Three Months Later
Ben lay flat on his back in the middle of the clearing behind the dorms, an uneaten meat bun resting on his stomach as he stared listlessly at the clouds.
"Level 20…" he muttered with the flatness of a man who had just learned he had six more months of life-threatening waterfall meditation ahead of him. "I've done it again."
No training, no soul beasts hunted, not even a dumbbell lifted. He had just… lived. With his Martial Soul passively active 24/7—thanks to his first spirit skill Core Pulse—his body was constantly being refined, his cultivation steadily increasing day by day.
And now?
"Another ring... Another damn waterfall…" Ben muttered darkly.
He flopped onto his side, grumbling. "Why can't I just go fishing like the other villagers? Why must I destroy nature to cultivate...?"
Then something unexpected happened.
A faint pulse trembled through his chest. At first, Ben thought it was just his heartbeat—but no, it was something else. His brows furrowed as he sat up.
His core, nestled somewhere beneath his sternum—his real core, the same alien one tied to his Martial Soul—was glowing softly beneath his skin.
Then it blinked.
Ben blinked too. "Eh?"
It blinked again.
Then again. And again. Faster and faster.
His pupils shrank. "W-Wait, am I gonna explode?! What the hell is this?!"
Panic gripping his heart, Ben scrambled to his feet and bolted for the forest, muttering incoherently as he ran. "I knew I should've written a will—who the hell cultivates by instinct?! Why does my core have a self-destruct mode!?"
The moment he reached the familiar secluded glade—an old training spot nestled between two mossy cliffs—the pulsing hit its peak.
And then—BOOM.
Not a sound, but a light, silver and white, exploded from his core and surged outward like a heartbeat amplified a thousandfold. It wasn't hot or painful… but it was intense. The trees bent outward, birds scattered, and the very air seemed to warp in its wake.
Ben shielded his eyes with one arm, heart hammering, waiting for a detonation that never came.
When the light finally dimmed and his vision returned, he slowly lowered his arm.
Floating in front of him—no spirit beast, no corpse, no fight—was a second spirit ring.
Just like the first, it glowed a brilliant yellow, laced with a thin band of shifting silver light. Identical in size, weight, and energy signature.
Ben blinked. He tilted his head.
Then he raised a hand toward the ring.
"...Sweet," he muttered, stunned. "Free DLC unlocked."
The ring slowly drifted into him, fusing with his Martial Soul without resistance. No pain, no roar of beasts, no trial by fire. It just… clicked.
He didn't even realize he was grinning like a fool.
What he also didn't realize… was that he wasn't alone.
Hidden deep in the canopy above, a towering figure watched in silence, his rough features partially shadowed beneath a worn cloak. Tang Hao had witnessed the entire phenomenon from start to finish. His body was still, but his mind raced.
He had felt the strange power awaken—something unnatural yet distinctly human. He'd followed it out of caution, not expecting anything serious. But this…
This boy's Martial Soul… it was body-type. His aura? Completely human.
Yet somehow… two spirit rings. No beasts in sight.
Tang Hao's breath caught.
It all clicked.
"…He's the one," he muttered, eyes narrowing. "He's the one who stole Ah Yin's leg bone…"
The pressure rolling off Tang Hao's body was subtle but deadly. Leaves curled in the wind as his anger began to rise.
But then… he stopped.
Because now, as he looked closer… the boy didn't feel like a thief. No killing intent. No malicious spirit energy. His Martial Soul, despite its mystery, radiated something else entirely—something that didn't belong to any spirit beast or spirit master Tang Hao had ever seen.
Something pure.
Still… he didn't move. Not yet.
He would keep watching.