A cold wind brushed across the scorched battlefield.
Rian slowly opened his eyes. His once dark pupils now glowed faint silver, reflecting the shattered moon above.
He could hear everything — the pulse of the earth, the flow of spirit energy, even the faint hum of the metal fragments buried deep beneath the soil.
> [System Initialization... Complete.]
[Nano Spirit Synchronization: 78%]
[Warning: Host vitality below threshold. Begin regeneration?]
Rian clenched his fists. "Regenerate…"
A surge of silver light enveloped his body. Torn flesh mended, bones reformed, and spiritual veins — once destroyed — began to weave anew, stronger and denser than before.
[Host body has reached compatibility level 62%.]
[Commencing Spiritual Core Reconstruction.]
The pain that once tore him apart was now replaced by an overwhelming sensation of power. His dantian, previously shattered, pulsed again — but this time, it was not pure qi that flowed within him.
It was something beyond.
> "Qi fused with nano essence…" Rian muttered. "A hybrid form of cultivation…"
A metallic hum echoed in his mind.
> [Designation confirmed: Path of Nano Cultivation. Unique to Host.]
[New ability unlocked — Nano Reconstruction.]
Before he could understand what that meant, a series of memories flashed before his eyes — unknown worlds, beings made of energy and steel, and a colossal war spanning galaxies.
The Nano Spirit spoke again, its voice calm but filled with something ancient.
> "The Multiverse is collapsing, Rian. You were chosen not by fate, but by survival."
He frowned. "Chosen? For what?"
> "To rebuild what the gods destroyed — and to conquer what they could not."
Rian looked toward the horizon. Smoke rose from the ruins of his sect.
Every memory of betrayal, every scar on his heart, burned once more.
"Then I'll start by destroying everything they built," he whispered.
"The Azure Spirit Sect… will fall."
The silver light within his body surged, forming faint armor-like patterns across his skin — a mark of his awakening.
As dawn broke, the first rays of sunlight struck his silver eyes.
The cultivator who should have died now stood reborn — half man, half spirit, and something far greater.
> [Path of Ascension — Commence.]