The sun, a brilliant disc in the Azure Peaks sky, had been directly overhead when Master Thorne left Kenji to the judgment of the stern junior elder. Hours later, as dusk began to paint the mountain slopes in hues of deep violet and fading gold, Kenji found himself standing before a sprawling complex of wooden fences, open-air enclosures, and low-slung stone buildings that smelled overwhelmingly of hay, animal musk, and something vaguely metallic. This was the Spiritbeast Pens, the Emberlight Sanctum's sprawling animal husbandry grounds, and Kenji's new assignment.
"Given your… unique situation," the sharp-eyed junior elder had said, her voice still dry as parchment, "Master Thorne requested you be given a chance. But without spiritual resonance, your options are limited. You will assist here. Report to the Pen Master at dawn. Your duties will include cleaning, feeding, and general maintenance." She hadn't even bothered to look at him as she'd dismissed him.
Kenji had felt a heavy wave of disappointment wash over him. This was not the grand cultivation journey he'd envisioned. This was manual labor. Again. He was back to being a janitor, just with more exotic animal waste. He swallowed the bitter taste of frustration. Gain Elder's Trust. The System's mandate echoed in his mind. He supposed this was part of the test. A test of perseverance.
The Pen Master was a burly, weathered man with hands like gnarled roots and eyes that had seen too many difficult beasts. He barely grunted a greeting, tossing Kenji a worn-out broom and a rusty shovel. "You. The new… helper. Pens One to Ten. Muck 'em out. Don't miss a spot. And for the love of the Aether, don't get eaten by the Luminawolves. They're usually docile, but sometimes… they get ideas." He walked off, leaving Kenji standing amidst the pungent odors and low growls of unseen creatures.
Kenji stared at the massive wooden gates of Pen One, a sigh escaping his lips. He was an engineering student, not a stable hand. He pushed open the gate, and was immediately assaulted by the pungent smell of old hay, fresh manure, and the sharp, musky scent of spiritbeasts. Inside, a few Luminawolves, their fur faintly iridescent even in the dim light of the pens, lay sprawled on the straw, their eyes watching him with a mixture of boredom and mild disdain. They looked nothing like the feral Bloodfang Pups he'd fought. These were larger, more regal, their teeth still sharp. He gulped, reminding himself of the Pen Master's warning.
He grabbed the broom. The System, ever-present, flickered to life.
Sub-Mission: Clean 1 Spiritbeast Pen.Reward: 0.1 System Points.
Kenji blinked. "Zero point one?" he muttered, a wry, humorless chuckle escaping him. That meant he'd need to clean ten pens just to get one measly System Point. This was true "grunt work" alright. An agonizingly slow grind. It seemed the System itself was embracing the irony.
He set to work, the rhythmic scrape of the shovel against the stone floor, followed by the dull thud of manure hitting the wheelbarrow, filling the otherwise quiet pens. The Luminawolves observed him with mild interest, occasionally letting out a low growl when he got too close to their food troughs. He moved cautiously, respectfully, keenly aware of their power. His Qi Sensing skill, subtle as it was, picked up on the faint spiritual energy emanating from their bodies, a wild, untamed power that was utterly alien to his own nascent understanding.
Days blurred into a monotonous cycle. Dawn to dusk, he shoveled, swept, and carried. The smell of the pens became his constant companion. His hands, unaccustomed to such labor, developed blisters, then calluses. His back ached relentlessly. But he worked diligently, meticulously. He was no stranger to hard work, but this felt… futile. Yet, he pushed through, fueled by the System's tiny, incremental rewards. Each 0.1 SP felt like a victory, a minuscule step forward.
He learned the subtle behaviors of the Luminawolves, how to approach them, how to avoid startling them. He learned to differentiate the smell of fresh hay from old, to identify specific medicinal herbs in the Sanctum's lesser-known foraging grounds. His practical skills improved, even if his cultivation didn't. His physical body, initially weak, began to harden, lean muscle replacing his soft, civilian physique. He was becoming more resilient.
One morning, as he was meticulously raking fresh hay into Pen Four, a group of young, well-dressed disciples passed by. They were laughing boisterously, their voices echoing off the stone walls. Kenji recognized one of them instantly. Lord Valerius. He was even more arrogant than Kenji remembered from the reception hall, his handsome face contorted in a sneer as he pointed to the rows of pens.
"Look at this squalor, Valen. A proper cultivator shouldn't even have to breathe this air," Lord Valerius declared, his voice carrying, intended to be heard. He was accompanied by a few fawning companions, including a perpetually smirking youth named Kaito.
Kaito chuckled, glancing pointedly at Kenji, who was currently up to his elbows in fragrant hay. "Indeed, Lord Valerius. Imagine, being assigned here! The indignity. Even our lowest outer disciples possess enough spiritual resonance to avoid such… peasant labor."
Lord Valerius sighed dramatically, running a gloved hand over his impeccably clean robes. "Such is the fate of the truly talentless, I suppose. The Sanctum has its uses for everyone, even those who fail utterly at the basic tests. A true shame, really. Such a waste of Master Thorne's recommendation." He paused, then looked directly at Kenji, his eyes filled with open contempt. "Don't you agree, commoner? Some people just know their place."
Kenji froze, his shovel halfway through a pile of manure. He felt a hot flush creep up his neck. The casual cruelty in Lord Valerius's voice, the undisguised scorn in his eyes, stung more than any thorn bush. It was the arrogance of inherited power, the disdain for anyone deemed beneath him. Kenji knew this type from Earth—the privileged elite who saw others as props in their own grand narrative. He gripped the shovel handle tightly, knuckles white. He wanted to lash out, to wipe that arrogant smirk off Valerius's face. But he couldn't. He was unarmed, uncultivated, and this was their territory. He was powerless.
He forced himself to take a deep breath, to rein in his anger. His humiliation was a cold, bitter taste in his mouth. He lowered his gaze, focusing intently on the task at hand, as if the manure held the secrets of the universe. He continued shoveling, trying to make himself invisible, to project an air of humble acceptance. Lord Valerius and his entourage laughed, their cruel voices echoing as they moved on, their laughter fading into the distance.
The System, ever-present, had remained silent during the encounter. No mission to fight back, no reward for enduring humiliation. It was a stark reminder that this wasn't a game where every insult triggered a quest. This was real life in a brutal new world.
Days turned into weeks. Kenji continued his arduous routine. He had accrued a meager 5 System Points from cleaning and foraging missions. He still couldn't activate the "Basic Body Fortification" skill (cost 10 SP), or the "Qi Sensing Tutorial" (cost 1 SP, but he'd spent his point trying to activate it earlier). He was stuck in a tedious loop of low-reward missions.
He occasionally saw Lyra Shadowbrook, the disciple he had rescued. She would pass by the Spiritbeast Pens, sometimes with Master Thorne, sometimes with other disciples. She always offered a small, sympathetic smile, a silent nod of acknowledgment. She never directly offered help, knowing perhaps that her interference might worsen Kenji's situation in the eyes of the other disciples, or that he was meant to endure this. Her pity was genuine, but it was a cold comfort. Kenji understood. She had her own path, her own duties.
He often saw her training in the cultivation fields, her green robes a blur of motion as she practiced intricate spiritual techniques, sending bursts of emerald energy into targets. Her movements were fluid, powerful. He longed to be like her, to understand that feeling of spiritual energy, to wield it.
One particularly damp afternoon, Kenji was assigned to clean the oldest, dustiest section of the Spiritbeast Pens – the far back corner, which hadn't been used in years. The air here was thick with ancient dust and the faint, earthy smell of neglect. Cobwebs hung like decaying curtains, and the wooden stalls looked ready to crumble.
"Just get it done, helper," the Pen Master grunted, leaving him to it. "No one's touched that corner in decades. Probably just rats and dust."
Kenji sighed. More dust. More muck. He grabbed his shovel and broom, setting to work with methodical efficiency. He raked away layers of ancient hay, his nose constantly tickling with the dust. The sunlight barely reached this corner, making it perpetually dim and cool. As he worked, he noticed something odd. The stone wall in this particular stall felt different. Not just rough, but… uneven. As if a section wasn't quite flush with the rest.
His innate curiosity, honed by years of diagnosing engineering problems, kicked in. He put down his tools and ran his hands over the stone surface, brushing away layers of grime and clinging cobwebs. His fingers probed, searching. There. A faint seam. Not naturally occurring. Too straight. It was subtle, almost imperceptible.
He pressed against it, tested it. It shifted. Barely. A very faint click resonated in the oppressive silence of the unused pens. His heart gave a sudden lurch.
He leaned closer, eyes straining in the gloom. He pressed harder, using his shoulder, then his knee, putting his full weight into it. The stone section shifted again, grinding softly against hidden mechanisms. A fine spray of ancient dust puffed out.
The System, always observing, usually silent unless prompted or for a mission, suddenly flashed, a bright blue light cutting through the gloom of the dusty corner.
Anomaly Detected: Hidden Compartment.Investigate? (Y/N)
Kenji stared at the screen, then back at the shifting stone. A hidden compartment? Here? In the oldest, most forgotten corner of the Spiritbeast Pens?
Just then, from somewhere closer than he expected, outside the Spiritbeast Pens, the familiar, sneering laughter of Lord Valerius echoed, clear and mocking. He was likely passing by with his entourage, their voices drifting over the wooden fences, ridiculing Kenji's very presence.
"Just a commoner, cleaning animal waste," Lord Valerius's voice drifted over, laced with his usual disdain. "Some people just know their place."
Kenji's grip tightened on the edge of the stone. He glanced from the shifting wall to the System screen, then back towards the fading laughter. He remembered the humiliation, the taunts. And now, this hidden possibility. He didn't know what was behind the stone, but it felt… important. The laughter faded, but the sting remained. Kenji's eyes narrowed. He looked at the System prompt. The answer was clear.