Gary really pushed his nose up to the grindstone. He worked as often as he could, barely getting even 6 hours of sleep. He frequently tousled with some of the other vendors for the best spots on the street, ate as little as reasonable, and had nearly beaten a mugger to death for stealing his coin purse. Gary made sure to bury his coins in his dirt floor until he had enough.

Gary eventually managed to save up enough money in just 4 agonizing months, that I'm sure Gary will remember fondly. Gary managed to dig up all of his money, place it in a sack, and charge his way to the library before someone could take it from him.

Gary placed the sack of money on the librarian's desk.

"Oh hello there" squeaked the slightly startled librarian.

"I'd like to learn how to read" said Gary.

"Okay. so this is?"said the librarian gesturing towards the sack.

"400 silver" Gary says.

"I see... normally we accept bank notes" whispers the librarian.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

Gary mentally slaps himself on the head.

After getting everything in order, and counting all 400 coins, the librarian told Gary that he would be meeting with a tutor there in the library three times a week for half a year. Gary thanked the librarian and made his way back home. He decided to relax now that he'd paid for what he wanted. A loaf of bread only costs a couple of copper coins. 400 silvers was the equivalent to 20,000 loaves of bread. Gary could've had quite a lot of sandwiches with that much bread. Pity.

Gary entered another routine of studying, working, and sleeping for the next six months. He crammed as much of the language as he could into his tiny little mind. Finally, Gary has attained the magnificent achievement of basic literacy. With this he can attempt to take the first step on the path to his goal of becoming an Immortal and freeing himself from the shackles of society, and social hierarchies. Gary believes that he will never experience true freedom until he can exist outside of the rule and expectations of civil society. With cultivation he might just be able to build a path towards that ideal.

Gary made his way home and took out the book his father gave him.

Big & Strong, Baby's first cultivation manual

Gary's eyes glazed over. Presumably he'd pierced the veil and seen through the secrets of reality. Perhaps the weight of his decisions began pressing on his soul leading to some sort of self-imposed anxious penance. Or his soul's been summoned to the high court of the lord to be taught how to bring about all earthly pleasures.

Gary stood there staring at the cover of the cultivation manual for nearly an hour before sighing, and opening it up to read.