Elias Vance woke with the morning mist, not because an alarm clock blared, but because his body simply decided it was time. After a perfect six hours of sleep, his internal Qi energy hit its morning peak, and his eyes snapped open, sharp and ready.
He was alone in his small, dusty meditation room. Good. He liked the quiet. While other young disciples in the nearby dorms were just groaning and stretching under their rough blankets, Elias was already running a quick check of himself.
Heartbeat: Perfect.
Qi energy: Full, 91% capacity.
Mind-scan power: Super clear, no static.
Memory bank: Loaded with thousands of books, all neatly filed away.
He got dressed quickly in his plain, grey robes. They felt rough, a reminder that he was just a low-ranking disciple here. But he didn't care about rank. He only cared about data. He slipped out of his room while most people were still asleep, heading straight for the sect library.
He wasn't going there to borrow books or read.
He was going to copy them.
Elias didn't need paper, ink, or brushes. He had his special mind-scan power (what they called 'divine sense' here, but way better). And his brain now worked like a super-fast computer hard drive. Every tiny brain cell could grab and store information – a word, a picture, a sound – like a tiny switch turning on or off.
One quick look. One mental scan. One moment of powerful focus.
And boom. Everything was stored. Thousands of old scrolls. Hundreds of jade slips (like stone tablets with ancient writings). Dozens of rare, forgotten cultivation books.
He walked silently through the rows of shelves, acting like any other curious student. Sometimes he'd brush his fingers over a book's spine, even though he didn't need to open it. From the outside, he just looked like he was Browse. But inside, he was quietly copying the Emerald Sky Sect's entire collection of knowledge – every single piece of information they had – and leaving no trace.
Even the old Library Elder didn't notice.
That alone told Elias how far he'd come. The elder was a calm, white-robed man who sat at the front, sipping tea and usually not paying much attention. He was supposed to be super powerful, able to sense a fly from a football field away. But Elias walked right past him, sometimes just a few feet away, with his mind-scan pulses zipping like invisible messages. The elder's divine sense never even twitched.
That's because Elias's divine sense wasn't just strong; it was surgically precise. He'd made it tiny, invisible threads, sending them out in waves, like a secret signal no one else could detect. He wasn't just scanning; he was tunneling—slipping through hidden pathways, like he used to move tiny particles through thick shields back on Earth. It was smooth. Invisible. Super effective.
By end of the day, Elias had perfectly copied and saved every single book from the sect library: every cultivation guide, every magic theory, every potion recipe, every spell formation, every charm, and every monster book. He even snuck into the forbidden section and copied advanced stuff he probably shouldn't have, like secrets about 'Void Integration'—something almost mythical even to the most powerful cultivators.
Most of the other young disciples here would be lucky to reach even the second stage of cultivation in their whole lives. Elias had just 'stolen' (or, well, perfectly downloaded) the entire sect's knowledge base before he'd even had his first real fight lesson.
And still, he wasn't satisfied. The more he learned, the more he saw how much these people didn't know, how many silly, inefficient ways they did things.
Elias went back to his cave. It was a small, stone room, a step up from the shared dorms, a perk Shen Yuan had earned for being a pretty good (but boring) student. He sat cross-legged on his mat, surrounded by nothing but quiet, dust dancing in the faint light, and a deep, scientific annoyance buzzing in his head.
"They're calling it a 'golden core'," he mumbled out loud, the frustration clear in his voice. "It's literally just a ball of energy they shove into their stomach. How is that golden? What's 'core-like' about it? And why does everyone talk about it like it's a wise, talking pet that gives advice?" He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, the ghost of yesterday's headache still there.
He opened a special thought-channel in his brain – his internal 'rant buffer,' a place to vent his scientific frustrations without messing up his main thinking processes.
Log: Day 14.
Topic: Cultivation Theory.
Diagnosis: Super Dumb, with a few accidental smart moments.
He'd finally finished figuring out this world's entire cultivation system. It took him two whole days, fourteen detailed mind-scans of different books, and one moment where he almost blew a fuse in his brain after reading a scroll that said Qi was "the love of heaven entering the meridians." The love of heaven. Seriously. For a moment, he actually wondered if cuddling a cloud would help his powers, then instantly shut down that illogical thought.
He leaned back, lacing his fingers behind his head, and began rebuilding the real structure of cultivation in his mind. Not the flowery poems, but the actual body changes and energy levels each stage represented.
Elias's Scientific Guide to Cultivation:
1. Qi Condensation Realm
What they say: "Breathing in the essence of the world, gathering it within your belly."
What Elias thinks: "Basically sucking on air until your blood tingles. You're like a walking air freshener."
How it really works: Your body's cells start soaking up tiny energy particles (Qi). They learn to guide and store this low-level energy, like a really basic battery getting its first charge. Very inefficient.
2. Foundation Establishment
What they say: "Make your body strong with spiritual energy, like building a solid house."
What Elias thinks: "Make your bones and muscles so tough you don't die from a paper cut. Or a sword wound."
How it really works: Your body's cells fix themselves super fast. Muscles get way denser, and your brain cells become better at sending Qi signals, making you react quicker. It's like giving your whole body a super energy drink.
3. Core Formation
What they say: "Turn your energy into a core, the anchor of your life, a golden seed."
What Elias thinks: "Stuff a homemade energy reactor into your gut and hope it doesn't blow up. The 'golden' part? Probably just for show."
How it really works: Your body squishes all its Qi energy into a super-dense ball in your belly. This ball then constantly cleans and powers itself, like a spiritual battery that never runs out, just way more powerful than simple meridians.
4. Nascent Soul
What they say: "Birth a soul within your soul. Lift your mind above everyday things."
What Elias thinks: "You make a copy of your consciousness like a computer file and pray the copy doesn't break."
How it really works: Your brain starts thinking about many things at once, like a super-fast computer. Your mind-scan power acts like a built-in assistant, helping you sense and understand the world around you better. You also start to understand the basic 'rules' of the world's elements (like fire, water) because your mind now clicks with their energy patterns. Pretty cool, but also easy to mess up.
5. Soul Formation
What they say: "I now walk with the heavens, my spirit free."
What Elias thinks: "You've basically glued your brain-AI to your actual soul and think you're enlightened. Try not to get hit by a magic bus while you're floating around."
How it really works: Your energy ball, mind-scan power, and soul all work together perfectly. Your mind can leave your body for short times, floating around, powered by energy threads.
6. Void Integration
What they say: "I am space. The universe obeys me."
What Elias thinks: "You are not space. You barely understand how a ball rolls downhill. You're just a glorified teleportation device with short range."
How it really works: Your mind-scan power can now directly touch and play with invisible strings of space itself. This allows for short-distance teleportation and a tiny bit of control over space-time, like bending light around yourself. It's the first real step into playing with reality.
7. Divine Integration
What they say: "Where man and the laws of the world become one."
What Elias thinks: "Congrats. You're now a glorified magic spell. You don't write the code, you just run it."
How it really works: Your energy core, mind-scan power, and soul all sync up with one or more of the universe's fundamental 'rules' (like the rules for fire or water). This lets you control those rules directly and super efficiently.
8. Ascension Stage
What they say: "Become immortal. Leave your mortal body behind."
What Elias thinks: "Become a living energy pattern that can fix itself and reassemble its consciousness even after huge damage. Yeah, 'immortal' works."
How it really works: Your mind becomes a self-sustaining loop of energy, tied to the universe's basic rules and stable space patterns. This lets you live for a really long time and even rebuild yourself if you get badly hurt. It's only possible if everything inside you perfectly matches the rules of the universe.
He stared at the rough stone ceiling after finishing his mental chart, the faint glow of the wall crystals highlighting his thoughtful face. His eye twitched once. "These people are trying to become gods by breathing hard and giving pep talks in the rain. It's… incredibly inefficient."
He stood, stretched, flexing his fingers. He gave a slow nod to himself in the quiet of his cave. Still. For all their messy methods and poetic words, the system worked. That meant, scientifically, there were real principles behind it. Something worth taking apart. Something worth fixing.
Which meant it was time to stop making fun of the system.
And start rebuilding it properly.
"It's time," Elias Vance muttered, a low, determined hum in his throat. A spark of pure, focused scientific ambition shone in his eyes. "Time to power level myself with science."