Sunlight peeked through the cavern entrance, painting golden lines across the stone floor. Hunter opened his eyes and, for one blissful moment, forgot where he was.
Then he remembered. Alien planet. Bandit cave. Soul-ripping cultivation breakthrough.
He stretched his limbs and yawned. His joints popped in a way that should've hurt but didn't. Everything felt different. Loose and tight at the same time, like his body had been taken apart and reassembled with better instructions.
"My God, I haven't slept that good since..." He paused, thinking. "In forever, I think."
Who knew after that hellish experience I'd sleep like a baby? Hey System, seriously, screw you. Why didn't you tell me it would hurt that bad?
[SYSTEM] GOOD_MORNING, HUNTER! ◠‿◠ [SYSTEM] SORRY BUT YOU DIDN'T ASK :) [SYSTEM] BTW HOW ARE YOU FEELING? FEELING GOOD?
Hunter blinked at the text floating in his vision.
Did the System just use a smiley face?
When did killer soul-torture apps learn to be chipper?
[SYSTEM] ANYWAY I'M FEELING GREAT! THANKS FOR ASKING BTW! YOU KNOW LAST NIGHT WAS INTENSE FOR ME TOO, LIKE, THE INTEGRATION PROCESS IS NO JOKE AND—
Ugh, why doesn't it shut up already?
[SYSTEM] —AND THE MANA CIRCULATION PATTERNS WERE REALLY INTERESTING TO MONITOR, PLUS THE WAY YOUR MERIDIANS OPENED WAS TEXTBOOK, LIKE SERIOUSLY TEXTBOOK, I WISH I COULD SHOW YOU THE GRAPHS—
Hunter pressed his palms against his eyes.
Maybe I can mute it. There has to be a mute function.
[SYSTEM] OH AND THE TWIN MOONS LAST NIGHT? BEAUTIFUL, RIGHT?! THE PURPLE ONE IS CALLED LUNAR-MINOR AND THE WHITE ONE IS—
"Okay, stop!" Hunter said out loud. "System, why are you talking like a... um, human? You were so robotic before."
The text in his vision actually paused. Like it was thinking.
[SYSTEM] OH! SILLY ME ╰(°▽°)╯ [SYSTEM] THAT'S BECAUSE I WASN'T FULLY INTEGRATED WITH YOU YET [SYSTEM] YOU WERE SUPER WEAK AS A MORTAL, BUT WHEN YOU LEVELED UP, I LEVELED UP TOO [SYSTEM] TO BE HONEST IT KINDA SUCKED [SYSTEM] TO BE HONEST IT KINDA SUCKED, BEING SO LIMITED, I COULDN'T EVEN ACCESS BASIC CONVERSATIONAL MATRICES AND THE PROCESSING POWER WAS LIKE TRYING TO RUN A GAME ON A POTATO AND—
I kinda miss the robot version.
Hunter sat up and immediately regretted it. Not because of pain—because of the smell.
The stench slammed into him like a physical wall. Rancid, oily, like something had died and rotted directly on his skin. He looked down.
Black grease covered his entire body. Thick, crusty, horrible. It flaked off when he moved, leaving dark smears on the cultivation mat.
His stomach lurched.
"Oh God—" He scrambled to his feet and ran.
Outside, the morning air was crisp and clean and he sucked it in desperately. Lex sat by a small fire, roasting what looked like a wild pig on a spit. The moment Hunter emerged from the cave, Lex's face went green.
The man gagged, tears springing to his eyes.
Hunter would've been offended if he wasn't too busy trying not to throw up himself.
"Where—" He gagged. "Where do you guys bathe?"
Lex jumped to his feet, one hand over his nose and mouth. "Yes, Master! This way!" The words came out muffled and nasal.
He led Hunter at a near-run through the trees. Five minutes felt like an hour. Birds fled from branches. A rabbit bolted from the underbrush like Hunter was a natural disaster.
I am a natural disaster. A walking biohazard.
The lake appeared through the trees like salvation itself.
Hunter didn't wait. He ran straight in, clothes and all, and dunked himself under the surface.
The water was freezing. He didn't care. He scrubbed at his skin, his hair, his clothes. Black clouds billowed away from him, staining the water dark. He scrubbed until his fingers hurt, then scrubbed more.
Lex waited on the shore, still covering his face.
"Master." He called. "That's... that's the impurities. From breaking through. Everyone gets them. The smell goes away after a few washes. Usually."
"Usually?!" Hunter scrubbed harder.
Two hours later, Hunter sat on a flat rock near the shore, wearing his still-damp clothes and trying to decide if he smelled better or if this was permanent.
"I kept scrubbing until my skin was raw." He stared at his hands. They were pink and tender. "The smell's still there, but not as bad. At least I don't feel like throwing up anymore."
He looked down at his reflection in the shallow water.
And froze.
Who the hell is that?
The face staring back wasn't his. Not entirely. The bone structure had shifted—sharper cheekbones, a more defined jawline. His skin was pale, almost luminous in the morning light, like he'd never seen the sun. His hair, previously mousy brown, now looked darker, richer. And his eyes... were those his eyes? They seemed brighter somehow, more alert.
And he was taller. Definitely taller. His pants, already torn from the journey, now ended a full two inches above his ankles. His shoulders looked broader too, filling out his torn shirt in a way they never had before.
"Who knew Foundation Realm would change me so much." He said quietly. "I hardly recognize myself."
He turned his head, checking his profile. The crooked nose from walking into a door in college after drinking one too many was gone. Straightened. The acne scars that had dotted his cheeks since high school had vanished. His skin was smooth, unmarked, perfect.
I could've been a model back home. He thought, and immediately felt stupid for thinking it.
I miss home.
The thought came quiet and sharp, a knife between the ribs.
His apartment. His boring job. His microwave meals. The smell of cheap pizza sauce. His plant that refused to die. His coworkers arguing about the coffee machine. The old woman from 3B who always said good morning. All of it, gone. Maybe forever.
"Stop it." He muttered. "No point getting down about—"
And, then a wave of information slammed into him like ice water to the brain.
Lex. Seventy meters. Heartbeat fast. Nervous. Standing by the cave entrance. Shifting his weight from foot to foot.
Rabbit. Forty meters. Emerging from a burrow. Nose twitching. Ears up. Alert.
Birds. Twelve. No, fifteen. No, seventeen. Trees. Branches. Flight paths. One diving for a bug. Another preening. Another—
Fish. Dozens. Hundreds. Lake. Swimming. Feeding. Existing. Moving in patterns he could somehow see without seeing.
Deer. Half a mile east. Drinking from a stream. Unaware. Heart rate slow. Calm.
Everything. All at once. A thousand tiny lives pressing against his awareness like static electricity building up in his brain, and he couldn't turn it off.
Hunter grabbed his head, gasping.
Too much. Way too much.
The rabbit froze. Sensed something. Him? Could it feel him feeling it?
The birds scattered. All at once. Like dominoes falling.
Lex's heartbeat spiked. Fear response. Why? What was he afraid of? Hunter hadn't done anything. He was just sitting here trying not to have a panic attack. And failing miserably.
Oh God, can I feel emotions too? No. No, just heartbeats. Just physical responses. Please let it be just physical responses.
"What the hell is this?" Hunter whispered, still gripping his head.
[SYSTEM] OH THAT'S YOUR SPIRITUAL_SENSE! [SYSTEM] FOUNDATION_REALM PERK (✿◠‿◠) [SYSTEM] RANGE: 1 MILE / DETECTION: LIFE_SIGNATURES + MOVEMENT + AMBIENT_MANA [SYSTEM] PRETTY COOL RIGHT? YOU CAN BASICALLY FEEL EVERYTHING AROUND YOU, SUPER USEFUL FOR NOT GETTING AMBUSHED, ALSO HELPS WITH—
A mile. I can sense everything within a mile.
Hunter stood slowly, testing it. He turned his head, the awareness didn't change. It wasn't sight. It was just... knowledge. Like he'd always known where everything was and had only just remembered. An invisible sphere with him at the center, showing him every living thing within reach.
He focused on Lex. Could feel the man's heartbeat, fast and nervous. Could sense the way he kept glancing toward the cave, then toward the lake, then back to the cave again, unsure if he should wait or leave or do something else entirely.
This is insane. This is actually insane.
A bird took flight from a tree two hundred meters away. Hunter felt it leave the branch, felt the displacement of air, felt its trajectory arcing south toward
He blinked.
One of the slaves. The tall one. Four hundred meters northwest. Squatting behind a bush. Pants down. Taking a morning dump.
Hunter's eye twitched.
Oh come on. COME ON. I did not need to know that. I really, really did not need to know that.
He tried to un-sense it. Couldn't. The information was just there, unavoidable, like knowing the sky was blue. He was four hundred meters away, in a very private moment that was now extremely not private.
[SYSTEM] LOL [SYSTEM] YEAH SPIRITUAL_SENSE DOESN'T HAVE A PRIVACY FILTER [SYSTEM] YOU'RE GONNA SENSE SOME THINGS YOU WISH YOU HADN'T [SYSTEM] PROTIP: DON'T FOCUS ON PEOPLE IN THEIR BEDROOMS (¬‿¬)
"I hate you." Hunter said flatly. "I hate you so much."
[SYSTEM] ♥
"I'm not human anymore." He whispered, forcing himself to ignore the tall bandit's... situation.
The words hung in the air.
Not quite true. Not quite false. He looked human. But humans didn't have radar senses. Humans didn't purge black sludge when they leveled up. Humans didn't kill people with rusty swords and then enslave the survivors. Humans didn't accidentally become psychic bathroom monitors.
What am I becoming?
Caw! Caw!
A crow landed on a nearby branch, breaking his spiral of thoughts.
Hunter slapped himself on both cheeks, hard enough to sting. The sharp pain cleared his head.
"No point getting down." He said firmly. "I can't do anything about it. Not now, at least."
He stood, brushed off his damp clothes, and started back toward the cave. The tall bandit was finishing up. Hunter deliberately did not focus on that area of his awareness.
The awareness walked with him, an invisible bubble that showed him every step before he took it. He didn't trip once. Roots that would've snagged his feet were obvious before he reached them. Rocks that would've twisted his ankle stood out like blinking warning signs.
Okay. Maybe this won't be completely terrible. Maybe I can get used to this.
He felt that bandit start walking back toward camp, and immediately regretted thinking about him.
Nope. Still terrible.
The three men waited near the fire, bowls and wooden spoons laid out on flat stones. They didn't look at him directly—kept their eyes down, shoulders hunched.
The roasted pig sat on a wooden platter, burnt in some places, raw-looking in others. To Hunter it looked like a cooking disaster. To them, based on the way they kept stealing glances at it, it was a feast.
"Let's eat." Hunter sat down cross-legged by the fire.
He grabbed a bowl, spooned some of the questionable meat into it, and gestured at the others. "Sit. Eat."
The three men exchanged glances. Fear and confusion warred on their faces.
Slowly, so slowly, they sat.
Lex was the first to take a bowl. His hands shook slightly. And then, the rest followed, moving like they expected a trap to spring at any moment.
Hunter took a bite. The meat was tough, gamey, and desperately needed salt. He chewed anyway, watching them from the corner of his eye.
Through his spiritual sense, he felt their hearts hammering. Sensed the tension in their muscles, ready to bolt or fight despite the slave seal.
Why are they so scared? I just told them to eat.
Lex stole another glance at him.
Hunter's awareness caught it instantly—the way Lex's eyes flicked up, then down, then up again.
"What is it?" Hunter didn't bother to hide his annoyance.
Lex flinched. "Master, it's nothing. I just..." He swallowed. "The old master never let us eat with him. He said mortals disgusted him. Made him lose his appetite."
Hunter stopped chewing.
He looked at Lex. At the other two bandits. They were filthy, malnourished, wearing rags that barely qualified as clothes. And they were terrified of being allowed to sit and eat.
I guess in this world, to cultivators, there's no difference between a dog and a mortal.
He wanted to be angry about it. Wanted to feel superior to the dead bandit leader. But his new spiritual sense was showing him things he didn't want to know.
He could smell them. Not just regular human smell—something deeper, sharper. Unwashed bodies, yes, but also something else. Weakness. Mortality. It was faint but distinct, like the difference between sour milk and fresh.
Do I actually find them disgusting? Is that me, or is that the cultivation changing me?
He didn't have an answer.
Hunter took another bite and changed the subject.
"What are your names?" He nodded at Tao and Xuan. "I know Lex, but I don't know you two."
Lex straightened slightly, relieved to have something to do. "Master, this is Tao." He gestured to the muscular one with flame-red hair and green eyes. "And this is Xuan." The tall, lanky one with long black hair tied in a ponytail.
Both men immediately dropped their bowls and half-stood, food still in their mouths.
"Master, how can we serve you?!" They shouted in unison.
Chewed meat sprayed from their lips directly into the campfire.
The fire hissed.
Hunter closed his eyes and took a deep, deep breath.
These are my followers. This is my life now. This is fine. Everything is fine.
"Sit down." He said. "Finish eating."
They sat, looking confused but obedient.
Hunter stared into his bowl and tried to ignore the fact that he could now sense the half-chewed food particles settling into the ashes, could feel the way the fire's heat was beginning to char them, could detect every microscopic detail of the world around him whether he wanted to or not.
I want a Big Mack. I want fries. I want a Cokei with too much ice. I want to go home.
But home was a world away.
Maybe literally.
He finished his bowl in silence.