Life Bank

The moment Lu PingAn stepped into the secret realm, he was still a little dazed.

"You have no idea what 'life' truly is, nor do you understand what your ability means. The way you use it is stupid and inefficient. You're practically using a brilliant sun as a matchstick. Most unbearable of all, you don't even know what you took from me! How precious it was."

Big Cat's furious rebuke still echoed in his ears. The relationship between the two had always been rather delicate.

His repeated questions still yielded no answers. Only by enraging her could he obtain more useful information.

And having fallen for it before, she was becoming harder and harder to provoke.

"What exactly is my ability?"

For some reason, after entering this secret realm, Lu PingAn increasingly felt that the answer to this question was important.

At first, he had thought Life Points were merely an ordinary system, a component bestowed upon a transmigrator.

But after truly coming to understand this world, he became increasingly certain that everything was real. The so-called system was merely a construct born from a transmigrator's arrogant subconscious, a manifestation of the "rule" ability.

At the very beginning, Life Points had been Stamina Potions.

After that came stimulants and replenishment of one's condition.

For him, they had even been life-extending medicine and painkillers.

And now, they could apparently raise the upper limit of pollution a life could bear.

"No, they were all actually the same thing. They were life itself."

In her rage, Chris had actually revealed the truth. The power Lu PingAn had obtained was, in fact, her opposite.

After she had tried and failed to elevate her own "truth" into the world's "Eternal Truth," the false proposition that served as her counterexample had naturally been born.

It was simply that the author of that report back then had lacked the ability to see the whole truth.

"Life is selfish. To survive, it can abandon everything, including but not limited to morality, laws, and family ties."

This was Chris's public doctrine, her "truth," but at its root, it could be summed up in a single sentence.

"The continuation of life is the sole and fundamental pursuit of living beings."

Then her opposite was not the nonsense the report's author had guessed at, such as "life can sometimes be selfless and sacrifice itself for others." It was something simpler, something more in line with Lu PingAn's subconscious beliefs.

"Life can be traded."

The instant he spoke those words unconsciously, the entire world became different.

He vaguely sensed that his connection with the secret realm had become more precise. The ancient garden ruins began silently changing.

Life could be traded, stored, loaned, invested, and paid in installments.

It was neither special nor sacred. It was merely a relatively valuable special currency.

This was Lu PingAn's truth.

"So it's a bank, not anything else."

The ancient hall began to come alive. The archaic words "Life Bank" replaced the former "Land of Life Gladiators."

The truth Chris had left behind in the secret realm was completely replaced by its new master. The ground gradually rewrote itself, and the world donned a new face.

How blasphemous, how absurd! Madman, does life mean nothing to you?!

"No, it is precious. Most people only get one life, so... we need to use it more efficiently."

Bastard, heretic! Idiot, arrogant lunatic— countless further curses omitted.

This was the true root of Chris's constant fury. The resentment involved even surpassed that of her failed ascension to godhood.

In her eyes, what an arrogant and cruel "truth" this was. It dragged life down from its sacred hall and turned the highest pursuit of living beings into a filthy universal equivalent.

Without a doubt, this was the gravest blasphemy against the benevolent Mother Goddess!

Yet she had to admit that, judging by the results, Lu PingAn's truth was closer to the essence of life and more pleasing to the Mother Goddess. Thus, all her fury and rebukes could be classified as the impotent rage of a loser!

"Turning life into Life Points and using it more efficiently—that is the essence of my ability."

At that moment, Lu PingAn looked at the distant mountains and dense forest and smiled.

He finally knew what he possessed, and what exactly he had taken from poor Chris.

"Bronze Iron Curse, Silver Law, Golden Rule, Eternal Truth... Heh, this really is a fine starting point."

Now, Lu PingAn understood everything.

In truth, the clue had been there from the beginning.

Gifted Law Decree-level (demigod-level) ability—Gift and Feedback of Life.

Detected that festival victor Lu PingAn has lost his life. How can the victor of Mother of Life's festival lose his life?! Readjusting and elevating the Mother Goddess's gift, 'Gift of Life.' Burning the spiritual essence of failed contender Kerdales to make up the deficit!

The deficit has been replenished. Law Decree ability upgraded to Rule-level ability. Congratulations, host Lu PingAn, for awakening the Rule-level (god-level) ability—Life Bank.

When he opened the system notification panel, the very first entry already contained both the clue and the answer.

Without Chris's "sacrifice," his ability would also have been the use of Life Source Power, only limited to "gift" and "feedback."

The upgraded version now came closer to the essence and was increasingly powerful, but the "truth" within it had not changed. It was still about the "efficient use of life."

At that moment, Lu PingAn also understood why Chris, despite her utter reluctance, had to admit that "Gardener" was the path best suited to him.

Because gardeners, who seemed harmless, were the sequence most skilled at manipulating life.

"Gardener's fixed-track Job Change is never difficult, meow. You just need to plant a seed of a 'Demonic Plant' in the holy ground of the Maiden of the Forest, then wait for it to grow beyond three meters. Pick a fast-growing species, and it can be done in half a year at the quickest, meow. But it takes so much time, far too much time."

Lei Shui Yun's chatter still rang in his ears, but Lu PingAn smiled.

He pulled out a Demonic Ancient Pine seed from his pocket and casually tossed it onto the ground, continuing onward without looking back.

The next moment, an ancient tree rose from the earth in the trail they had left behind.

While Cat Cat was still chattering away, the ancient tree had already become part of the forest, beginning to seize the surrounding space for survival.

The two had only just begun their journey, but only the notification in Lu PingAn's mind told him that everything had already ended.

Ding. Congratulations, host. Job Change Ceremony complete. You have obtained the class 'Gardener.'