"Hoon Quan." Quan replied to the person in front of him and offered a slight bow. The room was small, only six or seven feet across. There appeared a small rise in the ground behind the man. Otherwise, it seemed a perfectly normal cave. Had he been there all this time? What's going on?

"You are not from one of the galactic sects. Has this world's math advanced enough to solve the puzzle left?" The man seemed to be inspecting Quan as he walked closer.

"Uhm, no, and no." Quan realized that something was off. He couldn't feel the man in front of him like he had started to learn. He was invisible to his qi senses.

"Curious, explain how you solved the puzzle then." The man demanded.

"Who am I talking to?" Quan asked instead. "You seem different to me."

The man sighed. "And you seem like a child to me. You haven't even a properly formed core. What are you doing out of a crib?"

As Quan stuttered in shock at that reply, the man sighed and spoke again. "Very well, I am the remnant of Jarel Anino. You have wandered into my, or well, his final resting place. Before he died, he managed to create a remnant and anchor it to this tiny qi outlet and await one of his sect to replace him."

"You're from a higher realm!" Quan exclaimed. "So the problem was meant to be harder than someone here could solve and keep them out." Quan mused.

"A plan you have rather ruined." The remnant said. "Still, this may be better. If I have kept an accurate check of time, there should have been someone passing by long before now."

"How long have you been waiting?" Quan asked.

"Close to three thousand years by my count. I may be off a little." The remnant leaned in and said, "you still have not explained how you were able to solve the puzzle left."

"I am a reborn soul with memories of my past life. In that life, this kind of math was taught to everyone in school."

"An unanticipated answer, how interesting. Such births are extremely rare. Were you made aware of a reason for this gifted birth?" Jarel asked.

Quan laughed,"No such luck."

"Ahh well, being dead as I am, I couldn't do much anyway. Still, you may be of use to me if you are willing to accept a task."

"What task?" Quan asked uncertainly.

"You would probably have done most of my request even if we never met. In what is probably still the capital of your kingdom is a tower of testing. Nearly every young cultivator of talent should try to climb the floors and retrieve appropriate gifts to their talent and skills. My faction maintains that tower.

"They should have sensed my presence here and retrieved my remains. I would ask you to go to the tower. Once within, you should find yourself in a preparation room before your trial begins. In that room, say these words loudly and clearly.

"Command review: Jared Anino submits a posthumous report on the mission via local inhabitant. Request immediate response and retrieval." The remnant held out his hand, and a grayish circle appeared above it. "The intelligence of the report will be carried in this, which will be absorbed into your body until retrieved."

The remnant looked at him. "Simple enough, I think?"

"You want me to let you inject something into me? Why not hold on to it as you have been until I can reach the capital?" Quan asked.

"Several reasons. The package requires a flow of ki to maintain its information. I was set up as an emergency remnant, and the energy source I am linked to is nearly extinguished. Talking to you may use the final bits of energy I have.

"You appear to have only begun cultivating, not reaching even a solid core. The tower will not let you in unless you are in the second, third, or fourth core expansion level. You may well take years to reach that level, and again my time is limited."

"Okay, two, no three more questions." Quan said slowly, "First, what exactly is it you wish to inject in me and do I have to do anything to maintain it."

" You come from a more technological world?" The remnant asked. "Are you familiar with automation?"

"Robots? Nanotech?" Quan replied, looking again at the gray ball. "Wow, okay. Not what I expected."

"Very good. As you call them, the nano techs will survive off a minuscule amount of ki until removed. They were once part of a greater whole, but this was all I could salvage. There is a small chance they might be of some benefit to you had I preserved more."

"I supposed that leads to my second question. Not to be selfish. But what's my benefit in carrying out this task for you? I know you said I should do it anyway. But my master has never mentioned it as a goal."

The remnant frowned, and he considered Quan's request. "I was not set up to act as an inheritance to young cultivators. I have no legacy or skills to impart."

"The best I can do is show you my former body and suggest you take his storage ring. There are several valuable items in there that I will never use again."

Quan nodded, thinking the storage alone might be a prize worth having. "Finally, what happened to you? You speak as if your living self was of a power beyond this world. Yet you died in the middle of nowhere and couldn't even get back to a local safe point in the tower. Do I need to worry when I take up your mission?"

"You do not. I was returning from a task I had been given, and as I passed by this realm, I noticed a world feeder preparing to consume it. I judged it weak enough to destroy easily. However, they proved a greater challenge than expected.

"I was able to destroy them in the end. Your world is safe. However, it wounded me enough that I collapsed here."

"And now I have to ask, what is a world eater?" Quan asked after hearing that story.

The remnant grimaced slightly and replied, "You have probably heard some tales of cultivators that turn to darker methods to advance. A planet eater is a cultivator that has reached a level where they treat a planet like you would a spirit crystal. They drain the planet into their core in pursuit of their advancement."

"I came across him while he was still trying to adjust the plane's ki flows to feed into him. I did not think anyone that used such lazy wasteful methods could challenge me. Hubris gets us all."

"Wow, that's…" Quan let his mind imagine that. "Is that something I can aspire to? I don't think I've ever really visualized that kind of power. I only considered it on a more… local level."

"In theory certainly, I don't have the sense to judge your potential in this form. This plane isn't the best you could have started in, but it's far from the worst." The remnant shrugged. "To reach the very top, you require two things, great effort and great luck."

"Luck?" Quan asked uncertainly.

"Certainly, there are millions of cultivators out there. Do you think your drive and your efforts will be greater than every one of theirs? No to stand above you need fortune to smile on you. Then you need to do your very best to make the most of the chances given."

Quan considered his words for a minute. Did he have that drive? He wasn't sure the effort he'd put in matched his goals so far, and the heights of power were likely even greater than he'd imagined before. "I think it will take a while to process everything you've said here."

"I wish I could give you more time, but I need you to accept the task I've laid out now, or I will need to conserve what energy I have remaining and stop talking." The remnant said.

"Very well, it seems the world owes you a debt already. I will do as you've asked." Quan decided after a moment more thought.

"Hold out your hand." The remnant commanded. He moved the gray sphere over Quan’s outstretched hand, and it sank into his skin. His hand tingled as it passed into his skin, then a slight chill ran up his arm a moment after. "Thank you."

The remnant walked over to the rise, and the image of dirt faded to reveal a body. It pointed at his left hand and said, "take this ring off of his body."

Quan reached down and slid it off the finger. "How is the body still… fresh? You said you've been here quite a long time. Are you sure you're dead?" Quan asked. "That may be the oddest sentence I've ever said."

"Yes, sadly. The remaining ki preserves his body still. It will run out in due time." The remnant moved his hand over the ring Quan had taken. "I've taken the liberty of organizing the ring's contents. Put it on now and drip a couple of drops of your blood on it to bind it to you."

Quan pricked his arm with his dagger and dripped some blood into his finger and ring. "Excellent. Direct your thoughts and Ki to the ring, and you should be able to sense its contents even at your level."

"There seems to be quite a bit in here." Quan said after a moment.

"Yes, by the local standards, you've certainly gotten at least one checkmark in the luck box today." The remnant remarked. "I split the contents into five sections. The largest is essentially junk, comforts for when I travelled, food wines, tents and beds. You may as well use the perishables there as you see fit. Beside it, I have gathered certain items that may be of value to you now or soon enough. I recommend you consult a pill or potion maker as your local plane allows. The next group contains items that may have value to you in years ahead, depending on your path or worth selling or trading for items you can use. The next group is full of items that are too potent for cultivators on this plane. They would kill anyone who tried to use them. I recommended you attempt to trade them, perhaps while at the tower, for something more useful.

Finally, the smallest group is some personal items. When you reach the tower, you may have the opportunity to speak with a member of my faction. I would have these items returned to my family if possible and ask that you respect my privacy and leave them unopened. I assure you there's nothing of value being hidden from you."

"Sounds fair to me. Now, how do I use this ring?"