A few years later.
It was early morning. A small family of three father, mother, and their son sat around a wooden table, having breakfast.
"Like father, like son. You both really love waking up early," Liu Mei chuckled warmly.
"You know how it is," Fang Mu replied, setting down his bowl. "If I don't get there early, those miners might dig into the wrong section and bring the whole cave down."
"You're an important man, after all." Liu Mei turned to their son. "And you, Little Yuan… I heard from the neighbors that you never play with kids your age. They say you wander far from the village, sometimes near the mines."
"It's not my fault, Mom," Fang Yuan muttered, looking down, a little embarrassed. "I just like being alone."
"He's more mature than the other children," Fang Mu said with a proud smile. "Remember the poems and stories he tells us? I shared some with the neighbors, and now they're telling them to their kids. Don't worry about him. Besides, his spirit awakening is just a few days away. Let him have his peace."
"Okay, Mom, Dad. I'm done. I'm going out now," Fang Yuan said, rising from the table.
"Take care, sweetheart," Liu Mei called after him gently.
Quiet moments passed after he left.
"He's not normal," Liu Mei said softly, a hint of worry in her voice.
"But being different isn't always a bad thing," Fang Mu replied, wiping his mouth. "Maybe… he's a genius, just like his brother. Wei got his first soul ring two years ago, they said it's golden, but it's really just a yellow one. Still, even the deacon Lu Shen who took him only had a white ring to start with. And no matter what happens, he'll always be our child."
"That's right. In the end, he's only our child," Liu Mei said, still worried, but choosing to trust her husband.
After Fang Yuan left the house, he walked quietly through the village streets.
"Hey, Fang! Want to play?" a little girl called out to him.
"Sorry," Fang Yuan replied with a smile, "I'm going to try catching some fish by the river."
"Let him go. He likes being alone, Xiao Hua," a nearby boy said, shrugging. "I don't even know why you bother inviting him."
"I just wanted to try," Xiao Hua murmured with a small pout.
Along the way, Fang was greeted by a few villagers. Most were already used to his quiet, distant nature. He politely nodded in return, offering only brief glances before moving on.
Midway through the village, he stopped at a modest forge, where the rhythmic clang of hammer on metal echoed in the morning air.
The blacksmith, a broad-shouldered man with soot-stained hands, looked up as Fang approached.
"Ah, hey little Yuan. Came for the pin?"
Fang gave a small nod. "Hi, Uncle Wu. Is it ready?"
The man called Wu wiped his hands on a rag and reached behind the workbench, pulling out a slender metal pin with a polished tip.
"As per your sketch. You know, my children are your age. They've started studying harder just so they can write and tell stories like you do. Thank you."
Fang's lips curved into the faintest hint of a smile. "Thank you, Uncle Wu. I just enjoy using my imagination. I'll wait for them to compete with me."
He reached into his sleeve and handed the man a few silver coins.
Wu Gang shook his head. "No need, little Yuan. It was made from the metals your father brought me anyway. You can have it."
"Much appreciated, Uncle Wu," Fang said, slipping the pin and the coins into his sleeve.
He nodded in thanks and continued on his way. He didn't stop again until he reached the edge of the village, where the trees thickened and the path became wild.
He stepped into a nearby forest, his pace slowing as a familiar hut came into view a simple structure of wood and straw that he'd quietly claimed over the years. His personal hideout.
near a pile of worn scrolls and sticks, lay a small curved knife.
It was the same blade he'd bought from Uncle Wu weeks ago, claiming it was for cleaning fish that he may get along side the river.
Then he headed toward a nearby trap he had set a few days earlier, having noted from past observations that the area was rich with rabbits and other small creatures. It was a simple snare, one Fang had crafted using basic tools and materials gathered from the forest. A large basket woven from sticks was propped up by two vertical supports, held in place by a thin string. Beneath it, a small wooden frame guided the eye to two neatly placed slices of orange carrot, serving as bait. The string was rigged to the frame in such a way that the moment a rabbit nudged the bait forward, the tension would snap, dislodging the supports and dropping the basket over the creature. Primitive, yes, but effective. And in these woods, that was all that mattered.
He saw that a rabbit was already caught inside. "Great," he muttered, quickly removing the basket. He held the struggling animal in place, tying it securely with a rope before carrying it back to the hut, not stopping until he reached it.
'In these few years… I haven't learned much about the world,' he thought, entering the hut. 'But for now, it's enough.'
Inside, he sat on a mat of rough hay. From a small corner, he pulled out a metal pin-like tool and a heavy cloth bag. He untied it carefully.
"I didn't expect the Net Soul Vision technique to be this useful," he thought, opening the bag to reveal four faintly glowing soul jades. They were low-tier, but genuine. He had also hidden over a dozen more in various spots around the forest.
Fang Yuan's eyes shimmered slightly as he held up one of the soul jades to the light.
"Being able to see energy in everything, not just people makes it easy to spot soul jades at the edges of the mines, far from anyone's sight…"
He first searched near the surface, collecting and absorbing the scattered jades to reinforce his body. Strength surged through his limbs, his muscles tightening with each pulse of energy. Then, with nothing but his bare fists, he began digging deeper.
Ironically, most of what he found wasn't scattered piece by piece, but clustered in rich veins, far from the formal mining site. As if fate itself was hiding them in plain sight, just beyond reach of those who lacked vision.
"I've found a lot of these over the past two years," Fang Yuan muttered, looking at the glowing soul jades in his hand. "I tried absorbing them. They help my physique a lot, I guess i can even compete soul masters on this side… but my soul power hasn't increased. Even though I haven't awakened my martial spirit yet, my energy should've improved even if stacked… but it hasn't." He sighed in frustration.
He wanted to create a rune, more specifically, an Energy Rune. Runes were ancient constructs, inscribed into stone or rare materials through precise manipulation of energy. They were first discovered and developed by the mages of the Magus Realm. Not only did those mages pioneer the art of rune-making, but they also laid the foundations of summoning, calling forth entities from almost every realm in existence. Ironically, the Magus Realm was one of the very powers that once stood against him, attempting to block his path to divinity. Yet even from his enemies, he had learned.
The Energy Rune's primary function was to attract the type of energy it was attuned to. It could act as a storage device, a conduit, or even serve as a vital component in the construction of more complex formations. But there was another, deeper purpose to runes, one Fang Yuan intended to uncover.
He reached for a metal pin something he'd commissioned from the village blacksmith. Fang had handed him a blueprint he had drawn himself, claiming it was for poetry. The blacksmith, already impressed by Fang's talent with poems and stories, assumed it was part of his creative tools. It wasn't.
"Fortunately, the metals from this village conduct energy well and have low resistance. Is it because they've been exposed to soul jades? I don't know," Fang Yuan murmured as he attempted to inject external energy into the pin.
Fang placed the three soul jades on the ground, one smaller piece by itself on one side, and the two larger ones grouped together on the opposite side.
Then he brought the tied rabbit and the knife along. The animal thrashed in his grip, its eyes wide with panic, muscles twitching beneath its fur. It kicked weakly, squealing in short bursts, but the rope held firm.
With cold precision, Fang Yuan made shallow incisions along its limbs, just enough to draw blood, not enough to kill. Warm red dripped onto the stone floor. The rabbit trembled, breath rapid, writhing in place as if it could somehow flee its fate.
He collected some of the fresh blood and carefully poured it into the grooves of the three soul jades. As the blood seeped in, the dull stones began to emit a faint, eerie glow. Then, without hesitation, he placed the wounded, still-living rabbit between them, its body twitching, chest rising and falling in frantic rhythm
"I need to finish the process before the rabbit's soul slips away," Fang Yuan muttered, eyes locked on the trembling creature. "As long as it stays alive until I finish the rune, while I carve it with the intention of drawing its soul in, it should work. The rabbit is already too weak to resist. It should die right as the process ends."
He first placed his hand on one of the two larger soul jades, while his other hand held the metal pin, its tip touching the smaller soul jade on the opposite side. Slowly, he began channeling energy from the jade beneath his hand, letting it pass through his body, into the pin, and finally into the second jade. The pin started to glow a faint greenish-red, gradually heating up. Gritting his teeth, Fang Yuan began inscribing symbols onto the second jade. Sweat beaded on his forehead.
Using such a primitive method of energy transfer is exhausting, he thought. "But I can't just stack both stones and jam the pin between them, since the energy need a medium that i can control freely, in this case my own body, otherwise the pin will explode immediately"
Over half an hour had passed. He'd burned through two soul jades, and the metal pin had snapped under the strain. The rabbit had died just moments earlier. Yet when Fang Yuan looked down, a faint red-green rune shimmered softly on the surface of the remaining jade, while all that remained of the other was scattered dust.
"Two whole soul jades... plus the rune itself, that's three," he whispered, his voice hoarse. "But at least it's done."
He took a deep breath, eyes fixed on the glowing inscription. "My first rune... Apprentice Energy Rune." Then, he turned to look beside him.
Fang hold the energy rune in his hand, stand up walked to near sticks he collected from near trees, rubbed them making fire
"I have no innate spirit energy. The other children of the village may have some when they turn six, so it's not tied to the awakening itself, awakening only reveals the martial spirit, not the innate power. Since I've never sensed any spirit power within my body, that means… I truly have none," Fang muttered, staring into the flickering flames.
He placed the Apprentice Energy Rune into the heart of the fire, its green-red hue shimmering faintly. Then, sitting cross-legged, he began to meditate, letting time pass as the fire crackled and eventually died down, leaving behind glowing green embers and a hot, blood-stained rune.
"Now..."
The sticks still smoked faintly, the rune pulsing with residual heat and energy. Fang removed his shirt and stood over it.
"Those without talent, the untalented black mages, used to carve runes into their own flesh, forcing an affinity with elements they lacked. To do so, they needed a living creature. But since this is only a first, tier Apprentice Rune, the specifics of the creature don't matter much, only that it has blood. The energy runes are best imprinted at the Gate of Life, also known in some realms as the Sacral Center, the Sacral Chakra, or the same vertical level as the Dantian. If you're not born with talent, you can still steal a connection to it instead," Fang Yuan thought, eyes cold and resolute.
Turning around, Fang Yuan lowered himself carefully onto the glowing rune, positioning his Life Gate, directly against the searing-hot soul jade.
The heat struck like a branding iron, biting deep into the flesh of his lower back. His muscles locked up, and a guttural groan tore from his throat.
His fists clenched until his nails dug into his palms, drawing blood. The pain wasn't just physical, it clawed at something deeper. He had to focus on imprinting the rune not just into his body, but into his mind and soul. It felt as if threads of his very spirit were being ripped apart, unraveled, then painfully stitched back together in a new shape.
He hissed through gritted teeth, jaw clenched so tight it felt like it would snap. His vision blurred. His entire body trembled, sweat pouring off him in waves. Every second dragged like an eternity as the energy of the rune pushed inward, etching itself into him, branding more than just skin.
Yet he didn't scream. Didn't cry. He buried the agony deeper, grinding his teeth until they ached, enduring the branding with grim determination.
Gradually, the heat faded. Minutes passed. Nearly an hour later, the soul jade had cooled completely. With shaking limbs, Fang forced himself to his feet, wobbling as he turned to look at the dull, brownish grey stone that had once blazed with runic light.
Soul Net Vision.
He activated the faint spiritual perception he'd been developing, and for the first time, he could actually see it, thin strands of energy crawling sluggishly through his body. It wasn't much… but it was there.
"Finally... this rune should last long enough until I decide my next steps. Now, I can awaken my martial spirit peacefully," he whispered, a faint, blood-streaked smile curling on his lips.
Lastly, he went and grabbed the last soul jade from his hideout, sat down, and placed it into the new energy center. But this time, instead of forging another rune, he tried to channel its energy to heal his scorched, smoky back.