7 A soul struggling against Vermillion fire....

Ding!

System Rule:- Chests: Only a single type of chest can be possessed by the user at any given time. Since the user already possessed the initial choice chest from reaching the foundation establishment stage, the second chest for reaching the core formation stage was skipped.

HOLY SHIET!!Your sister's "CHEST"S are limited!! SYSTEM... SYSTEM... Don't you think you should tell me this sort of thing??

Aiya!!! What to do, what to do??? This handsome and scholarly self is too much of a genius that he couldn't stop himself from leveling up too fast!! System I supposed it wasn't your fault! It was mine, for being too much of a genius!! And he consoled himself as such.

System: "..."

Zhen Shi focused on his wounds. Immediately realizing a way to heal up faster he mentally said, "System learn skill !"

Ding!

Are you sure?

"YES!" Sheesh, didn't I already tell you? Why are you so slow.....

Zhen Shi's thoughts stopped as a horrifying pain arose all over his body. He almost let out a scream. But realizing what would happen if he did so within the count's mansion, he turned around and tightly bit onto the pillow.

Just as he did he lost consciousness....

Just as well, because immediately his bones and flesh started moving around like worms in muddy soil. Blood seeped out of his pores as his skeletal structure rearranged into a more powerful form. Azure Blue scales started to slowly seep out of his skin, as two horns emerged out of his head and a draconic spiked tail emerged out of his back. Next, dark red feathers started to appear in between the gaps of the draconic scales and a pair of dark red wings also slowly dug themselves out of his back. This physical transformation took a huge toll on his body and as it was already in a damaged state, he was instantly thrown back into a life-threatening situation, despite the divine healing. Fortunately, a dark red but lively flame arose from his entire body. It emanated no heat outside and strangely burned nothing. Not even the bed he was lying down on. However, it gradually started to heal his wounds and the blood on his body was evaporated away. The flames reached his soul and started to burn away his soul, it was a quantitative decrease for a qualitative increase!! Thus his soul was now extremely pure and several times stronger. The dantian and body was strengthened as well. Widening his meridians, improving his tendons and stabilizing his cultivation! It could be said that this flame made his body stronger and much more suitable for cultivation!!! This was the legendary Undying Flame of the Vermillion Bird!!

As the fire burned on, his physical strength slowly rose up as well. Within an hour his body had reached the maximum level possible for his current cultivation level. He was a core formation expert by the physical body alone, meaning he could punch foundation establishment experts to death while using no cultivation energy at all and could easily take the full-powered attack of an ordinary core formation stage cultivator head on!!!

....

As the flames died down, Zhen Shi regained consciousness and he slowly stood up to check his body!! He was completely healed and was actually better off than before!! Meaning that his regenerative capabilities were on par if not better than the count's daughter's divine healing!!

Moreover, his physical body had become extremely strong!! His powerful muscles could be visibly seen from outside. He looked and felt like a leopard on the poise of shooting off to hunt!!

He happily walked over to the mirror in the room and started to admire himself. MY GOD, I LOOK LIKE A PROFESSIONAL MODEL!!!! He even started to pose showcasing his muscles!!

But, suddenly, the door opened and a maid dressed in the western style black and white dress holding some clothes walked in! Zhen Shi was frozen in his pose as he looked at her,

(ʘ‿ʘ)

Actually, she was pretty cute, but her face gawked in surprise and she bowed saying, "I-I'm sorry, young master. I thought you were still recovering and asleep." She slightly raised her head and continued on with a bright red face, "Lord Butler sent me here to leave a fresh pair of clothes and return something of sentimental value??"

THAT OLD MAN??!!! Well isn't he quite the crafty one. I suppose he must be having the time of his life, with that kind smile plastered on his face, while imagining what is happening!! And something of sentimental value? Don't you think that some jokes just get old after a while, old man?? Still, I got a chance to impress a cute girl!!!

Cough!! He calmly returned back to a normal posture, as if posing in front of the mirror and checking himself out was the most normal thing in the world.

He lightly smiled in the way he felt was most charming, "It's fine. You can leave it there." The girl was stunned seeing his smile, but quickly came back to herself, blushing even more! She did so, albeit quite slowly while looking at Zhen Shi, who calmly looked at her with that smile on his face. bowed and left.

HAHA!! That was exhilarating!! Did you see that cute blush??!!

But Zhen Shi quickly forgot about it as his mind turned to the information talisman given to him by Tsun Rou. He was even more excited as he would be getting his hands on a bunch of new information. He could finally get to know what this world was about!

He sat down cross-legged on the bed. He had already gotten rid of the bandages and was only wearing the black pants. He held the talisman in his hands and sent a wisp of Qi into it. Immediately a torrent of information was transferred to his mind.

He grinned! As time slowly passed his grin grew deeper!! This world is interesting! The talisman gave him a BASIC overview of the world...

Did that Tsun Rou think that I was actually an idiot?? She must've truly thought so, as she kept calling me an idiot over and over! Why does this talisman only tell so little??

????????????????

Somewhere out in the world, a cute and silver-haired tsundere was peacefully cultivating. When all of a sudden, she sneezed!!!

????????????????

In actuality, this talisman was already top grade being able to hold so much information.

Still, what he did learn, he was greatly happy with!!

This world was apparently extremely vast. So vast that even the strongest mortal cultivators would take thousands of years to go around it!! And beyond this world lay the empty and desolate space. Within the world, however, there were humans, Elves, Dwarves, Giants and Beast-kin. The other races were greatly discriminated in the human regions and thus their population visible to the outside world was fairly low. However, none believed that those races were dwindling!! This is because of THE GODS!!!

Almost every clan, tribe, kingdom, and organization had a patron divinity!! Let alone an entire race!!

They would worship statues and totems of these gods and goddesses, with requests which would sometimes be answered. But most importantly, the powerful cultivators can use these totems to summon and harness god aether and drastically strengthen themselves. Generally one needs to be of the Nascent Soul Stage to safely harness god aether! But some cultivators can forcefully harness god aether at risk of destabilizing their cultivation. This explained how Xue Yuegui had suddenly summoned down god aether and used the power of Ammit, the patron divinity of his clan. If Zhen Shi had faced an actual Nascent Soul cultivator using god aether, he wouldn't have been so lucky!! In addition, some truly talented individuals have been known to result in the appearance of apparitions in the form of gods who provided them divine blessings. At birth, like for the young lady who had healed him or even at other instances of one's life.

Nevertheless, due to these divine totems and divine blessings no one doubted the power of the gods. Hence most people believed that those other races including elves, dwarves, and beast-kin had completely isolated themselves in other worlds. Because patron gods generally do not allow those who worship them to be massacred in large numbers!

However, these gods never appear themselves and almost never have. At least according to the talisman. This lead Zhen Shi to suspect that maybe there were no gods at all and something else was afoot???

Leaving this conundrum for the moment, he focused on the details regarding the presence of eastern cultivators and also the western staff of the mansion he was currently in!!

.....

Apparently, this world contained people who followed multiple traditions and customs. But no matter what traditions or customs they had, every culture included cultivation. So if you meet a strong knight donning armor on horseback, chances are he will also be a strong cultivator!!! And in this world, there were nearly uncountable numbers of kingdoms, clans, and tribes with cultivators and their own unique patron divinity.

Realizing that he couldn't get much more out of the talisman he placed it aside and asked something from the system he had been quite curious about.

"System, what use do Otaku Points have? And also explain how I gain those points."

Ding!

System Information[Otaku Points]: Otaku Points(OP) are generally gained when the user uses skills earned from the system granted chests or gift boxes. However, after earning a certain number of points, designated by the system, that particular skill will stop yielding points. Also earning the trust, admiration or pride of some individuals may also grant OP. Finally, the user can use these points to summon a divine boon!!

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Oh? System that actually sounds pretty reasonable. Except for the part where EVERYTHING IS UP TO YOU!!!

System: "....."

Zhen Shi sighed,

"What's a divine boon?"

Ding!

Divine boon: User can utilize a certain amount of otaku points to get an IOU from any god! The god whose favor you gain and what he will owe you will depend on luck!! But of course, the user can pay an additional amount of Otaku Points to specify the god and also to specify what you need to be done!"

IOU[I OWE YOU]'s from the gods? My God! Isn't that too OP? SHIET, SYSTEM THIS IS TOO AWESOME!!!!

Wait, DEPEND ON LUCK??? Isn't this gambling? System don't you know that gambling isn't good for the family?

System "...."

Still, Zhen Shi was greatly pleased. Hahaha!!!!

"System how much do I need to get a divine boon from Zeus, Odin, Vishnu or let's say Nuwa??"

Ding!

The higher tier gods are currently locked out for obtaining direct or random IOU's.

SHIET!! I guess I should have expected that with this System!! Anyways it would have been too OP(Overpowered) for my lack of OP(Otaku Points) anyways!!! [Note: Get it? ????]

Now, what should I get as my first divine boon? Gamble and hope for the best? Or ask for something specific? A personal godly pet? Or even a harem? Or a super-strong old man as a guard??

Suddenly, remembering that he had quite a bit of material collected and feeling that he was missing a powerful weapon he asked mentally,

"System, how much to get Hephaestus[Hepheastus: Son of Zeus, the Greek god of Blacksmithing, manufactured weapons for the entire Greek/Roman pantheon] to make a weapon for me?"

Ding!

Hephaestus is a high tiered god in the art of Blacksmithing. Price is 1000 OP.

But..... considering this is the user's first divine boon, the price will be 100 OP!!

SYSTEM, I LOVE YOU!!! That is a massive discount! Although I only have 45 OP, I have an idea to earn the extra OP! Wait, system what would have happened if I had gambled on my first try? Then I would have never gotten this discount, RIGHT????

System "..."

Still, praising his luck, Zhen Shi activated , albeit very lightly. About 1% of the skill. A small pair of horns emerged from the sides of his head but they were very well hidden by his hair. Some azure scales appeared on his chest inlaid with vermillion feathers. His eyes grew slightly red. But that was it.

He maintained this state for around an hour.

Ding!

User has earned 1 OP for using

YES!! It worked! THIS FEELS LIKE A CHEAT!! This means I can get the weapon in less than 3 days! He would have used Hell's Flare as well but a count's mansion seemed rather inappropriate for it.

He put on the clothes provided to him by the old man Butler, fully covering the scales and feathers. His hands touched a clean but still dirty looking piece of cloth. Sigh!! His heart still filled with pain, he pocketed the loincloth for OLD TIME'S SAKE!

Suddenly remembering that he also got a new feature, when he was trying to comprehend the event in his dantian, he mentally said, ""

This time rather than the usual status window with direct information, he got that innate body view once again. He realized that his meridians, tendons, bones, and flesh had strengthened many times under the effect of the planet formation and the vermillion flame. He had a vague feeling that his body was at the peak potential for cultivation!! At least compared to the general human race. As for his dantian, it held primordial chaos surrounding a tetra colored planet. This gave him the feeling that he could practice chaos related skills! And that all spells and skills related to the four core elements would be easier to comprehend. As for his soul, which had not yet manifested due to his low cultivation, he could still feel that it was pretty strong after being purified by the undying flame.

But within his soul, there seemed to be something impure? Shouldn't the Undying Flame have purified my soul? How could this impurity survive? Wait, has someone cursed this handsome and scholarly self????

Surprised but suspiciously, Zhen Shi carefully inspected the impurity. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was a soul! It was a speck of a soul. Barely holding on, as the undying flame was still trying to burn it off!! But the reason it was noticed by Zhen Shi was also because of the undying flame which had burnt off quite a bit of the soul's impurities.

Zhen Shi wondered, and could only find one possible explanation. He asked the system,

"System, could that be the soul of the original soul of this body?"

Ding!

Correct. After the former 'Zhen Shi' passed away his soul appears to have struggled to survive. Would the user like to assimilate with this soul??

Zhen Shi held nothing but respect for this other 'Zhen Shi'. The part where they had the same name had nothing to do with it!! Still, his sheer will to hold on as a speck of soul moved him. Besides he'd have to live in this body for the rest of his life. Wouldn't it leave a bad taste in his mouth if he gave up on his namesake? So he wanted to find out this Zhen Shi's grievance and solve it for him.

"Yes"

Ding!

Assimilation started!

Since the soul is damaged some memory fragments may be lost. No drastic changes in personality will take place, but with memory addition, it would be similar to having lived another life. The user will pass out for a day.

WAIT, WHAT??? No drastic change in personality?? Living another life??

AND PASSING OUT FOR A DAY?? SYSTEM, YOU SHOULD HAVE WARNED ME FIRS----

And he passed out.

System "..."