SWNOVELXO Chapter 6: Roots of Power
A pale silver moon still lingered above the hills when Lin Fan padded out to the paddies. Three days to the magistrate's manor, he reminded himself. Three days to prove at least to his own heart that he wasn't walking there as bait on a hook.
Last night he had felt something new thrumming beneath his ribs, a sense that the system was awake even while he slept. Now, standing ankle-deep in dew-cold mud, he whispered, "Spirit Farmer System, show me what you've been hiding." The familiar window blinked into view, but a cascading ripple of text followed, lines he had never seen:
[Prerequisite met: Field Health 100 %]
[Core Functions Expanded]
[Farm Status:]
[Inventory & Seeds:]
[Skill Fusion:]
[Spirit Energy Flow Chart:]
Lin Fan's eyebrows shot up. "Skill Fusion?" he echoed, excitement bubbling. He tapped the option with a thought.
[Available skills: Growth Touch (Grade-E), Spirit Sense (Grade-D)]
[Fusion possible → Verdant Pulse (Grade-C)]
[Cost: 30 Spirit Energy]
Thirty! That was nearly everything he'd banked, but a Grade-C ability sounded leagues above what he wielded now. He closed the panel for the moment—curiosity burning, caution louder. Next he opened "Inventory & Seeds." Images of the plants he'd collected yesterday hovered like tiny watercolor portraits: green medicinal leaves, purple buds, wild ginger root. Each shimmered with faint energy values. At the bottom sat one pulsing icon labeled Unknown Seed – Potential Grade B. His heart skipped. That must be the purple bud cluster he'd found by the creek.
He clicked it.
[Seed identified → Lung-Clearing Flower]
[Effect at maturity: Heals chronic respiratory ailments; restores 25 % vitality.]
[Growth requirement: Spirit-rich soil + continuous water flow.]
[Quest generated: Cultivate Lung-Clearing Flower. Time limit: 48 hours.]
[Reward: New Skill "Herbal Remedy" + Permanent Spirit Energy regen +10 %.]
Lin Fan's breath hitched. A cure for Mother! within forty-eight hours if he managed it. But spirit-rich soil? The paddies brimmed with new life, yes, yet spirit-rich was another level altogether.
He knelt, scooped a handful of loam, and activated Spirit Sense. Color flared: pleasant greens, but only thin wisps of true spirit energy. He would need to concentrate power in one spot, and fast.
Dawn broke in earnest while he worked. He selected a raised patch near the spirit tree, dug a circular bed, and mixed the richest mud from three corners of the field. Each shovelful stirred faint motes of light, but not enough. The system chimed again.
[Tip: Fusion skill "Verdant Pulse" amplifies ambient spirit energy in soil.]
So that was the reason for the steep price. Lin Fan inhaled, let the crisp morning settle his nerves, and focused on the decision menu. Thirty Spirit Energy vanished like smoke. Warmth boiled through his limbs, surged down his arms, and pooled in his palms. Green veins of light spider-webbed under his skin.
[Growth Touch + Spirit Sense → Verdant Pulse (Grade-C)]
[Verdant Pulse: Sends a wave of condensed vitality into target soil, permanently raising its spirit density. Cool-down: 2 hours.]
He pressed both glowing hands to the freshly tilled bed. A muffled thrum ran through the ground, as though an invisible drumbeat echoed from the earth's core. Grass surrounding the patch sprouted new shoots, beetles skittered away from sudden brightness, and the soil itself gleamed a rich jade before returning to normal hue.
Spirit Sense confirmed it: pockets of energy swirled beneath the surface—thick, lush, exactly what the Lung-Clearing Flower needed. Lin Fan planted the delicate purple buds at the center, covered them gently, and watered the mound from a bamboo ladle.
[Crop accepted. Estimated time to maturity: 44 hr 59 min.]
A timer appeared in the corner of his vision, ticking down the seconds. No turning back. He was rinsing mud from his hands when a soft voice drifted over the fence. "Lin Fan, you're up early again."
Li Hua, his childhood friend, now apprentice weaver—stood clutching a basket of mulberry leaves. Her dark hair was looped in a simple coil, and worry lines creased her brow. "I could say the same," Lin Fan answered, trying to keep his pulse steady.
She stepped closer, eyes flicking to the immaculate rice stalks, then to the new mound near the tree. "Half the village is talking. Some praise, some… not. Be careful of envy, Lin."
"I know." He hesitated, then asked, "What are they saying exactly?"
"That the magistrate sent for you. That your field was blessed by an immortal. That Auntie Mei swears she saw green fire in the night." Li Hua bit her lip. "Rumors grow faster than rice."
"I'll manage," he said, forcing a smile. But thank you.
She looked as though she might say more, then merely pressed a folded cloth into his hand. "Dumplings for your mother. Keep your strength." With that she hurried away. Lin Fan tucked the bundle into his satchel, warmed by her concern. Yet the sense of closing circles returned: steward's summons, spreading rumors, a timer counting down to his mother's chance at relief.
Afternoon heat shimmered across the paddies while he hoed channels and restacked compost. Verdant Pulse's cool-down ended, and he walked the perimeter repeating the skill in tiny bursts, nudging spirit energy toward the center bed like irrigation water guided by sluices. With each pulse, the unseen aura thickened until the mound glowed faintly even to his naked eye.
[Growth multiplier reached: 150 %]
[Lung-Clearing Flower maturity now 23 hrs 12 min]
Progress! He wiped his brow and laughed. If he kept layering pulses, the herb might be ready before he left for the manor.
Evening shadows lengthened when Chief Han returned, alone this time. The village head eyed the spirit tree and the new glowing patch. "Your field grows stranger by the hour," he muttered.
Lin Fan bowed. "I am doing no harm, Chief."
"I believe you. Yet Steward Liu has posted two of his men at the crossroads. They question every traveler about 'miracle farmer methods.' Your window to act freely shrinks." He paused, softer. "I lost my wife to fever last spring. If you truly find a way to mend illness, guard it well. Powerful people price such miracles in chains."
Lin Fan swallowed. "Understood."
After the chief left, moonlight poured over the valley, turning paddies into mirrors. Lin Fan sat cross-legged by the spirit bed, channeling the last of his energy into a final Verdant Pulse. The ground shimmered emerald; a sweet scent drifted up as tiny shoots pierced the soil and unfurled translucent leaves. Timer adjusted again, eight hours to bloom.
Exhausted but elated, he stumbled inside. His mother slept peacefully, Li Hua's dumplings untouched on the table. Lin Fan ate one cold, savoring the spice, then sat by the hearth to plan.
Tomorrow at dawn he would harvest early rice to appease nosy neighbors, craft a believable "fertilizer" story, and, if the Lung-Clearing Flower bloomed on schedule, brew its essence into a tonic. The magistrate's physician might be renowned, but a gift born of his own hands and his secret system would prove his worth on equal footing.
As embers dimmed, the system flashed one quiet line:
[Path of the Verdant Cultivator begun.]
Lin Fan closed his eyes, heart steady. The best system in the cultivation world wasn't the one that granted power without effort; it was the one that let a farmer's hopes take root and grow. And his, he vowed, would grow tall enough to shelter everyone he loved.