The freezing storm rattled the rusted corrugated metal walls of the abandoned machine shop, but inside the forgotten structure, the air remained completely static and dead silent.
Grant Cross sat cross-legged on a dusty, cracked concrete block in the center of the room.
He didn’t care about the grease or the filth staining his worn canvas jacket.
His attention was locked entirely on his right hand, where a small, tarnished silver band rested against his calloused palm.
It was the Low-Grade Storage Ring he had stripped off Elder Baltis’s broken body just moments ago out in the muddy yard.
Operating a spiritual tool required an active internal core and a stable circulation of energy—something Grant hadn’t possessed for five long years while he crawled in the mud as a nameless pack mule.
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and sent a single thread of his newly awakened Primordial Dragon Qi down into his fingers.
The moment his golden energy touched the metal, the tarnished silver band reacted instantly, flashing with a dull, grey luminescence as the ring’s internal spatial seal snapped open with a soft, spatial pop.
Ding!
« SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: STORAGE RING ENTRY CONCLUDED »
• Item Type: Low-Grade Spatial Container (1 Cubic Meter Capacity)
• Contents Detected: 50x Low-Grade Spirit Stones, 1x Basic Mortal Sword
• Automated Action: Would host like to extract and absorb resources?
[YES / NO]
“Yes,” Grant thought, his expression completely calm as the digital interface projected light across his sharp facial features.
“Extract and absorb everything.”
A faint, localized vacuum sound echoed through the dark machine shop.
In a flash of crystalline light, fifty translucent, sapphire-colored crystals materialized out of the spatial void, floating in a perfect, glowing circle around Grant’s broad shoulders.
The stones pulsed with raw, compressed spiritual energy, their brilliant blue light illuminating the damp corners of the empty warehouse.
Before a single stone could lose its levitation and drop to the dirt floor, Grant’s system flared violently, a swirling azure vortex erupting from the center of his chest.
The fifty crystals shattered simultaneously into a cloud of sparkling diamond dust.
A massive torrent of cold, highly concentrated energy flooded straight into Grant’s wide-open meridians, rushing through his limbs like a current of liquid lightning.
« SYSTEM LOG: EXTERNAL RESOURCE COALITION COMPLETE »
• Resource Absorbed: 50x Low-Grade Spirit Stones (+400 EXP)
• Total Current Experience: 1,100 / 1,000
• Status: Milestone reached.
Initializing global evolution sequence…
The golden draconic pupils inside Grant’s eyes exploded into a brilliant, blinding light that cut through the darkness of the machine shop.
His muscles tightened as the density of his Iron Body expanded exponentially yet again, his blood vessels glowing with a distinct gold sheen right beneath his skin.
The raw kinetic back-pressure caused the surrounding concrete floor to buckle and shatter, heavy dust rising in a perfect ring as his internal power level breached its initial planetary limit.
Ding!
« SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: EVOLUTION SUCCESSFUL »
• Host Name: Grant Cross
• New Cultivation Realm: Tier 1: Iron Body (Stage 2)
• Combat Strength: 1,200 → 1,800 (Average Human Baseline: 10)
• Stat Allocation Points Granted: +5 Points
• New Attribute Form Completed:
• Strength: 125 → 160
• Agility: 98 → 120
• Endurance: 140 → 175
• New Active Skill Unlocked: Dragon’s Claw (Condenses Dragon Qi over the fist, increasing armor penetration by 50% for 10 seconds)
Grant slowly stood up, checking the terrifying lightness in his arms.
His baseline combat score had jumped straight to 1,800 points.
He felt like he could pick up a massive city bus and throw it across the harbor without even utilizing his active skills.
He reached into the air and grabbed the physical hilt of the final item extracted from the storage ring—the Basic Mortal Sword.
The weapon was heavy, forged from standard tempered steel, but to Grant’s current 160 Strength attribute, it felt as light as a plastic toy.
He gripped the leather-wrapped handle, testing its center of gravity.
He took a basic martial stance, swinging the blade in a quick, horizontal arc through the dark air.
SWOOSH!
The sharp motion tore the air apart, creating a high-pressure whistling sound that sliced clean through a solid wooden support pillar five meters away.
The top half of the heavy log slid smoothly to the ground, the cut as clean as glass.
“Stage 2,” Grant murmured, letting the sword balance perfectly between his fingers.
The Iron Shroud Sect would definitely send more than just a single Third Elder once they realized Baltis had been wiped out.
Bradley would use his corporate connections to lock down the city ports by morning.
Let them come.
With an unsearchable identity and an explosive, exponential leveling loop, Grant wasn’t the prey anymore.
He was the apex predator waiting in the dark.
He stepped out into the clearing storm, the remaining rain sizzling against his heated skin.
It was time to leave the docks permanently.
Utilizing his newly increased 120 Agility, Grant blurred into a shadow, leaping over the high wire fence of the harbor perimeter.
He moved toward the glinting neon high-rises of the city center.
Ten minutes later, he stood outside a sleek, automated banking kiosk in the commercial district.
Grant reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a plain, ink-black burner cell phone.
He opened a secure web portal and typed in his long-dormant master access keys.
The interface processed the data for a fraction of a second before flashing a bright green text stream.
« SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: MASTER VAULT CLEARED »
• Account ID: Master Code Cross-001
• Security Status: Active / Unrestricted
• Total Liquid Financial Assets: $500,000,000.00 (Sovereign Tier Tier 1 Capital)
• Transaction Option: Issue global black card to immediate coordinates?
[YES / NO]
Grant tapped the screen with a calm, steady hand.
A mechanical click echoed from the kiosk’s heavy steel dispenser box, and a matte black titanium card slid smoothly into the tray.
It bore no bank logos or tracking numbers—only the embossed gold symbol of a coiled primeval dragon.
“Five years ago, you took my core and thought you took my family’s legacy,” Grant whispered, sliding the heavy titanium card into his pocket.
His eyes locked onto the massive, glowing holographic billboard across the street.
The digital ad showed a rotating portrait of his cousin Bradley Cross, labeled as the city’s youngest billionaire tycoon.
“Enjoy the spotlight for tonight, Bradley,” Grant said, his golden pupils flashing under the neon city lights.
“Because tomorrow morning, I am buying out your entire world.”
Stage 2 reached!
Grant’s combat power is scaling up incredibly fast, and he just unlocked his first weapon along with his five hundred million dollar master bank vault!
Do you think Bradley will figure out who crushed his bodyguards by the next chapter?