Moving House... and "Potential"

"Mr. Li, I won't disturb you any longer. Here are the house keys. I hope you enjoy living here. If you have any problems, feel free to contact me anytime, and I'll coordinate with the landlord on your behalf."

"Thank you. Take care."

Li Yun gave a slight nod and accepted the small, faintly weighty key box from the real estate agent.

Only after the other party turned and walked out of the porch, their footsteps fading into the distance, did Li Yun casually set the key box on the solid wood table beside him with a soft thud.

This detached rental listed on the agency platform was one of several options the Main God had selected for him, and it looked comparatively pleasing to the eye.

At the end of the day, money was merely a string of numbers to an illusory information-based lifeform.

Nearly all the procedures and fund transfers involved in renting the place had been quietly handled online by the Main God. Li Yun only needed to bring the necessary documents, show up, and personally inspect the space that would soon shelter him.

Yes, Li Yun had moved.

Though, considering certain superficial issues concerning identity and assets, this place was still rented.

The interior had a minimalist yet cozy style. Broad stretches of solid wood flooring covered the rooms, while the living room, bedrooms, and kitchen were separate and spacious. Out front was a small garden courtyard enclosed by rows of wooden fences, lush with vegetation and seemingly a world of its own.

Compared to his previous rental, it certainly lifted his spirits.

Relatively speaking, though, most of the flowers in the garden beds looked sickly, and there were even visible signs that the soil had recently been turned in several places.

Someone had clearly replaced the plants that were too withered or diseased.

The agency had probably arranged it in advance after hearing that someone was coming to view the property.

But they had clearly not expected Li Yun to be so decisive. He viewed the house that day, rented it on the spot, and had already moved in by that afternoon.

After all, this place was only about a kilometer away from the single-floor building he had rented before, merely a dozen or so streets apart.

That was why the traces of work around the flower beds had not even been fully cleaned up.

But it was nothing important.

According to the brief online information provided by the Main God, the former owner of this house was supposedly a boss suspected of property speculation. During the period when housing prices had soared, he had acquired more than a hundred properties under his name and seemed to have intended to enter related investment industries.

Later, he had been imprisoned over certain matters. Many of his fixed assets, including his properties, had been seized and put up for judicial auction. A small number of properties not included among them, however, remained listed on public rental platforms and were managed long-term through agencies.

Li Yun could tell that this small three-story house, located in this relatively quiet neighborhood, had probably never been lived in. Even the faint traces left behind after years of vacancy and dust accumulation, followed by a hurried cleaning service, seemed rather conspicuous.

The Main God might not understand, but Li Yun personally liked houses like this—ones that did not feel too lived-in and were relatively "clean."

He casually opened all the doors and windows to air the place out.

His gaze swept across the room. As faint glimmers flickered through the air, a subtle scent of heat spread out.

The dust atop the furniture and the tiny cobwebs missed in the corners of the walls were burned away in an instant. Even several broken strands from steel scrubbers lodged in the narrow gaps beneath the cabinets were inexplicably drawn out by an invisible force and dropped into the newly purchased trash can.

It was a subtle kind of "influence," almost instinctive—something that required no thought, as natural as reaching out to pick something up.

"Administrator, it seems you have quite a good grasp of this power?"

Li Yun casually placed some newly purchased toiletries, cups, and other items around the house, his expression calm and noncommittal.

"It isn't particularly difficult, nor does it require much technique. Rather than calling it mastery... well, it would be more accurate to say that it's simply a lifeform gradually becoming familiar with the abilities it possesses."

"You are being somewhat too modest. Ordinary people cannot awaken this potential from nothing in merely a day or two, much less control it with such precision..."

"By the standards of human society, what you just said might also be described as a form of subjective 'hypocrisy.'"

Clearly, the temporary "surface personality" randomly manifested by the Main God today was probably rather serious and nitpicky by nature.

Li Yun had no intention of arguing over it.

"I do not deny that. Though personally, I would prefer to call it basic politeness."

After the cleaning service had finished, he personally "cleaned" the house once more, swiftly taking care of the interior and exterior cleaning and chores before closing most of the doors and windows again.

Looking at the house that could shield him from wind and rain, it finally seemed to have acquired a little of what could barely be called the feeling of "home."

Li Yun nodded slightly.

He seemed more or less satisfied.

He casually took his familiar panda pajamas from his suitcase. Their original black-and-white colors had faded gray after years of washing. Fine fuzz had formed at the elbows and knees, and even the two ears drooped limply.

After changing into his home clothes, he let faint currents emerge from his wrists like threads. Invisible restless vibrations darted across the fabric, swiftly driving away the tiny specks of dust clinging within the fine gaps between the textile fibers.

A faint, stuffy scorched smell from heated grime lingered in the air, almost imperceptible.

In truth, after exchanging for [Electric Current Drive] at dawn yesterday—a mere "potential," rather than any actual power—Li Yun had quietly noticed subtle changes within his body upon waking from sleep.

It was an extremely natural kind of "understanding."

Some instinctive certainty told Li Yun that, like water overflowing from a bottle, as long as he wished it, he could easily awaken some latent potential within himself, pierce through that seemingly nonexistent "barrier," and enter another subtle level.

Fine, he admitted that he had merely been curious.

In fact, he had not deliberately done anything. At that moment, he had only instinctively given that "curiosity" a light push—

As though it were merely a tiny thought in the depths of his mind, some seemingly incomparably sturdy invisible shackle shattered in response.

...Then, as naturally as water flowing into a channel, he "stepped" inside.

There had been none of the grandiose spectacle depicted in novels and movies—no strange flashes of lightning, no radiant brilliance filling the skies.

Plainly and soundlessly, what arrived instead was an exceedingly brief sense of displacement.

In that instant, Li Yun felt like a spinning top that had been sharply struck by a whip. The entire world, including his own body, seemed to have subtly "lagged" by half a beat.

Like an illusion.

Yet not entirely an illusion.

—When the speed at which visual signals entered the brain suddenly seemed slower than some newborn impulse inside his body.

That superficial sense of discord could no longer be called an illusion.

...It was reality.

Then, in the next instant, a faint hidden numbness slowly rose from the depths of his flesh and blood, like the gentle fall of first snow. A second later, that numbness abruptly surged!

The snow had only just melted before turning into a rushing torrent!

It was undoubtedly a trembling, almost tangible sense of "flow."

The vibrations poured on like a stream of taut strings, yet their pathways remained distinct.

At that moment, Li Yun could clearly sense that, in the span of only a few breaths, an invisible, formless, endlessly surging undercurrent had suddenly opened within this body.

Like spring ice melting on a river.

That river had neither height nor speed, only a sensation of being as obedient as an arm or finger, yet active to the absolute extreme.

As waves of "undercurrent" flowed through his flesh and muscle for the first time, it felt as if countless tiny tendrils of air had taken root within him, bringing a subtle fullness and trembling.

Li Yun instinctively knew that things were no longer the same.

The faint numbness did not last long before fading, but his breathing began to grow deeper and longer. With every breath, it was as though he greedily swallowed some invisible "vitality" from the air into his lungs, merging it into that newborn river.

Light, yet clear.

A still-weak seed had truly "sprouted" in his flesh and blood, beginning its initial growth.

But honestly, compared to the not-yet-so-"intuitive" state within his body, what felt more novel were Li Yun's external senses.

The air beneath his fingertips seemed to have become faintly viscous and elastic.

He could even truly "feel" the minute resistance in the air, as well as the extremely weak, invisible "fields" lingering around the surfaces of surrounding objects.

Clearly, a new perception beyond the five senses had begun to show itself.

Following a thought from Li Yun, dense pale-silver radiance, nearly invisible to the naked eye, flashed around his body and vanished. The air faintly crackled as well, like static electricity flowing over a sweater on a winter night.

Once he could genuinely see those invisible, minute "fields," a slight active stir would trigger real chain reactions within them, like dominoes toppling one after another.

No, it was more than that.

Li Yun casually blinked, confirming that his vision seemed sharper now. He could easily see every irregular edge of the countless dust particles floating in the air.

But it did not seem to be an illusion...

In his eyes, the paths along which they moved now appeared so slow and... fragile?

His original senses had also been slightly enhanced... Was this the bionic superhuman ability mentioned in the description of Electric Current Drive?

With a shift of thought, he slowly raised his right hand and loosely curled his five fingers.

There were no obvious signs of electricity crackling around it, yet the air around Li Yun's palm faintly rippled and warped. It felt like looking at something through a transparent, undulating curtain of water.

A full sensation of power, almost overflowing, silently gathered between his fingers and palm. Quiet as a deep abyss, it nonetheless contained a distinctly unruly restlessness.

Very good.

Only after his interest had been satisfied did Li Yun casually crush it, as though crushing a wisp of thin smoke.

Just that little test had indeed satisfied his curiosity.

The price was that two or three blocks near his residence suddenly suffered an unusual temporary power outage that night. Quite a few people had their hairs stand on end in their sleep, even waking up without understanding why.

Buildings that still had their lights on late at night, along with roadside night markets, abruptly plunged into darkness without warning.

Then, within a mere second or two, the lights all came back on and everything returned to normal, as if nothing had happened.

Fortunately, it had been late at night.

To outsiders, that scene probably looked like a circuit breaker had suddenly tripped or some other electrical malfunction had occurred.

But in reality, if Li Yun had not reacted quickly enough in that moment, realized that the power he had crushed and dispersed had still caused some effects, and used the Main God's material interference ability to clean up the mess in time...

The electrical repair crews would probably have had no choice but to work overtime, inspecting the nearby streets, repairing equipment, and replacing wiring.

Still.

That said, based on Li Yun's own experience, even though its effectiveness was clearly connected to his fundamental personal qualities.

By now, he had gained some understanding of this beginner-exclusive exchange recommended by the Main God, one that did not even provide any substantive increase in life rank.

It was indeed worth the price.

[Name: Electric Current Drive (Potential)]

[Type: Superpower/Mutation]

[Quality: Unrated]

[Description: Originating from a derivative world setting of "Super Martial Arts Melee," it is one of the foundational abilities of the Magnetic Field Martial God System, which represents various martial paths, and one of the templates for human bionic superhuman abilities. After awakening, the user may use personal consciousness to induce high-speed friction reactions in the cellular structures of the physical body, generating and utilizing bioelectric currents.]

[Exchange Requirement: 1,000 Universal Points, 1 Rare Grade Exchange Card.]

[Additional Notice: This exchange is a lower-tier exchange for the power seed of "Magnetic Field Rotation" and is only available to newcomers within their first three missions.]

[Additional Notice: This exchange only provides the potential to awaken the relevant superhuman ability and does not grant any direct substantive enhancement.]

[Remark: —When you have battered a Martial God to the brink of defeat, what could be more terrifying than suddenly hearing him say, "Power, I command you to come forth!"]

[Remark: —"Infinite War God! Come forth!"]

Li Yun casually dismissed the light screen and glanced over the relevant description again.

Especially when he saw the strange "remarks" at the bottom of the exchange entry, which seemed to change constantly, Li Yun—already contentedly curled up on the living room sofa like a panda bureau chief after work—merely picked up his phone and casually asked,

"Main God, explain?"

"It was merely a reflection from a martial artist who cultivated a divine martial art known as the Primal Heaven Mirror. After losing a battle against a magnetic field powerhouse, he reached the Profound Universe Realm."

The Main God's explanation had a distinctly succinct quality.

"After all, although the path of martial artists who advance step by step toward the divine threshold is proud and self-centered, never fearing hardship or tempering, not everyone can calmly accept an opponent shouting those two lines before and after a decisive battle."

"...Mm, completely understandable."