The capital was overwhelming.
Nova stood at the edge of the arrivals plaza, watching the city move around him like a living organism. Thousands of people—Awakened and ordinary alike—flowed through streets wide enough for ten trucks abreast. Holographic advertisements projected from every surface, promising faster cultivation, stronger weapons, longer lives. Mag-lev trains whispered overhead, their routes tracing glowing paths between the city's concentric rings.
And above it all, impossibly high, Sky Tower Academy pierced the clouds.
"First time?"
Nova turned. An old man sat on a bench nearby, feeding crumbs to birds that had no business existing in a city this size—small creatures with feathers that shimmered with faint mana. The man's eyes were kind, his face weathered, his cultivation barely perceptible. 1st Order, maybe 2nd Rank. Someone who had awakened late and gone nowhere.
"Yes," Nova admitted. "First time."
"Thought so. Got that look." The man gestured at the tower. "Everyone does, first time. Like they're staring at the face of God." He chuckled. "Maybe they are. Plenty of gods up there, if you believe the stories."
Nova looked back at the tower. "What kind of stories?"
"The kind where ordinary kids walk in and come out legends. The kind where noble scions spend fortunes on training and still can't keep up with some farmer's daughter who just had the right gift." The man shrugged. "The kind that keep hopeful fools like you coming back, year after year, trying to make something of themselves."
Nova smiled despite himself. "You were one of them?"
"Sixty years ago. Came here with nothing but a D-rank superpower and dreams bigger than my cultivation." He laughed, a wheezing sound. "Lasted three months. Flunked out, joined the city maintenance corps, spent the rest of my life fixing the trains that carry real cultivators to their destinies." He tossed another crumb to the birds. "No regrets. Well. Maybe a few."
Nova sat beside him on the bench. For a moment, they watched the city together—the old man who had failed, the boy who carried a dead prince's soul.
"You planning to register?" the man asked.
"Tomorrow. Today I just wanted to see it."
"Smart. Get the awe out of your system before you walk in. Those examiners can smell fear and wonder like blood in water." He stood, brushing crumbs from his worn clothes. "Good luck, kid. Hope you make it further than I did."
He walked away,消失在 the crowd.
Nova sat for a long time, watching the tower, feeling the weight of everything that had brought him here.
Then he stood, found a public terminal, and began searching for a place to stay.
The Godless System pinged as he walked through the city's residential district.
QUEST COMPLETE: "THE PATH BEGINS"
OBJECTIVE: Reach Sky Tower Academy and enroll as a student
STATUS: Capital reached — Registration pending
DIFFICULTY: D-Rank
REWARDS:
Basic Cultivation Technique (Grade: Earth — "Iron Foundation Method")
100 Gold Coins
1x Random Herb Pack (Bloodline Enhancement Potential)
DELIVERING REWARDS...
Warmth flooded through Nova—not physical, but something deeper. Knowledge poured into his mind, settling into place like memories he had always possessed. The Iron Foundation Method unfolded before him: a basic but solid Earth-grade technique designed for first-order cultivation, focusing on core compression and meridian strengthening.
Not the Eclipse Sutra. But enough. More than enough for now.
The gold coins materialized in his inventory, adding to the fifty from Oakhaven. One hundred fifty total—a small fortune by village standards, merely comfortable here in the capital.
And the herb pack...
RANDOM HERB PACK OPENED
RECEIVED:
2x Crimson Vein Leaf (Bloodline Activation — Mild)
1x Starlight Bloom (Meridian Expansion — Moderate)
3x Ironwood Bark (Physique Strengthening — Basic)
NOTE: Herbs can be used raw (30% efficiency), processed (60% efficiency), or refined into pills (90% efficiency). Alchemical knowledge recommended for optimal use.
Nova studied the herbs through his interface. Crimson Vein Leaf. Starlight Bloom. Ironwood Bark. Combined, they could begin awakening his bloodline—not completely, not without his first soul fragment, but enough to strengthen his body. Enough to give him an edge.
The Almond Family Physique, he thought. Immense physical strength. The ability to fight across ranks. If I can activate even a fraction of it before the exam...
He found a cheap inn near the city's seventh ring, paid for two weeks in advance, and locked himself in his room.
He had work to do.
The first three days were agony.
Nova had no alchemical knowledge. His past life had relied on others for pill refinement—Nora, primarily, and the Shadows' support staff. He remembered watching her work, the precise movements, the careful control of flame and essence. But watching was not doing.
He tried consuming the herbs raw.
Crimson Vein Leaf tasted like copper and burned like swallowed fire. His vision swam, his heart hammered, and for six hours he lay on the floor of his room, convinced he was dying. When the pain finally faded, he checked his status.
BLOODLINE ACTIVATION: 2% (Crimson Vein Leaf — Raw Consumption)
PHYSIQUE BONUS: +5% physical strength, +3% mana circulation speed
DURATION: Permanent (partial activation)
Two percent. For six hours of agony.
He looked at the remaining herbs and made a decision.
I need to learn alchemy. Even basic processing would improve efficiency. But I don't have time—the exam is in eleven days.
He compromised. He found a public alchemy workshop in the city's craft district—a place where aspiring refiners could rent equipment by the hour. The attendant, a bored-looking woman with faint burn scars on her hands, showed him the basics of herb processing.
"Crush, never cut. Heat from below, never above. Water infusion for leaf materials, oil extraction for roots. Don't blow up my workshop."
Nova didn't blow up the workshop.
By the end of the first day, he could process herbs at approximately 40% efficiency—not the 60% of true refinement, but better than raw consumption. By the third day, he had improved to 50%.
He consumed the processed herbs one by one.
BLOODLINE ACTIVATION: 7% (Starlight Bloom — Processed)
MERIDIAN EXPANSION: +8% mana capacity, +5% regeneration rate
BLOODLINE ACTIVATION: 12% (Ironwood Bark x3 — Processed)
PHYSIQUE BONUS: +15% physical strength, +10% physical durability
CURRENT BLOODLINE STATUS: 12% Activated — Partial Almond Family Physique
BONUSES: +20% physical strength, +10% durability, +8% mana capacity, +5% regeneration
MANA RESERVE: 176/176 units
He was stronger now. Faster. His body felt different—denser, somehow, as if his bones had been replaced with something harder. When he flexed his hand, he could feel the difference. The Almond bloodline, stirring after fourteen years of dormancy.
But twelve percent was not enough. Not nearly enough.
I need more herbs. Better herbs. And I need the first soul fragment—that's what will truly unlock the bloodline.
He pushed the thought aside and focused on cultivation.
The Iron Foundation Method was simple but effective.
Each day, Nova cycled mana through his meridians, following the patterns the technique had implanted in his mind. Push, hold, release, repeat. His mana grew denser, his core more stable. By day five, he felt the first barrier—the wall between 1st Rank and 2nd Rank.
He pushed against it.
Nothing happened.
He tried again, harder. The wall held.
Patience, he told himself. Rushing causes damage. Let it build naturally.
He cultivated. He processed the few remaining herbs he could afford from the city's markets—cheap ones, low-grade, barely worth the copper. His bloodline activation crept to 14%. His mana reached 182 units.
By day nine, he felt the barrier weakening.
By day ten, he broke through.
BREAKTHROUGH ACHIEVED
CULTIVATION: 1st Order, 2nd Rank
MANA RESERVE: 194/194 units (+18 from breakthrough)
NEW ABILITY: Teleportation range increased to 65 feet
BLOODLINE BONUS: +22% physical strength maintained
NOTE: 3rd Rank barrier detected. Estimated breakthrough time with current technique: 3-4 weeks.
Nova opened his eyes.
The room looked the same, but he felt different. Clearer. Stronger. His mana flowed more freely, his meridians humming with the energy of the new rank.
Three to four weeks for the next breakthrough. But the exam was in four days.
I won't reach 3rd Rank in time, he thought. But maybe I don't need to. 2nd Rank, with my bloodline bonuses and teleportation... that might be enough.
He stood, stretched muscles that felt like coiled steel, and looked out the window at Sky Tower.
Four days. Then I find out if I'm good enough.
The registration office was in the tower's base—a massive hall filled with hundreds of young Awakened, all of them here for the same reason. Nova joined the line, observing the competition.
A boy with flame flickering around his fists. 1st Order, 4th Rank, by the feel of his mana. Probably awakened six months ago, trained hard, confident in his chances.
A girl with eyes that tracked too quickly, too precisely. Wind affinity, maybe. 1st Order, 3rd Rank.
A group of nobles in expensive clothes, surrounded by servants, their cultivations ranging from 2nd to 5th Rank. They laughed too loudly, postured too obviously, reminded Nova of the families who had mocked his father before killing him.
He looked away.
When he reached the counter, the clerk barely glanced at him.
"Name?"
"Nova Almond."
"Age?"
"Fourteen."
"Awakened?"
"One week after turning fourteen."
The clerk's eyes rose. "Superpower?"
"Teleportation. A-rank."
The clerk's expression changed. A-rank was quite rare.
"Cultivation?"
"1st Order, 2nd Rank."
The clerk nodded, making notes on her data slate. "Exam starts in four days. Testing grounds are in the tower's eastern wing—you'll receive your assignment on the day. Bring nothing but yourself and whatever weapons you can carry. Healing will be provided for non-fatal injuries. Deaths are... uncommon, but possible. Sign here."
Nova signed.
"Good luck, Awakened Almond. You'll need it."
He left the registration hall and walked back into the city, the weight of the exam pressing down on him.
Four days.
Four days to prepare for the fight of his life.
That night, he dreamed of gold eyes and silver hair and a sister he had never met, standing in a field of ten thousand graves, waiting for him to come home.