Cruel Fate and New World
'Is this how I die?...' Fan Ming's thought could not even be transmitted into words as his throat had been pierced by metal shards. He was rapidly bleeding out and had seconds to live, his mind was starting to turn hazy and all he could see were blurry images and far away sounds.
"Please don't die!" Fan Ming could hear a female's voice, her tone sounded desperate and he could also hear a faint soft sobbing in her voice. There also seemed to be a loud siren noise in the faraway distance and the hurried whispering of many around him. Fan Ming felt no emotion during those moments, he did think it was slightly a pity but he smiled to comfort the girl as he passed on. Life was just that cruel.
..........
Strangely, Fan Ming's thoughts continued even after dying. The sounds and blurry images disappeared and there was pure silence with eternal darkness. 'Why am I still capable of thought?' He had felt the moment his life had ended just like a candle that had lost its final ember but he was still capable of thought. 'Perhaps this is heaven? Just eternal darkness?' Fan Ming was not a very religious man but the existence of what appeared to be an afterlife was stronger evidence than anything else. 'I should've gone to church more often. Rian had always pestered me about it.' He didn't think that he would go to hell as he was a fairly good man and had sacrificed his life to save his girlfriend in his dying moments.
Fan Ming attempted to move but it just felt as if he held no physical form and he was merely a spiritual existence. 'Whatever.' Fan Ming just relaxed as his spiritual will floated through the eternal cosmos to what he interpreted as heaven. Just like that, time went by but there showed no signs of him ceasing thought nor the eternal darkness to stop. He had spent most of his time in deep slumber as there was nothing else to do. He played various games in his mind but without somebody to play with, they also quickly became boring.
Just as Fan Ming was starting to lose his sanity, a speck of light appeared in the seemingly eternal darkness. The light became brighter and brighter as he approached it and that light became the salvation of his mind. He held on to the belief that his suffering would finally end once he approached that light. Eventually, he could make out the form of the light and to his surprise, it's identity was a planet, unlike earth. The planet had much larger bodies of water than earth did and it's sheer size seemed terrifying to him. Those were his last thoughts before he fell unconscious as his spiritual will entered the planet alerting a few terrifying existences.
However, it was too late and Fan Ming had disappeared, blending in with the planet's natural spiritual force. Their expressions turned ugly as they began to investigate the strange occurrence but even as many years passed, their efforts turned up with no results.
..........
'Where am I?' Fan Ming thought his suffering had finally come to an end but he woke up once again to his utter disappointment. But this time, things were a bit different, he no longer saw eternal darkness. His surroundings were dark but faintly visible and although just barely, he felt that he could move. Fan Ming spent months in his weird state as he began to be able to move more and more. Meanwhile, Fan Ming was unaware that he was currently a fetus and his active moments within his mother's womb caused her a lot of stress.
"Doctor, why is the child so active?" Qin Wensheng, Fan Ming's father asked in concern.
"There is no need to worry, it just means that the boy will grow up to be healthy." The doctor reassured him with his words while smiling.
Qin Wensheng became less worried after hearing the doctor's words. "Will you be okay PingEr?" He was still concerned about his wife, after all even if it meant good news for the child, it meant that his mother would have a harder time.
"I'm fine, I told you that you're worrying too much." Qin Peng reassured her husband with a smile as she caressed her bloated stomach gently.
......…
Just like that, months passed by and it was finally Qin Peng's time for labor. As expected, the delivery was a difficult situation but Qin Peng was a strong woman and things worked out in the end. It had been a very close situation at one point but the village doctor had done his job and Qin Peng's willpower proved to be higher than that of most women.
"Are you okay?" Qin Wensheng asked in concern as his heart boiled in pain, staring at Qin Peng's pale face.
"Enough of that and look at your child." Qin Peng smiled despite going through a near-death situation as she held Fan Ming.
Qin Wensheng nodded as he carefully took the boy from Qin Peng's hands and carefully examined his face.
'Why does it feel like he's staring at me?' Fan Ming was just born so he should barely be able to see yet it felt that the boy was calmly analyzing him.
"Congratulations! It is a boy." The village doctor knew how valuable a boy would be for a farmer family like them
Qin Wensheng ignored his concerns hearing the doctor's words and smiled in happiness.
'What is going on? I thought that something was weird but to think I was in someone's womb...was I reborn? But the process seems slightly strange and why do I still have memories of my past life?
[Awakening Apex Cultivation System….]
Huh? Fan Ming passed out soon after hearing those words.
...........
Years went by and many things had happened in Fan Ming's life. Fan Ming discovered that he was born with a System, just like the ones in the novels that he read when he was younger. He also learned that he was born into a cultivation world ruled by cultivators. On the surface, kingdoms were in charge but in reality, sects were the real bosses that ruled over the world. Fan Ming was still sad about not being able to see his girlfriend and family but he knew he had to forget about his past life because he would never be able to see them again. All he could hope was that one day he would be strong enough to transverse the cosmos.
Fan Ming held various ambitions in his mind and turned to cultivation. His parents were farmers and they knew little to nothing about sects and cultivators but thankfully he had the golden spoon of a transmigrator. He had spent years investigating the system's functions in secret and was more or less aware of all of its functions.
[Apex Cultivation System]
Host: Fan Ming
Age: 4
Cultivation: None
Spirit Root: None
Body: 0.5
Comprehension: 4.2
Luck: 3.8
Unlocked Functions:
[Storage Space],[Quests],[Appraisal],[Lottery]
The system possessed a storage space that could store a large number of things. The storage space will upgrade with the host's level.
The system also issued quests randomly and there was no specific timing for them. So far he's received 2 quests. One was to become able to walk and the other was to learn how to read and write. He was four years only and he had finished the first quest and got a pill that raised his body stat by 0.1.
Appraisal allowed him to view the same stats he could see of himself in other people. He had used the ability of everybody in the village and the livestock they were raising and compared the data to himself. He wasn't even the most talented in the village, located in the middle of nowhere. Only his comprehension stat was relatively high, placing him just below the village chief that was approaching 80 years old.
The lottery was the most beneficial function to him currently as it gave him an opportunity to roll in the system's gatcha once a year. Fan Ming had rolled four times so far and gotten many good things. He got a low-grade spiritual sword, 100 Eris, low-tier magma core, and this year, he had finally got a cultivation method. 'The basics of refining Qi' the name was slightly strange but he didn't have a lot of choices so he chose to immediately cultivate it. It's been a few months since then but he made little to no progress.
'It seems that cultivating is impossible without a spiritual root.' Fan Ming had concluded that he would never break through to the next stage without a spiritual root. However, he wasn't born with one so he could only hope that the system would eventually provide him with a method to obtain one. Regardless, Fan Ming continued to cultivate. He visited his uncle's place every day to learn how to read and write. His parents had been surprised that their son had wanted to learn how to read and write but they had no problems with it as long as he was still too young to do any farm work.
.........
8 years passed and Fan Ming was now 12 years old. He was a normal village youth that helped his parents on the farm. He had already stopped going to his uncle's house daily as he had learned everything he could. His uncle had praised him as a genius and offered to take him to the city to become a scholar. His parents had felt hesitant at first but a scholar was a much better future than a farmer so they agreed to let his uncle take him when he grew older. Fan Ming was now 12 years old and the agreed time had come. Fan Ming was not opposed to heading to the city as his growth was stifled here. He hoped to find cultivators in the city and perhaps the city would unlock new quests.
Fan Ming had gotten 8 more lottery chances since then. He had gotten decent things but none of them was a spiritual root.
[Apex Cultivation System]
Host: Fan Ming
Age: 12
Cultivation: Close to nothing
Spirit Root: None
Body: 1.5
Comprehension: 4.3
Luck: 3.8
Unlocked Functions:
[Storage Space],[Quests],[Appraisal],[Lottery]
System Note: Please try harder!
Fan Ming had gotten two more body pills and naturally growing up had also increased his body stat. He was stronger than all of the village kids due to the system's pills and it had helped him in a few encounters with the larger village kids. He had also completed the quest to learn how to read and write which had given him an extra lottery chance.
He had acquired many rare items throughout the years but he wasn't able to use any of the resources as he still did not have a spiritual root. Fan Ming wanted to head to a bigger populace to attempt to find cultivators. He couldn't reveal how he obtained these items but perhaps he could find a method to anonymously trade for resources. His greatest hope was that the system would issue a quest with a spirit root as the reward.