Being invisible is exhausting work.
I spent the morning dodging Wang Jun's boastful flexing and Chen Hao's silent observation. By the time I reached the Azure Peak Herb Garden, my social battery was at 2%.
The garden was my sanctuary.
Terraced fields carved into the mountainside stretched downward, glowing with the faint, bioluminescent pulse of Spirit Root herbs. The air smelled of wet earth and crushed mint. It was quiet here. No shouting disciples. No life-or-death duels. just plants.
Plants didn't have egos. Plants didn't plot revenge. I liked plants.
"System," I whispered, kneeling by a patch of withering Dawn Petals. "Status check."
[Current Status: Qi Condensation Layer 4.][Background Index: 100% (Perfectly unnoticed).]
I smiled, digging my trowel into the soil. Layer 4 in twenty-four hours. If I kept this up, I'd be a Foundation Building expert by next month, and nobody would even know my name.
"Just a humble farmer," I muttered to myself. "Farming my XP. Mind my own business."
I reached for a bundle of Spirit Root near the edge of the plot.
At the exact same moment, a pale hand reached for the same bundle.
Our fingers brushed.
Electric shock.
Not actual electricity—cultivators shielded themselves from that—but the social electricity of unexpected contact.
I jerked my hand back instantly, scrambling to my feet and bowing.
"Apologies!" I blurted out, keeping my head low. "I didn't see you there, Senior Sister! Please, take it. I'm just an outer disciple, I don't need priority!"
It was a textbook Background Character response: Defer, apologize, retreat.
"No, Junior Brother."
The voice was soft. Melodic. Like a wind chime made of expensive jade.
"You were here first."
I risked a glance upward.
Standing there was a woman in simple grey outer disciple robes. She had dark hair tied back in a practical ponytail and features that were... pleasant. Not stunning. Not world-endingly beautiful like the descriptions of the Empress or the Demon Queen. Just... nice. The kind of face you'd trust to watch your drink at a tavern.
But there was something about her eyes. They were too intelligent for a random outer disciple.
[Target Identified: "Liu Mei".][Status: Outer Disciple (Verified by visual cortex).][System Note: Visual data shows inconsistencies. Processing...]
"I insist," I said, stepping back into the shadow of a trellis. "I have plenty of quota left. Please."
The woman, Liu Mei, tilted her head. She picked up the Spirit Root, examining it with delicate fingers that looked like they had never touched dirt before today.
"You are very... aware of hierarchy," she observed.
"Survival instinct," I said. "The nail that sticks out gets hammered. The disciple that grabs the last herb gets challenged to a duel."
She laughed. It was a genuine sound, but it carried a strange weight, as if she wasn't used to using those muscles.
"Is that your philosophy?" she asked, sitting gracefully on a stone bench nearby. "To avoid challenges?"
"To avoid drama," I corrected. I checked the surroundings. We were alone in this section. A little conversation wouldn't hurt my invisibility rating. "I call it the Background Character Philosophy."
"Background Character?" Her eyes lit up with curiosity. "I haven't heard that Dao before."
"It's not a Dao. It's common sense." I pointed at the distant training grounds where sparks were flying from a duel. "See those guys? Protagonists. Or wannabe protagonists. They scream, they fight, they make enemies. They die young or live stressed."
I patted my chest.
"Me? I'm Extra #47. I stand in the back of the crowd scene. I nod when the Elder speaks. I go home alive."
Liu Mei stared at me. For a second, the air around her felt heavy, like the pressure drop before a storm. Then, she smiled.
"And you are content with that?"
"I am alive," I said honestly. "That puts me ahead of fifty percent of this sect."
"Fair point," she murmured. She looked down at the Dawn Petals I had been tending. Her expression shifted to a frown. "These herbs... they are failing. The sect's yield has been dropping for months."
"Yeah," I said, crouching back down. "The soil chemistry is off."
"Chemistry?"
Oops. Modern word.
"Uh, I mean... the elemental balance," I corrected quickly, sweating slightly. "Look at the leaves. Yellow tips. Curling inward. In my... hometown... we call this 'Sour Earth'."
Liu Mei leaned forward, her grey robes rustling. "Sour Earth? You mean an excess of Yin energy?"
"Sort of. It's too acidic." I grabbed a handful of soil. It was dark, clumping together. "The manual says to water them with Spirit Spring water, but that's just making it worse. It needs a buffer."
"A buffer?" She looked completely lost.
I sighed. It was hard to explain pH levels to someone who thought lightning was generated by an angry dragon in the sky.
"It needs... brightness," I improvised. "Limestone. Chalk. Crushed eggshells. Anything with, uh, 'Yang-Earth' properties to neutralize the sourness."
Liu Mei blinked. "You suggest adding rocks to the soil? The Elders say these plants require pure Qi."
"The Elders are wrong," I said before I could stop myself.
Dead silence.
I froze. Did I just insult the Elders in front of a stranger? That's a death flag.
"I mean," I squeaked, "perhaps the Elders are focusing on the spiritual, while the physical root needs attention?"
Liu Mei didn't look offended. She looked... fascinated.
"Limestone," she whispered, as if testing the word. "To neutralize the sourness. It is... unorthodox. But the principle of Yin-Yang balance aligns."
She looked at me, really looked at me. It felt like an X-ray scan.
"Junior Brother, do you have a name?"
"Lian Feng."
"I am Liu Mei." She stood up, brushing nonexistent dust from her robes. "Lian Feng... your 'Background Character Wisdom' is more valuable than you realize."
"Please don't tell anyone," I begged. "If the Elders find out I'm using crushed rocks instead of prayers, they'll kick me out."
"Your secret," she said, a mischievous glint in her eyes, "is safe with me."
She turned to leave, walking with a back so straight it looked painful.
"Wait," I called out.
She paused.
"Your left shoulder," I said. "It's stiff. You're carrying tension there. You should delegate more."
She stiffened. "Delegate?"
"Yeah. Whatever work you do... you're carrying the weight of the world. Even background characters know you can't lift the sky alone."
Liu Mei stood there for a long time. The wind rustled the Dawn Petals between us.
"Thank you, Lian Feng," she said softly. "I will... consider your advice."
She walked away, vanishing into the evening mist.
I let out a long breath, slumping against the trellis.
"Nice lady," I muttered. "Probably an administrator or something. Stressed out, overworked. Just like me in my old life."
[System Notification]
[Social Interaction Complete.][Hidden Influence Factor: Increased to 1.2x][Reason: You just gave agricultural and psychological advice to the Sect Master.]
I froze.
"What?"
[Correction: You gave advice to "Liu Mei," a humble outer disciple.]
"System," I hissed. "You just said Sect Master."
[Did I? My audio drivers must be glitching.]
"You are gaslighting me!"
[I am a localized data processor. I do not possess gas. Or light.]
I stared at the spot where she had vanished. No. Impossible. The Sect Master was a thousand-year-old monster who ate lightning bolts for breakfast. That woman was... nice. She listened to me. She didn't crush me with her aura.
"She's just an administrator," I convinced myself. "The System is messing with me."
I gathered my tools and headed back to the dorms, the sun setting behind the peaks.
I felt good. I had cultivated, I had saved some plants, and I had made a low-stakes friend. A perfect day for a background character.
When I got to Room 47, a letter was waiting on my pillow.
The paper was thick, expensive, and smelled of jasmine.
Chen Hao was staring at it. "You got mail. The courier bird had golden feathers."
"Probably a mistake," I said, snatching it.
I opened it in the shadows of my corner. The calligraphy was elegant, sharp, and commanding.
Junior Brother Lian Feng,
Your theory regarding the 'Sour Earth' intrigues me. And your philosophy on 'Background Characters' offers a perspective I have not encountered in two hundred years.
Join me for tea tomorrow evening. Herb Garden Pavilion.
— Liu Mei
My hands trembled.
"Two hundred years?" I whispered. "She's an outer disciple! How is she two hundred years old?"
[System Analysis: Cultivators age slowly. Or perhaps she is just very well-preserved.]
"She invited me to tea," I said, panic rising in my throat. "Tea is social. Tea leads to conversation. Conversation leads to connection. Connection leads to plot."
[WARNING: Individual "Liu Mei" showing elevated interest in host.][Background Status: At Risk.]
I looked at the letter. I looked at the System warning.
Then I remembered her eyes. The exhaustion in them. The way she stood there, carrying the weight of the world, just grateful that someone told her it was okay to put it down.
"She's just lonely," I decided, shoving the letter into my robe. "I'll go. I'll have one cup of tea. I'll be boring. She'll get bored. And I'll go back to being invisible."
[Probability of "Boring" Outcome: 0.0001%][Enjoy your tea, Host.]
"Shut up," I told the blue box.
Outside, thunder rumbled over Azure Peak. The storm wasn't coming.
It was already here, and I had just invited it for a drink.