🌁 Veinfield Silence
The Lower Veinfield shimmered like a half-dream.
Faint silver light trickled across grassy plains, broken by jagged crystal roots protruding from the ground at unnatural angles. The air was still—too still—like the world was holding its breath.
Lin Fei sat cross-legged in the center of a shallow valley. Around him, the roots he'd summoned during Domain Materialization pulsed in soft rhythms, beating like the echo of a giant heart beneath the surface.
[Domain Status: Stable – 26% Constructed]
[System Notice: Subdomain "Reclamation Spiral" Active]
[Spiritual Feedback Absorption: Passive Flow at 3.7% Efficiency]
He drew a deep breath.
Then he exhaled — letting his senses flow outward through the domain.
It was like stretching not with body or spirit… but with intention. He could feel every crack in the Veinfield. Every strand of qi still buried in the dirt. Every moment of pain or triumph that had seeped into the soil and stayed there like a lingering scream.
This place remembers everything.
And something in it had noticed him.
👤 The Echoes Awaken
It began with a whisper.
Then the air grew cold.
From the base of a nearby root-spire, something peeled itself free. A hazy figure — translucent and trembling — formed from coalescing motes of fragmented memory.
A cultivator. Tall. Robed in battle-torn black. His face a blur, but his aura cold and violent.
[Echo Detected: Wielder-Class Memory Phantom]
[Designation: "Ren the Thorned" – Last Cycle Survivor]
[Stability: Low]
[Warning: Echoes may be hostile until reclaimed or resolved]
The phantom looked at him — and screamed.
The air exploded.
Lin Fei leapt back just as a blast of spiritual pressure lashed out, carving a deep furrow in the ground where he'd been meditating.
So that's how it's going to be.
He raised his hand and activated the first of his domain's abilities.
[Rootlink Authority – Tier-1 Summon: Verdant Fang Viper]
[Charge: 1/1 – Recharging]
A fissure opened in the earth, and from it surged a massive serpent woven from lightroot and spirit essence. Its fangs shimmered with lethal qi, and it hissed once before lunging at the phantom.
The two clashed in a burst of violet light.
Lin Fei didn't stay idle.
He swept his hand through the air, guiding the domain to fracture the terrain beneath the phantom, disrupting its memory anchor.
The ghost shrieked again — then froze.
For a moment, its face solidified.
"Why… am I still here…?"
Lin Fei stepped forward.
"Let me end it. Or let me carry it."
The ghost blinked.
"Carry… it…"
And then it fell apart.
[Echo Reclaimed – Memory Stored in Domain Nexus]
[New Ability Fragment Acquired: "Spineburst Qi Art"]
[Compatibility: 62% – Adapting Technique…]
He exhaled. Then straightened.
There were hundreds more like it — echoes, lost and half-insane, roaming his domain. Each one a relic of a past wielder. Each one a potential ally — or enemy.
I'll need help.
And right then — the system responded.
🌀 System Notification: External Presence Requesting Entry
[Notice: An external Entity has requested access to Domain]
[Designation: Bloom Broker – Alignment: Neutral]
[System Sanctioned Visitor – Tier: ???]
Accept / Deny
Lin Fei frowned.
"Broker?"
He hesitated — then selected: Accept.
🕴️ The Bloom Broker
The air twisted — and then folded outward.
From the distortion emerged a man clad in a patchwork of robes: violet silks, green weaves, and floating qi runes. His hair was tied with golden thread, his eyes mismatched—one amber, one silver. He carried no weapon. Only a ledger and a smile.
"Ah! A blooming cultivator with style! I see you've started your Veinfield early. Unstable. Unwise. But bold!"
He bowed extravagantly.
"I am the Bloom Broker. Trader of roots, seller of secrets, and humble middleman of System-guided commerce."
Lin Fei blinked.
"There's… trading in this?"
"Of course! You think cultivation is only pain and screaming? No no no. It's also market share!"
He flicked his wrist.
A scroll appeared midair.
[SYSTEM MARKET INTERFACE UNLOCKED]
[Broker Tier: Independent Neutral – Access Level: Rootlight Initiate]
[Items Available for Trade: 4]
[Note: All trades must be made with domain energies, echo fragments, or bound system credit.]
🧾 Market of the Lost
Lin Fei scrolled through the offerings:
Seed of Resonance (1 use) – Enhances domain evolution by 5%
Cost: 3 Echo Fragments
Veinwalker Boots – Allows limited teleportation within personal domain
Cost: 1 Bound Credit
Memory Anchor (Lesser) – Stabilizes one hostile Echo
Cost: 2 Spiritual Cores
Map Fragment: ??? Bloomsite – Unknown Location, High Risk
Cost: 5 Unstable Echoes
He glanced at the Broker.
"And if I don't have enough?"
"Then earn it. Reclaim. Convert. Or… take on a contract."
"A contract?"
The Broker's grin widened.
"You do something for the System — or for other wielders — and in return, you grow. The System wants growth. It rewards the useful."
📜 The Contract of Roots
The Broker produced a crystal sealed with golden root-like threads.
[Minor System Contract Offered]
Mission: Investigate a Deep Echo anomaly in Outer Veinfield
Objective: Determine source and status
Reward: 1 Bound Credit + Echo Gift
Risk Level: High
Accept / Decline?
Lin Fei accepted without hesitation.
He needed resources. And more than that… he needed to understand the system's scale.
"Send me the location."
The Broker chuckled and tapped his ledger.
"Already marked. West of the Hollow Spiral. Follow the mist that screams in silence."
Before Lin Fei could respond, the Broker turned — and vanished in a spiral of floating runes and laughter.
"Oh, and remember: the deeper you go, the more the system watches."
🌫️ To the Hollow Spiral
Lin Fei left the safety of his growing domain and entered the edges of the Outer Veinfield.
There, the terrain warped like broken reflections. Echoes flitted just out of reach. He followed the signs: moss that bled smoke, stones that whispered in other languages, roots that pulsed to the beat of a heart that wasn't his.
Eventually, he saw it.
A spiral of broken land — as if a cyclone had carved a crater of memory into the world.
Mist crawled along the edges. Inside, something screamed — a soundless, pressureless, pure emotion of despair.
Lin Fei reached the edge.
And stepped in.