Era of Mist

A night of peaceful sleep.

Shi Tiexin woke up at six the next morning. For one, he had gone to bed early yesterday and was fully rested. For another, he hadn’t had a single drop to drink or a single grain of rice to eat since last night, so he was also woken by hunger.

He opened his eyes and felt something strange on his face. It was a book. He figured that last night, blinded by the dormitory light, he must have groggily pulled a book from his bundle to cover his face.

He listened closely. The other seven people in the room were all asleep—snoring, farting, and grinding their teeth in a full symphony. The stench from several pairs of smelly feet made Shi Tiexin cry out in silent despair.

’This is even worse than the Tumu Castle Orphanage! At least the Orphanage was guaranteed to be sanitary, no matter what. But the hygiene here...’ He glanced at the basin of clothes left to soak but never washed in the corner of the room. ’Are those things about to start growing mushrooms or what?!’

’Can’t a single damn good thing happen in this life?’

Extremely frustrated, Shi Tiexin reached up and took the book off his face. His eyes were lifeless as he subconsciously glanced at the cover. The title read, "High School Mathematics - Grade 1, Volume 2." Just as he was about to flip through it casually, a few words suddenly appeared in his vision.

[Secret Manual: Basic Mathematics, Third Level (Fragment, 1/4)]

THUD. Shi Tiexin shot upright, the bedframe groaning in protest. His eyes were as wide as a bull’s.

’Wh-wh-wh-what the f-f-fuck!’

’What’s going on?!’

Shi Tiexin put the book down, and the text in his vision vanished.

He picked it up again and focused on it for a moment. The text reappeared.

’My eyes aren’t playing tricks on me, are they...’

Shi Tiexin tossed the math book aside and hurriedly fished another one out of his bundle. The cover read, "High School Chemistry - Grade 1, Volume 2." As he focused his gaze on it, the text in his vision appeared as expected.

[Secret Manual: Basic Chemistry, Third Level (Fragment, 1/2)]

Shi Tiexin slowly lowered the book, his eyes glazing over.

’It’s real...’

’It’s really real...’

’Something good... really did happen!!’

At that moment, Shi Tiexin was so excited he wanted to throw his head back and roar at the sky again.

The third-level secret manuals for the Six Basic Heart Techniques were incredibly valuable. Not to mention, if he failed the minor county-level examination, his social status and financial situation would make it impossible for him to even come into contact with them.

At the Tumu Castle Star Worker School, besides Basic Mathematics and Basic Rhetoric, he could only access the first level of the other four Fundamental Heart Skills. And the price... it was always enough to make a hero like him despair. He had to scrape and scrounge just to afford the textbook fees.

Now, he looked at the chemistry manual in his hand, flipped it over, and saw the price clearly printed on the back.

17.90 yuan.

What did 17.90 yuan even mean? What was its purchasing power? How much effort did it take to earn that much? Shi Tiexin didn’t know the answers to these questions yet. His understanding of this world would have to deepen through his own exploration and the thawing of his other consciousness.

But one thing was crystal clear—he looked at the small bundle he had carelessly tossed onto his bed last night. It was stuffed full of these kinds of books. He opened it and rummaged through them. Besides math and chemistry, he found a fragment of the second-level Basic Physics (1/2), a fragment of the third-level Basic Biology (1/2), and more. It had everything.

This small bundle alone, if taken back to Tumu Castle... it couldn’t be called priceless, but it was valuable enough that many of the staff would have to work for a very long time to afford it.

However... Shi Tiexin’s brow furrowed.

’Fragment? 1/2?’

He had never seen this type of secret manual before. The first-level Basic Mathematics he had seen at the Star Worker School was just a thin booklet. There was no "Fragment, X out of Y" business.

’Don’t tell me... you can’t cultivate with a fragment?’

Shi Tiexin quickly picked up the "Basic Mathematics, Third Level" fragment, carefully wiped his hands on his clothes, and rubbed them together until they were red. Only then, with extreme anticipation, did he open the book titled "High School Mathematics - Grade 1, Volume 2."

The result was both a joy and a worry.

The joy was that this secret manual was of high quality. The printing was clear, and its structure was logical and progressive. Even though Shi Tiexin couldn’t understand the specific content, he knew it was much better than the first-level manual he’d gotten at the Star Worker School. Though it was a fragment, seeing it put his mind at ease. The content was so detailed, there was no reason it couldn’t be used for cultivation. If cultivation manuals had grades, this one was clearly crafted with more care and was of a much higher grade than the one he had.

The worry, however, was that as he flipped through it, he realized he couldn’t understand a single thing. Every character was printed clearly, but to him, it was no different from an indecipherable sacred text.

After flipping through it for a moment, more text appeared in his vision.

[Prerequisites not met. The "Basic Mathematics, Third Level (Fragment)" secret manual cannot be cultivated successfully.]

[Prerequisites: 1. Cultivate "Basic Mathematics, Second Level" to Passable or higher. 2. Possess the prerequisite secret manual fragments.]

[Reminder: The higher your cultivation level in "Basic Mathematics, Second Level," the faster you will cultivate this secret manual. If cultivation is forced, the less the prerequisites are met, the slower your progress will be. It may even lead to deviations or Qi deviation.]

’So that’s how it works?’

Shi Tiexin wasn’t too worried about the manual’s completeness. Even though only the outermost layer of his other consciousness had dissolved, he was well aware that his "secret manuals" were called "textbooks" here, and he had a complete set. The text indicated that the third-level Basic Mathematics secret manual consisted of four fragments in total. A moment’s thought was all it took for Shi Tiexin to realize that the other three must be "High School Mathematics - Grade 1, Volume 1," and the two volumes for "Middle School Mathematics - Grade 4."

He had all the manuals.

This fact made Shi Tiexin indescribably happy.

But the biggest problem was that these secret manuals required a "Passable" level or higher in second-level Basic Mathematics to cultivate. And according to the reminder, "Passable" was likely just the bare minimum. To cultivate the third level quickly, he would need to get the second level to "Good" or even "Excellent."

’So, what exactly is my Basic Mathematics level?’

He focused his mind, and text once again floated before his eyes.

[Basic Mathematics, First Level: Passable.]

’After all that, my Basic Mathematics is only at the first level, Passable?!’

The cultivation of any Martial Arts Secret Manual had several stages. As far as Shi Tiexin knew, they included three levels: Passable, Good, and Excellent. Anything before Passable was considered a failure. A failed martial art was completely useless and not even worth mentioning. That was why, even though Shi Tiexin clearly remembered having cultivated the second level of Basic Mathematics, it didn’t show up on the interface at all. He figured it must have been at a failed level.

As for whether there were other levels beyond those three, Shi Tiexin’s experience didn’t tell him. However, he had a faint feeling that there must be a level above Excellent, because his own basic fist techniques didn’t feel like they had reached their limit yet.

’I wonder what level my other techniques are?’

He focused his mind and felt a response as text appeared once more.

[Basic Essence Nourishment Technique: Excellent]

[Basic Fist Arts: Excellent]