Chapter 97: Investment Feedback

That night, Theo projected his consciousness into the World Seed.

The private dimension had expanded again...

The pitch-black sky now featured a new celestial body... the newly forged External Qi-Core.

It hung in the void like a crimson star, orbiting his primary Abyssal Forge.

"If I can forge a dozen of these external cores, the World Seed might expand to the size of a small city," Theo murmured to himself.

He dismissed the thought. He needed to test his limits.

He materialized a broadsword in his hand. Standing in the center of the World Seed, he assumed the starting stance of the *Abyssal Severing Strike*.

It was a forbidden sword art that required the vast, stable energy reserves of the Mystic Core realm.

To attempt it at the early Inner Scenery stage was suicidal in the real world. Here, however, he could risk it.

Theo swung the blade.

He drew directly upon the crimson star orbiting in the sky above. The external core flared, funneling a concentrated burst of karmic fire into the broadsword.

The space around the blade warped.

For a fraction of a second, the power held. Then, the immense strain of overlapping energies broke the sword’s integrity. The weapon exploded in a shockwave of black and crimson fire.

Theo was thrown backward, landing hard on the ethereal dirt.

Theo sighed, dusting himself off.

The singular external core provided the power, but he needed several more to anchor the volatile energy properly.

A ripple in the spatial boundary interrupted his thoughts.

Elara stepped into the World Seed.

"Sovereign... what happened?" Elara gasped.

Her eyes widened at the swirling vortex of smoke and lingering karmic fire in the center of the dimension.

Theo stood tall, dusting imaginary lint from his Sovereign robes.

He clasped his hands behind his back.

"A minor inconvenience," Theo said. "A wandering void-fiend attempted to breach my domain. I reduced it to ash."

"You are so powerful, Sovereign," Elara whispered, looking around for any surviving loot. "Did it drop any spirit stones?"

"Void-fiends do not carry currency," Theo replied smoothly.

He shifted the subject. "You are late for tonight’s training."

Elara flinched. She nervously twisted the hem of her shirt.

"I apologize," she stammered. "I was practicing my swings in the alleyway... and I found a man. And a brass lid."

Under his Sovereign mask, Theo’s expression froze.

The pieces fell into place with absurd precision.

Silas had escaped his bindings, only to be struck down by the plummeting cauldron lid that had blasted off during their alchemical experiment.

The improbable bad luck of the assassin was almost tragic...

"I see," Theo maintained his authoritative tone. "Proceed to the training grounds. Your opponents will be three tiers stronger tonight."

He conjured a dozen hardened qi-constructs for Elara to fight and slipped out of the World Seed.

Back in the world, Theo descended into the estate’s cellar.

Silas was securely tied to a pillar, entirely unconscious.

Theo frowned as he inspected the assassin. "I understand the large welt on his forehead... but why is his back scraped raw? Why are his robes shredded in the back?"

The bruises along Silas’s spine looked exactly as if he had been dragged behind a speeding carriage for two miles.

Did the cauldron lid launch him across the stones upon impact?

Physics in the cultivation world were often strange, but this defied all logic...

Regardless, Silas was severely concussed. Waking him up now would likely result in interrogating a babbling idiot.

Theo retrieved a jar of Golden-Leaf Salve from his spatial ring. He applied a layer over the welt on Silas’s forehead and wrapped a clean linen bandage around his skull.

Once the assassin was stabilized, Theo activated his Heavenly Mandate Divine Eye to read the man’s recent fate.

The glowing blue text unspooled before him, revealing Silas’s immediate past.

Theo read the logs and rubbed his temples.

The situation was ridiculous. Silas had not escaped to betray him. The assassin had sneaked out to send a status report to Archon Zelia specifically to *prevent* the Syndicate from raising the bounty on Theo.

Silas was terrified that an elite killer would steal his target before he could collect his triple-pay bribe from Theo.

"The Shadow Syndicate’s legendary loyalty," Theo muttered, shaking his head. "They are nothing but coin-operated mercenaries."

If Silas failed to report in by morning, Zelia would assume he was dead. The tenfold bounty increase would go into effect.

Theo did not know how to forge a Syndicate signaling flare. He would have to deal with the incoming swarm of assassins later.

[Ding!]

[Congratulations. You have successfully invested in ’Silas the Mad Blade’ by providing high-grade medical care.]

[Investment Feedback Generated: Midnight-Silk Two-Piece Swimwear.]

Theo stared at the text hanging in the air.

"Excuse me?" Theo asked the empty cellar.

[Item Description: A two-piece aquatic garment woven from rare Midnight-Silk. The material is enchanted with adaptive sizing and enhanced breathability. Widely praised for its bold, modern aesthetic.]

Theo pinched the bridge of his nose.

The System usually provided supreme martial arts, primordial elixirs, or devastating weapons.

What was he supposed to do with a swimsuit?

"There isn’t even an ocean in this province," Theo grumbled, dismissing the notification. The system was clearly malfunctioning.

He turned away from the unconscious assassin and headed up the stairs.

It was time for his nightly dual-cultivation session with Liana.

He climbed to the estate’s highest rooftop.

The night wind blew across the clay tiles, carrying the chill of the nearby lake. Liana was already there, standing near the edge of the roof. She was gazing out at the sleeping capital, her silver hair flowing freely in the breeze.

The wind pressed her silk robes tightly against her frame, outlining the delicate, graceful curves of her figure.

Bathed in the ethereal moonlight, she looked less like a mortal swordswoman and more like a descended goddess of frost.

Theo stepped onto the roof, preparing to call out to her.

[Ding!]

[Midnight-Silk Two-Piece Swimwear has identified a suitable template.]

[Initiating visual demonstration of adaptive sizing features.]

Theo stopped dead in his tracks. "Wait, no."

The system ignored his plea.

Without warning, a hyper-realistic, three-dimensional mental projection invaded his mind.

The projection utilized Liana as the primary model to demonstrate the swimwear’s adaptive sizing.

The mental image was devastatingly clear.

The bold, modern aesthetic of the Midnight-Silk swimwear left absolutely nothing to the imagination.

The contrast between the dark silk and her pale, moonlit skin was striking. The system obligingly rotated the mental projection to showcase the breathability of the fabric from multiple angles.

Theo’s brain short-circuited.

Theo had faced down Earth-Drakes and elite assassins without blinking. He had severed his own meridians in the name of power. But this mental projection bypassed all of his mental defenses...

The absurdity of the system treating his stoic companion as a lingerie model overloaded his cognitive processing. His heart rate spiked.

His Golden Meridian physique was forged to withstand karmic fire and demonic beasts, but it possessed zero defenses against a direct, system-generated assault.

A sudden pressure built up in his sinuses.

Liana heard his footsteps. She turned around.

"You are late," Liana said.

She stopped, her delicate eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

Theo was standing frozen near the roof access door.

A stream of bright red blood was trickling from his right nostril, dripping down his chin and staining the collar of his robes.

"Theo?" Liana stepped forward, her hand dropping to the hilt of her sword.

Her eyes scanned the rooftops for threats. Liana’s Supreme Yin energy flared, dropping the temperature on the roof by twenty degrees.

To injure Theo’s Golden Meridian physique so heavily that he bled from the face... the unseen attacker had to be a Mystic Core master!

"Who attacked you?"