At that moment, the system responded.
[Ding!]
[Anomalous phenomenon detected. Cross-referencing with host’s environment.]
[Initializing System Scan.]
[Scanning Earth...]
Stan straightened in his chair.
"...You can do that?"
Until this moment, the system had never hinted at possessing anything resembling a planetary scanning capability. He had assumed its awareness was limited to his immediate surroundings and the people directly connected to him.
Apparently, he had underestimated it.
By a considerable margin.
The system ignored his question and continued.
[Scan in progress.]
[Priority target: substances exhibiting Qi resonance.]
[Estimated completion time: several minutes.]
Stan stared at the glowing text.
"...Qi resonance."
Before he could process that phrase, another notification appeared.
[Preliminary result: Cure for host’s meridian obstruction detected.]
He frowned.
"My what?"
A second notification immediately followed.
[Preliminary result: Spirit Pool identified.]
Stan sat upright.
"Wait."
He stared at the words for a long moment before speaking again.
"Meridian obstruction? What meridian obstruction? I have a meridian obstruction?"
The system answered without hesitation.
[Confirmed, host.]
[Your meridian network is structurally complete but partially obstructed at its intake pathways. While your meridians are capable of generating, circulating, and expelling Qi, they are unable to absorb ambient Qi from the external environment.]
[The Bone-Tempering Pill and Jade Purity Elixir introduced a limited reserve of Qi into your body, allowing basic circulation and utilization. However, without functional intake pathways, your internal reserves cannot be replenished naturally.]
Stan frowned. "So, my body’s running on a battery with no charger."
[Analogy accepted.]
[Prior to recent events, this condition carried no practical disadvantage. Since the Great Withering, Earth’s ambient Qi has remained effectively nonexistent. The sudden abnormal introduction to qi caused an inability to absorb external Qi which resulted in immeasurable loss of function of the meridians connecting your pores to your dantian.]
The next message appeared after a brief pause.
[The emergence of the Spirit Pool beneath the Antarctic glacier indicates that this environmental condition may be changing.]
[Ambient Qi may be returning to Earth.]
Stan sat motionless for a long moment.
The implications of the system’s revelations were staggering.
For the past few hours, ever since he read introduction to earth, he’d assumed the reason he hadn’t pursued Qi cultivation was simple: there was no Qi left to cultivate.
Introduction to Earth had explained that well, following the Night of Vanishing, the world’s Qi had gradually faded until it was all but extinct. He’d taken that to mean no one, not even himself, could absorb it because there simply wasn’t any.
While that was true he also had a problem himself;
His meridians were intact, but the pathways responsible for drawing Qi into his body were partially obstructed. Even if Earth had been overflowing with spiritual energy, he still wouldn’t have been able to absorb a single thread of it.
The Bone-Tempering Pill and the Jade Purity Elixir had given him a finite reserve of Qi, enough to circulate and use.
But once that reserve was exhausted,
That would be it.
No replenishment.
No further cultivation.
Which meant that if ambient Qi truly was returning to Earth, as the system now believed, it would change nothing for him until his obstruction was removed.
And the cure, apparently, was sitting inside a pool of impossible liquid beneath an Antarctic glacier, a pool that had become the most talked-about scientific discovery on the planet less than forty-eight hours earlier.
The system interrupted his thoughts.
[Earth scan continuing...]
A second notification appeared almost immediately.
[Discovery: Active Divine Formation.]
Stan barely had time to wonder what a Divine Formation was before another line replaced it.
[Discovery: Dormant Realm Portal.]
"...A what?"
No explanation came. Instead, the notifications continued.
[Constructing dynamic geographical map of Earth.]
[Spirit Pool coordinates integrated.]
[Additional locations of interest will be added as further discoveries are confirmed.]
A final series of windows appeared.
[Mission acquired.]
[Objective: Acquire the map. Retrieve the cure and embark upon the path of immortality.]
[Time Limit: Seven days, or until the Spirit Pool is claimed by another party, whichever occurs first.]
Stan stared at the words. ’The path of immortality huh?’
This is all crazy, the phrase was so wildly disconnected from the reality of his morning that he almost laughed.
He was sitting at the dining table of his apartment in Aurelia Heights, drinking a flat white while reading the news on his laptop.
And now his system was calmly informing him that a chemically impossible pool beneath an Antarctic glacier was the first milestone on the road to immortality.
With a deadline. Seven days. He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples.
At some point, he was going to have to accept that his understanding of reality required frequent updates.
Taking a slow breath, he focused inward.
"The Spirit Pool." He paused. "That’s the cure?"
[Correct, host.]
"How much does the map cost?"
[Ten System Points.]
Stan checked his balance. His account still held approximately one hundred and twenty billion dollars.
At the current exchange rate, that translated to one hundred and twenty System Points.
Ten was insignificant. Without hesitation, he initiated the conversion. Ten billion dollars vanished from his bank account.
His System Point balance increased by ten. He spent them immediately.
[Purchase confirmed.]
[World Map successfully integrated into host’s perceptual field.]
Stan blinked. His vision shifted almost imperceptibly.
A small, luminous arrow materialized in the upper-right corner of his peripheral vision. It was subtle enough not to obstruct his sight, yet impossible to ignore. The arrow pointed steadily south.
He focused on it.
Instantly, it unfolded into a three-dimensional projection suspended within his mind’s eye.
A complete rendering of Earth rotated silently before him, its continents and oceans reproduced with breathtaking precision. Clouds drifted across the atmosphere. Weather systems spiraled over the seas. The globe possessed the clarity of a high-resolution satellite model, yet felt somehow more alive than any digital map he’d ever seen.
Near the frozen heart of Antarctica, a single point of brilliant light pulsed steadily.
The Spirit Pool. With another thought, the projection collapsed. The globe vanished.
The arrow returned to its quiet place at the edge of his vision, continuing to point toward the Antarctic continent.
Stan gave a slow, thoughtful nod.
"...That’s going to be incredibly useful."