The morning sun illuminated the city of Flame's Crest, a settlement under the protection of the Burning Sky Sect. The fresh morning air, rich with the energy of the world, flowed into the room through the open window.
Inside the simply decorated yet warm room, Noctis, a 26-year-old man with sharp, eagle-like eyes and jet-black hair, sits cross-legged on a meditation cushion. A steady flow of Qi, reddish in color with golden hues, swirls gently around him. He was a cultivator with above-average talent who had reached the Foundation Establishment stage with 3 Pillars: Fire, Sword, and Wind at the age of 24. After unlocking and understanding his 3rd affinity pillar, he was given the position of manager in this city over a year ago when his beloved wife was pregnant. As the manager of Flame's Crest City, his responsibilities were considerable, but moments like this, where he could care for his family while cultivating, were the ones he cherished most.
From the small bed in the corner of the room, the sound of cheerful chatter could be heard. Lux Noctis, a boy a little over a year old, was already awake and busy playing with his own fingers. His tiny body was full of energy, his silver-gray eyes, inherited from his mother, looked around with an intelligence far beyond his age.
"Are you awake, my Little Sun?" Lumina's soft voice came from the door. The 21-year-old woman with a gentle aura and silver hair entered carrying a bowl of warm porridge that gave off a herbal aroma. As a cultivator, Lumina was considered talented, but due to her pregnancy, she had to slow down her cultivation, so she only reached Foundation Establishment cultivator with 1 Pillar (Fire) at the age of 20. Lumina spent her time taking care of Lux and managing the household, while still finding time to cultivate when Lux was asleep.
Noctis opened his eyes, a warm smile spreading across his face. "He's been awake for a while, babbling about something I don't understand at all, haha..." He approached Lux and gently picked him up. "Did you have a nice dream, son?"
Lux, in his heart, replied, "More than just a dream, Father. I'm trying to understand the paradoxical measuring device engraved in my soul, but of course you wouldn't understand any of my words." Then, all that came out of his tiny mouth was, "Gaga... baba!"
Lumina smiled, her eyes sparkling with affection. "Look, Noctis. He's calling you 'baba'." Noctis then played with his son before starting his activities.
Then Lux's days were filled with observation. He observed how his father controlled the flow of Qi, how controlled Fire energy radiated from Noctis's palms as he heated tea without burning the cup. He watched his mother, who, while feeding him porridge, could sense the subtle fluctuations of Qi within Lux's body to ensure his health.
As an engineer in his previous life, Lux was fascinated by the efficiency and complexity of this world. "They manipulate energy with astonishing precision, and can do many things with that energy," Lux thought, wondering what he could do with this ability as he grew up and began his journey as a cultivator.
When playing alone, Lux often "accidentally" caused strange events. His rolling toy ball would suddenly change direction as if it had hit an invisible wall. The sound of the wind chimes at the window would sometimes sound muffled or echo strangely when he passed by. Fortunately, when he conducted his experiments, his parents were either focused on cultivating or not paying attention. Lux could only conduct one experiment every few days because each time he used his power, he would become extremely exhausted.
After breakfast, Noctis prepared to carry out his duties. As the city manager of Flame's Crest, he was responsible for the city's security, overseeing trade flows, and relations with the Burning Sky Sect and other factions visiting the city.
"Today, Elders Feng and Youm from the sect are conducting an inspection," said Noctis as he put on his official red and gold robe, emblazoned with the Burning Sky Sect's symbola blazing fire that seemed to want to burn the sky. "They want to ensure our preparations for the upcoming Fire Moon celebration are in order."
Lumina adjusted her husband's robe collar. "Be careful, dear. Tell Elder Feng and Elder Youm that the Spirit Herbs for the ritual are almost ready."
Noctis nodded and replied, "Of course," then kissed Lumina and Lux on the forehead. "Take care of yourselves."
From the window, Lux watched his father walk toward the town hall, followed by two people who acted as his guards or servants. He saw how the townspeople, even the older cultivators, respected Noctis. His father's ability to manage resources and solve practical problems, such as organizing irrigation for herbal gardens or mediating disputes between merchants, as well as problems that arose between ordinary residents and cultivators, made him highly respected by both the residents and local cultivators. This was a side of cultivation that was rarely shown in stories, not just fighting and breakthroughs, but also administration and diplomacy.
Lux's perspective as an engineer in his previous life appreciated this. "Managing a city like this is similar to managing a large construction project. Planning, allocating resources, and ensuring that everything runs smoothly. My father is basically a project manager for a cultivator city."
While Noctis was busy with city affairs, Lumina went about her own routine. After tidying up the house, she took Lux to the small garden behind their house to plant or tend to the herbs in the backyard, an area filled with herbal plants that emitted a gentle Qi.
"Sit here, dear," Lumina whispered as she sat Lux down on a soft blanket under the shade of a Spirit Willow tree whose leaves emitted a golden light.
Lumina then sat cross-legged not far from him. She closed her eyes, and a pale pink Qi aura began to gather around her. As a Fire Pillar cultivator, the energy she drew had a warm and life-filled quality. Lux could feel the soothing warmth radiating from his mother.
He watched how his mother breathed, how the Qi flowed through the acupuncture points on her body, circulated through the meridians, and was finally stored in her Dantian, the energy center in her lower abdomen. The process was orderly, beautiful, and... linear.
"It's like the regular flow of electricity in a perfect circuit," Lux thought. "But my power... from all the simple experiments I've done, the preliminary conclusion I've reached is that this power can introduce noise, static, or even reverse the polarity in that circuit."
As Lux was engrossed in his observations, his tiny fingers unconsciously tapped the ground. He focused his attention on a blade of grass in front of him, trying to imagine "measuring" its growth with the "Möbius Gauge" (the name he had given it) in his soul. Suddenly, the tip of the blade of grass changed color slightly, from green to silver-gray for a fraction of a second, before returning to normal.
Lumina didn't notice it, her concentration was fully focused on her cultivation. But Lux felt it. His heart was beating fast. He had just distorted the fundamental nature of a material, albeit very slightly and briefly. It was a huge leap from simply distorting the sound or trajectory of an object. After doing so, he felt a little dizzy and tired, then fell asleep in the yard while his mother was busy cultivating.
That night, after his parents had fallen asleep or gone to cultivate, Lux sat on his bed. The full moon illuminated his room, providing the perfect silvery light for his experiment.
He focused all his attention on the sensation of the "spinning ring" in his soul. He no longer just visualized it; he tried to interact with it. As an engineer, he understood that every tool had an interface. He needed to find the interface for his "Möbius Gauge."
He imagined himself touching its cold, ever-changing surface. In his mind, his soul reached out toward the ring. He felt resistance, a faint warning that vibrated throughout his consciousness.
"Don't," a barely audible whisper echoed in his head.
Lux was startled, but he didn't give up. The urge to know, to understand, was too strong. With the burning determination inherited from Xuan Ming's mature soul, he forced his will and "touched" the Gauge.
BRRRZZZT!
A powerful static electric shock jolted his entire body. The world around him shook. Colors faded to shades of gray for a split second. The sound of crickets outside the window sounded distorted, like a recording played backwards at the wrong speed.
And then, a voice. Not in his ears, but directly inside his mind. The voice was cold, metallic. , and filled with unimaginable arrogance.
"Foolish mortal worm! How dare you force your attention upon the Verdict of Oblivion!"
Lux, despite having the soul of a baby, was undaunted. In his mind, he replied, "I am Lux Noctis. And you are in my soul. So, who is the 'mortal worm' here?"
There was a moment of confused silence, as if the entity was processing the fact that this "worm" could respond and was logical.
"You... you are but an infant! Your soul... it smells of two lives. Stolen time. A glitch." The voice sounded slightly intrigued, though still arrogant. "I am... I am the Measure of Paradox. The Calibrator of Reality's Flaws. The... The..." The voice trailed off, frustrated. "The rest... is static. I do not recall."
"You don't remember who you are?" Lux asked, his curiosity overcoming everything else.
"Fragments. Purposes. I know what I can do. I can measure the immeasurable. I can distort the established. I can introduce chaos into order and find order within chaos." His voice boomed with a power that made Lux's soul tremble. "But my memory, my origin... it is a null set. An empty variable."
"Then teach me. Tell me what I can do!" Lux pleaded.
A cold laugh, like metal clashing, echoed in his head. "You? A mere fledgling soul trapped in a vessel of flesh and milk? You lack the computational capacity. Your existence is too... linear. To wield me is to rewrite the code of reality. You would unravel yourself into nothingness. No. When you are stronger, perhaps you will be worthy of glimpsing the most basic of my functions. Not before."
"So..." "Why are you in my soul?" Lux asked, trying another approach.
"A question I ponder in this prison of flesh!" the voice snapped, and for the first time, Lux felt genuine emotion from it deep frustration and piercing confusion. "Our connection is... symbiotic. Parasitic? The definitions are blurred. Your soul and I are entangled. The event that brought you here the Gray Meteor was a catalyst. A cosmic anomaly. I was... within it? Or perhaps I was drawn to your unique, double-soul resonance when the anomaly occurred. The data is corrupted."
The voice sounded increasingly irritated. "I am a tool of ultimate precision, forced to reside in a chaotic, organic processor! The irony is a constant agony! You are my user, and my prison warden, all in one."
Lux felt a little pity for this entity. After all, they were in the same situation, thrown into ignorance.
A long silence stretched across Lux's mind. Then, the voice spoke again, its tone slightly flatter, as if it had accepted a bitter reality.
"It seems I have no choice. My existence is now tied to your growth. Your soul is my anchor. If you perish before I regain my full memory and purpose, I may be lost to the void forever." There was a pause. "Very well, Lux Noctis, child of two worlds. I shall... tolerate your existence. And in return, you will grow. You will cultivate. You will become stronger. Your increasing power will, theoretically, provide more energy for me to repair my corrupted databases."
"So, we're working together?" asked Lux.
"Do not mistake this for camaraderie, worm. This is a transaction of necessity. You seek power to navigate this world and find your lost companions or whatever your goal may be. I require a powerful host to restore my memory. Our goals, for now, are aligned."
"All right," said Lux, a small smile appearing on the baby's face. "But I won't call you 'Verdict of Oblivion' or 'Measure of Paradox' all the time. That's too much."
"You dare!"
"I'll call you 'Moebius,'" Lux decided. "It's a good abbreviation. And it fits."
He could feel a wave of anger and, for some reason, reluctant acknowledgment, from Moebius.
"A trivial designation," he finally grumbled. "But it is... efficient. Very well. Now, cease your prattling. Your organic body requires rest. Even my superior consciousness cannot function optimally with a sleep-deprived neural network."
The next morning, when Lumina woke Lux, she found her son smiling in his sleep. She did not know that within her little son's soul, a strange and arrogant alliance had been formed. Lux Noctis' journey to understand his distorted powers and find his lost friends, or whatever direction fate took him, had just begun, with a haughty "paradox measuring device" as his guide
And in a certain place corner of this vast and dangerous world, five other souls who were thrown by the Gray Meteor may also be awakening their own unique powers, each beginning their new journey in this harsh cultivation world.