CHAPTER 27: DYING STAR’S PRIMORDIAL PHYSIQUE

27 days ago...

In the same old archive room of the building, faint sounds of the muffled groans and guttural shrieks reverberated. Lucian sat in the center, his body convulsing with pain. Veins bulged all over his swelling, red body as he barely held onto his meditative stance.

In front of him was a system screen that hung mid-air, emanating a soft cerulean glow onto his body.

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[#~System Notification~#]

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[Your body is evolving!]

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The system window began flickering, its light dimming with each flicker. In a heartbeat, the screen cracked and crumbled into pieces. Before one could know, its solid form shifted into something else.

The screen had dissolved into a cluster of light, slowly approaching Lucian’s body. Soon enough, it spread all over his body and stuck to his skin, glowing with a bright white light.

Lucian could not feel anything. To him, everything remained the same. His muscles still pulsed with agony, and his heart thumped in pain.

However, all of a sudden, he felt as if his pain had vanished completely. His body, which had burned in melting heat, was met with a soothing breeze of spring.

His mind, which barely hung onto the thread of his consciousness, suddenly regained its strength.

’What’s happening...?’

Lucian tried to move, but something stopped him from doing so. Was it something external? Or mental interference, maybe?

None.

It wasn’t something external but more of a gut feeling. Something he hadn’t brazenly encountered yet but instinctually knew to follow. Lucian did not refute this feeling either, since it felt like something familiar. Something that had been with him through his entire life.

He simply followed the flow and felt that same feeling, changing. Evolving. The cold, soothing breeze grew warmer. Though, it did not burn his body like before. Instead, it seeped deep inside his muscles and bones and nourished them with what had been destroyed.

In an instant, his wounds filled up, and injuries healed as if they never existed in the first place. His posture stabilized as Lucian felt his body moving involuntarily. His spine straightened, and his head rose high.

’I cannot push the excess energy out,’ Lucian’s voice echoed in his silent mind. ’As my body is right now, along with the massive amount of Qi, if I try to push it out forcefully, my body will explode. I have to subdue it somehow...’

Almost immediately, something flickered inside of him. A thought he had ignored all along. Something that could solve his problem.

’Yes... I should do that...’ He mumbled, closing his eyes even within his mind. ’I should... Break through...’

Once again, he began peeking within his own self, feeling the faint but pulsing Qi throbbing within his abdomen like an uncontrollable flame.

Although this time, he didn’t guide his Qi through his Qi paths. Instead, he forced it all.

Without a doubt, it had put a great strain on his body and heart alike; however, there was no way for one to see his body for themselves, as it was covered in the slowly swelling bright light of the system.

The light expanded in all directions, forming a slowly perfecting image of a circle. Soon enough, the light turned into a solid sphere, keeping Lucian’s body safe inside.

From the dormant knowledge of Lucian, words slowly surfaced, spelling into lines that guided him. First, he completely let go of his control and let the energy spread wide into his body. Just as his body was filled with qi to the brim, he quickly compressed it and let it seep deep into each fiber of his muscles.

All of a sudden, a thick, murky black liquid began pouring out of his sweat pores from all over his skin. Lucian couldn’t feel anything, but for some reason, he could tell that whatever he was doing was working.

Then, he made the qi compress further into his bones. There, the energy itself started dissolving deep into his bones, strengthening and refining them into something stronger.

At the end, he drove the leftover qi back into his abdomen.

’The preparations are done...’

Now came the most difficult part. Up until now, Lucian had been successfully dragging his qi from one place to another, all thanks to his authority, but what came next was something he’d have to endure by sheer will.

He moved his qi back into his qi pathways and decided to endure the upcoming wave of agony. To utilize the massive amount of Qi within his body at once, Lucian had two choices. Whether to break through countless realms at once, resulting in a weak foundation. Or to take the chance and attempt to recreate his physique.

And Lucian decided to go with the latter. He sat within the sphere, his body convulsing in the slowly encroaching pain.

Despite the silent barrier of the system, for hours, Lucian’s sharp, desperate shrieks leaked out. Along with it, small amounts of shockwaves began leaking from the bottom of the sphere, causing small cracks to appear over the ground beneath.

After hours of relentless torture, Lucian’s shrieks subsided.

*Crack!*

Long cracks surfaced over the bright shell of the system. Then, almost instantly, with a loud, deafening sound, the glowing barrier burst open.

Its shards flew all around in the room as an untamed force was released. The ground cracked, and the shelves were rickety as turbulent gusts of wind rose within the room.

In the center stood a man with long black hair and bright cerulean eyes—Lucian. His body was enveloped in a bright, thick layer of luminous glow.

For moments, Lucian stood completely still, trying to control the energy leaking from his body.

Moments later, he opened his eyes, and everything returned to normal. The glow subsided, the gusts disappeared and all that remained was the sharp sound of a system notification.

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[#~System Notification~#]

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[You have successfully withstood the process of recreation of physique!]

[Congratulations! Your physique has evolved into ’Dying Star’s Primordial Physique’ due to the effects of ’Infinity’ and ’Transcendence.’]

[Due to abrupt evolution, your physique will automatically stabilize within a certain period of time.]

[During this time, all of your physical capabilities and stats will be reduced to 1.]

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Reading through the screen, Lucian smirked.

"That’s even better, since I needed time to fully grasp this power I’ve just gained... Guess I’ll just stay here till then."