The walk down the mountain was a lesson in humility and high-voltage physics. Every time Jin took a step, the silver solder embedded in his chest pulled against his raw skin, a reminder that he was essentially a walking, talking prototype. The girl, whose name he learned was Xiao Mei, kept casting nervous glances over her shoulder. To her, Jin wasn't just a wounded man; he was a walking omen.
"You... you shouldn't be walking," Xiao Mei whispered, her voice trembling as she ducked under a low-hanging branch. "The strike from yesterday... it shook the earth all the way to the valley. The village Elders say a demon was summoned. They say the sky turned purple because the world is ending."
Jin wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead, his eyes darting around the forest. Through his System-enhanced vision, the forest wasn't just trees; it was a chaotic mess of bio-electric signatures. "The world isn't ending, Xiao Mei. It's just having a bit of a power surge. Static buildup in the upper atmosphere, aggravated by... well, me."
"She doesn't understand your 'science' gibberish, Weaver," Tai-Zhu's voice echoed, sounding bored. "Inthis world, if you can't explain it with 'Spirit Flow' or 'Heaven's Will,' you are either a God or a monster. And right now, you look like a monster that crawled out of a scrap heap."
"Shut up, bird," Jin muttered under his breath.
"Did you say something, My Lord?" Xiao Mei asked, jumping at the sound.
"Just talking to the resident hardware issues," Jin sighed. "And don't call me 'My Lord.' I'm just Jin. I fix things. That's all I've ever done."
As they broke through the tree line, the village of Azure Spark Valley came into view. It was a miserable collection of thatched-roof huts and mud-caked paths, nestled in the shadow of the Azure Peaks. It looked like a medieval postcard, except for the palpable sense of dread hanging over the place. People were huddled in doorways, clutching protective talismans.
At the center of the village stood a massive stone well, surrounded by a group of men holding iron shovels. They looked exhausted, their faces gaunt.
"The Well of Tears," Tai-Zhu said, her shoulders sagging. "It's been dry for a month. The village priest says we've offended the Earth Spirits. If we don't find water by the next moon, the Lord Ling will seize our lands because we can't pay the grain tax."
Jin stopped. He looked at the well, but he didn't see "offended spirits." He activated Ohm's Law.
The ground beneath the well was saturated with a strange, high-resistance mineral. But deeper down, there was a massive pocket of moving liquid—a subterranean river. The problem wasn't a lack of water; it was a blockage. A massive, metallic deposit was acting like a natural dam, and it was vibrating with a faint, rhythmic energy.
[System Notification: Side Quest Detected!]
[Quest: The Cursed Conduit]
[Objective: Restore the village water supply.]
[Reward: 500 Experience, +50 Credits, Local Reputation: 'The Miracle Worker'.]
"Don'tbother," Tai-Zhu warned. "That blockage is 'Deep-Iron.' It is infused with Earth Qi. You would need a Tier 4 Earth Cultivator to move it, or a year of digging. You are a Lightning God, not a plumber."
"I'm an engineer, Tai-Zhu," Jin said, a familiar spark of professional irritation lighting up his eyes. "And every plumber is just an engineer who isn't afraid to get his hands dirty. If I can't move it, I'll vibrate it to pieces."
Jin pushed past Xiao Mei and marched toward the well. The village men looked up, their eyes widening at the sight of his silver-scarred chest and the strange, rhythmic hum coming from his body.
"Stay back, stranger!" one of the men yelled, raising a shovel. "This is holy ground! The priest says—"
"The priest is wrong," Jin interrupted, his voice echoing with a natural authority he'd honed over years of managing construction crews. "Your spirits aren't angry. Your pipes are clogged. Move aside."
"Who do you think you are?" a portly man in silk robes—likely the village head—demanded, stepping forward.
Jin didn't answer. He reached the edge of the well and looked down. The darkness was absolute, but the "hum" was louder here. It was a frequency. A resonance. Everything in the universe had a resonant frequency—the point at which an object would vibrate so violently it would shatter.
"Xiao Mei, get me all the copper wire in this village. Every scrap. Jewelry, bowls, anything," Jin commanded.
"Copper? But that's for the rich!" the Headman sputtered.
"Do you want water, or do you want to keep your jewelry while you die of thirst?" Jin snapped.
The authority in his voice, backed by the faint, unconscious aura of Tai-Zhu's power, broke their resistance. For the next hour, the village was a hive of activity. Jin sat by the well, stripped to the waist, his silver-soldered veins glowing a faint blue as he began to twist the collected copper into a crude, massive coil.
"You are building an induction heater?" Indra asked, his voice tinged with genuine curiosity. "Inaworld of magic, you are using... magnetism?"
"Better," Jin whispered, his fingers moving with blurred precision. "I'm building a sonic resonator. If I can pulse the lightning through this coil at the exact frequency of that Deep-Iron blockage, I can induce a harmonic shatter. It's like a singer breaking a wine glass, but with more kilovolts."
By sunset, a massive, ugly spiral of copper was lowered into the dark depths of the well, suspended by thick hemp ropes. Jin held the two ends of the "cable" in his hands.
The entire village had gathered to watch. The Priest stood at the back, muttering curses and prayers in equal measure.
[System Warning: Current body integrity is low. High-frequency output may cause 'Internal Arcing'.]
"I know the risks, System," Jin gritted his teeth. "Just keep the breakers from tripping."
He closed his eyes and reached into his core. He didn't look for "Qi." He looked for the electrons. He felt the cold, jagged power of Indra sitting in his chest like a dormant volcano.
"Okay, Indra. Give me a 60-hertz pulse. Increase by 10 every second. We're looking for the sweet spot."
"HOLD ON TO YOUR SOUL, WEAVER!"
The air around the well began to hum. It started as a low growl, a sound that made the villagers' teeth ache. Then, the copper coil began to glow. A dull, cherry-red heat radiated from the mouth of the well.
Jin's body jerked. The silver lines on his skin flared with blinding white light. He felt his blood boiling, the synthetic bridges he'd built in his veins screaming under the load.
"120 hertz!" Jin roared.
VROOOOOOOOOM.
The ground began to shake. Dust shook loose from the village huts. The villagers fell to their knees, terrified. To them, this wasn't engineering; it was a man summoning the wrath of the mountain.
180 hertz... 240... 300...
Suddenly, Jin felt it. A "click" in his mind. The frequency matched.
"THERE!"
He dumped every ounce of Indra's remaining energy into the coil. A massive, muffled CRACK echoed from deep underground—the sound of a mountain's heart breaking. For a second, there was total silence.
Then, the earth groaned.
A geyser of crystal-clear water exploded from the well, shooting thirty feet into the air. It drenched the villagers, the parched earth, and Jin himself, who fell back onto the mud, laughing and gasping for air.
[Quest Complete: The Cursed Conduit]
[Rewards: 500 XP, 50 Credits.]
[Level Up! Level 1 -> Level 3]
[Stat Points Gained: 10]
The villagers stood in stunned silence, the water raining down on them like liquid gold. The Headman approached Jin, his face pale, and fell to his knees.
"A Sage... a Hidden Sage has come to Azure Spark Valley!" he cried.
Jin wiped the water from his eyes, his silver scars slowly dimming. He looked at the "System" screen, which was now flashing with new unlocked features and a map of the surrounding territories.
"Not a sage," Jin panted, looking at the glowing water. "Just a guy who knows how to clear a pipe."
But as he looked up at the Azure Peaks, his smile faded. Far off in the distance, a streak of gold fire was racing through the sky—the signature of a high-level cultivator.
"The Ling Clan," Tai-Zhu hissed. "They felt the pulse. You didn't just fix a well, Weaver. You rang a dinner bell."
Jin stood up, his muscles aching, but his mind sharper than ever. He had three levels, a god in his head, and a village that now owed him their lives.
"Let them come," Jin said, his eyes flashing amethyst. "I've got plenty of copper left."