In most of the books I'd read before, the protagonist always had a System to help them—or at the very least, some absurd talent. A cultivation genius.
Me? I had none of that. No spiritual root. No System. I was completely adrift in this world. No direction. No clue what to do.
But then that notification appeared after I buried that bone… unexpected. Shocking.
I stared at the spot where I'd buried it, and suddenly saw a small pop-up window—just like something straight out of an RPG.
It displayed the countdown until that bone transformed into a beast cub—one I could absorb to grow stronger.
Will this really work? I thought. With my damaged spiritual roots, could I even absorb the beast properly? Or would it fail?
The only way to find out was to wait. Seven days. Seven days living inside that cramped, uncomfortable cave.
It was worth a shot. If I could gain just a little bit of power, I'd be able to defend myself. That was the only way I'd make it to any city alive.
As weak as I was, any wild animal, spiritual beast—or even a bandit—could kill me easily. Having no way to protect myself was maddening.
So I chose to stay. The cave was mine. I had fire. Now I needed food and water.
I bundled up nearby vegetation into a crude bed and slept on the ground. The night was cold. The fire's warmth barely kept me alive.
Nothing strange happened. No eerie sounds. I woke up in one piece.
Early in the morning, I left the cave in search of water—heading deeper into the forest.
I had enough left for one more day at most. Starving was awful, but manageable. Going without water… that was a death sentence.
My knowledge of the region helped me a lot during this task. I wasn't too far from the village I used to live in—I knew there was a river nearby.
The only thing I had to do was find it. I headed straight through the forest, and after about twenty minutes, I finally reached the river I'd been searching for.
The sound of running water was like a melody to my ears. I walked to the edge and drank. It tasted amazing. I finished what little I had left in my bamboo flask and refilled it immediately.
Unfortunately, I didn't have a bucket. I couldn't collect enough water to bring back to the cave. I'd have to return every day to refill.
Still, the river offered more than just water—it meant fish. I had a simple fishing rod in my backpack, with a hook made from bone.
At the very least, my family had let me take a few supplies before kicking me out. They were proving useful for surviving out here.
I dropped my backpack beside a tree and started looking for worms to use as bait. I dug through the soil with my bare hands.
Got a few scrapes doing it—the ground was tough—but it paid off. I found a decent number of worms.
I crafted a small box from some branches to store them. Then I sat by the river and started fishing.
It wasn't easy. I had no skill, and my gear was primitive. Catching anything was a struggle.
Time passed. A few bites, sure—but when I reeled in to check, the bait was gone and no fish in sight.
Only after four long hours—my stomach growling like mad—did I finally catch something.
"Come to daddy!" I shouted when I landed the fish.
It was big—looked like it weighed around 5 kilograms. I had to put real effort into pulling it from the water. My wooden rod and bone hook held up just fine.
I threw the fish to the ground and finished it off with a blow to the head. Then I rinsed it in the river and headed back to camp.
With that fish, I had enough food for two days if I rationed carefully.
Once I reached the cave, I lit the fire and began cooking. I could've cleaned the fish at the river, but I didn't want to waste anything.
I skewered the fish with a branch and cooked it like that—primitive, sure, but effective.
I was starving—had barely eaten since being expelled the day before—so the flavor felt divine.
They were right when they said: hunger is the best seasoning.
After eating a piece of the fish, I looked for large leaves to wrap the rest—my way of trying to preserve it. It wouldn't last long, but I planned to finish it either that night or the next day, so it wasn't a problem.
Then I went to check on my plant—or rather, the spirit beast I'd planted.
Something was starting to grow. It looked strange—a hybrid between plant and creature, nestled inside a translucent cocoon.
As I stepped closer to inspect it, the system displayed new information beyond the countdown to its hatching.
[You can feed the plant with meat. Bury the meat around it like fertilizer. Meat from other spirit beasts will speed up growth and increase strength, with potential for mutations.]
Fertilizer for my planted spirit beast was… meat.
I barely had any meat for myself, but I wanted to feed it. If it grew faster—or stronger—that could mean more power for me.
And I needed power. At least enough to stay alive and reach somewhere safe.
I decided to give up the second piece of fish I'd saved. That would leave me with nothing to eat for the rest of the day, but I wanted to test the system.
I pulled the fish from its wrap and buried it near the plant. The soil around it had loosened—it was easier to dig now.
I placed the fish and covered it up again. It didn't take long for the plant to increase in size.
[Time until hatching reduced by 1 hour]
[The creature will hatch slightly stronger. Keep feeding]
It seemed that I had found a way to speed up the process.