"Brother Rui! Brother Rui!"
I sighed as a kid barely six-years-old, barrelled into my room. I turned to the rough-faced boy with spiky black hair with an arched brow.
"What is it, Xiao Sheng?" I asked though I could practically tell, from the blacked-out eyes and swollen lips, of the thorough beating he had received.
He sniffled with onion-sized tears leaking from his eyes. "I-I was laying out rules for the new students a-and—"
"When one of the students refused to obey, you challenged him to a duel where he knocked the living hell out of you." I finished for him as I returned my gaze back to my table, ignoring the gobsmacked look on his face.
"H-How did you know Brother Rui?" He asked in disbelief.
I shook my head. "Had a hunch," I replied casually. "And looks like, I was correct."
I frowned as my eyes found a large error. I swiftly struck it down with a quill before crumpling the entire sheet and tossing it into the trash can.
I repeated the same process three times when Wang Sheng decided he had had enough. Taking me by the shoulders, he shook me around like ragdoll.
"Brother Rui! Help me! Please!" Wang Sheng cried, increasing my self-centered earthquake by another mangnitude.
"C-Chill! Xiao Sheng!" I finally got a hold of his wrists and tore them off my shoulders. Wang Sheng blinked in surprise before paling at the sight of diabolical look thrown his way.
"B-Brother Rui, I-I didn't mean to—Ahhh!!"
His excuses were reduced to deafening screams as I grabbed the front of his shirt before throwing him over my shoulders like a sack of potatoes.
Expectedly, he went hurtling through the air.
Unexpectedly, he went hurtling through the only open window of my dorm room. His screams echoed all the way down to the bottom floor, silenced only by the loud thud following right after.
"Well, that was unexpected." I chuckled nervously.
'He should be fine, since a fall from first floor his hardly enough to kill someone his age and strength.'
"Ahhh!" A painful cracking noise resounded with another wail of pain.
'...Maybe I should go down and check, just in case...'
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Tang San dusted off bedsheets with an amused smile on his face. The reason for this gesture was the cute girl curled up beside him, snoring heavily from a day worth of excitement.
"Xiao Wu," He tapped her forehead gently. The girl simply rolled her head to the other side in response.
Tang San chuckled. He was about to go to sleep as well when an unfamiliar voice caugjt his ears.
"Are you Tang San?"
He tensed, slowly shifting his head over his shoulder. His gaze landed on a boy, clearly taller than his current self, with short dusty black hair accentuating his bright emerald eyes. He was also from the Nuoding Academy, judging from the outfit.
"May I inquire, who is asking?" Tang San questioned. His stance became more guarded as his hidden weapons slid to end of his sleeves.
The boy held up his hands in a placating manner with a whimsical smile on his face.
"I mean you no harm." His unequivocal tone made Tang San hesitate. He was good at reading people. His time back in the Tang Sect had made him adept at discerning the other party's intentions throught the medium of expression and voice.
However, here was a man, or rather a boy, who had even the reincarnated assassin at a loss.
'All the more reason to keep my guard up...'
Tang San flexed his fingers and allowed the cool metal tip of his weapon to brush his palm. His eyes narrowed into slits with hostility oozing out of his pupils.
"Are you perhaps planning to hit me with those 'Silent Sleeve Darts'?"
For the first time in a while, Tang San was left stupefied by someone's words. Questions erupted into his minds with one being the most prominent.
How.....
But the boy was on a roll as he dropped the second surprise of the day.
"I suggest using 'Peacock Plume' at minimum, should use wish to deal with me." He suggested with eyes dancing with amusement.
Tang San trembled. His face marred in disbelief as his mouth opened and closed several times, only to let out mute silence.
"W-Who are y-you?" He stammered out after a good few minutes. The boy in question smirked, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he leaned against the dorm wall.
"Surely you can recognize your senior when you see them or did the Old Lan failed to impart you with basic etiquette," He started. "Tang San of the Tangmen Clan."
Tang San's arm fell limply to his sides. The Silent Sleeve Darts tumbled out, hitting the ground with a clang. He dropped to his knees and clasped his hands together.
"Outer disciple, Tang San begs forgiveness from the Senior Brother." Tang San said, voice intoned in fear which onlu deepened as a frim grip landed on his shoulders. Tang San did not dare to meet the other party's eyes, yet he could still feel the glare boring into his skull.
The fear reached the peak when the last words of night slithered into his eardrums like a vemous serpent.
"Let's talk..."
_________________________________________
I shut the door behind me. My cold facade held on for a few more moments before crumbling off. I felt myback hit the door, sliding down the wood before reaching ground level.
"Damn..." I finally let go of the breath I was holding. "Thank God, the plan succeed and he didn't get suspicious."
I closed my eyes and basked into gentle moonlight accompanied by the night breeze. A well deserved reward after plan coming to fruition smoothly without any hitches.
"It's good that I played the extra event back home or else, things would have been much more hectic." I mused.
I was traveller like the ones who people see in fanfictions. But the difference between me and them was that they all were either overpowered from the beginning or eventually gained overpowered abilities down the line.
Unfortunately, in my case, both the options were impossible.
...Why?
Well, it may have something to do with my common origins, lack of a certain digital panel visible only to me or the fact that my Martial Soul was neither trash with potential to become overpowered nor unique enough to be used differently.
I was a common guy with a high mid-tier Martial Soul. An auxiliary character eventually supposed to be forgotten.
"Well, I say that, but it's not really a bad thing when you see the big picture." I sighed, pulling myself back to my feet. I stretched my back and prepared to go to sleep when something glinted in my peripheral vision.
"Crap!" I slapped my forehead. "Almost left it out for the world to see." I chided myself and quickly rushed to my study table. On the hardwood, laid a single small tome being riffled through by the wind.
I grabbed it leather edge and was about to close it when my eyes fell on current page. I blinked down at the contents few times.
"Huh?" I scratched the back of my neck. "That may just come in handy." I mused, reaching out for my bookmark which was just a black feather, and attached it to the paper spine.
I closed the book and took one last look at the cover, written in writing worse than a grade schooler.
...Soul Land: Survivor's Notes...