Two years. That's how long it had been since Ben first broke through to level 4.
Now at level 10, the long-awaited threshold of becoming a Spirit Master, he was... stuck.
Why? Because fate was cruel, whimsical, and occasionally had the comedic timing of a slapstick cartoon. He had hit level 10 six months ago, and yet no spirit ring graced his existence. Not because he was lazy (he was), not because he was poor (also true), but because every time he tried to absorb a ring, his entire body rejected it like a bad Tinder match.
The rejection wasn't subtle either. The instant he tried to guide a spirit beast's ring into his core, his Martial Soul would pulse violently, and his body would flinch, recoil, and forcibly eject the energy.
It wasn't just rejection.
It was disgust.
As if his soul, his very being, found the energy of ordinary spirit rings impure—unworthy of merging with Nexus' core.
And now, here he sat, back at square one despite technically qualifying as a Spirit Master. He could keep his Martial Soul active 24/7 now, even while sleeping... well, mostly. Sometimes he woke up with a headache, muttering things like, "Photon Stream? More like Photon Scream…"
But today was different.
He was cleaning the back courtyard, carrying a bucket of river water like usual, when the necklace—the mini Evoltruster—suddenly pulsed.
Not once.
Not twice.
But continuously, glowing with a strange, soft red light. It floated upward ever so slightly, tugging at his neck like a confused compass.
"The hell—!?"
Before he could drop the bucket or even scream, the necklace yanked his attention toward the south. Not the academy. Not the river. But in the same direction as Holy Spirit Village.
"…Home?" he muttered, blinking in disbelief.
He knew this route. He took it every year during breaks. So why now?
The Evoltruster wouldn't stop. Its pulse intensified like a heartbeat, guiding him forward with unsettling certainty. He ran—water bucket abandoned, shirt forgotten—and followed the invisible thread it weaved through the trees.
Then the necklace changed direction.
Ben came to a halt, nearly falling face-first into a rocky slope. Beyond it, nestled in the trees, was a hidden waterfall. Beautiful, pristine, and shimmering under the sunlight like it was made of spirit energy itself. The air was thick with purity, the kind that made his core stir inside him.
And stir it did.
His Martial Soul activated on its own. The glowing core in his chest throbbed in rhythm with the waterfall's flow. His body buzzed with energy, and then—
Boom.
The air twisted.
Energy poured into his core like water into a bottomless well. His bracers shimmered, his chest glowed, and before his stunned eyes, a silver ring formed in the air.
It wasn't pulled from a beast.
It wasn't conjured through force.
It was forged—right from the surrounding natural spirit energy.
And just like that, it slid around him like a warm embrace.
"...Did I just—break through?"
He glanced at his palm, summoning the energy again. The ring hovered beside him like a loyal companion.
Level 11.
Still not flashy. But something had changed. As he studied the silver ring, its hue slowly began to shift—mellowing into a soft yellow, laced with a thin band of silver in the middle.
It was a spirit ring, but not a normal one.
Something about it was… different.
"Guess I'm a Spirit Master now," he whispered.
Then he looked around at the serene waterfall.
"...Still can't afford lunch, though."
Ben stood at the edge of the waterfall clearing, marveling at the floating spirit ring that now hovered beside him like a badge of honor. His lips slowly curled into a grin.
"I can finally claim a stipend from the Spirit Hall branch office!"
His thoughts raced. "That's one gold soul coin every month! Do you know how many salted fish I can buy with that!?"
He didn't even bother to check what his spirit ring did.
He turned on his heel and bolted back toward Nuoding Academy, his mind filled with vivid imagery of coins raining from the sky and steamed buns served on golden plates. That fantasy was abruptly shattered when—
YANK!
The necklace jerked him backward mid-sprint. His body twisted, legs tangled, and he slammed into the dirt with a loud "HURK!"
Lying on the ground, spitting leaves, Ben let out a curse that would've made Grandpa Jack drop his pipe.
"What now!?"
He turned his head and saw the Evoltruster floating again, softly glowing red and now pointing toward a hole in the cliff wall just a few meters away.
Ben blinked.
"…Wasn't there a waterfall here just a second ago?"
He squinted at the stone wall. The waterfall was gone—vanished like cheap spirit coins in a gambler's pocket. All that remained was a hole. A deep one.
He sighed. "Of course. Of course there's a mysterious hole."
It was a bit high, maybe 8 meters up. Not a huge deal. But Ben's laziness kicked in hard.
"Ugh... climbing," he muttered.
Reluctantly, he activated his Martial Soul. As the energy bracers shimmered into place on his arms and the core flickered in his chest, he mentally poked at his new spirit ring to see what his first-ever skill was.
Spirit Skill 1 – Core Pulse (Passive):
Increases energy absorption rate by a percentage equal to current spirit level.
Energy absorbed will strengthen both spirit power and physical body passively.
Ben's mouth hung open for a moment. Then he blinked, twice, and grinned.
"…I love me."
An 11% increase in absorption was no joke. Not only would his cultivation speed rise passively, but his body would get stronger just by breathing and lounging around.
He dramatically raised a hand toward the sky, declaring to no one,
"If I keep stacking these kinds of passive buffs, I really can become a Salted Fish Douluo! Just… laying in hay all day, cultivating by existing!"
The thought gave him renewed motivation, and he leapt toward the ledge. His body—already far stronger than a normal child his age thanks to his Martial Soul—handled the climb with ease.
Once inside the cave, the air grew colder, heavier. His pendant pointed deeper still.
The tunnel twisted and narrowed, until it opened into a small, rocky chamber. In the middle was a single blue silver grass.
Ben glanced at it.
"…Meh."
Even if it looked different, he instantly ignored it. His necklace wasn't pointing at that anyway.
The glowing core led him further, until he found something strange: a lead box, half-buried in the ground.
"…Oh boy. This is either treasure or trauma."
He opened it.
Inside was a bone—pale, slightly glowing, and shaped like a human leg. The moment he saw it, he recoiled with a full-body jolt.
"WHAT KIND OF SICK FREAK HIDES A BONE IN A BOX!?"
His mind immediately jumped to all the wrong conclusions.
"This is a serial killer's cave. This is where people die. I'm going to end up a missing person poster—except posters don't exist here!!"
But before he could flee, his core began to pulse again.
"No. Nononono—"
Too late.
A sudden suction force pulled the bone from the box, and it vanished into the red core in his chest.
BOOOM
A Flash of radiant light boomed from his core lighting up the entire cave but ben seemed to be unaware of all of this or rather he was too panicked to care. Ben screamed.
"I'VE BEEN BONED,AND DEFILED BY A CORPSE—A CORPSE!!"
He flailed, shivered, and curled in on himself, arms around his chest like he'd been wronged by the universe.
It took him several seconds to realize something strange was happening.
His spirit power was rising.
Fast.
Very fast.
He sat up, watching as his spirit ring glowed, and his body hummed with overflowing spirit energy. His core absorbed the bone's essence like a sponge, filtering it clean.
"…Wait," he said, blinking. "That was… a Spirit Bone?"
It all made sense now. The purity. The rejection of beast rings.
Whatever this Martial Soul was—it demanded only the finest, and clearly with this rate of increase on his spirit energy the bone was definitely not low in age.
Still cringing from emotional damage, Ben scrambled out of the cave.
"Whatever. I'm out. I've been cursed, molested by bone, and traumatized. I'm going home."
He ran all the way back to Nuoding Academy, ignoring the confused stares from passing merchants and students as he mumbled under his breath about 'bony hands' and 'spirit perverts.'
Back at Dorm 7, he collapsed on his hay, heart racing.
And then he checked his spirit level.
Spirit Power: Level 17
He blinked.
"…Neat."
He gave a thumbs-up to the ceiling and passed out, one hand still clutching his pendant.