The sky was a bruised shade of violet, stretching across an expanse so vast it made the soul tremble. This was not the Earth Ji Han knew. The air tasted metallic, ancient, and utterly indifferent to the life of a single mortal standing amidst the swaying, waist-high azure grass.
Far in the distance, beyond the horizon where the violet sky met the jagged teeth of a black mountain range, a sound rolled across the plains. It started as a low thrum in the ground and rose to a chest-vibrating crescendo.
ROAR.
The sound was not merely loud; it was heavy. It carried the weight of a predator the size of a skyscraper. Ji Han froze, his grip tightening on the hilt of the weapon at his hip. It was a rusty iron sword, the edges jagged and pitted with oxidation. Against whatever had made that sound, he might as well have been holding a twig.
Ji Han forced his breath to steady, relying on the mental discipline that had served him in his previous life as a logistics officer. Panic was a caloric expense he could not afford. He looked down at his feet, where his meager possessions lay scattered in the dirt.
Three loaves of dry, hard bread. One leather waterskin, sloshing with perhaps a liter of liquid. A thin, threadbound book titled Basic Breathing Technique. [cite_start]A heavy, cold token made of black iron—the [Novice Lord Token].
"Inventory check complete," Ji Han whispered, his voice sounding raspy in the alien air. "Situation: Critical."
He picked up the black iron token. It hummed against his palm, a low frequency resonance that signaled the start of the trial. He had no choice. The beasts out there would smell him eventually. He needed the safe zone.
"Activate Domain."
The air around him shimmered. A translucent, golden light erupted from the token, shooting upward and cascading down in a perfect dome, enclosing a circular area roughly one kilometer in diameter. The wind died instantly. The terrified rustling of the azure grass ceased. Even the distant, bone-shaking roars of the Beast Kings were muffled to a dull thrum.
[System Notification: Novice Protection Barrier Activated.][Duration: 7 Days (External Time).]
Ji Han exhaled, his shoulders slumping. Seven days of safety. It wasn't much, but it was a start. He could figure out water, maybe build a shelter...
Then, a second text box flickered into existence, glowing with a cruel, red hue. [cite_start]It was the manifestation of his specific talent—his "Cheat".
[Temporal Domain Anchor Active.][Time Dissonance Ratio: 1 Day (External) = 1 Year (Internal).]
Ji Han stared at the floating text. He blinked, waiting for the hallucination to pass. It didn't. The numbers burned into his retinas.
"One day equals one year..."
He looked up at the violet sun hanging in the eastern sky. If the barrier accelerated his time, that meant everything outside—including the sun—would appear to slow down to a near standstill.
He did the math, and his blood turned to ice.
One external day was twenty-four hours. Inside, that was one year. That meant the sun, which usually took twelve hours to cross the sky, would now take six months to set.
He wasn't just trapped. He was trapped in a world where the sun wouldn't set for half a year. The heat would build. The vegetation would likely scorch. And then? Six months of absolute, freezing darkness.
"Seven days outside," he muttered, the blood draining from his face. "Means seven years inside."
The math hit him harder than the roar of the beast. Matter could not be created. The barrier that prevented monsters from entering would also prevent him from leaving. For seven years, he would be locked in this kilometer of grass.
He looked at the three loaves of bread.
"Three days of food... to last seven years."
A cold, hysterical laugh bubbled up in his throat. He wasn't going to be eaten by a dragon. He was going to starve to death in a golden paradise, watching the sun hang motionless in the sky for months on end.
He paced the small clearing he had trampled flat. Paranoia, his old friend, whispered that this was a cosmic joke. But Ji Han was a man of logistics. When resources were insufficient, you acquired assets.
His eyes fell on the [Novice Lord Token] again. It was a one-time consumable. It promised a subordinate—a helper to establish the domain.
"If I summon a farmer, we both starve," Ji Han reasoned aloud, his mind racing. "If I summon a warrior, they might kill me for the last loaf of bread."
But he was already dead if he did nothing. Solitude and starvation were absolute. The token was a variable.
He grabbed the token, his knuckles white. "I need a solution. Give me something... give me someone who can survive this hell."
He crushed the token.
CRACK.
The black iron shattered into dust. Shadows swirled in the center of the clearing, coalescing into a vortex of ink and blood. The smell of copper and ozone flooded the golden sanctuary.
A figure was expelled from the void, slamming into the dirt with a wet, sickening thud.
Ji Han raised his rusty sword, stepping back.
The figure didn't move. It was a woman, dressed in the tattered remains of what might have once been majestic, silk battle-robes. Now, they were stained crimson. Her hair was matted with dried blood, and her skin was pale, waxy, and cold.
Ji Han approached cautiously, prodding her shoulder with the flat of his blade.
She groaned, a sound of pure agony.
[System Notification: Summon Complete.][Name: Lin Qinghe.] [Status: Critical. Meridians Shattered. Qi Depleted.]
Ji Han stared down at her. He had expected a helper. He had prayed for a solution. Instead, the heavens had sent him a dying woman who couldn't even stand, let alone help him farm or hunt.
He looked at his three loaves of bread. Then he looked at the unconscious woman bleeding into the dirt.
"Seven years," Ji Han whispered to the empty air, the unmoving sun burning the back of his neck. "And now there are two mouths to feed."