When Scarlett finally stepped out of the cave, the first thing she noticed was the light.
It felt hot and sunny, not the magical space kind of light but real sunlight
How long has it been
She spread out her hands as if to feel the sun, and she smiled…little luxuries of life.
It wasn't too bright but not dimmer also, just unfamiliar, as though the world itself had shifted slightly while she had been gone or tucked in her sick bed. Sunlight filtered through the forest canopy in scattered beams, dust motes floating lazily in the air. Birds chirped somewhere in the distance, their calls unhurried and unaware.
Scarlett stood still for a moment, breathing in slowly.
She had no idea how much time had passed.
Minutes? Hours? Days?
Cultivation spaces were notorious for distorting time, and she had been unconscious more than once. For all she knew, the abbey's examination might already be over. Or worse, her absence might have been noticed and she eliminated
She turned and looked back at the cave.
From the outside, it appeared utterly ordinary.
No cracked stone.
No scorched earth.
No lingering pressure.
Nothing that hinted at the baptism, the breaking and rebuilding of her body, or the inheritance of a madwoman powerful enough to reshape fate itself.
No one would ever know what had happened here.
The cave would remain just another hollow in the mountainside, passed by beasts and cultivators alike without a second glance.
Scarlett stared at it for a long time.
Not with nostalgia.
Not with fear.
But with a quiet understanding that something irreversible had occurred within those stone walls.
Then she turned away, There was no hesitation in her steps as she left, only finality.
Ahead of her stretched a vast world, A world filled with movement, struggle, discovery and Adventure.
Perhaps even, she thought faintly, something resembling fun.
As Scarlett made her way deeper into the forest, her senses gradually adjusted to her new state. She moved with ease now, her footsteps light, her breathing steady. Mana flowed naturally within her, reinforcing her body without conscious effort.
It was… strange.
To feel capable.
Yet the forest remained stubbornly quiet, not quite as in trouble but quiet with no magical beast
She walked for nearly an hour without encountering a single magical beast. No rustling in the undergrowth. No hostile presence pressing against her awareness. Even the smaller creatures seemed to scatter long before she drew near.
Scarlett frowned.
This wasn't normal.
Forests near sect territories were rarely empty. Magical beasts were territorial, aggressive, and plentiful—especially the lower-tier ones used for training and examinations.
Unless…
She slowed her steps, her eyes narrowing slightly.
Unless something had driven them away.
The realization made her pause.
She exhaled softly.
"Great," she muttered.
To pass the abbey's examination, she was required to submit ten mana cores from tier-three magical beasts.
At the time she had received the requirement, she had barely been able to refine mana properly. The task had seemed absurd then—borderline cruel.
Now?
It was still absurd.
Just… less immediately fatal.
Scarlett straightened and began pacing slowly, her expression thoughtful.
The power structure of beasts was fundamentally different from that of humans.
Cultivators began as mortals and climbed upward, painfully and slowly, carving their path through discipline and resources. Beasts, on the other hand, were born into power.
Many magical beasts were born with fully formed mana cores. Depending on their bloodline and grade, some even entered the world already at cultivation levels humans could only dream of reaching after decades.
Strength was instinctive to them.
Refined by survival rather than technique.
Beasts were divided into five broad categories.
The first and most common were Magical Beasts, ranked from tier one to tier nine. Their strength roughly corresponded to cultivators in the Foundation Establishment realm, though they were almost always stronger than humans at the same level.
They had tougher bodies.
Sharper instincts.
And no fear of killing.
Above them were Spiritual Beasts, also ranked tier one to nine. These creatures possessed intelligence rivaling humans and strength comparable to Golden Core cultivators. Many could speak, or command lesser beasts.
Then came Emperor Beasts.
Scarlett shuddered faintly at the thought.
Their power was said to rival cultivators at the Spirit Transformation realm. Entire sects could be wiped out by a single Emperor Beast if it chose to rampage. Fortunately, they were rare and thankfully not in their continent
Above even them were Divine Beasts.
Tier one to nine.
Creatures whose strength rivaled those at the Body Fusion realm, capable of assuming human form and wielding terrifying intelligence alongside overwhelming power.
They were calamities walking in flesh.
And finally—
The Legendary Beasts.
Scarlett shook her head sharply, as if physically shaking the thought from her mind.
No one truly knew how strong legendary beasts were. Their existence blurred the line between history and myth. Some said they shaped continents. Others claimed they predated the heavens themselves.
Either way, she wanted absolutely nothing to do with them.
Thankfully, her task only involved tier-three magical beasts.
Only, she thought dryly.
Even those were no joke.
A tier-three magical beast was roughly equivalent to a mid-to-late Foundation Establishment cultivator—but stronger in raw power, faster, and far less predictable.
Ten of them.
And she was alone.
Scarlett let out a slow breath.
"If I hadn't broken through," she muttered, "this would have been impossible."
Even now, it wouldn't be easy.
She had cultivation.
But she lacked almost everything else.
No martial techniques.
No weapons.
And perhaps most concerning of all—
She was broke.
Utterly, painfully broke and most probably in danger if she didn't leave the forest now, if magical beast are hiding who was she to show off, Scarlett pressed her fingers to her temples, thinking.
In her previous life, problems were solved through preparation, coordination, and knowledge. Surgery was never about brute force. It was about precision, understanding structure, anticipating failure before it happened.
Perhaps cultivation wasn't so different.
Charging blindly into battle against beasts would be stupid.
She needed a plan.
Resources.
Information.
And ideally….
Civilization.
Scarlett glanced around the forest again, her eyes tracing familiar landmarks. She recognized the terrain now. The slope of the land, the angle of the sun—it all aligned with the outskirts of the abbey's territory.
Which meant…
"There should be a trade route nearby," she murmured.
Even minor sect roads were patrolled and trafficked by hunters, merchants, and outer disciples.
Scarlett adjusted her clothes, straightening her posture.
"I can't brute-force this," she said quietly. "Not yet."
Her strength was new. Unfamiliar. And recklessness was how cultivators died early.
She needed to sort this out properly.
Gather tools.
Learn techniques.
And then…find a way into the abbey.
The beast core can wait.
With a final glance at the silent forest, Scarlett set off toward civilization.