Autumn Whitman finished throwing the man out, clapped his hands, and went back upstairs. As he passed the door that the drunk had kicked earlier, he noticed it was now slightly ajar, though the security chain was still on. Inside, a young woman was kneeling with a little girl in her arms, bowing deeply, her graceful, slender neck exposed in a gesture of gratitude. The little girl's face still showed traces of fear, her small body trembling slightly as she clung tightly to her mother's collar, clearly still very frightened.

Autumn Whitman had no intention of asking who the drunk was or why he had come to cause trouble—that was none of his business. He simply nodded, smiled at the child, and then returned to his own room.

He didn’t need any thanks. Even if it hadn’t been to enhance his talent, that drunk had been so noisy that he would have come out and kicked him out anyway.

It was just a small matter, nothing to dwell on. Better to go back and continue planning the new direction of his life.

Chapter 4 Morning Exercise

At exactly six o’clock the next morning, Autumn Whitman’s alarm clock rang on time.

Groggy, he sat up from the tatami, wiped his face, and silently visualized the Demon-Refining Pot. In an instant, he appeared in the “World Inside the Pot.”

The Demon-Refining Pot, also known as the Jiuli Pot, is one of the ancient divine artifacts. It’s said to be able to create all things and possesses astonishing destructive power. Inside, it contains a strange space—so vast it could swallow the heavens and earth. That’s the description of the “Demon-Refining Pot” in the game. It’s not just an exaggeration. There were many other life-bound artifacts to choose from, like the Yin-Yang Fish, the Haotian Eye, the Drunken Immortal Gourd, the Demon-Suppressing Tower, the Xuanyuan Sword, and so on—maybe even more powerful than the Demon-Refining Pot. He just hadn’t chosen carefully at the time.

But the Demon-Refining Pot truly is marvelous.

For example, time flows about three times faster in the “World Inside the Pot” than in the outside world. If you spend three hours inside, only one hour passes in Hokkaido.

At first glance, this seems great, but in practice, the effect isn’t so wonderful.

For instance, if you stay in the pot for a long time, after a while, you might end up in the sad situation where your legal age is twenty-one or twenty-two, but your actual bone age is thirty.

Or, you might be only twenty-six or twenty-seven, but already have the face of a forty-year-old uncle, and even be balding—how could anyone bear that?

So, this place is only suitable for special training or cramming for exams. Staying too long is a loss, unless you plan to live here permanently.

He was still half-asleep, so he started jogging in the valley to warm up, as was his habit. But after a while, he suddenly realized—why was he up so early to train?

In the past, he had to train every morning to avoid being killed by the tree spirits when he went into the forest. Now, it didn’t seem necessary anymore. He didn’t need to be so self-disciplined. Maybe he could go back and sleep a bit more?

He hesitated for a moment, but chose to keep running instead of going back to bed.

Now, the Demon-Refining Pot was only useful as a training ground. If he didn’t make use of it, he’d probably end up as ordinary as everyone else.

But just like it says in “Ordinary World,” everyone longs for the extraordinary and has the right to be extraordinary. He still wanted an exciting life.

Better to endure a few years of hardship and work hard now. Once he became a top athlete, famous and wealthy, he could enjoy life then.

Only with effort comes reward. He had crossed over and even brought a cheat, even if it was a bit unreliable and didn’t quite fit the style. It was already pretty good, so he should work even harder now.

After all, no matter how tough it got, it couldn’t be worse than those 996 jobs where people are squeezed dry by capitalists. At least his hard work was for his own future, while 996 just fattens up the capitalists.

To become a legendary superstar—fight!

Having made up his mind, he jogged for half an hour. Once his whole body was warmed up, he began climbing up the cliff face of the valley.

He no longer trained in the valley itself, but on a natural platform not far from it.

The rules of the World Inside the Pot were strange. It seemed that flying was forbidden here. On flat ground, everything was normal, but if you tried to go higher—like climbing the mountain—the air would become thicker and the pressure greater, until you couldn’t take it anymore.

He hadn’t believed it at first and tried to climb to the top of the mountain to see for himself. But he hadn’t gotten very far before his body couldn’t handle it—the pressure was immense, the air thick, breathing difficult, a sense of suffocation, bloodshot eyes, nosebleeds, legs unable to support his weight, almost collapsing to his knees. It was like suddenly entering a high-gravity chamber.

Apparently, the “World Inside the Pot” wasn’t designed for mortals. You’d have to become an immortal to solve the root problem.

So, he had always used this rocky mountain as a “natural gravity chamber” to speed up his training, make himself stronger, more powerful, and faster, so he could fight his way out of the forest, see what was outside, and look for rare treasures or immortal opportunities.

Unfortunately, after two years of hard work, he could only climb a few dozen meters up. Once the “gravity” reached about 1.7 times normal, his body couldn’t take it anymore, and any higher would give him nosebleeds.

Sometimes he really wanted to shout, “I don’t want to be human anymore!” He’d even be fine with being a monster—if only he had a choice. But he didn’t, so he had to stay human.