Timeline: TC1853.04.14 (Next Day)
Location: Various Locations Across Empire
Tomas Wei walked the dirt road back to his village with jade token burning against his chest like a second heartbeat.
The fields looked the same as they had yesterday morning when he'd left for the Eighth Ring Guild Mission Hall—endless rows of grain rippling in afternoon wind, irrigation channels cutting geometric patterns through farmland that stretched to the horizon. His family's plot sat three kilometers west, twelve acres that five generations of Weis had worked until their hands were as rough as the soil itself.
Everything looked the same.
Everything felt different.
His daughter spotted him first, running down the road with seven-year-old energy that ignored the heat. "Papa! Did you test? Did the crystal work? Can you really cultivate?"
Tomas caught her up, spinning her once before setting her down. "The crystal worked."
"And?"
