Chapter 50: An Unexpected Gift

"……No matter how many times I look at it, it remains breathtaking."

Surveying the surrounding scenery, Song Shi murmured softly.

Centered around him, countless stars dotted this tranquil and boundless sky. No two stars emitted the exact same light. These stars, formed after the death of those "psions" who had once stepped upon the Great Source, converged together into this magnificent starry expanse.

They hung quietly on high, watching the fellow travelers who would one day tread the very same path.

When the mind sank into the sea of consciousness and the psion opened their eyes once more, they would appear right here.

This was the [Path].

To be more precise, this was the [Great Source] Path.

Having finally gazed his fill of the spectacle, Song Shi withdrew his gaze and took stock of his current situation.

Compared to his previous entry, his position within the first ring region of the Path had advanced considerably this time.

At the very end of the road stood a colossal door of unidentifiable material—this was the portal leading from the First Ring, [Awakening], to the Second Ring, [Mastery]. To ascend to the Second Ring, one had to push open this door.

However, that was still somewhat distant for Song Shi.

If one were to look down from the sky, it would be clearly visible that Song Shi was currently located in the middle of the road, with half the distance remaining to the massive door ahead.

"Well, about what I estimated."

Seeing this, Song Shi nodded slightly.

Although theoretically he still had half the distance left to the "Second Ring," the reality could not be calculated quite like that.

[Forging Flame], [Tide Return], [Containment]—he had already inscribed three psionic arts. Therefore, the remaining stretch of road was merely a process of accumulation.

Accumulating psionic energy up to one's limit through methods such as "meditation," increasing one's adaptability to psionic energy, and refining psionic mastery—

This was purely slow and steady grinding. Even for him, he could only "accelerate" it, not "skip" it. Besides, even if he could, Song Shi would not skip such fundamental psionic training.

Without a sufficiently solid foundation, how could one support the towering buildings of the future?

As for "pushing open the door," which was theoretically the greatest difficulty of ascension...

Song Shi did not want to sound overly dismissive.

So.

The only things required for his ascension to the Second Ring, [Mastery], were time for accumulation and refinement—barring any accidents, it would be completed within two months at the latest.

Putting these thoughts away, Song Shi slowly raised his head.

Suspended quietly above him was a cluster of luminescence, and as if it were not an illusion, this cluster carried a faint sensation of scorching heat.

This was the real reason Song Shi had entered this place.

When the ritual [Bleeding with Fire] was completed, the constraints of the vow dissipated, and simultaneously, a sudden feeling welling up from his heart summoned Song Shi to hurry into the Path.

"It actually appeared... an additional bestowal from the Path."

Song Shi couldn't help letting out a sigh. "Ah, as expected of me."

The moment he saw this cluster of luminescence, Song Shi fully understood the cause and effect.

The content of the ritual [Bleeding with Fire] was that he made a vow to exchange "offering a sufficiently weighty enemy" for "a more powerful psionic art upon awakening" before the nineteenth sunrise.

If he broke the vow, he would suffer the punishment of "fire burning the five viscera."

Theoretically, once he burned and sacrificed Kenge with the forging flame, this vow came to an end, and they were even—and precisely because it was "offered to the Path," most of Kenge's body had turned to ashes.

As for the scene before him now.

To put it simply, the Great Source Path was very satisfied with his actions, so it was granting an additional bestowal, the kind that cost nothing in return.

"But... is this kind of 'additional bestowal' really random? Or does it genuinely depend on the Path's mood?"

At this moment, however, Song Shi did not rush to click on the sphere of light. Instead, gazing at the brilliant starry sky above, he couldn't help speaking out.

The young man's expression was somewhat subtle.

To him, Kenge's affair fell into the category of "somewhat difficult but not too hard," and he originally thought the Path wouldn't grant any additional bestowals.

"The rituals I've performed in the past, if not every single one of them, at least nearly a third of them were more difficult and better completed than this one, right?" Song Shi's tone was somewhat speechless. "You were quite stingy back then, yet rather generous this time?"

"Sigh... Oh well, having something is better than nothing." Song Shi sighed and chose to reach out toward the luminous sphere.

[Enhance the effect of currently held psionic art]

"Then I'll definitely choose 'Forging Flame'... Uh, there's a restriction? The intensity of an upper-tier psionic art is too high, so it's not allowed?"

"Fine, then 'Containment'."

[Based on the original 'Containment' effect, further increase the current psionic energy limit by one-fifth]

The moment he touched it, the sphere of light silently disintegrated, and countless dust-like specks of luminescence surged toward Song Shi.

"Well, pretty decent."

While feeling the changes within his own body, Song Shi made his evaluation.

If he had encountered this additional bestowal during the Fourth Ring, [Sublimation], increasing the current psionic limit by one-fifth would undoubtedly be an unimaginably, unpretentiously powerful ability. But encountering it at the First Ring, it only merited a "pretty decent" rating.

—Of course, a mere [Bleeding with Fire] ritual could not possibly reach that level of bestowal.

The matter was concluded.

Thus, casting a final glance at the Path, Song Shi closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, he had returned to reality.

It was still a cheap rental room.

The peeling paint on the walls, the exposed electrical wires, and the bed that creaked whenever one sat on it.

The ever-lingering scent in the air of sugar and nicotine, coupled with the dust-covered injection syringes and condoms stuffed under the bed at some unknown time.

Song Shi rolled off the bed, walked briskly to the windowsill, and pulled open the curtains with a swish.

A dazzling glare of sunlight poured out in a rush, casting into this cheap single room of the old hotel, attempting to dispel the gloomy atmosphere that had lingered day after day.

Yet, perhaps due to the original design, the lighting throughout the room was extremely suboptimal. Even though Song Shi had pulled the curtains to the maximum, the sunlight was still confined to him standing at the window and a small area around him, while the majority of the room remained plunged in dimness.

"Tsk..."

Song Shi clicked his tongue lightly, and just as he intended to directly ignite the forging flame, a communication alert suddenly lit up on his retina.

[Incoming call from: Jariden]

"Hello, is there something you need?"

"—He Yue."

On the other side of the video call, Jariden's expression was gloomy. He extended his thick knuckles, which had already been replaced with cybernetics, and pointed at the young man with a stabbing press:

"It's been over a week. Why hasn't the employment information section in your personal file been updated yet?"

The man's prosthetic artificial eyes glowed with an aggressive red light, and his voice sounded as though he wanted to devour someone:

"Where is your job? Without a job to serve as credit collateral, what will you use to get a loan from the bank, and what will you use to pay us back?"

He stood up, his whole body emitting the cracking noise of exploding joints, and stepped closer and closer to the camera until his fierce face nearly occupied the entire video communication interface.

"Or could it be that you didn't look for a job at all? Are you just taking our loan and planning to enjoy yourself before you die?!"