The warehouse was a fortress of concrete and shadow, a silent bubble of reality where the "rules" of the outside world didn't apply.
Here, Lin Hao was not the "Hero of Campus." He was not a "brute."
He was a planner. And he was staring at a roadblock.
[Weekly Cultivation Upgrade: LOCKED (4 days, 21 hours remaining)]
The red, flashing text was an infuriating, unyielding wall. He was stuck at Level 6.
His gaze drifted to his balance: [Upgrade Points (UP): 1110].
A fortune. A dragon's hoard, useless for the one thing he wanted most.
He looked at the two upgrade paths available to him. The first was his [$Self Upgrade$] tab:
[Talent: Level 2: Waste Root] -> [Upgrade: Level 3: Inferior Root]? (Cost: 1,000 UP)
It was the "correct," long-term, foundational choice. It was a massive, 1,000-point investment in his future.
But then, his eyes drifted to the laptop on the floor. It was still open to the $9.99 eBook, "Fundamentals of Daoist Meditation."
Chen Long's arrogant, condescending voice echoed in his mind.
"...children with hammers... no control... no method... just brutes."
Chen Long was a Level 4 with a Gongfa. Lin Hao was a Level 6 with... instinct.
He was a "brute" with a god-tier cheat, and he knew, with a cold, analytical certainty, that Chen Long was right. His power was sloppy. His absorption of Reiki was passive, like a sponge sitting in a stream. The "prodigies," with their family methods, were using turbines.
Upgrading his Talent was a passive fix. It would widen the pipes. A Gongfa was an active fix. It was the engine that would pump the water through.
He couldn't advance his realm for four days. But he could sure as hell learn how to practice.
"This first," he decided. He couldn't afford to be a brute any longer.
He placed his hand on the laptop, his fingers resting on the trackpad.
"System," he commanded. "Open $Object Upgrade$."
The blue screen flared, analyzing the worthless PDF.
[Mortal Manual: 'Fundamentals of Daoist Meditation'] -> [Upgrade: Low-Grade Spirit Tier Gongfa: 'Azure Origin Chant']? (Cost: 100 UP)
The price was a pittance. 100 UP. It was nothing.
"Confirm."
[Deducting 100 UP. 1010 UP Remaining.]
The laptop screen, which had been displaying the cheesy, lotus-flower cover of the eBook, instantly went black.
A second later, a single, incredibly complex, glowing blue rune flared to life on the screen. It was not a word, not a picture, but a flowing, multi-layered sigil that seemed to hurt his eyes just to look at.
Before he could analyze it, the rune leapt from the screen.
It shot across the two feet of darkness and struck him directly in the center of his forehead.
"Gah!"
He didn't reel back. He was frozen.
It wasn't a physical impact. It was a data impact.
A flood of profound, pristine, perfect information did not just enter his mind; it unpacked itself, blooming in his consciousness like a complex, three-dimensional blueprint.
He saw it. He understood it.
The mortal, idiotic phrase "breathe from your stomach" was instantly, laughably, replaced.
He now saw the 36 primary and 72 secondary pathways within his [Level 6] body. He saw how Reiki was meant to be drawn in through specific nodes, refined through a spiraling, internal "cycle," and stored, pure and compressed, in his Dantian, the energy center just below his navel that he hadn't even known existed until this second.
The "Azure Origin Chant" was a true, systematic, flawless method.
He was starving, but he had to try. He was sitting cross-legged. He closed his eyes.
He took one, single, conscious breath, following the new, perfect pathway.
FWOOOSH.
The river of blue Reiki in the warehouse, which he had only ever passively absorbed, changed. It didn't just flow into him; it was sucked.
A small, invisible vortex formed around him, the spiritual energy of the entire warehouse surging into his body. The sheer volume of Qi he absorbed in that one, single, controlled breath was more than he had passively absorbed in the last hour.
It swirled, following the "Azure Origin Chant's" path, and settled in his lower abdomen, forming a tiny, warm, swirling vortex. His Dantian.
It was working. He had a method.
He looked at the arrogant, proud [Level 4] prodigies in his mind's eye. This "Azure Origin Chant" was, almost certainly, on par with their "Raging Lion" Gongfa.
He was now their equal in terms of technique.
Lin Hao opened his eyes. He looked at his remaining 1010 UP.
Equal wasn't good enough.
He was a "brute." He had a "Waste Root." He was on a four-day time-lock. He couldn't afford to be equal to the prodigies. He had to be better. He had to crush them.
He placed his hand back on the laptop. The glowing blue rune was gone, replaced by the simple, mundane PDF icon. But the file was now spiritually linked to him.
"System," he commanded, his voice a low, excited growl. "Scan it again."
[Object: 'Azure Origin Chant' (Gongfa, Low-Grade Spirit Tier)] [Details: A complete 108-pathway Qi circulation method. Efficient for the Houtian & Xiantian Realms.]
And then, the beautiful, glorious, next step.
[Upgrade: Mid-Grade Spirit Tier Gongfa]? (Cost: 500 UP)
His eyes widened. 500 UP. Half of his remaining fortune. A fortune that was supposed to be for his family.
This, he realized, was for his family.
He couldn't afford to be slow. He couldn't afford to be on the same level. If he was going to generate the tens of thousands of UP he needed, he had to be practicing a technique that was in a league of its own. He had to maximize every second of this four-day "lock."
"Do it," he hissed. "Confirm."
[Deducting 500 UP. 510 UP Remaining.]
The rune that had just been imprinted in his mind evolved.
The "36-pathway" blueprint shattered. It was replaced by a new one, a thousand times more complex, a glorious, interlocking, three-dimensional web of 365 star-like nodes.
The "Azure Origin Chant" was gone. This was the "Azure River Divine Chant."
It was... perfect.
He didn't even have to try. His body, his Dantian, his very [Level 3: Inferior Root], wait, no, his [Level 2: Waste Root], rejoiced.
He took one breath.
The vortex in the room wasn't a swirl. It was a whirlpool.
The Reiki in the warehouse rushed into him with a low, audible, roaring sound. The energy he absorbed in that single, Mid-Grade-enhanced breath was so dense, his Dantian throbbed with pleasure.
He smiled, a true, cold, satisfied smile.
"Brute?" he whispered, thinking of Chen Long.
The "prodigies" of the Guardian Families were practicing their pathetic, Low-Grade, hand-me-down techniques.
He, the "brute," the "child with a hammer," was now practicing a Mid-Grade Spirit Tier Gongfa that their entire families probably couldn't even dream of.
His four-day "lock" had just become the most productive vacation of his life.