“I’ll figure it out later. Now the most pressing matter is becoming powerful enough to posture properly, then to create cool and unique techniques, and then to grow even stronger—strong enough that I can maybe figure out what happened for me to transmigrate. But before that, I won’t worry about it.”
With the newfound resolve from being able to posture his amazing talent, Samuel lied down on the bed and went to sleep. Yep, that's right. He went to sleep. Which might sound ridiculous, but thinking about the nonstop grind he had been on for the last few weeks, some of which had been 10,000 times longer, it’s not weird that he wanted some rest. Now that he has finished his automatic cultivation, the only thing he can really do is craft some cool attacks. But doing that in the real world is redundant.
“I’ll sleep for like a day, and then I need to make some signature power or something.”
And so he went to sleep, but instead of the day he planned, it only lasted for 5 hours. He was simply too giddy at the thought of the techniques he could make that he couldn’t rest anymore.
“My talent is related to time. Should I create some power related to time? Maybe Time Reduction or Time Freeze. The problem with that is that time is usually one of the most complex concepts in these types of cultivation worlds. My pathetic comprehension of positive time dilation probably won’t allow me to do this. Hmmm, I don’t know. What about an aging beam then?”
Thinking about what happened to Luisa and that assassin when he underwent his metamorphosis, he came up with an idea that sounded plausible. Positive time dilation + beam + target =severe damage or death. If realized, this power would make all souls at the same amount of power as Samuel tremble in fear.
However, just as he was about to utter ‘gowla’, he felt a weird resonance with the spiritual qi in the air.
“Am I breaking through?”
The feeling of power greater than he possessed before surged through his body. The nine levels in the superior mortal stage were supposedly only there to differentiate levels of power within the stage. However, that did not match what Samuel was experiencing. His power level jumped at least ten times, from a breakthrough that, according to Luisa, shouldn’t be happening.
“I’m clearly not breaking through to the mortal evolution stage, so why is this happening? This stage is about letting my talent grow. Does that mean that your talent is supposed to improve nine times before reaching its perfect state? Did Luisa get it wrong? Or is it related to the grade of the talent? Weaker talents will only experience improvement at the peak of the stage, but higher-level ones will experience it earlierI? Is that how it is?”
Unable to answer the questions, the enhancement came to a halt. Wondering if the breakthrough would improve his time sphere in some way, Samuel, with his palpable excitement and anticipation, entered his talent.
Upon entering, he indeed did find something different about the time sphere.
“What the hell kind of improvement is this?"
Samuel was close to tears. On the wall directly opposite him was now a face-size mirror. Now, you are probably thinking to yourself, ‘This mirror is probably some powerful artifact; maybe it can even improve his comprehension of time, right?’. NO. No, it is not. It is a completely normal mirror. Well, normal isn’t right either, seeing as it reflects the rest of the time sphere, but not Samuel standing right in front of it.
“The improvement by my breakthrough is this faulty and useless mirror? You know what? You can’t bring me down from this high I’m on right now. I didn’t know I was going to break through anyway, so I didn’t lose anything. Now, let me start crafting this ‘aging beam!”
…
Ten days later
After approximately 270 years spent inside the time sphere, Samuel’s eyes finally opened. Although it had been an extremely long time for him, the energy boost effect made it seem like a dream—a very productive dream. Because you better believe he finished what he set out to do—sort of.
“This is more than enough for now. Although it’s not really a beam, but rather a wave, it does its job. Let me call it ‘Withering Wave’. It’s not really enough to kill someone, or even a beast, but it will be capable of making their qi turn into normal spiritual qi, effectively disabling their attacks. The consumption of Withering Wave is also a little too big. I can use it at most six times; after that, it will take some time for my qi to replenish. I can only use it in emergency situations. Luckily, I anticipated this before creating it. The Withering Beam is relatively passive, so the fact that I created a quickfire, ‘cost’ affordable attack is so nice. I’ll name this one ‘Spirit Gun’.”
Spirit Gun was born out of the concept of positive time dilation and condensing qi into bullets. Samuel used the time aspect to greatly enhance the formation of the bullets, as well as a temporary increase in the digestion of energy. This allows him to shoot hundreds of these qi bullets per use of the attack in the span of a few moments. And these bullets weren’t weak either, easily being able to penetrate the body of any non-peak superior mortal stage. They can block them, but it will be very energy-consuming. Overall, it is a very powerful yet simple technique.
While Samuel was basking in his own greatness, a knock came from the door.
“Samuel, we’re about to dock in Stargate Port. Come meet us at the deck when you’re ready.”
After developing the body-engraving technique together with Samuel, Merling developed a great fondness for and even respect for him. Just having talent is not worthy of respect, but using it to improve yourself and others, even contributing to the heritage of runemasters, definitely is. In other words, Merling was becoming something of a fangirl.
“No need; I’m ready now. We can go together.”
When they arrived on deck, they were greeted by the very excited Quinn and Lukas. But they were quickly disregarded by Samuel, as he was captivated by the incredible scene in front of him.
A port city spanning way beyond what the eyes could see, with a visible city wall standing above 100 meters tall, engraved with royal-looking runes. But, as impressive as this was, it paled in comparison to the thousands upon thousands of massive ships and even more normal and smaller-sized ships on the way in and out of the port. Such a scene can only be imagined but never fully described. Just know it was incredible.
“All those people arriving are probably here to participate in the entrance exam or to trade during it. People find opportunities in all situations. Samuel, if you need anything for your cultivation, just tell me, and I’ll help you pay for it. I know you’re poor.”
Merling was trying to be hospitable and nice, offering to buy him necessities, but all he did was make Samuel’s lips twitch. ‘Is he trying to humiliate me by calling me poor? How rude of him. I was even planning to posture in front of the two kids later, but now I can’t do that. Damn it!’
“That won’t be necessary, teacher Merling. After we dock, it will be time for us to part ways. If fate allows it, we’ll meet again. Well, I do owe you two favors, so as long as I don't die, we will indeed meet again. By the way, where can I find you when I’m ready to repay my debt?”
Before Merling could even respond, Lukas did.
“We are from the Strand family, one of the three great families of the Phoenix country. We have many different family businesses and side branches, but we from the main branch reside in the capital, Blue-Fire City. Quinn, give him your badge. If you show this to anyone from our family, they’ll take you to meet her. We all live in the same manor, so unless there is some unforeseen circumstance, we will all be there.”
Quinn handed Samuel a golden-rimmed round badge, depicting a formless, bow-wielding figure. On the back, it said, 'Daughter of Bryan Strand.
“Who is Bryan Strand? Your father?”
“He is indeed our father and Uncle Merling’s brother. The current head of our family”
“Does that mean you are a rich young miss?"
Samuel started developing some nefarious thoughts about living of a woman. ‘She is probably very rich, and she has a high status. Not only that, but her family is clearly very powerful. NO! I can’t! What is this thought process? How can I, the most talented person to ever live in the entire history of the Shattered Realm, be mooching off a woman?’
Luckily, he managed to kill it in its infancy. During their conversation, the ship had already arrived at a private area of the port. There, one could see an entourage of people clearly waiting for Merling and the kids.
“Welcome Master Merling, young Miss Quinn, and young Master Lukas.”
“I am afraid, masters, that you won’t have any time to rest after the voyage. Your five-day delay was dangerously close to missing the required time of attendance for the participants. We have prepared a carriage that is waiting for you at the gate. It will be driving at full speed and will reach the destination two hours before the allotted time. Please, this way, masters."
The leading attendant, whose appearance was identical to that of a stereotypical butler, was curious about who Samuel was but knew it was not his place to pry. As such, he led the way, treating him with the same level of respect he showed to the rest.
“Thank you, Calvin. I apologize for the delay. We encountered a problem with a vicious group of sea beasts on our way over and got rerouted. Lukas and Quinn, follow Calvin to the carriage. The tournament starts tomorrow, and I’ll be there to spectate. You need to prepare yourselves mentally on the carriage ride over. Understood?”
“Yes, Uncle Merling.”
Merling nodded. “Good luck!”
“Samuel, are you sure you don’t want to go with them? Even if you don’t want to participate, you can spectate. It can be a good opportunity to gain some experience.”
“I am sure. Thank you for offering, though. I’ll be taking my leave now until next time.
After saying this, Samuel, without turning his head, walked out of the gate into the grand streets of Stargate Port.
‘My cultivation adventure starts now! Watch out world, the Supreme Overlord of Time is about to rise through the heavens’
…
In a very, very decrepit, wet, moldy, and dark dungeon-like cell was a horribly disfigured and bloody figure. Chains seared into his flesh, barely breathing with only two noises produced by him. A light whimpering that probably hurt more than it helped, and a sickening, disgusting gurgling sound coming from a hole in the person's throat.
Rattling keys sounded from the other side of the door. Shortly after, it opened. From it emerged a weak glow emitted by the torch held in the hands of a figure. The figure could not be properly seen, but it was clear it was a female. Her feminine voice soon asked, "Are you still not ready to talk?”
The prisoner, as if out of instinct, started to tremble. His wounds were aggravated, causing a loss of even more blood. In the weakest voice that can ever qualify as a voice, he whispered, “I don't know anything about what you are asking." The figure clearly wasn’t done talking; he just needed time to 'recharge', before continuing. “I don’t even know them. All I know is their family name, where they live, and their names. The man is a runemaster, and the kids are just normal talents. I don’t know anything more."Clearly exasperated at the situation, he forced himself to talk continuously, at the cost of his physical health.
“You keep saying that, and I keep not believing you. You arrived on their ship; clearly, you know them. So why bother to lie to me? It only makes the situation worse for you. Tell me what I want to know, and I'll give you a healing elixir, new clothes, remuneration, and then let you go. Why be so stubborn?”
Indeed, the figure lying so miserably on the floor was Samuel!
The lady pulled out a tiny makeup mirror and started waving it in front of Samuel.
"This mirror is known as the 'Collector'; it gathers all the knowledge on powerful families and powerful talent into lists. You are on neither list, meaning you do not have an astounding talent, nor do you have a background to be proud of. So, why were you allowed onto their ship? I think you are probably either an illegitimate child of the Strand family or a secret talent they have hidden. Or so I thought. You don't have a talent present in your body that the mirror can pick up on, meaning your peak stage will be Mortal Evolution, nothing higher. So, whose child are you?"
"I am not a child of the Strand family. I told you, I encountered their ship on their way over here. I asked for a ride, and they agreed. That is all."
"So what? You just happened to encounter them in the middle of the ocean? Okay, say you did. Why were you there? And don’t tell me you're a pirate; we both know that is not true."
"I was sucked into a spatial tear and ended up there."
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“You have to realize there are formations detecting every single spatial tear that appears in the Shattered Realm, and I have access to this information. I can easily verify if what you are saying is true or not. But I’ll allow you this. So, tell me, where were you sucked into the spatial tear?”
“I can’t remember the empire it was in, but the place was the outskirts of a place called the Mountain of Transcendence on the Cyan continent. I just woke up from my sleep when I was sucked into the tear. Next thing I know, I’m hundreds of meters in the air, falling towards an ocean.”
Samuel was clearly exasperated at his circumstances, so much so that the female’s conviction was starting to waver. ‘Everyone of status knows about the enormous spatial tears appearing on the Mountain of Transcendence, but the spatial tear appearing over the Kalamark Ocean is known only to a few. Not even the Strand family should know about it, yet he does. Was he really telling the truth?’
As the woman was reflecting, Samuel was suffering. He had spoken way too much just now, aggravating his injuries, especially the one to his throat. It was now making a sound above and beyond what it had done in the past. If someone who was not accustomed to disgusting things were to listen to this, it’s almost guaranteed that they would puke. Samuel, however, was in too much pain and too enraged to even notice this sound. ‘This fucking bitch! I swear to the Heavens, I will have her suffer pain for eternity! Even if I die here, I will not let this great injustice go!’
“Even if what you told me is the truth, it doesn’t make sense that Merling would treat you with such care and respect.”
“Me and Merling did some research together after I expressed interest in learning about runes. We achieved some minor success, and he called me a runemaster prodigy. That is why. It’s not because of my status or cultivation talent, just my contribution.”
Almost convinced she had wrongfully captured and tortured Samuel, she decided to leave him a way out.
“If you tell me what the research was about, I’ll let you go with everything I promised you. My word is gold.”
‘How can anything that exits that foul, disgusting, wretched mouth of hers ever be gold?'
Although this is what Samuel was thinking, he didn’t dare harbor the thought of saying it out loud. Rather, he opts to shoot his shot and attempt to get out of that god-abandoned cell.
“We attempted engraving runes onto the human body. Can you let me go now?”
“What? You achieved some success in engraving runes on humans?"
"Yes. Now you said that your word is gold, and you promised to let me go, so please give me the healing elixir and let me go."
Samuel was hopeful the lady would have some pride, or at the very least some shame, and would release him because of her word. He was painfully clear that this was very unlikely, especially when he observed the change of voice in the lady, but he had no other choice. If he wasn't let go now, he never would be.
Visible conflict appeared on her lightly lit face. 'If I have him tell me the result of their research, it will be a great contribution, but if I don't let him go now, my cultivation heart will shatter. It will take many years to recover from the backlash if it breaks, but I can earn contribution points elsewhere. Wait! I only promised to let him go in the same physical state he entered here, but I did not promise I wouldn't send people to catch him back. Guess I can have the best of both worlds.'
"Okay, here is the healing elixir."
As she said this, she took out a bottled white liquid, seemingly from nowhere, and was prepared to put it down next to Samuel.
"You will have to feed it to me. I am in no state to consume it myself. And don't even think about not doing this; you promised to 'let me go', indicating that I can go myself, which will be impossible to do unless you feed it to me."
'Damn'. She relented, however, and fed him the elixir, but not before removing the chains from him. If she didn't, the flesh and skin would grow on top of them, leading to further complications. In the event of light injuries, this healing elixir would allow you to fully recover in mere seconds. Samuel, however, was damaged beyond imagination. Even with this peak-grade medicine, it took a total of ten minutes before he managed to fully recover—physically, that is. The mental scars would take far, far longer.
Without having the energy to worry or be embarrassed about not having clothes, he stood up, put his hand out, and asked, "clothes?"
The lady was clearly flustered at seeing this naked man standing in front of her and hurriedly took out a dark, long fighter robe with golden rims and the pattern of a dragon running up and down the arms. Only Samuel didn't have the ability to appreciate the design because of the lack of light. He languidly put it on, not even bothering to button it up properly, before he said, "Lead the way."
This apathetic behavior was in no way, shape, or form the usual behavior of Samuel. There was no hope in his eyes, no curiosity—nothing but a heavily concealed, burning hatred. He might not be the sharpest knife in the shed, but even he realized the importance of showing no hostility in his moment of release.
"I will need you to put on this blindfold and follow me. I will release you some distance away, and from there, you are on your own. Remember, if you come back here, there is no way you will be leaving alive."
"I got it; I won't be coming back here. Let's go"
And so they did.
After walking for about two hours, Samuel had his blindfold taken off. What greeted his eyes was a breathtaking view of mountains piercing through the clouds, as well as the hot, gentle sun hitting his face. He didn't feel hot from this, though, but rather chilly, a chilliness that came from the depths of his soul, stemming from his insurmountable rage.
"You are on your own from here on out. If fate allows it, we'll meet again."
"Fate will indeed allow us to meet again, not because of the goons you organized to make sure of it, but rather because of my revenge. Let me tell you, if there hadn't been a spatial suppression on space inside that dungeon, do you think I wouldn't be able to escape?"
While Samuel uttered his last sentence, the sound of hundreds of bullets firing at the same time erupted from the patch of trees in the area slightly behind them, followed by screams, then silence. Before the lady could even react, a portal appeared underneath Samuel's feet that soon swallowed him whole, but not before leaving one last promise.
"I will have my revenge, not only on you but also on the organization behind you. I will have you all wither to dust."
500 kilometers away, deep within an underground cavern, appeared a portal. From the portal, a figure descended. Casually landing after his descent, Samuel looked indifferent. His face was still, his breath calm, and his qi fully concealed. If a cultivator overly dependent on his spiritual sense were to stand in front of him, he wouldn’t even know Samuel was there.
“I can use two 500-kilometer-range portals before running out of qi. If need be, I can use shorter-range portals until I’ve recovered before creating another long-range portal. Not too bad, but not good enough. I couldn't even escape from a space lock that wasn’t directed at me. Only when I can will I stop developing this technique and leave this place.”
A traumatic experience is capable of changing a man in mere instants. One can only imagine how much a traumatic experience, stretched across three months, could change a person. Three months of pure, barely pausing torture, left to rot and mold in a dungeon cell with nothing but the fire of fury to keep him stable and to keep him alive, caused Samuel to change. Although his previous self was not dead, it was hidden deep within his mind to ensure his life. Only after exacting his revenge would he recover back to his former self, or at least something that resembles it.
“I was holding it in because of the potential phenomenon it would create, but now I don’t need to worry about that. It’s time to break through to the Mortal Evolution stage. After doing that, my time sphere, mental capacity, and level of insight will all experience, hopefully, a great improvement. At that point, I should be able to comprehend the next level of ‘Portal’.
Samuel was indeed about to break through. This speed might sound outrageous and unlikely considering the time it took for him to break through to the second level of the Superior Mortal stage. Yet with every increase in level, his cultivation speed increased, as did his suction force of spiritual qi. The rune on the Yin Tang acupoint of his soul had become far more clear but was nowhere near being complete. Its completion rate was about 4%. The breakthrough also brought some direct changes to the inside of the time sphere. Similar to the mirror he ‘received’ at the second level, he received more furniture and some appliances. Respectively, a clock, a calendar, a pot, a bed light, a notebook, a pen, and an inkwell. Unfortunately for Samuel, none of them had any special effects he knew about. However, he suspected the inkwell, pen, and notebook would have a mysterious effect when combined with the missing item, the ink. The ink could presumably be obtained only after breaking through.
After ‘unsealing’ his personalized slit like rune, spiritual qi surged into his time sphere. Instantly, Samuel's soul and body started to tremble with a very eerie and unique frequency, as if resonating. ‘Why would my soul need to resonate with my body when the body is formed from the soul?’. Before he could even attempt to find an answer to this question, his mind went blank.
Not unlike the last time he advanced a stage on the path of cultivation, a barrier formed around the area he was in. The only difference between the cocoon and this barrier was the size. This barrier covered a mere ten meters around Samuel, not at all compared to the 1000-square-kilometer size from last time. The matter around Samuel started turning to dust just like the last time, yet there was something wrong with it. Gone was the pure golden dust. It was now a combination of silver and golden dust, with some of the particles showing signs of fusing. As the first piece of silver dust entered Samuel’s body, the frequency of his trembling increased greatly. The frequency, unlike the previous one brought upon his body from the soul, came from the body and had an effect on the soul. In an inconspicuous part of the hair-covered temple of Samuel, an incredibly complex yet barely discernible rune started shimmering in silver.
…
Two years later...
Inside the abyssal, dark cavern, was Samuel floating in the cold barren nothingness that was inside the barrier he had just broken through. His hair is now golden, and his eyes are emitting a silver glow from underneath his eyelids. An incomprehensible humming coming from his body. He looked peaceful yet powerful. The aura of his body was no longer being concealed; instead, it was immensely powerful, far beyond what anyone at his stage of cultivation has ever possessed. With the breakthrough coming to a close, the barrier started to dissipate slowly. However, unlike last time, space did not collapse, almost as if a force were keeping it stable from the inside. That force was Samuel. Now, it's only been two years on the outside; however, to Samuel, it had been more than 200,000 years. That's right, not 20,000, not 50,000. 200,000 Years. The improvement in the time sphere was immense; his talent is now capable of increasing time by 100,000 times. Such an absurd, ridiculous, and overpowered talent has never, ever been seen before in such a barren world as the Shattered Realm, or even in other worlds.
“How long has it been this time?” A sleepy Samuel spoke as he woke up. Still remembering the shock from having to experience such a drastic increase in time after the last breakthrough, he was clearly ready for an astounding number. However, when the number actually entered his brain, he was beyond speechless.
“It got even more exaggerated. How can that even be possible? How can it be possible for this already absurdly powerful talent to become even more absurd? Not even to mention how powerful this talent is. I'm just a mere Mortal Evolution stage cultivator. How can my talent possess such power? This is beyond overpowered. This is just ridiculous.”
Samuel was right. It was ridiculous. A being merely at the start of cultivation has the power that countless, countless have dreamed to possess at much higher stages than he is at. Now, he doesn't have the most powerful physical combat ability, but the mere concept of being able to increase his learning speed, his comprehension speed, and his mental speed by 100,000 times is the most ridiculous thing that has ever existed within the cultivation world.
“And what is this strange feeling I have? It's like a connection. A connection that's similar to the one I have to spiritual qi but not quite the same, as if it's part of something greater, something more fundamental, something similar to time, yet not completely. It feels similar to when I'm passing through a portal. And to when I passed through that damned spatial tear. Is this space? Does my talent also extend into space? Is it not just time?”
At the thought of this, Samuel decided to check the rune on his soul. He was obviously expecting some sort of development regarding it, but he never could have imagined that he would suddenly receive a talent regarding space from it. Even if most of the rune was obscure and potentially dormant, suddenly receiving space control from it was beyond anyone's expectations. And indeed, when he saw the rune, he was shocked. The rune was much clearer than before, but he could instantly tell it had nothing to do with space. Rather, when he looked towards his right temple, he saw a very dim silver glow come from a seemingly almost transparent rune. A rune resembling that of a crosshair: a circle with a dot in the middle. Now, this was not a case of it being incomplete. This mark simply did not have anything more to it, as if it had just been drawn.
“Is this a spatial rune? How come I have a spatial rune? Wait, are all of these incomprehensible things that I can only see as obscured black smudges runes? Are they all talents? How can I have so many talents engraved on my soul? What is this? What the hell is going on?”
Samuel was shocked beyond words. ‘What even am I? Am I some sort of monster? Some sort of god? How could I possibly have so many powerful talents? What kind of transmigration did I experience? Normal transmigrators get like a system or a single cheat. How come I seem to have countless, or at least dozens of cheats upon my transmigration? This is beyond hacking. This is designing the game.”
Samuel's original personality seemed close to resurfacing in the light of this new information. It made him feel invincible. If he became invincible, he could take his revenge, meaning he could go back to being happy and lucky. However, before his personality fully reverted, he remembered the day of his capture and what it led to.
Two years and three months ago...
Walking down the streets of Stargate Port, Samuel was happily munching on a spiritual fruit he got from winning a chess tournament he participated in earlier in the day. It turns out that thinking and planning at 10,000 times the speed of your opponent essentially guarantees victory. He managed to accumulate quite the reputation over the three days he spent here.
Just as he was about to take another bite of the fruit, he heard a piece of information that stunned him to his core.
“Hey, did you hear about the battle that took place after the selection tournament for the Blue-Roc Sect?”
“Yes, I did. Supposedly, some sort of shadow organization tried to attack some of the newly accepted disciples of the sect. Apparently it was two kids from the Strand family of the Phoenix empire.”
“Yeah, but that's not the most important part. The most important part is that their Uncle Merling, a great rune master of the fourth stage, was protecting them from behind, and he started fighting the leading attacker of the shadow organization. However, this was no standard fight. Merling erupted with hundreds of fully powered attacks, seemingly without even losing any spiritual qi, killing all the assailants. Everyone is wondering how he did it. It's never, ever been seen before. Like, how can anyone use full-powered attacks like they’re nothing?”
“I don't really know. What I do know is that a lot of shady organizations are making a move.”
“Those shady organizations won’t be doing anything. I've heard the entire Runemaster Guild is moving to protect Merling. He has some sort of rune secret. The Runemaster Guild has never been mobilized to such an extent in history. The only time that can sort of be compared is when that rune prodigy managed to figure out how to engrave runes onto beast skin, allowing for easier comprehension of certain rules. He is, by some, called the father of all enlightenment. The fact that this protection surpasses that is such a great indication of how important the secret Merling has is.”
“I wonder what that secret is, and I wonder if the Ruin Master Guild will ever reveal the secret to the public. If this power is given to certain individuals, it's enough to shake and reform the entire power structure of the Shattered Realm. Just imagine an entire army of people constantly using their full-power attacks without getting tired. It's invincible.”
Samuel, on hearing this news, was shocked, not only at the news of hearing that the kids were attacked, or even why they would be attacked since their talents were nothing special, but especially at the news of the entire Runemaster Guild being moved to protect Merling from shadow organizations. And if Merling had told the Runemaster Guild about their discovery and somehow mentioned Samuel, he would be in danger. As such, Samuel decided that he would need to run away. He had been seen with Merling. If he told the Runemaster Guild, and there happened to be some very suspicious individual inside the guild who leaked this information, Samuel would be done for.
Thinking till here, Samuel turned into the next alley and ran as fast as he possibly could. Yet he did not get far before a sudden, ungodly, excruciating, disgusting pain erupted from his right shoulder. Not long after, the sound of something landing on the ground reached his ears. This was all followed by a laugh coming from a seemingly mysterious individual that could not be seen, standing in the shadows.
“Hahaha, boy, you run quite fast, don't you? But not quite fast enough.”
Before Samuel could even properly make sense of the situation or the fact that his arm was no longer attached to his shoulder, he was struck through the chest by a fist. It didn't kill him; it just hurt a lot. A fucking lot. The fist now pierced through his lung, making it hard for him to breathe.
And with the tiny, minute amount of power he had left in his body and the tiny amount of willpower he had left, he managed to utter one last question before succumbing to darkness.
“Why am I so unlucky?”
Recalling how he was captured and tortured without any chance to fight back, his eyes frosted over. His silver irises surrounding that black hole-like pupil became like the terrifying gaze of the cosmos itself.
“I cannot, and I will not allow this to happen again. My power should be at the third level of the True Cultivation stage, but it’s not enough to annihilate the Black Lotus; I’ll need my power to reach the peak of the True Cultivation stage before I attempt it. Based on my cultivation speed in the Superior Mortal stage, it will take around five months. I’ll do that as I comprehend the next level of Portal. However, I still don’t understand why I don’t seem to have a physique. I have the traits from the space rune, and my personalized rune is greatly enhanced, but my body doesn’t feel different. Wait, why is my hair golden?”
As he thought of why his hair had changed color, an enormous suction force of spiritual qi erupted from all his hair strands.
“My body can draw spiritual qi on its own, but the speed is at least hundreds of times slower than that of my hair. Let me guide this energy into one singular skin cell to see how long it will take to fill up.”
The Mortal Evolution stage consisted of filling the cells of the body in stages, respectively, the skin, bones, organs, meridian veins, acupoints, eyes (one stage for each eye), and brain, and then using the energy and experience from the previous stages to form a core (dantian). The skin, being the largest organ, would generally take the longest to complete; as such, it was extremely necessary to know how long it took to fill one cell.
Time passed slowly before an enraged and sad roar erupted from Samuel's sitting figure.
“NOOOOO, what is this speed? 10 minutes—a whole 10 minutes—to fill one singular cell. At this rate, I will turn to dust before even reaching a percentage of completion. 30,000,000 years to fully complete just my skin refinement. GOD DAMN IT! I would much rather be an ordinary Mortal Evolution stage and cultivate at a normal speed than die of old age due to being too powerful.”
“How can I ever get revenge at this rate?”
What Samuel failed to realize was that his rune and eyes were devouring spiritual qi from the air at a rapid speed, not to fill his cells but rather to continue to improve his talents. As this happened, the devouring rate of his hair increased, slowly but surely.
“No, I can’t continue to wallow in this depression. I’ll comprehend Portal, realize the effect of my new eyes, and create a defensive technique before I go to take revenge. I won’t mess with the powerhouses of the Black Lotus, but I will rid this realm of that old fucking shadow bastard and that lady. If I can’t progress in my cultivation any further, blood will flood the streets, and everyone will remember the bane of evil that is me, Samuel!