The First System Hosts
Liu Yi looked at Xu Household Village before him, a village under the jurisdiction of Green Mountain Town.
He had decided to conduct the system 1.0 experiment in the countryside, mainly because information traveled relatively slowly there. If something went wrong with the experiment, it would be easier to keep the situation under control.
He also planned to introduce the system in the countryside first, then gradually expand from the countryside to the cities, carrying out a strategy of "surrounding the cities from the countryside."
He had chosen this path of development so he could lie low and grow for a while, avoiding other people's notice.
After all, version 1.0 of the Fairness System was too rudimentary and could easily be cracked.
The first system host was Xu Cheng'an of Xu Household Village.
This was no arbitrary choice. Liu Yi had carefully considered his options before finally settling on him.
After Xu Cheng'an's parents died a year ago, the village bully, Xu Zhen, had forcibly seized his family's farmland.
With nowhere else to turn, he could only scrape by chopping firewood in the mountains and hunting.
Liu Yi's discreet investigation had revealed that Xu Cheng'an not only had outstanding talent for martial arts, but also knew exactly whom to repay with kindness and whom to repay with vengeance. He knew how to bide his time and was sufficiently cautious.
On top of that, he bore a grudge. From every angle, he met the basic requirements to become a protagonist, making him the perfect system host.
His mind made up, Liu Yi flicked a finger and sent the system seed toward Xu Cheng'an. Like a shooting star, it vanished into Xu Cheng'an's body.
He then hid in the shadows, holding his breath and concentrating as he watched.
At that moment, Xu Cheng'an was hurrying home with his game on his back.
Suddenly, he stopped short and looked around in alarm and suspicion.
But everywhere he looked, there was no sign of a single person, only the silent mountain forest.
He frowned, staring in bewilderment at a line of large, gold-embossed characters that had appeared in his mind without warning:
"Do you want to know the meaning of life? Do you want to become stronger? The Fairness System is at your service. Would you like to bind it?"
Xu Cheng'an was briefly taken aback. Though he could not read, he understood what the words meant.
He hesitated for a few seconds before finally saying, "I agree."
In the blink of an eye, a screen of light appeared in Xu Cheng'an's sea of consciousness.
Both startled and fascinated, he immediately followed the system's navigation prompts and began figuring out how to use it.
When he opened his personal center, the interface clearly displayed:
Name: Xu Cheng'an Race: Human Age: 15 Affiliation: None Constitution: Lightning Spirit Root Realm: Mortal Cultivation Method: None Martial Skills: None Law Techniques: None Divine Abilities: None Energy Points: 0 System Notifications: 0
Xu Cheng'an gazed at the incredible sight, his face filled with shock, while a burning light erupted in his eyes.
When he opened the shop interface and saw the dazzling array of cultivation manuals, his breathing instantly grew heavy and rapid.
This must be a heaven-defying fortuitous opportunity bestowed on me by a merciful Heaven!
As long as I seize this chance, the turning point that will let me reclaim my farmland, kill my enemy with my own hands, and rewrite my fate is right before me!
He glanced around warily, and after making sure no one had noticed anything unusual about him, he quickened his pace toward home.
As soon as he arrived, he shut the door tight and eagerly began to study the mysterious Fairness System in detail.
The moment Xu Cheng'an clicked on the Pinyin Literacy Tutorial with his consciousness, a vast amount of information flowed slowly into his soul like a trickling stream.
Though he had been completely illiterate, he instantly learned all the characters. They took firm root in his mind as though he had known them from birth.
In this tutorial, Liu Yi had restored the original meanings of the characters.
In this world, knowledge of writing was monopolized by the powerful, who twisted the meanings of characters however they pleased.
Liu Yi had done this to break the powerful's hold over the interpretation of writing and dig them out by their very roots.
Gazing at the knowledge in his mind, as though he had mastered it by studying it countless times, Xu Cheng'an was astonished.
He then clicked on the Body Tempering Foundation Establishment Method and the Old Farmer Cultivation Method.
A moment later, the contents of both cultivation methods appeared clearly in his mind.
"Xu Zhen, just you wait! You seized my family's farmland just because you know a little martial arts. Once I've mastered the Body Tempering Foundation Establishment Method, I'll show you what I'm made of."
"I've waited a year for a chance. I'll prove that I can take back everything I lost!"
Xu Cheng'an continued exploring the system shop and discovered the things inside.
Apart from those marked free, which could be obtained directly, everything else had to be purchased with energy points.
In addition, system hosts could sell cultivation methods, books, and all kinds of other things not yet listed in the shop for a one-time payment of energy points.
If someone else bought something they had uploaded, they could also earn ten percent of the sale price afterward.
Xu Cheng'an sighed helplessly. "It's a pity I don't have anything to upload to the shop. Otherwise, I could earn more energy points to buy cultivation methods or aid my cultivation later."
"There are so many good things in the shop. For now, I can only rely on the system to automatically convert outside energy and slowly save up."
Through the system, Liu Yi sensed what had happened to Xu Cheng'an after he obtained it, and a trace of surprise appeared on his face.
"So he has a Lightning Spirit Root! With such excellent aptitude, if the immortal cultivation sects found out about him, they'd surely fight to take him in."
"There are so many talented people in the world, but many of them remain buried in the countryside. Now that there's a system, they can all be discovered."
When he finished reflecting, he used a movement method, and his figure instantly vanished from the spot.
He then distributed another 100 systems among the surrounding mountain villages before stopping.
A hundred system hosts were enough for testing and verification at this early stage.
"A hundred lucky people. I've given you the opportunity; now it's up to you to see how far you can go."
He murmured to himself, the faintest hint of a smile curving his lips.
After returning to the medical clinic, he devoted himself to comprehending the principles of the Great Dao while secretly monitoring the system's operation.
At that moment, the Eye of the Heavenly Dao appeared silently in the sky. After glancing at Liu Yi, it swept its gaze over the 100 system hosts.
An invisible ripple of the Great Dao spread throughout the entire world, concealing the workings of Heaven and blocking perception.
Three months passed quickly, and all 100 system hosts were concentrating on their cultivation.
However, to Liu Yi's mild surprise, no one had posted a single message on the forum.
These hosts were either reserved by nature and had no desire to share,
or they were extremely cautious in their conduct, unwilling to expose their secrets through a moment's carelessness.
Although he hoped to obtain more data to improve the system,
he had to admit that these 100 system hosts had indeed performed satisfactorily.
Their steady conduct and careful consideration were precisely why they had been chosen as the first system hosts.
These three months of observation had not been fruitless. Although he had found no major problems,
minor flaws such as slow detection, sluggish operation, and low energy conversion efficiency had all come to light.
Liu Yi looked at the optimized version 2.0 of the system and immediately pushed the new version to the 100 hosts through the backend.
Soon, a system notification popped up in everyone's system.
Xu Cheng'an opened the system notification. It read: This system has been upgraded to version 2.0. Please update promptly for a better experience.
After a moment's consideration, he clicked to upgrade, and before long, the upgrade was complete.
He opened his personal center. The page loaded faster and clearly displayed:
Name: Xu Cheng'an Nickname: Race: Human Age: 15 Affiliation: None Constitution: Lightning Spirit Root Realm: Body Tempering Realm (progress: 50%) Cultivation Methods: Body Tempering Foundation Establishment Method, Old Farmer Cultivation Method Martial Skills: None Divine Abilities: None Energy Points: 90 System Notifications: 0
"Huh? What's this nickname?"
Xu Cheng'an looked in surprise at the newly added "Nickname" option in his personal center.
He clicked on it with his consciousness and immediately understood that the feature was for the forum's social platform, so he would not have to show his real name.
"I see. The system really has thought things through. My nickname will be Peace."
"I didn't dare use the forum before because I was afraid of exposing my identity. Now that I can use a nickname instead of my real name, I'll be fine as long as I don't reveal my actual circumstances."
"I'm curious, too. I want to see if anyone else has a system."
With that thought, he posted a message on the forum: "Hello, everyone. Is anyone there?"