Chapter 39 - 37: Achievement

Chapter 39: Chapter 37: Achievement

Su Tan "looked" nervously at the scene unfolding in his mind.

"DING~ FAILURE!!!"

[FAILURE!!!]

Two glaring crimson words, followed by three massive exclamation marks, occupied nearly the entire screen. Eerie cracks spiderwebbed around the edges of the display—the aftermath of the failure. Su Tan’s heart lurched. A wave of profound disappointment instantly washed over him, draining the strength from his body.

"Failure?" he muttered. It actually failed! This was a far cry from what he had anticipated. It hurt. "Sigh..." Su Tan exhaled heavily, lamenting the outcome.

He thought, "How could it possibly succeed? Cultivation Techniques are methods to absorb Spiritual Qi, while Martial Techniques are methods to utilize it. Alchemy Skill, compared to the first two, doesn’t even belong in the same category.

"If a Cultivation Technique is like a language class, and a Martial Technique is like a math class, then Alchemy Skill is like physical education...

"Even though various subjects are related, you can’t just mash language, math, English, chemistry, physics, and PE all into a single textbook.

"That would be far too bizarre... Absolutely inconceivable!

"Heaven knows why my brain suddenly short-circuited just now, actually thinking I could fuse all these Secret Manuals into one. Is it even possible?"

What a waste of Energy Value and Secret Manuals. Though dwelling on it now made Su Tan feel like he was just being wise after the fact, staring at those two crimson words—FAILURE—he truly regretted it. He had definitely gotten carried away with his crazy idea just now.

"Forget it... Regret is useless. At least I’ve proven one thing: an unprecedented hodgepodge fusion like this is impossible to pull off!" Su Tan comforted himself, weeping on the inside.

Overthinking it was pointless; it would only add to his frustration. He shook his head and prepared to close the failure screen and exit the system.

"Huh..." Just then, he noticed something strange. A book... or rather, a mass of energy resembling a book had been born in the center of the fusion area. Calling it a book was a stretch, as its form was constantly shifting. Sometimes it looked like a ball of fire, sometimes like a wisp of smoke, and other times like a sphere of Thunderbolt covered in countless spikes...

"What is this..." Su Tan "looked" at the bizarre mass with bewilderment.

It was the byproduct of the system’s failed attempt to fuse the books!

"DING~ Unable to detect morphological characteristics. Unable to determine the essence of the object. Item exceeds the system’s scope of control..." The system automatically scanned, analyzed, and explained the anomaly.

Su Tan understood. This meant the thing was beyond the system’s comprehension. His interest was immediately piqued. He never expected to accidentally fuse something that even the system couldn’t recognize. Regardless of whether it was useful or not, the fact remained... it was incredibly badass!

"Can you detect its grade?"

"DING~ Detecting~"

"Detection result... Top Grade, or perhaps beyond Top Grade..."

Su Tan felt a twinge of smugness. He was probably the first host to completely baffle a system.

"Can you determine the item’s function?"

"DING~ This item exceeds the system’s comprehension. Unable to detect function."

At this point, Su Tan finally understood why the system had displayed a failure message even though it had clearly fused a new product. It was because this thing genuinely exceeded its cognitive boundaries. Come to think of it... that gave him quite a sense of accomplishment!

Su Tan rubbed his chin and broke into a wicked grin. "Heh heh... Since it’s a Top Grade item, equipping it into the Inventory shouldn’t be a problem at all."

After all, the system’s rules stated that once the equipment slots were full, upgrading all the items in the slots to Top Grade would unlock a new Inventory slot. Since this newly emerged mysterious item was Top Grade, equipping it to the Inventory wouldn’t count as wasting a space.

Su Tan pondered for a moment. "Equip!"

"DING~ Abnormal item detected. Equipping it may result in it being unusable. Is the host sure you want to equip the abnormal item?" the system warned.

"Equip it!" It was, at the very least, an anomaly he had created through his own wild imagination. It would be a pity not to equip it.

"DING~ Consuming 100 Energy Value to equip~"

"DING~ Successfully equipped..."

"Congratulations, Host, you have equipped an overarching divine artifact: Unknown Item~"

"The anomaly’s functions are automatically transmitting into the host’s body!"

"DING! Congratulations on obtaining a Top Grade Body Refinement Technique. Congratulations on learning a Top Grade Qi Condensation Technique. Congratulations on learning a Top Grade Martial Technique, Mountain Lean Strike. Congratulations on obtaining a Top Grade Alchemy Foundation..."

He had learned four skills all at once. Su Tan was astounded. Furthermore, they were all Top Grade.

Obviously, after the fusion, the system had integrated and enhanced those Cultivation and Martial Techniques. What it had originally deemed inferior Cultivation and Martial Techniques unworthy of being equipped had actually been transformed into Top Grade skills! And these skills all came from the same Inventory slot. Or rather... the same Secret Manual!

How miraculous was this? There was absolutely no Divine Scripture like this in the world. Even the Emperor’s Dao Classics weren’t like this. Even the system didn’t have any record of such a thing, to the point of classifying it as an "Unknown Item." One could only imagine how completely this thing would shatter people’s worldviews.

After equipping it, Su Tan felt four new types of knowledge enter his mind. They were etched so deeply into his memory that it felt as if they had always been a part of him. He would never forget them.

Carefully sorting through the new information in his head, Su Tan realized that while he had learned four skills, utilizing all of them was currently impossible. Take the Qi Condensation Technique, for example. His realm needed to break past the Body Refinement stage before he could use it. Similarly, the Mountain Lean Strike required a cultivation base at the fifth layer of Body Refinement to be executed. With his current strength... calling him a first-layer Body Refinement cultivator would be a stretch, as he had never cultivated before and possessed zero cultivation base.

Some things, even if learned, couldn’t be used without the right materials. Even the cleverest housewife can’t cook a meal without rice—that was exactly the principle here.

Su Tan, however, didn’t mind. He didn’t need to use the Qi Condensation Technique or the Mountain Lean Strike right now. What he needed was Body Refinement. The Top Grade Body Refinement Technique was more than enough for him to temper his physique excellently.

Besides, his biggest gain this time wasn’t the four skills, but the successful fusion of the Ten Thousand Dao Furnace. In the future, this thing would save him a multitude of Inventory slots. Moreover, he had created an unprecedented Cultivation Technique. It was highly practical. Not bad at all! Su Tan was overjoyed.

He thought, "Depending on the strength of the Cultivation Technique, the Body Refinement stage can temper a person’s flesh to different intensities, categorized as ordinary beginner, intermediate, advanced, perfect, and peerless...

"This technique has already been enhanced by the system into a Top Grade Body Refinement Technique. It should be able to temper my body to the advanced level, or perhaps even Top Grade perfect."

The Body Refinement stage was highly exacting. The more flawlessly one’s physical body was tempered, the easier future cultivation would be. Generally speaking, it was already impressive for ordinary people to temper their bodies to the intermediate or advanced levels. The perfect level was one in ten thousand, and as for peerless and beyond... Su Tan had never heard outsiders mention them. One could only catch a glimpse of these levels through the system’s settings for the physical body.

"DING~ The Divine Scripture item [Ten Thousand Dao Furnace] has been recorded in the system. Congratulations, Host, for pioneering a new category. You have achieved the level one title [Creator] and received a massive Energy Value reward."