The rain fell softly over New Beijing's skyline, a symphony of droplets tapping against glass towers that reached for the heavens.
Inside one of those towers in the top floor of Ashgard Technologies the lights never went out.
The room was a fortress of silence, broken only by the faint hum of servers.
Monitors displayed endless lines of quantum code, rotating 3D genetic sequences, and incomprehensible equations all designed by a single man.
Neil Ashgard.
Or, as the world's underground tech forums called him, the Ghost Engineer.
Age: 21.
Occupation: Founder of Ashgard Technologies. Scientist. Engineer. Self-made billionaire.
Expression: Emotionless.
His silver-gray hair brushed against his cheek as he typed, eyes cold and focused.
The last three years had turned him into something far beyond human expectation.
He had built an empire of machines, AI networks, and crypto algorithms all to fuel one project the world would never know about:
Project Ascension.
"Three years," Neil murmured quietly. "Three years of simulation, refinement, and failure."
His lab was unlike anything on Earth powered by AI-driven reactors, filled with hybrid tech that blurred the line between physics and mysticism.
Dozens of prototypes had already been scrapped.
What remained was a single black capsule, connected to cables pulsing faint silver.
"If this succeeds," he said softly, "the limits of evolution end today."
He entered the final command sequence.
The capsule's surface lit up glyphs, not code, glowing across its alloy surface.
[PROJECT ASCENSION – FINAL ACTIVATION SEQUENCE READY]
He hesitated. Just once.
Not from fear but from acknowledgment.
The moment he pressed Enter, he would no longer be human in the conventional sense.
"To evolve," he whispered, "one must destroy the self."
He pressed Enter.
The lab shuddered.
Every light flickered. Quantum energy rippled through the room, bending the air itself.
Neil's consciousness drifted his mind severing from his body as data, memories, and something far older merged into one.The next moment, Neil collapsed to one knee, clutching his head.
"Ugh… what… what's happening?"
He wasn't connected to any computer anymore the data was inside him. His heartbeat synced with something vast and mechanical, something beyond comprehension.
Then came the voice.
Cold. Ageless. Metallic and divine all at once.
[Neural Signature Detected.]
[Synchronization Complete.]
[Binding Host: Neil Ashgard]
[Scanning biological, mental, and soul parameters…]
[Integration successful.]
[Welcome, Host… to the Ultimate Evolutionary System.]
Neil's eyes snapped open.
The world before him was gone replaced by a silver void of flowing code and luminous energy.
"Neil's breathing halted. "A… system?"[Affirmative.]
[I am the Ultimate Evolutionary System interface between mortal evolution and divine ascension.]
[I exist to assist the Host in transcending the boundaries of mortality.]
The silver light faded, leaving a faint, translucent interface before himvisible only to his eyes.
A silver interface appeared before him clean, simple, almost divine.
< SYSTEM INTERFACE >
Name: Neil Ashgard
Age: 21
Race: Human (Unawakened)
Cultivation Realm: —
Spiritual Roots: Unawakened
Talent Grade: Undefined
Soul Realm: Mortal
Attributes:
Strength: 9
Agility: 11
Intelligence: 329
Vitality: 8
Willpower: 320
Technique: None
Skills: None
Task Points: +0
Inventory: Empty
Shop: Locked
Missions: [New Mission Available]
Neil stared at the display silent for a moment, then chuckled softly.
It wasn't joy. It was curiosity. Pure, analytical fascination.
Neil's lips curved faintly the first hint of emotion in months. "So, I wasn't wrong. Evolution and cultivation… are the same phenomenon."
He focused his thoughts, and the system responded instantly.
[Mission: First Step to Transcendence] Awaken your Spiritual Root Reward: Basic Cultivation Technique (Low-tier), 10 Task Points
Neil smirked. "A reward system that adapts to task completion… just like an adaptive AI loop."
[Host has correctly inferred partial function.]
"Then tell me something," he asked quietly. "Are you a creation of my experiment… or something that existed before me?"
A long pause. Then
[Negative. You did not create me. You discovered me — hidden within the structure of existence itself.]
[By bridging technology and soul consciousness, you became my catalyst.]
"So, I've reached it…" Neil whispered. His gaze hardened. "Then let's evolve beyond humanity."
[Mission accepted.]
The interface shimmered, and a flood of alien warmth surged through his veins like lightning and liquid fire merging. His cells screamed and rewrote themselves as new energy spiritual energy awakened inside him for the first time.
In the darkness of his lab, Neil Ashgard stood alone, silver light glowing faintly in his eyes.
From this moment, the age of human science would begin to merge with something far older something divine.
And for the first time in history, a mortal would treat cultivation as a science… and evolution as his experiment.
End of Chapter 1 – Project Ascension