Authentic Past

[F-Rank Quest:

Objective: Procure a farm

Reward: Soybeans

Points: 20]

To his displeasure, the task had meager rewards. It could also be considered very inconvenient despite its simplicity as Wei did not consider owning land and chose to live in a shantytown. Departing from the shit shack, Atlas felt the urge to destroy it. He then stood a good distance away from it and hurled the large bucket at it. It crumbled effortlessly and brought a smile to Atlas' face. There was no point in staying as the land wasn't even arable and nobody would miss that den of filth. If he was unable to improve Wei's living conditions, then nobody could.

Venturing into the marketplace, one could tell it was always bustling but it was also very generic as it adhered to its setting nearly seamlessly. Vegetable stands, accessory stands, and people littered the streets while the quality products were located inside the few "high-end" stores.

Atlas noticed but was not bothered by how generic it was. After all, it was not every day that one could experience the "past" authentically. And one also had to remember that the setting was just influenced by the most prominent culture and the materials available for both construction and distribution.

With his immaculate and stunning appearance, others thought he was a young master from out of town and constantly tried to get his attention. He ignored most of them but inspected some of the produce and deemed them subpar. Due to being organic, they could easily be infested and were fast to spoil. He purchased a few to sate his appetite but consumed them reluctantly as they did not appeal to his palette.

He then returned to the task at hand and went into a store that dealt with real estate. Surveying all the available plots, he had already evaluated which property was the most suitable. The healthy ones were obviously more expensive while the shabbier ones were worth almost nothing. Due to his ability and intuition, he surmised that he could afford to disregard the quality of the land and focused on affordability.

Purchasing a decrepit land deed that already had a farm setup, the manager inwardly sneered with the assumption that he had successfully swindled the young master in front of him. The property had been unsold for years due to the weeds and vines covering the majority of the property. Atlas only cared about the price though and headed towards the entrance to leave.

Discretely, a pouch filled with beans materialized on his hand and he received a System notification.

[F-Rank Quest Completed:

Reward: Soybeans

Points Gained: 20]

As he neared the entrance of the establishment, an unwelcome voice was then heard.

"Young master, don't you know that you have to pay the toll when in our territory?"

'Luckily he has no guards', they thought.

Making their way towards Wei, the group of crooks had clearly intended to assert dominance and take the money through coercion. Atlas had already thought of a situation where he would truly have to interact as Wei but had already concluded that there was no point in acting like him. The original Wei might have submitted to the hooligans due to cowardice and lack of initiative, but Atlas was not Wei and refused to pretend he was. Wei was an idiotic orphan living in a crappy shed. How many people actually paid attention to such a disheveled pauper? With that question in mind, he decided not to maintain a facade.

Wei calmly walked away to everyone's astonishment. Especially, the bystanders that were anticipating an entertaining scuffle between the local gang and an arrogant young master. The group then started to chase after Wei and began hollering. As the leader of the group prepared to swing his fist, Wei abruptly turned around and struck him directly in the throat where the Adam's apple was located. Of course, he controlled the force exerted as Strength (C+) increased his strength to the point that it resembled that of an individual which had cultivated their body for an entire lifetime. Almost no one tolerated a person that killed for the first warning, regardless of who the perpetrator was so he decided not to decapitate the crook. The leader immediately collapsed with a hand clutching his throat tightly while displaying excruciating pain. He even coughed up some blood.

A loose jaw has a weak bite, Atlas thought. The hooligans displayed zero technique and likely did not even anticipate retaliation. Did they expect him to willingly be beaten? He then glanced at the bystanders and thought that they were really pathetic to be discouraged by this group of weaklings. Noticing that the other crooks were eyeing him warily, he turned to address them.

[Innate Ability Detected:]

|Intimidation|

"Leave before I turn you into fertilizer"

Terrified by the aura of dominance, the group immediately ran away while dragging their leader with them. The people who were originally just spectating then began to cheer and celebrate like they actually contributed to the group's humiliation.

"We'll show you!"

"That will teach them to mess with our village!"

"Crooks will always be punished in the end!"

The crowd began censuring the crooks because the group was similar to a gang that abused their territory while using the excuse that they were protecting it. Wei, wanting nothing to do with this started to leave but a feminine voice suddenly called out to him.

"That was noble of you"

A female with fair skin, a lithe figure, an above-average visage parted the crowd. She was the woman who the original Wei was infatuated with and had often explicitly shown affection towards. Recently, Wei had fallen on hard times which caused the female to reject his advances altogether. Likely impressed by Wei's display of strength and not recognizing him who no longer had the gritty appearance, she greeted him with the intent to continue amiable relations and potentially make Wei her backup boy toy/spare tire.

Feigning a pout that brought forth feelings of desire from the crowd, she said, "Even if you are powerful, you shouldn't cause so much trouble. They might return and cause more trouble"

Unlike the original Wei, he was unfazed by her presence and indifferent to her looks. He had seen far better and was reminded of their vomit-inducing personalities.

They always expected him to chase them as was customary of the male, but he was never given any motive to initiate. A beautiful face? His was far better in comparison. Carnal pleasure? He was not one to yield to the desires of his flesh prison and regarded the genitalia in the same way people regarded their appendix. He referred to the human body as a flesh prison as he had always thought of it as inferior garbage due to the lacking capacity regarding strength, extremely faulty anatomy, and the innate focus on sexual reproduction.

Good genes for future progeny? It was very unlikely for someone who had committed patricide to think highly of becoming a parent or having offspring. The final straw was that none of the females were ever sincere. They always dropped many hints but always kept it at a level that allowed them to remain in control and were able to retract their interest without any repercussions. The only contribution they had to the potential relationship was their bodies which he was not even tempted by, and for some reason, he was supposed to chase after them?

Forget about customs, he didn't even celebrate his birthday let alone axioms set by the shitty society which couldn't even enforce laws properly yet continually pumped them out like they enabled the well-being of the people rather than the corruption it actually encouraged.

"Duly noted", Atlas replied.