Ashley expected the clanging of swords and enthusiastic shouts but what she got was old men playing cards in the break house. The training ground outdoors was devoid of life or equipment, so much so that she could only tell that it was meant for training by the few worn-out practice dummies that had dented helmets hanging on them.

The stench of stale sweat and rust were the first to meet her, followed by lazy greetings.

“Brought a potential recruit, lads,” said the tallest of the trio as he pushed Ashley into the room, clearly the most talkative one among them. He pulled off his helmet to reveal a bowl cut, making Ashley choke on her spit.

“Where’s Sir Verlice?” he asked and one of the guards lazily gestured at the mountain.

The fortress was massive but it was for a good reason.

Within it, it held a mountain made of translucent red crystals that pulsated with life every few seconds, dark red strings running through their entire length. Its height was comparable to a ten-story building, justifying the height of the walls if their purpose was to hide and protect it.

Rather than the fortress itself being a man-made mountain, it was more accurate to call it a cover for a natural one.

“Yes, and where exactly? Do you have any idea?” he asked again.

There were no answers.

Georgie took off his helmet and armor. When he took off the chainmail, it noisily plopped to the ground, its weight clearly a great hindrance. Ashley knelt down and pulled it up to gauge its weight, only to effortlessly lift it off the ground.

She sighed and stood up.

“Your shift,” said Georgie as he walked over to one of the tables and tapped on another guard’s shoulder. He tore off the cards in the poor lad’s hands and looked at them.

“Hey! I wasn’t done yet!” said the one that had his cards stolen.

“Now you are. Go,” said Georgie and chased the man off his seat, then took it as his own. Almost as if he was meant to, he joined the game.

“So you wanna do it or should I?” asked the tall one.

“Call the Captain real quick, will you, buddy?” asked the third guard and grabbed the one that got his cards stolen on his way out, “Tell her we found a bastard child.”

It was clear that all three that she ran into had a degree of seniority. That, or the one that got chased off was a wimp. It could be either but she was inclined to believe the former. All three of them looked middle-aged and the one that was running errands was young, most likely in his early twenties if not his late teens.

He was almost the same age as Ashley’s real body.

“Wait… why are you calling the Captain? Didn’t you say that we’d be stalking the knight?” asked Ashley as the first signs of panic set in.

She wanted to become a knight if only to get that so-called ‘far higher’ wage that quests alluded to. Living an extravagant life so that she could spend most of it training or lazing around was a necessity if she wanted to return to Earth before everyone she knew died of old age.

Her grandparents would be the first to go and the moment she realized that Ashley gulped and a faint look of unease appeared on her face: absent-mindedly staring off at thin air and clenching her teeth.

“It’s because she’s the only one that’ll be allowed in there,” said the tall one and gave Ashley a pat on the head, snapping her out of her thoughts, “That cave over there is made of Mana Crystals. See those red ones? Those are treasures in their own right and that’s just the byproduct of what’s down below. The knights and nobles would sooner die than let us lay eyes on ‘em.”

“Mana Crystals,” she mumbled.

Keyword [Mana Crystals] has been mentioned.

Also referred to as [Spirit Stone], [Angel Blood], [Rainbow Rock].

Mana Crystals are the result of the underground Mana coalescing into a solid shape after being compressed for years. Places where there is an abundance of life, such as forests and the sea floor contain most of the world’s supply of Mana Crystals. They are a more compressed form of [Mana Swirls].

See [Mana Swirl] as well?

“They can be that large?” Ashley asked.

“Who knows?” said the tall one and shrugged his shoulders.

She’d seen a lot of them in the game. In fact, they were the standard currency used among cultivators and most items were bought with them. However, she’d never seen a large one like that. All the mines she’d seen were caves with some crystals sticking out of the walls and only a handful of car-sized colored rocks.

This, on the other hand, was massive.

If her measurements were correct, even this much wouldn’t measure up to even a handful of White Crystals due to the Mana contained within. After all, a mere pinch of it was said to be capable of causing an explosion that could flatten an entire city if used by itself.

They were also used as consumables that increased the rate that XP increased, but there wasn’t an XP bar in sight.

That’s when Ashley had an ingenious idea.

“Experience,” she said, to no avail. She rephrased it as, “Experience Points,” but once again, there was no answer.

“Hmm? What was that?” asked the tall one.

“I was just… ugh, talking to the Heavenly Dao,” she said, cringing at the uncharacteristic mixture of Chinese and English.

That was what they had to deal with it when playing a translated game. Being made by a Chinese company meant that it would sound cool in the original language but would risk sounding awkward when translated, which it did.

“Ah. That weird thing you lot do,” said the tall one and nodded his head a few times. He pointed at the door with a thumb as he turned around, “Well, I’ll be going back now. My shift isn’t done yet. If the Captain asks, just tell her those two brought you here, yeah? That’d save me the trouble.”

It was no secret in the game and there was no reason it would be in this reality.

He snapped the door closed and the duo disappeared swiftly. Mere minutes after they left, before Ashley could even process what was happening, a figure descended the stairs, following the guard that was sent before.

It was a woman who looked to be in her early twenties, with raven hair that reached her shoulders and a pale complexion. One oversized lock of hair hung to the left side of her head, reaching her shoulder blade while the rest of her hair barely reached her chin. Her physique was lean bordering on thin and wore a tight-fitting white tunic and black pants that clung to her body.

“Who brought her here?” the woman softly asked.

“Well, umm, it was- umm… George. Yeah,” he said and pointed at Georgie playing cards behind the table.

“Does that mean you’re slacking off on duty? What other business would you have here if you weren’t the one that found her… during your shift?” she asked.

“Ah, that,” said the guard and raised a finger, “That’s because he said he wasn’t on duty so he made her look for me.”

“Instead of bringing her here by himself?” she asked and the errand boy nodded. She turned to Georgie and slowly nodded, “George. Two shifts tomorrow.”

“Wha- I’m innocent!” he said and hopped to his feet after throwing his cards on the table. He turned around and put on the biggest frown he could, “He was close anyway and I needed to do my business. In the bush, I mean.”

“Three shifts,” said the woman, clearly the Captain.

“I-” Georgie started but bit his lips. He nodded begrudgingly as he stared at the errand boy, “Understood, ma’am.”

“Three shifts. On garrison duty,” she said and those words nearly knocked him off his feet. One of the guards gestured at his own eyes and slid a finger across his neck with a massive grin. Georgie rolled his eyes and slumped to his seat. The Captain then turned to Ashley, “Follow me.”

It didn’t take a genius to realize that Georgie was set up by the other two, especially if being on duty and bringing her back to the break house was excusable.

“Are we going into the mine?” Ashley asked with the biggest grin of her life.

The Red Crystals increased XP Gain by 10%, the Blue Crystals increased it by 50%, the Purple Crystals increased it by 100%, the Black Crystals increased it by 150% and the White Crystals increased it by 200%, meaning it tripled the amount gained.

Even if her cultivation time was divided by three, it was still a mind-boggling four thousand years and that was if she got the best quality Mana Crystals, which was unlikely.

“No. The mine is for workers. We’re going into the chambers down below,” said the Captain as they left the musky house. After taking a step outside the house and slamming its door shut, she then turned to Ashley again, “Did he warn you?”

“About Sir Verlice’s… antics?” asked Ashley.

“About the fortress,” said the Captain and sighed. She rubbed her temples with one hand and coughed into her fists once, then proceeded with the explanation, “The moment you enter the fortress, you’ve resigned your life to the Empire. You have three choices now. To serve a knight as their squire, to serve me as a city guard, or to die a painful death.”

“However, if I didn’t enlist despite being a cultivator, I’d be a wanted criminal,” said Ashley and shrugged her shoulders, “Isn’t that right? I was robbed of the chance the moment I was born.”

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On the Myriad Drake Continent, nobles had the last say. If they were threatened enough, she would be put on the chopping board. Being a cultivator who wasn’t serving a noble would do just that. They had a reputation for being cowards, after all.

Those came up in the cinematic trailers and promo videos often —the few pieces of media she extracted her knowledge of the lore from.

The Captain gave a firm nod and pointed at a shack that connected to a hole in the crystal.

“That’s the entrance to the mines. Never go in there,” she said and gestured at the other side of the mountain with her head, “Get there in three minutes and I shall allow you to see Sir Verlice. Fail, and you will serve as a City Guard.”

The crystal was tall but its width and length were of a wholly different caliber. It was a large mountain and one side had to be at least 5 kilometers. Even if she was as fast as Usain Bolt, that is to say, 10 meters per second, it added up to 600 meters per minute —roughly 2 kilometers.

That wasn’t even half the distance.

Ashley gulped.

“How much… is the pay for a guard?” she asked.

The Captain didn’t give an answer.

“I’ve started counting,” she said and hopped once. With one step, she cleared a hundred meters and with the next, she broke the sound barrier with a pop and completely disappeared into the distance.

“Fuck!” yelled Ashley and sprinted forward.

Her real body would never be able to sprint for more than ten seconds without being out of breath but the new body she found herself in was different. She didn’t get tired. She didn’t even need to breathe properly when running. It was almost like autopilot.

It was clear that her speed was off the charts.

She reached the massive crystal that loomed a few hundred meters from her in mere seconds. It wasn’t even a minute —a quarter of a minute at most. Unlike the Captain, Ashley didn’t jump leaps and bounds with each step but her movements were fast. Unbelievably so.

It was odd that she could see her movements properly.

That’s when she remembered that her Agility and Perception stats were the same number, meaning on the same level of supernatural. Perhaps to her new body, it was normal.

For better or worse, Ashley reached the other side faster than she thought she could reach it.

“Slower than expected. Very well. You pass nonetheless,” said the Captain and slowly nodded.

Ashley stood there, baffled by her own performance. She was faster than Usain Bolt. She was a legitimate superhuman now!

Even if none of that was her own hard work, it was impressive.

And the Captain had the audacity to call her slow.

Ashley dropped to one knee and coughed as if choking on her saliva. The wounds on her hand opened and blood dripped down from her palm and knuckles. Even her body became as heavy as lead and she couldn’t move a muscle. Most of her organs seemed to cease functioning as her lungs refused to take in even a single breath.

“You’re out of Mana. It is quite normal after such exertion,” said the Captain and tapped on Ashley’s chest with an index finger, “You’re panicking. Thinking that you will die because your lungs do not work.”

She was.

Ashley tried to scream but nothing came out. She tried to move but her body did not obey her. The blood that dripped down her hands only added another layer of pressure.

“You will not,” said the Captain, “All these organs… they serve no function. As long as you have Mana, you will survive. If you survive, they will regenerate. All but here, here, and here.”

She tapped on the left side of Ashley’s heart, adjacent to her heart; on her forehead; and on her solar plexus.

“Your heart uses the Mana that is provided by your Core and sustains your life. Your brain hosts your consciousness. Without it, you will survive, but as a mere meat puppet. Your Core houses all your Mana and converts the Natural Mana you intake into your own, personal tool. If it breaks… you explode,” she said and pointed at Ashley’s eyes, “Right now, your body has ceased all non-vital function. Fortunately, your sight is considered vital. If you want me to help, move your eyes up and down.”

Ashley complied.

She frantically looked up and down.

“You may think this is a disaster. I assure you that is not. It is a perfect opportunity to practice your Cultivation Method. So tell me. Do you want me to pour my Mana into you or do you want to absorb your own? Of course, if I allow you to use my Mana, you will have to join the guards,” said the Captain and pointed to the left and right, “Look to the left if you want my Mana. Look to the right if you want my instructions.”

Ashley’s instincts told her to look left, but the logical side of her wanted to earn her keep. In the confusion, she shut her eyes and tuned off everything.

She had to learn it either way and if this was anything to go by, the Captain would simply end up doing this again. That meant it would be counterproductive to refuse the lesson here, especially if her freedom would be bound.

Ashley slowly exhaled and opened her eyes.

She looked to the right.

“Excellent,” said the Captain as a smirk formed on her face, “You have read your Cultivation Technique’s description, no doubt. Now you just have to put it to practice. The most important thing is the strength of your will, and the second most important thing is your imagination. The more vivid, the better.”

The Captain raised a finger and blood-red vines rose from the ground. They were as thick as the thighs of a grown man and had thorns on them. She flailed it around the air and let it hover behind her.

“My Cultivation Method uses these vines to drink the Mana. That means I must first visualize a vine, then imagine it slurping up the Mana that I imagine is tangible,” said the Captain and closed her eyes. As she did, the vine behind her opened a mouth that resembled a lamprey’s, then sucked the air in, which it condensed to a red droplet before drinking, “Imagination isn’t all. You must order the world to comply to your will. That is where your willpower comes to play, or as the Heavenly Dao refers to it, the Spirit. Force the world to bend to your will and bring your imagination to reality. That is what it means to be a cultivator.”

It was gibberish, but in terms of the degree of gibberish, more understandable than the Great Ash Art’s description.

She summoned the bamboo scroll with her mind and saw it unfold before her eyes.

Great Ash Art

Type: Cultivation Method

Description: Grow a single root to absorb Mana and form the Mana Spring that nourishes the Great Ash Tree. Create the Three Mortal Worlds among the branches and summon the God Eagle to perch on the crown. Only then can the Great Ash Tree reach maturity.

Root.

She had to make a root.

That was simple enough —she just had to copy the Captain’s, and that made it easy to imagine. Just a massive root that has a lamprey mouth.

Easy.

She imagined it but actually making it exist was impossible.

No matter how much she imagined it, and no matter how hard she imagined it, that was impossible.

“Imagine it in the real world, reaching out for the Mana in the air. The air itself is as thick as a Mana Swirl inside the fortress,” said the Captain and disappeared from her line of sight.

She placed both hands on Ashley’s shoulders and she felt a sticky ichor flood into her body. It was like honey, only reluctantly moving through her body. It wasn’t painful nor comfortable. Rather, it was an alien feeling. Not as in she never felt it before. That too, but it also felt like something that shouldn’t be in there was in her body.

“Resist and your Core will explode. Accept it,” said the Captain from behind

Ashley felt the sticky liquid envelop a ball that rested behind her solar plexus. It felt like her eyeball was being gripped by invisible and intangible hands, except it was in her chest rather than her head. The pressure increased and her eyes started to water from the dull pain, but that subsided as the strength returned to her body.

“Imagine it. Now,” demanded the Captain and Ashley complied.

She stretched out her hand and imagined a tree root sprouting from her palm, and much to her surprise, it felt as if the bone of her forearm stretched. It painlessly passed through her palm and a root the size of a finger sprouted.

Ashley turned to the Captain, beaming.

“I did it,” she said, too excited to even move.

“Absorb the Mana. What little I lent you will not last long,” said the Captain as she stood aside, arms crossed and eyes closed.

Just like the Captain did, she imagined a lamprey mouth opening at the end of her root and had it slurp the Mana in the air. As the first droplet flooded into her body, Ashley felt a surge of strength like none before, almost like she could break an entire building with a single hit.

“That is enough. Withdraw your root or you will explode,” said the Captain, and Ashley complied immediately.

Apparently, threatening people with explosions worked well.

“So, umm… is Sir Verlice more intense than you?” Ashley asked after taking a breather.

She summoned her Status Screen as she asked the question, peeking at what it said now.

It was unchanged.

“I would say so,” the Captain said softly and averted her eyes.

“Then I’m joining the guards,” said Ashley.

If she was only the tutorial, she couldn’t even imagine the real deal.

They were like high school Physical Education teachers, but more intense. If she was going to receive training from them while under the constant threat of explosions, then she would much rather choose the less intense one.

“Are you sure? If you become a guard, you will have to patrol for six shifts a week, each one lasting eight hours. You wouldn’t be subjected to such menial labor if you become a squire,” said the Captain.

“But doesn’t that mean I’ll have a schedule instead of spending all day running errands?” said Ashley and raised an eyebrow, “I’ll take it.”

“You are cheeky, from what little I have seen of you. Once a guard, you will obey all orders unconditionally or you will be punished. Squires don’t have to go through that. They are essentially minor nobility, after all. Are you sure, even despite that?” asked the Captain, almost as if she was persuading Ashley to become a knight’s squire.

“Of course. Everyone is making Sir Verlice sound like an urban legend. I’d much rather live a peaceful life rather than be pressured all the time,” said Ashley and gave the brightest smile possible.

“Very well. You will start working from tomorrow onward. You are allowed to practice your cultivation in the vicinity of the break room but nowhere else. Is that clear?” she asked as her tone become several magnitudes more authoritative. Rather than a teacher, she now sounded like a grumpy manager.

“Yes, ma’am,” said Ashley and saluted with her right hand resting slightly to the right of her right eye, then froze.

The Captain stared at her and tilted her head.

There were no salutes. At least not for mere guards. Only the end-game mobs did that in cinematic trailers and those were the elite troops. In a city like Ironbrook, which was considerably small despite the size of the fortress, there couldn’t be any elite troops.

The sound of conversations started to surface from the entrance to a basement that led into a hole dug into the ground right next to the massive crystal. Unlike the so-called mine, the walls were lined with cobblestone and had torches hanging every few meters.

The Captain lifted Ashley up in a princess hold and jumped forward. Unhindered by her weight, she dashed to the other end of the fortress in mere seconds. However, she didn’t break the sound barrier this time or Ashley didn’t notice it.

“Were we not supposed to be there?” Ashley asked, “Err… Captain.”

“It is allowed. Speaking with them is simply… too much of a hassle,” said the Captain and let her down at the entrance of the break house.

The Captain raised a finger and placed it on Ashley’s forearm. As if she dug her nails into her flesh, she felt a sharp pang of pain but it receded nearly instantly, reminding her of the injuries on her palms and fist, both of which were healed.

She glanced at her forearm and spotted a red, rose tattoo.

“It’s so I can track you through that. If you try to leave the city for no proper reason, you shall be executed. Is that understood?” asked the Captain and Ashley nodded absent-mindedly, “Now, we must make a contract.”

“Contract?” asked Ashley and furrowed her eyebrows.

Keyword [Contract] has been mentioned.

Contracts are pacts between two consenting individuals, one a cultivator, that ensure both sides keep their end of the bargain. By binding both souls, the Heavenly Dao detects any fluctuations in one’s Dao Heart to confirm whether they are consensually infringing on the terms of a Contract.

If they have, their Dao Heart is damaged and they face a Heavenly Tribulation. The side that kept their end of the bargain is granted a Minor Epiphany by the Heavenly Path.

“To make sure you do not tell anyone about the mine. It is a secret, after all,” said the Captain.

You have been offered a Contract!

Terms on the side of [Ashley Thatcher]:

* Must not inform anyone of the Mana Crystal Mine.

* Must not leave the premises of the city without proper reason or permission.

Terms on the side of [Briar of Ironbrook]:

* Will not intentionally harm [Ashley Thatcher]’s interests unless the situation calls for it.

YES

NO

Ashley looked it over and gulped.

These contracts looked dangerous, especially if Heavenly Tribulations were in the question.

Those were giant lightning bolts that occurred instantly and dealt 10,000 damage. Considering most endgame characters had 1,000 HP unless they were tanks, that was certain death. However, both those concepts didn’t seem to exist, as there was only a pool for Mana and nothing else.

“Allow me to remind you that you have no other choice,” said the Captain, now known as Briar of Ironbrook.

Ashley reluctantly nodded and said, “Yes”.

Contract between [Ashley Thatcher] and [Briar of Ironbrook] has been confirmed.

You may see the list of your currently active contracts by opening the [Contracts] window.

Ashley looked it over and gulped.

Captain Briar stared at the new window for several seconds with furrowed brows, glanced at Ashley once, and walked back into the building.

Only after she walked in did Ashley realize that she’d completely forgotten to ask about the wages and food.