Hector fled from the sight of the Lord Platinum's black tower without a second thought. He did not want to be on Tian again. If the fight with Cataclysm hadn't drained his energy reserves down to a measly ten percent, he would be ditching this world immediately. But if he had to pick a place to dump an angry level ten Ogre… well, Platinum and Cataclysm could entertain one another.

His flight was swift but not long. He couldn't justify wasting too much energy.

After landing, he only had about two percent of his reserves. Hector jogged for a short bit, then slowed to a walk as the reality of his injuries caught up to him. There were a lot of holes in him. Also a lot of blood that was on the outside instead of the inside.

Finally, he saw the wisdom in complying with the increasingly insistent demands of biology. Hector found a nice copse of trees next to a farmer's field and collapsed in its cover. He was certain his peak level five body would recover completely in time. What he had to worry about until then was being discovered by the locals. Being sent back to the Lord Platinum was foremost on his list of concerns. Hopefully an Ogre on the loose would distract everyone enough that he could rest in peace.

Despite his desire to restore his reserves as fast as possible, Hector was too spent to cultivate. The soft grass and temperate climate felt exceedingly pleasant and he drifted into a deep sleep.

He woke with incredible thirst in the chill hours before dawn. His injuries were inflamed and tender, but Hector felt capable of a quick stroll to find water. Moving like an old man, he left his hiding spot in the copse and wandered around the farm until he heard the promising sound of water flowing.

His ears brought him to one of the most beautiful sights he had ever encountered. A clay pipe protruding from a hill was ejecting a stream of clear, pure spring water. Hector rushed over and stood in the stream below to drink directly from its source. The liquid was cold as ice, but he was too desperate to care. He gulped down water until his stomach grew bloated, then settled down beside the spring to rest for a few minutes.

Those few minutes turned into over an hour as exhaustion returned hard. The two percent soul reserves from the evening before were gone, sucked into his body to aid in healing. Hector slowly cultivated to rectify that deficit.

Until suddenly he realized he wasn't alone any longer.

A man kicked Hector's foot. "Wake up, Drifter. What you doing on my farm?" He startled at the rude awakening, saw the man hefting a wooden bucket, obviously there to gather water.

"I'll be on my way," Hector said as he fumbled his way to standing position.

The farmer studied him for a moment, then adopted a submissive pose. "Forgive me, master. I did not realize you were a cultivator."

Hector blinked in confusion. What was this? He'd always assumed everyone on Tian to be a cultivator. Did it not work that way? He engaged his mental sense to find the man before him possessed a level four soul. The level of his body enhancement was somewhere between two and three, nowhere near what Hector would expect someone from this world.

He waved away the apology. "It is fine." In the moment of distraction, Hector took a step without first bracing and lurched at the stab of pain from his wounds.

The farmer issued a perfunctory bow. "Do you require aid, master? I can grant you use of the barn and a humble meal if you desire."

Hector had no idea how he was to behave in this situation, so he simply agreed. "Sure."

They moved at a sedate pace towards a wooden building that leaned ominously. Not far away, a stone structure had collapsed upon itself. The farmer dipped his head in apology. "The farm is old, master, and only recently came into my care. I have not yet had time to make repairs. The barn is sturdier than it appears. Far more so than the old house."

Hector glanced from the collapsed building to a newer one made of rough planks. The construction wasn't particularly artful, but the new house looked solid. "Who owns the farm?" Hopefully that wasn't a foolish question.

"The property belongs to Master Wesley. He was kind enough to make me a tenant farmer." As the farmer spoke, he studied Hector closely, obviously looking for some reaction. "Are you acquainted with Master Wesley?"

"I am not from this area," Hector said.

He entered the barn, whose floor was dug deep into the ground, and descended to find himself surrounded by potatoes stacked all over. Hector settled into an open space near the stairs. Before the door had even closed, he was snoozing once more.

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The next he woke, it was to the sound of a quiet conversation happening outside the barn.

"His clothes say it all," a woman's voice pronounced. "He's foreign."

"Feed him something, Angie. The man is obviously a warrior. We don't want trouble."

"Master Wesley may see fit to give us trouble for aiding a fugitive."

"I will go to the estate tonight to report the situation."

It sounded like Hector had a deadline to get out of here. He would try to recover during the day and then make his escape in the evening. Seeing as he was awake once more, he began to cultivate once more. Within the hour, the woman entered the barn bearing a wooden bowl loaded with potatoes, red beans, and cabbage.

He was hungry enough that he devoured the simple fare like it was a gourmet meal. Hector vaguely noticed the woman studying him and assumed she was curious about a man of his status. Or maybe she was just amazed that he could function with so many visible injuries. He was far more interested in the filling food and the oddity of eating with a wooden spoon than the behavior of a woman who would not impact his life in any appreciable way.

"You fought in the tournament," she said. "You're the one who escaped."

Hector choked on a chunk of potato, eyes bugging out. "What? No, not me."

The woman only became more certain. "We saw all your fights. Liam! Hey, Liam! Come look at him! He's the 'tournament runner'!"

"Shit," Hector muttered. He shouldn't have ignored the woman. This was what happened when he ignored the virtue of respect.

When the farmer entered, he listened to his wife's proclamation while Hector hurriedly finished his bowl. He handed it back. "Thank you for the food. I'll be leaving now."

"Wait!" The woman barred his way.

"Careful, Angie, he's still a cultivator even if he's a rogue."

Hector gestured for her to move out of his way. "I don't wish you any harm, but I'm not going to stay here so this Master Wesley can catch me."

Angie shook her head vehemently. "We won't report you. Let's make a deal!"

Liam appeared as confused as Hector. "We won't report him?"

"Make a deal?" Hector's voice dripped distrust.

Angie shook her finger at Liam. "We're going to starve this winter after the blight took the west field. Won't be hardly any potatoes left for the two of us after we give the owner's share."

"I told you I planted extra beans this year. Anything else we need I can get through trade."

"Oh, no you don't, Liam. We got a traveler here. Fool that he is, he comes to Tian desperate for scraps. We make a deal. Cabbage and beans for foreign rice." Angie turned round on Hector, poking at him with her finger. "And the exchange will be generous in our favor."

Hector stared at Angie, then glanced to Liam. "How can I know you're not going to report me as soon as the night falls?"

"Cause he don't want his testicles separated from the rest of him while he sleeps." Angie nodded as if she'd made a strong point. "We been saying for three years now that we would start a family, only every year there is another disaster. Blight is gonna take this year from us too if we don't turn our fate around."

Liam hesitated, swaying back and forth as if unsure which direction he would choose.

Angie seized his face in two hands. "I want a baby, Liam. Year by year we ain't getting younger."

The farmer kissed his wife. "You want that baby, you best stop threatening my dangling bits."

"Aye."

Liam then straightened his back and turned to Hector with a serious air. "I want hard candies, too. The kind that tastes like cherries."

"And chocolate! I heard so much said about chocolate," Angie added.

"There needs to be lots of rice." Liam spoke firmly.

Angie grinned. "Whole lot of rice. Enough for a whole year."

The husband and wife looked positively gleeful as they placed their order. "And we ain't paying you in nothing but cabbage and beans."

Hector scratched his head. Though he doubted the wisdom of trusting these people he had just met, he found himself filled with as many plans for fleecing them as they had for him. "Then I want to take the stone from the old house." Esther would love to have a real cosmic chamber.

Liam laughed. "You want cracking sandstone? Sure. But I expect something in return!"

The barn was filled with unbridled optimism as the three of them imagined the wealth they would accumulate through trade.

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