Gary got up and looked around. His little hovel had a small crate, a table a chair, cleaning bucket, and an oh so luxurious dirt floor. He searched the crate and found a book. From his memories he found that it was given to him by his father before his untimely demise.

He'd apparently been eaten by a bear while out hunting. How unlucky.

Gary's mother had taken care of him for a little while after that, before having been run over by a carriage. The original Gary was already 16 years old by then, and needed to find a job or starve. He'd applied to the young dragon assessment contest, but only had the qualifications to become someone's servant.

As such the new Gary will unfortunately have to return to his old job of being a food-slave. Hurray!

For now Gary is focused on the positive. There's a real cultivation book right in front of his eyes. Gary opens the book and skims through the pages, and pictures.

He calmly closes the book. A single tear can be seen going down his cheek.

"I can't fucking read!" Yells Gary. Marvelous.

Gary finds some coins lying around, and decides to eat something before being forced to return to indefinite wage-slavery. He would need to learn more about this new world as it wasn't easy for him to dig through the mud that was sifting through these new body memories. The city was Medieval maybe? There were knights, steam carriages, and a surprising amount of different races.

Gary could see elves, dwarves, orcs, demons, a flying sentient spoon? Of course, that was only after having entered the city proper. Gary's little hovel was located in the slums of the city. For most of the early part of his walk he just kept an eye on every corner in case of a mugger.

He made his way towards the food stall while chewing on some squid on a stick. He spotted a peaco- Arrogant young master type harassing the physical incarnation of Aphrodite. So he did the only logical thing, and turned 180 degrees and went another way. He hasn't even begun cultivating. It wouldn't do him any good to go around courting death before then.

Gary met his new boss Mrs. Butler, A ginger beauty, and found her immediately to his liking. She just wants him to work whenever he can, buy ingredients from her warehouse, and pay a certain amount every week. He would be essentially renting the food stall, as he would get to keep anything above the fee, and operating costs. A timely opportunity considering the fact that Gary now needed to go about looking for someone to teach him how to read.

Gary settled into a routine of waking up early, walking around the city, and working all day long at the food stall. He eventually found a library that offered a literacy program. It would cost him 400 silver. At his food stall he only earns around 20 silver a week. It would take Gary nearly half a year to be able to afford it. Gary pulled up his pants and got to work.