Yu Jin watched on as Yue Jin used all his brain power to study the manual and its contents. The younger man sat cross-legged in the dirt, flipping through the pages with furrowed brows and full concentration.
A soft chime echoed in Yu Jin's mind.
[Notification: Achievement Rewards Available]
He frowned slightly, the system's interface shifting with a thought. A new tab blinked faintly at the top of the screen.
"Achievements?"
He selected it.
[Achievements Unlocked]
• First Purchase – You've made your first system purchase.
Reward: 100 Merit Points
• First Skill Learned – You've acquired and used your first skill.
Reward: 100 Merit Points
Merit Points: 4 → 204
Yu Jin let out a quiet breath through his nose. Unexpected, but welcome.
Just as he closed the tab, another alert appeared in its place.
[New Quest Available]
Command Requires Commanders.
Recruit 20 subordinates under your name.
Optional Objective: Form a structured warband.
Reward: 400 Merit + bonus rewards based on performance
[Progress: 1 / 20]
He blinked once. Then smirked.
"So he counts..."
Yue Jin remained focused, flipping through the manual with growing interest. Loyal. Willing. Determined.
One down.
Nineteen to go.
But that was the easy part.
Yu Jin sat back on the bench and crossed his arms, his eyes on the courtyard but his mind elsewhere.
"What do I have to offer?"
No coin.
No land.
No banners.
No bloodline.
No name that meant anything in this time.
Just a disciplined body, a foreign system, and two months of hard-earned progress. Not enough to inspire men to follow him—not when the Han still held power, still promised rations and coin for loyalty. Even if that loyalty was to a rotting corpse.
Desperate men would rather cling to the devil they knew than trust two ragged boys with nothing to their names.
But maybe… that was the point.
"If I can't recruit trained men—then I'll find the ones no one wants."
"Criminals. Orphans. Runaways. The discarded."
"If no army will take them, I will."
He didn't need perfection.
He needed bodies.
Willing ones.
Ones he could train. Mold. Command.
His jaw tightened.
"I don't need prestige. I need discipline."
"And I can give them that."
His eyes returned to Yue Jin, still reading. Still pushing forward.
"We start with nothing. But we won't stay as nothing."
The system had given him the means.
Now he just needed to give it purpose.
Yu Jin stood from the bench with purpose.
"Yue Jin!" he barked.
The younger man snapped his head up, nearly fumbling the scroll in his hands. Something in Yu Jin's voice struck deep—reflexive, commanding. Without thinking, he rushed over.
"Y-Yeah?"
Yu Jin nodded once. "You've shown decent progress. But it's time you do more."
Yue Jin tilted his head, still trying to catch up.
"You're to gather intel," Yu Jin said plainly. "I want names. Faces. People worth watching. Gang brats known for strength or cunning. Orphans who know how to move without being seen. Thieves with fast hands. Even deserters or debt-runners with fight left in them."
Yue Jin blinked. "Wait, what—how am I supposed to—?"
"You are not to question," Yu Jin cut in coldly. "You are to obey. I want a report by the third day."
Yue Jin opened his mouth again—but paused.
He met Yu Jin's eyes.
And for a moment, he saw something else.
Not the youthful frame of a twenty-year-old, but the weight behind it—a presence carved from iron discipline and hardened in fire. A stout figure with an unshakable stance, a mountain draped in armor and soaked in war. His gaze unyielding, untouchable. The kind of man people didn't just obey—they respected, because he had earned it.
The image flickered and faded—but the feeling stayed.
Then came the final blow.
"You are dismissed."
The tone dropped like a stone. Final. Unmovable.
Yue Jin's body responded before his mind could. He clasped his right fist in his left palm and gave a sharp bow, eyes lowered.
Then turned and ran.