The Creatures that We Are

Gao Yang found himself in a crater. Its walls sloped gently upward, the ground beneath his feet nearly flat, like a massive frying pan. At its center, a hole gaped open, dark mist swirling in its depths.

Snow fell heavily in the night. Feather-like flakes spiraled down toward the abyss, vanishing instantly into the writhing mist.

Gao Yang's jaw tightened. This was Green Lotus Park, after the Malediction had torn itself apart. Here, on that night, Su Xi had given birth to the Malediction.

That night, he'd become an orphan for the second time.

This place was seared into his memory.

A familiar figure caught his eye—the orphanage keeper. Instead of her usual patterned dress, she wore a light green sweater and white skirt. Loosely braided hair wound around her fair neck, trailing down her left shoulder. Though she stood in the falling snow, not a single flake touched her.

She met his gaze with a gentle smile and nodded.

"A dream, or is this the system?" Gao Yang asked.

"Both," the woman responded, matching his brevity.

“Of course.” The dorm keeper chuckled before speaking like a news anchor with perfect pronunciation and a sweet voice.

“You’ve accumulated 1892 Luck points.”

“Your stats are as follows: Constitution: 2289, Endurance: 2141, Agility: 2145, Willpower: 2003, Charisma: 2602, and Luck: 2020.”

“Your Talent levels are as follows: Absolute Defense, level 5; Teleportation, level 6; Replicate, level 6; Fire, level 6; Gecko, level 3; Double, level 6; Psychic Armor, level 6; Lie Detection, level 4; Lucky, level 5.”

“You need 3840 Luck points to attempt to comprehend a new Talent.”

“You need 2000 Luck points to make another wish.”

Gao Yang listened quietly. “Check the Talent Pantheon.”

"Please look ahead." The keeper raised her hand toward the abyss. The black mist coalesced into a vast dark surface, while falling snowflakes gathered to form white chalk marks, sketching out the twelve Rune Types and their remaining Talents.

Gao Yang focused on four categories: Elemental, Buff, Time-Space, and Guard types, with 5, 5, 4, and 6 Talents remaining respectively.

The next time he comprehended a Talent, he could try to get Elemental, Limitless Evolution, Time-Space Spirit, or Unreachable.

The four Talents each came with their strengths, and he had the Rune Circuits to level them up. He would get the most out of those Talents.

Even in the most ideal scenario where he acquired the Talent he wanted by only making one wish, however, it would take 5840 Luck points, which meant Gao Yang needed an additional 4000 points. By passively gaining 48 Luck points per day, it would take him more than eighty days to accumulate enough. ȒаＮÒ₿ËS

That wouldn’t be viable.

He didn’t even know what would happen in eight days, let alone eighty days.

He smothered a sigh and asked tentatively, "Besides facing great danger, is there any way to speed up Luck point acquisition?"

The dorm keeper shook her head. “No.”

Gao Yang’s lips quirked. “Really? I don’t believe you.”

The dorm keeper pretended to think for a few seconds. Then with a smile, she extended a finger. “There’s one method in theory: comprehend Limitless Evolution and quickly get stronger through its mechanism. Although you won’t be getting Luck points, your stats will increase substantially. Perhaps that’ll fulfill your need.”

Gao Yang’s eyes moved downcast. True, if he acquired Limitless Evolution, he would be able to attack Wang Zikai, War Tiger, or someone else while pretending to be the enemy. With them none the wiser, they would surely fight back with everything. Then perhaps the passive ability of the Talent would trigger, allowing Gao Yang to quickly grow in power.

But that still required comprehending Limitless Evolution first. The problem of gathering 4,000 Luck points remained.

Silence fell between them as they stood at the edge of the abyss.

"What happens if I jump in?" Gao Yang asked suddenly.

“You’ll wake up and leave the system,” the dorm keeper answered quietly.

A rueful smile crossed Gao Yang's face. Of course.

"Tell me something," he said, his casual tone masking deeper intent. "Am I the Divine Scion, or the Malediction?"

"You'll have to ask yourself."

"You once said I was the Divine Scion. Why change your answer now?" He met her eyes—dark and bottomless as the void below.

“I’m only the system, just like…” The dorm keeper thought for a moment. “A mirror.”

Her eyes curved with satisfaction at the comparison. "When you speak to a mirror, what do you expect it to tell you?"

Gao Yang weighed her words. His expression hardened with something between disappointment and anger. "You're not giving me what I want to hear. You've grown stranger since becoming more human."

The dorm keeper smiled and blinked, playing innocent.

Gao Yang stepped forward, eyes fixed on the bottomless darkness below. Then he jumped.

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