Rune Modifier

Star City Academy.

Late at night, all was silent.

Feng Qi sat on a bench by the lake, gazing absently at the moonlit water and artificial rockery.

The strong response from the students during his Cultivation Exchange Class lecture that afternoon had given him a new idea.

He could not guarantee that he could save the future through his own efforts alone.

But he knew that merely increasing his own strength would never be enough to save the future. All humanity had to work together.

So, he needed to create opportunities and accelerate the development of human civilization.

This lecture had sparked a thought in his mind: perhaps he could become a teacher at the academy and cultivate some outstanding talent.

Since he could not join the major Technique Research Institutes before graduating, perhaps he could try becoming a teacher instead.

For example, the Fierce Tiger Fist he had taught the Cultivation Exchange Class students would surely spread in the days to come, its influence gradually extending throughout Star City and even the entire world.

But he also understood that doing so would inevitably bring a series of problems.

Suddenly possessing an enormous amount of cultivation knowledge and being able to pioneer cultivation fields humanity had not yet entered was indeed far too unusual.

But he had long since made plans for how to deal with that issue.

"Let people think whatever they want. I'm a genius. I can casually create new Cultivation Methods and open up new cultivation fields. What's wrong with that?"

At that moment, Feng Qi made a decision.

He was going to put on one hell of a show.

Because he had no choice but to put on this "show." Otherwise, he would have no way to explain where he had obtained his Cultivation Methods. He might as well simply admit to the entire world:

"That's right, I'm a super genius seen once in tens of millions of years!"

With his Thoughts Clear, Feng Qi stood up and stretched. He planned to return to his room for a good night's sleep, then fight monsters and level up in his dreams, raise his Bloodline Strength value, and explore the secrets within the dreamscape.

As he headed toward the dormitory building, he suddenly heard the sound of a harmonica drifting from afar.

Looking up, he saw a small, slender figure sitting beneath a willow tree some distance away, illuminated by the lakeside streetlights.

She sat curled beneath the willow, holding a harmonica to her lips with both hands and playing alone. The melody was deep, and its shifting pace, sometimes fast and sometimes slow, seemed to tell a sorrowful story.

When he drew closer, Feng Qi discovered that the person beneath the tree was the big-eater senior sister he had met at the Academy Restaurant during the day. What puzzled him was that her eyes had turned into vertical pupils, gleaming with an eerie purple light.

Seemingly noticing Feng Qi's approach, the girl stopped playing and turned to look at him. The eerie purple light swirled in her eyes as she parted her lips, revealing two small fangs.

A savage, primal aura rushed toward him, giving Feng Qi the illusion that a beast ready to choose someone to devour stood before him.

"Aren't you afraid of me?" the girl suddenly asked.

"Why would I be afraid of you?" Feng Qi was stunned, finding her question inexplicable.

She's just a little girl, not some hideous monster with three heads and six arms. Why would I need to fear her? I could make her cry with one punch.

"My name is Mu Qing!" The girl stared directly into Feng Qi's eyes as she gave her name, waiting for his reaction.

Under normal circumstances, the moment academy students heard her name, they would immediately keep their distance.

Because she was a Rune Modifier, and an imperfect one at that—a Rune Modifier highly prone to losing control.

Being around her was extremely dangerous. Someone might even lose their life, so the academy students all avoided her, treating her like a flood beast and an outcast.

Hearing Mu Qing state her name, Feng Qi assumed she was introducing herself. He politely extended his hand and introduced himself as well.

"Hello, Senior Sister. My name is Feng Qi."

Feng Qi's reaction was completely different from what Mu Qing had imagined, and she could not help frowning.

"You don't know me?"

"Know you? Are you very famous, Senior Sister?" Feng Qi looked puzzled.

After staring at Feng Qi for several seconds, Mu Qing suddenly stood and walked straight into the distance.

Watching Mu Qing's retreating figure, Feng Qi felt utterly baffled.

There's definitely something wrong with that senior sister.

Back in the dormitory.

Feng Qi took out his tablet from his suitcase and began looking up information.

Senior Sister Mu Qing had piqued his curiosity, especially the Rune Crystal embedded in her right arm, which reminded Feng Qi of Domain Creatures.

After all, having Rune Crystals embedded in one's body was one of the most obvious traits of Domain Creatures.

After logging into the Star City Academy Forum, Feng Qi entered "Mu Qing" and began searching for relevant information.

As he read through the results, his expression gradually grew solemn.

Only then did he learn that Mu Qing was actually a Rune Modifier.

Wang Jinsheng had briefly mentioned Rune Modifiers during history class.

Like Cultivation Studies, Rune Modifiers originated from humanity's early exploratory research into Domain Creatures.

At the time, aside from researching the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, a group of scholars had wanted to obtain power from Domain Creatures.

Every Domain Creature had a rune imprint embedded in its body surface and connected to its internal organs. Scholars who advocated exploring the secrets of strength within Domain Creatures began their research with those rune imprints. After countless attempts, they eventually proposed a bold plan: the Rune Modifier Project.

They advocated extracting "Rune Power" from Domain Creatures and embedding it into ordinary human bodies, allowing ordinary people to gain strength comparable to Domain Creatures.

At the time, this plan even overshadowed the "Spiritual Energy Research School"—what was now known as Cultivation Studies—and for a time became the mainstream path of human development.

But its drawbacks soon emerged. Although the first group of test subjects gained tremendous power for a short time after having runes embedded in their bodies, their temperaments changed drastically over time. They gradually lost control, creating considerable safety hazards.

Although a small number of test subjects successfully controlled the rune power and became powerful Rune Warriors, the experiment's success rate was terrifyingly low, and there was always the hidden risk of losing control. In the end, the Rune Modifier plan was shelved.

Through subsequent development and innovation, Cultivation Studies became the most important main branch of human progress.