The Calamity's Comfort: I Forged My Own Cheat on a Dead Earth

The mounts were barely walking. Their hooves dragged through the last stretches of crimson snow, each step slower than the one before it. Foam clung to their mouths, their breathing came in heavy, uneven bursts, and their legs trembled beneath the weight of their riders. They had been riding for more than twenty-five hours, traveling straight toward the frontier.

The Frost Expanse had finally begun to disappear behind them. Ahead, the landscape changed gradually, the crimson snow thinning until patches of dark, lifeless earth appeared beneath it. The cold remained, but the oppressive presence of the Frost Expanse was fading. They had reached the boundary between the Frost Expanse and the Tree Expanse, but the frontier was still ahead. Between them lay a vast stretch of barren land where almost no Qi could be felt—a neutral wasteland.

The mounts stumbled again, prompting Maya to instinctively lean forward and grab the reins. "Easy."

Her mount slowed even further. Adrian's breathing was rough; even with Sage Breathing, twenty-five hours of continuous riding had pushed his body far beyond what it was accustomed to. His muscles ached from remaining in the saddle for so long, and every movement felt heavier than it should have. Maya wasn't doing much better, and even Leon could feel the ache himself.

That alone was enough to tell him how exhausted the others were. His body was constantly being enhanced through boost bood and regenerated through self reliance mode, yet even he had begun feeling the accumulated strain. His back hurt, his legs were stiff, and his shoulders had developed a dull ache that refused to disappear.

Lyra looked completely fine like she wasn't part of this. Her posture remained straight, but the exhaustion was obvious as she glanced down at her mount. "Another few hours at this pace and we're walking."

Leon looked at the exhausted beast beneath him. "I think we're already walking."

Lyra sighed. "Yes at this point we should dismount. Walking beside them is faster than having them walk while carrying us."

---

Behind them, the other Champions had disappeared from sight long ago; the gap between them had become enormous. Their decision to maintain the brutal pace had worked. Whatever distance separated them from the others was now enough to provide a comfortable layer of protection. As long as the stone-skinned challengers remained somewhere behind them, Leon's group could continue toward the frontier without having to worry about the Night Guest suddenly appearing among them. Lyra glanced sideways, noting that Leon was still working on a talisman at breakneck speed while surrounded by basically a floating formation of talismans helping him stabilise and complete the talisman much faster than one can do manually. She stared at him. "You are still doing that?"

Leon didn't look up. "I'm almost finished."

"You've been saying that for hours."

"This one is almost finished."

Lyra shook her head. The relationship between them had changed during the journey. The awkwardness that had followed their argument had gradually disappeared after Adrian spoke with Lyra and Maya apologized again. Leon had also explained more about Earth, their lives, their civilization, and how they had ended up here. Lyra had listened and asked a lot of questions. Eventually, they had reached an agreement that their origins would remain secret. Lyra heard rumors about the royal court taking an "interest" in people who appeared from other worlds before, and that alone was enough reason to keep their identities hidden.

Leon finished the final line on the talisman, holding it up briefly before placing it with the others. Lyra watched him closely. "How many cycles?"

Leon glanced at her. "This is the seventh cycle of the sixth stage."

Lyra blinked. "Sixth stage?"

"Yes."

"So your capacity is eleven units now?"

"Correct."

She stared at him for several seconds. "Are you sure?"

Leon looked mildly confused. "About my own cultivation?"

"About how quickly you're progressing," she rubbed her forehead, her exhaustion showing. "Why are you rushing so much?"

Leon didn't answer immediately. " I am not really rushing though. I am moving at my own pace but on one hand my natural pace is faster than most, and on the other hand I am eager to properly understand this world, heal my broken body and soul as well as getting my long awaited superpowers."

Lyra's expression suddenly changed, turning serious. "Wait. More importantly, I need to tell you something before you accidentally make this my problem."

Leon raised an eyebrow.

"We usually teach this to recruits when most of them learn Sage Guidance," Lyra explained. "It's rare for someone to be this far ahead of the pack, so I assumed we'd have more time." She looked directly at him. "But you might actually break through before I warn you if I wait until the others are ready to hear it."

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Leon finally gave her his full attention. "You can only improve your spirit blood during the Foundation Realm."

He nodded. "I know. I understood it innately as I kept improving my cultivation."

"Then you understand why this matters."

"Of course."

Lyra let out a slow sigh. "If you break through first, your spirit blood will be fixed. The level of your bloodline will be locked in."

Leon became more attentive.

"We usually have people aim for Desolate Spirit Blood," she continued. "It's already an excellent foundation for the rest of their cultivation journey." She paused, her eyes locking onto his. "For someone like you, anything less than Immemorial Spirit Blood would be a waste and quite frankly a loss for the world."

Leon looked at her. "I am not really in a rush but for someone like me is waiting to accumalate that much worth it specially when my absorption speed is already more than what I can actually use?"

"Yes," Lyra pointed toward the wilderness behind them. "I know what I'm asking. Hunting a thousand compatible Grade Zero beasts or a hundred compatible Grade One beasts is a ridiculous requirement, especially when you're already this far ahead." She folded her arms. "But if you manage it, your bloodline will benefit you for the rest of your cultivation journey. It's not just Qi absorption speed. Comprehension, control instincts, combat power, compatibility with various elixers and treasures. At higher stages it also becomes a requirment that locks you out if not met. You wouldn't want to be halfway through your cultivation path only to need to disperse it and start all over."

Leon didn't immediately answer, his eyes fixed on the path ahead. Lyra frowned.

"Hello?"

Leon wasn't looking at her. He was looking upward, his eyes fixed on the empty space above them.

"Leon?"

"I'm listening."

"Then why are you staring at the sky?"

Leon narrowed his eyes, his focus pulling inward. Sage Eyes activated, and the world transformed under his vision.

The empty sky above them seemed to deepen. For a moment, Leon thought he was looking at nothing, but then he saw them—faint threads, almost invisible lines stretching through the distant sky. They were so subtle that he might have mistaken them for atmospheric distortions if his sight hadn't picked them out from the backdrop.

Leon continued staring, tracking the geometric alignment of the energy. "I can see something."

Maya followed his gaze, squinting. "What?"

"Threads."

Adrian looked upward as well, shaking his head. "I don't see anything."

"Neither do I," Maya said.

Lyra followed their gaze, observing Leon's amber eyes. Then she smiled. "The floating continents."

Leon looked at her. "Floating continents?"

"You're seeing the Qi radiating from them," she explained, pointing upward into the expanse. "The area we're in has almost no Qi. That's why they're easier to notice. Just like seeing stars in a dark sky."

"Even so," Lyra nodded. "You still wouldn't notice them without high proficiency in Sage Eyes. Most cultivators don't see them until Mid Qi condensation."

Leon looked back at her, his mind analyzing the mechanics. "Why are they floating?"

Lyra hesitated, studying his expression for several paces. "You really don't know."

"No."

Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Then what do you know about different worlds?"

Leon thought about it. He previously knew this knowledge even back on Earth. Learned during his search for superpowers and confirmed here through talking to the residents of the frontier. "You mean world classifications?"

"Yes."

Leon answered confidently. "There are three types: Scattered Worlds, Spirit Worlds, and Immortal Worlds. Scattered Worlds are like Earth—worlds with almost no Qi. Spirit Worlds are old enough to have developed Qi naturally. Immortal Worlds are worlds where Immortal Qi exists, and people are born with cultivation. They can reach the realm of immortality simply through breathing and living normally. So this world is a Spirit World."

Lyra stared at him, then she shook her head. "You're wrong."

Leon frowned. "Which part?"

Maya looked between them, sensing the sudden shift in the conversation. Lyra smiled slightly, while everyone struggled to keep with her pace.

"I can understand where you got confused, though," she gestured toward the land beneath them. "This isn't a Spirit World."

Leon looked around at the barren ground. "Then what is it?"

"WorldHeart."

The name meant nothing to him.

Lyra continued, her voice level. "The continent we're standing on used to be a Scattered World. It never became a spirit world though. It got assimilated into WorldHeart."

Leon looked upward again, the realization clicking. "Is that why the sky seems to be a mesh of sorts. Different areas suddenly get different skies."

"Yes," she looked across the enormous wasteland. "When a world is assimilated into WorldHeart, it doesn't simply disappear. Its stars remain. Its oceans remain. Its mountains, civilizations, and history remain. Everything becomes part of WorldHeart. Just compressed into one Super Continent."

Leon commited the pieces of history Lyra had shared to memory. "Then this continent is a world."

"Was a world," she corrected him. "Now it's a Continent. A super large one matching the size of your world."

Leon considered that. "And WorldHeart is made from worlds."

Lyra pointed toward the distant horizon. "Countless worlds."

She began explaining the cosmic architecture as they continued their slow advance. "Imagine traveling from one continent to another toward the center of WorldHeart. As you move inward, the continents gradually rise. The Qi increases, the resources increase, the cultivators become stronger, and the civilizations become older." She looked upward. "And eventually, the continents begin piling over one another at the center," her voice became quieter. "There, the continents become so elevated that the structure starts looking like a massive tower."

Leon stared back at the faint threads. "And the floating continents are above that?"

"Yes," Lyra nodded. "Once you continue climbing through that tower, the continents begin branching outward again." She pointed toward the sky. "This time, they aren't resting on top of each other. They're flying. They continue rising higher as they move away from the center this time."

Leon could barely see them. The faint threads stretched impossibly far across the heavens.

Lyra smiled while looking upwards. "They're the peak every cultivator dreams about reaching."

Leon was silent. The scale of the world slowly settled into his mind. He had thought he was standing on a single world; he had thought WorldHeart was simply another type of planet. Instead, the land beneath his feet had once been an entire world, and above it were countless others—continents that had once been independent worlds, stacked into a structure so enormous that the highest regions literally disappeared into the sky.

Lyra looked at him, her voice steady. "Everyone is trying to climb higher."

Leon kept staring upward. "To the floating continents."

"To the highest peak."