The rough voice, declaring him "cornered like a rat," was the only catalyst Kenji needed. His mind, still reeling from the impossible blue screen, snapped into a desperate clarity. Survival. Failure: Death. The stakes were absolute, starker than any exam deadline. Adrenaline, raw and burning, surged through his veins, overriding the aches and confusion. He launched himself sideways, a desperate, scrambling lunge into the deeper shadows just as the first brigand's torchlight fully illuminated his previous spot.
A roar of frustration erupted behind him. "He moved! The little bastard's quicker than he looks!"
Kenji didn't waste a second. His lungs burned, muscles protested, but a strange, unexpected surge of energy—a faint warmth blooming in his core—propelled him forward. It wasn't a cultivated power, not yet, but a raw, desperate burst, as if the System, even in its dormant state, was lending him a sliver of its intended purpose. He stumbled, caught himself, and pushed off the rough cave floor, his bare hands scraping against sharp rock, drawing thin lines of blood he barely registered. The uneven ground threatened to twist his ankle with every jarring step, but he ignored the pain, his focus singular: escape.
The air grew thick with the brigands' curses and the heavy thud of their boots. They were not subtle. Their pursuit was clumsy, loud, a brute-force hunt. Kenji used this to his advantage, weaving through unseen stalagmites and stalactites that jutted from the floor and ceiling like monstrous teeth. He ducked under low overhangs, squeezed through narrow gaps he doubted the larger brigands could manage. The darkness, his enemy moments ago, was now his only ally. He moved by instinct, a primeval fear guiding his every desperate movement, relying on the faint echoes of their footsteps and the shifting quality of the blackness to navigate.
"Split up!" a new voice, sharper, more authoritative, bellowed from the entrance. "He can't have gone far. Block the tunnels, search every crevice!"
Kenji's heart hammered harder. Tunnels? He hadn't realized the cave was a network. He risked a fleeting glance back. Three pinpricks of torchlight, now separating, began to fan out. He could hear the distinct scrape of heavy weapons being drawn – the chilling shiiing of a crudely sharpened sword, the dull thunk of a club being dragged. They were serious. They weren't just looking for coins anymore; they were looking for him.
He desperately needed a hiding spot, a place small enough to evade their thorough search. His eyes, straining in the profound darkness, scanned every shadow, every undulation in the cave wall. His fingers, still trailing along the cold stone, suddenly brushed against a gap, barely perceptible. It wasn't a tunnel, just a narrow, vertical fissure in the rock face, choked with loose scree and damp moss. It looked barely wide enough for a child, let alone a grown man.
This is it. My only chance.
He hurled himself at the fissure, ignoring the sharp pain as his shoulders scraped against the rough edges. He squeezed, contorted, pushing with his legs, pulling with his arms. Loose rocks cascaded around him, clattering loudly against the cave floor. He froze, muscles locked, breath held. The sound seemed deafening in the sudden, terrified silence.
"What was that?!" a voice barked, nearby.
"Over here! I heard something!" another shouted, closer than Kenji dared to imagine.
He could feel their torchlight growing brighter, painting the wall directly opposite his hiding spot in a sickly orange glow. He pressed himself deeper into the fissure, skin raw, tearing his coarse clothes. The space was incredibly tight, confining, claustrophobic. He could feel the cold, damp rock pressing against his face, his chest, his back. He barely had room to breathe. He could hear their heavy breathing now, the faint jingle of crude armor, the soft curses as they stumbled over debris.
A moment later, a torch flared directly in front of his hiding place, its light piercing the narrow gap. Kenji squeezed his eyes shut, pressing his face into the cold rock, trying to disappear, to melt into the shadows. He could feel the warmth of the flame on his cheek, smell the acrid smoke from the resin-soaked torch. He heard a brigand grunt, then the scraping sound of a large hand running along the rock face, just inches from his nose.
"Nothing. Just loose rock. Probably a rat," the voice grumbled, disappointedly.
"Keep looking! Master Kordus ain't gonna be happy if this one gets away."
The torchlight receded, and Kenji let out a slow, silent breath he hadn't realized he was holding. He was safe. For now. He remained utterly still, listening as the voices and footsteps slowly faded into the labyrinthine depths of the cave. He heard shouts echoing, the clatter of dropped objects, the occasional frustrated bellow. They were still searching. They were tenacious.
Hours crawled by. Kenji lost all sense of time in the suffocating darkness and silence of his narrow crevice. His muscles cramped, his body shivered uncontrollably from the cold, and hunger gnawed at his empty stomach. Every distant sound, every subtle shift in the cave air, sent a jolt of pure terror through him. He imagined them finding him, dragging him out, their crude knives flashing in the torchlight. He pictured the 'prime specimens' Master Kordus desired, and bile rose in his throat again. He would not be a specimen. He would not.
Eventually, the shouts grew more distant, more sporadic. He heard the frustrated slamming of a weapon against rock, a final, guttural curse, and then, blessed silence. A silence that stretched, interminable, unbroken by even the drip of water. Kenji waited, agonizingly, for what felt like an eternity. He forced himself to stay still, to be patient, to be absolutely certain. His survival depended on this agonizing wait.
Finally, a faint, almost imperceptible sliver of light began to filter into the cave from the main entrance. It was a soft, pearlescent grey, barely strong enough to banish the absolute blackness, but it was there. Dawn. The first rays of a new day. A new day he had, miraculously, survived.
He slowly, painfully, began to extract himself from the crevice, his limbs stiff, protesting every movement. His body was a symphony of aches, bruises, and raw scrapes. But he was alive. He crawled out, shivering, and lay gasping on the cold cave floor for a long moment, simply savoring the ability to breathe, to move, to exist.
As the grey light intensified, casting faint, ethereal shadows, the translucent blue screen flickered back into existence before his eyes. It was brighter now, more vibrant, its gentle glow illuminating the damp, gritty cave floor around him.
Mission: Survive the Night.Reward: Beginner's Cultivation Pack.Failure: Death.
A new line of text scrolled slowly beneath the completed mission parameters:
STATUS: COMPLETE!
A surge of relief, so profound it made his knees weak, washed over him. He had done it. He had actually done it. He closed his eyes for a moment, letting the wave of exhaustion and quiet triumph wash over him. Then, driven by a sudden, intense curiosity, he opened them again, focusing on the screen.
A new notification appeared, shimmering expectantly:
Claim Reward? (Y/N)
Kenji didn't hesitate. He willed the 'Y' to be selected. The screen rippled like disturbed water, and then, with a soft whumph of displaced air, a small, worn leather pouch and a tightly rolled, ancient-looking scroll materialized directly on the cave floor beside his outstretched hand. They lay there, solid and real, casting faint shadows in the dim light.
He stared at them for a long moment, his mind struggling to reconcile the impossible. Magic? Transmigration? A System? It was all too much, yet it was undeniably here, a tangible presence in his new, terrifying reality. With trembling fingers, he reached out and picked up the leather pouch first. It felt surprisingly light, yet substantial. He untied the simple leather drawstring.
Inside, nestled on a bed of what looked like dried herbs, was a single, pea-sized pellet. It glowed faintly with a soft, milky white light, emanating a subtle warmth. He gently picked it up. It felt smooth, cool against his skin. A small text box appeared on the System screen, identifying it.
Item: Qi Condensation Pellet (Low Grade)Description: A basic pellet used by aspiring cultivators to absorb and refine ambient spiritual energy, aiding in the formation of a Qi Sea within the body. Essential for entering the Qi Condensation Realm.
Kenji's breath hitched. Qi Condensation? Qi Sea? This was real. This was the fantasy cultivation world he'd only read about in novels. A thrilling, terrifying realization. He then picked up the scroll. It felt ancient, brittle, and smelled faintly of dust and dried leaves. He carefully unrolled it.
Item: Basic Cultivation Scroll: "Path of the Humble Stone"Description: A rudimentary cultivation manual detailing fundamental Qi absorption techniques and meditation practices. Suitable for beginners to the Qi Condensation Realm.
He quickly scanned the opening lines. The language was strange, stylized, but somehow, his mind seemed to effortlessly comprehend it. It wasn't English, nor Japanese, nor any language he'd ever studied, but his brain processed the concepts, the flow of spiritual energy, the meditation posture, as if he'd always known them. It was another impossible, bewildering gift from the System.
Finally, he noticed something else within the pouch, tucked away at the bottom. A small, intricately stitched, dark leather circle, no bigger than his palm. It looked like a simple coin purse. But when he touched it, a familiar text box popped up on the System screen.
Item: Basic Spatial Pouch (Empty)Description: A low-grade spatial storage device capable of holding a small volume (approx. 1 cubic meter) of non-living material. Requires minimal Qi to activate.
A spatial pouch! Kenji's eyes widened further. This was straight out of the high-tier fantasy novels, the kind where protagonists could carry entire armories in a pocket. One cubic meter wasn't huge, but it was infinitely more practical than carrying everything by hand. He mentally willed the pouch to open, and a small, shimmering aperture, like heat haze, appeared at its center. It was indeed empty. He carefully placed the Qi Condensation Pellet and the cultivation scroll into it. They vanished. He willed them back, and they reappeared. This was incredible. This was real.
He took a moment, his gaze sweeping the damp, cold cave around him. The darkness that had been his enemy, then his ally, now felt less threatening in the faint glow of dawn and the internal shimmer of his System screen. He was still in danger, still alone, but he now had tools. He had a path.
He clutched the Spatial Pouch tightly, feeling the faint, reassuring weight of its contents. A strange warmth began to bloom in his core as he held the Qi Condensation Pellet he had just retrieved. It was not the cold dread of fear, but a nascent spark of hope, a desperate determination to not only survive but to thrive in this new, terrifying existence.
As he closed his hand around the pellet, the blue System screen, still hovering before him, shifted. The completed mission details faded, replaced by a new, more imposing directive.
New Mission: Enter the Emberlight Sanctum.Reward: Cultivation Realm Breakthrough.
He looked towards the distant Azure Peaks, their jagged silhouettes barely visible against the brightening sky, hinting at untold dangers and boundless opportunities. The Emberlight Sanctum. A new, daunting objective. A new path, leading straight into the unknown.