The Strongest Farmer

008 Countdown

Jaka stood at the edge of the rocky cliff, his gaze locked on the distant horizon. His eyes were dead serious.

The landscape before him was vast.

Yet, for the first time in his life, Jaka felt his own perspective stretching infinitely broader than the scenery itself.

The world he thought he knew was nothing more than a shallow surface hiding something unimaginably deep.

"So immortal cultivation actually exists in this world," he murmured. The wind snatched the words from his lips, but his gaze only sharpened. "I guess that makes me an official cultivator now... or a martial artist chasing immortality."

He fell silent after that, lingering in the quiet morning air.

He didn't know whether to laugh, cry, or scream his lungs out.

It had all happened too fast.

Just yesterday, he was nothing but an unemployed village kid who had moved back home to farm alongside his father. Today, he stood at the peak of Mount Sumbing, an ancient, mystical legacy imprinted in his mind and an unfamiliar power surging through his veins.

It felt completely surreal.

But the newfound strength in his grip, the deep, steady rhythm of his breathing, and the warm, gentle energy circulating within his core proved this wasn't some fever dream.

Slowly, a fire ignited in Jaka's chest.

An overwhelming surge of determination blazed to life in his heart.

It was every man's dream to wield power. Not just the brute strength to beat someone down, but the power to rewrite one's destiny. The power to protect family. The power to stand tall and unyielding against a world that constantly tried to grind you into the dirt.

And Jaka was no exception.

From the memories he had absorbed last night, Jaka had inherited a profoundly powerful cultivation technique.

It was called the *Eternal Dew Art*.

It wasn't a combat-oriented art. There were no heaven-shattering punches or sword strikes capable of cleaving mountains in two. Yet, that was exactly why the *Eternal Dew Art* felt tailor-made for him.

This technique was deeply tied to life itself.

To the earth.

To the flora.

To the water.

To growth.

After a single night of cultivation, Jaka had broken through to the first of its nine foundational stages.

Even at just the first level, his physical enhancements were absurd. By his own estimate, his body was at least twice as strong as before. It wasn't merely raw muscle, either; his stamina, reflexes, sensory acuity, and natural healing had all skyrocketed.

If his current self marched back down to the rice fields, the backbreaking labor that usually left him sore for days could be finished in a fraction of the time.

The thought brought a faint, wry smile to his lips.

But his newly forged physique wasn't even the biggest shock.

His technique was truly one of a kind.

The *Eternal Dew Art* allowed him to condense spiritual liquid on a daily basis, with the yield depending entirely on his cultivation realm.

Right now, stuck at the first stage, he could only condense a single drop of spiritual dew a day.

One drop.

It sounded pitiful on paper.

However, the effects were utterly logic-defying.

According to the knowledge branded into his mind, if he diluted that single drop of spiritual dew in a well or a large vat of water, he could use the mixture to drastically accelerate plant growth while simultaneously evolving their quality.

Crops watered with this spiritual mixture would grow faster, far healthier, and yield fruits or vegetables that tasted infinitely better than regular produce.

But it went deeper than that.

Anyone who took a single bite of these spiritually nourished crops would find it nearly impossible to go back to eating normal food. Their taste buds would crave that unparalleled freshness, the vibrant sweetness, the savory richness, and the raw, natural energy infused within every fiber. After that, every other meal would taste like ash in comparison.

In short, the spiritual dew was the ultimate fertilizer.

Though, calling it fertilizer felt like a massive understatement.

This wasn't merely a shortcut to a quicker harvest. It was the foundation upon which he could completely turn his family's life around.

His father's fields.

That modest plot of land that barely kept them from starving.

If played right, everything was about to change.

Jaka looked down at his hands.

Outwardly, they were the exact same hands he'd always had. Calloused and rough from relentless fieldwork, dotted with fading scars. Yet now, lying dormant beneath those calluses were possibilities he had never even dared to imagine.

Filthy rich?

Probably.

Famous?

Maybe.

But right now, his first thought wasn't about massive wealth or a life of luxury.

It was his father's face.

The face of an aging man who never stopped smiling, no matter how merciless life had been to them.

Jaka clenched his fists.

"I don't know what that person's endgame is," he murmured, taking in the vast expanse below. "But since they passed this on to me, I'm going to use it to its absolute limits."

The morning breeze swept past him.

Bathed in the golden sunlight, Jaka's eyes looked remarkably calm, but beneath that placid surface burned an unquenchable resolve.

From this day forward, his life would never be the same.

Miles away, in a realm untouched by mortal eyes, the guardian spirit of mount sumbing stood amidst the thin, drifting mist.

The ethereal old man watched Jaka from afar.

A faint smile graced his lips.

Yet, it wasn't a smile of pure satisfaction. There was an ocean of depth swirling in his ancient eyes, a flicker of relief, a shadow of worry, and a profound, unspoken sorrow.

He tilted his head back, gazing into the vast blue sky as it steadily brightened.

For far too long, this world had been too quiet.

Too still.

Asleep for an eternity.

But now, the rusted gears of fate had finally begun to turn once more.

"The countdown has begun," the guardian spirit whispered, his voice scattering into the wind. "I only hope humanity can adapt when everything returns to the way it used to be."

The mist swirled.

His figure slowly faded into nothingness.

Meanwhile, unaware of the cosmic shift, Jaka remained standing on the craggy cliff. He had no idea that the miraculous gift he had just received was not merely the dawn of his new life, but a terrifying omen that the old world as he knew it was coming to an end.

Nobody knew when the end would arrive. The only absolute certainty was that the countdown was already ticking.

To be continued...