He woke to warmth.
The air smelled of pine and wildflowers, the sky a pale orange veil. Mountains towered like sleeping giants, their peaks crowned with mist. Birds of strange colors sang from ancient trees.
Kel sat up, confusion gripping him. No city skylines. No machines. No hum of power lines. Only an unbroken wilderness.
Then it appeared.
A golden screen edged with runes floated before him:
---
[SYSTEM INITIALIZATION COMPLETE]
System Name: Lord of Dawn System
Core Authority: Invincible Dawn
Realm Compatibility: Full Synchronization with Spiritual Qi Environment Detected
Cultivation World Settings Enabled
> • Absolute invulnerability during the dawn period of the current world.
• Duration equals the natural dawn length — longer dawn means longer invincibility.
• Immunity to all physical, magical, and conceptual damage.
• Offensive and mobility stats multiplied ×100 during dawn.
Secondary Functions Unlocked:
1. [Solar Gauge] – Stores energy from dawn sunlight to power abilities.
2. [Dawn's Memory] – Replay past battles perfectly for instant combat analysis.
3. [Eclipse Storage] – Infinite, timeless inventory.
4. [Sunborne Insight] – Perceive all enemies within dawn light's reach.
Locked Functions:
[Rewrite Reality] – ???
[Command the Sun] – ???
[Absolute Dominion] – ???
Special Dawn Rule:
> "When the first light touches the world, you are supreme. When the sun leaves the horizon, the hunt begins — against you."
---
[Attributes – Mortal Form]
Strength: 12
Speed: 10
Defense: 999+ (Dawn Only)
Spiritual Qi: Locked
Hidden Potential: ∞
---
Kel blinked. Cultivation world? The term was unfamiliar, but the faint hum in the air felt alive — like the very wind was watching him.
Voices reached him from beyond the tree line. Kel pushed through the undergrowth and saw a village — small wooden houses clustered around a well, smoke curling from cooking fires.
But the scene wasn't peaceful.
A man in a dark green robe stood in the center, holding a kneeling elder by the throat. His hair was slicked back, his eyes sharp with cruelty.
"You think the River Serpent Sect protects you for free?" the man snarled. "Twelve spirit stones. Now."
The elder wheezed, "We… we have none left, Lord Fei…"
Lord Fei laughed — an ugly sound. "Then I'll take your granddaughter instead."
The villagers shrank back in terror. To them, Fei was a cultivator — someone who had walked the path beyond mortals. His robe alone, stitched with qi patterns, marked him as untouchable.
But the system whispered in Kel's mind:
[Analysis Complete: Target's Cultivation – 3rd Stage Qi Gathering]
World Ranking: Trash.
Fei lunged, sword flashing jade-green. To the villagers, the strike was a blur. To Kel, it was crawling. Each droplet of dew falling from the blade's motion glimmered in slow motion.
Kel sidestepped lazily, letting the blade pass inches from his chest, and flicked Fei's shoulder. The cultivator stumbled back, shock flashing in his eyes.
---
[Combat Log]
— Physical contact applied: Damage minimal (non-lethal)
— Effect: Dignity Damage (Severe)
---
Kel grinned. "That's all you've got?"
Fei snarled and unleashed a flurry — thrusts, slashes, spinning cuts that would have diced a normal man into ribbons. Kel ducked under one, leaned away from another, stepped into the third just to feel the force — only for the blow to shatter harmlessly against the golden shimmer coating his body.
Kel began to move faster — weaving through Fei's attacks like a cat toying with a mouse. He spoke between dodges.
"Your stance is lazy."
"Your grip? Weak."
"Your eyes? Always tell where you're about to strike."
Humiliation flushed Fei's face red. He roared, gathering qi into his sword, the blade singing with spirit energy. Kel let him swing. The blow landed across his ribs with a bone-jarring impact.
[Damage Received: 0]
[Invincible Frame Active – 88 minutes remaining]
Kel's smile widened. "My turn."
He punched Fei's sword arm, feeling bones bend under the force. The cultivator yelped, dropping the blade. Kel kicked it aside, then struck with an open palm, sending Fei skidding across the dirt.
The crowd gasped — not because Fei had been hit, but because a mortal had just beaten a cultivator backward.
Fei scrambled up, blood trickling from his mouth. He spat to the side, qi flaring around him in a defensive haze.
Kel lunged — the world blurring around him.
A knee to the stomach.
A hammer-fist to the spine.
A casual backhand that sent teeth flying.
---
[Solar Resonance Activated]
— Melee strikes now carry searing sunlight damage
— Additional Effect: Solar Burn – continuous tissue damage over time
---
Fei's skin blistered where Kel had touched him. He screamed, trying to gather qi to heal, but every wisp ignited into smoke.
Kel grabbed Fei by the hair and yanked his head up. "I could drag this out," he said softly, "but you've wasted enough of my dawn."
He slammed Fei face-first into the dirt. Once. Twice. Three times. The ground cracked, dust billowing. Kel lifted him again — the man barely conscious — and drove a fist into his chest.
CRUNCH.
Ribs shattered inward. Fei's breath turned into a wet gurgle.
Kel didn't stop. He gripped Fei's jaw in one hand and his collar in the other, twisting —
SNAP.
The cultivator's body went limp.
---
[Enemy Defeated]
— Name: Fei, Qi Gathering Stage 2
— Dawn Time Remaining: 79 minutes
— Reputation Updated: Mysterious Dawn Protector (Feared)
---
Kel let the corpse drop like garbage and looked at the stunned villagers.
"Your chains are broken. Live free… until the Dawn returns."
Somewhere in the treeline, unseen, crimson eyes watched.
A voice murmured, "A mortal… playing with a cultivator. This will be… interesting."
---