Each second saw him clearing massive distances, every instant pushing him farther from whatever threat might be lurking behind.

As he flew, he couldn’t help but glance over his shoulder from time to time. His eyes scanned the horizon, searching for the outline of a pursuer—but there was nothing. Only forest stretched out behind him.

The darkening landscape, bathed in the last rays of the sun, had once felt calm—almost serene. But now… its aura had changed completely. The shadows between the trees seemed to squirm, as if monsters lay in wait around every corner. The tranquil forest now felt like a predator’s den.

After crossing hundreds of kilometers, a sudden realization struck him.

‘And if they’re tracking me through the demonic cultivator’s storage ring?’

“Fuck!” he cursed aloud, immediately transferring all the contents into his own ring. Then, without pause, he hurled the potentially tracked ring into the depths of the forest below.

Shfft.

Mikael accelerated even further, having realized that maybe the enemy was closer than ever…

He didn’t hold himself back—blasting forward at full speed, changing directions in a seemingly erratic pattern. One moment he was veering north, the next curving sharply west, then slicing through the air toward the east with no discernible path.

He kept this up for a while, trying to be as unpredictable as possible—fleeing in what felt like an invisible pursuit, as if a phantom presence might still be following him.

Eventually, he descended and concealed himself among the low-hanging branches of a dense tree.

A slow, controlled exhale escaped his lips as he sat down in a meditative position. Even just that short burst of evasive flight had taken more out of him than hours of steady travel ever would.

After a moment of rest, Mikael opened his eyes and sighed. “There, now I should be good. I should have lost them. They shouldn’t be able to track me from this far away,” he confidently declared, feeling safer than before. With the speed he had used, the chaotic flight pattern, and the sheer distance covered—he felt certain that he was out of reach.

Unknown to Mikael, he was safe just like he thought—but not for the reason he believed.

It wasn’t because he had flown fast and far. It was simply because the opponent he thought was pursuing him never existed in the first place.

The 4th layer demonic cultivator whom he believed to be backed by a powerful figure… wasn’t backed by anyone. He was just a lucky demonic cultivator who had stumbled upon a Core Formation Realm Demonic Cultivator’s legacy.

Which meant that the high-speed pursuit had been self-inflicted—and completely useless…

Fortunately, Mikael didn’t know this. Otherwise, he would’ve felt particularly stupid.

Now safe, Mikael took the time to investigate the new content inside his storage ring in more detail.

There were many cultivation resources that he couldn’t exactly identify—things like ores, or even artifacts. It wasn’t just herbs he lacked knowledge about, but nearly everything related to the cultivation world.

After all, during his studies, he had focused most of his attention on Cultivation Methods and how cultivation worked. He hadn’t delved deeply into the workings of the cultivation world itself. So it was only natural that he couldn’t identify everything he had acquired, only managing to determine a few basic characteristics using his Divine Sense—which he found unacceptable. It deepened his desire to learn more about the cultivation world, not just herbs.

To be honest, Mikael was being a little harsh with himself. After all, what cultivator would be able to instantly identify everything they found? The vast majority were like him—or sometimes even worse. Only being able to grasp the basic properties of an item through Divine Sense was the norm, with detailed analysis typically left to professionals.

But Mikael didn’t know this, and he considered his lack of knowledge unacceptable. And even if he did know, it wouldn’t have changed his thinking. If he chose to settle for ‘mediocrity’ just because it was the ‘norm’, then he’d never surpass those so-called ‘normal’ cultivators.

With his determination burning fiercer than ever, Mikael resumed his detailed exploration of the new additions to his storage ring.

He quickly skimmed past the items he couldn’t understand, his attention landing instead on a cluster of jade slips.

A brief sweep with his Divine Sense confirmed what they were—Demonic Cultivation Arts.

Normally, a disciple of an orthodox sect like the Wandering Sword Sect would have reacted with disgust upon seeing something like this. Evil, forbidden, corrupt—yada yada. But, of course, Mikael didn’t give a shit about any of that.

Whether a Cultivation Art was deemed good or evil didn’t matter to him. The only thing that counted was whether it was useful. That was it.

With that mindset, he examined the Arts in more detail—but quickly frowned.

‘They’re all pretty much useless, aren’t they? They promise power through “evil means”, which I don’t mind… but nearly all of them come with serious drawbacks that make them unusable.’

He paused on one of the jade slips.

‘Like this one. It allows the user to absorb the life force of a killed opponent and convert it into cultivation. Useful in theory—especially for someone like me. But the problem is that using it leads to an unstable foundation and affects one’s state of mind… So yeah, pretty useless.’

He cycled through each jade slip, hoping to find a hidden gem. But disappointment greeted him at every turn. Every technique had glaring flaws, drawbacks too severe to justify their benefits.

He sighed. “What a waste… Still, not everything’s useless. Even if I won’t cultivate them, I can use them as references to deepen my understanding of cultivation, especially the Demonic Path. So there’s that.”

He moved his Divine Sense away from the last jade slip and continued to explore the rest of the storage ring.

Most of what remained was unremarkable—miscellaneous items useful in a cultivator’s daily life, but nothing that stood out.

Then his ‘gaze’ fell on a half-destroyed book, its title barely legible: Foresight of Heaven’s Mandate.

‘Oh? What’s that?’

He immediately brought the manual closer. It looked as if it could fall apart at any moment, yet he began to read it anyway.

At first, he read casually. But the further he went, the more his expression shifted—growing serious, tinged with excitement.

“So that’s how they detected me…” he murmured, realization dawning. “The eldest of the three brothers used this unique Cultivation Technique to ‘detect fortune and evade calamity’—just like the manual says.”

“This is… invaluable.” For a moment, even the usually composed Mikael was at a loss for words.

He had never taken the time to investigate how they were able to sense or evade him. He’d simply assumed they had used some unknown artifact. But clearly… he’d been wrong.

And for once, being wrong had never felt so rewarding.

He slowly, almost reverently, closed the manual.

‘This Cultivation Technique could be devastating in the right hands—my hands. It doesn’t offer immediate strength, but unless you’re stupid, it’s obviously far more important.’

With a thought, the manual vanished back into his storage ring.

‘There will always be ways to grow stronger. But something like this? It’s absolutely priceless. If I master it, I’ll gain the ability to predict danger and seek fortune. It’s almost like getting plot armor!’

Mikael was visibly excited.

‘And as everyone who reads novels knows, plot armor is more important than anything. Even if you’re weaker than your enemy, as long as the plot armor is on your side, everything just works out—and this Foresight of Heaven’s Mandate is basically that.’

Then his thoughts drifted to the fate of the three demonic cultivator brothers.

‘Maybe… it’s not that strong,’ he mused with a twinge of disappointment, before shaking his head. ‘Still, it’s undoubtedly an unexpected but welcome boon. But it also reinforces the fact that those brothers must have had a backer. Maybe even someone stronger than I first assumed. If that person finds me... even the talismans Master gave me might not be enough to protect me.’

That thought wiped away any sense of safety he’d been clinging to. Without hesitation, Mikael left his current hiding spot and took to the skies again.

He didn’t fly for long but with his speed he already covered an immense distance. Then he settled into a narrow crevasse, deep and hidden—far more secure than any tree.

There, he pulled out the jade slip provided by the sect and used it to signal the successful completion of the Demonic Cultivator Extermination mission. The bandit one had already been submitted earlier.

As for the three missions at the Savagefang Mountain Range?

These three didn’t have a time limit and were basic missions, like gathering herbs, killing beasts, and things like that—so to Mikael, they weren’t really important. Just something to do in passing.

The true reason he would head to the Savagefang Mountain Range later was to temper himself against Demonic Beasts. A true and powerful cultivator could only be tempered by the fire of life-and-death fights, or else they would end up as nothing more than a greenhouse flower—one that would falter at the first sign of trouble. And Mikael didn’t intend to be any kind of greenhouse flower.

With that out of the way, he retrieved the tattered Foresight of Heaven’s Mandate manual once more and, without wasting a moment, began to study it in earnest.

At first, the text was… readable. Not easy—definitely not easy—but at least understandable. It bore the same strange qualities as other Cultivation Arts he’d encountered, the ones that made them unusually hard to grasp without sufficient comprehension.

And this book?

It required a lot of comprehension. Even Mikael, with all his aptitude, found it challenging—but manageable. The real problem, he quickly realized, had nothing to do with comprehension.

His brows furrowed.

‘This Cultivation Technique requires a high affinity with fate. Comprehension is only secondary. And my affinity with fate…?’

‘I’ve never tested it, but I can feel it while reading this manual—it’s only “average.” Which, in the cultivation world where almost no one has any affinity with fate, basically means nonexistent.’

He closed the manual, gaze idly following a small insect drilling into the stone wall.

‘With my affinity, I’d be lucky to reach the 1st layer in two months—and that’s only because of my extremely high comprehension. Without it? Forget two months. Even two years might not be enough.’

The thought wasn’t comforting. But it didn’t make him waver.

‘No matter if it takes two months or more, I’m not moving from this spot until I reach the 1st layer. This Cultivation Technique is too important.’

With a steady breath, he opened the manual again—slower this time, more deliberate. He understood his weakness, so he approached it with care. No assumptions. No rushing. Just patience and clarity.

Hours passed. Day faded into night, then into another day.

And so, his silent comprehension began in earnest.

Ideas formed and unraveled. Insights sparked and slipped away. Progress was slow, uneven, and frustrating—but it was there. With each breath, the world outside faded, leaving only the dim ink of ancient script and the fragile, flickering thread of understanding he refused to release.

One day bled into the next. Weeks drifted by, one after another.

Until—

[Prodigious Evolution Talent – Level 3: Passive Evolution Threshold Reached]

[Training, comprehension, and sustained accumulation in the concept of Fate has surpassed the minimum required threshold.]

[A new Common-Type Talent has been awakened.]

[You have acquired: Fate Affinity – Level 1]

A small smile appeared on Mikael’s face as he felt a fundamental shift begin to ripple through every part of his being.

He didn’t panic—not even as the transformation took hold—because he knew exactly what was happening. Fortunately, as he had learned half a year ago, acquiring talents wasn’t painful.

No, it was the opposite. A comfortable warmth spread outward from his core, slowly engulfing him, as if elevating his existence to a higher level that somehow felt completely natural.

Time lost all meaning as he immersed himself in the process. The warmth flowed endlessly, embracing every inch of his being. Eventually, the sensation began to wane, the gentle current fading away until it finally disappeared.

Slowly, Mikael opened his eyes. “Just as I thought—it activated.”

He exhaled, feeling an unfamiliar closeness with the intangible force of Fate.

💬 I read every comment, and your thoughts genuinely shape Mikael’s path.

📚 Chapters ahead await on Patreon: www./SDASLUMMY

⭐ A single rating or follow helps more than you’d expect. 

Glad you’re walking this path with me.

— End of Chapter —