The First Cultivator - Changing Existence

He continued to practice every day as he grew more and more powerful. After three years, his father began to teach him how to live like them. How to live like mortals isolated in a mountain.

How to feed his family, give them shelter and happiness. His father was quite intelligent for some random mortal living in the woods. When he turned fifteen, his father sent him out of the mountain.

"Don't come back until you have a wife." He said.

Fa Zhu just nodded as he left.

He didn't tell his family that he had no interest in something like marriage. His aspirations were above the heavens themselves.

And with him finally leaving, he had a chance to practice in a much wider and open manner.

He did not head to the nearby city as his father had instructed, but to a woods not far away from the city.

Using the skills his father had taught him over the years, he made himself a little hut in the style of a treehouse.

This way, nobody would simply stumble upon it.

In the woods, he practiced with magic.

He spent a good two years like this before he felt like he hit some sort of wall. His issue was that no matter how much he tried and no matter how much he trained, he couldn't move the magic any faster or in a larger amount.

If Zhou Fan was here, he would simply advise the boy to bring the Qi into his body. But then again, that was the Path of Cultivation, and this boy was not a cultivator.

He spent an entire year trying to figure it out before deciding to head to the nearby city. Perhaps something there could give him some sort of inspiration, which he desperately needed.

When he entered the city, he was surprised by what he saw. He had imagined it many times, but this was a lot better than he had thought. It seemed very peaceful compared to the descriptions. He walked around, and after a while, found something called a library. He had heard about these things.

He walked through the door and entered.

Around the building were thousands of books. Unfortunately, Fa Zhu was not very good at reading. His father had taught him a bit, but not much.

He walked towards one of the bookshelves, but someone spoke to him.

"Excuse me. You have to sign in." A girl said. She was sitting behind a desk

"Sign in?" Fa Zhu asked.

"Yes. Do you not know how a library works?" The girl asked.

Fa Zhu shook his head.

The girl eyed him for a moment before asking a question. "What is your name?"

"Fa Zhu." Fa Zhu said.

"Oh. Are you a part of the Fa family that lives in the mountains?" She asked.

"Yes. Do you know about us?"

"Indeed. My grandmother dated your grandfather for a while. She told me casually, but it was such a unique story I haven't forgotten it. I think I can help you out."

The girl said.

"The library is a place where books are stored. All of the knowledge is public, but in case of damages, you must first sign up before you take any. You must also check in every time you enter. Do you have money or a place to stay?" The girl asked.

Fa Zhu shook his head.

"Good. We need a cleaner, and you can stay in the basement. Rent will be taken out of your paycheck."

Fa Zhu felt like an opportunity had fallen into his lap, even if he didn't want it, and he felt it would be inappropriate to refuse.

This was a small city, and he may not find another such opportunity. A few weeks later, he was settled into his job. His room in the basement was filled with books, which limited his space by a lot, but he didn't have to pay much for it.

He was paid a bit more than enough to live on, but he wasn't interested in simply living.

He continued to practice magic in his alone time. He often wandered around the city, looking for some sort of inspiration. After a month, his co-worker, the girl who had given him the job, invited him to her house. It wasn't for any romantic reason, but because her grandmother wanted to meet him.

He headed to their house with her after the library closed.

Their house was quite small, but so were the majority of the houses in the city.

Inside, he met the grandmother and the rest of their family. He heard stories of his grandfather, and even a bit of information about his father.

Although they had once dated and broken up, there had been no hard feelings. They had even been friends afterwards.

His grandmother was actually a friend of the girl's grandmother. During dinner, the grandmother asked him some questions.

"So, you are here to look for a wife, right?" She asked.

Fa Zhu nodded.

"Have you considered my granddaughter?" She asked.

"No." Fa Zhu said.

The girl felt a bit embarrassed, but Fa Zhu's casual answer made her a bit angry. She didn't show it of course.

"Are you sure? She is quite good looking." The grandmother said.

Fa Zhu looked at her. She was just a girl. He couldn't feel anything special about her. But to save her some face, he made up a reason.

"I only like girls with black hair." Fa Zhu said.

The girl, who was blonde, seemed a bit more accepting of it. The grandmother just shrugged.

After eating, he thanked them and left.

A few months later, he finally had an idea.

After reading a bunch of books, he had become much better at reading.

There were a lot of inspirational ideas in books. One of them was a diagram of the world, as predicted by scientists. After all, it wasn't like they could actually view it from space.

The diagram of the world was a perfect circle, and lines around and on it represented how the world and the space around it balanced out physically.