Divine Venerate
The moment Ye Qing closed his eyes and sank into his meditation cultivation, even while the content of the Book of Changes flashed in his mind, he could only comprehend bits and pieces of the first Yin Volume; chapter 1.
Thus, he was oblivious to the pop-up notifications from the system on his game interface, even as Claudia's voice attempted to reach out to him.
[External input of runic inscriptions detected…]
+300XP
[You have created an original talisman…]
+300XP
[You have created an original talisman…]
+300XP
[You have created an original talisman…]
…
Ye Qing didn't know, but for every chapter he recited from the Book of Changes, the outline of a transparent talisman packed with dense runes appeared around him, orbiting his body. From chapter 1 to chapter 9 in the first Yin Volume, the recitation constituted nine golden talismans.
While Ye Qing continued reciting the obscure sutra, more and more talismans appeared around his body, and when he finished the entire nine Yin Volumes, 81 talismans floated around his body.
Then, he started the nine Yang Volumes, and with each chapter, the talismans seemed to gain spirituality and solidarity. Reciting the entire sutra for the Book of Changes consumed three hours of Ye Qing's time, and typically, he would be mentally exhausted after reciting the sutra twice.
However, when Ye Qing started with the Yang Volumes, the system went silent, no longer sending him any notifications. It was only when he finished the full nine volumes that the system prompted.
[Player has designed a custom evolutionary path!]
[Assimilating the custom evolutionary path!]
[Player has 10 seconds to cancel the assimilation process!]
…
[Assimilation process completed!]
[Creating evolutionary path: Divine Venerate!]
[Creating skill tree: Book of Changes!]
< Name: Mortal >
< Level: 9 >
< XP: 24,300/32,700 >
< Talent: Exorcist >
< Vocation: Talisman Apprentice >
< Evolution Path: Divine Venerate >
< Skill Tree: Book of Changes >
…
Ye Qing was too absorbed in his meditation cultivation to notice the infinite number of notifications. He didn't even realize that he had obtained 24,300XP; let alone the constant surge of information and the phenomenal changes occurring to his body in the room.
Following the prompt from the system, the 81 talismans revolved faster and faster, smoothly merging into one another and forming a dense layer of golden mist, like floating clouds, all around Ye Qing's body.
Looking closely, these clouds were no more than threads of runic inscriptions so densely clustered they took physical form in the real world. At one point in time, the clouds pulsed with a wave of energy that obliterated the robes draped over Ye Qing's body, the pulse causing his body to shudder into focus.
He woke up, eyes snapped open in confusion.
There was a sky-blue glint in his eyes, even as bewilderment riddled their depths. Then, the constant surge of notifications and information blasted his head dull, and in his moment of vulnerability, golden chains shot from the clouds after they'd split into nine.
Nine chains in total bore into his skeleton. An overwhelming sense of pain brought Ye Qing out of his confusion as a bestial howl of pain, accompanied by an unreasonable flare of golden light, filled the room.
The flash of light and the screaming quickly faded away.
Hovering a few inches above the floor stood a naked Ye Qing, body concealed behind nine soft, golden clouds as chains twined around his body like meandering dragons.
As the clouds shifted, a pristine white body equipped with sculptured muscles, golden hair that flowed to the shins of his ankles, and a pair of glistening sky-blue eyes appeared.
Those eyes flickered with 9,999 emotions and finally sparkled with, if anything, divine indifference. This 'Ye Qing' muttered one word in a hollow voice.
"Weak."
Then…
This illusion of perfection shattered in a blink, and everything returned to as normal as it could get. Ye Qing's eyes regained their former black luster, his hair shortened much like his frame, and the standard robes of an apprentice returned on his body.
Thud!
Ye Qing's body collapsed softly on the ground, unconscious.
[Detecting brain activity on a dangerous level!]
[Detecting brain activity on a dangerous level!]
[Proceeding to initiate safe mode…]
…
The safe mode is one of the reasons why an immersive capsule is so expensive. Yes, the game is mostly expensive due to the technology invested in creating the immersive capsule.
When the player's brain attempts to process too much virtual information from a world that provides 300% information to the mind when compared to real-time, things sometimes get too dangerous. By too much information, that refers to data beyond the capacity of a human brain's limits.
If anything like this occurred to a player while playing, the immersive capsule would force them into a half-conscious state while the processing abilities of the Main Network break down, organize, and transmit the processed information into the player's brain.
Thus, in a short 20 minutes in rea-time, the information collected by Ye Qing's brain throughout the virtual 6 hours was neatly arranged in his mind, just like a lucid dream.
When he opened his eyes, more than an hour in-game had already passed. In Ye Qing's bright eyes, one could see immense shock interwoven with otherwise a beautiful spark of ecstasy.
An evolution path!
Ideally, one would need to complete the evolution before accessing their ultimate life form. However, because the evolution path Ye Qing inputted was an external one, he had the opportunity to experience the pinnacle of this path; despite it being for a split second.
In a split second, he felt indescribably… Invincible!
At that moment, for a split second, he touched upon the divine energy— pure universal and faith energies mixed harmoniously throughout his body with the help of those chains.
Ye Qing then furrowed his brows. "But I can't access divine energy this early in the game— at least not before I've unlocked my hidden vocation as an Exorcist."
He looked at his skills tree and found it gray; inaccessible.
The same was for his evolutionary transformation; inaccessible.
If earlier Ye Qing lacked a 'good' reason to wholeheartedly complete the Lost Inheritance quest in the past, nothing can stop him from completing it now.
That feeling of invincibility was just too… addictive.
…
After tidying himself up and, after much consideration, flirted on the ghost mode for his level, Ye Qing unmuted the party.
Ye Qing said, "Hey."
A moment later, there was a response.
Luke: "Hey! What took you so long? Come outside and follow the crowd, there's a fight!"
Then, Luke disconnected from the party.
Ye Qing was stunned; already a fight? He could use his knees to think and he'd figure out that this might be a standoff between the young talents from the real world and those from the virtual world.
Ever since the inception of the Floating Academy, it was an inevitability for the talents to split into at least three factions; natives, otherworldly, and perhaps a third faction for the neutrals.
…
"You're not only undying, but you're also endowed with an innate talent for becoming a master in one of the various vocations across the realm. Nonetheless, you gutless cowards are so weak, it's pitiful."
These words came from the mouth of a stalwart female dressed in black leather fits, her long crimson hair reminiscent of the mane of a ferocious lion even as her high heels pressed down on the crotch of a young man who had a green marker above his head.
Despite their status as undying, the game didn't filter out the pain, nor did it provide an option to do so. Even upon death, players get a full ride through the harrowing experience.
Who can ever get used to the sensation of death?
Who can ever get used to the sensation of pain?
Definitely not these spoiled, rich second-generation, or third-generation brats. Thus, despite her taunts, the young man who was clad in hunter gear didn't even dare talk back in rebuttal, snot and tears itched on his face while his body quivered. "I admit defeat! I admit defeat! Ugh!"
Just as he started shouting, the woman pressed her heel down, and the young man gasped out in agony and clasped his right hand on his mouth, his left reaching out to grasp her ankle with a pleading look in his eyes.
The woman's face was filled with disgust as she proclaimed, "Remove your filthy hand lest I squash your pride as a man to bits! Disgusting!"
Her foot pressed down even more, and an agonizing shrieking, not unlike the howling of winds in the depths of cold autumn, filled the contest grounds.
"Please don't! Don't!"
The young man hurried to remove his hand, feeling beyond distressed.
The other players in the distance felt disgusted by the display.
Someone said, "What a slap in the face! That loathsome scum deserves it; thinking himself untouchable and going around sneaking, feeling up the bodies of random women!"
The player spat on the floor even as he spoke, feeling disgusted knowing he'd be compared to such scum in the future.
However, not everyone agreed with this display of humiliation as another spoke up, "You've already made your point clear and disciplined him, it's about time you put an end to this farce."
Everyone looked over.