"What... what the hell?" It took a moment for him to come back to his senses, and when he did, he was stunned by the scene in front of him.
He was standing in a square piece of land that was roughly a hundred meters long and wide. The entire piece of land was surrounded by a darkness that gave off an eerie feeling. Yang Ze only looked at it for a few seconds and felt his eyes tingling. Not to mention going there to explore what was in the darkness, he didn't even dare to approach it.
The entire piece of land only had soil that was soft to the touch. There were no weeds, plants, trees or insects. Even the light illuminating the land came from the centre of the land, where a small ball of light was gently hovering in the air.
"Is it because of the tattoo?" It didn't take long for Yang Ze to put two and two together before coming to a conclusion. The last thing he felt before coming here was the intense pain in his hand.
"And this..." Looking at the single seed of rice in his hand, Yang Ze was silent for a moment before focusing his gaze back on the floating orb of light.
After a brief hesitation, he gritted his teeth and stepped forward. Since this thing was related to his tattoo and he didn't feel a sense of danger from the orb of light, he decided to examine it first.
Within a few moments, he was already standing in front of the orb, silently observing it.
"Touch it?" The orb didn't seem to emit any temperature, so he decided to test it.
With some hesitation, he reached out to it, and the moment his finger touched it, he felt a shockwave run through his body, rooting him in place. He couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't hear... The only thing he could do was to helplessly receive new information that was forcefully stuffed inside his brain.
The entire process took almost ten minutes, and by the time the process ended, Yang Ze's face was filled with an expression of shock, joy, bewilderment and suspicion.
"This... This is..." He wanted to say something, but found himself at a loss for words. One couldn't blame him, after all, the information he received was too shocking.
This place he was standing in didn't have any name, but its functions were heaven-defying.
The first function was that of time-acceleration. One day outside was equal to one month inside. This meant that if he planted those rice seeds here, they would mature in a single day.
"HOLY SHIT." Yang Ze almost cursed out in a loud voice. This thing was an endless money printing machine. Not only did he only need to dig a hole and plant the seeds, but he also didn't need to worry about watering it and taking care of the weeds. This place will automatically do it for him.
Trying to control his excitement, he then thought about the other features of this place.
He could also use spirit shards to expand the space and unlock new functions. As for what those new functions were... he had no idea.
"Exactly how many spirit shards do I need to expand this place?" The moment this thought came to his mind, the ball of light in front of him flickered as a small message popped up.
[1000 Spirit Shards]
"Umm..." Yang Ze suddenly felt that the area was large enough and didn't need to expand for the time being.
What a joke... After living three years in this place, he had some basic knowledge about the economy of the cultivation world. Just like how mortals deal in silver and gold, cultivators in this world deal with spirit shards.
These are small, palm-sized pieces of stone that contain massive spiritual energy. Not only are they useful for trading, but they are also useful for training. If he had a hundred of them, he was sure he could construct his first vein and step into the first level of Pulse Opening in a year.
As for thousands of them... He didn't dare to dream. But since there was a way to earn money... he was bound to earn that amount sooner or later.
Though the space was magical, there was also an extreme limitation. And that was... No other living creature besides himself could step on this piece of land. This made him throw away the idea of wanting to open a pond in this place to raise fish.
"Perhaps in the future..." Though it was not possible right now, who is to say that it won't be possible in the future?
It took a while for him to calm himself before he thought about the next problem.
"Wait... how do I get out of this place?" The moment this thought came to his mind, he felt his eyes blur before he found himself sitting on the ground in front of his small hut.
Yang Ze immediately picked up the pouch containing the seeds in one hand and the three techniques books in the other before rushing inside his house.
After locking his door and window, he excitedly tightened his grip around the seed bag before thinking about going back inside the space and sure enough... when he reopened his eyes, he was already standing on top of the barren land.
Without wasting another second, he immediately bent down before using his hands to tilt the soil. Thankfully, unlike in the real world, this place didn't have any small stones or hard soil. He could easily tilt the soil using his hands as if he were tilting snow.
It took him almost an hour to finish tilting the entire place. Thankfully, it wasn't his real body that came inside the space; it was more like his consciousness. This saved him the trouble of getting tired physically.
"Now... Seeds." Taking out the seeds, he began to sow them gently at an even distance. Even though this was his first time, he had some basic knowledge. At least on Earth, they needed to sow rice in a place filled with water. But here... Perhaps it was due to the magical properties of the seeds, but they didn't need that much water. Instead, what they need is pure spiritual energy.
Without condensing his spiritual veins, Yang Ze didn't know how much spiritual energy was actually inside this space.
It took him almost ten minutes to finish planting the seeds. And after sowing them, Yang Ze just stood there in silence, observing any changes. At first, he thought the seeds would sprout instantly, but even after waiting for almost an hour, when nothing happened, he let out a sigh and exited the space.
Even though he spent almost two hours inside the space, hardly any time passed in the real world. This once again made him realise the immense value of the space.
Stroking the tattoo with an excited expression, he then focused back on the three small techniques he received after choosing to farm.
Unsurprisingly, the three of them were all related to farming.
The first spell was called 'Calling the rain'. Just as the name suggests, it uses the spiritual energy to condense small clouds for rain.
The second spell was called 'Earth tilting'. Similar to the first spell, this too uses spiritual energy to tilt the land easily. The more spiritual energy used, the greater the area.
The third and final spell was called 'Withering'. This one uses spiritual energy to target weeds to wither them away.
Though none of the three spells were combat-oriented. This didn't dampen his spirit in the slightest. These were his first spells. These mark his transformation from mortal to Immortal path.
Even though he couldn't use any of the spells because he hadn't even condensed his first spiritual vein, it didn't stop him from memorising the spells.
Throughout the day, Yang Ze kept on reading the books. The knowledge was simple... Once he constructed his spiritual vein, he needed to condense a mark inside the vein to use the spells. Each vein could only hold one spell mark, so even if he managed to step into the peak of Pulse Opening, he would only be able to have nine spells.
This made him hesitate for a long, long time. Learning these three spells was equivalent to wasting three precious spell slots. In the future, his options were going to be extremely limited, and he wouldn't be able to compete with others who had nine combat spells.
"When did I get the luxury of choosing spells?" With a bitter laugh, Yang Ze threw this idea to the back of his mind. Just a few hours ago, he was still struggling to earn a living and now... now he was wondering whether the spells were too low for him?
With the miraculous space, he didn't need to struggle for resources and spend his days wondering how to earn them. He just needed to farm quietly and unlock more features. As for the combat... He had decided that unless he stepped into the peak of the Pulse Opening realm, he wouldn't even dare to fight someone three realms lower than himself.
With these thoughts in mind, he began to memorise the process of forming the mark. Till he stepped into the Opening Pulse realm, this was all he could do.
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An entire day passed in the blink of an eye. At first, Yang Ze didn't realise it, but every visit to the space took a mental toll on him. So much so, that by the time he visited it tenth time due to overexcitement, he almost fainted from exhaustion.
It took him an entire day to recover, and when he opened his eyes, the first thing that greeted him was an intense sense of hunger and weakness.
"Damn it." Cursing in his mind, he tossed around in his room before taking out his last few pieces of dry meat jerky and chewing them. He didn't know what it was made up of, and every time he ate it, he felt the urge to throw up due to the obnoxious taste and smell. But because it was the only ration that was provided to them for free, he just had to force himself.
After fifteen minutes, when he felt the hunger and weakness dissipating, he immediately rushed inside the space to see the changes and the moment he opened his eyes, he was stunned by the sight in front of him.
Even though he had expected it, it was still a surreal sight to behold. In front of him was a dense patch of golden rice swaying lightly as if dancing in joy. The rice plant was just like an ordinary rice plant, except the husks were entirely golden in colour.
"Gulp." Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, he immediately exited the space, took out an ordinary knife that was covered in clothes that he bought from the mortal world with him and rushed inside the space once again.
Once there, he began to cut off the top part, separating the stems from the rest of the plant. It took him almost half an hour to complete this task, and once it was done, he began to trash the husks on an empty ground, separating the grains.
The process was long... and at a single glance it was clear that it was being performed by a complete newbie. But at the moment, his excitement, coupled with the special place he was in, was enough to offset these minor inconveniences.
It took him two hours to separate the grains from the husks, and finally, he was left with approximately ten kilograms of rice. Compared to the seeds, these rice grains were crystal clear and were dimly shining in a white, hazy light. Just one glance and anyone could see the extraordinary properties of the rice.
"Calm down... Calm down..." Yang Ze resisted the urge to immediately cook them and focused back on the remaining half-stem of the plants. Taking a deep breath, he just moved forward and began to pluck them before throwing them aside.
He then kept on entering and exiting the space, moving the grains and properly arranging them.
He first stored the rice in separate bags, then thought for a long time before deciding to bury the husks and the remaining plants in the outside farm. Even though he could sell them for a bit of money, he didn't want to take unnecessary risks.
After making sure everything was in place, he walked out of his house, looked at the land in front of him that was covered in weeds that needed a lot of work, before shaking his head.
"I should sell some rice first." Even if he wanted to work on the farm in front of him, it was a difficult task without proper tools. He was thinking of first selling the rice and then acquiring proper tools for farming.
This way, he will have an easier time.
With these thoughts in mind, he put the three rice bags inside his space and walked towards the market... It was going to be the start of a new life for him.