Chapter 178: Shock

Chapter 178: Chapter 178: Shock

The single, pristine droplet of Primordial Spring Water fell from the lip of the Vessel of Eternal Tide, striking the mound of earth with a soft, imperceptible thrum.

Rather than washing away the soil or pooling on the surface, the primordial moisture seeped into the ground like a gentle mist. Rowan watched closely through his domain-attuned perception as the water interacted with the dark earth.

The Primordial Spring Water didn’t just hydrate the soil; it actively neutralized the harsh, artificial mineral salts and subtle elemental impurities embedded within the Swiss-provided dirt, cleansing the micro-environment without generating a single spark of heat or violent shockwave.

Precision is everything, Rowan thought, keeping his breathing slow and rhythmic.

While the other contestants frantically tried to figure out how to bypass the seed’s brittle shell using complex containment arrays or diluted chemical solutions, Rowan was working from the ground up. He wasn’t trying to change the seed—he was changing the world immediately surrounding it.

With extreme care, Rowan used his fingers to gently fold the cleansed, moist earth into a soft, porous cradle. He took the slate-grey, petrified Silphium seed out of its velvet box and laid it down in the center of the mound, resting it loosely in the dirt so no heavy physical pressure would stress its calcified casing.

Above him, the high-definition broadcast cameras zoomed in on his station, projecting his actions onto the massive holographic screens suspended in the center of the stadium.

"Look at the Imperial contestant," an international broadcast commentator remarked, his voice echoing through the silent arena. "Rowan Vance isn’t using a high-density mana array. He isn’t using synthetic growth boosters or spirit-fire lamps. He appears to be... manually conditioning his soil with simple water?"

In the adjacent quadrant, Gabriel Bernard wiped a bead of cold sweat from his forehead and scoffed under his breath, though his own hands were still trembling. "Fool. Does he think basic hydration will penetrate a three-thousand-year-old Atlantean salt crust? He’s going to rot the outer shell before the internal pathways even wake up!"

A few sectors away, Tian Yu narrowed his sharp, disciplined eyes as he observed Rowan’s movements. Unlike Gabriel, Tian Yu felt the subtle, terrifying change in the air around Rowan’s plot. There was no surge of aggressive mana, no loud crackle of elemental spirit-chi—yet the soil beneath Rowan’s hands was glowing with an almost invisible, perfectly harmonious aura of uncorrupted life.

Rowan hovered his open palm three inches above the mound. He didn’t force a single strand of his own mana into the petrified relic. Instead, he activated his Domain resonance, projecting a soft, rhythmic pulse of uncorrupted vitality into the surrounding dirt.

It was a gentle, soothing frequency—the exact primordial harmony of nature before atmospheric pollution and mineral slag corrupted the earth.

Deep within the moist, cleansed soil, the calcified ocean crust surrounding the ancient seed began to react. Sensing no threat, no acidic chemicals, and no violent mana pressure, the three-thousand-year-old petrified shell slowly began to absorb the Primordial Spring Water.

The rough, slate-grey stone didn’t shatter or crumble into ash. Instead, the calcified ridges softened, dissolving naturally into the earth like morning dew melting away winter frost, exposing the sleeping, golden-amber core hidden deep within.

***

Closing his eyes, Rowan attuned his breathing to the natural pulse of the earth beneath his boots. With absolute control, he channeled his energy downward, activating his core skill:

[Breath of Eden - Lv. 5]

A soft, radiant aura of liquid-gold mana shimmered around Rowan’s hands and seeped down into the soil. Unlike the aggressive, violent bursts of elemental magic used by the eliminated contestants, Rowan’s golden mana flowed into the ground like a warm, soothing tide.

It didn’t target the fragile Silphium seed directly. Instead, the golden waves rippled outward through the dirt, gently enhancing and nourishing the microscopic life within the soil. Natural bacteria, beneficial fungi, and subterranean micro-organisms instantly awakened, thriving under the uncorrupted vitality of his domain energy. The Swiss-provided spirit dirt transformed before the naked eye, its texture shifting into a dark, porous, and hyper-fertile primordial loam.

The atmospheric toxicity within the plot dropped to absolute zero.

Hovering above Rowan’s platform, the Swiss diagnostic array began to spin rapidly. But instead of blaring crimson alarms or registering destructive energy spikes, its runic meters flared into a brilliant, steady, pure emerald green—indicating a level of soil purity and vitality never before recorded in the history of the tournament.

Inside the softened soil, the exposed golden-amber core of the Silphium seed felt the sudden, irresistible wave of primordial life surrounding it. Sensing a pure, non-toxic environment that mirrored the ancient world it had been born in, the sleeping relic didn’t crumble or resist.

With a soft, almost imperceptible crack, the ancient seed unsealed itself.

From the center of the golden core, a tiny, luminous green shoot—bearing delicate, heart-shaped leaves extinct on Earth for millennia—unfurled gently into the warm, cleansed dirt, drinking in the enriched soil atmosphere on its own volition.

Up in the judges’ gallery, the senior Swiss official gripped the marble railing so hard his knuckles turned white. "The seed... it didn’t just survive... it’s germinating naturally! No forced growth arrays, no chemical elixirs!"

A few sectors away, Tian Yu’s eyes widened in genuine shock. His breath hitched as he watched the tiny, ancient shoot stretch toward the light. "He didn’t try to awaken the seed..." Tian Yu whispered, his cold composure finally cracking. "He healed the earth first, and let the seed wake itself. His mana... there is zero slag in it." ℯℯ𝑙.

Gabriel Bernard stood frozen, his jaw hanging open as he looked from Rowan’s thriving sprout to his own useless bottles of synthetic elixirs. The realization hit him like a physical blow: Rowan Vance wasn’t just competing in the same trial—he was playing an entirely different game.

Jeremy leaned against his platform’s edge, a broad, proud grin spreading across his face as he watched his young teammate work. "That’s my brother," he muttered softly, shaking his head. "Making the impossible look like a casual Sunday morning in the garden."

Tipping the brim of his Enchanted Straw Hat, Rowan looked down at the tiny green shoot breathing life into his soil, a serene, confident smirk playing on his lips as the three-hour timer ticked above the roaring, stunned stadium.