Ariz walked swiftly down the hallway toward the dining area, his heartbeat pounding a little too fast. The moment he stepped in, a warm wave of mouth-watering aroma hit him square in the face — his favourite dishes. No mistaking them.
Across the dining table, Ayaka stood at the kitchen counter. An apron wrapped neatly over her red high-neck top, and her tight black jeans hugging her curves as she poured stew into bowls with practiced grace. She didn't even look up when she heard his footsteps, fully focused on serving the dish. (character pic in discord ;)
"Dear, just give me a few minutes," she said, still handling the ladle. "The food's ready, I'll serve it quickly. Today I made your favourite dishes as a celebration."
"Ah… thank you. Let me help you out," Ariz smiled, circling the table toward her.
That's when she finally heard his voice properly — deeper, smoother, completely different from the scruffy boy who left the house this morning. Her hand paused mid-air. Slowly, she lifted her gaze.
And she froze.
"…Ariz?"
Her crimson eyes widened; for a split second, even her composed, mature aura cracked. The changes in him — the sharper jaw, the faint glow in his eyes, that subtle charm and aura leaking off him — caught her off guard, making her heart skip a beat, before she quickly regained control.
"Wait— is this really my boy Ariz? I see the Awakening turned you into a handsome young man," she teased lightly, wiping sweat off her forehead and trying (poorly) to hide the blush threatening her cheeks.
Ariz grinned and immediately struck a dramatic, model-like pose, flipping his hair with a flourish.
"Of course! I was always meant to be a handsome man… the dream guy of every woman."
Ayaka snorted. "Well, is the dream guy of every woman going to keep posing, or will he help this woman?"
The moment the words left her mouth, her eyes widened slightly. She cleared her throat and looked away, a faint blush creeping up her neck.
"Yo-you can go set up the dining table," she added quickly. "I'll handle the dishes."
"Alright," Ariz chuckled, heading to the stack of plates.
He grabbed the stack of plates and took them to the dining table, then he began arranging them on the table. Four chairs — two on each side — neat and even. He started laying out spoons, bowls, adjusting placements.
As he aligned the forks perfectly, he spoke mentally.
'Ava, tell me something… are quests always gonna be like that? Forcing me into situations? I don't like being pushed.'
Ava sighed softly inside his mind.
[See, baby, I know they're sudden. The problem is that the system is not working at its full capacity, in fact it's not even at half its capacity. I had to wake it before it fully recovered — so you could awaken quickly.]
'What? Why?'
[Because recovering naturally would've taken far too long. And from the state of Earth… accelerating things was necessary. Only you can feed the system enough energy to recover, and only after recovery will you start your True Cultivation.]
"True cultivation? What do you mean?" Ariz muttered under his breath as he aligned napkins.
[The cultivation humans are doing on Earth isn't real cultivation at all. What they're doing here… is insanely rare in the universe.]
Ariz blinked as he adjusted another bowl. "How so?"
[In the universe, most beings begin cultivation on their natural foundation — spirit roots, meridians, soul pathways, body refinement. True cultivation is evolving their existence and defying the heavens.]
He paused. "…So you're saying the stuff in novels — spirit roots, meridians — that's real?"
[Of course. I don't know how people here even wrote about it, but yes. Normally, cultivators awaken their spirit root, sense qi, open their meridians, practice techniques, and start their journey. That's how it's supposed to work.]
She continued while he placed utensils perfectly.
[But on Earth it is flawed. Humans here go through what you call as the awakening, and what it does is that it awakens their spirit root — but they have no cultivation techniques. And somehow — this is the insane part — they can upgrade their spirit root. Those are the ranks you know. The more it upgrades, the higher their rank.]
Ariz scratched his cheek. "That sounds broken… but how do they get stronger if they're not cultivating properly?"
Ava's tone turned serious.
[Because they are absorbing Qi directly into their body without any cultivation techniques. And the Qi isn't only entering their flesh. It's forcing its way into their spirit root too — and that should be impossible. Spirit roots are not meant to evolve. Ever. In the entire universe, a spirit root is fixed from birth. It can be strengthened, nourished, refined… but it cannot evolve or rank up.]
Ariz paused mid-placement. "So… Earth is doing something impossible?"
[Yes. And not just to one or two people — but to millions. Their spirit roots are evolving on a massive scale. Even I don't understand how. It goes against every law of cultivation I know.]
Ariz frowned. "Okay, but if they're upgrading so fast, won't they become insanely strong?"
[No, baby. That's the tragedy. Everything has a natural limit. And when Qi forcefully mutates it, the root doesn't just evolve — it fractures. It becomes unstable. They get a temporary rise in power, yes… but they're burning the foundation meant to last a lifetime.]
Ava's voice lowered.
[And once a spirit root burns itself out… it dies. When that happens, the power it provided, will disappear. Completely. They'll lose all their strength and return to being ordinary mortals.]
Ariz stared at the table, stunned. "So all awakened humans… they're walking toward a dead end?"
[Exactly. Unless they find a method to cultivate and stabilize their roots or repair them — which they don't have — their power is temporary. A miracle that will eventually turn into a disaster. Them not exploding already is honestly impressive.]
Ariz stiffened. "Then… won't I be the same? I'm D-Class too."
Ava let out a low, amused hum in his mind.
[Relax, baby. As I told you before, You're nothing like them.]
Ariz paused mid-movement.
[You don't even have a spirit root. Because in a way, the system is your spirit root itself.]
Ariz nearly dropped a spoon. "…Come again?"