Outside The Script

Xiao paced around the training room, his only company being the ghost of an old man as he caught his breath and stretched his weary limbs, he increased the number of times he would be practicing his swings everyday to make sure that he was progressing, not just in understanding of his weapon, but also in his overall physique, he had read many, many chapters of the story before being brought over as the book's protagonist, and not being one to skim, he had read and sat through plenty of power system explanations.

So even without Elder Gang having to tell him, he knew that one's mundane body, their flexibility, their muscles and such were a most direly important foundation that should be cherished and cultivated with great care, this was basically the same for the other power systems, or 'ways of power' as the people of this world said, that would come into more prominence later-on in the story.

The youth did not give it much thought, however, he needed to focus on cultivation for now, even though he was definitely planning on taking further advantage of these additional ways of power than the real protagonist had in the story.

Right now, he could not afford to split his attention, even with the protagonist buff that granted him a most stellar cultivation speed, he was far from being actually strong, if any powerhouse decided that his insides should be plastered on the wall, then they would probably end up there as some sort of modern art piece.

He undid the upper portion of his robes to allow the accumulated heat to flow out, the frigid air blowing in through the open windows feeling most pleasant on his chest rippling with sweat, Xiao stopped walking and just stared at a large mirror, the thing covered an entire wall of the training room, serving the same purpose as it did for those learning how to dance.

That way, one could see their posture and such from a different perspective, which was much more insightful that he had originally believed when Elder Gang had explained the purpose, someone could trained to rigorously take up a precise posture and such, but the beardless old man valued one who could spot their own faults, which was why Xiao would train on his own from time to time.

Guidance was important, but in moderation, according to the elder, Chengzhe agreed and so did Xiao, it had seemed obvious to him, but it seemed like many other disciples under Gang's care believed that the words of an elder were gospel and that they should only focus on learning under them.

'Damn… I am actually pretty handsome now…' as the nature of being a protagonist in a harem story, the body wasn't exactly too unique-looking, if Xiao had to describe himself, it would be : 'Idealised version of the average man', at least, the average man that would be reading the story, not the one in this world.

He was not too short, but not too tall either, standing at one meter and seventy-five centimeters tall exactly, his face was good-looking, thankfully he did not have the pale and soft-skinned look some main characters he had read about ended up with, he was actually distinctively masculine, not quite as outlandishly as Edrick was, but that guy was built like a brick shithouse.

He also had regular brown hair that extended approximately, down to his shoulders, but unless you were bald, everyone around had long hair, so nothing special here.

The one main thing that really set him apart were his fierce crimson eyes, a trait that used to be mostly synonymous with the Chen clan, weird eye colours weren't exactly unknown however, so it was a dead giveaway of his lineage, and frankly, Xiao quite like them, but as a man, the one thing that he felt like he truly cared about was something else.

'I never would have believed that I would end so jacked' he flexed his muscles, looking at himself in the mirror with pride, being sent to another world had really given him a boost of motivation, before that, he never would have lifted his butt off his chair and actually gone to work out no matter how much he wanted to in his head.

Seeing the result of training, it just felt correct to train your body, he couldn't imagine himself any other way now.

"Admiring yourself, huh? I was there too, you know? It must just be primal instinct that we men seek out to train our bodies" the emerald ghost walked up to his side, somehow, the spectre was reflected in the glass from Xiao's vision, making him question once again just how this whole ghostly stuff worked exactly.

"And the ladies love it, let me tell you…" Chengzhe chuckled, here, strength was greatly valued and admired by all, so a sculpted body was indeed nearly in one hundred percent of cases, attractive to the fairer sex, in fact, having some muscles was also good for women, cultivators in particular worshipped power so much, that they tended to prefer having children with other strong people.

Strongmen and strongwomen was in fact a very busy job as the mundane body was greatly valued, so many of those without the talent, means, or both, to cultivate or practice a way of power, would instead do it all natural and train like crazy in hopes of attracting the attention of clans that would like to add that sort of genes to their pool.

Xiao felt like he learned something new everyday.

He sighed, grabbing a towel to dry his sweat before moving back to the center of the training room, this time taking out a dagger, it was important to have a sidearm, and especially one that could easily be used at very close range, if swordsmanship failed, you just had to do like the knights of old, tackle your opponents into the muds and stab them in their unprotected bits.

It did not look as dashing, but it definitely worked.

Full plate armour wasn't much in fashion however, so he had picked a dagger with a wider blade, just as he was about to start practicing however, the door slid open.

'Elder Gang?' he thought to himself, catching sight of his spectral master grinning like a fool and stroking his beard before seeing for himself.

"Xiao, right? I noticed that you were training hard everyday without taking breaks, so I brought you some water!"

'My god… Is this-'

"That's a girl, Xiao! A cute girl that is speaking to you first! Don't fumble! Act cool and composed!" the green apparition zooming around like this was the most exciting moment of both his life and afterlife combined.

Xiao swallowed his saliva, the Adam's apple sticking out greatly as he forced out a wry smile and put the top of his robes back onto his body.

"Ah, thank you… May I ask for your name?"

"Alright, that's not bad, keep going-"

'Master! Stop shouting, please! We don't even know if she's interested in… This manner'

"She's ogling your abdominals like a piece of meat!"

'Oh god, she is!'

He almost didn't register it when she told him her name.

"My name is Ai, sorry if I interrupt, but I pass by often, and I couldn't help but notice that you never seemed to have any water with you…"