The outer edge of Moss Ridge Sector smelled like onions, goats, and smoke.
Ash scrubbed his hands in a wooden basin, bits of dirt clinging beneath his fingernails. He'd spent the better part of the morning hauling fertilizer from one end of Old Mu's fields to the other. For a sack of rice and a half-cooked egg, it was a bargain.
"Don't forget to stir the compost or it'll ferment wrong!" Old Mu called out from the porch, waving a cracked ladle like it was sacred.
Ash nodded, suppressing a sigh. "Yes, Elder Mu."
He wasn't technically part of any sect. Just a quiet farmhand in a village most cultivators wouldn't even look at unless they were lost or punished.
Still, he didn't mind. Not much, anyway.
No debts. No enemies. No expectations.
Just how he liked it.
---
A Quiet World
Moss Ridge wasn't a prestigious place. It was one of the outermost territories under the Thousand Leaves Sect, which itself wasn't particularly impressive in the grand scheme of things.
But there were rules. Sectors were organized by spiritual density, trade networks, protection tiers. Ash had learned them just by growing up in them. People who wanted power left the ridge. Those who wanted peace stayed behind.
Ash was firmly in the latter group. Mostly.
---
Dreams? No Thanks
"Have you ever thought about going to test for cultivation?" a boy named Fen asked him once while picking cabbages.
Ash had grunted. "I already get headaches from bad tea. Imagine if my blood started glowing."
Fen laughed, thinking it was a joke. It wasn't.
---
A Quiet Spark
That night, Ash sat behind his small shack, staring at the stars, feeling his back ache in twenty-six separate places. His dinner was boiled yam, no salt.
The world was quiet. Not mystical, not majestic. Just a dark sky and the creak of branches.
Then, it happened.
Like a drop of ink falling into water, something shifted in his mind.
> [System Initialization: Complete.]
["Skill Creation Protocol" has been activated.]
[Access Level: Singular Authority. Origin: Undefined.]
Ash blinked.
"...what?"
No voice. No glowing orb. No dramatic wind gust. Just... a sentence. Quiet, absolute, like it had always been waiting.
He frowned, leaned back against the shed, and whispered, "Is this one of those weird sect recruitment tricks? Old Mu better not have dosed my yam again…"
But the message remained. And with it, a new thought entered his mind — not from the system, but from his own curiosity:
"Can I make a skill that stops my back from hurting?"
And in response, a faint golden flicker.
> [New Skill Concept Recognized: "Minor Pain Suppression"]
– Status: Seed Form
– Requires: Intent Focus, Basic Rest Cycle, Repetition to Stabilize
– Effect: Dulls body pain slightly while resting or working
Ash stared.
Then leaned forward.
"...Wait. Wait wait wait."
He closed his eyes, focused harder. "How about… something that lets me digest roots better?"
> [New Skill Concept Recognized: "Root Stomach (Seed)"]
– Status: Initial
– Requires: Three days consistent ingestion of tubers. Qi sensitivity will accelerate growth.
– Effect: Enhanced digestion, mild nutritional Qi absorption from starchy plants.
Ash blinked.
He reached down, picked up the last half of his yam, and bit into it like a starving squirrel.
> [Progress: 3%]
Ash chewed slowly.
"...Oh."
---
The System Was Real
He sat there in the dark for a long time, staring at the stars again, heart beating a little faster now.
This wasn't normal cultivation. There were no breathing techniques, no mantras, no ancient lineage. Just…
Creation.
Concept.
Effort.
He had no manuals, no elders, no sacred lineage.
But he had a thought, and the world listened.
For the first time in his quiet, farm-worn life…
Ash smiled.
---
End of Chapter 1