The large rodent, a furry, brown blur, vanished behind a pile of crumbling bricks. Li Xuan, still holding the imaginary broomstick he'd tried to use earlier, mentally cursed its speed. His stomach growled again, a hollow, mocking sound. He hadn't hunted anything more challenging than an achievement icon in years, and this was proving to be significantly less straightforward.
"Okay, Li Xuan, think. Stealth game mechanics," he whispered to himself, crouching low. The dust-caked ground crunched beneath his bare feet. He needed a weapon, or at least a trap. He glanced around the dilapidated courtyard, his eyes scanning for anything he could improvise. A broken roof tile, sharp and jagged, lay half-buried nearby. He picked it up carefully; it was surprisingly heavy.
He stalked towards the pile of bricks, moving with an exaggerated caution that felt more comical than stealthy. His cultivation, courtesy of the Lesser Qi Gathering Manual, was still in its nascent stages. He hadn't even truly entered the Body Tempering Realm yet, merely begun the initial step of drawing Qi into his body. It was a faint spark, not a roaring flame, offering no physical boosts beyond a vague sense of internal freshness. He was, for all intents and purposes, still just a hungry gamer.
The rodent darted out from behind the bricks, a grey streak heading for another pile of debris. Li Xuan lunged, bringing the tile down in a clumsy, desperate swing. He missed, the tile smashing against the ground with a dull thud, sending up a puff of dust. The rodent, clearly mocking his pathetic attempt, vanished into the shadows of a fallen wall.
"Useless!" Li Xuan swore, kicking at a loose stone. This was infuriating. Every game he'd played, even the survival ones, gave you a basic knife or slingshot for starter hunting. Here, he had a manual for spiritual energy and a spirit-grade sword he couldn't use yet, but couldn't catch a glorified rat.
He slumped against the wall, defeated. The sun was getting higher, warming the air, but doing nothing for his empty stomach. His earlier thrill of finding the hidden vault was fading, replaced by the grim reality of immediate survival. He needed to find food, and this haphazard hunting wasn't working.
"System," he thought, desperate. "Any suggestions for finding food? Or, like, a 'Basic Hunting Skill' manual?"
The blue box shimmered, but instead of hunting tips, a new message appeared.
[New Task Generated!]
[Objective: Recruit 1 Disciple to the Falling Leaf Sect.]
[Reward: Basic Food & Water Provisions (Daily Supply for 1 week), Basic Farming & Gathering Manual (Common Grade).]
Li Xuan stared at the blinking text. "Recruit a disciple? Now? System, I can't even feed myself! Who's going to join a starving, random guy living in a ruin who tries to kill rodents with roof tiles?"
He imagined trying to convince someone: "Hey, want to join my super cool sect? We have no food, no members, and our grand hall is a health hazard. But I have a blinking box in my head and some amazing skills I can't actually use yet!" It sounded insane.
But then, he saw the reward: Basic Food & Water Provisions (Daily Supply for 1 week). That was the immediate answer to his most pressing problem. And a Basic Farming & Gathering Manual? That sounded like a long-term solution. The system was forcing his hand, giving him powerful incentives to achieve its goals. It wasn't about surviving alone; it was about building a sect.
"Okay, System," he sighed, pushing himself to his feet. "Fine. A disciple. But where do I even find one in this desolate wasteland? And what kind of disciple would actually come here?"
He remembered the devaluation of the Falling Leaf Silver Coins. The outside world might not respect the sect, but perhaps someone desperate enough wouldn't care. He needed someone poor, perhaps orphaned, someone with nothing to lose, but with a spark of potential. Someone who wouldn't scoff at a crumbling ruin and a leader who still instinctively tried to use gamer logic.
His immediate surroundings within the sect grounds offered no answers. The silence was absolute, broken only by the chirping of unseen insects. If there was another soul here, they were either very good at hiding or very dead. He had to venture out.
He walked towards the main gate, which was less a gate and more a collection of broken timbers leaning drunkenly against each other. He pushed aside a loose beam, revealing a narrow, overgrown path leading away from the sect. Beyond the path, he could see what looked like a dense forest.
His knowledge of this world was practically nil. He knew nothing of its dangers, its inhabitants, its towns, or its customs. But the promise of food, the lure of that system reward, outweighed his fear.
He stepped out of the dilapidated gates of the Falling Leaf Sect, into the unknown. The air immediately felt different, cooler, with the scent of damp earth and growing things. He adjusted the tattered robes he was wearing, which felt too large for his frame and were surprisingly clean compared to the rest of the sect. He wasn't sure what to expect. A bustling town? A dangerous beast?
He followed the overgrown path, which quickly narrowed and became more treacherous, winding through thick underbrush. The sun filtered through the canopy of leaves, creating dappled patterns on the forest floor. He kept an eye out for anything that looked edible, anything resembling a wild berry or a familiar plant, but everything seemed alien.
After what felt like an hour of walking, a faint sound reached his ears. A high-pitched, almost whimpering noise. It sounded vaguely like a small animal, but there was an unusual, almost human-like quality to it. His gamer instincts, which had been misfiring on the rodent hunt, flared again. This sounded like a distressed NPC.
He pushed through a particularly dense thicket of thorny bushes, wincing as a sharp branch scraped his arm. The sight that greeted him made him pause.
Lying slumped against the gnarled roots of a massive, ancient tree was a young girl. She couldn't have been more than ten or eleven years old. Her clothes were ragged and torn, her hair matted with dirt. Her face was pale, streaked with grime and tears, and her arm was clutched tightly to her chest, unnaturally bent. Her eyes, large and a startling shade of green, were wide with pain and fear. A small, crude wooden doll lay discarded beside her.
She looked up at Li Xuan, her eyes brimming with a mixture of terror and desperation. She was clearly injured, likely abandoned. Li Xuan felt a pang of something he hadn't expected: genuine pity. But also, a sudden, opportunistic thought: Potential disciple. Exactly the kind the system meant.
He approached slowly, cautiously. "Hey," he said, his voice softer than he intended. "Are you alright?" It was a stupid question. She was clearly not alright.
The girl flinched, shrinking further into the tree roots. "Go away!" she whimpered, her voice raspy. "I don't have anything!"
"I'm not going to hurt you," Li Xuan assured her, raising his empty hands. "I just... I saw you were hurt. Can I help?"
Her eyes, still wary, flickered to his dilapidated robes, then to the clean patch of skin on his arm where he had scraped it. She seemed to hesitate, assessing him. He probably looked less like a threat and more like a slightly cleaner version of herself.
This was it. His first potential recruit. This was where the "charm" stat came into play, if he had one. He took a deep breath.
"I'm Li Xuan," he said, trying for a reassuring tone. "I'm the Sect Leader of the Falling Leaf Sect. It's... nearby. I can help your arm, and if you're willing, I can offer you a place to stay, training, and food." He held up his hand, mentally picturing the system's reward. "Daily food and water, for a week, just for joining. And a path to become strong."
He knew it sounded outlandish, but what did she have to lose? Lying injured and alone in the wilderness? This was his chance to complete the task and get his first crucial resource. This was his first step in transforming the game from "survival horror" to "sect-building tycoon."