To a normal cultivator, a Rank 9 Qi Foundation guard is a lethal threat. Their skin is as hard as cured leather, and they can behead a commoner before the sound of the blade even registers.
To Aris, however, this man was not a threat. He was a Loot Box.
Aris didn't speed up. He turned calmly into a narrow, dead-end alleyway where the moonlight couldn't reach. He stood still, his small back turned to the entrance, waiting.
"An alchemist who hides behind a child's illusion?"
The Shadow Guard dropped from the rooftops, landing silently. His blade dripped with a toxic green Qi that hissed as it touched the cobblestones.
"You were careless, 'Pale Alchemist,'" the assassin sneered, stepping closer. "My master, Lord Meng, wants your recipe. I only need your tongue and your fingers. The rest of you can rot."
Aris didn't turn around. He adjusted his sleeves, his voice calm and unbothered.
"You're Level 32," Aris said softly. "You've spent forty years cultivating. You likely sacrificed your health, your family, and your dignity just to reach the Foundation Stage. And for what? To be a dog for a minor lord?"
The assassin paused, insulted. "What did you say?"
"I said," Aris turned, his violet eyes glowing in the dark, "what a waste of potential."
"Die, brat!" The guard roared, lunging forward. His dagger aimed for Aris's throat.
But as the guard moved, the world tilted.
Aris's shadow didn't move with him. It detached from his feet. It spread across the ground like spilled ink, defying the laws of physics. In an instant, the entire alleyway floor turned into a pool of absolute, vibrating darkness.
[Skill Activated: Abyssal Domain - Level 1]
[Companion Ability: Shadow Feast]
The guard's foot hit the "ink." He expected stone. He found nothing.
"What—?!"
He plunged downward, sinking into the shadow as if it were a bottomless ocean. The cold was instant—absolute zero.
"My Qi! I can't circulate my—"
"Skreeeeee!"
A sound that wasn't a sound tore through the alley. Nox emerged from the darkness behind the struggling guard.
The hatchling was no longer a small kitten. For a split second, the Abyssal Domain allowed Nox to reveal its true form: a swirling mass of six tattered wings, rows of needle-teeth, and hundreds of violet eyes that blinked in unison.
The "Void Dimension" opened. It wasn't a physical mouth; it was a tear in reality.
Nox didn't bite the guard; it erased him.
The guard screamed, but the sound was cut off as the darkness swallowed him whole. One moment, there was a man. The next, there was silence. No blood. No body. Not even a scrap of cloth remained.
[Target Executed.]
[Nox has consumed a Level 32 Soul.]
[System Alert: Massive XP Influx.]
[Nox Level Up! Level 3 → Level 6.]
[Passive 'Soul-Link' Activated: Sharing Experience with Host...]
Aris felt a rush of power hit him like a lightning bolt.
[Host Level Up!]
[Host Level Up!]
[Aris Thorne is now Level 9.]
[Stat Increases:]
Strength: 35 → 50 Agility: 28 → 40 Qi Capacity: 150 → 300 (Doubled due to Void-Expansion).
Aris stood alone in the empty alley. The shadows retracted, turning back into normal darkness. Nox sat at his feet, looking like a harmless kitten again, licking its paw.
"Good boy," Aris whispered.
The Golden Forge
Aris returned to the Shattered Pagoda just as the first grey light of dawn touched the horizon.
He walked to the center of the main hall, where the toxic Yin-Spring bubbled. He didn't rest. The "Player" mentality didn't allow for breaks when resources were available.
He emptied his spatial ring. 5,950 Gold Coins cascaded onto the stone floor, a glittering mountain of wealth.
In this world, gold coins were minted from Low-Grade Spirit Copper. To others, it was currency. To Aris, it was raw fuel.
"I'm tired of being skinny," Aris muttered, looking at his small, five-year-old hands. "System. Initiate Body Re-Forging. Use all the gold to fuel the Creation Forge."
[Warning: Dangerous Procedure.]
[You are attempting to smelt Spirit Copper directly into your skeletal structure to catalyze the 'Abyssal Steel' evolution.]
[Pain Level: Critical. Mortality Rate: 0% (System Protected), but Psychological Trauma is possible.]
[Proceed?]
"Do it," Aris said coldly. "I survived a 48-hour coding crunch with a caffeine overdose. This is just a texture update."
[Forging Start...]
The Creation Forge hummed. The mountain of gold coins didn't melt into liquid; it sublimated into a glowing, golden mist. The mist swirled around Aris, entering his pores.
"Gahh!"
Aris gritted his teeth as his marrow began to boil. It felt like someone was pouring molten lead into his bones, replacing the calcium with metal. His muscles seized, tearing and knitting back together thousands of times a second.
He didn't scream. He refused to scream. He sat in the lotus position, sweat evaporating off his skin, staring at the progress bar with dead eyes.
[Progress: 25%... 60%... 90%...]
Click.
The pain vanished instantly.
[Body Tempering Breakthrough!]
[Rank 3 (Copper-Skin) → Rank 5 (Steel-Tendon).]
[Physique Evolution: 5% Awakened.]
Aris stood up. He hadn't turned into a hulk—he was still a five-year-old boy. But he had grown two inches. His skin wasn't just pale anymore; it had the density of marble. His muscles, though lean, felt like coiled steel cables.
He picked up a loose stone from the pagoda floor and squeezed. The stone exploded into dust.
"Better," Aris said, dusting off his hands. "Now I'm not a glass cannon."
[System Notification: Main Plot Event Detected.]
A red window popped up, interrupting his self-assessment.
[New Quest: The Family Sparring]
[Context:] Every year, the Thorne Family holds a "Strength Test" for all children aged 5-10 to determine resource allocation.
[Objective:] Enter the tournament under your real identity (Aris Thorne).
[Target:] Defeat your 2nd Brother, Kaelen (Level 15), using only 1% of your true power.
[Condition:] Do not reveal your Abyssal Cultivation. Win using "Luck" or "Basic Martial Arts."
[Rewards:]
500 AP. Hidden Item: Fragment Map of the Emperor's Secret Vault.
Aris stared at the reward. The Emperor's Vault. That was where the World Tree Root was located.
"The tournament," Aris smirked, rolling his shoulders. "I was wondering when the Main Plot would finally try to find me."
"Nox," he called to the shadow. "Get ready. We're going to play with the other children."