Yuki slammed into a cold stone slab, her head still ringing from the fall. Groaning softly, she took a moment to steady herself and let her small feet touch the ground. It was cold, colder than the snow plains outside—but still bearable. She narrowed her eyes and scanned her surroundings like a hawk.
Eerie stone walls? Check. A hallway with minimal lighting? Check.
Before doing anything else, she needed to verify if this place matched the dungeon she had written. After carefully surveying the architecture and confirming its familiar layout, she released a relieved sigh.
As a meticulous writer, Yuki had memorized every early-game dungeon she'd created. Of all of them, the [Snow Elves' Dungeon] was by far the safest. Though its backstory had always been a little vague, she remembered designing it as a resting ground for snow elves from another world.
How it turned into a dungeon—or why it was now here on Earth—was a mystery, even to her. She hadn't gotten around to writing that part yet.
"Well, no time to dwell on useless details," Yuki muttered with a shrug.
She proceeded cautiously through the dim corridor, her eyes catching the soft glow of the only light source, energy crystals embedded in the wall. The universal currency and cultivation resource for all cultivators. She stepped up to one of them and gave it a hard yank.
"If I'm right, these should be low-grade energy crystals," she murmured, examining one with a curious gaze. The surface was uneven, roughly cut, yet oddly smooth, lacking the jagged edges one would expect from raw ore. Strangely, it gave off no heat expected from a source of light and no pulse of anything special, nothing to suggest it held any significance.
Any normal person wouldn't even take a second glance at this dimly lit rock. However, as the author, she knew very well that these energy crystals were more precious than even gold or diamonds, "Just one of them should be good enough to help a beginner build their foundation."
As soon as she pulled it free, the ambient light in the hallway dimmed. After she took it out, she spent a few minutes tinkering with the energy crystal. Seeing no reaction, she sighed and pried one more crystal from the wall before continuing her exploration, the two crystals clutched in her hand.
Yuki didn't know how long she had walked, but her body was reaching its limit. She'd been starving when she first woke up, and after all the running, her strength was nearly gone.
Thankfully, heaven seemed merciful today.
Not far ahead, she discovered a spring nestled within a cave. By the spring stood a solitary stone hut.
She staggered to the spring and scooped a handful of water to her lips. The moment it touched her tongue, a wave of vitality surged through her.
"This spring water is magical... just a few sips and I feel refreshed. Even the hunger's gone," she whispered, wide-eyed.
With her thirst and hunger miraculously alleviated, Yuki felt a renewed clarity. She carefully scanned the area, ensuring there were no traps near the spring or the hut. Once satisfied, she stepped cautiously inside.
The interior was unassuming, far from grand, but surprisingly spacious compared to how small it looked from the outside. Ancient-looking furniture carved from stone and wood filled the space, alongside scattered relics and rotting items from another era.
What caught her attention, however, were the books. Unlike everything else, they were pristine with neither dust nor rot.
"Huh... why aren't these books dusty?" she murmured, picking one up.
Its surface was oddly smooth in her small hands, almost like silk-wrapped metal. She tilted it to read the title, 'Return to Origin'.
Beside it were more of these books made from smooth unknown materials, untouched by dust and rust. The titles were 'Runix SwordCraft' and 'Snow Heart Technique'.
"Are these... technique manuals?" she whispered in awe.
In the world of her novel, the main paths to power lay in cultivation techniques or mana circulation manuals. The former birthed cultivators while the latter created mages.
On Earth, or universally called Planet 281- AB, martial cultivation was the dominant form of training, with rare exceptions in the Holy Empire and its vassal states across Northern and Western Europe.
Only one in a thousand people possessed the talent for cultivation or magic. This naturally led to a world where government and power structures were monopolized by high-level cultivators. Though tyrannical, this hierarchy had brought years of stability and prosperity.
But then came the gates and extraterrestrial invasions, which were like a boulder that breaks the camel's back. Because in front of absolute power, not even the cultivators could stop the countries from collapsing into ruins.
Yuki stood still in the quiet room, the manual titled 'Return to Origin' pressed lightly against her chest. She sat cross-legged on the cool stone floor, gently placing the manual on her lap. Her fingers hovered over the cover, hesitant.
"Can I even use this? And how should I use it?" She bit her lip. In the story, before the primordial system was completely integrated into the planet, only a select few had the talent to practice cultivation. Which means that there was a high chance that Yuki or the original body owner, Yin Mei, an ordinary county girl, didn't even have the talent to cultivate.
To make it worse, she didn't provide details about how someone learn a cultivation technique, or even how to cultivate at all. She just wrote something like "Random person A cultivates 20 hours a day for 1 month and breaks through to a higher realm". But now, she was in a reality, nothing was just part of a story anymore. This was real.
Taking a deep breath, she opened the first page.
To her surprise, the words glowed faintly, etched into the page like molten silver. The text rearranged itself fluidly into something she could understand. "Auto-translation script...? No, this should be the work of the primordial system."
Not long ago, Yuki was horrified when she learned that she had obtained the primordial system. She made it so that only 1 person with the finest talent on each planet can obtain the primordial system and become the chosen leader. "It should have been the main character's golden finger."But now, somehow, she has become the chosen subject under the incomprehensible primordial system.
However, right now, Yuki can only smile gleefully at the translated script on the first page of the book.
[Return to Origin — Foundation Realm Manual]
'For lost descendants seeking to awaken the primal blood.'
Yuki blinked.
"Primal blood...? Wait, isn't this from the shelved bloodline arc I scrapped?"
She rubbed her temples. "Damn it, I knew I shouldn't have left those plot fragments lying around."
Still, her curiosity got the better of her. She skimmed the first few paragraphs. It described a breathing technique—simple, rhythmic, and oddly calming. A technique meant to harmonize the body with ambient energy... or what cultivators would call 'Qi'.
"Can I… try to cultivate ?" She exhaled slowly. "Well, I've got nothing to lose."
With focused intent, she sat up straight, closed her eyes, and began to follow the breathing instructions. At first, nothing happened. The air was cold, stagnant. But on her third cycle, something shifted.
The energy crystals on her lap pulsed faintly.
Then, a whisper of warmth bloomed in her chest. Like a small flame, timid yet persistent. It spread through her limbs like a trickle of warm water, brushing away her fatigue. Her aching muscles relaxed, her foggy mind sharpened.
Her eyes snapped open.
"H-holy hell, it's working..."
System prompt : [ Achieved first Qi circulation, rewarded 3 random stats bonus ]
Yuki's breath caught. She sat still for a moment, staring at the faint glowing rectangle now floating in her vision.
Status Window
Name : Yin Fei
Age : 12
Affiliate : Planet 281 - AB
Cultivation : Foundation 1st layer.
Bonus Stats :
Strength + 1
Agility + 2
Yuki exhaled shakily, heart pounding."This…is Qi ?" Yuki gasped while releasing a thread of intangible energy, which flew away and disintegrated into the air in a matter of seconds.
In excitement, she glanced again at the other two books.
'Runix SwordCraft'. Yuki was skimming through the first few pages of the book. "This should be a sword technique that uses a magic rune as the base ".
And this 'Snow Heart Technique' is a mana circulation method. In my memory, this should be the main training manual for the snow elves in the Northern Frost Court.
"So.. the 'Return to Origin' is the only cultivation technique, and it's not supposed to show up here, the former rest area for the snow elves... unless—"
A low, humming vibration echoed through the stone floor. Yuki tensed.
Somewhere deeper in the dungeon, something had awakened.
She stood quickly and shoved the books into a satchel she found beside the stone bed. Now was not the time to hesitate.
"I need to get to the central chamber. If the plot's still intact, there should be a dormant teleportation array there... hopefully untouched."
As she stepped outside, the cave's once-serene aura felt different. The spring water had stilled. The air was colder. Heavier. And Yuki had the sinking feeling that she was no longer the only living thing down here.