At the Lowterra Federation Academy, most students dreamed of awakening thunder palms or flame techniques, of summoning swords from the void or striking down beasts with a flick of the wrist.
No one dreamed of dirt.
But that's exactly where Long Yan found himself kneeling.
The old training garden behind the academy was little more than a patch of cracked stone and dusty planter boxes, half-abandoned. No one practiced here anymore — not with the new combat arenas online.
No one but him.
The ring on his finger was warm, humming quietly. It had been different since the dream. Since the first door inside it had opened.
Inside the ring, there was a space — a world.
A dead one, at first.
An empty wasteland beneath a colorless sky, with cracked earth and strange, floating land masses in the distance. It looked abandoned, forgotten. A sealed-off realm waiting to breathe again.
The moment the first door opened, a voice had echoed:
"Gate of Verdant Bloom – Unsealed.""This land remembers what it once was.""Feed it, and it shall feed you."
He hadn't understood it at first.
But now, as he pressed his palm to the soil in the training garden, something awakened beneath him.
The energy in his body—the fragile strand of spiritual Qi he had fought so hard to gather—flowed into the earth.
And the ring responded.
In his mind, the wasteland inside the ring stirred.
The cracked land shimmered.
Green returned.
First, moss. Then sprigs. Then stalks.
A few thin, glowing saplings pushed through the soil in clean lines, their leaves humming with spiritual energy. And in the center of the space, a new stone tablet emerged, marking the beginning of a spirit farm.
[Spirit Farm Activated – Tier 1: Dryfield]
Functions: Seed spiritual flora. Infuse natural food with Qi.Growth Rate: Limited (Upgrade Required).
Warning: Space currently barren. Requires manual infusion.
Back in the real world, a hush fell over the training garden.
A faint breeze swirled around Long Yan. From the dry planter box beneath his palm, blue-green sprouts broke through the surface.
Not weeds.
Spirit herbs.
The air shimmered faintly with Qi.
Even a few passing students stopped and stared.
Jian Rou, leaning lazily against a nearby rail, frowned.
"Seriously?" he muttered. "This loser's growing vegetables?"
One of his lackeys chuckled, but another whispered, "Those aren't just plants. Look at the Qi pattern—"
"Who asked you?" Jian Rou snapped.
Long Yan stood slowly, brushing dust from his knees. He didn't look at Jian Rou. He didn't need to.
The ring had chosen to awaken. And it had given him land.
Not a battlefield.
A garden.
But not just any garden—a forge of life itself.
That night, in his bunk, Long Yan closed his eyes and re-entered the ring's realm.
The first door stood open, a faint green light pulsing beyond it. The air smelled of wet soil, sunlight, and the sharp tang of spiritual roots. A few plots now grew with simple herbs — weak, but real.
The spirit farm was alive.
He knelt beside the soil, placed his hand to the earth, and whispered:
"I'll grow what this world forgot."
Behind him, another door flickered softly in the distance — a new gate waiting to open.
From the academy rooftop, hidden behind a drone shade, the mysterious girl watched the dorm lights flicker out.
Her voice, barely a breath:
"One sows. One reaps. But he…"
She smiled.
"He'll reshape the land itself."