The Elven Cultivator

Silver Moon Forest.

Towering oaks stood in silence, their branches stretching in all directions. Their canopies, layered like clouds, filtered the daylight into countless tiny flecks of light that fell upon the leaf-covered ground.

Romance leaned against a tree in the shade, her amber eyes half-closed as she idly stroked the axe in her hands.

Fragments of golden sunlight pierced through the gaps in the leaves, dancing along the nearly translucent edges of her pointed ears. Her silver-white hair cascaded down like a waterfall, accentuating her jade-like skin.

Were it not for the cold, gleaming axe, it would have undoubtedly been a picturesque scene.

Just then, a delighted voice suddenly rang out from the dense canopy above.

”Haha, this Daoist master has succeeded!”

The canopy shook violently, showering down leaves and startling a few resting birds.

Romance glanced up, pursed her lips, then looked away and went back to toying with her axe.

Ever since his 13th birthday, Anton had been acting strangely, always muttering things no one could understand.

Things like, ’A Golden Core swallowed, I finally know my fate is my own,’ and, ’With sun and moon in hand, I pluck the stars; there is no one like me in this world’...

Romance recognized every word, but when strung together, they made no sense to her at all.

Unlike the other Elves, Anton had no interest in normal hobbies like tending to flowers, painting, or weaving. Instead, he would always run up into the treetops alone, assume a strange cross-legged posture, and sit there for hours. She couldn’t imagine what was so fun about it.

At first, Romance worried that something was wrong with her childhood friend.

But after observing him for a while and seeing he was still as lively as ever, she stopped worrying and let him be.

SWOOSH!

A figure leaped down from between the thick branches.

Anton landed lightly on a root next to Romance, crouching to absorb the impact and kicking up a few stray leaves.

He also had pointed ears. His long, light-gold hair was casually tied back with a vine, a few stray strands falling across his forehead, accentuating features so deep-set they seemed carved by a divine artisan.

He had a slightly high brow ridge, a nose as straight as the spine of a sword, and thin lips that naturally curved into a smile. Even among the Elf Race, who were all handsome men and beautiful women, his appearance was striking.

”Romance, let’s go back.”

Anton brushed the bits of bark from his clothes and gave Romance a small smile. The sunlight happened to fall on the side of his face, causing her to stare, momentarily stunned.

She wasn’t sure if it was just her imagination, but though only a few hours had passed, she felt a subtle change in Anton. He seemed to have gained a faint, ethereal quality.

His eyes had also grown brighter and deeper, to the point that she hardly dared to meet his gaze.

The girl quickly scrambled to her feet and asked, as if to hide her reaction, ”What were you shouting about up there?”

”Nothing.”

Anton denied it, but a heartfelt joy surfaced in his eyes.

Five years!

’Five whole years, and I’ve finally refined my first wisp of Spiritual Qi!’

Thinking back on five years of ceaseless breathing exercises, Anton felt the urge to cry.

He was, in fact, a Transmigrator.

Or perhaps ”reincarnator” would be a more fitting term.

One day, he had been playing a game in his university dorm room. The world went black, and when he woke up, he was a newborn Elf baby. He had spent the next thirteen years in a muddle-headed daze.

That was until the evening of his 13th birthday. Amidst a torrential downpour and crashing thunder, Anton stood by a window. He watched a bolt of violet lightning tear across the sky, grinding through the clouds like a dragon-serpent, and in that instant, he was struck by a sudden enlightenment.

’That’s right, I was human in my past life.’

’Only today do I know who I truly am.’

Memories flooded back like a tide, and he finally remembered where he had transmigrated.

Dawn Annals!

A massively popular online game played all over the world.

The very game he had been playing before he transmigrated.

And he had become a member of the Elf Race in the Silver Moon Forest, on the eastern side of the Dawn Continent.

To be honest, when he first realized this, Anton was on the verge of a breakdown.

The background of Dawn Annals could be summarized in three words: blood and fire!

From version 1.0’s [Fall of the Dragon God], to 2.0’s [War of the Ten Thousand Races], 3.0’s [Undead Calamity], and 4.0’s [Rise of the Gods]…

In nearly every version of the game, the Dawn Continent was wracked by endless war and turmoil.

For the players, it was an epic Legend where heroes were born.

But for the countless ordinary people actually living on the Dawn Continent, it was a catastrophe filled with blood and despair.

Even the slightest brush with the torrent of fate was enough to alter one’s entire life.

Living on this continent, especially as a member of the long-lived Elf Race, was definitely not a good thing.

From the bottom of his heart, Anton found this outcome difficult to accept.

Fortunately, he soon discovered he had something to rely on.

Taking a deep breath, Anton expertly located the mysterious jade slip deep within his soul.

[Taoist Jade Scroll]

The name sounded impressive as hell, and in reality, it was.

Within the small, flat piece of jade was a vast, ocean-like inheritance of cultivation lore. It contained everything from the most basic life-preserving techniques to supreme divine skills that pointed directly to the origin of the Dao—Arrays, Talismans, the Alchemy Dao, Artifact Refining—it was an all-encompassing trove.

It was enough to satisfy all of a Cultivator’s needs, from their first step on the path to their ascension.

Cultivating in a Western fantasy world was a bit of a strange mix, but to save his own life, Anton had no other choice.

Cultivation is, first and foremost, about the ’cultivating.’

From Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment, to Golden Core and Nascent Soul, and then to Divinity Transformation and Void Refining… every stage required a Cultivation Technique.

The entry-level Cultivation Technique was especially critical, as it largely determined a person’s growth rate and ultimate potential.

As the wielder of the [Taoist Jade Scroll], Anton undoubtedly had an advantage in this regard that would make countless Cultivators burn with envy.

He could choose the one most suited to him from millions of Cultivation Techniques.

Normally, when a Cultivator chose a Cultivation Technique, the first thing to consider was their own aptitude—or more precisely, their Spirit Root.

Many Cultivation Techniques required the Cultivator to possess a specific type of Spirit Root.

Those whose Spirit Root did not match were not even qualified to practice the technique.

Anton had originally assumed that Elves would have a wood-attribute Spirit Root. However, after using a Secret Technique from the jade scroll to examine himself, he discovered he was completely and utterly wrong.

He actually possessed all Five Spirit Roots: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth!

In a Cultivation World, this made him a bona fide cultivation prodigy!

Anton didn’t know if his own aptitude was just that outstanding, or if all members of the Elf Race, who were hailed as the darlings of nature, were like this.

In any case, this was a good thing for him.

So, Anton decisively chose one of the most supreme entry-level Cultivation Techniques in the [Taoist Jade Scroll]: the Taichu Hiding Skill.

Taichu, the father of the Five Elements.

Guicang, the mother of all phenomena.

One exit and one entry, one opening and one closing—this is the Dao.

This Cultivation Technique required the Cultivator to possess all five Spirit Roots simultaneously, a demand that could only be described as stringent. However, the Taichu Spiritual Qi it produced was also exceedingly powerful.

The first stage for a Cultivator, the Qi Refining Stage, was all about sensing the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, refining the mortal body, and opening up a ”Qi Sea Dantian” within the body to store the first wisp of Spiritual Qi.

The quality of Spiritual Qi produced also varied depending on the Cultivation Technique used.

The more superior the Spiritual Qi, the greater its power in combat, and the stronger the Dao Body formed during Foundation Establishment in the future.

And Taichu Spiritual Qi, which could be freely converted into the Five Elements Spiritual Qi, was undoubtedly one of the most superior types.

If one had to point out a drawback, it would be that its cultivation difficulty was hell-level.

With no resources to aid him, it had taken Anton a full five years just to successfully refine his first wisp of Taichu Spiritual Qi.

According to the requirement of refining one hundred and eight wisps of Spiritual Qi for Foundation Establishment, it would take him over five hundred years just to reach the threshold.