Chapter 47: Transformation

Soon, Su Hao completed the second engraving.

Looking at it, he frowned, "This time, five more nodes appeared. It seems the number of nodes isn't fixed. The good news is that I found three more stable nodes."

'Again!'

Su Hao fully immersed himself in engraving the Beast vein. As long as he had the energy, he would focus on engraving, pushing aside all other matters. Each day, he was able to perform at least 20 engravings.

Ten days later...

[Cosmic Light] had received data from over 200 engraving attempts. After continuous comparisons and adjustments, the Beast Vein structure was now perfectly suited to Su Hao. Even if he were to engrave the mark immediately, he could advance to a Master Warrior.

But Su Hao still felt it wasn't perfect. There were subtle adjustments that he could make the process smoother, better, closer to perfection.

Striving for a perfect engraving was something unimaginable for most others.

Typically, people would spend at least a year constantly tweaking and attempting the engraving, all while dealing with the possibility of failure halfway through the process. Most people's patience would wear thin long before they got close to perfection. If they found a structure that could barely succeed, they'd immediately finalize it and advance to Master level.

But not everyone had [Cosmic Light] to gather and analyze data like Su Hao did. This long and tedious process of trial and error would make many people give up. More importantly, without [Cosmic Light]'s guidance, most people attempting such complex engravings would fail midway through.

After making another structural adjustment and completing the engraving, Su Hao carefully observed the runes. He confirmed that each node flowed smoothly without any blockages.

Then he suddenly furrowed his brows, "One node is still causing a slight dissonance.."

Immediately, he instructed [Cosmic Light], "[Little Light], analyze node '94' and calculate possible adjustment directions."

[...Calculation complete. There are six ways to adjust node 94.]

'Again!'

Su Hao exited the Mable space and began another attempt at engraving.

With his increasing familiarity with the process, his engraving speed had greatly improved. Before long, the engraving was completed again.

Su Hao entered his mental space to observe the result.

'This spot isn't right!'

'Again!'

On his fourth attempt at adjusting the node, Su Hao finally felt a full-body sensation of fluidity. Excitement filled his voice as he said, "It worked!"

He quickly entered the Mable space to check his body's status.

The rune, located between his chest cavity and spine, now seemed perfectly integrated with his body, pulsing in sync with his breathing and muscle movements as if it had always been a part of him.

After closely observing for a while, Su Hao confirmed that there were no issues. He finally breathed a sigh of relief, "This is the structure! I can solidify the engraving now."

Exiting the Mable space, Su Hao glanced at the tilted sunset outside the window and sighed with genuine feeling, "Advancing to Master level is incredibly difficult! I can't even imagine how the people of this world, without the help of computers, manage to complete such a complex engraving. Truly, every Master Warrior is a prodigy among the human race."

"Fortunately, I know how to code! Truly, knowledge changes fate." Su Hao's was in an extremely happy mood.

However, there was still one more important step left—solidifying the engraving.

Su Hao entered a meditative state once more, focusing his mind inward.

'Solidify. Engrave!'

Under Su Hao's control, the Blood Qi forming the rune began to boil, wriggling like worms inside his body, pushing aside the surrounding flesh to form a pattern drawn from his own blood and muscle tissue.

Ignoring the itching sensation caused by the flesh being pushed aside, Su Hao meticulously followed the engraving process step by step: 'First, displace the flesh and blood to form the pattern, then quickly gather more Blood Qi to fill it. As long as I maintain this for two days, the rune will solidify.'

After filling the displaced flesh and blood with Blood Qi to complete the rune, Su Hao opened his eyes.

Now, all he had to do was wait two days.

At last, Su Hao allowed himself to relax, "After ten days of intense work and study, I can finally get a good night's sleep!"

He left the library after notifying the librarian and headed straight back to his dorm, where he collapsed into bed and immediately fell asleep.

....

Two days later, as the rune within his body solidified, Su Hao began to undergo a transformation.

The ‹Perception Rune› inside him started to subtly change. Each node seemed to grow tiny tendrils, like small organs, similar to neural ganglia, connecting the rune to his flesh and integrating the two seamlessly.

The ‹Perception Rune› through these miraculous physical connections, linked to the 'Nine Palaces' within his body, creating a network between his Blood Qi and these nodes. The rune acted as the core of this vast network.

All of Su Hao's Blood Qi was now interconnected through this network.

The significance of this network went far beyond its immediate effects. Over time, it would become a massive reservoir capable of storing a tremendous amount of Blood Qi.

Bald Liu had once explained the difference between a bucket of water and a river's flow. He wasn't exaggerating.

If the amount of Blood Qi Su Hao could previously store in his Nine Palaces was akin to filling a bucket, this new network would allow him to hold the volume of an entire river.

However, right now, that vast network contained only a bucket's worth of water.

This gave Su Hao a sense of emptiness throughout his body—a new feeling of weakness and hunger.

The primary feature of this rune was enhanced perception, but Su Hao hadn't yet noticed any obvious increase in his sensory abilities.

He suspected it was because the transformation had just begun, and his Blood Qi had yet to fully adapt to the new system. Or perhaps the lack of Blood Qi was the issue. He would need to completely fill the vast river-like network in his body to reach the "surging, violent" state Bald Liu had described.

'Next, I need to focus on rapidly converting Blood Qi!' Su Hao set his new goal.

....

Half a month later...

Sitting cross-legged, Su Hao opened his eyes. Feeling the partially replenished Blood Qi within him, he couldn't help but mutter, "Half a month of non-stop, efficient Blood Qi conversion, and I've only managed to fill half of it? I thought my conversion rate was fast—how long would it take for others to fill their Blood Qi reservoirs? It must take at least half a year!"

However, Su Hao was overlooking one critical detail.

His rune network was not the same as everyone else's.

When engraving his rune, Su Hao had pursued perfection, ensuring that every part of the rune flowed smoothly without any blockages.

A perfect rune engraving naturally allowed for a far greater Blood Qi capacity.

Other people, on the other hand, were satisfied with a rune that simply functioned. Their rune networks were far from complete, limiting how much Blood Qi they could hold and diminishing the effects of their rune's properties.

If the average Master's Blood Qi capacity was like a pond, then Su Hao's capacity was a lake. The two were in entirely different dimensions.

This was the overwhelming advantage of high technology over primitive methods.

In other words, Su Hao didn't need to worry about how long it would take others to replenish their Blood Qi. His only concern was himself.

As usual, Su Hao entered the Mable space.

{

Name: Wu Xiangwu (Su Hao)Age: 10 years and 5 monthsHeight: 153.5 cmWeight: 53 kgPhysical State: HealthyRank: Beginner Master WarriorElite Blood Qi: 869

Rune: ‹Perception›;

Weapon Skills: «Basic Blade Arts» (Mastered); ...

Combat Skills: «Sky Fist» (Superior); ...

Control Techniques: «Basic Footwork» (Mastered); «Shadow Step» (Mastered); ...

Variable Control: [Blood Qi Strengthening] (Mastered); ...

}

Aside from the massive increase in his Blood Qi, nothing else had changed.

He then checked the logs.

[Log from 1532656 year, 7 months, 13 days, 0 hours, 0 minutes, 0 seconds]

[Cosmic Light 2.3] – No pending updates.[Body Status]: Healthy, No abnormalities.['Perception' Rune] – Normal operation, no abnormalities;Lingyun Warrior Academy's annual competition will be held tomorrow. Please plan accordingly.Lingyun Warrior Academy will break for vacation in three days. Please plan accordingly.Paused Task: Reading the Lingyun Library archives. Current progress: 57%;Warrior Progress Data Collection Complete: Common warrior, Elite warrior, Master warrior;...Balance: 2 gold crowns, 34 silver shillings.

....

Suddenly, one of the log entries made Su Hao pause.

"Tomorrow marks the start of the two-day annual competition, and after that, it'll be vacation time."

Time sure flew by!