The group of helpless young men and women I was in was herded out of the courtyard.

Outside, the scenery barely changed as we entered onto a wide road paved with the same gray bricks. The same red walls sealed off both sides of the road, preventing us from being able to see the world around us. We could only go forward or back into the courtyard we had just left.

The man in charge guided us down the road and through a few crossroads, but the tall red walls were everywhere, completely blocking our sight.

As we walked, we passed several more large, studded doors, but nearly all of them were closed. Only a single one was open. Through this doorway, I caught a brief glimpse of an idyllic garden trapped within the red walls of this prison. A soft breeze brought me the smells of fresh flowers and a spring day, but this vision of serenity didn't last. We were quickly hurried onward.

No sounds could be heard from the world beyond the red walls that surrounded us. All I could hear was the trod of feet as we marched.

At first, staying in step with everyone was simple enough. We were only walking, after all. However, the further we went, the more tired I felt, and after only a couple hundred meters, I began to feel a sense of extreme fatigue. Still, I pushed on and did my best not to fall behind.

Our group was taken to a courtyard in a remote corner of this maze-like complex of red corridors. While this courtyard was extremely spacious, it felt no less claustrophobic than the rest of the complex had. It held nearly fifty tiny wooden shacks that had been crammed together in tight rows, and the same high red walls encircled everything, looming over us and making me feel like a frog trapped at the bottom of a well.

The only place in this courtyard with enough space for me to fully extend both arms without hitting a wall was a large square of sandy soil at its far end. At first sight, I thought that this might be a place for us to stretch our legs in these cramped confines, but on closer inspection, I could see large patches of red staining the square's tan soil.

At this point, the man leading us started talking and giving directions. Unfortunately, I couldn't understand a single word he said.

Eventually, everyone in the group started entering different houses, so not knowing what else to do, I went with the flow. I picked a house at random and entered it.

From the outside, the building looked to be a small shack made of rotten lumber. Inside, the place was cramped and dirty, and it held the musty odor of mildew. The wooden floors looked like they had seen the passing of millennia. Nearly every floorboard was cracked and broken, and weeds had begun poking through and growing in the room's corners.

The only item of furniture inside was a rolled-up sleeping mat, but the total square footage of the house wasn;t even enough room to completely unroll the thing.

I hadn't seen anyone leaving a house after entering one, so I decided to sit down and wait until I heard movement outside. It wasn't comfortable, but I was nearly out of breath, and I needed a place to recuperate. This tiny house offered me a place to do so while I thought through my situation.

Being in an unfamiliar environment, the walk from the courtyard where I started, through the complex, and to this house had felt like it took a long time, but the distance wasn't really that great. A normal person wouldn't have even noticed it. However, it had nearly exhausted me, and I had felt like fainting more than once along the way. There had to be something wrong with my body.

I lifted up an arm and rolled up the sleeve of my robe. The sight of the limb that greeted me made me wince. My arm looked like little more than a bare twig. It lacked any sign of either muscle or bone. Upon checking a few other body parts, I confirmed that the previous owner of this body had been suffering from extreme malnourishment.

As I was examining my body, I couldn't help but take a moment to look at my hair. Like everyone else I had seen in this world, my hair was pitch black and long enough to reach my lower back. It had been done up in a loose queue, but split ends poked out of it between every weave. As I ran my fingers across this braid, the oil and dirt I felt made me think that this body hadn't had a proper bath in weeks. I wasn't against being a man with long hair, especially not if it was the local fashion, but I would need to do a better job of maintaining it than the former owner had done.

I couldn't help but shake my head at such silly thoughts. I was stuck in a foreign world, incapable of understanding a single word anyone said, and I was thinking more about my hairstyle than I was about survival. What was I doing?

Alone and confused, I began muttering to myself to try and focus.

"What the hell is going on?"

My question went unanswered.

I began to think through the events of the past hours. Already, thoughts of my previous life had become fleeting. If I didn't concentrate, my mind didn't want to return to that life. It wanted to focus on the here and now. When I did concentrate on that life, I felt remorse for forgetting, but my thoughts would always drift away from it. The cares and concerns from before didn't seem to matter anymore.

More prominent in my thoughts was the voice in the void. I had accepted its 'blessing.' What did that mean? A new life and the power to… help. I did want to help… people, but what 'power' was I given that would let me do so?

I waited in my small room for what felt like days, but it was likely less than an hour. Stuck in an unfamiliar new environment with no idea of why or what I was supposed to do, my sense of time became a little screwy.

I should have just waited patiently in that awful shack. I knew that, but I couldn't help feeling that simply sitting around and waiting for something to happen was a mistake. I needed to get out there and try to… do something.

I stood up and walked outside.

The entire area looked abandoned. Everyone was holed up in their tiny houses doing whatever it was we were all supposed to be doing in there. I made a circuit of the courtyard, but other than our tiny homes, all I found was the open area of packed soil, which had a metallic, rusty smell to it, and the outhouse, which had a rather… unpleasant smell to it.

With no one to talk to, I couldn't help but mutter to myself once more.

"What should I do?"

I could try opening someone's door and forcing my way in, but that seemed like a bad idea. I couldn't understand what anyone around me was saying, and even if I could, breaking and entering was a poor way to start a conversation.

I could go back to my room and wait, but that was too passive. I needed to act.

I walked up to the large gateway we had entered from. Two massive, red-painted slabs of wood covered in brass studs blocked my path. I knew that meant we were not supposed to leave. I knew that I should return to my small house and wait for something to happen.

I knew this, but I needed to keep moving forward.

Anyway, what was the worst that would happen? Getting yelled at by the shouty guy wouldn't be pleasant, but the fear of someone screaming at me wasn't enough to stop me.

I didn't hesitate. I walked forward and pulled with all my strength to force the doors open. They were heavy and didn't want to move. I put all my weight on the copper ring that served as a door handle and pulled with everything I had. It wasn't much, but the door did begin to budge. That was all that was needed.

As soon as the doorway cracked, a man on the other side pushed it fully open.

He yelled something at me that I didn't understand, and I said something to him that he didn't understand. He yelled at me again, and frustrated, I yelled right back at him…

In a fit of anger, he punched me directly in the center of my chest.

My skin and bones offered no resistance to the force contained in his fist.

After a brief, sharp pain, my mind went blank. I barely felt anything as my chest caved in and my organs ruptured.

As my vision faded, I almost wanted to laugh at the shocked expression on the guard's face. He had just killed one of his charges. I was sure he would have a lot of fun when he had to explain why to Ol' Shouty.

You have died. Calculating…

You died as a Martial Disciple 1 — 10 credits awarded.

Total Credits: 10

Sensation crashed into me.

I was kneeling. The ground beneath me was packed dirt. A gentle wind blew through my hair. The air smelled clean and had the slight chill of a day in early spring.

I opened my eyes to see that I was in a courtyard full of people all kneeling on the ground.

It was all the same. With all the same neat, tidy rows of people.

I was so shocked that I shouted something unintelligible and tried to bolt to my feet, but I stumbled once again.

"闭嘴!"

At the head of the courtyard, the exact same middle-aged man stood on a small platform and glared at me. I had no idea what he was saying, but again, his 'shut the hell up' face didn't need any translating.

This same thing had happened to me not more than a few hours ago, so maybe it shouldn't have been too surprising, but I hadn't yet fully grasped what was happening to me. All I knew was that I had already died twice in less than a day.

Fearing that the bastard in front of me might want to be the cause of my third death, I decided to shut up.

After that, everything played out the same way it had previously. We got up, walked for a while, and then entered our tiny houses. This time, I decided not to go out for a walk. I sat down on my sleeping mat and tried to figure out what I should do. That's when I heard a semi-robotic voice echo through my mind.

System initialization complete.

Welcome to the Undying Immortal System.

10 credits available. If you wish to make a purchase, simply say 'System.'

"What? Who are you?"

I received no response. I waited, but even after a full minute, I still heard nothing more.

I decided to try getting more information.

"What is the Undying Immortal System?"

No response.

"What are credits?"

No response.

Finally, I tried actually following the instructions I had been given.

"System… I would like to make a purchase?"

State your desired purchase.

I quirked up an eyebrow. "What is available?"

Basic information about products available for purchase. Cost 1 credit.

That told me something, at least. I could buy information. The fact that I had to purchase information about what I could purchase was not very happy-making, but I could deal with it.

"Yes, I want to buy that."

Purchase confirmed. 9 credits remaining.

The System can be used to purchase anything. You can learn new skills, change your body, acquire items of powerful magic, or anything else. As long as you have sufficient funds, you can buy anything.

However, everything you want to purchase will have an associated cost. The greater the purchase's effect on the world, the more expensive it will be. Credits are the most basic form of System currency. They can only be used on mortal-level purchases. For more powerful purchases, higher tiers of currency must be used.

"System, I want to be sent back home."

Processing… Teleportation to your home world. Cost is not possible to calculate at this time.

Ok, I needed more credits, but at least it was a possibility for the future.

So, what did I need for the present?

"System, I want to understand the languages of this world."

Learning all languages extant in the Nine Rivers Continent. Cost is not possible to calculate at this time.

"Okay, what about just learning the local language."

Learning the Western Han Language. Cost 100 credits.

That wasn't good. I only had 9 credits left. How could I get more?

"Sys—" I started to make another request but was cut off.

Processing… An external entity has discounted the price of learning the language. Cost 1 credit.

"Buy it!"

Purchase confirmed. 8 credits remaining.

Knowledge slammed into me. It left me a little woozy, but in my daze, I inherently understood that I knew an entirely new language. It felt like I was born knowing it. Thinking in this new language almost felt more natural than thinking in the one I had spoken my entire life.

After regaining my senses. I returned to a crucial bit of information. I had just arrived on this alien world, and all I had done so far was get punched in the chest. Why was there suddenly some 'external entity' who was both willing and able to give me a discount? What were its motives?

"System, what did you mean about an external entity?"

The cost of that information is not possible to calculate at this time.

"Why did I receive a 'discount'?"

The cost of that information is not possible to calculate at this time.

I didn't believe for a second that some entity was handing out discounts for no reason. Whatever it was had to have some hidden motivation for doing so. However, I felt like I was hitting my head with a rock,so I decided to try something else.

"System, how do I earn more credits?"

Basic information on how to earn System credits. Cost 1 credit.

"Ok, Purchase it."

Purchase confirmed. 7 credits remaining.

Whenever you die, you will be returned to your permanent reset point and will be rewarded credits. The number of credits you receive will reflect your cultivation level at the time of your death. The higher your cultivation level, the more credits.

Note: Quick, repeated, intentional deaths may result in administrative action.

That warning was a bit troubling. I didn't want to die in the first place. I had done that twice already, and even if the second time was rather quick, it wasn't an experience I had enjoyed.

Deciding not to linger on thoughts of death, I put any further questions for the system aside for the moment. I needed to understand what was happening in the world around me. I stood up and confidently walked out of my tiny one-room house.

My back-and-forth with the system hadn't actually taken too long. In fact, I exited my room even earlier than I had in my previous life. So, of course, there was still no one out and about.

With a comprehensive understanding of the local language, I decided to try my luck with the gate guard again. Hopefully, he wouldn't just kill me this time. If he did… that just meant I would get a few extra credits, right?

The gate was just as hard to open this time as it had been the last time, but again, the guard helped me out after I got it started.

Then, once it was fully open, he glared at me. "What are you doing? No one is allowed out."

At first, I was nervous, but when I was able to understand him, I was so happy I started smiling.

"Yes, sorry, I just wanted to know what's going on."

"What?" His voice was tinged with anger and annoyance.

"Sorry, I'm just not sure what I should be doing."

"Go back inside and wait for your turn!"

Not wanting to die again, I backed away and did a quick two-step to hurriedly return to my tiny house. That guy had anger issues, and it would do no good to poke a bear.

Just as I reentered my row of houses, a door opened up and a young man walked outside. He was wearing a red hanfu robe that was covered in bright gold embroidery. The cuffs of his robe were tied tight against his wrists with elegant leather straps, and his long hair was done up in a tight bun at the back of his head.

"What are you doing?" He glared at me. "It's you. First, you were a nuisance during the ceremony. Now, you bother us during our meditation."

A smirk crossed the boy's face, and he assumed a fighting stance. "Let this daddy teach you how to behave."

I wanted to respond, but before I could, he rushed at me and punched me directly in the chest. Like with the guard, my sternum broke and my ribs snapped. Something must have punctured a lung because I couldn't breathe. I began coughing up blood.

When the guard had killed me, he was powerful enough to end my life quickly. This time, I wasn't so lucky. As my body collapsed to the ground, I tasted only copper. I felt only pain.

In front of me, all I could see was a pair of embossed leather boots.

I turned my head and looked up at the face of my killer. This boy didn't show any of the signs of surprise and worry that the guard had. His face held only a malicious smirk.

You have died. Calculating…

You died as a Martial Disciple 1 — 10 credits awarded.

Total Credits: 17