Ash drifted from the sky again.
The sky was clear. No smoke, no clouds, yet ash still fell. Things like this would be interpreted as weather phenomena in this world.
"Another ashrain? Wasn't there one two days ago?" a miner muttered, staring upward in worry.
"Yeah," another sighed while wiping sweat from his neck. "The world's getting uglier by the day."
Lyn paused his work and watched the pale drizzle that blurred the horizon. "Twice in two days," he murmured.
"Hey, you. Stop staring and get back to work. Light-refining ore doesn't dig itself!" The substitute overseer's shout cut through the valley.
Lyn lifted his pickaxe, but before he could swing, he felt the air thicken. The ash darkened. Each flake glowed faintly red. The miners' complaints turned to choking, then coughing.
One man straightened as if his breath had caught on an invisible hook. He clawed at his throat, eyes widening. His chest refused him. He stumbled into another miner. Panic scattered work in an instant. Someone tried to shout for help and only scraped air. Knees hit stone. Hands trembled. Faces flushed, then darkened.
"Rank Four," Lyn said plainly.
A refiner could turn these ashes into Rank Four Fire Path Heavenly Shards.
These people were unfortunate. Too bad. The strong took from the weak to grow even more.
Vale Ridge, where Lyn worked, was a small Ashen Light Sect resource point. A few dozen miners worked under the supervision of a single Fire Path overseer.
Lyn thought, If the overseer had come today, they wouldn't have died. He looked around before continuing, But apparently he got sick and couldn't come today.
He smiled faintly, waiting to make sure they were all dead.
Lyn stood still, watching the corpses around him in silence.
He breathed slowly. He felt nothing.
People died every day. What difference did these people dying make?
"I am unaffected as always..." He nodded as he extended his right hand. A faint shimmer appeared, thin and glass-like.
Lyn guided the shimmering gate to the falling ash. The flakes slid inward, dissolving into his Vessel Realm's Sea like drops of red dye.
He continued until the Sea trembled slightly.
"That is enough. Any more would risk backlash."
Space was not infinite.
He had collected over forty fragments. Enough for two weeks of food. Enough to possibly afford a cheap Rank One shard.
He sat among the corpses and wrote in a small notebook.
"Rank Four Fire material. Death within thirty seconds. Vessel depletion none. Body unaffected."
He closed the notebook and looked above.
Far above, color bent in a way human eyes rarely deserved to see. Two distant streaks moved against empty blue, bright and sharp, snapping into each other like clashing blades. No sound reached the ground, yet the valley seemed to remember that sound existed.
Lyn watched silently. "Even disasters bring opportunities."
After a short silence, he started looting the bodies. As expected, they had nothing worthy to take. Lyn had no way to take their Heavenly Shards, but he managed to rob them of a few contribution tokens. Workers and their like were at the mercy of the mighty.
He turned to leave. He would return to Hazelrun Village and pretend he overslept. A small deduction of contribution tokens would be nothing compared to the risk of explaining how he survived the ashrain, and it wouldn't hurt him financially since he had just robbed the miners anyway.
As he walked, the road dipped downward. Hazelrun Village came into view. Three hundred villagers lived there. One hundred and twenty of them were Dao Chosen, those born with Vessel Realms. The rest were Rootless. They could not cultivate unless awakened forcibly using rare Heavenly Shards. More than half died attempting it.
Lyn inspected the three shards in his Vessel Realm mentally.
Light Information, Rank One. It stored knowledge clearly but did not grant comprehension.
Light Reflect, Rank Three. It reflected Rank One to Rank Three attacks. A Rank Four attack would be partially blocked, but the shard would be nearly destroyed afterward. These kinds of shards were rare, and this was Lyn's most prized shard.
Light Cat Eyes, Rank One. It allowed him to see up to one hundred steps ahead even in darkness.
"That is all I have," Lyn murmured.
While walking toward the gate, he continued his train of thought.
"If I exchange the ash too soon, elders will ask how I harvested it without Fire Truth Carvings. I am certain they have shards capable of inspecting Truth Carvings. I will have to rely on luck that they overlook it."
His stomach growled.
What he did was very risky, but how else was he supposed to advance in a world where rank was valued? Looks could not save you unless you also had rank. With looks, you might only become a slave. People treated slaves worse than wild beasts.
"And I still need food."
He stepped closer to Hazelrun's gate when suddenly a faint vibration rolled beneath his feet.
He stopped breathing for a heartbeat.
Behind him, the sky brightened. The glow thickened, stretching wider, as if the air forgot how to hold itself together.
Blood warmed inside his nose and slipped down his lip. His teeth ached so deeply they felt loose in his skull. Wind roared through the village, dragging dust and straw into spirals that scratched across the ground.
The opening took shape above Hazelrun.
The rumble deepened until it lived inside his bones. Dust climbed the air. Space twisted. Something vast paid attention.
Lyn narrowed his eyes. "Heaven again…"
He tried to move.
As expected, his legs refused. His body trembled from the inside out, every rib and joint shaking like the world demanded he kneel.
The sky split.
Light poured through, thick and blinding, cold and scorching at the same time. Breath left the world. Overhead, forms slid into existence, golden marks drifting downward, carrying a weight that did not belong to mortals.
Villagers screamed. Some collapsed. Some died.
"Law… made visible," he whispered. "This is… compressed law."
Time thinned.
Color drained out of the world like someone had wrung it dry, accompanied by the sound of a church bell. People hung mid-motion, mouths open, hands raised, caught between breaths. Even the wind forgot how to move.
Only the golden symbols kept changing, using logic beyond this world.
They shifted and turned, sliding across the sky with impossible grace, each movement precise, each angle deliberate, as if the air itself obeyed them.
Something inside Lyn reacted before thought could form. His Shard Gate flickered open.
He tried to force it shut, to move, to do anything, yet he could not.
He sighed.
It stayed open.
A single mark drifted away from the others. Its edges sharpened. Its presence pressed against him until sound collapsed into a single ringing note. Warm blood slipped from his ears. His vision blurred. The world shook like a bell struck too hard.
The symbol chose him.
It surged forward and vanished into the Gate.
Everything stopped.
Light. Sound. Movement. Even fear.
Silence lay over the world, heavy and absolute, as if existence itself had inhaled and refused to exhale.
His Vessel Sea surged upward in blinding light, then snapped into perfect stillness. A golden speck appeared in the sky of his Vessel Realm.
It stabilized instantly, settling into place like a star that had always existed there.
His Vessel Sea quieted. Nothing moved. Nothing reacted. No ripple remained.
The rift closed.
And a sound like a church bell could be heard before time began to move again and color returned to the world.
Hazelrun Village lay dead quiet. Villagers stood confused and terrified.
Chaos.
He lowered his hand. Ordinary. Untouched.
He wiped the blood from his face.
Inside his Vessel Realm, the golden star hung in the sky with absolute silence.
"Problem after problem."
His tone was flat.
"This is not something I should record."
He sighed in worry. His head was still spinning slightly, but it soon stopped.
He suppressed all Essence. His presence faded until he seemed no different from a Rootless villager returning home late. In this state, even a Rank Four Dao Chosen would overlook him entirely. This was his first anomaly. He could make his existence disappear at will. He himself did not know that this was not normal.
Voices appeared in the distance. Sect envoys rushed toward the lingering heavenly distortion.
Lyn calmly adjusted his clothes and walked into the village.
He would say he overslept. No change in plan there.
No one would ever know what truly fell that day. It would become just another story to tell children at night to scare them from going outside. It would become another myth.
The next three days passed quietly.
He stayed inside his small hut in Hazelrun Village, pretending to be sick. Sect members came, performed superficial checks, and left. They noted the mine's destruction, the missing overseer, the dead miners, as well as the village casualties. No one questioned Lyn further. After all, what could a lowly outer sect member know that they didn't?
"Good," Lyn whispered. "Too many coincidences already."
He waited until the investigation ended and the envoys fully left the village before stepping outside.
Hazelrun Village's worn paths were busy again. Children ran between houses. Farmers tended fields. Dao Chosen practiced Light and Fire techniques on the outskirts.
Ashen Light Sect dominated the southernmost region. They controlled two large Light Path resource points, three mid-sized Light Path resource points, and three small Light Path resource points, as well as three mid-sized Fire Path resource points.
Light Path and Fire Path were closely related. Their carvings connected well. As a result, conflict between their branches was rare.
Lyn approached a small market area. Several stalls had opened. Fresh produce, basic materials, and low-tier shards were on display.
He weighed the bag of ash fragments inside his Vessel Sea.
"If I exchange all of it for contribution tokens, I can afford food and maybe buy one Rank One Information Shard. I know too little," he sighed.
Even when he robbed the miners, it wasn't enough. A miner's wage was merely two to three contribution tokens a day.
Ashen Light Sect sold knowledge through Light Information Shards, Rank One or Two, which stored maps, politics, and cultivation texts. More important information was stored in books.
Both options were expensive, especially the written ones.
Lyn swallowed his irritation. "I can't cry about it... expenses are necessary," he murmured.
He reached the contribution office and greeted the elder on duty, a stern man with three gray braids and faint Fire Essence leaking from his body. Based on the Essence leak, he was a Rank Four Dao Chosen.
"What do you want?" the elder asked without interest while organizing some materials in his workshop.
"I came to exchange material," Lyn said.
"Show it."
The elder finished arranging the materials deeper in the office and stepped forward, stopping behind the desk. He leaned in to examine the material.
"Well then, show me the material you want to exchange. Open your Shard Gate," the old man said impatiently.
Lyn opened a Shard Gate the size of a fingernail and let a single ash fragment emerge. The elder's eyes widened.
"Rank Four ashrain residue!... How did you obtain this!?"
Lyn bowed his head. "I... overslept, Elder. But when I woke, the ridge was covered. I collected what little remained."
The elder clicked his tongue. "You slept through an ashrain! Lucky fool. A miner, huh?"
In his mind, the elder thought, But how did this junior collect Rank Four material while having Rank Three cultivation? Hmph. He is either a Rank Four Dao Chosen pretending to be Rank Three, or he has an appropriate method to harvest the ashrain even though he is Rank Three. He must be quite rich if he has such a technique. But that isn't possible; he's a miner… A Rank Four working as a miner? How interesting.
Lyn lowered his gaze but said nothing.
The elder examined the ash, nodded, and accepted the rest. Lyn received a small bag of contribution tokens.
Far less than he expected.
The elder was suspicious of how Lyn had managed to collect Rank Four material. For all he knew, this material could even be fake. Usually, rich Dao Chosen would not be found in villages such as Hazelrun.
Lyn hid his annoyance.
He bowed and left.
"Food first. Shard second."
He went deeper into the market, to a stall selling simple bread and dried meat. Half of his contribution tokens vanished.
Then he approached the Light Path stall. A young disciple stood there, around twelve to fifteen years of age, bored and watching the sky.
"I want to buy a Rank One Light Information Shard," Lyn said quietly.
The disciple shook, startled from his daydream.
"Of course, of course!"
The disciple lifted a shard shaped like a piece of thin glass and held it out.
Lyn paid.
He stored the shard inside his Vessel Sea, letting it float among the others.
He took a deep breath and opened it inside his mind.
Information flooded into him:
Ashen Light Sect's map. Resource point classifications. Names of important local elders and disciples. Rank systems. Truth carving theory. Cultivation bottlenecks. Regional politics. Rumors of traveling Immortals.
Lyn absorbed every detail but remained expressionless.
"So this is the world I must climb."
He walked back home slowly.
Night fell over Hazelrun Village. Lanterns flickered. Crickets chirped.
Inside his hut, Lyn sat cross-legged and stared inward at his Vessel Realm.
The Sea rested calmly. The shards floated above it. The Sky held his Light Truth Carvings, which formed as dwarf stars.
And above all of them...
A silent golden star. Unlike the rest of his Truth Carvings, which had formed a cluster, the golden star was rogue. It was unknown which path it belonged to.
When Truth Carvings solidified, they became dwarf stars and, based on their path, formed a cluster like a family. However, the golden star was rogue and far away from the cluster of Light Path Truth Carvings.
Lyn studied it for a long time.
It gave off no qi. Created no carving reaction. Ignored the Sea entirely. It behaved like nothing he knew.
He whispered to himself,
"I need more information."
He closed his eyes.
Tomorrow, he would go to the sect's library.
He would risk more contribution tokens.
He needed to understand what he carried.
He needed to know why Heaven reacted so violently… and how an entire star appeared in the sky of a Rank Three mortal's Vessel Realm without clear reason.
Morning had already come. Lyn was excited as well as anxious. The first thing that came to his mind was the sect's library.
"Even though I know how this world semi-functions based on the Rank One Information Shard I bought, it isn't enough," he murmured. "I still need to figure out more about this world. What I got was only the basics."
He sat down on the edge of his bed. His movements were calm, but his thoughts were not.
The Rank One Light Information Shard had been useful. It explained the surface rules. It explained what people were allowed to know.
Cultivation in this world did not begin with breathing techniques or tempering the body. It began with birth.
People were divided into Dao Chosen and Rootless.
Dao Chosen were born with a Vessel Realm. It was an inner organ that existed beyond flesh, anchored near the heart. Without it, no power could be stored, shaped, or converted. Rootless people lacked this organ.
Forced awakening was rare and dangerous. Half of those who attempted it died. The rest were left unstable.
Inside every Vessel Realm existed two spaces:
The Sea and the Sky.
The Sea was milky white and endless. It had no visible shores. It stored neutral power and Heavenly Shards. When nothing was happening, the Sea was calm and inert.
The Sky stretched above it, vast and empty. It could not store power or shards. It existed only for Truth Carvings.
Truth Carvings were condensed understanding. They appeared as dwarf stars in the Sky of the Vessel Realm. Each dwarf star represented authority over a specific path, such as Light or Fire.
They dictated how power behaved once it was used.
Two cultivators could activate the same shard using the same amount of Sea. The one with deeper Truth Carvings would always produce a stronger and more precise effect.
Heavenly Shards were the tools of cultivation, crystallized, glass-like fragments of law that allowed cultivators to act on the world: attack, defense, concealment, movement, storage, etc.
A shard did not teach its path. It did not grant comprehension. It only worked.
But every shard demanded Essence.
Essence did not exist as a natural reservoir. It was born only when the Sea stirred and began to move. Once awakened, even at rest, the Sea produced a faint, constant flow of Essence inside the body. When a shard was activated, that flow surged, and neutral Sea power converted into Essence in overwhelming volumes for as long as the effect lasted.
Essence escaped easily if left unchecked. That subtle leakage exposed a cultivator's rank and path to anyone perceptive enough to sense it. Those who lacked the discipline to suppress it walked through the world announcing themselves without pause.
Rank measured how much a Vessel Realm could endure.
Mortal Ranks ranged from One to Twelve. Rank Three were considered the basic cultivators. Rank Five formed the backbone of sect forces, soldiers used in wars, agents sent on missions. Rank Ten to Twelve stood at the peak of the mortal world.
Advancement was not free nor easy. Due to its difficulty, many willingly stopped cultivating out of fear.
When a cultivator reached a threshold, Heaven responded. It descended with Heavenly Blockades, three trials for every major rank. These blockades could be activated by the cultivator like a mental button. If it was not activated, the Dao Chosen did not advance, and there was even a possibility of decay.
Lyn slowly exhaled.
This was the law of this world.
Incomplete.
None of it explained why his Vessel could accept Rank Four material without strain. None of it explained a Truth Carving that produced no reaction. None of it explained why Heaven had reacted so violently.
He stood up.
"If answers exist," he said quietly,
"they won't be in what they sell."
He stepped outside his hut and closed the door.
Deeper in the village was a library. However, it was costly to enter, as it was the sect's library. Unlike buying an Information Shard from the market, here every piece of information was stored in written books, and one couldn't read anything inside them due to the library's formation. Only once you paid enough contribution tokens or had a high enough rank would you be able to read what was written inside. Obviously, it held much more information than an Information Shard from the market.
Lyn scratched his head before setting off to the library.
"Currently, I should have enough contribution tokens to enter the library and still keep enough for food and basic needs."
After some time, he stood in front of the library.
It was different from the surrounding buildings. Most structures were made of wood, brick, or stone, but the library was built from wood-refining ore. When refined and molded properly, this ore greatly strengthened formations.
Formations were simply area effects created through combinations of shards and specific materials.
In this case, the library's formation was built directly into the walls, molded so that its effect only applied inside the building.
The building itself looked plain and ordinary, aside from its dark material, similar to blackened wood from Earth.
Not many people visited the library due to its cost. Even after gaining contribution tokens from his exchange, Lyn did not feel confident. Six contribution tokens had gone to food, fifteen to a Rank One Information Shard, and now fifteen more for the library... he would be broke after this.
"Nonetheless, I need more information."
He opened the library door. A cold chill brushed against him. It was noticeably colder inside than outside. Ahead was another door, and to the right stood a disciple. He looked to be in his mid-twenties, with long hair and a sharp, stern gaze.
"Welcome. Name, path, inner sect, sect or outer, and fifteen contribution tokens."
Lyn scoffed internally but smiled outwardly.
"Of course, sir. My name is Lyn. I primarily cultivate Light Path, and I am an outer disciple. I work in the mines. And here are fifteen contribution tokens," he said, adding a slight nervous tone to sound harmless. Outer disciples were rarely worth attention; they were not tightly bound by the sect, did not need to take heavy oaths, and had lower status. They usually farmed the land, mined materials, and did other physical work.
The disciple then said, "Rank Three? You can have the key to the Basic Section. One-hour duration. After one hour, the formation will expire and you will not be able to read the books anymore. Obviously, don't try to copy the information or steal or anything in between. The formation will be triggered and paralyze you for a time." He looked at Lyn almost with hatred.
One could guess that while one was paralyzed, he would also be killed by the disciple. It would be a righteous action in the eyes of the sect. Additionally; he would be rewarded for it.
Lyn was somewhat surprised about the formation but nodded.
"Of course."
The disciple gave him an iron key that had "Section Basics" engraved on it in azure letters, glowing faintly.
The door in front of Lyn opened automatically. Lyn entered, and the door behind him closed. Three different doors were now present, all made of unknown material. On the left, "Section Basics" was written. In the middle, "Section Experienced." On the right, "Section Honorable."
Lyn didn't waste time asking questions and put the key in the Section Basics door. The door opened, and he entered.
"So many books... how come this space looks so much bigger than the building from the outside? Most likely a Space Path technique."
He continued wandering deeper. There were many sections: shard theory, history of the known world, maps, politics, basic information on formations, basic insights on fighting techniques, naming ideas, what to look for, and so on. None of it had much value to him right now.
"Is there no section about natural disasters?" he frowned.
He walked even further.
His eyes brightened. A section called "Rifts and Disasters."
He pulled a book free and began to read.
Lyn's expression stiffened slightly.
It was basically empty.
"Rifts are a mysterious phenomenon that can't be explained and the effects vary," he read in dissatisfaction.
Truly, there were only the basics.
"Fifteen contribution tokens... this doesn't pay off. At the very least, I should see something about Mortal Fragments, how to form them, or how to use them properly," he muttered, expression calm, patience thinning beneath it.
He kept searching.