Zhen Kai stared into the cracked mirror above the washbasin, the silvered glass fogged with age and dust. His reflection stared back — a boy's face, but not a child's. Sharp jaw. Hollow eyes. Lips tight, like he was always on the edge of saying something.
'It's been a full year…'
The thought came quietly, uninvited, as he wiped condensation from the mirror's surface.
'A whole year in this world... This strange, backward, law of the strong world. The Mystic Realm...'
The name still felt like unreal every time it echoed through his head.
He leaned in slightly, studying himself. Not a wrinkle. Not a scar. No burn marks.
Not like before he reincarnated.
'Definitely not like Earth.' he sighed as he thought to himself with a disgruntled expression.
His name there had been Andrew Clancy — thirty-six years old, and unalived. Burned alive in a house fire no one showed up to mourn. A genius in youth, but completely wasted in adulthood. He had spent his last decade designing algorithms for a faceless tech giant, letting his creativity rot in the back of his skull like a forgotten relic.
All those years behind a glowing screen, and now he was here — in a world of blades, Qi, and ancient unknown powers.
A world where even children could split boulders if born with the right blood.
And what had he been born into?
Trash.
No Spirit Root. No Constitution. No legacy worth a damn.
Not even a family...
'No matter the world, it seems mediocrity always finds me somehow...'
He sighed.
Outside, morning light cut through the thin thatched walls of the hut, brushing across the floor in long golden streaks.
Today was Talent Testing Day in Mossvale Ridge. This meant the scouts from the esteemed "Verdant Sky Academy" would be here by noon, as they were every month to look for potential students.
And once again, Zhen Kai would stand to the side and watch others rise.
Just like last time. And the time before that too.
'I've been here only a year. But everyone in the village thinks I was born here. Its been a struggle to adjust to this new lifestyle..'He sighed once again, but a little glad, because in some ways it was an upgrade from being a slave at a computer all day
His mind flicked to his new life's inherited memories. They didn't surface often — but they were there. Blurry, muted things, his parents' voices, his mother's calloused hand, the warm scent of burning herbs throughout the house.
Then, the cold bitter silence that followed their disappearance.
Zhen Kai's expression darkened slightly.
'They were cultivators, respected ones, according to the villagers. How could they vanished without a word when I was still a kid?'
His other memories reveal, he remebers the moment that shifted everything. Age seven, standing in the village center, waiting in anxious anticipation. Everyone gathered to test their spirit roots for the first time in his generation.
However, they found nothing in him.
Not a low-tier spirit root, not a fragmented one, nothing...
That was the day all the kindness and respect stopped. The neighbors stopped smiling, the healer aunties stopped giving him sweets. Even the elders stopped stopping by his house when they passed.
In a world where potential was everything, he had been deemed a void, a useless sack of meat taking up resources.
'They don't even mock me anymore,' he thought to himself. 'Now, they just act like I was never there to begin with.'
The thought didn't hurt him though. Not anymore at least, It was far too familiar now.
He pulled on his robe — coarse gray fabric, frayed at the sleeves. No family sigil. No clan crest. Just the color of someone unremarkable.
He glanced at his reflection one last time.
'Fifteen, physically but a lifetime of knowledge behind my eyes, and still somehow stuck at the bottom of society...'
His hands silently closed into fists.
Not from rage, but just the quiet pressure of needing something to change.
Anything, just a small bit of hope.
He opened the door, stepping out into the morning sun.
Today wouldn't be different, he already knew that. He had lowered his expectations of the world he was in.
But something beneath his skin… something in the air… signified a little bit of hope for today...
The dirt path to the village square was already buzzing by the time Zhen Kai arrived. Children sat on the low stone walls, swinging their legs, laughing and talking. Parents leaned in close, whispering to one another behind weathered hands about who they think would get selected today. The younger disciples from better-off families wore clean robes trimmed in green or gold, embroidered with specially tailored family sigils — being the 3 main family sigils, leaf crests, river serpents, and mountain runes.
Zhen Kai's steps made no sound. No one greeted him. No one even bothered to look his way.
'Not even the pitying kind of attention anymore. That's how far you fall after being rootless long enough in this place.' he sighed to himself.
Up ahead, the old weathered wooden platform had been rebuilt — new planks nailed over the old splintered ones, but the creak still echoed when stepped on. A large brass plate sat on the surface, engraved with glowing runes that flickered in the light.
The Spirit Testing Plate. Ancient, rune-forged, and completely indifferent to your hopes and dreams.
It pulsed faintly.
"Those with a spirit root will cause the plate to glow in resonance with heaven's breath, being Qi."
That's what the elders had always said.
But it only glowed for some, and for a select few… it shined.
From the left side of the platform, Instructor Yao emerged — tall, narrow-shouldered, hair tied into a jade ring, face adorning a simple creepy looking smile. His robes bore the emblem of Verdant Sky Academy — twin feathers crossed over a rising sun.
He looked down at the crowd like one might study moss growing in the cracks of a stone path.
"Line up," he called. "First ten children."
The crowd stirred as names were shouted out and kids nervously approached the plate.
Zhen Kai remained in the back. He didn't need to hear the words. He already knew the process.
The first child stepped up — a boy with soft hands and a wide-eyed stare.
His foot hit the plate.
A faint glow shimmered beneath him. Blue. Thin, but visible.
Instructor Yao nodded.
"Tier Three Spirit Root," he announced. "Human-grade. Usable."
from Zhen Kai's knowledge so far, he knew that spirit roots were split into 5 grades, Tier 5 - Tier1 . He wasn't sure exactly how much of a difference each made, but he knew when a lower number got shouted out, there was usually a bigger commotion.
Murmurs of approval passed through the crowd.
'That alone can change someone's life here. Even a Tier Three.'
Next, a girl from the river clan — pale and sharp-eyed — stepped up. As soon as her heel touched the brass, a bright silver pulse shot up from the plate, rising like a flame before fading.
The crowd gasped.
"Tier Two Spirit Root," Yao said with an eyebrow raise. "And... a minor water-aligned constitution, very decent veins."
People were already whispering about marriage prospects.
Zhen Kai's thoughts stirred.
'Spirit roots are the body's way of connecting to Qi — this spiritual resonance lets you absorb and refine energy.'
'Without one… you're just a bag of blood and bone waiting to rot.'
'And constitutions… those are even rarer. Mutations of the flesh. Some are born with bones like jade, muscles that twist like cords of steel, Qi that burns like fire even before they cultivate.'
He glanced at his own hand. No glow. No tremor of destiny.
Just skin, calloused from training that shouldn't have mattered.
Then came Xian Bo.
He stepped forward with an easy smile, arms folded behind his back. His father — the village head — watched from the side, chin lifted, waiting to see his son excel as he knew he would.
Bo removed his sandals, stepped on the plate, and—
Boom.
A heavy golden-red pulse erupted beneath him, followed by a low hum that reverberated through the ground.
The crowd roared.
Instructor Yao actually smirked.
"Tier Three Root… but on the verge of Tier Two. Rare earth-aligned variant. And… yes. Iron Thread Muscles Constitution. Not bad."
Xian Bo bowed. Then shot a glance sideways — directly at Zhen Kai.
That grin again.
'He's always loved watching me disappear.'
The line continued. One success. Two failures. Another Tier Four root — weak, but enough to escape the village if trained hard enough.
Then Instructor Yao's voice rang out again, sharper now.
"Zhen Kai..."
The square fell silent.
Some kids snickered, a woman sighed slowly through her teeth, an old man looked away as if to not embarrass him.
Zhen Kai walked forward slowly, cloak swaying.
He stopped in front of the plate.
"Do I really even need to test?" he asked the instructor with a somewhat annoyed tone.
Instructor Yao blinked.
The man studied him. Then said, "The Academy requires a record of all who attempt. Even those without merit."
Zhen Kai gave a small nod.
'Just like last time, and just like every time...' he thought to himself, as he stepped forward.
And just as he anticipated, the plate didn't even flicker.
No movement whatsoever, meaning the result was the same as every time before...
Instructor Yao scribbled something in his scroll. "Confirmed: No Root. No Constitution. Marked as unfit."
No mockery. Just the kind of voice you'd use to describe livestock too weak to breed.
Zhen Kai stepped down.
The crowd parted for him without sound.
'I've already died once. You think this does anything to me now?'
But the truth was... It did.
It still did, and probably always would for as long as he was able to survive in this cruel, heartless world.
He returned to the edge of the square and sat in silence.
Watching the sky.
Waiting for something. Anything.
And in that silence…a line of code bloomed behind his eyes like a whisper from somewhere forgotten:
[HEAVEN'S RECLAIMING PROTOCOL: ACTIVATED.]
"Trash confirmed, countermeasure deployed."
.....