Enhancement and "Possibility"

What did it feel like to enhance an "exchange"? He Qiu couldn't really say.

He could only clearly feel that he seemed to be about to "melt"...

There was none of the common novel trope of "tendon-and-marrow cleansing, foul black matter seeping from every pore," nor any "rebirth, as though breaking free from heavy shackles and suddenly becoming light"...

There was only an incomprehensible "high temperature," like molten iron, abruptly surging from every bone and limb without warning, leaving him nowhere to retreat!

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

No, perhaps it wasn't an illusion.

The young photographer truly "saw" wisps of smoke beginning to rise visibly from the surface of his body, which sat cross-legged beside the bed with its eyes closed in concentration. Under that extreme "high temperature," tightly sealed within his body by some invisible force, something seemed to be quietly evaporating...

No, that wasn't right. How was he seeing "himself"?

The moment he noticed that, a strange feeling akin to waking from a dream instantly locked that invisible mental fluctuation back inside his body—

"Ah!"

A silent, maddened cry of pain echoed. Only at this moment, when spirit and flesh became one, did the consciousness called "He Qiu" truly experience the warmth and agony of being "melted" by a blazing sun!

In his extreme panic, the fear and regret that arose alongside it instantly flooded 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 his body, which showed no sign of "responding," made him realize with even greater terror that he had "lost control of his body"!

Yes.

At this moment, his will, caught in bitter torment, could no longer even move his lips. Like a living corpse that still retained sensation, he could not so much as shift even his little finger by the slightest amount.

...Yet at the same time, another invisible force had been imposed upon his body, spirit, and form, allowing that ordinary mind to maintain a subtle balance. His senses clearly suffered unbearable pain, and his emotions were filled with extreme panic, yet it was as though "another" rational self had quietly separated from him, calmly experiencing the changes occurring within him.

Even that faint mental fluctuation was no longer confined solely within his skull as before. Instead, like ink dropped into clear water, it spread through the space around him in fine, drifting threads.

This feeling... was very strange.

He didn't know whether it was an illusion, but beneath that illusory "high temperature," his rational side could clearly feel that his body had not truly melted into liquid.

Yet at the same time, as certain indescribable things were quietly "burned away," he seemed able to sense that... every tiny, invisible particle in this body was "cheering"!

They rejoiced at breaking free from some innate, unseen, formless restraint and gaining a strange... true freedom?

Very soon, He Qiu's body naturally settled into a lotus position...

Deep within the void of the starry river, amid an inconspicuous patch of dimness, within a silently revolving "stardust"—

Across the boundless, heavy earth, an equally inconspicuous splash of "different color" was enough to draw most eyes.

It was a strange tower.

The enormous dark-gray tower hung quietly in the sky like a spear of judgment silently cast down by a deity. It relied on no mountain or land for support, instead remaining amid the clouds with a transcendent bearing that seemed to defy the laws of all things.

Its base stood several thousand zhang above the ground, yet the shadow it cast quietly blanketed more than half of the mountain range below.

Only upon drawing close could one truly notice that the tower's body was wrapped from top to bottom in ancient inscriptions faintly resembling rainbow light. Several strange metal rings slowly revolved around it, each set with enormous blocks of pure violet crystal carved in the shape of pupils.

Long storms flowed endlessly around all sides of the tower like rushing waterfalls, making the whole structure resemble a reflection hidden within a white torrent...

But aside from its owner, no one knew that at the very peak of this floating mage tower, which clearly belonged to a Western fantasy setting, stood an utterly unremarkable modern-style laboratory that sharply contrasted with its exterior.

A figure in a spotless white lab coat sat calmly before an oak table. His neatly combed hair was simply tied into a ponytail behind his head, and he wore black-rimmed glasses. A full set of paper and pens lay before him.

His writing was dense and meticulous.

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

There was no special reason for it. It was merely a familiar habit.

With a sweep of his gaze, the previous marks immediately faded into nothingness, while a new illusory scene was projected onto the empty space before him in the blink of an eye.

If the young photographer currently suffering under that "high temperature," in pain yet blissful, had seen it, he would likely have recognized it at a glance as his own bedroom!

Naturally, the figure playing the temporary role in this projection... was He Qiu himself.

—The observation subject for partial exchange testing data under the Main God's surveillance.

"...Next, experimental observation subject No. 0023, He Qiu. This user's first exchange system is of the Immortal Dao category, an introductory cultivation method from a fictional world within the relevant setting."

The Main God succinctly provided the relevant comparative data.

"Based on the recorded process of actual derivation, this setting should be closer to the traditionally understood concept of 'chaos opening, the beginning of unity,' in which all acquired things were gradually created through the differentiation of Innate True Unity Qi—a primitive vital-energy cosmology."

"According to observation, the microscopic essence manifested in the exchange's original world consists of all manner of Primordial Qi, endlessly arising and fading, ever-changing yet ever-present. In this regard, it differs completely from the external form of the material universe in which you reside."

"But those are not the key point. What requires your particular attention, Administrator, is this issue—"

With the Main God's prompt, a layer of faint yet distinct radiance, ordinarily invisible to the naked eye, suddenly rippled around "He Qiu" in the projection, enveloping his entire figure.

Li Yun narrowed his eyes.

No! That wasn't right!

He saw it with absolute clarity. More precisely, at the instant that light reached its peak, another extraordinarily faint phantom, nearly identical in form to He Qiu, quietly erupted from the radiance and condensed!

At a glance, this illusory shadow, as though it existed in another dimension, overlapped perfectly with the surface of He Qiu's body from head to toe, every part and every inch aligned without the slightest discrepancy.

More interestingly, if Li Yun's perception as an observer was not mistaken, that phantom should have been... another user, "He Qiu"?

At least beneath his "gaze," the two seemed almost entirely identical, from spirit to body, from consciousness to outward form.

Yes, it was rather fascinating.

Though it was only a phantom, Li Yun could simultaneously sense within it the illusory yet tangible traces of both "body" and "will."

By contrast, the Main God clearly had no intention of being mysterious.

"After the vague instruction to 'form an exchange option available to this user' was issued through the [Authority] granted by you, Administrator, and after broadly confirming that this exchange method would in fact be unable to properly adapt to and function within the local universe even if refined into reality, we observed the peculiar phenomenon currently before us—"

"As you can now see, Administrator, this appears to be a condition that cannot be normally defined. The database contains no corresponding complete record..."

For some reason, upon detecting that faint, inadequately concealed "confusion" in the Main God's tone, Li Yun suddenly smiled.

"...All right, this was like Bulbasaur eating Chex Mix in the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse..."

"...Absolutely wonderful."

A pale azure hue surfaced in his eyes. Amid a hazy flow like water and mist, he grasped some of the mystery within almost in an instant.

"I had originally been considering that simple external items and consumables needn't be mentioned, but if these users truly wanted system-based enhancements, they would probably first need to exchange for supporting entry-level resources. For example, anyone who wanted to cultivate immortality would need to acquire a Spiritual Root and marrow-cleansing medicine. Anyone who wanted to become a spell-slot wizard would need a Magic Weave Connection and Mental Aptitude of sufficient grade..."

"If you wanted to become a proper extraordinary being, how could you do it without spending heavily?"

At this moment, he even said something that sounded suspiciously like it ought to get him hanged from a streetlamp, with a perfectly serious expression.

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

As though he had witnessed something beyond his expectations, Li Yun sighed.

"Main God, it's normal that you don't understand. If I had to put it into words... perhaps this can be called a 'possibility.'"

In truth, even after being refined into reality, those low-to-mid-tier extraordinary objects that clearly clashed with the physical laws of the real universe yet could somehow still function normally were often merely consumables, like water without a source.

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

And this was the first time Li Yun had truly noticed an example of such a "thing wholly contrary to common sense" ultimately emerging within a "living being" rather than an "inanimate object."

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

"This is a subtle possibility. Amid infinite spacetime and endless dimensions, it is the supposedly finite 'infinite possibility' corresponding to every life."

"Main God, you should understand that fundamentally, this fellow should have had no possibility of carrying such an exchange, because there is an absolute difference in their 'essence.' You cannot expect a method founded on Immortal Dao Primordial Qi to function inside a body composed of relatively inert material particles."

"Though they are both nominally called 'human,' if you were to compare this user with the 'humans' of the world from which this inheritance originated, the difference would probably be greater than that world's difference between 'humans' and 'demons.'"

"But this 'impossibility' may not be impossible for this dream itself."

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Li Yun gestured toward the Azure Jade Mirror at his side and patiently explained to the air.

"Main God, this phantom you are now observing was born directly within this Great Dream because, in accordance with your request, that request could not be fulfilled under 'common sense.' It is one fraction of this user's 'possibility.'"

"...Or it could be said to be another 'himself,' reflected from a hypothetical path in a parallel illusory spacetime that was briefly born, evolved alongside this one, and then returned to silence."

"Hmm, it should be some strange 'possibility' in which he, as a carbon-based upright ape, could nevertheless operate this cultivation method in essence..."

"Perhaps a foundational particle structure capable of accommodating the form of Primordial Qi? Or perhaps some memetic effect that blocked the direct interactive reactions between Primordial Qi and microscopic particles..."

"...All right, honestly, I also find this rather unbelievable. It carries a flavor that goes somewhat beyond 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 illusory 'possibility.'"

"A 'possibility' that broke the shackles of common sense, skipped the Hundred-Day Foundation Establishment, and cultivated bitterly for twenty years using only this introductory method before barely entering the first tier."

Adjusting his glasses, Li Yun gazed with no small measure of emotion at the two figures in the projection—one real and one illusory—who sat in lotus position and were gradually becoming indistinguishable from each other.

...This development was truly jaw-dropping.

By now, he had to admit that according to the Main God's predetermined pricing rules—wherein exchanges were ostensibly exchanges but were actually "refinement"—this "enhancement exchange," priced at a mere two hundred Universal Points yet costing only one-fifth of that amount in reality, or forty units of Standard Mental Energy, possessed a cost-performance ratio... that was indeed rather unexpected!

After all, when Li Yun had casually established the basic unit known as "Standard Mental Energy" in order to directly quantify gains within the Subconscious Sea—its "purchasing power" equivalent to one Universal Point—the Main God's later calculations had shown it to be only roughly equivalent to the natural mental dissipation of an ordinary person over two or three days while in a normal, stable emotional state.

An investment of merely several dozen units of Standard Mental Energy had silently and naturally formed such an absurd form of "exchange" in accordance with the request...

"...It seems that beyond our planned work, we first need more testing and understanding of the essence of this 'refinement,' and even of this 'dream' itself."

A complicated sigh.

Most of the previous related procedures had been meticulously handled by the Main God, and Li Yun had not deliberately paid much attention to them. After all, in terms of mental capacity, there truly was 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 dream "instructions" directed toward relatively precise targets, the ultimate effect produced by that one-time investment of mental energy was probably not something as simple as addition.

It seemed more like a... quasi-exponential increase?