Eat to Train

Making a living at the ferry crossing, you first have to buy a porter's tag from the Iron Ridge Gang—thirty-seven coppers each. Without a tag, no one will hire you for work, and no one will care if you eat. Shen Mo had saved seventeen coppers. Relying on a bit of skill from his past life in the kitchen, he rendered lard scraps to scrape together enough for the tag. Once the tag was in hand, the gang demanded an additional two taels of silver as a fee. Three days—if he couldn't pay, the tag would be revoked and he'd be kicked out. That night, lines of text surfaced before his eyes: Standing Stake, insufficient strength, unable to improve. Ten Thousand Lives Accumulation, Seventh Life. Only by eating can you train. Only when full do you have the strength to stand in stake and carry sacks, day by day gaining a foothold at this ferry crossing. Liu Sandao, the leader of the South Fifth Group, was waiting to see him make a fool of himself. Old Ma Tou in the firewood shed was waiting for him to come back tomorrow. Two taels of silver. Three days. He looked down at his frost-cracked hands. Enough for me to earn. Low-martial mortal stream, no system, no cultivation. A ferry crossing odd-job man, training by eating, climbing his way up step by step. — Description from novelcodex.orgFull novel: Eat to Train — read the rest free on N​o⁠v​e⁠l​C⁠o​d⁠e​x⁠.​o⁠r​g⁠