Cursed or Blessed?

I leaned back on the couch. "I need to smoke." It is too weird, too impossible.

Things I learned after reading 100 books, opened the door to a new world. There were many things I didn't know before. I couldn't possibly know. The isolated realm in the Temple prevented me to discover more about the cultivation system of the Universe. Because of my relation to my previous world, I just considered it the same with a game system. Oh, how wrong I was.

Fighter Level, the first ten levels of cultivation, starts with awakening an element. There are some exceptions, such as awakening two elements or two elements that can produce a combo element. I already knew two elements, and combo element awakening was rare, but how rare it is was beyond my comprehending.

In the path of cultivation, there was no fixed route. There was only one condition for leveling up, that is to learn more insights about your element. You can either learn it through beast cores or special items such as the artifact at the Temple, keeping it isolated. Because it was a high-level artifact with similar properties to my Broken Reality element, I was able to gain insight through it and leveled up at breakneck speed.

You can also learn insights from the mana in the atmosphere, and people call it meditation. By meditating, you can pull mana from the air and learn Insights of the Universe, the same as how cores have formed.

There are also schools. By teaching others, you can discover more. By learning from others, you can gain more insights. By training, you can progress. There is no fixed path, but all opened the same door, except for the system. I level up by killing. But there is no logic behind this. Unless, in every creature I kill, the system does not pull a bit of experience from the creature killed to feed me with this insight.

The second decimal realm is Warrior Level. One has to draw an element from the Universe to merge with their first element. Like the combo element, the merged element is different for each person. Of course, original elements can still be used.

There were notes on some of the books I took from Filverel. His first element was the Fire Element, and the second one he drew from the Universe was the Life element. He created Life Fire Element by combining them, which was also his success in alchemy. By merging his Combo Element to his Alchemy Fire, he has created a mightier fire that can increase the success rate and speed of pill making.

"There is an unlimited possibility of elements. By combining Iron Skin Element with Fire Element, you can acquire Fire Iron Skin Element can give a full resistance to fire and tough skin can take hits, or can also merge as Iron Skin can spit out fire.

All this new information widened my horizons. Question after question and answer after answer filled my mind. Possibilities of can-be-crafted elements woken up my gamer side. It also brought me to the last conundrum.

"How can Combo Element users can Level up?"

The answer is simple, to be honest. By breaking up their combo element, and creating a new one with their two elements.

"I don't want to!"

When I first read how they fixed the issue with combo element users, and I was unwilling as soon as I learned it. I love my Broken Reality element. It uses is limitless, and it can open me lots of possibilities in the future. One may think, 'After breaking it up, you are going to merge them again and acquire the same element. So, what is the problem with that?"

Wrong! Dead wrong! Combined elements have many factors before forming. One's life experience and the knowledge they know are all deciding factors forming the new element. Now that I progressed so much, and learned many things can influence my new combined element, I am unwilling to risk it. It may be stronger than the element I already have. But, I will not risk it.

Luckily, I have a system. I am different from beings in this universe who can only succumb to their fates. I have an extra element when I am a Fighter. I believe the system gift it to me for this reason.

I sat on the ground and started to think. I can draw a new element, and merge it with my shadow element to create a combined element. After that, I will be Level 11, a Warrior. But which element should I merge with my Shadow?

I sat on the ground and started to meditate. Endless black formed in front of my eyes. I connected with the universe. I imagined many shining dots and starts formed in the endless black. These are the elements, I could draw. It wasn't all choice, no. It was destiny and will. Not everyone could draw a Rare element or above. One had to have a connection with it and the will to resist its powers, or element would destroy the body.

I imagined myself to float from star to star. I have 'seen' and 'felt' their properties. There were countless elements, fire, lightning, water, ice, strength, sword mastery, bow mastery, iron skin, fire skin, wood skin, etc.

I felt a connection when I was window shopping. I approached 'a star' and felt it. It had the feeling of the ancient and future. It felt endless as if it was older than the universe. "What is this element?" Shadow Element in my Mana Pool was jumping happily. "They want to merge?" I thought for a while and willed the star in front of me to pulled in my body.

[New element acquired

The new element is ...]