The rough egg rock sat on the table like the world's ugliest paperweight.
Chen Yuan tapped it with one finger, feeling the faint warmth inside. Wood element. Slow, steady growth. The type that looks weak for years then suddenly smothers everything.
Just like me, he thought, a sly grin spreading across his face. Perfect match.
His father entered, glanced at the egg, and grunted.
"Wood. Ancient. Your Beast Space is almost empty right now. A small rocky cave with one weak sapling. It will grow with time… if you feed it."
Chen Yuan nodded, already calculating. A personal space. I can hide things there. Store resources. Grow my own advantages while everyone thinks I'm useless.
He didn't say any of that out loud.
After his father left, Chen Yuan sat in front of the egg rock and whispered, "You and me, partner. We're going to play the long game. They think I'm a broken tool. We'll let them keep thinking that… until it's too late."
He spent the day in the training yard.
The old Iron Skin Method was basic, but it was Wood-aligned enough to start. Strike the body. Endure. Let the vitality slowly strengthen skin and bone.
His fists slammed into the wooden post. Again. And again.
By noon, his knuckles were swollen and red.
By afternoon, they were bleeding.
Chen Yuan laughed quietly through the pain. "This is nothing. I've been training for humiliation my whole life."
The faint connection to the egg rock in his room felt a little stronger. Inside him, the tiny Beast Space trembled — a dark cave with one determined sapling pushing through the rock.
Good, he thought. Grow. Take your time. When you're ready, we'll turn this falling clan into our chessboard.
By evening, his hands were wrapped in linen, throbbing badly. But his mind was calm and sharp.
Tomorrow Lu Qingxue would come with her sweet smiles and hidden fangs.
Chen Yuan sat on his bed, staring at the rough egg rock with a cold, amused glint in his eyes.