If Max had been alive, really alive, he would've sworn his heart was beating.
The rush of fire-tinted Qi still lingered in his core, pulsing warmly as Idle Tempering consumed it in quiet, steady loops. The recent fight hadn't lasted long, but the aftershocks refused to fade. His awareness trembled for a long time, pressure rising and falling inside him like a tide he didn't know how to control.
But beneath the anxiety was something else—something quieter, steadier.
He'd killed something. Not by accident. Not by luck alone.
He'd acted, and the world had responded.
That small spirit-beast had survived. He had survived. The forest, dangerous as it was, felt slightly less impossible.
He wasn't strong. But he wasn't helpless either.
As the fire Qi settled deeper into his channels, he sensed every grain of earth more clearly. The faintest shift in the soil, the delicate rustle of a root curling deeper into the ground, the scraping of beetles tunneling past—everything drew sharper lines in his perception.
Idle Insight rose faster now, each new piece of sensory information building on the last, shaping his understanding of the world inch by inch.
> Idle Insight (F): 28%
Idle Qi Absorption (F): 53%
Idle Tempering (F): 47%
He needed all three maxed to evolve. The thought of it thrilled and grounded him at once. Evolving wasn't a luxury anymore—it was survival. He had no illusions about that. If a lesser predator coming at the right angle nearly killed him, something stronger wouldn't even notice him while crushing him underfoot.
The forest wasn't waiting for him to grow. Creatures passed overhead constantly. He learned their rhythm without trying. He recognized some of them now by how they moved.
The tiny ones darted like sparks.
Medium beasts moved with caution, testing the air and soil with each step.
Predators pressed deeply, their weight coiled with tension.
And then there were the monsters—those titanic beings whose steps cracked the world with each landing. Max felt those tremors at irregular intervals, always unpredictable. One came close enough to collapse a section of dirt near him, sending soil sliding and roots snapping.
For nearly an hour afterward, Max felt like his body was one stiff breath from shattering.
He hated how vulnerable he was. But anger sharpened him. Fear focused him. The system responded.
Idle Qi Absorption increased its pace, drawing in strands of ambient energy in thicker threads. As if the world, sensing his desperation, had chosen to feed him a little faster.
Slowly, the warmth inside him grew stronger.
And with that warmth came change.
---
Max noticed the difference when a set of footsteps approached during a relatively quiet cycle. Not large, not small—somewhere in between. He expected another mid-level beast.
But as the creature drew closer, its pattern held faint hesitation. Not fear, exactly—more like cautious curiosity. Its feet pressed softly, stopping frequently to sniff at patches of earth.
When it passed over the remains of the Ember-Fanged Weasel's battle site, it lingered for a long while. Max felt its head tilt—he sensed the shift in pressure. Then the creature moved on, weaving a slow circle through the area.
A scavenger? A cautious predator? Or something intelligent?
Whatever it was, Max sensed it again the next cycle. And again. The entire region had changed after his fight. The lesser beasts avoided the area for a while, returning in small numbers only after the predator's scent faded. Larger creatures investigated the disturbance, drawn by instinct or hunger.
Max wasn't invisible anymore, not entirely. The battle had marked the forest floor above him.
And even though nothing sensed him specifically, the idea that his presence could influence the forest—even indirectly—made him anxious.
He needed Evolution 1. Soon.
Idle Insight chimed softly.
> Idle Insight (F): 39%
He could think more clearly now, stringing thoughts together without that foggy drift that had followed him since awakening. He began to recall things more vividly from his old life—lectures, childhood memories, late nights in the campus library. His brain, if one could call the awareness inside a rock a brain, felt sharper.
The clarity brought something else too: patience.
But patience didn't change reality.
The forest was shifting again.
Max sensed it late into a cold cycle—three sets of footsteps, moving at a steady pace. The same rhythm he'd learned from before. Humans. Or cultivators. The distinction didn't matter. Both were terrifying.
He recognized the cadence immediately. The weight pattern was exactly the same as last time. Same group? Or a different patrol from the same sect or clan?
They approached from the northeast, moving slowly, cutting across the forest floor in a deliberate sweep.
Searching.
Max went completely still, suppressing every pulse of Qi, every internal ripple. His idle skills continued in the background, but he quieted his conscious awareness as much as he could, mimicking the inert state he'd learned earlier.
The steps drew closer. Closer.
One of the cultivators stopped directly above him.
Max screamed internally, but a rock had no mouth to scream with.
So he endured.
The person crouched. A palm pressed to the ground again—almost the exact same gesture as before. The Qi scan brushed through the soil, passing within inches of Max's body.
The cultivator's Qi was stronger this time. More refined. More perceptive.
If they pushed even a little harder…
If they probed deeper…
If they thought something was hidden…
But the scan continued on. Smooth. Even. Uninterested.
And then the cultivator spoke—faint vibrations, but clearer than anything Max had sensed before.
"…nothing unusual. Just lingering beast Qi. Whatever happened here wasn't human work."
Another voice joined, lower and more impatient.
"Search farther west. Elder wants all traces mapped before sunset."
Their footsteps retreated, the ground sighing in relief under their departing weight.
Only when they were gone did Max allow himself to feel anything again.
If they had found him… he didn't know what would've happened. But it wouldn't have led to freedom or growth.
Evolution became not just a goal, but a line in the sand.
He needed more awareness. More defenses. More everything.
He watched his bars.
> Idle Qi Absorption (F): 70%
Idle Tempering (F): 63%
Idle Insight (F): 48%
He was close—but not close enough.
---
The next cycles passed in tense bursts of silence and chaos.
Sometimes nothing happened for hours except the slow trickle of Qi into his body, the gentle tightening of stone structure, and the steady accumulation of knowledge. Other times the forest erupted in roars and tremors: battles between monsters, stampedes of frightened prey, trees cracking under the force of some powerful beast.
Max didn't know how large the forest was, but it felt endless—an ecosystem pulsing with danger and life.
He began to understand certain beasts by their weight. One creature with an uneven, dragging gait passed by often—likely wounded or sick. Another moved with a strange hopping rhythm that sent jolts of vibration each time it hit the ground. A predator with an unbelievably smooth stride stalked through the area at night cycles, almost too quiet for something that big to exist.
He also noticed the spirit-beast he'd saved. Its footsteps were light but distinctive—fast bursts of movement, then stillness, then another burst. It began passing near him once every few cycles, often pausing near the crevice he called home.
Was it checking on him? Or making sure the predator hadn't returned?
It nudged a loose stone near Max more than once. A tap of recognition, perhaps.
He wasn't sure what to call that emotion. But he held onto it.
In a world where everything wanted him dead or harvested, even the smallest acknowledgment felt like a miracle.
---
Evolution came subtly.
No fanfare. No sudden explosion of energy. Just a moment where everything in him felt… full.
Idle Qi Absorption hit 100%. It flashed with a soft pulse.
Max braced himself.
Another pulse followed. Then another.
> Idle Qi Absorption (F) → (E)
Efficiency increased.
Qi intake +30%.
Ambient sensitivity improved.
Then Idle Tempering ticked upward, fed by the surge of newly refined Qi.
> Idle Tempering (F) → (E)
Density increased.
Durability improved.
Internal structure refined.
Max felt that immediately—his awareness thickened, like his stone form had grown heavier in a good way. His fractures knit together into cleaner lines, allowing Qi to spiral more efficiently.
Only one skill remained.
Idle Insight.
It had grown steadily all this time, but Max poured his attention into it now, focusing intensely on the world around him: the subtle vibrations of the soil, the distant rumbling of mountains, the faint hum of spiritual energy passing through tree roots, the sigh of wind weaving through branches overhead.
He understood the forest now.
He knew its heartbeat.
The bar surged.
98%.
99%.
100%.
A cold ripple shot through his core.
Then a warm one.
Then—
The system clicked.
> Idle Insight (F) → (E)
Cognitive processing improved.
Awareness broadened.
Comprehension increased.
All Idle Skills ranked E.
Evolution 1 – Ready.
Begin Evolution?
Y / N
Max didn't hesitate.
Yes.
The world fell silent.
Qi flooded him in a concentrated flow, spiraling through channels, grinding away imperfections, reshaping him from the inside out. His form compacted—just slightly—becoming heavier, denser, more refined.
New pathways formed.
Old cracks healed.
His awareness snapped sharply into focus.
The system chimed softly, almost reverently.
> Evolution 1 Complete.
New Form: Awakened Mineral Stone (E)
New Skill Unlocked:
Micro-Shift – Enables extremely limited movement through controlled internal vibration.
New Feature:
Basic Sound Perception (Ground-Based) – Detect low-frequency resonance through soil.
Idle System upgraded to v1.1.
Max felt everything at once.
He could move.
Barely—an inch at a time, a fraction of a shift—but for a creature who had been completely immobile since the moment of reincarnation, it felt like taking his first breath.
Sound wasn't sound, not really—but he could perceive deeper frequencies now, more than just tremors. Faint echoes layered themselves into his awareness: the groan of moving earth, the distant rumble of water flow, the low hum of some large creature breathing.
He was still a rock.
But he was a rock that could learn, grow, move, and one day…
Escape the soil.
A new impulse rose within him—quiet but fierce.
He wasn't just surviving anymore.
He was beginning.