LIGHTNOVELSTORY 3. Look, An Airplane
The feeble little white tiger paced in circles, trying to adapt to walking on four legs. Having been human for so long, suddenly switching from two legs to four was jarring. Despite her efforts to adjust, she occasionally stumbled and fell.
The system watched excitedly yet anxiously, unconsciously calling out, “Left-right-left, left-right-left…”
The chant sounded like military training. Jiang Mo initially ignored it, but soon found herself following the system’s rhythm—left paw, right paw, left paw, right paw, left paw… It worked well. Keeping pace with the system’s chant, she maintained a steady gait and avoided any more embarrassing face-plants.
Just as Jiang Mo felt a glimmer of joy, the system’s chanting abruptly stopped, disrupting her newfound rhythm. Before she could get annoyed, the system’s puzzled voice chimed in, “Host, don’t you feel something’s off?”
Hearing this, Jiang Mo became instantly alert, carefully scanning her surroundings but finding nothing amiss.
The system, sensing her misunderstanding, clarified, “Don’t worry, host. The system scan is active; it’s safe here. I meant, do you feel something’s off about your walking?”
Confused, Jiang Mo asked, “What’s off about it?”
The system pondered for a moment before instructing, “Host, take a few more steps.”
Jiang Mo obediently walked a bit, and since following the system’s cadence had worked well before, she mentally chanted “left-right-left” to herself, marching to the beat.
As she walked, she heard a sudden “slap” sound, reminiscent of someone smacking their thigh, followed by the system’s excited mechanical voice, “Ah, I’ve got it! Host, you’ve started pacing!”
Jiang Mo froze, her movement instinctively halting. Looking down, she realized her two left legs were stepping forward while her two right legs were stretching back—the classic cat pacing gait. She, who had never paced before, was stunned. After taking a couple more steps, she gradually understood why she had suddenly started pacing.
The system’s light orb was swatted away again, accompanied by Jiang Mo’s kitten-like roar, “I’m learning to walk here! Can you stop messing around? You kept chanting ‘left-right-left,’ so of course I stepped ‘left-right-left’!”
The swatted system orb quickly flew back, whimpering, “Alright, host. I’ll be quiet.”
True to its word, the system fell silent. Without its interference, Jiang Mo focused on relearning how to walk.
The process wasn’t particularly difficult; after all, white tigers were divine beasts, born to be formidable. Jiang Mo was just unlucky, inhabiting a congenitally weak white tiger cub, which was why she was too feeble even to walk properly. Then again, if the white tiger cub had been born strong and powerful, the system wouldn’t have had the chance to let her inhabit it.
Setting aside the white tiger’s divine aura, Jiang Mo was like a toddler learning to walk, taking each step with great care. She had a plan in mind and moved with some semblance of method. It took less than a quarter of an hour for her to progress from falling every three steps to walking steadily.
Finally mastering the art of walking, Jiang Mo breathed a genuine sigh of relief—the first step to survival was being able to move freely. Though she had just leveled up, improving her physical condition somewhat, that congenital weakness debuff still hung over her like a cloud. Only those who bore it could truly understand its effects. Just fifteen minutes of walking practice had left her feeling drained and fatigued.
With this physique, Jiang Mo felt that without leveling up, she probably wouldn’t survive.
Seemingly sensing Jiang Mo’s thoughts, the previously silent system piped up again, its light orb flickering before her eyes.
Jiang Mo immediately knew the system had peeked into her mind again, and anger welled up inside her. She wasn’t a particularly forgiving person; the only reason she hadn’t pursued the matter of the system causing her death and this bewildering transformation was the pressing need to survive. But the system not only showed no remorse, it kept prying into her thoughts. How could she not be angry?
This wave of anger was promptly conveyed to the system. The previously eager light orb immediately wilted. It cautiously retreated a bit, its brightness dimming, as a line of text floated out: “Host, may I speak?”
Jiang Mo smirked coldly, waiting to see what nonsense it would spout.
The system seemed to sense her hostility and carefully explained, “Don’t misunderstand, host. The system can’t actually read your thoughts. It’s just that when you’re emotionally charged, I collect and analyze your emotional changes, then make reasonable deductions.”
Hearing this, Jiang Mo grew even more impassive, seemingly unmoved.
The system fell silent, unable to analyze Jiang Mo’s current emotions or know how to respond. They had been getting along harmoniously before—the system had helped the host level up, cheered her on while learning to walk. Why had things suddenly changed? For a system baby just one day out of production, human thoughts were truly baffling!
After a long silence, the dim system orb suddenly flickered again. The round light materialized into a hand shape, pointing in a direction: “Host, host, there’s a small stream over there. Would you like to wash your paws?”
Jiang Mo never expected the deadlock between her and the system to be broken like this. Although the system’s tone was a bit obsequious and the topic change rather abrupt, she had just crushed a beetle barefoot and really needed to wash her paws!
It was fine when she wasn’t thinking about it, but once she did, she felt uncomfortable all over.
Jiang Mo held her stern expression for a moment, but ultimately couldn’t resist. She started walking primly in the direction the system indicated.
Half an hour later, after scrubbing her paws a hundred times or more, Jiang Mo finally withdrew her soaking wet little paws from the stream. She shook them, flicking off water droplets, and instinctively brought them to her mouth to lick.
Fortunately, before she could act on the impulse, she came to her senses. The little white tiger holding up her paw suddenly felt utterly dismayed—felines habitually licked their paws, but paws were so dirty! They were used for walking, hunting, and even burying waste after using the bathroom! The mere thought made her want to vomit, yet this innate habit had nearly influenced her.
Sensing that its host was about to sink into depression again, the system felt its entire existence grow uneasy, its metaphorical heart nearly breaking with worry. It carefully changed the subject, suggesting, “Host, since we’re idle anyway, why not go kill another monster and level up?”
Hearing this, Jiang Mo immediately thought of those seven venomous spiders, eleven beetles, twenty-seven caterpillars… She looked at her freshly washed paws and firmly refused, “If it’s about crushing bugs, let’s not.”
The system seemed to pause for a moment before asking, “Then what does the host want to do?”
Jiang Mo recalled the killable targets she had seen earlier and said, “Weren’t there rabbits and mice too?”
The system corrected her, “Host, they’re spirit rabbits and rock mice.” It paused, then added, “But I don’t think that’s feasible.”
Jiang Mo was instantly dissatisfied and retorted, “Why not? Crushing one beetle only gave 0.1 experience points. I need 5 points to reach level 2, which means crushing 50 bugs! Surely spirit rabbits and rock mice would give more experience than that?”
The system then began to reason with her, “Host, I mean you might not be capable of it. This isn’t your original world; it’s a realm of cultivation. You probably can’t defeat spirit rabbits and rock mice right now. If you get kicked to death by a rabbit’s leg or bitten to death by rodent teeth, we’d have nowhere to cry. Besides,” it added after a thought, “although the system has added a game template, the resurrection feature isn’t activated yet.”
Oh, right. She had forgotten she was still a weakling.
Jiang Mo immediately felt hopeless, casting a dejected glance at the system, ready to lie down in despair. Then, suddenly remembering something, she perked up and asked, “System, I recall that games usually have daily quests to help with leveling up in the early stages. Why don’t you have any?”
The system stuttered for a moment, then looked at her pityingly, “I’m sorry, host, but daily quests need targets too. Look around… Can you help spirit rabbits gather spirit fruits? Or help rock mice dig stones? Even if you could gather fruits and dig stones, spirit rabbits and rock mice would run away at the sight of you. Who would you turn the quests in to?”
“Oh.” Jiang Mo lay down completely, feeling utterly useless.
Just as the atmosphere sank into gloom, the system’s excited voice suddenly rang out, “Host, look, an airplane!”
Jiang Mo instinctively looked up, then remembered there were no airplanes in this world of cultivation. However, when she did look up, she indeed saw a black dot streaking across the sky, unlike any bird.