Shen Zuo went quiet for a moment, not answering. But Zhou Ji kept going, without waiting for a response: "You just latched onto a few lines from a book and forgot to actually strive for anything. You forgot to try. Even we... never taught you to live your life trapped inside a set of instructions. Don't wall yourself in."
His voice rose a little, though not in anger, but full of conviction:
"Try it. Let yourself make mistakes, attempt things, fail. Don't just listen to the book, write one of your own... about your own experience."
Then he added, his voice warmer now:
"And you know... I write down everything you do. Trust me, as your grandfather, I'll write what actually suits you... not what suits the rulebook."
He fell silent for a moment, then said in a tone mixing mockery with reproach:
"Are you really scared of a few beasts above your level? For shame, Shen Zuo... for shame."
The silence that followed his words wasn't calm at all, it was a slap of insight.
Shen Zuo stood frozen in place, motionless, his expression unreadable, for an unknown stretch of time.
Then he made his way back to the cave, carrying the rock, the Phantom, with him.
He went inside, set the Phantom aside, sat down, and stayed silent for a while. He opened the book, read the section on Phantom Refining, closed it, steadied himself, then began trying to refine the Phantom exactly as the technique described.
"Alright... just like I pushed my consciousness into my Aether Field, I need to push it into this Phantom too... but I need to control my energy so it enters the Phantom alongside my consciousness."
Shen Zuo ran through the instructions in his head and closed his eyes.
He began focusing, pulling a small amount of his energy, regulating its flow, and directing it toward the Phantom.
He tried pushing his consciousness in gradually, careful not to let the energy leak out of control. He tried again, mindful of the same thing, thinking to himself, "According to the book, there'll be a strong pushback at first from the Phantom's will." He tried to steady himself mentally, preparing for it.
In the next instant, Shen Zuo's consciousness was hit with a sudden attack, blasted and thrown completely out.
But Shen Zuo didn't back down. He steadied himself and tried again.
The difficulty had multiplied, ten times over, maybe more.
The Phantom began resisting fiercely, and Shen Zuo kept trying to push his consciousness back in, slowly, careful not to lose control over the flow of his energy.
Phantoms have their own will, it's what drives them, what lets them enter the bodies of beasts to hide inside or claim as a dwelling, and what allows them to control their own power to assist beasts in combat and the like. That's how it works for beasts. For humans, though, this will can allow it to submit to a person if it judges them worthy, or comes to recognize them, and humans can also subdue this will through certain methods, exactly what Shen Zuo was attempting now.
After an hour of trying, Shen Zuo finally managed to push his consciousness back into the Phantom, going even deeper this time.
But the resistance kept intensifying, and the Phantom's will began pressing down on him with even greater force, as though it refused outright to acknowledge him at all.
And the problem was, his Aether energy had started running dry, dropping below a third of what he'd started with.
He himself had grown utterly exhausted, his breathing ragged, his consciousness shaking with every moment of resistance.
But the Phantom still refused, and the confrontation wasn't over yet.
A short while later, the Phantom's defenses began to shrink.
Its will no longer attacked the way it had before, and its hesitation became obvious.
Shen Zuo felt it immediately, steadied his consciousness firmly, and kept pressing forward without ever letting up.
Shen Zuo finally succeeded in refining it, after emptying out nearly his entire reserve of energy.
He himself, once he confirmed the Phantom was refined, threw himself down on his side and fell asleep.
The next day, Shen Zuo woke up sore from his sleeping position, the Phantom still in his hand and now part of his Aether Field.
His energy had returned in full, just as the book had said.
"Have I become some superpowered being now, just like grandpa Bai Ren?" he said, smiling with pride.
Then he got up and stepped out of the cave to test the Phantom.
Shen Zuo began pumping a small amount of his energy into the Phantom again, but this time for something completely different. He wasn't trying to refine it or subdue it anymore, he was trying to activate it.
The instant his energy touched the Phantom, it responded immediately.
A faint flash appeared, then something wrapped itself around his right hand.
Within seconds, dense stone scales formed over Shen Zuo's hand and fist, solid, dark, with sharp, fine edges.
He raised his hand, studying it, feeling the weight of it, though it didn't slow his movement at all. He clenched his fist and heard a grinding sound, like stone scraping against stone.
He ran his other fingers over the surface of the scales; it was rock solid, as though a whole slab of stone had wrapped itself around his hand.
It spread up over his forearm, then his shoulder, and began creeping toward his left side.
But as it progressed, he started feeling something different... control.
He realized he could direct where the scales appeared, focus his energy on a specific spot, and have them form there instantly.
He focused only on his arm, and the scales vanished from his shoulder and side, staying only on his arm.
He increased their density, making them heavier and harder, like armor.
Then he focused on the edge of his fist, and the edges sharpened into a razor-like blade... like a weapon.
He whispered to himself calmly: "I can shape it however I want... defense and offense both. This is way more than I expected."
During one attempt, while he was focusing on thickening the scales over his shoulder, the energy suddenly slipped down into his leg without him meaning it to.
He stopped, pumped the energy again, adjusted the flow.
He kept experimenting with control until he could pinpoint exactly where the response originated from within his Aether Field.
He practiced shifting rapidly from one point to another, and discovered the response was faster if he maintained a steady, consistent flow of energy.
Later, he tried using the scales only on his foot, then tried running with them.
He noticed a limited amount of extra weight, but it was manageable.
He went back and repeated the test on both hands with continuous movement, and started noticing the trade-off between protection and flexibility.
He cut the energy off completely, then activated it suddenly, response time: under a second and a half.
He repeated the test more than fifteen times.
He mentally noted which combinations were the most stable, and which drained the most energy.
Then he sat down, took a breath, and waited for his energy to refill.
Once his energy returned to a sufficient level, he decided to test it in actual combat use. He got up, picked out a solid surface near the cave, and struck it with his scale-covered fist, observing the amount of damage, then tried it from different angles.
He tried again, with more control this time, then eased back, sat down where he was, and began thinking of a name for the Phantom.
"Alright... I'll call it Rock Mutation."
"Hmm... good name, if you're asking me."
Zhou Ji's voice came out as usual, without being seen.
"Well, I actually came today to comfort you personally, since you're going to die pretty soon."
Zhou Ji continued in a drowsy tone, as though discussing something completely ordinary.
"Wait, what??!"
Shen Zuo was stunned, his voice suddenly rising.
"From my humble analysis of the beasts Bai Ren's been preparing, your current condition, your preparations..."
Zhou Ji yawned, then continued calmly: "You're going to end up killed while hiding inside one of your tunnels, from the side effects of fighting off the beasts."
"Alright, thanks for your concern, now go do whatever it is you were doing." Shen Zuo shot back coldly, turning his face away.
But Zhou Ji spoke with a slightly different tone this time:
"This is the first novel I've ever written... and I don't think I'm ready to end it this fast. You haven't even seen Ling Li's novel, it was a masterpiece."
"Okay." Shen Zuo replied curtly, showing zero interest.
"Oh, why are you so hostile toward me?" Zhou Ji said, feigning shock.
"Maybe because you're announcing my death to me, for example." Shen Zuo shot back quickly, not even looking at him.
"Alright, alright... fair enough." Zhou Ji said, a bit mockingly, then continued:
"But look on the bright side, at least your death will be dramatic."
Shen Zuo didn't answer, just turned his face toward the sky and muttered:
"If I die, let it at least be after I get to slap one of you first."
Zhou Ji laughed a little, then said: "Oh, is that a threat? Great, I'm writing that down in the chapter, I won't cut it like the rest of your nonsense."
Shen Zuo muttered irritably: "At least grandpa Bai Ren doesn't talk this much..."
Zhou Ji answered immediately: "That's because I'm speaking for him, for myself, and for you too, since I'm the only one nobody can shut up."
Shen Zuo sighed, then began quietly gathering his gear, saying without turning around:
"I'm heading out. I've got a Phantom, I've got training to do, and I've go
t a deadline closing in... no time for empty talk."
"Alright, I'll be watching quietly... relatively speaking."
Zhou Ji said it, but his voice gradually faded away.