Eastern Mountains
South River Market
Third Person POV
A young man named Luo Ming wakes up violently in a small room.
"Fuck, my head is killing me," he groans. He rubs his eyes and starts to finally notice some small signs. Well, more like huge signs cause somehow his room did not have a bed anymore and there is almost nothing in the room. As soon as he realised this, his eyes shot wide open.
"Did I get robbed?!? Where the fuck is all my shit?!?"
Suddenly he paused. He closed his eyes. When he opened them again there was a clear gleam of clarity in them.
"So I transmigrated into a world of cultivation...My name is somehow the same as my previous life.I was an orphan who nearly starved to death during a famine in a mortal village. Fortunately, a immortal cultivator arrived at the village to recruit potential cultivators and I was discovered to have the weakest spiritual root, the five elements spiritual root. Altho weak it is not worthless. Along with 7 other children, the immortal brought us to the South River Market and sold us to the Gu family, one of the seven violet palace forces in the South River Market. I am now a meager servant in the Gu family. As soon as I break through to the 1st Level of the Spirit Gathering Realm, I will put to work in the farms. I have been given 10 spirit stones and a bottle of Spirit-Condensing Pill. I have been given 3 months to breakthrough...."
As he finishes going through his memories, he sighs. Although his previous life was not ideal, it was great. He was born into a rich family. His parents did not have much time to care for him or show him their love. But he was happy with his life. He could play video games and novels all day. His parents did not care what he did as the family business was already meant to be inherited by his older brother. As long as he did not ruin their public image they were happy to accommodate him. They were rich enough to not mind feeding 100 children for free let alone 1. He was also happy with this status quo. Although he daydreamed about transmigrating to another world and live a life as a protagonist, now that it really happened he was unwilling to live a life of hardship. He cursed his fate. He is also starting as a servant. Him, who has not worked a single second in his life.
"Fuck me...I hope I atleast have cheat. SYSTEM!!! Ring grandpa!!! Immortal Soul!!! Awaken!!! Arise!!!"
[Will you shut up!!! I am right here and I am none of the things you are yelling.]
A mechanical voice rang out in his head. The boy instantly grew excited.
"SORRY. I will stay quiet. So.....what or who are you?"
[At least you know how to apologize. You can call me "Infinity". I am a artifact spirit.]
"Woah!!! Such a epic name. Surely you can do something amazing!!!Well"
[Of course. The thing I can do is quite simple. I can produce limitless amount of currency.]
"Currency?"
[Yes, as long as you use something as a currency to buy something, I can register that and produce infinite amounts of it. Except digital currency. But you don't have to worry about that. I brought you in a world that has a established hard currency system.]
Luo Ming fell silent. He had not expected such a powerful cheat. He knows that this world runs on a unique type of currency known as spirit stones. Spirit stones can be used for almost everything. It is a type of currency that can never cause inflation. No matter how much he flooded a market with spirit stones, its value will never decrease. Nobody in the world can claim to have enough spirit stones. Wait.....now someone can. As soon as Luo Ming realized this fact, his breathing grew heavy. He started drooling imagining swimming in seas of spirit stones. Suddenly he snapped out of daydreaming. His eyes started blazing with anger.
"Wait did you say you brought me here??? The fuck!!! I was happy in my home. Why would you do that to me."
[Calm down, bitch. I didn't take you from your home. You were a soul floating in your universe about to dissipate. I just possessed you when I saw that your soul had the unique talent of "Adaptation". Then I took you out of your universe because it had little potential for growth. I brought you to this realm.]
Hearing this Luo Ming calmed down. He took a deep breath.
"I was dead??? I don't remember dying. How did I die?"
[How am I supposed to know? Honestly you are the first host who dared to yell at me. Anyone else who heard of my function worshipped me. Honestly you are such a lousy host.]
He was instantly embarrassed and apologetic. After all, what done is done. Now he had to whole heartedly hug this thick leg that is Infront of him.
"Sorry, Infinity. I was a bit too.... excited? I am still in shock about dying. But you sure are awesome. I am curious. What is your origin?"
Such a heaven defying artifact being bound to him is somewhat unreal. He was honestly afraid some chtullu type being is playing with him.
[Hmmmm, it's a bit of a long story but telling you about my origin is okay. Well, it starts in a distant universe. You see there are more than just one universe.]
"Woah, the multiverse theory is true. Countless universe are stacked side by side to each other waiting to discover one another!!!"
[What??? NO!!! Don't interrupt me. Universes are not STACKED!!! That is ridiculous. Universes are randomly floating in the vast sea of chaos.]
'That is the most ridiculous shit I have ever heard. But better not provoke the dude..'
[Anyway where was I? In that distant unnamed universe a great genius discovered a blueprint of unknown origin. That blueprint recorded a design, my design. It was so apocryphal and incomprehensible that it took the genius millions of years to comprehend. After comprehending the design, he took millions more to forge my core based on the design. Unfortunately before he could make good use of me, the universe collapsed.]
"I'm sorry.....did you just say..... collapsed?"
[Yeah..... Damn I have explain that too. You see a universe is dictated by a particular set of rules. One of those rules say that universe cannot be destroyed. Unfortunately for the inhabitants of a universe, it can collapse inwards. There are many ways that can happen. The most common way is time. The universe collapses on itself every 999 billion year mark. That timespan is also referred as "One Chaos Era". After it's collapse it turns into a gigantic orb of energy that can efficiently absorb energy from the chaos to grow stronger and more complete. Then it restarts. Starting a new chaos era. That is why the older a universe is the stronger and more comprehensive it is. It is a unstoppable cycle. So, the universe of my creator collapsed, but the artifact, which is me, survived the collapse. The reason I am aware of this fact is because my creator left a data log in my core.]
"Wow, you survived a universe's collapse. By the way, who designed the blueprint?"
[I might have no offensive capabilities, but my defence in top notch. Also I don't know who designed my core mechanics. It is a mystery that may never be solved. Anyway, after the restart the artifact just floated through space for billions of years. Then a intelligent species discovered me while travelling through the universe. At first they were confused what I was. But when they researched my capabilities they slowly understood what a revolutionary artifact I was. They misunderstood that the artifact was built by an ancient civilization. They could not imagine the fact that the universe collapses on itself and kills all its inhabitants. Anyway, they used the artifact to create infinite amounts of resources. Their development speed became unmatched. The more they used me the more they realised that the amount they could extract from me was not ending. They grew more excited and used me even more. I powered the entire civilization for billions of years.]
"Woah, how can you produce that much resource? That is crazy!!!"
[It is. Honestly, even I am not completely sure how I work. My design is so revolutionary that it took entire civilizations billions of years of research to even consider upgrading me. I work by extracting ever present chaos energy in the sea of chaos. Normally even universes take eons to slowly absorb chaos energy and transform it into a suitable type of energy required for its development. But I can do it instantly and in an unlimited amount. Anyway, the first civilization that found me used the design that was etched on my body by my creator for some reason and upgraded my output speed. They were considering new ways to upgrade me but before they could the collapse happened. The universe restarted and a.new civilization found me. They too thought that an ancient civilization built me.]
"Woah, how many universe collapses did you survive?!?"
[1349]
"DAMN"
[Stop interrupting me. Where was I? Yeah, I was stuck in a cycle. New civilization finds me, uses me, upgrades me and dies. This kept happening until collapse 778. This universe quite developed created a unique system of power. The power of "Karmic Calculation". Using esoteric ways, they could calculate and deduce anything in their universe. When one of the civilizations found me, they decided to deduce my origins. Using me as a source they discovered the horrifying truth about the collapse. And obviously they went crazy. They could not believe that the universe that nurtured them will also end them. They wanted a solution and they found one. They have to blow a hole on the borders of their universe to get out. It will cause premature collapse but at least they will get to live. Then using the unlimited amount of resources that I produced they built the greatest bomb ever created an d blew up one corner of the universe. But to their horror, they saw that it did not even cause a ripple on the universe's barrier. When they tried to deduce the reason for their failure, they discovered horrific truth. You see the universe develops itself and the barrier it has by slowly absorbing the surrounding chaos energy. But the artifact could instantly extracts chaos energy and turns it into a resource that could be directly used by the universe. Therefore using me was rapidly strengthening the universe and its barrier. So using me to develop themselves was also domming them into captivity in their own universe.]
"Oh shit, didn't that mean you were also stuck?"
[Yeah, thankfully I was not born yet so I did not have to spend endless amount of time floating in a universe. That would have been torture.]
"What do you mean not born? You were already built."
[I meant that my body was built, but me as in the artifact spirit wasn't. Anyway the heavenly calculator civilization then deducted an alternate way. They thought the universe collapsed to conserve energy. So they just had to flood the universe with energy and that will stop the collapse. Spoiler alert, it didn't cause it is rule of chaos that a universe must collapse.They did leave a message about the truth of collapse for future civilizations. All the other civilizations followed their advice of flooding the universe with resources dooming themselves and d future civilizations. Oh the calculations civilization also added a module to me that could deduce which materials in any version of the universe could be used to upgrade the artifact. This was very useful to future civilizations.The next major event happened after collapse 936. A space pirate discovered me. At that time I was as large as a small planet. The pirate did not care about the collapse. He cared about treasure. So he wanted to monopolize me. But hiding a planet size currency generator is impossible. So he worked on making me smaller and stealthier. Using various methods he succeeded turning me pocket sized. He eventually died and I was kept in his treasure hoard. Next major upgrade was after collapse 1022. This version of the universe was focused more on soul development. They quite liked the stealthy idea. So they turned me into a soul artifact that could be bound to someone's soul and was completely undetectable by any means. Final upgrade happened after collapse 1348. This universe was heavily focused on technology and genetics. A boy named Noah found me. He was also responsible for my birth. He decided that to properly control me an AI was necessary that could use the artifact at 100% efficiency. I helped him greatly after my birth. He also enchanced all the previous features greatly. He was also a.....madman.]
"Madman? Why?"
[He decided that flooding the universe with resources was not working. He wanted to go back to bombing the universe barrier but instead of a single point he wanted to cover the entire universe with bombs. Blowing up every single corner of the universe all at once.]
"Won't that kill him too?"
[I too mentioned that. So he decided to create a galaxy sized bunker made of the strongest material he could find. He though since I could survive so could he. Before that he needed to conquer the universe and d enslave everyone. So he did.]
"Damn!"
[Damn indeed. He used the most explosive materials he could find and instructed the entire universe to produce bombs while he used some of the people to build the bunker. After about 300 billion years, he was finally able to cover every inch of the universe with bombs. So he stuffed himself in the bunker with about 100 million living beings. Then dooming the rest of the universe, he detonated the bombs. And it worked. The universe was ripped apart and the bunker was damaged for the most part but he survived. What he did not expect however was the universe even in its damaged state converged back in a single point. The pint being the center of its previous undamaged state which also happened to be where the bunker was kept. The already damaged bunker could not survive the violent convergence of the universe and exploded killing my final host in that universe. I survived and was thrown out of the area of the universe. I was free but alone. In the honour of my final host I named that universe "NOAH".]
"Woah!!!! What then?"
[Then I floated in the chaos. Watching the universe restart. When it did I decided to search for a new host. What I did not expect though was that I could not find any suitable host in the infinite chaos. After many deductions I discovered that due to being in "Noah" for so long I was too attuned to energy fluctuations of that universe. So anyone outside of it was unsuitable to be my host.]
"So, how did I become your host?"
[That's where your soul talent "Adaptation" comes in. It is a very rare talent. One of my users in "Noah" had it. This talent allows someone's soul to adapt to external stimulations. So when I exposed myself to your soul for a few thousand years, your soul became suitable for me to possess.]
"FEW THOUSAND YEARS!!!! How long have I been dead?!?"
[7 million years...give or take a few thousand years.....]
"WHAT?!? WHY?!?"
[Uh! Will you stop yelling? Did you think I teleported you from your universe to this realm. I had to travel through the Chaotic sea. Do you know how many things tried to eat me?!? Then I had to fuse your soul with an existing soul. Be grateful, Bitch!]
"Sorry I got a bit excited.....Thanks for saving my soul.."
[Good, you should be more grateful...]
'*#@*sucker.....if you were not a giant moneybag I would have left you this instant....rude asshole'
"So, what is this realm you keep talking about? How is it different from a universe?"
[Well, the main difference is that all the worlds in a realm are connected via a unique type of will called "Heaven" by its inhabitants. It not only regulates and defends all its worlds, but also allow its inhabitants to ascend to higher ranked worlds with better resources when their power reaches the limit of their world. And if someone reaches the pinnacle of power of the realm, it allows them to ascend beyond the realm to the outer chaos. Unlike an universe which practically imprisons their inhabitants and absolutely stops their growth when they reach the ceiling of power. This realm is shaped kind of like an tree. With countless smaller worlds hanging down like roots and medium sized worlds stacked on top of each other forming a trunk. And a huge world at the very top forming a shape like crown of a world. You are at one of the largest middle sized ones that has a decent connection with the one at top.]
"Oh, just like those cultivation novels. I suppose it makes sense since the currency here is called spirit stones."
[Oh, your world had those types of novels too? One of the universe restarts had a version of them too... That's a weird coincidence...Anyway so that's it. End of my story. Now I am gonna sleep.]
"Wait, what do you mean sleep? How am I gonna survive without you?"
[Bitch, calm down. I had to drag your ass across chaos for a million years. I need rest. Besides I will leave a simulated intelligence for you. You can still use all the functions of the artifact. Also look out for materials that you can use to upgrade me. My last host added a function to me that can allow me to self upgrade if given the right materials. The SI will alert you when materials like those are detected nearby. BYE!!!]
"WAIT, I have more questions...hello, Infinity... God damnit, how do I use you???"
First Person POV (Luo Ming)
Well, guess I have been abandoned....what a rude AI. I hope using the artifact is easy. Let's solve the problem at hand first. I am now a slave...that complicates things. I will have to be more cautious about how I use the innfinite amounts of spirit stones. But first I need to have Infinite spirit stones. Let's try something...
"Spirit stones...APPEAR"
Hmmmm...did not work. Let's try a bunch of new gestures....
A few minutes later,
Well, none of those worked. What does a spirit stones look like anyway? Oh, right. The Gu family gave me a bunch of stuff like a starter kit or something..... There's the bag. Let me check what's in it.
Hmmm, three spirit stones, a bottle of something called "Spirit Sensing pills" and a book. I should inspect the stones first.
Third Person POV
"Artifact..Register spirit stones....Did not work, huh?"
Luo Ming was visibly perplexed. Nothing was working. Infinity did not leave him any guide and the SI that was supposed to manage the artifact is not responding.