Chapter Thirty-Five: Awakening

The Encyclopedia of Cultivators contained no techniques, but instead annotated the key points one must heed at each stage of cultivation.

Well, in truth, thanks to the seal, Lin Lei could only access the Awakening Chapter for now—the level granted by the blue pill in his hand, which would elevate him in half an hour.

Awakening meant activating the special genetic code within, granting one divine power, divine sense, and innate abilities.

Divine power was merely a manifestation of one's origin, also called the Power of Origin, which cultivators referred to as spiritual energy.

All things possess origin; the existence of the system could even directly reclaim everything to harvest origin.

Cultivators, too, could absorb origin and convert it to divine power for their own cultivation, though not as powerfully as the system, which could absorb only the essence from the air or special, origin-rich substances.

Simply put, divine power was picky, absorbing only the finest essence, while the system acted like a garbage collector, accepting anything—even a puddle of mud.

Were it not for the constraints of the laws, the system might well reclaim the entire universe.

But to return to the point: divine power was the hallmark of every cultivator. Whether wielding divine sense or innate abilities, one must possess divine power.

The quantity of divine power was also a crucial measure of one’s cultivation. Generally, if two opponents’ abilities are comparable, the one with more divine power will be stronger.

Divine sense acted as the body's radar: it could actively scan one's own state, passively sense the fluctuations of divine power nearby—such as whether an opponent’s divine power was abundant, helping to judge their level—or detect whether powerful spirit objects were hidden in the surroundings.

Innate abilities, meanwhile, were unique to each cultivator, hence called innate divine abilities.

Everyone's abilities differed; used well, they could be lethal secret weapons for surpassing one's station.

“I’m so handsome and lucky—surely my innate ability must be extraordinary!” Lin Lei swallowed the pill with high hopes.

“Good luck, host!” the system suddenly chimed in once Lin Lei took the pill.

“What do you mean by that?”

Before the system could reply, a dizzying sensation swept over Lin Lei, sending him collapsing to the ground, convulsing violently.

His heart felt as though someone was battering it with a massive iron hammer, each blow more agonizing. He tried to scream, mouth wide open, but no sound came save for the guttural “guh, guh” in his throat.

Within his organs, it was as if a burning iron ball was rolling about, searing every inch, igniting his viscera. The flames stretched outward, and his skin turned crimson.

Lin Lei was in agony, suffering pain beyond anything he had ever known. For the first time, he wanted to die—only death could end this torment.

He lay on the floor, banging his head against the ground again and again, desperate to escape the pain, even if it cost him his life. Instinctively, he hoped to knock himself unconscious…

He had no idea how many hours or minutes passed before the pain finally ceased.

Lin Lei opened his eyes, blood mingling with tears and mucus smeared across his face, his freshly bathed body now covered in foul-smelling black filth.

“Congratulations, host, on a successful awakening,” the system intoned.

“I’d like nothing more than to curse your ancestors!” Lin Lei lay weakly on the floor. “Tell me honestly—are you taking revenge? When Yang Xueli advanced, nothing happened to her, but I nearly died! That damned encyclopedia didn’t mention a word about awakening being so painful!”

Had he known, Lin Lei would never have rushed into cultivation. With high-tech weaponry, who needs cultivation?

“Ordinary people who skip body refinement and directly attempt awakening are doomed to explode and die. Such cases are so fatal, the encyclopedia sees no need to record them,” said the system.

Evolutionaries like Yang Xueli or ancient martial artists were essentially refining their bodies.

Yang Xueli’s body was constantly reshaped and strengthened by viruses, giving her a solid foundation to leap two levels with ease.

Lin Lei, however, was different. His physical constitution was inferior even to most ordinary people. Although the system had made every preparation, rapidly strengthening his body in such a short time could not come without a price.

“This system has a restorative agent. For just two contribution points, you can recover instantly.”

“…If you have a restorative, surely you have a painkiller?” Lin Lei asked.

“Yes, but your pain had surpassed the body’s tolerance. Painkillers would have been useless—though a full-body anesthetic could have worked,” the system analyzed.

“Painkiller, anesthetic, whatever you have—why didn’t you use it on me?” Lin Lei flared.

“Sorry, this system forgot. Besides, such anesthetics that don’t hinder body modification are extremely expensive. Given your famously thrifty nature, I assumed you wouldn’t want to use it,” the system replied, utterly insincere.

A system—forgetting!

Such an excuse wouldn’t fool a child.

The system knew Lin Lei would survive, but, annoyed by his stingy ways, purposely withheld the suggestion.

“Fine! So you think I’m stingy, huh? Forget the restorative!” Originally, Lin Lei had intended to use it, but after the system’s taunts, he decided to be stingy to the end.

Without the restorative, his body wouldn’t recover quickly; he could only lie on the floor, waiting.

Luckily, this was the real world, his own home. Had it been elsewhere, he’d never have dared to be so bold. No wonder the system had insisted he choose a safe place for his advancement.

With nothing to do, Lin Lei entered the exchange space to browse goods.

He had just awakened; his body contained not a trace of divine power, let alone the ability to wield his innate ability.

There were three ways to obtain divine power. The first was to calm the mind and sense the easily-absorbed origin particles in the world (commonly known as spiritual energy), replenishing lost divine power.

This was the most basic and slowest method, used only by those without cultivation techniques.

The second was to operate a cultivation technique to absorb origin particles. Even the lowest-level methods absorbed nearly ten percent faster than the first.

That ten percent mattered—not to mention cultivation techniques could be operated during battle, without needing to calm the mind, making the advantage obvious.

The third method seemed tailor-made for players like Lin Lei: taking pills.

In terms of cultivation speed, if an opponent worked hard for ten years, one pill could match that instantly.

In terms of battlefield endurance, while an enemy carefully calculated and operated to keep their divine power at one-third, Lin Lei could unleash his innate abilities without restraint, a full-screen assault, and when his divine power ran low, pop a Recovery Pill to refill instantly and keep blasting.

As long as Lin Lei had contribution points, the system had pills.

Sometimes, Lin Lei suspected that the so-called path of the strongest was just a trap set by the system, like those games—if you can’t beat the opponent, just spend money; spend enough, and even a pig could one-shot a top master.