《The Writer's Venture》


 Chapter 1

    It was quiet; only the light breathing of the room''s owner, Tom, could be heard. It was already almost midday, yet he was still sleeping, although not on the bed, and his position was not at all comfortable.


    Tom was a newly established writer who had just started getting used to the tight schedules and deadlines. Time management was not his strong suit. As a result, he needed to stay up late in order to be able to meet the set deadlines. On rare occasions, he even fell asleep by his computer, just like now.


    He was leaned back, his hands resting on the arms of his chair. He had his mouth wide open, and a long string of drool had made its way down his chin, staining his shirt.


    He would have kept sleeping if it wasn''t for a sudden ring. Someone had pressed his doorbell, and a loud, sudden sound woke him up instantly. It was rude, but it needed an awakening.


    Feeling his slavia on his face, Tom quickly used his hand to clean it. With a slow movement, he lowered his hand back down; then he stared at his monitor, which had already turned off automatically.


    "Great... I slept by in my chair again..."


    He muttered as he turned the monitor on again and was about to start focusing on writing again, but his doorbell rang again. Upon hearing its sound, he took a deep breath and stood up.


    Since he was so busy, he decided to do his usual grocery shopping online instead of going to the store personally, and it seemed that the delivery had arrived. Tom had a decently sized house with a bedroom, a well-equipped kitchen, a large living room, a study, a bathroom, a storage room, and a garage, which was currently empty as he had lent his car to his friend.


    The moment he got to the door and opened it, he noticed a relatively angry man, though he couldn''t be bothered as he was still half asleep. The man pushed him a few documents and then instantly walked away.


    Tom slowly stepped outside, rubbing his eyes. He saw how the man got into the truck and quickly drove off. His driveway was full of wooden crates.


    "I thought they would at least put them into my garage..."


    He murmured under his breath as he tried to fight off a yawn.


    "At least maybe by moving these boxes, I will be able to wake up... I still need to focus on writing... Why the hell did I not divide my workload up properly?!"This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    With a loud groan, he opened the door of his garage and started pushing the box inside. He was so frustrated that he didn''t even check whether he had everything he had ordered or even opened them to see what should go into the fridge or the freezer.


    In a few long minutes, he managed to transport the boxes to his garage, so he quickly went inside. From his kitchen, he grabbed a large slice of bread and sat back down to write.


    Fortunately for him, after moving the boxes, he felt quite awake and, to some extent, energetic, though it quickly faded as he began to work. From time to time, he slightly moved his head and shoulders; in that process, his long and somewhat unattended black hair got in his way and covered his big blue eyes, but he just shoved his hair out of the way.


    Suddenly, as he was immersed in his work, an earthquake shook him. It only lasted strangely for a brief moment, but in that moment, he fell off of his chair.


    "What the..."


    He muttered angrily, then pushed himself up and sat back on his chair. Just to be safe, he saved his current progress and was about to continue working, but his computer suddenly turned off, and another, but even stronger tremor appeared.


    He hit his head against the cold floor once again, and as he finally registered what had happened, something unexpected started hovering before his eyes. It seemed as if it was a floating piece of text with a strange colour scheme. It had a dark grey background and a yellowish font.


    "The system is starting! Please stand by!"


    He just shook his head as it still hurt after hitting the ground, and as he once again looked in the direction where he saw the text, it had already vanished.


    "I must have hit my head quite hard... There is no way such a thing would really happen; in stories, even in mine, a system only appears after some sort of tragic or strange event... All I did was work."


    An audible sigh left his mouth as he once again stood up. As he stared at the now dark screen, he clenched his teeth and fists, but then just relaxed.


    His study had quite a large window through which he had learned that the sun was already going down. He had worked for hours without properly eating or drinking. Although he was angry that he was disturbed, at the very least, he realised that it was high time to eat something properly.


    He didn''t have the time nor the energy to cook anything at all, so he just grabbed the remainder of the bread and some ham from his fridge and then prepared to eat. However, just as his butt touched the chair by his dining table, he felt tired and almost instantly collapsed onto his food and started snoring.


    Just then, two new notifications appeared, overlapping one another.


    "Notice! System initiated! Proceeding to prepare Host''s body!"


    "Notice! A new quest has been issued! Please plant these seeds to begin your journey! Seeds had been transported to Host''s inventory!"


    The first message soon vanished, but the one detailing the quest stayed, and then a third but entirely different panel appeared.


    "Name: Tom Hun


    Cultivation: Mortal


    Farming: 0


    Alchemy: 0


    Forging: 0"

 Chapter 2

    When Tom finally woke up, he instantly sat back. His face was still numb from his sleeping position. As a result, he didn''t notice that a slice of ham managed to stick to his face, though in a somewhat disfigured way. It only fell off once he shook his head.


    "What the hell just happened? Did I fall asleep again?"


    He muttered as he finally noticed the still visible two panels. His eyes instantly widened; in his disbelief, he even tried switching away the panels, but his hand just passed right through them as if they weren''t even there.


    "What the hell is going on? So what I saw previously was also real?"


    Soon, the panel detailing the quest vanished, leaving only his stats open. He slowly and carefully read it multiple times, then leaned back in his chair. As if fixated on his head, the panel moved along with his head.


    As he thought about the system panel before him, at first, he felt anger, but it was soon replaced with excitement. If he had a system, that meant that he would be able to finally break his mundane life.


    With a swift motion, he jumped up and rushed over to his front door, which he opened. What had previously been a tiny grassy land, beyond which was the road, had been completely altered.


    It seemed that his whole plot of land had been taken to a completely different world. Through his opened door, he could see a large grassy land enclosed by some sort of visible grey barrier through which he could not see anything.


    With a few slow, uncertain steps, he stepped outside to look around. It seemed that his plot had been inside a spherical barrier, but within said border was a grassy land. His house was the centre point of the barrier, and it had a diameter of at least a hundred meters. He was completely isolated from everything.


    "This is insane! What the hell am I supposed to do? In fiction, when the male character is granted a system, they are not locked up like this! I really hope that I am just overreacting and that barrier, or whatever that is, is only just a joke!"


    His excitement hit rock bottom; he walked all the way to the edge of his territory and extended his arm. He touched the barrier, although its texture slightly shifted, almost as if it was made of some sort of liquid and wave formed all across its surface, but it was solid.


    Tom even tried pushing the strange wall with all his might, but to no avail; it didn''t budge at all. Defeated, he walked back to his house. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Since he had not eaten at all and had just run out after sleeping, he decided to go back and finish eating. While doing so, he was constantly thinking about the system and what he had learned so far.


    He remembered that he had received a quest that wanted him to plant seeds. As he thought about all this, it occurred to him that maybe he needed to gain strength through quests, and then he would be able to break that barrier to free himself, as that would be the only reasonable solution.


    Tom knew that he had a small trowel, which he had previously bought because he wanted to plant a few bushes around his house, but then he completely gave up on the idea.


    With the help of the tool, he removed a small patch of grass and made a small hole in the ground. Now, he only needed to plant the seeds, which he had yet to figure out how to access.


    Suddenly, as he started thinking about inventory, another panel popped up before his eyes. It was a large grid, and in its first slot, he could see a small pouch.


    "Do I just tap it?"


    He wondered as he touched the tiny icon. Unlike what he had expected, another panel appeared on top of his inventory.


    "First grade seeds


    Name: unknown


    Quantity: 3"


    "But how the hell do I take them OUT?!"


    Tom shouted in anger and frustration, seeing how touching the item was not working. In his anger, he swung his arms to the side and slightly shrugged his shoulders, and then he felt something in his palm.


    The panel blocking his inventory vanished, along with the icon of the pouch, and instead, it was in his right hand.


    "Wow... This is quite different from what I had expected..."


    His anger once again faded, and he brought the fist-sized pouch closer to him to inspect it. As he opened it, he strangely couldn''t see what was inside, even though it was bright, so he decided to try and put his hand in. Despite its tiny size, his wrist easily vanished in it, and at its bottom, he could feel three tiny things.


    Without hesitation, he quickly grabbed them and pulled them out. At that moment, the push completely vanished. He held three small pea-sized black seeds in his hand.


    "Great, so I have three seeds, so if I am capable of surviving without food  for weeks, I might be able to  witness them bearing fruit... cool!"


    Tom dropped one of the seeds into the freshly dug hole, and then, almost instantly, a new panel popped up.


    "Notice! Due to the low density and quality qi present in the Host''s land, growth speed had been decreased in order to maintain the quality of the final product!"


    After reading the new message, Tom decided to drop the rest of the seeds into the hole and cover them with dirt.


    "Congratulations; the quest has been completed!"


    "Notice! The Host''s rewards have been placed in the inventory!"


    "Notice! A new quest has been issued! Wait for the plants to mature!"


    "Notice! A new quest has been issued! Make your very first pill using alchemy!"


    "Notice! A new quest has been issued! Begin your cultivation journey!"


    The volume of overlapping panels shocked Tom. He even shook his head in disbelief. The fact that after completing a single quest, three more were already given, meant that his hands were at least properly being held.

 Chapter 3

    A few hours had gone by since Tom had planted the given seeds. In that span of time, he did some tests. Much to his surprise, his house still had power and water. As a result, he decided to take a hot bath to collect his thoughts.


    He also checked his inventory, and he found two manuals, which he read while he was bathing. Just as he had anticipated, these manuals were related to the other quests, though they were quite vague and nothing out of the ordinary.


    One of them was about cultivation, which described the first steps. From it, he learned that he needed to learn some sort of breathing technique to aid him, along with a few exercises. Also, in order to properly start his path, the manual stated that he needed to take a cleansing pill to rid his body of impurities.


    The other manual gave fundamental information regarding alchemy, which, to some extent, he already knew from reading a few Eastern novels. Still, it contained a passage that was most likely connected to the other manual.


    The very last passage contained a recipe for a cleansing soup. As if it was put in there just because of him, as creating a pil was something he couldn''t do at all, that he was certain of; alchemy required a level of Qi control, but that was impossible for him in his current state.


    After reading both of the manuals, he just tossed them aside and placed them on the floor of his bathroom. After all, he couldn''t progress at all since the only quest he could complete could not be influenced.


    Since he had nothing really to do once he was done bathing, he finally decided to organise the crates in his garage. After all, that was the only source of food he had. The products which needed to be kept cold were quickly put into the freezer, but Tom left everything else in the garage.


    While he was walking in and out of the kitchen, he finally realised something. He didn''t water the planted seeds; although he was not an expert when it came to plants, he at least knew that watering them was essential. Thus, he grabbed a decently sized pot, filled it with water and brought it outside.


    He made his way over to where he had planted the seeds, and much to his shock, he noticed significant changes. The area where he had removed the grass from and had plated the seeds seemed to be covered by thin but numerous white vines. It almost seemed as if the ground was covered by cobwebs, which were being covered by snow. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Tom carefully observed the strange vines, which seemed to be gradually growing, slowly entangling more and more of the free, grassless area.


    In such a short amount of time, the recently planted seeds had already begun growing. Seeing their progress made Tom grin; after all, he thought he would need to wait many long days before anything would truly happen, but now he believed that he might only need to wait a couple of days for them to fully grow.


    Once he was done with his observation, he put the pot down, a bit hastily, as he slapped a bit of water onto the grass and then proceeded to remove more grass from around the planted seeds, just in case they needed more space.


    He cleared a circle with a diameter of around a meter. By the time he was done, he thought that it might be a bit overkill, but it was strangely relaxing to do something physical.


    He carefully poured the water onto the vines, at which he noticed that their growth had slightly increased, and the central vines grew thicker and thinner vines started growing from them. It seemed that a pot of water exponentially increased the growth rate of the strange seeds.


    "Congratulation! Host''s farming has advanced to the next level! The Host''s power had been slightly increased. In addition, please choose two of the following rewards."


    Suddenly, a new panel popped up. This one was almost like his inventory, but this one was full. He could see pictures of dozens of fruits, vegetables, flowers and other plants.


    The variety was quite diverse. As a result, he just kept staring at it for many long minutes. Tom could recognise some of them, but there were many that he was certain were not of his world.


    If these plants could grow as fast as the seeds, then he wouldn''t need to worry about food in the future. At first, he was leaning towards some vegetables, but then something occurred to him.


    He needed to choose something that could bear a number of products and would be easier to reproduce or plant more. That is why he finally decided to go with an apple and a pear.


    Although it would most likely be longer for them to bear fruits, eventually, the number of fruits would greatly increase, and he wouldn''t need to constantly replant them.


    With determination, he tapped on the icon of the apple, at which it turned into a green tick, and then at the pear. The moment his finger touched the pear''s picture, the panel vanished, and a strange, warm gust of wind occurred.


    The items had been instantly placed into his inventory, and with a grin, he rushed into the house to get another pot of water. He was determined to instantly plant them. However, the two fruits were not the only rewards.


    He was so focused on the apple and the pear that he failed to notice that the gust of wind was caused by the expansion of his barrier. It expanded considerably, giving Tom even larger green land to use.


    It seemed that his cultivation life would truly be kicked off by cultivating.

 Chapter 4

    The day had gone by quickly. Tom had planted both fruits and watered them, and for the rest of the day, he was testing his inventory. The more he used it, the more he got used to it; putting something in or taking it from his inventory could be done in a blink of an eye. With the experiments, he confirmed that he could even put items that were not given by the system.


    When he woke up the next morning, a panel was pleasantly hovering before his eyes, which put a smile on his face.


    "Congratulation! The quest has been completed! Unlocking seed exchange! Furthermore, an additional reward has been placed into your inventory!"


    As Tom rubbed his eyes, the text slowly faded. He quickly stood up, put on a comfortable set of clothes, and then left his house; since he had completed a quest, that could only mean that his plants had grown.


    Even from the door, he could see a few mushrooms growing from the ground where he had previously planted the seeds. The mushrooms had quite a strange colour, as their cap was black, almost as if it was either coal or as if it had been burned with white spots across it, and their stamps were of a light grey colour.


    Although they seemed quite strange, they were the products of the reward given by the system, so Tom had no choice but to trust them.


    In total, there were six of them; however, he could clearly see two smaller ones. Of course, the cobweb-like vines on the ground had increased to the point where the dirt was barely visible.


    As Tom kneeled down beside the mushrooms, he could smell a strangely pleasant scent. He couldn''t help but enjoy it for a few moments but then grabbed one of them.


    It was relatively soft, almost as if he had just grabbed some sort of a sponge, but almost as if it was some sort of elastic material; it returned its shape instantly. In the end, he grabbed firmly that single one and then harvested it. Despite its softness, it was more difficult than he had anticipated, and once he managed to harvest it, a new window popped up.


    "Congratulation! A new plant has been discovered: Prist-Shroom."


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    "Notice! A new quest has been issued! Using Prist-Shroom, make a cleansing soup!"


    By the time the panels vanished, Tom had already harvested all the seemingly grown mushrooms, and then he instantly headed inside his kitchen.


    He still remembered the written recipe as quite mediocre. He only needed to put the mushrooms into boiling hot water. So he put a smaller pot onto the stove, letting it heat up; while he was waiting, he was staring at his mushrooms.


    Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind; he decided to cut all of his mushrooms into smaller bits. The blade, although sharp, could barely cut the mushrooms, so what he thought would be a few short seconds ended up taking a few minutes. By the time he was done, the water was already boiling, so he dumped everything into the pot and put a lid on it.


    Although the recipe was simple, he had already made a mistake. It stated that only two Prist-Shroom should be used; however, instead, he used six.


    As the lid became cloudy, Tom stepped away, but before doing so, he checked the time. It was 9:02; based on the manuals, he needed to leave it for at least ten minutes and then wait till the soup turned into a pure white colour.


    In the meantime, he grabbed another pot and decided to water everything he had in his garden. As he watered the mushrooms and walked over to where he had planted the apple and the pear, he noticed just how much they had grown overnight. Both had grown into thin but sturdy saplings.


    On the apple tree, he could already see a few tiny leaves beginning to grow slowly. A chuckle left his mouth as he observed his tiny land.


    Not too long ago, he worried about meeting deadlines while keeping up quality, but now, he is relaxing, working slightly with plants while being guided by a system.


    While he was chuckling at his strange situation, he made his way back to the kitchen, and much to his surprise, despite barely having spent a few short minutes outside, the soup was already white, almost as if it was snow.


    He quickly put it onto the other side of his stove and took the lid off. The moment he did that, his kitchen was filled with a mesmerising sweet and appetising scent. It was so strong that Tom''s mouth started watering, and as he stared at the cooling soup, a drop of drool slid down his mouth and jaw onto his shirt.


    Minutes went by painstakingly slowly as the soup gradually cooled down, and then, once Tom thought it was cold enough, he quickly put it onto his table and started eating it without any hesitation. It was still hot, but its taste was something Tom couldn''t ignore.


    Although he was only peckish and not entirely hungry yet, he ate the whole pot in one sitting. He even tapped on his stomach with both his hands with a fulfilled burp.


    "Congratulation! Quest has been..."


    A new panel popped up before his eyes; however, suddenly, he got so sleepy that he couldn''t keep his eyes open at all. All he could see was a blurry mess of the panel and one behind it, and then he fell asleep. His head slowly leaned into the now empty but still somewhat sticky pot, and he started snoring. And in only a few short seconds later, he started sweating profoundly. His shirt gradually gained a distinct darker colour, and then his sweat slowly flowed down onto the chair and eventually onto the ground.


    The manual stated nothing about such sleepiness, so it was either purposefully omitted or due to the higher concentration of the Prist-Shroom Tom had used.

 Chapter 5

    Tom suddenly woke up due to a strange burst of pain and weakness. At that very moment, he let out a loud groan and inhaled deeply. That breath felt as refreshing as if he had just drunk cold water on a scrounging summer day.


    Despite being asleep, he felt tired; however, as he slowly moved his body, he felt that his body was so much lighter than it ever was. The difference was so tangible that it shocked him. The difference was almost as if he had been previously moving submerged in water, but now he stepped out of that restricting water.


    Everywhere around him was covered with a strange black substance, even the pot and the table before him, though strangely, his body was not at all dirtied by that substance. With his index finger, Tom touched the black matter on the table; it was solid and dry. However, he was certain that it was previously liquid as it had quite an uneven surface. Some areas had more than others.


    As his pain slowly dissipated, he collected his strength and stood up. His first stop was his bathroom. He decided to wash his face; since his pain disappeared, sleepiness once again arose within him. However, it was not uncontrollable, unlike the previous one.


    He stepped over to his sink and, using cold water, started washing his face. Since it was nice and warm, he even partially watered his hair. Above the sink was a small mirror, so once he was done, he looked into it. Waterdropless was still flowing down from his hair and face; however, what he saw was shocking. He even took a quick step back.


    His hair and eye colour had completely changed. They were both identically coloured now: pure white. In addition, his posture seemed much better; as he stared at his reflection, he felt as if a completely different person was looking back at him.


    "This must be because of that soup... It seems like a new world, a new life, a new me... But why white?"


    He muttered as he rubbed his hair. He preferred his original hair colour; he felt that the new colour was literally screaming for others to notice him.


    Since he couldn''t do anything about it, he just accepted it. From his kitchen, he grabbed the pot from which he ate the special soup, filled it with water, and then stepped outside, ready to water his plants.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    The plants had grown stunningly. It seemed that, most likely, multiple days had already gone by since the apple and pear trees had grown considerably and were already full of fruits. They were already fully matured trees. The Prist-Shrooms had also grown, though it was only visible in their numbers. There were so many that they were passing one another away, and some were even growing on the grass already.


    "How long have I been asleep? I know that things seemed to be growing rapidly, but this was not a day''s worth of growth, I am certain!"


    The fact that he was sleeping for quite a while, most likely longer than a day, was concerning. However, he couldn''t help but grin, seeing how he could harvest his fruits.


    So, with great enthusiasm, he walked around watering everything and harvesting most of the mushrooms, apples and pears. Since he was already used to using his inventory, he stored everything he had harvested in it.


    "Congratulation! Host''s farming has advanced to the next level! The Host''s power had been slightly increased. In addition, please choose two of the following rewards."


    A familiar message popped up and then gave way to another long list of products. Tom once again started browsing the icons. Since he had two trees, he thought about something different, but then again, his lazy side came forth once again.


    Since he didn''t want to keep planting, he chose an orange and a grape. Without much delay, he instantly planted these two not far from where his other trees were. And then finally watered them.


    Once he was done with the work in his garden, he walked back into his house. At that moment, he realised that he should be able to start cultivating now that his body was cleansed.


    From his inventory, he pulled out the manual once again and reread it. While he was reading it, he started by sitting down. Once he was done reading, he crossed his legs, tried to relax his body, and eventually closed his eyes.


    The very first step, based on the manual, was feeling the Qi in his surroundings. Once he was capable of feeling it, he needed to gather it inside his body, getting accustomed to the presence and power of Qi.


    The stories he had read previously all showed that it was a piece of cake to achieve. However, he felt absolutely nothing, even after an hour. His motivation was decreasing rapidly, until, finally, he started feeling something faintly.


    He felt a unanimous layer of something around him. It felt warm and nice, almost smooth at the same time. He felt that it was in constant motion, yet it filled everything around him. The distance he could feel, things gradually increased, and the only thing he felt was this matter, which he presumed to be Qi.


    As time went on, he tried to pull this strange force, however, it wouldn''t work at all; at the same time, the field in which he was sensing Qi grew. One thing he was certain about was that although he was capable of increasing the range of this strange sense, he could see anything other than Qi. He was certain that his outer range was already reaching some of the objects in his house; however, he didn''t feel them at all.


    He continued meditating, getting more and more used to the presence of Qi, and then finally, he felt some major movement around his body, almost as if he was the cause of a whirlwind, and the Qi around him was spinning around him.

 Chapter 6

    Many long days had gone by. Each day, Tom would harvest his products and eat food that he still had in his garage or fridge, and then he would have a long meditation.


    He had learned that the whirlwind he had experienced was his doing. He could move the surrounding Qi slightly, and his skill in controlling Qi grew with each day. Soon, he was not only able to move them out of his way, but forcefully collect them in one space. However, gathering Qi inside his body was still not something he was able to do.


    The moment he felt that Qi was getting closer and closer to his body, it dispersed and retracted instantly. It seemed that his control was still lacking; as a result, instead of trying again and again, he decided to try and focus on learning how to control Qi properly.


    He started forcing Qi into balls while trying to compress them. At first, it was a tiresome and difficult task; however, as time went by he grew accustomed to it. From being able to keep them in shape for a few minutes, he went to being able to maintain the shape effortlessly.


    Then he stepped it up a bit. He increased the number of spheres from one to two all the way to a dozen. As he practised, a new idea appeared to him. So once again he made things a bit more difficult, by forcing the dozen compressed balls made of Qi to move constantly.


    He started by moving them around him in a circle at a relatively constant speed. Such a feat was quite difficult as, at first, he could barely do it for a few seconds, but eventually managed to prolong his motion longer.


    By the time more than two dozen balls were spinning around him, he was still not certain about being able to absorb Qi properly, so he made it even more challenging. He started spinning the balls around their own axis.


    From an outer point of view, it seemed as if he had created a miniature solar system. He was the sun around which the two dozen Qi balls were orbiting. Eventually, he gave another motion to the balls, greatly increasing the difficulty. Now they were not only spinning around their axis, and orbiting around him, but were moving away and closer to him in an increasing manner.


    Finally, Tom collected every last bit of power he had and flung all the Qi balls towards him at maximum speed. He instantly knew that at first some of the Qi from the balls dispersed, but due to their speed and their compactness, some managed to touch his body and dissolved into his body. At that very moment, it seemed that the force pushing Qi away from him had shattered, and the rest of the controlled Qi instantly entered his body.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    A wave of warmth spread across his body the moment he managed to absorb Qi, but then the heat skyrocketed. He screamed in pain, squeezed his fists together tight and gritted his teeth. Tears streamed down his face as the wave of heat reached its climax, and then, as if it never even happened, all the heat vanished.


    Although he didn''t notice it, he was visibly surrounded by a white aura, almost as if his whole body had been consumed by white flames. The flames quickly calmed, and even his glow had completely vanished.


    Panting heavily, he slowly opened his teary eyes to see a few panels floating in front of his eyes. They were in an organised line, so he could read the first one, but everything behind it was blurry. He couldn''t even count how many there were.


    "Congratulations; the quest has been completed! The rewards had been transported to Host''s inventory"


    "Notice! A new quest has been issued! Make your first weapon!"


    "Notice! A new quest has been issued! Reach the next major realm!"


    "Notice! You have reached the first stage of Qi Gathering!"


    "Notice! You have reached the second stage of Qi Gathering!"


    "Notice! You have reached the third stage of Qi Gathering!"


    As the last panel had finally vanished, Tom stood up and laughed.


    "Finally! After almost two weeks, I finally managed to do it!"


    He laughed, but then he shook his head and returned to his senses. At first, he felt as if he had been ripped off since he should be stronger than he had ever been before, but he sensed absolutely no difference.


    With a hint of disappointment, he walked into his kitchen as after that much work, he felt famished. He had almost eaten everything that he had left from his original world, so as a celebration, he decided to eat what he had grown.


    He enjoyed the taste of the cleansing soup, so he decided to make another bowl of that. Just like previously, while the Prist-Shrooms were soaking in the boiling hot water, he watered his garden. Everything had grown considerably, especially his apple tree.


    Once the soup was done, however, he decided to spice things up. From his inventory, he grabbed two apples and a pear and then started eating. Just like before, he emptied his small pot in no time, and then he quickly ate the fruits as well.


    Each had a superb taste, it was as if he had never eaten pears and apples before, only dirt, the difference in taste was so massive. Before he knew it, he had already finished him as well.


    Since he managed to make quite a bit of progress today, instead of checking his rewards, he instantly went to sleep. In his sweaty clothes, he just jumped into bed and fell asleep.