Chapter 1: Chapter 1 - Leyvi
"Huff, huff..." A man panted from exhaustion as he dragged his bag to his small house in the middle of the night. The moon hung high in the sky, casting a faint silvery glow over the quiet surroundings. His steps were heavy, and every movement screamed fatigue, yet he pushed forward with determination.
After entering his house and locking the door, he finally relaxed, taking a few moments to breathe properly. The tension in his shoulders began to ease as he leaned against the door, momentarily closing his eyes.
The man's name was Leyvi. He had just completed a mission for his cultivation sect, the Mountain Dew Sect. The sect was located in a mountain range that consisted of one large mountain and several smaller ones.
Leyvi had been accepted into the sect when he was 12 years old and had been cultivating for 8 years. He had reached the middle stage of the Qi Refinement realm, a cultivation speed considered quite average for a cultivator.
"I might need another ten years to reach the late stage of the Qi Refinement realm. Sigh, with just a middle-grade spirit root, I can't even imagine how long it will take to reach the Foundation Building realm," Leyvi complained to himself. "Forget it; at least I'm not the slowest. There are others slower than me. A cultivator with a low-grade spirit root might not even be able to build their foundation in their entire life without a chance encounter."
After his usual daily complaints, Leyvi cheered up as always. He grabbed his bag and began inspecting his harvest from the mission.
Leyvi took out several spirit herbs from the bag. These were all wild spirit herbs needed by the sect's alchemist to concoct Qi-refining pills. Although the sect had spirit herb farms, growing them took time, and the quantity was insufficient for all disciples. Consequently, many outer sect disciples had to search for spirit herbs in the surrounding mountains to earn contribution points. These points were crucial for exchanging resources.
Leyvi often chose this type of mission because it was relatively safer than others, such as hunting demonic beasts. Demonic beasts were animals capable of absorbing Qi, significantly enhancing their physical strength. Occasionally, demonic beasts could learn unique abilities related to their species, making them even more dangerous.
Leyvi had participated in hunting missions a few times, sustaining injuries each time. His combat abilities were as average as his cultivation speed. As a result, he decided to focus on herb-collecting missions, which were safer, allowing him to flee if he encountered a demonic beast—just as he had today.
"I'll submit the spirit herbs tomorrow and exchange them for a bottle of low-grade Qi-refining pills," Leyvi muttered, putting the herbs back into his bag and heading to bed.
Suddenly, a faint glow emanated from Leyvi's bag. One of the spirit herbs began to change shape, transforming into a glowing bead. It shot out of the bag and entered Leyvi's head.
"Argh!" Leyvi let out a short scream before fainting onto his bed.
The glowing bead inside Leyvi's head gradually dimmed until it emitted no light at all. The room fell silent once more, as though nothing extraordinary had occurred.
The next morning, Leyvi woke up with a headache, wondering what had happened the previous night. He touched the back of his head and then examined his entire body, trying to identify anything unusual, but found nothing. The headache lingered, but there was no sign of external injury.
"That's strange. I'm sure someone or something hit the back of my head last night, but there's no injury. Nothing seems wrong. Was it just a dream?" Leyvi muttered, confused.
He checked his bag and was relieved to find his spirit herbs still there. "Thank goodness the spirit herbs are still here. I thought someone robbed me. Huh? Where's one of the spirit herbs? I counted 56 last night. Now there are only 55."
Leyvi frowned in confusion. "Did the robber only take one spirit herb? That doesn't make sense." He scanned his house but noticed nothing unusual. The protective array was still intact, meaning no one had forcefully entered. The array, though simple, was reliable enough to prevent intrusions from low-level threats.
"Maybe I miscounted the spirit herbs last night because I was so tired. Yeah, that must be it," Leyvi concluded. He headed to the bathroom for a shower. All the houses in the sect were equipped with basic living necessities, including a bathroom, toilet, kitchen, bed, and a simple protective array for security.
After showering, Leyvi went to the kitchen to prepare a simple meal. Although he was a cultivator, he still needed to eat, poop, and pee like an ordinary person. The main difference was the frequency of these needs. The higher one's cultivation, the less food and drink were required, as energy could be replenished through cultivation.
Being in the middle stage of the Qi Refinement realm, Leyvi still needed regular meals. Only cultivators in the Foundation Building realm or higher could go without food for extended periods. It was said that a Nascent Soul realm cultivator could even live without a body! The thought of reaching such an advanced realm always fascinated Leyvi, even if it seemed like an impossible dream for someone with his cultivation talent.
Knock, knock!
Leyvi heard a familiar knock on his door. The rhythmic tapping made him smile faintly; it was a knock he had grown accustomed to over the years. He guessed who it was and quickly went to open it.
"Leyvi! Are you alright?"
"Ah, Panda Girl, you're here. Come in. I'm fine."
The woman Leyvi called Panda Girl was his childhood friend Anda. They were the same age and had grown up together in an orphanage in a village south of the Mountain Dew Sect. Anda had long black hair and a good figure. She had also been accepted into the sect alongside Leyvi, as she similarly had a middle-grade spirit root and had reached the middle stage of the Qi Refinement realm.
"That's good. I came by last night to check on you, but you were already asleep," Anda said as she entered the house.
Anda didn't mind Leyvi calling her Panda Girl since they were close. However, if someone else called her that, she would be upset. The nickname came from a birthmark around her left eye, which made her look like a panda. From one side, people considered her quite beautiful, but from the other side, the panda-like appearance was all they could focus on.
Because of this, Anda didn't have many friends in the sect. She had a few female friends, but Leyvi was the only male friend she trusted. She knew it was because of her birthmark; no other man approached her, thinking she was unattractive.
Leyvi, however, didn't see her as ugly because he had known her since childhood. To him, she looked normal, and sometimes even a bit cute.
"You didn't get injured last night, did you?" Anda asked, concerned.
"I'm fine. I got chased by a demonic boar, but I managed to escape. It was exhausting, though. It chased me all the way to the sect gate," Leyvi replied.
"How many spirit herbs did you collect this time? Last time, you gathered 41, right?"
"I got 56 this time—well, 55. I miscounted because I was so tired last night," Leyvi admitted.
"Wow, that's a lot more than last time. You were pretty lucky, except for the demonic boar. Hehe," Anda said, laughing. She was happy for him.
"Well, it's all I can do. My spirit root is attributeless, so I can't refine pills like you, Alchemist Panda! It must be nice having a fire spirit root," Leyvi said.
Spirit roots usually had designated elements like fire, water, earth, metal, or wood. Cultivators with fire spirit roots were considered fortunate because they had more cultivation options. They could use destructive fire-elemental skills, pursue alchemy, or even become blacksmiths.
Leyvi's spirit root was attributeless, which was rare. However, lacking an affinity for any element severely limited his cultivation options. For now, all he could do was gather wild spirit herbs in the mountains around the sect.
That said, attributeless spirit roots weren't entirely disadvantageous. When breaking through to the Foundation Building stage, cultivators with attributeless roots didn't need to convert their Qi to a specific element, making the process easier. This advantage, however, seemed far away for someone like Leyvi, whose progress felt slow.
For other cultivators, being near their spirit root's elemental environment boosted the efficiency of circulating, condensing, and converting Qi in their dantian. The dantian was the internal region where Qi, or spiritual energy, was stored and accumulated.
Leyvi, on the other hand, could cultivate at home without needing any elemental environment, while others had to seek specific locations for faster cultivation.
"Hmph! Why are you still complaining about that? We're lucky to have spirit roots at all. When the sect came to our village and the other villages in the region 8 years ago, only four people had spirit roots. The other two only had low-grade spirit roots—remember? And who are you calling Alchemist Panda, huh?" Anda retorted. She reached out and lightly twisted Leyvi's left ear.
The moment Anda touched Leyvi, he froze, and his consciousness was transported elsewhere.
[Anda has a good relationship with the host.]
[Her feeling points toward the host: 85/100.]
[Pick a talent from the talent list to grant her?]
"Huh?!" Leyvi's eyes widened in shock.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Potato_Hero
Potato_Hero My very first time writing. It took way longer that I thought. I hope I get faster soon.
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