"Fuck!"
Lucian cursed aloud as his senses violently snapped back, plunging him into the boundless dark space.
He instinctively raised both hands to his head.
There was no blood, no crushed bone, and no lingering grip like cold iron.
He checked his limbs, his chest, and his pulse in rapid succession; his projection’s body was completely intact.
Yet his soul still shuddered.
His eyes could still clearly picture that terrifying old monster draining the warmth and life straight out of his marrow.
Once his racing heartbeat finally stabilized, Lucian turned his attention forward.
Floating before him in the void were the three physical items he had secured.
Wudang Basic Sword Technique.
Cloud Flowing Fist.
Clearing Mind Method.
He squinted at the translucent text hovering over the manuals. He could claim them and bring their contents across, but his knowledge indicated it would require a substantial expenditure of ’Karma’ to finalize the extraction.
Lucian frowned lightly.
’I don’t think I should spend something as vague as karma on a whim,’ he thought, eyeing the three basic manuals with calculated skepticism.
Deciding against an impulsive purchase, he closed his eyes and willed the space to release him.
The darkness dissolved.
Lucian’s eyes flew open.
He was lying flat on his back on the firm mattress of his academy dorm room, staring at the familiar white acoustic tiles of the ceiling.
Sitting up quickly, he checked the digital display on the wall clock.
"It’s early morning, so, does time dilation occur?" he muttered.
He hadn’t spent more than an hour inside the Murim World, yet here on Earth, seven hours and forty-two minutes had slipped by while he slept.
The ratio was significant, something he would have to calculate carefully before diving in again.
Shaking off the residual stiffness in his muscles, Lucian got out of bed, washed up, and pulled on his pressed Academy uniform. After grabbing a quick, light breakfast at the student cafeteria, he set out across the manicured walkways toward the lecture halls.
Today’s first lecture was Monster Anatomy & Vulnerabilities. Along the corridor, a familiar figure appeared in his view.
"Why does it look like you didn’t take a morning dump?" Luther asked.
Luther was a classmate who had already awakened his ability six months prior, earning him official Explorer status.
"I’m not in the mood. Go and kill some monster bastards, you rock-hard person," Lucian said, placing heavy, deliberate emphasis on the words ’rock hard.’
Luther’s smug grin instantly crumbled into a scowl.
His awakened ability was an active defensive trait that hardened his dermal layer into stone-like density.
The activation was reliable, but the naming and visual side effects were an endless source of embarrassment, and Lucian knew precisely where to poke him.
’He is a young guy after all,’ Lucian thought with amusement.
Though Lucian didn’t consider himself an enlightened sage, living as an orphan and standing as a scapegoat had forced him to mature far quicker than the comfortable peers around him.
They arrived at the lecture hall, finding their seats just as the bell chimed.
"Alright, everyone, today we will learn more about a non-vertebrate monster from the Great Arctic Rift..." Professor Theo started his never-ending lecture, his monotonous voice droning over holographic slides of chitinous carapaces and nerve clusters.
Two more dense theory classes crawled by before the midday chime signaled the break.
Students began clearing their desks, chatting about combat simulations and duel rankings.
Lucian was thinking about his ability when a soft, cheerful voice called him out from behind.
"Hey, Lucian, wanna join us for lunch?"
It was Mari, her pale yellow hair catching the fluorescent lights as she stood with her hands clasped behind her back.
Lucian looked past her shoulder toward the group waiting by the classroom door.
Because he rarely went out of his way to socialize, he had few opportunities to interact with her circle—and he certainly couldn’t ignore the looks the boys behind her were sending his way.
Their eyes held quite indifference masking their utter disdain, as if looking down upon an inferior creature who had wandered into the wrong room.
Mari’s entourage represented the Academy’s elite echelon, composed of corporate heirs and those possessing prestigious bloodlines.
Lucian preferred to avoid friction whenever possible.
During those scarce moments he shared a meal in their company, the dialogue inevitably shifted toward a series of veiled inquiries regarding his origins and past.
’Keeping a mysterious image sure is tiring,’ Lucian thought wryly.
He had no doubt that, aside from Mari herself, the rest of them had already run background checks on him.
"Not today, Mari. I have to help Luther with his personal work, but I will treat you next week, alright?" Lucian replied, offering an easy, polite smile.
A faint blush dusted Mari’s cheeks before she nodded and turned back to her friends.
"Okay, next week then!"
"I guess it’s good to have a face card," Luther remarked in a grim tone, watching the high-status group depart down the hallway.
Then he turned to Lucian, narrowing his eyes.
"By the way, care to enlighten me about what personal work I have in which I need your help?"
Lucian watched Mari’s retreating figure with a quiet sigh.
’Backgrounds really do matter...’
By no means was Mari a bad prospect.
She was kind, grounded, and one of the very few people here Lucian could talk to freely without constantly weighing every word he spoke.
But she was also the daughter of a renowned European S-Rank Explorer and from a noble family.
In his current position as an unawakened probationer, getting too close was asking for trouble—not just for himself, but for her reputation as well.
’It would simply harm her too.’
Pushing the thought aside, Lucian clapped Luther on the shoulder.
"Let me buy you lunch."
"Huh? Why the sudden generosity? Did you hit your head–no, don’t tell me, you finally gathered your courage?!"
Lucian felt a vein throb on his forehead.
’This bastard can’t even imagine that I would awaken,’ he thought, exasperated by the sheer absurdity of his friend.
Maybe this was the reason they became friends?
Leaning in slightly as they sat in the cafeteria, Lucian asked slowly:
"You read a lot of novels, right?"
***
"I really think you hit your head, but anyway, as long as there is food on the table, I will answer your questions," Luther replied, munching enthusiastically on the piled-high lunch tray Lucian had just paid for.
Eating off a friend’s money always made the food taste extra premium and supremely delicious.
They sat at a corner away from the main crowd, where the clamor of silverware and students boasting about combat scores washed over them like white noise.
Lucian rested his elbows, leaning in slightly.
"If you suddenly wanted to travel to another world, which world would you choose?" Lucian asked, a hint of seriousness in his voice.
"Isn’t the answer obvious? It’s of course a highly advanced sci-fi world!" Luther replied without a second thought, swallowing a mouthful of fried cutlet.
"Why so?" Lucian questioned, genuinely wanting to hear the underlying logic.
"Because just think—there’s a world where everything is possible through VR and there’s also a sexy android serving you. As a man, what more could you ask for?"
"..."
Lucian stared at him in silence, his brow twitching.
"Look at your expression, but I am not joking," Luther argued defensively, waving a fork in the air.
"You can literally customize your waifu and have various experiences unimaginable to the mortal mind—"
"Let me change the question," Lucian cut him off before Luther could spiral further into those topics.
"I simply mean in terms of power? What would be the best choice?"
"That too is simple to answer..." Luther said, leaning back and narrowing his eyes as he tried to build dramatic suspense.
He failed completely.
"It’s the Xianxia genre of the cultivators, who simply transcend universes just to find they belong to a lower realm and need to recultivate for thousands of years."
Lucian considered that for a moment.
"But won’t godly myths be the same?"
"You’re right too, but the godly myths need to be at the level of creation myths of religions to be able to compete with cultivation, because these days the threshold of cultivation stories has just increased a lot compared to myths."
Luther took a swig of soda, clearly the food was to his liking.
"What about that martial arts movie you recommended to me?" Lucian asked, recalling the ridiculous sword fights he had watched.
"Ah, that trash," Luther grimaced, shuddering at the memory.
"Well, my mood was spoiled because of that, so I thought, why should I be the only one to suffer? That’s why I recommended it to you."
"Crazy bastard!" Lucian shot back, shaking his head.
"Well, that was not a high martial arts movie, so it could be categorized as a small wuxia genre..."
After that, Luther proudly indoctrinated Lucian with his vast, unsolicited repository of webnovel lore—breaking down the differences between low wuxia martial artists who used internal breath, high wuxia masters who generated blade energy, and xianxia cultivators who lived for millennia.
’So Mount Wudang and that Blood God elder fall somewhere between low wuxia and early cultivation,’ Lucian analyzed quietly, fitting the puzzle pieces together.
"Though I was not that deep into this world, you really suffered, huh?" Lucian said sympathetically, looking at the trauma in Luther’s eyes.
"Of course! I even followed a story where the protagonist travels to the upper realm just for his lower realm to be destroyed because a fucking Immortal Dog farted?!"
Luther slammed his palm on the table, still outraged by the plot development.
Lucian took a steadying breath, steering the topic back to the core question burning in his chest.
"Forget about the story. Suppose someone gains the power of cultivation on Earth—what would happen? And answer this seriously," Lucian said, deadpan.
Luther stopped chewing as he eyed Lucian with sudden suspicion.
"You still don’t trust me, do you? Alright, I will say that, but the food on the table looks a little less..."
"..."
Lucian glared at him in utter disbelief.
Without a word, he got up, walked back to the counter, and bought a plate of steamed dumplings and extra sides, silently swearing in his heart to rob this bastard blind someday.
He slammed the fresh plate down in front of Luther, who grinned from ear to ear.
"Haha! I know you have the answer in mind, but let me spell it out for you," Luther said, popping a dumpling into his mouth.
"You will become a god, because in cultivation terms, Earth is likely a lower world with little to no spiritual energy!"
Luther swallowed and gestured broadly with his fingers.
"Think about it. An Awakened on Earth relies on abilities, but a cultivator operates on refined internal qi and spiritual laws. The ceiling isn’t even comparable. If someone actually brought genuine cultivation methods here, the Explorer Association’s entire system would be turned on its head."
"Hmm..."
Lucian let the words sink in.
His mind flashed back to the manuals he did not take.
If Luther’s deductions were even half accurate, those three overlooked books weren’t just scraps—they were the foundational key to unlocking internal energy in a world that had never seen it.
Though it was different from cultivation.
Deciding he had gathered enough intel for one afternoon, Lucian reminded Luther of a detail he had likely forgotten.
"You didn’t forget we have field training, right?"