Chapter 62 - Rewards [3]
Cale floated in the endless expanse, his new divine form suspended above an obsidian ocean that reflected stars like scattered diamonds. The grey sky stretched infinitely above, a river of starlight flowing across it like a vein.
’But why am I still here? Now that I’ve got this body, shouldn’t I be going back?’ he wondered, staring at the desolate landscape surrounding him.
He raised his voice toward the void. "HEYYY! Anyone here?!"
At least he could float, although the thought of drowning in whatever water was beneath him was quite unpleasant to think. He sighed, remembering the system’s notification.
’Mindscape. A mind realm, huh?’
[Forming spiritual body...]
’Right, it mentioned something about that.’
The black ocean rippled, and space itself seemed to fold inward.
His old golden form materialized before him—the ethereal, glowing body coalescing from cosmic energy as divine light wove itself into flesh and bone, thread by luminous thread, until a perfect duplicate of his previous self stood suspended in the void, eyes vacant and lifeless.
Cale stared... And kept staring...
’Um... what am I supposed to do here?’ He pointed at the duplicate. "This guy can’t even move. Hell, he’s staring at me with dead eyes!"
[Creating wisp of consciousness...]
[Wisp of consciousness formed!]
[Connect wisp of consciousness with target?]
"A wisp of consciousness? Sigh, is it connected to that divine consciousness thing?" He shrugged mentally. "Well, I don’t know shit about what you’re doing, but given that you seem to know what’s happening, that’s good enough. Do it."
A small sphere of brilliant light materialized from his forehead, pulsing with energy before shooting toward the spiritual body and merging seamlessly into its forehead.
The transformation was instant.
Suddenly, Cale could sense it, hell he could feel the spiritual body’s presence as clearly as his own. It wasn’t like a complete control, more like puppetry. He couldn’t command its thoughts or eyes directly, but he could feel its movements, its awareness, as if it were another limb he’d just discovered.
"A puppet body, huh? Can I take it outside?"
[Rejected. Host cannot use the spiritual body in outside world.]
"Then this is that inner sanctum thing, right?"
[Affirmative. Host can access the inner sanctum from now on.]
"Then explain what exactly it is first. I can’t just waste time here with my ’original body.’"
The system’s response came swift,
[The Inner Sanctum is a mindspace created through the Divine Cauldron, Yin-Yang harmony, and the host’s Divine Consciousness.
Three elements are required to form such a realm, anyone with the three can form one too. This space exists in complete isolation from the external world, providing the perfect sanctuary to hide the main body, cultivate the spiritual body, or evade detection mechanisms.
Any injury to Divine Consciousness directly impacts the host’s cultivation foundation.
While the main body can function normally using only 5% of consciousness as a wisp, the spiritual body can meditate and practice arts independently—though it cannot increase physical cultivation, only strengthen the soul itself.
If the host enters with the main body, both physical and spiritual cultivation can progress simultaneously.
However, the main body can only remain within the Inner Sanctum for four hours daily due to energy consumption requirements.
The time differential operates at 1:24—one hour in the external world equals twenty-four hours within this realm.
Body cultivation strengthens physical resilience, regeneration, and vitality.
Soul cultivation fortifies Divine Consciousness and spiritual pressure, enhancing perception and defense against soul-based attacks.
Divine Consciousness acts as the bridge allowing simultaneous cultivation of both aspects.]
[Passive Skill Acquired: Autonomous Soul Refinement—extracted from the Demonic Yin Soul Refining Body. By providing souls of living beings as resources, this skill automatically activates. The purer the soul, the faster the refinement. Evil souls undergo harsher transformation. Foreign consciousness, memories, and impurities are stripped away before conversion into nourishment.]
Cale floated in meditative cross legged position, testing the limits of his new spiritual form.
"Hehehe, this is way more fun than playing games. Though without a system, this guy’s comprehension speed will be pathetically slow, since my original body was quite shitty if I do say so myself. But as a passive?" He grinned wickedly. "Who doesn’t want free cultivation?"
He began moving through the basic forms of Blue Thunder Arts, and the spiritual body responded with surprising fluidity.
"Can I channel more Divine Consciousness into it for better results?" he asked aloud.
[Rather than concentrating consciousness into a single body, reduce the wisp allocation from 5% to minimal levels. This enables creation of additional spiritual bodies, exponentially increasing cultivation gains.]
Cale’s eyes widened. ’I suspected as much, but hearing it confirmed...’ He laughed. "You’re a genius, man! Honestly, I thought of this possibility on day one, but I guess I can’t expect to plan everything from the start, huh."
He hurled Silvester’s thick tome toward the spiritual body, then settled into his own cultivation posture. With the time dilation between realms, he had more than enough opportunity to absorb the knowledge, practice, and rest—assuming he didn’t waste the precious four hours he had remaining.
[Merge Demonic Yin Soul Refining Body and Golden Dao Supremacy skeletal structure?]
"Sigh, just do it. Don’t disturb me."
[Host’s main body has been strengthened.]
As he descended into meditation, his essence began to flow outward, harmonizing with the mindscape itself. The black ocean churned violently. An earthquake rippled across the cosmic realm.
Something massive stirred beneath the obsidian waters. The black ocean erupted with apocalyptic fury.
A pillar of divine energy—golden, purple, and white light interwoven like living threads—tore through the water’s surface with the force of a thousand suns detonating simultaneously.
Massive waves of obsidian liquid exploded outward in concentric rings, each crest towering hundreds of meters high before crashing back into the depths with thunderous violence. The very fabric of reality seemed to fracture under the pressure.
From the heart of the maelstrom, stone rose.
Jagged peaks of dark, ancient rock erupted from the abyss like the skeletal fingers of some slumbering god clawing its way back to consciousness.
Surrounding these mountains, a colossal pagoda emerged—layer upon layer of curved, ornate roofs layered in geometric precision, each tier radiating with embedded golden runes that glowed like captured starlight.
The central spire climbed endlessly upward, crowned with flared eaves that seemed to pierce the very heavens themselves.
The energy pillar continued its ascent, spiraling around the pagoda in a vortex of power. Golden light intertwined with violet qi in hypnotic patterns, creating ribbons of celestial force that reached skyward like the threads binding heaven and earth.
Ancient inscriptions carved into the pagoda’s surface flickered to life, glowing with symbols that predated civilization itself.
In mere moments, a 10-kilometer radius of pristine, divine architecture had risen fully formed from the depths.
Cale’s eyes snapped open.
"What the actual fuck just happened? Fucking... pleaseeee! do not keep giving me heart attacks."