Chapter 49 - Demonic Eyes
After bidding Zenith a quiet goodbye—watching her disappear back toward the academy’s inner quarters with that same hungry expression she’d had during their fight—Cale decided he’d meet Emma later. He needed time to process what had just transpired.
Walking back to his room, lost in thought, a screen materialized before him.
[BATTLE ADAPTABILITY: ZENITH KASTOR - 48%]
Cale froze mid-step.
’This...’
He stared at the notification, processing its implications. This was not exactly new.
He’d known he possessed such a skill—Battle Adaptability had been listed in his status for weeks now—but it had never actually displayed itself before. Never shown him specific percentages or named opponents in all the fights before.
Which meant something had changed.
’Through the system’s point of view, Emma and Zenith had near identical stats,’ he realized, his mind churning through the fight’s details. But he understood the difference immediately. ’It’s not about the numbers. It’s about how the person uses them.’
Emma, if she were even a minor realm above Zenith, still wouldn’t be able to defeat her in real combat. Zenith’s skill, her dedication to the sword, her years of training under one of the kingdom’s greatest swordmasters—all of that transcended simple cultivation metrics.
’And it’s possible that the system never showed battle adaptability before because there might have been a chance for me to defeat those opponents if I’d actually tried my all.’
His hand drifted unconsciously to his face, fingers brushing against his eyes.
The other new development was far more immediate: his new eyes.
Although they’d come as an extension of the new Soul Armor, they were now completely attached to him—permanent fixtures that had reshaped his very perception of the world.
He’d finally figured out their uses during the fight.
They worked on mana, not on qi. Not mana and qi combined—just pure mana.
Which confirmed something he’d suspected since the armor materialized: they were indeed a pair of Demonic Eyes. The kind of legendary treasures that appeared once every few centuries or ones you would need to roam around searching decades for.
’But the consumption is astronomical, sigh’ he thought with frustration. ’I can only maintain them for a few seconds every now and then during a proper fight. Any longer and I’d collapse from energy depletion.’
He’d decided to name them, at least according to all the demonic eye types he’d encountered in his previous life’s fragmented knowledge:
[DEMON EYE OF FORESIGHT - GOLD] Grants the ability to perceive a few moments into the future, allowing the user to make slight predictions of an opponent’s movements.
[DEMON EYE OF PERCEPTION - BLUE] Grants the ability to perceive the flow of mana, energy, and physical movement, allowing the user to identify weaknesses and understand techniques at a glance.
Two more days had passed in a blur of training, meditation, and increasingly desperate searches.
Cale sat sprawled across his bed, sweat-soaked and utterly exhausted, staring at the ceiling as if it might provide answers. His chest heaved with heavy breaths, his muscles aching in ways that suggested he’d pushed past reasonable limits again.
"It hasn’t formed. Why? Is it because I changed too many things?" he muttered to himself. "But my changing or not shouldn’t affect the realm portal’s existence!"
He’d gone to check the exact location three times now. Hell, he’d searched a ten-kilometer radius in every direction, combing through forests and mountains with aura sensing at maximum capacity.
Nothing.
In his previous life, a crack had formed—not massive, but large enough to enter. News had spread across the academy like wildfire, causing immediate panic and excitement in equal measure. Given that the academy was roughly the size of a medium-tier city, word would have reached every corner within hours.
But this time? It wasn’t even there!
Cale ran a hand through his blonde hair, trying to calm the rising tide of anxiety threatening to drown him. ’Well, no point thinking about it obsessively. If the portal comes, I’ll enter and get as strong as humanly possible. If not...’ He trailed off, not wanting to finish that thought.
’Let’s see what happens,’ he concluded.
But that wasn’t the only problem plaguing him.
His cultivation was stuck.
Despite going all-in on increasing his reserves—pouring virtually every waking moment into meditation and absorption of natural energies—he still couldn’t break through to Peak Advance Stage. It was taking exponentially longer than anticipated.
’Of course, given that I’m prioritizing reserves over breakthrough speed, I’d naturally take more time than usual normies. But isn’t this way too long? I should have at least stabilized at Peak by now.’
At least his spiritual root had evolved. Normal rank fire spiritual root had upgraded to Awakened rank, which meant actual progression in spell-casting ability. He could conjure proper fireballs now, inscribed with runes for increased potency. Hell, he could even cast them without runes—just using the right mix of qi and mana, channeling both energies in precise ratios.
Although without drawing runes, It took several seconds more than it should.
In combat, those extra seconds were the difference between victory and getting your chest caved in. So he’d been grinding the technique relentlessly until the incantations became second nature.
Eventually, he’d master it enough to cast fireballs like proper mages did, he even felt like a fire mage from those anime and novels.
But that day hadn’t come yet.
Cale pulled up his system interface,
[Name: Cale Regulus Midgar]
[Age: 18]
[Cultivation: Mid Advance Stage]
[Cultivation Speed Multiplier: 3x]
[Blank Points: 04]
[SKELETAL STRUCTURE: Golden Dao Supremacy]
[Abilities: Myriad Battle Flow of Heaven and Earth | Harem Bond | Dual Cultivation]
[Techniques: Fire Rune Inscription | Great Dao of Natural Balance]
[Passive Skills: Battle Adaptability]
[Spiritual Root: Fire (Awakened)]
[Race: Human 18% (Awakened) | Elf 12% (Awakened)]
[Bloodline: Human | Dragon | Elf]
[Mana Capacity: Lvl.14]
[Qi Capacity: Lvl.15]
[System Shop: Passive - Fully Activated at Emperor Stage Breakthrough]
[STR: Lvl.25 | AGL: Lvl.23 | STA: Lvl.29 | INT: Lvl.18 | CHR: Lvl.41]
But his Charisma at 41? That was absurd. Nearly double his physical stats. That thing just kept on increasing every few days.
’The Harem Bond must be inflating that deliberately, sigh’ he realized. ’The system wants me to seduce women, so it’s making me naturally charismatic. Well, you can’t build a harem if nobody’s attracted to you. Good work my friend.’
His racial percentages had increased—both human and elf components were now awakened, if only partially. He’d absorbed fragments of both bloodlines through his encounters with Emma, and the system was gradually integrating them.
The dragon bloodline remained passive for now, though he suspected it would activate once he reached higher cultivation stages. Maybe a physique, or maybe he already possessed the complete bloodline itself, who knows?
He did visit the Beast Garden once more, well now he understood why there was no one from higher stages in there. It was pointless to go there after reaching advance stage, the monsters were easier to kill or might herd among themselves. Only reason one would go there was for materials.
He closed the interface and lay back on his bed, staring at the ceiling once more.
The portal would come, one way or other. If not, heh, he would still leave this soon-to-be ruined lands.
He can’t save this place alone, even if he wanted to. So better option was running indeed. Its not as if he was a man of morals anyways.