When the world—or a world at any rate—came back into view, Benton was lying face down in stinky mud. He groaned. What was that putrid smell? It almost made him gag.

While holding his breath, he climbed to his feet and, once up, looked around. Beside him was a small pond surrounded by a thick forest. The sky was blue, and there were trees and bushes with brown trunks and green leaves. He hadn’t exactly been a nature person in his previous life, so the plants may or may not have been the same as he’d find on Earth. They didn’t look alien or anything, though.

Looking down, he noticed that none of the other dirt near him was terribly wet, and where he’d been lying was tinged distinctly red. And his shirt—robe?—was stained with a rusty brown color.

The color of dried blood.

He felt fine, though. Better than fine, actually. Strong. Healthy. Energetic. He stretched his arms and bent his knees and did a few jumping jacks. None of the aches and pains that had been his constant companions for years made their presence known.

It occurred to him that he might not be in his original body. He walked a few steps forward until he could see his reflection in the pond. A young man, maybe early twenties, with Asian coloring and features stared back at him. His hair was dark and close cropped, and he appeared much more fit than Benton had ever been. And he was most definitely wearing some form of robe.

“Nice.”

He really was on a new world in a new body.

“Evelyn, honey, you wouldn’t believe it if you could see me now. I’m young again. This is going to be so much fun!”

A further thought struck him. Asian features. A robe. Had he been sent to a cultivation world after all?

A blue panel popped up in front of him.

Welcome Transmigrator. Memory integration commencing in ten seconds. Prepare yourself.

(Hint: Might want to sit down for this one.)

The box faded away, and Benton quickly sunk to the ground. He was glad he’d listened once the specified time passed. It felt like someone stuck a hot poker directly into his brain.

Once the active infliction of agony ended, the pain faded relatively quickly, leaving him with a new set of memories on top of the one he already had from Earth.

The owner of his current body had been Chao Su. In a way, that made Benton the new Chao Su.

“Huh. Years ago, I would have been a boy named Su.” He laughed and whistled a few bars of the Johnny Cash song.

The memories made him quickly turn more somber.

At fourteen, Su had attended an annual testing event conducted by member of a nearby sect who’d come to his small village, and he’d tested well. Cultivators were rated on potential talent using a scale from little ability, F, to great ability, A. There were a minuscule number of outliers on each end of the spectrum, people with literally no ability to cultivate, G, and absolute powerhouses, S. Each of those grades was further divided into three subsections, denoted by either a minus, nothing, or a plus.

As a C+, Su had been feted as a true talent, able to bypass joining the local small sect and instead being inducted straight into the parent medium sized one, the Flowing Tiger Sect. And he lived up to his promise. Through hard work, a few auspicious opportunities, and diligent cultivation, he reached the second major realm, Foundation Establishment, in under two years and had continued on to the third minor realm well before his nineteenth birthday, which was good enough for him to be inducted as a member of the inner sect.

All had come up roses for the young man over the next few years until a night about a month ago. Figures dressed in black had performed a daring raid on the sect. At first, it had seemed like the invaders would be drowned out by the large number of sect cultivators, including the powerful elders and the peak nascent soul stage patriarch.

The invaders turned out to be demonic, however, able to drain the cultivation of individuals several major realms above them. Two or three of the attackers would gang up on a higher realm cultivator and focus on piercing the defender’s qi shield. Once an attack got through, the demonic cultivators concentrated on draining their victim’s cultivation. With two or three of them focused on the task, the defender fell in seconds.

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Su’s sect brothers and sisters fell like flies to the well-organized raid, and the battle soon turned into a rout.

Su fled. As he crossed the outer wall of the sect, he thought he’d made it. Just as hope dawned, a figure dressed in black hit him with a technique, puncturing Su’s hastily erected qi shield. He had no talismans left, and the next attack went for the drain. In seconds, Su’s cultivation was consumed. Just like that, eight years of dedication was ruined.

As all but the merest of hope fled, an elder managed to get a shot on the black clad figure, letting Su somehow stumble far enough away from the conflict to avoid further pursuit.

The technique that had destroyed his cultivation had done much damage to him, and he spent the next couple of weeks seeking healing pills and any resource that might either stabilize him or even restore his cultivation, trading away everything he owned, even his spatial ring, for what turned out to essentially be snake oil.

He’d finally succumbed to his wounds not long before Benton took over his body.

Processing everything that now occupied his mind was quite difficult. New memories of spending his fifteenth birthday cultivating in a cave clashed with spending the same birthday with friends in a movie theater. And that wasn’t even taking into consideration his new instincts. If Benton encountered a mugger, he’d immediately relinquish his wallet and plead for his life. Su would leave the mugger bleeding out on the ground. Or skills. Benton had never seen an animal larger than a squirrel in the wild. Su had killed and skinned a tiger before roasting it over an open flame.

Long before everything was fully reconciled in his brain, another blue box popped up.

Transmigrator, you have been granted the choice of one of the following three Systems. Choose wisely for there is no redo.

1. Supreme Cultivation System

2. Heaven Defying Crafting System

3. Sect Leader System

Benton hadn’t expected the man to have arranged to let him actually pick his System. Not bad. Despite it being a brutal cultivation world, any of the three options should give him a leg up in becoming a true powerhouse. He just had to choose the best one. Or at least, the one that fit him the best.

“System, can you show me more information about each of these?”

The box was replaced with a new one.

Supreme Cultivation System

Want to climb the heights of the cultivation world? This system is for you. Breeze through minor realms in a fraction of the time others take. Defeat opponents a major realm stronger than you. Never encounter a bottleneck. Immortality awaits. Of course, cultivation can be a lonely path and a dangerous one. Climbing so fast leaves little time for finding allies. Not having anyone to cover one’s weaknesses can be a mistake.

In a cultivation world, strength wasn’t everything; it was the only thing. This Supreme Cultivation System would give him that in spades.

There was a problem, though. No matter how powerful one gets, no matter how high someone climbs, there would always be someone more powerful. Besides, the thought of constantly fighting didn’t fit who he was as a person, Su’s memories and instincts notwithstanding.

“Thanks. Next please.”

Heaven Defying Crafting System

The cultivation world runs on resources. Alchemy. Formations. Smithing. Talismans. Your skill for each of those will be heaven defying. Use your superior crafts to conquer the cultivation world or simply buy the muscle you need from the massive wealth you’ll accumulate. Best be diligent, though. Every hour spent cultivating will be accompanied by many hours crafting, and the System cannot add any more time to a day. You’ll probably get to the top, but it won’t likely be a quick journey.

Honestly, that sounded much more his speed. He had enjoyed puttering around in his workshop building stuff. And he had no doubt that unparalleled skill in those areas would bring him great riches.

It would also make him, especially early on, dependent on others for protection. Su’s memories told him that sects would fight over a truly talented crafter, possibly to that crafter’s detriment. Some ended up as little more than slaves, forced to endlessly fulfill the sect’s needs for a pittance in return.

“Thanks again. Final one please.”

Sect Leader System

The power of many can easily outweigh the power of one, no matter how strong, especially if a leader can smooth the way for sect members by creating perfect cultivation methods and techniques. It’s low risk and high reward to have others fight for you, but there is a downside: you will have no way to gain the heights of personal power except through recruiting and building up those around you.

That one sounded perfect for him. He would have to depend on finding and mentoring recruits instead of cultivating to progress, but building up the people under him was his entire raison d’etre. Sure, there would probably be challenges, but nothing was ever perfect.

There was no use agonizing over a choice that was a no brainer, no matter how important that choice was.

“System, I choose the Sect Leader System.”