The Rich Cultivator-Chapter 360. Offshoot Tales

Part : 1 — How the Abyss Crack Appeared

"So big!"

"So long!"

"So rough!"

"What the hell kind of adjectives are you throwing around?" Adam shouted, smacking Dusk on the back of the head. "If you don’t know what they mean, just stop using them, alright?"

Dusk scratched his head sheepishly and laughed, his eyes still glued to the massive flying vessel overhead. "I was just describing the ship, you know..."

Before them soared a colossal flying ship, sleek and metallic, with luminous arrays glowing along its hull. On its side, in bold golden letters, were the words: White Cloud Ferry No. 5.

"Tyler White..." Adam muttered. "That guy’s damn rich. He’s got a fleet of flying ships running like inter-world buses."

"What’s a bus?" Dusk asked, tilting his head.

The two of them boarded the flying ship like everyone else, blending into the crowd. After paying for their tickets and finding seats, they relaxed, letting the ferry carry them across countries.

---

A few days later, deep within Twilight Mire City...

They stood in a shadowed, forgotten corner of the city. The old storage building around them creaked with age, its stone walls covered in moss and cobwebs. Light barely filtered in through the broken windows.

Adam narrowed his eyes at the small spatial fissure in the center of the room. It hovered in the air, only a few inches wide—barely noticeable unless one looked carefully.

"You’re sure your sister went through this?" he asked, pointing at the faintly glowing crack.

Dusk nodded with a mix of worry and certainty. "Yeah. You know my powers—I can track traces of presence. She definitely passed through this exact spot."

Adam crouched and observed the crack with interest. "This thing... it’s small, but it reeks of Abyss energy."

"How do you know it’s connected to the Abyss?" Dusk asked, peering over his shoulder.

Adam gave a half-smirk. "Because when you stare at it... it feels like something’s staring back."

Dusk instinctively took a step back but then leaned closer, eyes narrowed in focus. His expression changed. "You’re right... I feel something is watching me."

"Thats me... Now move," Adam said. He reached into his pouch and pulled out a small silver sphere etched with runes. "I’m going to throw this in and use my ability to swap places with it. That way, we can arrived at the destination."

Just as he was about to toss the sphere into the crack, Dusk grabbed his arm.

"Wait. That’s dangerous."

Adam raised an eyebrow. "What isn’t dangerous in any world, huh? I eat danger for breakfast, lunch, and dinner."

With a smirk, he casually tossed the object into the spatial crack.

But instead of passing through, something strange happened.

The moment the sphere touched the crack, the air rippled. A sound like shattering glass echoed around them. The small rift split open like a fractured mirror, jagged black lines spreading through the room and into the ceiling. Then the cracks extended—upward, outward—shattering the very fabric of space above them.

"Adam! What did you do?!" Dusk shouted as he dragged him backward.

The floor split apart, and beams of violet energy surged from the widening rift. In seconds, the entire building disintegrated in a silent explosion of spatial distortion.

And then, above the ruins of the building, an enormous Abyss Crack opened in the middle of Twilight Mire City.

Adam and Dusk exchanged glances.

"Uh-oh..." Adam muttered. "I think we did something wrong."

Before they could be caught in the chaos, Adam grabbed Dusk and leapt into the expanding rift.

Moments later, cultivators from all over the city began arriving at the scene, drawn by the eerie energy.

"What is that?"

"It’s not just a crack... that’s a rift to another realm!"

"Don’t go near it! Something’s—!"

Before the cultivators could make sense of the phenomenon, thick black mist began to pour out of the rift. The air grew heavy, almost tangible. The mist swirled unnaturally, hiding countless writhing shapes within.

Then the plants nearby started to move. Vines slithered like serpents. Trees twisted and groaned, roots tearing through the earth as if trying to escape. Beasts emerged—mutated, feral, monstrous. Some looked like grotesque versions of familiar animals, others were beings no one had ever seen before.

Screams echoed throughout the city.

The first line of cultivators engaged the invaders. Bright swords clashed with dark claws, talismans lit up the air with protective barriers, but it was clear—this was no ordinary incursion.

This was the beginning of something far greater.

The beginning of an Abyss Apocalypse.

All across the Ixalaria Continent, alarms were raised. Communication talismans flared to life. Powerful sects, kingdoms, Academies and empires scrambled to respond. Students rushed to decipher the nature of the growing rift. War councils were summoned overnight.

None of them knew that the cause of it all—two wandering people—had already disappeared into the Abyss.

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Part : 2 (Sneak Peek)

Dusk and Dawn (Prologue)

"Let’s start then," Dusk muttered as he opened his eyes. His red pupils stared at the shabby ceiling. Slowly, he got up from the wooden bed. Beside him, a small girl slept peacefully, her rabbit ears twitching occasionally.

Dusk, a 12-year-old boy, yawned. He had fair skin and a thin body. Running a hand through his messy black hair, he quickly brushed it into place.

The shack was tiny and sparse. Apart from the wooden bed, the room contained a rickety wooden table that looked like it could collapse at any moment, two relatively intact stools, and a crate with a hole in it. Across the deteriorating wooden door, there was a rusty crock hanging above an old, worn-out stove. The fire had long been extinguished, leaving only cold ashes beneath.

Dusk walked over to the lone crate in the corner. Inside, apart from some old clothes, were three loaves of bread and forty-seven copper coins. Only one loaf looked edible; the other two were overbaked, blackened lumps barely recognizable as bread.

Ignoring the normal bread, Dusk grabbed one of the burnt loaves and took a hurried bite.

Crack!

The hard crust nearly broke his front teeth, but he kept eating, driven by his growling stomach. He left the normal bread untouched for his sister.

"Dawn, wake up," he called softly.

"Brother? Good morning."

The little girl, about nine years old, slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes. Her rabbit ears perked up as she looked at him. Like her brother, she had red eyes and black hair, but her rabbit ears replaced normal human ones.

After waking his sister and giving her the better bread, Dusk quickly left the house. Before stepping out, he warned her not to open the door for anyone until he returned and only to play outside when there were lots of people around.

----

The streets buzzed with activity. Children played games, their laughter filling the air. A girl, two years older than Dusk, noticed him and ran over with a mischievous grin.

"Dusk, you can’t escape me this time!" she teased, blocking his path.

Unlike Dusk, she lived comfortably and spent her days playing with friends. She admired how hardworking Dusk was and couldn’t resist teasing him whenever she saw him.

"Stop it, Big Sister Ash! I have work to do," Dusk protested, pouting as she pinched his cheeks.

"Aww, look at you rebelling," Ash laughed.

"Why do you always run away when you see me? Am I not pretty?" she asked, twirling around. Her tanned skin, black hair, and confident demeanor gave her an aura of youthful charm.

"You are pretty," Dusk replied seriously, making her smile. Then he added, "But I heard that pretty girls make men dumb. The prettier the girl, the dumber the man!"

Ash’s smile froze, her lips twitching.

"Exactly!" a boy playing nearby chimed in. "My dad ran off with a pretty woman, got swindled, and lost everything!"

Ash shot him a glare.

"Tsk... Why are you even talking to slum boys?"

A hand suddenly shoved Dusk to the ground. It was Ash’s brother, Gary, who didn’t even spare Dusk a glance.

The bread he bought fell to the ground, landing in a puddle of muddy water. Dusk froze, staring at the soggy, ruined bread with a sad expression. His stomach growled softly, a cruel reminder of how precious each loaf was to him and his sister.

He reached out hesitantly, his fingers trembling as he picked up the bread, now streaked with dirt. A lump formed in his throat as he wiped it against his worn shirt, trying to salvage what he could.

Ashes, seeing the scene, frowned. "Gary! You idiot! Look at what you’ve done!" she snapped, glaring at her brother.

Gary scoffed, brushing off her scolding with a wave of his hand. "It’s just trash food anyway."

Dusk said nothing. He held the bread close to his chest, shielding it from further harm. His red eyes glimmered with quiet determination as he stood up, brushing the dirt off his knees.

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Author Here:

Yeah... so I’m currently working on this new novel—featuring Dusk as the protagonist!

It’s a magic-fueled fantasy where the Church and Mages clash in an epic struggle. Think holy zealots versus arcane rebels, with plenty of intrigue, power plays, and maybe a few explosions (because magic).

I have not decided the Title Yet.

This will likely be my next novel...