Carlose Wingwood, professional homeless, or at least now he is, after reaching the age of 15, his parents decided he would live by himself,

"Come back when you have a wife!"

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"We welcome you all to the awakening ceremony of Trilead city!"

The cheers from eager parents in the audience drummed against my eardrums, its a shame that my lineage had absolutely no cultivation talent, if I did, my great grandfather would rise from the dead to celebrate!

"Now place your hands on the stone." The awakener clearly did not bat an eye twards the results, only those who made a bit of light shine managed to intertrest her, before she did a "tsk," then guided them to their guardians.

When my turn came I eagerly placed my hands on the stone, maybe this will change my luck!

As I forced every fiber of my being into this stone,

Nothing happened.

Not even the smallest shimmer of light, the stone even creaked as if it was laughing!

"Participant 235, room 32."

The monotonous tone felt like a hammer in my head. Slowly grinding my dreams into a pulp.

No talent, No mana, No fame

I was disappointed, even though I shrunk my standards to the bear minimum, a small part of me still thought that I could make it.

I trudged my way to the room, maybe the room would have some participation award?

Answer, it was an exit. Who names an exit "room 32"!

I went to greet my parents, of whom didn't even ask the answer, and immediately took me home, it turns out the celebration was a pile of boxes.

"Son, listen to me" my father faced me as he said this.

"Come back when you have a wife." The door slammed shut, while I was holding a box of books, and a cat.

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What should I do? I pondered my survival strategies to get a wife, none of them would work. Who would want a homeless and jobless husband, all he could do was read books.

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Reading books! In this age it was rare to have books, they had to be hand copied, and took a pretty penny to purchase, these half rotting books would not sell, but maybe he could leverage his reading skills to get a job!

As I traveled across the shops looking for a job, two options appeared, one a librarian, the second accountant, both were rare, since the only libraries held cultivation scrolls, and in order to be a librarian it took a certain amount of cultivation, so that was a no-go.

I went to the nearest accountants office, where they went through the city's tax rates, and managed their spending.

But as I needed to look my best, I traveled along the stream to a secluded valley and stripped to wash up.

Bad idea, apperently there are striped back razor fish in these waters, a 1st stage Mana Gathering beast.

In short, I got a lot of cuts today, but Bridge my cat got a tasty meal, apparently tossing a fish onto land kills it, who would've thought.

After the not so fast washing of my clothes, I got ready for the interview, mainly placing my box next to the building and hoping Bridge doesnt wander too far.

As I entered the building and got ready for my interview, the person sitting at the desk in front of me spoke.

"Are you here to apply for a tax break?"

Tax break?! Taxes take breaks?

"The what?"

The woman responded, "Are you applying for a tax break or not?"

"I'm looking for a job."

I didn't know if it was this woman's snarky personality but she instantly said, "Were not hiring right now."

"Then why is the hiring sign up?"

Seemingly out of nowhere she said,

"Oh! You can read, I thought you were homeless!"

That, hurt. But I quickly regainedy composure as I scrambled to find a response.

"I'm so sorry, but you obviously are not in our criteria, you don't have the right build, not to mention you aren't a cultivator."

"What the- why does having to be a cultivator a prerequisite!?"

She responded in a matter of fact tone,

"You see, cultivators have an elevated state of mind, meaning they can do their jobs tens of times faster than normal workers, that means that the overall efficiency of our workplace is increa-"

"Stop! So I'm not able to get a job here?"

"No"

"Will you be my wife?"

"In your dreams, you look like a string bean"

String bean! The h-

"Your moms a string bean!"

I paused for moment, wait, did I say that aloud.

Time to go,

As I rushed out of the building, I scrambled to get my box.

Where did Bridge go?

I checked around the corner to rind a track of paw tracks leading down the ally.

As I desperately followed the tracks, they wound through a triumvate of paths, even leading onto the roof of a small cafe.

How Bridge got up there, even I don't know.

As I desperately weaved my way through the city to find bridge, the path suddenly ended.

Did he get catnapped!

Dear lord, is this my midlife crisis!

I stumbled around the ally, looking for any signs of Bridge that I could. After giving up I decided to wait it out at the accountants office or see if he went back home.

Just as I got going the trashcan rattled, I stared at it for a while, then a fully grown man popped out of it.

What the actual-

The guy didn't even look bothered, as if he did this many times a day, just why?

As I checked the trash can again I found nothing different from the others, how?

I kicked the trashcan, it didn't budge. As I held my foot in pain, another man popped out the trashcan, like what the-

As I checked it the same thing, I hit the bottom of the trashcan, it make a knock, as if,

Wait, its hollow?

I hit the edge of it and It popped out, revealing a ladder down to an unknown area.

Is this something I'm supposed to know?!