The Earth Realm of the Celestial Cloud Sect.
The seasons were like a perpetual spring.
Late December.
On a one-mu Spirit Field, Fang Yun was harvesting Clear Water Rice.
"Let's see... a little over one hundred and three pounds... Not bad. Quite a bit more than last time."
As the sun set, Fang Yun finished harvesting the Clear Water Rice. He weighed the haul, then returned to his small cabin, satisfied.
Clear Water Rice was a Tier One, Lower Grade product, the absolute lowest among Spirit Rice, but it was suitable for a minor Qi Refining Second Layer Cultivator like him to grow and tend to.
With his limited energy, carefully tending to a single mu of Clear Water Rice left him with very little time to cultivate each day.
Inside his cabin, Fang Yun cultivated diligently, waiting for the next day to arrive.
He had been in this Cultivation World for over sixteen years.
His parents had been Outer Sect disciples of the Celestial Cloud Sect. He'd thought it was a pretty good start in life, but before he could even have his Spirit Root tested, they died during an away mission. The good news that came later was that he did have a Spirit Root and could pursue Cultivation. The bad news was that it was a Mixed Spirit Root.
A Five Spirit Roots, the worst of the Mixed Spirit Roots.
Even with Four Spirit Roots, he could have joined the Celestial Cloud Sect, as that level of Spirit Root Talent would have been enough, given that his parents had been disciples.
But having tested for Five Spirit Roots, the Celestial Cloud Sect, showing some compassion, took care of him until he turned sixteen. After that, he was on his own.
If it hadn't been for the sect's care, he would have had to struggle just to survive ever since his Spirit Root was tested at age ten. With his Five Spirit Roots aptitude, he never would have broken through to the Qi Refining Second Layer by now.
But when he turned sixteen, things took another turn.
He finally received the standard treatment every transmigrator deserves.
---
Harvested Clear Water Rice x103: Talent Points +103.
Standard Rainfall x8: Talent Points +8.
Standard Weeding x8: Talent Points +8.
Standard Pest Control x6: Talent Points +6.
Perfect Pest Control x1: Talent Points +3.
Affiliation: [None]
Talent Point Bonus: 0%
Total: Talent Points +128.
---
"It's here."
Receiving the notification, Fang Yun stopped his meditative cultivation. With a thought, a screen of light appeared before his eyes.
No one could see the screen but him.
At the end of the last day of the month, the monthly Talent Point settlement would begin.
He was very familiar with this feature. It came from the game *So-called Cultivation*. In his past life, he had been a blogger who created game guides, specializing in strategies for free-to-play and low-spending players.
*So-called Cultivation* was a 16+ game. Fang Yun had a reasonable suspicion that his "golden finger" only unlocked when he turned sixteen because of this age rating.
'If only my golden finger had arrived sooner, I could have started developing earlier.'
In the bottom-right corner of the screen, his current Talent Points were displayed. After adding 128, the number reached 137.
Talent Points could be used to draw for talents, which was one of the core gameplay loops of *So-called Cultivation* and also a major cash-grab feature.
One hundred Talent Points could be used to draw one Life Talent.
Life Talents referred to the Hundred Skills of Cultivation. From all available Life Talents, he could choose three to be his upgradeable talents. Considering his situation, Fang Yun chose Planting, Alchemy, and Artifact Refining.
After closing the settlement data, Fang Yun opened the Life Talent draw interface.
In the center of the interface was a wheel, with Planting, Alchemy, and Artifact Refining each occupying a third of the area. He had drawn twice before, receiving one fragment for Planting and one for Alchemy. This was his third draw.
One hundred Talent Points vanished. The wheel began to spin, finally stopping on the Planting section.
"My luck's not bad. Given my current situation, this is the best possible outcome."
Two Planting Talent fragments could be used for the first upgrade. The next upgrade would require six fragments, meaning it would take at least six hundred Talent Points, and that was only if his luck was perfect.
As the fragments synthesized, a black star appeared after the Planting Talent, signifying a one-star Planting Talent.
At that moment, Fang Yun's entire being entered a profound and mysterious state.
It was a feeling he had never experienced before.
'A one-star Planting Talent... Even if my luck is terrible from now on, this talent should be more than enough to get me through the Qi Refining Stage...'
Fang Yun thought to himself as he closed the screen. Besides Life Talents, there were also Combat Talents. For the foreseeable future, he couldn't even afford to look at them.
Unlike Life Talents, drawing a single fragment for a Combat Talent cost 1,000 Talent Points—ten times the price!
Free-to-play players could only upgrade Life Talents, focusing on logistics and support. Trying to upgrade Combat Talents was an awful experience; that was a competition reserved for the whales.
One hundred Talent Points cost one yuan. A first-time top-up of 648 yuan with a double bonus would only get you 129 Combat Talent draws.
Very few people played this game as pure free-to-play because the character's base stats were also a monetization point. A first-time top-up of 6 yuan would grant you a Three Spirit Roots talent profile.
Right now, Fang Yun was a complete blank slate, the equivalent of a non-paying player. In the game, it was questionable if such a character could even reach Foundation Establishment within two hundred years. But a game was just a game. Unlike game characters who had no Life Span limit, Fang Yun did.
In the real world, the status of an Alchemy Master or an Artifact Refiner was completely different from their place in the game's ecosystem.
「Under the moonlight.」
Fang Yun left his cabin.
After his Planting Talent had been upgraded to one star, he wanted to see what the effects were.
The talent's bonus effects varied when caring for Spirit Medicine of different levels. If Fang Yun remembered correctly, in the game, upgrading the Planting Talent increased yields by a percentage, allowed one to care for more Spirit Plants, and boosted the chance of mutation.
On the light screen, Fang Yun didn't see any of this information quantified, so he would have to figure it out by himself.
He arrived at the Tier One, Lower Grade Spirit Field he was renting.
Earth Flipping Technique!
This was one of the simplest Low Tier Magic, its main purpose being to till a Spirit Field and allow the Spiritual Qi to distribute more evenly through the soil.
'The Spiritual Power consumption is about half of what it was.'
This was even better than Fang Yun had expected.
This was the magic of upgrading his Planting Talent. Insufficient Spiritual Power had been a major problem in his desire to care for more Spirit Medicine.
The fact that his Planting Talent affected magic created for planting was in line with his expectations.
Next up was the Small Cloud Rain Technique.
After this double confirmation, Fang Yun returned, satisfied.
Now he could rent two mu of Tier One, Lower Grade Spirit Fields to plant Clear Water Rice, increasing the efficiency with which he gained Talent Points.
「The first light of dawn broke on the horizon.」
Waking from his sleep, Fang Yun set off for the East District.
At the foot of the Celestial Cloud Sect were two major market districts: one to the east and one to the south.
Arriving in the East District, he first went to the Spirit Field Institute set up by the Celestial Cloud Sect. This was the place to rent Spirit Fields, receive seeds, and pay rent.
"Steward Song, here are the eighty pounds of Clear Water Rice."
Clear Water Rice ripened every three months. Renting one mu of a Tier One, Lower Grade Spirit Field to grow it required a payment of eighty pounds of Clear Water Rice after those three months. If the harvest was short, Spirit Stones could be used as a substitute.
The exchange rate was ten pounds of Clear Water Rice for one Lower Grade Spirit Stone.
Based on Fang Yun's current harvest, after three months of hard work, he had earned less than three Lower Grade Spirit Stones—less than one per month on average.
Three months prior, his harvest had been less than a hundred pounds, meaning he hadn't even earned two Lower Grade Spirit Stones in those three months.
Steward Song weighed the Clear Water Rice Fang Yun handed over. The scale showed eighty-three.
"Mm, you're a sensible kid." Steward Song nodded in satisfaction.
The extra three pounds of Clear Water Rice naturally went into his own pocket.
The area he managed consisted entirely of Tier One, Lower Grade Spirit Fields, so there wasn't much to skim off the top. Most of the Loose Cultivators who rented these fields were lucky if they could even pay the full eighty pounds of Clear Water Rice.
"Steward Song, I was hoping to rent another mu of Spirit Field. I was wondering if there are any available?" Fang Yun asked tentatively.
He had also handed over eighty-three pounds of Clear Water Rice three months ago, all in preparation for this moment.
A gesture like this undoubtedly made it easier to rent a Spirit Field from a Celestial Cloud Sect Steward.
"You have the ability to care for two mu of Spirit Fields?" Steward Song sized Fang Yun up.
For someone at the Qi Refining Second Layer of Cultivation, tending to two mu of Tier One, Lower Grade Spirit Fields was exhausting. It would be difficult to manage even if one gave up all their time for cultivation.
"Steward Song, I don't mean to brag, but when it comes to this, I have a bit of a knack for it."
"Oh? Is that so?" Steward Song's eyes narrowed. He was already thinking about whether he could get six pounds of Clear Water Rice from Fang Yun in three months. "If I recall correctly, your parents were disciples of our Celestial Cloud Sect, weren't they, kid?"
"That's right," Fang Yun nodded.
"If you truly have the talent to be a Spirit Plant Master, it's not impossible for you to become a disciple of the Celestial Cloud Sect in the future. If that time comes, I'll help with a recommendation."
"Thank you, Steward Song."
Fang Yun immediately expressed his gratitude.
Joining the Celestial Cloud Sect and becoming an Outer Sect disciple was one of his next goals.
The Celestial Cloud Sect was at least a third-rank sect. After becoming an Outer Sect disciple, he would unlock the affiliation bonus, which would significantly increase the Talent Points he received in his monthly settlement.
In *So-called Cultivation*, sect affiliation was also a core gameplay feature.
The Talent Point settlement bonus from an affiliation was especially important for free-to-play players.
This was especially true for someone in Fang Yun's situation. He was the most basic of starter characters; all of his Life Talents and Combat Talents were white-grade, with none at green-grade or higher.
Even among Cultivators with Five Spirit Roots, someone as mediocre as him was rare. Others might have had undiscovered potential, but without this method to upgrade his talents, he truly had no potential at all.
"I'll rent this mu of Spirit Field to you as well."
"Thank you, Steward Song," Fang Yun said again.
"Here are the seeds needed for two mu of Clear Water Rice. Don't disappoint me in three months, kid."
"I will certainly do my best."
"Mm."