I stared at the numbers in silence.
The blue panel floated before me, its faint glow reflecting softly off the cavern walls. The dim light made the ancient stone surface shimmer slightly, and the air around me felt heavy with lingering energy.
My mind struggled to comprehend the numbers it displayed.
My status had completely changed.
Compared to before, almost everything was different. My strength, defense, vitality, and even agility had increased. The numbers were far higher than I remembered seeing earlier.
For a moment, I simply stared.
My eyes slowly moved across the panel as I tried to process the changes one by one.
Eventually, my gaze stopped at a single line.
Realm: Ferocious Beast — Early Stage
My claws scraped lightly against the stone floor beneath me.
"Ferocious Beast…"
The words felt strange in my mouth.
Back when I was human, I had read countless cultivation novels. In those stories, cultivators constantly chased higher realms—Qi Condensation, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation. Every breakthrough pushed them closer to immortality and power far beyond what ordinary humans could ever hope to achieve.
But that was human cultivation.
Humans had meridians, dantians, and countless techniques passed down through sects, clans, and ancient lineages.
None of that applied to me now.
I slowly lowered my head and looked at my body—four short legs, a heavy rounded shell resting on my back, and rough scaled skin that glinted faintly under the cavern's dim light.
"I'm a tortoise…"
Even saying the words aloud felt strange.
My mind still struggled to fully accept it.
Everything I knew about cultivation as a human was useless here. I couldn't use any of it.
I let out a slow, quiet sigh.
Still… some things were obvious.
If this realm was called Ferocious Beast, then the stage before it must have been something lower.
Wild Beast.
"That makes sense," I muttered softly.
Ordinary animals could absorb Qi to strengthen themselves, but they weren't true cultivators yet.
Only after evolving into Ferocious Beasts would they truly step onto the path of cultivation.
"Heh… seems I've leveled up in ways I didn't expect."
I flexed my claws slowly, feeling the weight and newfound strength in my limbs.
Even my breathing felt slightly different.
The Qi inside my body moved slowly and steadily, like a quiet current flowing beneath calm water. I couldn't control it yet, but I could clearly feel it circulating through my body.
It felt alive.
My gaze drifted further down the blue panel.
Another line appeared.
Core Type: Mutated Hybrid Core
I blinked.
"Hybrid core?"
That wasn't something I remembered reading about.
Most cultivators possessed normal cores, elemental cores, or rare bloodline cores depending on their talent and cultivation method.
But a hybrid core?
That sounded… strange.
"Hybrid core…" I whispered quietly.
The words felt unfamiliar and unsettling.
I tried to remember if I had ever read about something similar before, but nothing came to mind.
It sounded rare.
Or possibly dangerous.
My eyes moved further down the panel.
Another line appeared beneath it.
Chamber Qi Absorbed: 50%
My mind froze.
"…Wait."
I leaned slightly closer to the floating panel.
"Fifty percent?"
My voice came out slowly.
"You're telling me… I absorbed half the Qi in this cave?"
I instinctively looked around the cavern.
The ancient stone walls were still there, cracked and weathered by time. Faint traces of energy still lingered in the air like a thin mist.
But compared to before, the atmosphere definitely felt weaker.
"There's no way…"
Before I could think any further, a deep voice suddenly echoed through the cavern.
"What are you mumbling about while staring at the air?"
I froze.
Only then did I remember the massive skull resting nearby.
My eyes instinctively glanced back at the floating panel.
It was still there.
Hovering quietly in front of me.
Clear.
Bright.
Impossible to miss.
But the skull wasn't looking at it.
It was looking directly at me.
"Uh… it's nothing," I said quickly. "I'm not seeing anything."
Inside my mind, alarm bells started ringing.
Had I been staring at the panel for too long?
The blue flames burning inside the skull's eye sockets drifted slowly as it watched me in silence. The pressure inside the cavern suddenly felt heavier.
"You hesitate," the skull said calmly.
"As if you are deciding what truth to tell… and what to hide."
My claws pressed slightly deeper into the stone floor.
"I already told you," I replied carefully. "I'm not seeing anything."
The skull remained silent for a moment before speaking again.
"You are a strange creature."
"Most beasts that awaken here barely understand their own existence. They do not question realms or analyze power."
The blue flames flickered softly.
"And they certainly do not stare into empty air while talking to themselves."
That last sentence made my chest tighten.
I remained silent.
After a moment, the skull continued.
"Tell me something, little tortoise."
"When you awakened just now… what exactly did you feel?"
I paused for a moment, trying to recall what I had felt when I woke up.
"…Stronger," I said slowly.
"My body felt heavier… but also stronger somehow."
I flexed my claws slightly against the stone floor.
"There was also a strange warmth inside my body."
"It felt like something deep within me had changed."
"The energy wasn't just strength."
"It felt… raw. Chaotic. Alive."
"That is expected," the skull said calmly.
Then it asked another question.
"And the Qi in this chamber?"
I frowned slightly.
"What about it?"
"When you awakened," the skull said slowly, "half of it vanished."
My heart skipped.
"You felt it, didn't you?"
"The sudden emptiness."
I didn't answer.
Because it was true.
Right before I lost consciousness, the Qi in the cavern had rushed toward me like a raging storm.
At the time, I thought it was simply part of the breakthrough process.
But now…
"You absorbed it," the skull said calmly.
"Half the Qi in this chamber."
"Half the Qi…"
The thought echoed inside my mind.
Each pulse of energy inside my body reminded me of what had just happened.
I still couldn't believe it.
Could my tiny tortoise body really contain that much chaotic energy?
The blue flames inside the skull's eye sockets flickered slightly brighter.
"That is… not normal."
I tightened my claws against the stone.
"What are you saying?"
The skull paused for a moment before continuing in a slow, measured tone.
"The Qi within this cavern is not ordinary Qi. It is Chaotic Qi, an impure force born from countless deaths."
My mind paused.
Impure force? That didn't sound like something anyone should absorb…
"Qi?" I asked.
"Qi flows through heaven and earth, through mountains, rivers, and all living beings. It is the breath of the world itself."
I blinked slowly.
Breath of the world? What kind of explanation was that…?
"Beasts absorb it to strengthen their bodies.
Cultivators refine it to gain power and ascend to higher realms."
"But the Qi here… is different."
Its voice grew quieter.
"For centuries, the essence of fallen beasts and cultivators seeped into this cavern. Their lingering resentment and shattered Qi gathered here over centuries.
Their energy never truly vanished.
Instead, it twisted together… and became unstable.
Lingering resentment?
I wasn't sure if I wanted to know what that meant.
"Their energy never truly vanished."
"Instead, it fused together… and became unstable."
A chill ran down my spine.
"That energy… it does not strengthen those who absorb it."
"It destroys them."
I swallowed slowly.
"Destroys… how?"
"When chaotic Qi enters a body, it merges violently with the creature's own energy."
"The power overwhelms the host."
"And eventually…"
"The body breaks."
"They explode," I whispered.
"Yes," the skull replied calmly.
"I have seen countless beasts die here."
"None survived."
My heart pounded harder.
"And… I almost did?"
"Yes."
I pressed my claws deeper into the stone floor.
"…That's impossible."
"But something unusual happened," the skull continued.
"When the chaotic Qi entered your body, it behaved as it always does… attempting to destroy you."
"But you did not die."
"So I forced it back," the skull said.
I blinked.
"You… helped me?"
"Do not misunderstand my actions," it replied calmly.
"I did not act out of kindness."
"I have watched creatures perish within this cavern for centuries."
"But you… survived longer than any of them."
The blue flames flickered softly.
"For the first time in a very long time, something unexpected occurred."
"And I chose to observe."
My chest tightened slightly.
"But some of the chaotic Qi had already fused with your own energy."
"And in doing so… it reshaped your body."
"It reforged your core."
The cavern fell silent.
"In all my centuries of existence, I have never witnessed such an anomaly."
The skull's empty gaze seemed to pierce straight through me.
"Your core has fused with chaotic essence."
I blinked.
I had absolutely no idea what that meant.
My shell suddenly felt heavier, as if something deep inside my body was pressing downward.
"What does that mean?" I whispered, my claws digging into the stone floor.
"It means, little tortoise…"
I froze.
My tail twitched slightly.
A cold chill spread through my limbs.
"Something about your existence… defies the natural laws of heaven and earth."
My breath caught in my throat.
I stared at the skull.
Natural laws of heaven and earth? Was he exaggerating, or was this really that serious?
I slowly lowered my head, my thoughts spinning in confusion.
A low, startled hiss escaped my mouth as my claws scraped instinctively against the stone floor.
This…
This shouldn't be happening.