I had a plan the minute I woke up.
It wasn't safe. It was risky as hell.
But it was the only plan I had, and I was in no position to say no.
The system had given me another option: kill evil cultivators, refine them into crystals, and put their weapons to use. Nothing wasted. Everything fed the furnace.
Then
Ding.
[Weapon Refinement Unlocked]
[Current tier: Pulse Awakening weapons only]
[Combine 100 Pulse Awakener weapons = 1 Meridian Level 1 weapon]
[Combine 1,000 Pulse Awakener weapons = 1 Meridian Level 5 weapon]
[Combine 20,000 Pulse Awakener weapons = 10 Meridian Level 10 weapons]
I needed hundreds. Tens of thousands.
And I found the perfect prey. No one would miss them. Young master servants. Spoiled. Lazy. Weak.
Strength defines right and wrong in this world. I didn't make the rules. I just played by them.
The first kill was easy. Pathetic, even. Cheap armour. Cheaper sword.
His weapon was practically scrap metal.
I watched him breathe for a moment saw the rise and fall of his chest, the slackness of his sleeping face then I moved.
Sliced his head off clean. Stabbed his heart. Ripped it out. Stored everything in my pocket dimension.
Who the fuck sleeps on their shift?
No screaming. No fighting back. Just a slow, quiet death.
Ding.
[Pulse Awakener Level 3 killed. Refining... 300 Primordial Crystals acquired. (Crystals multiplied by level.)]
[Pulse Awakener weapon acquired.]
His body dissolved the moment I fed him to the furnace. No blood. No trail. No evidence.
I continued my killing spree.
Hunted seven more.
They were carelessly drunk, stumbling through their patrols like they owned the world.
Level 3s, all of them. Another 2,100 Primordial Crystals.
Still far from enough.
I decided to get petty. I wanted to say fuck you to the overseers' efforts.
So I smashed a chest with one punch and took everything.
No sneaking. No invisibility. I was insulting them to their faces.
I stored the chest in my pocket dimension a Meridian treasure with potential to grow.
Then I ate all 4,000 Primordial Crystals the slaves had worked for and they'd hoarded.
All of it. Gone.
You should have seen their faces the following day.
Furious. Crazy. Red with rage.
Someone had dared enter their quarters and steal everything.
The crystals and the chest.
And the chest couldn't even be detected anymore, which meant only one thing: someone had become a cultivator.
They had to quench their thirst for blood. So they picked a slave at random from all of us summoned. Made an example of him.
Jules.
He was beaten. His ribs were broken beyond repair. They snapped his head like a twig.
I kept a straight face. Showed nothing. But inside, the furnace burned hotter.
He died for a good cause, I told myself. In the future, I will revive you, Jules. I swear it.
He had to die so the mission could go on.
To avenge him, I killed fifteen of their best. Level 5s. Each death gave me 750 Primordial Crystals. Total: 7,500.
And I combined 100 Awakener weapons to forge a Meridian sword. I planned to gift it to Makena.
If I were fast enough, I thought, I could kill Level 1 Meridian hunters.
Sadly, I wasn't lightning fast. If I were, I'd have a hundred bodies by now.
I visited Makena in the evening. She was freaking out about what happened to Jules.
"They're scared," she said, pacing. "On high alert. They know they have competition."
And the enemy is right under their nose, I thought. Acting invisible.
I know it sounds like an isekai plot twist. But I kept it to myself. No need to worry her.
"Do you think they'll find the one behind it all?" she asked.
"No. Overseers are too stupid to know what's right in front of them."
"Why do I have this feeling like you seem different?"
"Why would you say that?"
"You seem colder. Harder. Distant."
"You're overthinking it. I'm just super tired."
She clearly didn't believe me. But she didn't call me out on my bullshit either.
She was waiting counting on me to break and tell the truth.
I broke the ice with training.
She was getting very good.
Her learning speed was insane.
She kicked my ass five times.
Every time I tried to redeem my dignity, she scattered it like dust in the wind.
I was happy, though. She was close to a breakthrough.
One day, we could break free maybe even on her own.
Her newfound strength was all that mattered.
"Here," I said, handing her the Meridian blade. "We train with it next time."
"Thanks, but this is too much."
"I have some. Keep it."
I left to continue my killing spree.
Killed ten more before morning.
Ding.
Ding.
[Primordial Crystals for killing 10 Level 5 Awakeners: 5,000 Primordial Crystals.]
[32 Awakener weapons acquired.]
[1 Meridian weapon acquired.]
The furnace inside me never stopped burning.
And neither would