It was March. The tenth had just passed, and the Grain Rain season arrived.
Green buds sprouted from once-bare branches, renewing them amid the falling rain. The dust and gloom accumulated over winter washed away, leaving them vibrant and eye-catching. Together with the flowers that had quietly bloomed in early spring, they radiated a lustrous glow, filling the land with life.
"Cluck, cluck, cluck~"
"Cluck, cluck, cluck~"
The chickens in the pen came strutting over, yet not one of them was making a sound. The calls came from the direction they were heading. A glance revealed Zeng Mu, holding rice bran and calling them over to feed.
It was hard to imagine that Zeng Mu, whose name was as plain as this nameless village, had already spent three months doing odd jobs under Qidunston.
His skin was fairer than when he arrived, his teeth a little whiter, and his glossy black hair rivaled that of the youngest, prettiest girl in the village. Coupled with the practiced way he scattered bran to feed the chickens, it was hard to believe he had lived here for only three months rather than three years.
For Qidunston, who had never ventured beyond the village hills, those three months had been long and satisfying. For Zeng Mu, they had vanished in the blink of an eye.
Perhaps that was because he had initially thought he would only have to do odd jobs for a few days before he could begin learning the craft of an Elemental Artifact Master.
That made the beginning feel the slowest, until a week passed, then two weeks, a month, two months...
Anticipation, eagerness, and excitement were submerged beneath the river of time, washed over every second without raising even the smallest ripple. All emotion eventually settled into calm, and the