Din Sook Fan looked up from where he was sitting cross-legged to gaze through the window of the local gym as the ladies had begun practising their yoga. He smiled an inner smile to himself as he tried to continue to meditate.

A rock flew from the side and collected Din in the side of the head.

“Go back to where you came from, Trash,” the local bully Don Sic Vin called out to him, backed up by his fellow goons, looking down on Din Sook Fan.

“Can I not meditate here?” Din Sook Fan complained.

“Of course not,” Don Sic Vin threw another rock at him, “This is where we like to meditate, and this is the best time to meditate.”

Din Sook Fan tried to ignore them.

“Din Sook Fan,” Don Sic Vin said, “you are but a lowly Third Rank Copper Tier cultivator, while I am Second Rank Bronze Tier cultivator. You are many levels beneath me, and yet you think you can stand up to me? For SHAME!”

Just as another rock was being thrown a hand appeared from nowhere to catch it.

Dun Chook Fan crumbled the rock within his hand, and stared down at Din Sook Fan.

“What have you gotten yourself into, Trash?” He muttered at Din Sook Fan.

Don Sic Vin took a step backwards and pointed a wavering finger towards Din Sook Fan.

“Dun Chook Fan, do not look wrongly at us! The Trash was the one who started it!”

Dun Chook Fan turned his gaze towards Don Sic Vin.

“He may be Trash, but he is still part of my family, if you pick on him, then you pick on me!” He said as the remaining pieces of dust flew from his hand across the street.

“Never would we dare,” Don Sic Vin was cowering now, “You are a on the cusp of breaking through to Fifth Rank Bronze Tier cultivator, I would never dream of picking on one of your family!”

“Then go, before I deal with you myself!”

Don Sic Vin fled the scene just as Yuu Kan Fook Mi ran up to Din Sook Fan and tried to put her arm around him.

“Are you hurt Din Sook?” She said to her childhood friend, trying to look at the wound where the rock had struck him, but he brushed her away.

“It is nothing, Yuu Kan, just a petty squabble,” Din Sook Fan stood and moved away quickly, “Dun Chook Fan stepped in before it could escalate.”

Yuu Kan Fook Mi moved over to Din Sook Fan, but Dun Chook Fan grabbed her by the arm, “Leave him be, he needs to reflect, and find a way to break out of his stagnation back in copper tier. There is no way that he can advance to our bronze tier ranks to be able to pass the Ceremony of the Cultivator. And if he doesn’t he will be forever cast off from the clan!”

Din Sook Fan walked away from the two of them with his head down, taking a moment to glance back at them and see Yuu Kan Fook Mi with her hand outstretched towards him. A tear rolled down his cheek. He did not know why he was having so much difficulty advancing from Third Rank Copper Tier. Maybe he was cursed, from some otherworldly power… it had felt this way since he was born, like he was out of place, somewhere where he wasn’t supposed to be, not from this land. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

He headed out to the farm house he had grown up in. A middle-aged man stepped out from the building.

“Ho, Din Sook Fan,” he called out with a wave, “Did you enjoy your outing?”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“I did not, Uncle Dan Tsun Fan,” Din Sook Fan diverted his path away from the house now, “Dun Chook Fan stepped in to protect me from Don Sic Vin yet again. And Yuu Kan Fook Mi was there to see it all too…”

“You should really date that girl, you know? Yuu Kan Fook Mi seems to have only eyes for you,” the broad smile that pasted Dan Tsun Fan’s face beamed across the field.

“WHAT???!!!???” Screamed Din Sook Fan, “She is my childhood friend! I could never see Yuu Kan Fook Mi in that light!”

Din Sook Fan continued past the house and headed up into the woods beyond the trees. He kept going until he had reached a small bubbling brook no more than a few feet wide. He sat down beside it and started meditating again, trying to figure out why he could not reach the levels that Dun Chook Fan and Yuu Kan Fook Mi had reached, even the levels that Don Sic Vin had reached. Why was he stuck as a lowly Third Rank Copper Tier cultivator?

A sound came to him then, a distant ringing. He opened an eye and looked around, but no one was there. The ringing intensified, and Din Sook Fan stood up, turning around in circles as he tried to find the sound. His foot slipped and he tumbled backwards into the pool, which he had thought was only a foot deep.

But as he continued to plunge down into the depths of what was now an unimaginably deep pool he could hear the ringing getting louder again. Before he could finish imagining it he broke through the surface of a bubble and crashed into the floor of a cavern.

He breathed the stagnant air that was down there and looked around. Above him the water was held back by some force. Everywhere else was luminescent moss growing on the walls, lighting the cavern in a spectacular pattern of greens, blues and vibrant purples.

A small pedestal of rock rose from the ground in the centre, and a book sat atop it. Din Sook Fan stood, brushing the dust from himself and moved over to the book. As his fingers touched the front cover an image exploded in his mind.

“Welcome, traveller, to my humble abode,” said a voice inside of his head, “My name is Johnathan, and I am the ancestor that has been held within this book for many, many, MANY years….”

Din Sook Fan span around in bewilderment, searching the cavern for the voice before realising it was in his head.

“Ancestor you say?” He spoke aloud, assuming the voice could hear him.

“Yes… Once upon a time I was Ninth Rank of the Seventh Godly Tier…”

Din Sook Fan collapsed to his knees sputtering Ninth Rank and Seventh Godly Tier into the air… he recovered himself, “But the last Ninth Rank Seventh Godly Tier died almost a millennia ago!”

“I did say it had been many years… Did you not listen?”

“But, I mean, are you really him? Prove it?”

“How do you want me to do that? I am an ancestral spirit entombed within the pages of this tome. I can’t exactly show you how good I am anymore.”

“Then teach me,” Din Sook Fan fell to his knees, hands together as he pleaded, “I have but a month to go from Third Rank Copper Tier to into the ranks of the Bronze Tier or I will be cast from my clan.”

The voice puzzled on this for a moment.

“I suppose I could… It should only take a week at most…” the sound of distant humming reverberated through Din Sook Fan’s head, “But you must take my tome with you! “

“No problem! But, um, how do I get out of here?”

“What the frig? You came in here and don’t know how to get out? I suppose I need to help you then… Just grab the tome and hold it tight.”

Din Sook Fan did as he was told, grabbing the tome and holding it tight. The pedestal sunk into the floor and suddenly water rushed into the cavern, filling it quickly. As the water stabilised Din Sook Fan was suddenly shot upwards, almost flying through the water, exploding out of the small pool at the surface in a spray of water.

He landed feet first in the puddle, holding the tome clutched tightly to his chest, breathing heavily, the fear of death put in him once again.

“Right, Johnathan, I have taken the tome from the cavern, now help me pass my trial!”

“No problems, we need to find some specific seeds, and some other things… Maybe they are sold in the market… But first, go get a good night sleep.”

Din Sook Fan headed back to his home where Dan Tsun Fan had a hearty meal waiting for him. He placed the tome on the table near the door as he went to eat. Dan Tsun Fan stood and went over to the tome. While Din Sook Fan was chowing down he looked at the cover.

“What is this Din Sook Fan? A new story book?”

“Oh, no,” Din Sook Fan said around a mouthful of food, “Its… an…um… guide book. To help me break through into the next tier.”

“Oh, it’s called RE: Cultivation?”

Dan Tsun Fan reached down to open the cover of the tome and reveal the first page….