The first thing Lucian felt after crossing into the Great Rift was that it had a far greater spiritual energy density than Earth.
’That is why people are said to develop their abilities faster inside rifts.’
Confirming this, Lucian moved to first check where the official explorer teams were operating, intending to head in the complete opposite direction.
It didn’t take him much time to locate their tracks, as most topographic maps and general hunting routes were readily available on public platforms.
Leaving the charted zones behind, Lucian moved into the unexplored wilderness with extreme caution, taking his time to weave through the unfamiliar terrain. Most explorer teams stuck strictly to cleared sectors unless they arrived in massive, heavily armed expeditions prepared to push into the lethal depths.
Lucian slipped past strange, glowing flora until he arrived at the rim of a massive mud basin. Crawling across the murky swamp were dozens of colossal, Komodo dragon-like reptilian beasts.
’They were known for poisons.’
Occasionally, a few wandered near the outer perimeter and were captured by explorer research units to extract their venom.
With a thought, Lucian drew his sword from the dark space, the balanced hilt appearing instantly in his grasp. Circulating Qi Sense Breath, he expanded his perception outward to evaluate the threat level of the monsters.
’Though their numbers are large, most are in B to A-Rank threshold with nearly twenty in S-Rank, the problem is their numbers.’ Lucian analyzed.
A direct fight would alert the entire basin.
’I need to do this like a silent assassination.’
Circulating the Five Elements Harmonizing Art, he completely erased his biological scent and presence. Sinking into the wet ground, a protective skin of Earth Qi enveloped his body like a second layer of armor.
Submerged in the mud, Lucian glided silently toward the nearest B-rank lizard, which was currently crunching on a rough, glowing boulder—or rather, a raw Energy Stone.
He approached from the creature’s blind spot beneath the silt.
Before the beast could even flick its tongue, Lucian’s sword surged out of the mud like a hidden phantom blade, cleanly severing the creature’s thick neck in a single, fluid strike.
A distinct, warm spark flared in his chest.
Karma.
The headless body began to spasm violently, but Lucian instantly locked it in place by manipulating the surrounding earth.
’This is likely a reservoir for energy stones,’ Lucian thought, plucking the half-chewed crystalline stone from the severed jaws while keeping his skin protected with qi against the acidic venom.
In cultivation terms, shouldn’t he call this a spirit stone?
’Huh?’
He inwardly exclaimed in pure shock as the raw energy stone in his grip suddenly began to dissolve into his pores, causing his Karma pool to tick upward.
His eyes shone with excitement as his senses penetrated deeper into the soil. Below the mud basin lay an enormous, untouched subterranean deposit of natural spirit stones.
Without a second of hesitation, Lucian dove straight into the bedrock using Five Elements Harmonizing Art – Earth Burrowing.
He felt like he had just discovered a genuine glitch in the matrix.
Moving like a crazed treasure hunter through the underground veins, he began absorbing the raw spirit stones directly, deciding it was far smarter to fill his Karma reserves first without fighting. He could always hunt later.
Within a single uninterrupted hour of burrowing, nearly sixty percent of his total Karma capacity was replenished.
Just as he was reaching for another crystalline cluster, his Qi Sense Breath caught a sudden, violent distortion on the surface above.
Lucian froze in place, focusing his perception upward.
A terrifying, suffocating aura bore down across the entire basin, so heavy that even thirty meters underground, the soil trembled. Up on the surface, all twenty S-rank reptilian behemoths abruptly ceased their feeding, their heads snapping toward a solitary figure who had descended among them.
"Hmm..."
Maximilian Schwarzenberg looked around the muddy clearing, his sharp blue eyes landing on the buried lizard corpse that a few smaller scavengers had begun digging up. It was an unmistakable sign of recent human combat.
’It seems they left,’ he thought.
Though Maximilian was not a dedicated scout, he was a flawless combat all-rounder. He knew that whichever infiltrator had slipped past the rift monitors would naturally head toward the high-yield, unexplored places.
"Though this is unexpected, an energy stone deposit, but claiming it will not be easy," he muttered aloud, glancing casually across the twenty S-rank venomous dragons hissing furiously at his presence.
Fighting a horde of poisonous S-rank beasts alone would be an unnecessary waste of time and stamina.
’This is not the only area, let’s check another one.’
With a quiet pop, Maximilian blurred, vanishing from the basin in a fraction of a second.
Down in the dark soil, Lucian exhaled a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.
’What the hell just happened?’
He had felt an unfathomable, world-class presence brush directly over his head, strong enough to intimidate twenty S-rank monsters simultaneously.
’Did someone come here?’
Even if an explorer scouted the area, Lucian was confident he could run. Besides, he couldn’t possibly leave without harvesting as much Karma as this basin had to offer.
Having mined out the deepest veins, Lucian swam closer to the surface mud. He was holding more Karma right now than he had ever possessed in his entire life.
He carefully avoided poking his head into the open air, as the monsters frequently burrowed into the silt to dig out stones.
Taking advantage of their feeding habits, Lucian targeted the submerged lizards first. There was no grand clash; moving like an invisible ghost through the mud, he systematically severed their throats one by one.
After thirty silent kills, a subtle problem arose.
’The poisonous aura here is increasing, someone is bound to notice this.’
The thick, acidic stench of blood was beginning to seep through the mud bank. Before the twenty S-rank caught the scent and turned the basin into a frenzy, he needed to finish this.
’Now it feels like the academy is restricting me.’
He couldn’t help but feel that way, but he still had to endure his probation period until the December tournament.
Like a silent mud phantom, Lucian struck with mechanical precision—first clearing out the isolated B-ranks, then picking off stray A-ranks. His Qi Sense Breath helped greatly, mapping every beast and avoiding places where he could be found.
’I guess this is my limit,’ he thought after killing his fiftieth beast.
Not only was his qi reservoir running low, but his mental focus was reaching its multitasking limit from constantly manipulating the soil while masking the spreading toxic mist.
’Let’s recover then.’
Lucian burrowed through the bedrock away from the basin until he reached a desolate, rocky ridge. Surfacing near a cave, he sealed the entrance with a thick Earth Qi barrier before sitting cross-legged.
Thanks to the supreme foundation of the Eternal Profound Scripture, his depleted dantian was fully replenished in less than half an hour.
Lucian avoided the explorer patrols on his way back. He slipped out of the rift and returned to the academy.
Though he hadn’t engaged in a flashy, earth-shattering battle, he had amassed an astronomical reserve of Karma.
Now, he was fully equipped to enter a new world again.
And this time, he was planning for the long run.
To survive monsters like Rex Carter, he desperately needed genuine, high-level combat experience—specifically, fighting against skilled human opponents.
***
The remaining day passed normally and when night arrived Lucia was in deep contemplation.
"Should I go to another cultivation world or go to that Martial world Murim?"
He was sure that going to the cultivation world he would readily be able to become strong easily, but was being strong the only thing he needed to do?
He had thought of becoming proficient using many worlds, and there was also his curiosity because, the Martial Artists Of Murim he saw, especially the Blood God, that man according to cultivation terms was likely in Dharma Soul realm.
At least, according to what Lucian could make out of him.
And he was also sure of one thing.
’Though he had energy comparable to me, he was naturally strong.’
Lucian set a clear goal for himself; optimization.
He needed to refine his current cultivation to the absolute limit. He wanted to reach a point where he could defeat Dharma Soul Realm cultivators entirely on his own.
With that goal set, Lucian picked up his phone and called Mari. They talked about normal, everyday things for nearly an hour. It might have felt a bit random to her, but Lucian knew that in his own perception, he would not see her for a very long time.
Hanging up, he lay back on his bed. This time, he fell asleep easily.
Senior Xuanling and the Taixu Mystic Immortal had both told him the same thing. They had handed him a foundation, but he was the only one who could walk and complete his own path.
A moment later, Lucian opened his eyes in the dark space.
He hovered in front of the silver mirror and willed the destination he wanted. The glass rippled, showing verdant peaks, sprawling rivers, and floating weapons.
« Martial Arts World – Murim »
Taking a deep breath, Lucian changed into his plain white sect robes and gripped his sword.
He stepped forward and touched the mirror.
The world spun around him, and his vision blurred with silver light. In the next breath, the crisp mountain air hit his face once again.
Without leaving a single trace behind, Lucian vanished from his spot.