Reinforcement and "Possibility"

What did it feel like to reinforce a "redeemed" item? He Qiu could not really put it into words.

All he could clearly sense was that he seemed to be on the verge of "melting"...

There was none of the commonly described "tendon cleansing and marrow washing, with foul-smelling black matter flowing from every pore," nor any "rebirth, as though breaking free from heavy shackles and suddenly becoming weightless"...

There was only an incomprehensible "high temperature," like molten iron blazing hot, suddenly surging from every inch of his body without warning, leaving him nowhere to retreat!

In a brief daze, he even felt as though he were a block of ice placed beneath the warm sun, his outline gradually blurring as his boundaries began to melt away...

Young photographer genuinely "saw" his own body sitting cross-legged beside the bed, eyes closed in concentration. Wisps of smoke had begun to rise clearly from its surface. Beneath the extreme "heat" invisibly sealed within him, it seemed that something was quietly evaporating...

No, that was not right. How was I seeing "myself"?

The moment he noticed this, a strange sensation akin to suddenly waking from a dream instantly locked that invisible mental fluctuation back inside his shell—

"Ah!"

A soundless, frenzied cry of agony began to echo. Only at this moment, with spirit and flesh united, did the consciousness known as He Qiu truly experience the warmth and pain of being "melted" by a blazing sun!

Amid his extreme terror, the fear and regret that arose just as naturally instantly filled every corner of his heart!

The young consciousness instinctively wanted to open his mouth and roar! To question! To wonder whether he had been deceived?!?

Yet the body, offering not the slightest hint of a "response," made him even more terrified as he realized the fact that "he had lost control of his body"!

Yes.

At that moment, the will trapped in unbearable torment could not even move its lips. He was like a living corpse whose senses remained intact, unable to move even his little finger by the slightest amount.

...And yet, at the same time, another invisible force was imposed between his spirit, body, and form, maintaining a subtle balance within that ordinary mind. His perceptions were clearly wracked with pain, mixed with violently chaotic emotions, but it was as though another, unmoved rational self had quietly split away, calmly sensing the changes taking place within him.

Even that faint mental fluctuation was no longer confined solely within his skull as it had been before. Instead, it spread out in fine strands around his body like ink dropped into clear water.

This feeling... was strange.

Whether it was an illusion or not, beneath that fantastical "heat," the rational side of him could clearly sense that his body had not truly melted into liquid.

At the same time, as certain indescribable things were quietly "burned away," he seemed to sense that every faint, invisible particle within this body was "cheering and leaping"!

Was it rejoicing at breaking free from some innate, invisible restraint and obtaining a strange kind of... true freedom?

Soon, He Qiu's body naturally formed a cross-legged posture...

Deep within the void's river of stars, within a patch of inconspicuous darkness, inside a silently moving "star dust"...

Upon the boundless, heavily shadowed earth, an equally inconspicuous patch of "different color" was enough to draw the attention of most observers.

It was a strange tower.

The enormous dark-gray tower hung silently in the heavens, like a judgment spear quietly cast down by a god. It relied on neither mountains nor earth for support, instead remaining suspended among the clouds in a transcendent posture that seemed to defy the laws governing all things.

The base of the tower was thousands of yards above the ground, yet the shadow it cast quietly covered more than half of the continuous mountain range below.

Only after drawing near could one truly notice the ancient inscriptions, faintly resembling rainbow light, winding from top to bottom along the tower. Several strange metal rings revolved slowly around it, each embedded with enormous chunks of pure purple crystal carved into shapes resembling pupils.

With long storms surging endlessly around all four sides of the tower like rushing waterfalls, the whole structure resembled a reflection hidden within a torrent of white...

But aside from its master, no one knew that within this distinctly Western-fantasy-style mage's Floating Tower, the very top of the spire contained a modern laboratory that looked utterly ordinary inside and out despite the immense contrast.

A figure in a spotless white lab coat sat calmly before an oak desk. Their neatly arranged hair was simply tied into a ponytail at the back, and a pair of black-framed glasses rested on their face. A full set of paper and writing implements lay before them.

The strokes fell densely.

Although the Main God's information-recording service was clearly far more efficient than manual work alone, Li Yun would occasionally still choose to enjoy the sensation of writing by hand.

There was no other reason. It was simply a familiar habit.

With a sweep of his gaze, the original traces instantly faded into nothingness, and a new illusory scene switched into projection across the empty space before him in the blink of an eye.

If a certain young photographer currently suffering through "high heat" while experiencing both pain and pleasure were to see it, he would probably recognize his own bedroom at a glance!

Naturally, within this projection, the figure serving as the temporary character... was also He Qiu himself.

—An observation subject for partial redemption testing under the Main God's surveillance.

"...Next, observation subject 0023, He Qiu. This user's first redeemed system is from the Immortal Dao side, belonging to an introductory cultivation method within a fictional world under the relevant worldview."

The Main God briefly reminded him of the relevant comparative information.

"Judging from the actual derivative process recorded, this worldview should be closer to the traditional concept of 'Chaos opening, the beginning of unity,' a simple Primordial Qi worldview in which Innate True Unity Qi divided and gradually created the myriad forms of acquired life."

"According to observation, the microscopic essence manifested by the original world that produced this redemption is the 'Primordial Qi' that endlessly undergoes generation and destruction while adapting to circumstances and remaining ever-present. In this regard, it is completely different in external form from the material universe in which you reside."

"But those are not the main point. What you, Administrator, need to pay particular attention to is this—"

Following the Main God's prompt, a layer of faint yet distinct radiance suddenly rippled outward from "He Qiu" in the projection, enveloping his entire humanoid form.

Li Yun narrowed his eyes.

No! That was not right!

He saw it with exceptional clarity. More precisely, at the instant the radiance reached its peak, another extremely faint phantom, almost identical in form to He Qiu, quietly condensed and burst forth from within the glow!

At a glance, this illusory shadow that seemed to exist in another dimension clearly "overlapped" perfectly with the body of the user He Qiu, who was currently undergoing reinforcement through redemption, from head to toe and in every detail.

More interestingly, if Li Yun's perception as an observer had not deceived him, that phantom should be... another user, "He Qiu"?

At least beneath his "gaze," the two seemed almost entirely identical in every regard, from spirituality to flesh, from consciousness to outward appearance.

Yes, it was incredibly strange.

Although it was merely a phantom, Li Yun could simultaneously sense within it the illusory yet tangible traces belonging to both "body" and "will."

By contrast, the Main God clearly had no intention of keeping him in suspense.

"After the '[authority]' granted by you, Administrator, issued the vague instruction to 'form a redeemable item for this user,' and after roughly confirming that even if this redemption method were refined into reality, it should in fact be unable to function normally within the local universe's environment, we observed the following extraordinary phenomenon—"

"As you can currently see, Administrator, this appears to be a condition that cannot be properly classified. The database contains no complete corresponding record..."

Noticing the slight "confusion" inadequately concealed in the Main God's tone, Li Yun suddenly smiled for some reason.

"...All right, this is truly wonderful. It is like Bulbasaur eating a Choco Pie while entering Mickey Mouse's Magical House..."

"...Absolutely marvelous."

A faint azure color appeared in his eyes. As something misty and flowing like water or fog swirled within them, someone understood some of the mystery almost in the blink of an eye.

"I had been considering this before. Purely external items and consumables aside, if these users truly wanted to redeem systematic reinforcements, they would probably first need to redeem the relevant introductory resources for support. For example, if they wanted to cultivate immortality, they would need a Spiritual Root and a powerful marrow-cleansing medicine. If they wanted to become a spell-slot wizard, they would need a Magic Weave Connection and a sufficient level of Mental Aptitude..."

"To become a true transcendent, how could they manage without spending big?"

At that moment, someone had even delivered those words with complete seriousness, despite sounding as though he ought to be taken out and strung up from a streetlamp.

"I really didn't expect this... It could actually work like this..."

As though he had witnessed something unexpected, Li Yun sighed.

"Main God, it is normal that you do not understand. If I had to describe it... this might be called a kind of 'possibility.'"

In fact, even previously, although some low- and mid-tier transcendent items were refined into reality, those that clearly clashed with the physical rules of the real universe yet could somehow still function in an "illogical" manner were usually merely consumables like water without a source.

Once the special power contained within them was exhausted in reality, they would naturally walk toward destruction.

As for an example of a "thing completely contrary to common sense" ultimately arising within a "living being" rather than a "dead object," this was the first time Li Yun had truly noticed one.

After all, he had never risked trying anything similar on himself before.

"This is a subtle possibility. Across infinite spacetime and endless dimensions, it is the 'infinite possibility' that should be limited for every lifeform."

"Main God, you should understand that fundamentally, this fellow had no possibility of bearing such a redemption, because an absolute difference exists in the 'essence' of the two. Nor can you expect a method rooted in Immortal Dao Primordial Qi to operate within a body composed of relatively inert material particles."

"Because although both are nominally called 'humans,' if you truly compared this user with the 'humans' of the world from which this inheritance originated, the difference would probably be even greater than the difference between 'humans' and 'demons' in that world..."

"But this 'impossibility' may not be an impossibility at all within the dream itself."

Rubbing his brow and indicating the Azure Jade Mirror beside him, Li Yun patiently explained to the air.

"Main God, this phantom you are observing was born directly within this Great Dream as a certain 'possibility' belonging to this user. It arose because, according to your request, it was supposed to be achieved under 'common sense,' yet could not actually fulfill that request."

"...Or it could be said to be another version of 'himself' reflected along another hypothetical trajectory beneath an illusory spacetime that briefly came into being before returning to silence and evolving in parallel."

"Mm, it should be some strange 'possibility' in which, although he is fundamentally a carbon-based upright ape, he can still operate this method..."

"Perhaps a basic particle structure capable of accommodating Primordial Qi? Or maybe some memetic effect has shielded the direct interaction between Primordial Qi and microscopic particles..."

"...All right, to be honest, I also find this somewhat inconceivable. It does carry a hint of exceeding ordinary understanding. But at least, this is the truth I currently 'see.'"

As he explained, the Administrator nodded with great interest.

"...He is merging with that fragment of illusory 'possibility.'"

"A 'possibility' that broke through the shackles of common sense, skipped the Hundred-Day Foundation Establishment, and bitterly cultivated solely through this introductory method for twenty years before barely stepping into the First Tier."

Adjusting the glasses on the bridge of his nose, Li Yun gazed with mixed emotion at the two human forms in the projection, one real and one illusory, sitting cross-legged as they gradually became indistinguishable from each other.

...This was truly a jaw-dropping development.

By now, he had to admit that according to the Main God's predetermined pricing rules for what was called redemption but was actually "refinement," this reinforcement redemption had a listed price of only two hundred Universal Points, while its actual "cost" was merely one-fifth of that price—in other words, only forty units of Standard Mental Energy. Its cost-effectiveness... truly exceeded expectations.

It should be known that when Li Yun had initially sought to quantify his gains in the Subconscious Sea, he had casually established the so-called "Standard Mental Energy" as a basic unit. One unit represented the "purchasing power" equivalent to one Universal Point. According to the Main God's later calculations, it amounted to no more than the natural dissipation of mental energy by an ordinary person over two or three days under normal, stable emotional conditions.

With an investment of merely several dozen units of Standard Mental Energy, such an outrageous form of "redemption" had naturally taken shape in accordance with the requirements, without making a sound...

"...It seems that apart from the scheduled work, we still need to conduct more tests and gain a deeper understanding of the essence of this 'refinement,' as well as the nature of this 'dream.'"

A complicated sigh.

Previously, the relevant procedures had mostly been handled in detail by the Main God, and he had not deliberately paid much attention to them. After all, when it came to investing energy, there was indeed a high wall between human thought and virtual consciousness.

But just now, if Li Yun had not "seen" incorrectly, under this mode of refinement using pure mental energy, combined with the relatively precise targeting of the dream's "instructions," the ultimate effect produced by this one-time investment of mental energy was probably not as simple as mere addition.

It seemed more like... an exponential rise?