In the city, the streets were crowded and packed with people. The various markets were open to gather money, and carriages moved about to transport people from one place to another.
The streets were illuminated by the moonlight and did not even require special lighting for that, yet the different lamps and lights were still lit, brightening the city until it seemed as though the time was morning rather than evening and night.
At the outskirts of the city, the places were completely quiet, unlike the crowded and chaotic city center. In this area, there were simple houses close to one another. From above, their appearance seemed modest, yet it gave an old character different from the city center.
This district, located on one edge of the city, was dimly lit by the moonlight. Although the lighting was not as good as the center of the city, it was still acceptable.
The streets and people could be seen easily, and the weather in this place was colder than in the city center.
In general, this city—Lawrence City—was a low-temperature city throughout the year. Even its summer was not very hot.
In one of these old and simple houses, there was a young man named Malketh. In this cold weather, Malketh wore simple clothes, and beside him there was a burning fire.
At present, Malketh was gathering Qi using a magical worm. This magical worm was called the Absorption Worm.
This magical worm could automatically absorb the Qi present in the air, and afterward it would spit it all out from its mouth.
The worm was extremely small; it could be crushed to death even by a little finger. It resembled ordinary worms in size.
Its color was dark black, with a shape similar to an earthworm and a circular mouth without teeth. It also had no eyes, as it relied on other senses to determine its path of movement.
Malketh currently placed this worm beside him. He noticed the magical worm absorbing the Qi in his surroundings, and he also noticed how the worm's size gradually grew little by little.
It looked as though it was about to explode at any moment. When it truly was on the verge of exploding from the excess absorbed Qi, the worm suddenly spat the Qi out of its mouth.
Malketh was prepared. Before the worm completely spat the Qi, he quickly positioned the direction of the worm's spit toward his mouth. Then suddenly, the worm spat a small amount of Qi.
This Qi entered Malketh's mouth, which he closed at the same moment. He then blocked his ears and nose so that the Qi would not escape through those openings.
Finally, through this exhausting process, the Qi successfully entered his stomach, and this was considered extremely good.
Afterward, Malketh placed the worm beside him again so that the worm—unaware of anything that had happened—would repeat its cycle of absorbing Qi and then spitting it out.
Frankly, Malketh did not understand the underlying mechanism behind this magical worm's process. After all, his knowledge was extremely limited rather than specialized.
In any case, after the Qi entered him, Malketh felt his body temperature rising. This was the side effect of absorbing Qi, which made the body hot.
Regardless, for Malketh—whose resources and money were extremely limited—he had no other way to absorb Qi and open his own Qi Source except through this method.
After all, to become a مزارع, one must first open the Qi Source. Without it, one would not truly be a real مزارع. The method of opening it was by gathering a sufficient quantity of Qi, and the required amount naturally differed from person to person.
With the money Malketh had, the only path before him to open his Qi Source was to buy the Absorption Worm—which was considered surprisingly cheap—then wait for it to absorb Qi on his behalf, and afterward wait for it to spit it out once full.
Thus, Malketh—and those in a similar poor financial situation—absorbed Qi and attempted to open their Qi Source in this way.
At this moment, while Malketh was waiting for the Absorption Worm to absorb more Qi for him, he was stunned when something new and completely different from the ordinary scenes he usually saw suddenly entered his vision.
Something resembling a panel appeared before him. The panel was blue and square in shape. From what Malketh saw, it contained only one tab—the Personal Tab.
Within this personal tab was information about Malketh himself. There was a full bar for the name—this was the first bar.
The second bar was for age, written in numbers according to Malketh's language—19.
The third bar beneath it was a bar for the level of مزارعة, and written on it were the words:
Cultivation Level: Zero!
The fourth bar, beneath the third, was labeled Quests, and it was clear that this bar gave Malketh specific missions to complete.
The fifth bar beneath it was labeled Conversations, and this tab in particular enabled Malketh to understand the speech of this strange thing and what it wanted.
Malketh decided that he would name this blue square the System.
He then noticed the Conversations tab. At the moment, there was a notification on it, appearing as a number on the tab itself.
Without intending to, Malketh wanted to open it to see the conversation, and the moment he thought of doing so, it opened automatically. He was astonished by this remarkable action.
Finally, he was able to see the conversations. At present, there was only one message, sent by the one called the System.
The message read:
> "Welcome, Host. I am the System, as you named me. You were chosen by me because you possess the worst luck I have ever seen."
Malketh was completely stunned by this message.
I have the worst luck? Why?
He naturally doubted this statement. Although it was true that he was unlucky, there were many who were far more unfortunate than him.
Malketh decided to ask why he was the one with the worst luck. The surprise was that what he thought was written directly into the conversation and seen by the System.
He was stunned before realizing:
"So that's how it works," he muttered in a low voice, understanding that communicating with the System—and controlling it in general—required thought.
The System replied at that moment:
> "Because someone was destined to come and kill you in a brutal way."
The reply was simple, yet it gave Malketh goosebumps. He felt terror and fear.
He quickly thought:
Why does he want to kill me?
The System answered:
> "Because he is a demonic مزارع, and he would use you for his demonic purposes."
Malketh said:
"Then when will he come?"
The System replied:
> "He will not come anymore. Your luck has changed for the better after obtaining me. He will find someone else for that reason."
Upon reading this message, Malketh felt relieved and wiped the sweat that had appeared on his forehead from the tension and anxiety he had felt moments ago.
Aside from the Conversations tab, it could be seen that the Quests tab contained one unread message.
Upon opening it, Malketh immediately noticed a single message:
Complete the following quest:
Become a Level One مزارع.
Reward: First-Level Sword Worm.
Malketh was stunned by this quest—and even more stunned by the reward. He quickly asked through the Conversations tab:
"What is the Sword Worm? What is its ability?"
The System replied:
> "The Sword Worm allows you to launch sharp swords, of course."
That's all?
Malketh was stunned. He felt there was something more, yet exactly as he expected, the Sword Worm only did this.
Perhaps because it was only Level One? Malketh pondered, though he himself was not convinced by this explanation.
In any case, aside from obtaining the System—which was clearly going to be of great benefit—nothing else happened for the rest of the day, and Malketh continued absorbing Qi through the Absorption Worm.