Li An sat cross-legged on the creaking bed, his back rigid, every breath measured. The faint blue glow of the system panel spilled across the room, painting ghostly shadows along the wooden beams and the cracked floor. The copper coins he had multiplied earlier lay scattered at his feet, dull and lifeless, their small value now utterly meaningless compared to the single blazing thought consuming his mind.
His lips parted, his voice barely more than a whisper, yet it carried with the weight of a prayer.
"System… how many spirit roots would I need to fuse just to return to… high-grade?"
The panel flickered in response. Runes shimmered and flowed like rivers of starlight, slowly aligning into lines of text.
But before the answer could complete, Li An's expression shifted. His brow furrowed, then smoothed, and suddenly his lips curled into a crooked grin. His shoulders shook with suppressed laughter, his head lowering as though he were mocking himself.
"High grade?" he muttered, his voice twisting with scorn. His laughter rose, sharp and edged, echoing in the small room like the laughter of a madman. "Heh… why should I settle for less?"
He raised his gaze, eyes burning with feverish hunger. His voice rang out louder, bolder, dripping with madness.
"Tell me, System—how many spirit roots must I fuse to ascend all the way to a Heavenly Spirit Root?"
The words hung in the air like a challenge hurled at the heavens themselves. The wooden walls seemed to shudder. His own heartbeat thundered against his ribs.
Ding!
The panel pulsed. A wave of cold blue light spread outward, spilling across the floorboards like moonlight, casting Li An's shadow tall and monstrous against the walls. Then, the decree appeared.
[Fusion Pathway – Spirit Roots]
• [Trash Root – Cracked, withered, barely usable. (Baseline)]
Fuse 2 Trash Roots → Low-Grade Spirit Root
Fuse 3 Low-Grade Roots → Lower-Middle Spirit Root
Fuse 5 Lower-Middle Roots → Middle-Grade Spirit Root
Fuse 5 Middle Roots → Upper-Middle Spirit Root
Fuse 10 Upper-Middle Roots → High-Grade Spirit Root
• [Top Grades]
Fuse 5 High Roots → Peak High Root
Fuse 10 Peak High Roots → Top-Grade Spirit Root
Fuse 20 Top-Grade Roots → Heavenly Spirit Root
Li An's pupils constricted sharply. His breath stalled in his chest before rushing out in a ragged gasp. The words Heavenly Spirit Root blazed across his vision, branding themselves into his soul.
"Heavenly… Root…"
He mouthed the words again, slower, savoring them. They were sweet, intoxicating, and yet sharp enough to cut. It felt like tasting forbidden fruit stolen straight from the hands of gods.
His pulse hammered in his veins, drumming in his ears until the sound drowned out all else. Each beat of his heart fanned the flames of his ambition higher, sharper, hungrier.
The Heavenly Root—the pinnacle of cultivation. The divine foundation said to bend qi itself in reverence.
No genius in the Evergreen Sect possessed it. No elder, no sect master, not even the so-called legends of old. At most, the chosen of fate carried High or Peak Roots. Heavenly was a tale mothers whispered to children, a myth recited to stir longing, but never a reality anyone had touched.
And yet… here it was.
Not myth. Not dream. Attainable.
It was possible.
It was his.
Li An's hands trembled as he pressed them against his chest, forcing air into his lungs. His grin widened, stretching too far, balancing on the edge of madness. A chuckle burst from him, spilling into laughter, harsh and unrestrained.
"Heavenly…" His laugh broke, his voice lowering into a hiss. "…mine."
When he finally stilled, his breath came heavy, his voice cold and deliberate.
"System. How many things can be put on Multiply at the same time?"
[Answer]:
[Two. But additional Multiply slots will be unlocked upon every major breakthrough in cultivation.]
"Two…" Li An murmured, his eyes narrowing.
The single word lingered like a solemn vow. He repeated it in his head, over and over. Two slots. Two paths. Two pillars of growth, side by side, doubling, compounding, until they towered so high even the heavens would choke on their envy.
The first slot was untouchable. His spirit root—his crippled, worthless husk—was now his ladder to heaven. Hour by hour, fusion by fusion, until he claimed what fate had denied him.
But the second slot…
His head tilted slightly, the corners of his lips curling upward. A predator's smile.
"What else should I grow alongside my roots?"
Ideas cascaded through his thoughts. Weapons? Too fleeting. Pills? Too easily consumed. Treasures? Too easily lost. None of it felt worthy.
And then—clarity struck like a bolt of lightning ripping through storm clouds. His heart surged.
A true cultivator's weapon was not forged of steel, nor bound in jade. It was something far more sacred, far more eternal.
It was technique.
"Yes…" His voice dropped to a murmur, reverent and dangerous. His grin spread wider, his teeth gleaming in the glow of the panel. "A foundation as high as heaven deserves a weapon just as great. What waste it would be… to cultivate a Heavenly Root, only to chain it with mediocrity."
He dug into the scattered fragments of memory left behind by the body's former owner. Among them, one technique rose.
Aurora Technique. A profound-rank method, regarded as barely adequate. A stepping stone. Its light dazzled, its illusions deceived, but in the end, it was a minor path, destined to be discarded when greater methods were obtained.
But what was mediocrity… when it could be multiplied without end?
Li An's grin turned feral.
"System," he commanded, his voice steady as steel. "Put the Aurora Technique into the second Multiply slot."
[Affirmative]
[Multiply in progress: Profound Rank (Middle) Technique: Aurora ×1 → Next increase in 59 minutes.]
The panel dimmed. Silence filled the room.
Li An exhaled, his chest rising and falling slowly. His expression softened, but the fire blazing in his eyes refused to fade.
"With this done…" He rose from the bed, the wooden floor groaning beneath his weight. He turned toward the paper-screen door. Beyond it stretched the sect, the mountains, and an entire world waiting to be reshaped.
"…I can finally explore this new world I'm in."