I, a Servant in the Landowner's Manor, System Activated!

"Mo Chen, get up and chop the wood!"

It was the fourth quarter of the Yin hour, the dead of night.

Inside the servant quarters of Landowner Lu's manor in Yunyi County, Mo Chen was deep in a dream about beautiful women and luxury cars when a heavy kick suddenly jolted him awake.

He opened his eyes to see a young, delicate boy standing before him, looking anxious and shaking him repeatedly.

"Brother Mo, get up quickly, Steward Liu is furious..."

Mo Chen's brain stalled for a split second.

Then, when he saw the patched, tattered hemp clothes on the boy, his expression shifted violently.

Damn it, I overslept!

Without a word, he rolled off the bed, grabbed the axe from the corner, and rushed out the door.

In the courtyard, many servant disciples were already busy.

Some were carrying water, some chopping wood, some cutting vegetables, and others tending the fires to cook...

Even before dawn, the entire backyard was a scene of frantic activity.

However, in the center of the courtyard stood a middle-aged man with a hooked nose, cursing and lashing out at the passing servants with a leather whip.

"What are you good for? So slow! If you delay the masters and mistresses' meal, can you afford the consequences?"

"Damned wretches! Move faster! Is the chicken soup for the young ladies stewing yet? At this speed, do you expect them to eat breakfast at noon?"

The sound of the whip cracking, accompanied by cries of pain, made Mo Chen and Little Five shiver as they snuck into the wood-chopping line.

"Clang!"

Mo Chen swung his axe, splitting the log in front of him in two.

But before he could swing a second time, a piercing whistle cut through the air beside his ear.

"Snap!"

The two-meter-long leather whip landed heavily on Mo Chen's back.

In an instant, a searing, stinging pain nearly made him black out. He let out a muffled groan, his face turning deathly pale.

"Mo Chen, don't think I didn't see you. If you dare to sleep in tomorrow, don't blame me for being ruthless!"

Steward Liu sneered, his face dark and gloomy.

He turned his head.

Another crack of the whip echoed.

"Ah!" Little Five, standing nearby, screamed and collapsed to the side.

"Wang Xiaowu! You too! If you dare sleep in again, I'll break your legs!"

Steward Liu, holding his long whip, cursed in a cold, sharp voice.

Little Five curled into a ball, his face twisted in agony, wailing as his forehead and clothes were instantly soaked in sweat. He rolled on the ground, begging for mercy.

"I won't do it again... I really won't..."

That son of a bitch... Mo Chen felt a surge of indignation, but he could only grit his teeth and curse silently, not daring to stand up or help Little Five.

This was simply because the body he had transmigrated into was that of a low-level slave in Landowner Lu's manor.

His indenture contract was still held firmly in their hands.

According to the laws of the Great Mystic, even if a slave were beaten to death by their master, the authorities wouldn't even bat an eye.

Damn it! Once I find a way out of here, I'll kill this Liu bastard sooner or later!

He swung his axe again.

Mo Chen vented his inner rage onto the log before him.

As if the log were Steward Liu himself, he split it in two with a single blow.

Just then.

[Ding! Congratulations, you have activated the "Martial Arts Master" system.]

A transparent status panel suddenly appeared before Mo Chen's eyes.

[Name: Mo Chen]

[System Level: Tier 1]

[Martial Arts: None]

[Wealth: One tael]

[Exchangeable Martial Arts Cultivation Progress: One month.]

[Equippable Slots: One]

Mo Chen waved his hand, but the transparent panel floating in the air did not disappear.

He rubbed his eyes, and the panel remained, hovering right in front of him.

Mo Chen was stunned. "Wait... this isn't a hallucination?"

In an instant, he understood the purpose of this system.

Silver could be used to upgrade the system or exchange for martial arts cultivation progress.

Upgrading the system to Tier 2 required ten taels of silver and one tael of gold, which would allow him to equip two items simultaneously.

As for cultivation progress, twelve taels of silver could be exchanged for one year of progress, averaging one tael per month.

Currently, he hadn't learned any martial arts, so he couldn't make an exchange.

Equipping gear could directly increase his personal attributes and strength, and the more items equipped, the greater the stacking effect.

Mo Chen looked at the axe in his hand, and detailed data immediately appeared before him.

[Common Iron Axe]

[Level: Unranked]

[Equipping Requirement: None]

[Attribute: Strength bonus 20%]

"Strength bonus..."

Mo Chen's heart stirred, and he turned to look at the axes of the others.

There were four servants chopping wood. Aside from Mo Chen and Little Five, who were still young and not yet adults, the other two, Li Dazhuang and Shi Yong, were seasoned men in their mid-thirties.

They had been using their axes for over a decade.

[Common Iron Axe]

[Level: Unranked]

[Equipping Requirement: None]

[Attribute: Strength bonus 50%]

[Common Iron Axe]

[Level: Unranked]

[Equipping Requirement: None]

[Attribute: Strength bonus 90%, Special bonus: Lightweight.]

"Hmm?" Mo Chen's eyes lit up, and he immediately locked his gaze on Li Dazhuang's axe.

On Li Dazhuang's axe, he had actually discovered another attribute—Lightweight.

"Lightweight, does that mean the axe is lighter and saves more effort when used?"

Mo Chen looked at the second axe with a touch of envy.

As a wood-chopping servant, he certainly couldn't leave the wood shed anytime soon.

If he could obtain this axe, he would not only gain a 90% strength bonus but also the lightweight attribute, saving him a great deal of energy. And by saving energy, he would have the stamina to do other things.

Like practicing martial arts!

"I have to get up at the Yin hour every day to chop wood, and by the time I finish the day's quota, it's almost noon."

"After eating, there's no time to rest before I have to go up the mountain to gather more wood. If I don't find another way, I'll never have the chance to practice martial arts in this life."

Thinking of this, Mo Chen glanced back at Steward Liu, who was still shouting and beating people. He suppressed his thoughts for the moment and continued chopping his wood at a steady, unhurried pace.

"Move it, all of you! If the meal isn't ready before dawn, don't blame me for being ruthless!"

Steward Liu's shouting echoed through the entire backyard, making all the servants nervous and causing them to quicken their pace by a third.

Finally, when the roosters crowed, all the food was prepared.

The masters had not yet risen.

Even though the servants' stomachs were growling with hunger, not a single one of them could eat.

It wasn't until the sky was bright and the sun had emerged from the east that the Landowner's wife, young masters, and young ladies were attended to by their maids for dressing and washing.

By the time Mo Chen and the other servants were finally about to eat, it was already the fourth quarter of the Si hour.

The sun was nearly directly overhead.

"Son of a bitch, we got up at four in the morning, and it's almost ten and they still haven't served food..."

Even though he had been in this world for three months, Mo Chen still couldn't adapt to eating breakfast so late.

If they were sleeping in until ten, that would be one thing, but damn it, they had no way to sleep in at all.

They rose earlier than the oxen and had to put in a full five or six hours of manual labor before they could eat.

No one could hold up under this!

"Clang!"

Sweat drenched Mo Chen's head as he gritted his teeth and swung his axe down.

Because he was so hungry and lacked strength, the wooden stake only suffered a small notch.

"Gurgle, gurgle..."

At this moment, a series of protests erupted from a stomach nearby.

Mo Chen turned his head to look.

Little Five, who was three years younger than him, looked sallow and thin, his lips pale.

His hands, currently gripping the axe, were trembling so violently that he hadn't been able to lift the tool for quite a while.

Seeing Mo Chen looking over, Little Five managed a strained smile. "Brother Mo, I... I really don't have any strength left. Could you help me chop this remaining bundle of firewood? I'll owe you one."

Mo Chen wanted to say that he didn't have any strength left either.

But seeing Little Five's ghastly pale face and cracked lips, and remembering how Little Five had often helped him out, he couldn't bring himself to refuse.

Little Five had even taken a lash of the whip that morning just for waking him up.

"Fine! Leave this firewood to me; go take a rest."

After saying this, Mo Chen glanced in the direction of Li Dazhuang, his eyes flashing, and walked over.