The transition was not gentle.
Reality tore apart.
For one impossible moment, Lian Shenhai felt as if his soul had been dragged through a thousand dimensions at once—shredded like silk through a grinder before being thrown into a furnace.
Then everything stopped.
Lian opened his eyes.
Or rather… he opened his nictitating membranes.
The cool mountain air of Azure Peak was gone.
Here, the atmosphere was thick and suffocating. The air tasted of burned sulfur and pulverized basalt. Heat pressed against him from every direction.
Above him stretched a jagged ceiling of obsidian. Cracks in the stone wept slow tears of molten fire that dripped downward and gathered into glowing rivers across the cavern floor.
Lian tried to stand.
He expected the familiar weight of his human body.
Instead—
A low, frantic agility surged through him.
He looked down.
Four stubby limbs clung to the volcanic rock beneath him. His entire body was barely the length of a human finger. Rough obsidian scales covered his back, and a thick tail flicked behind him, lazily splashing into a shallow puddle of magma.
Silence filled the cavern.
Lian stared at himself.
Four legs.
A tail.
Scales.
He was six inches long.
"Ledger," he said slowly.
"Yes, Master."
"…Why am I a lizard?"
[VOID LEDGER]
Correction.
You are an Igneous Salamander.
Rank F.
Also, please stop shouting. Your heart rate is already at 140 beats per minute.
To construct a universe, one must begin with the smallest unit of life.
Currently—
That unit is you.
Congratulations.
Lian's tiny jaw tightened.
"I have walked across the rings of Saturn," he said coldly.
"I have crushed planets beneath my will."
His tail flicked irritably.
"And now I am a snack-sized reptile."
[VOID LEDGER]
Dignity does not contain calories.
Survival does.
Also, Master—
Your dignity is about to be eaten.
A metallic clicking echoed through the cavern.
Slow.
Heavy.
Predatory.
Something moved behind a towering basalt pillar.
Then the creature stepped into view.
A Mana-Eater Beetle.
Its body looked like armor forged from molten rock. Thick black plates overlapped across its shell, each one streaked with glowing orange veins of heat.
Steam hissed from the seams of its carapace.
And it was enormous.
Nearly three feet tall.
A titan compared to Lian's current six-inch body.
The creature's mandibles opened.
Two jagged scythes capable of snapping bone like dry twigs.
Lian instinctively straightened.
Even inside this ridiculous body, the instinct of a Sovereign remained.
He focused his will.
He reached for the ancient authority that had once bent gravity itself.
"Kneel, vermin."
Or at least—
That was what he intended to say.
What actually came out was a high-pitched squeak.
"Squeak!"
The Beetle stopped.
It tilted its massive head, its multifaceted eyes reflecting the tiny salamander trembling before it.
[VOID LEDGER]
Magnificent, Master.
A truly divine squeak.
I am certain the universe trembled.
Or perhaps that was simply your tail shaking.
The Beetle shrieked.
The sound was like rusted metal grinding across stone.
Then it lunged.
Its mandibles snapped shut—
Exactly where Lian had been standing a heartbeat earlier.
Lian moved without thinking.
His body reacted with explosive speed.
He darted beneath the creature's legs.
Despite his tiny size, his mind remained that of a warlord who had conquered worlds.
He observed.
Analyzed.
Calculated.
The ground beneath him was not simply rock. It was a network of thermal currents and pressure veins.
Each time the Beetle stepped, Lian felt the vibration ripple through the basalt.
The creature was heavy.
Slow.
Predictable.
The armor is too thick, Lian concluded instantly.
I lack the mass to pierce it.
His gaze shifted toward a nearby lava vent.
A narrow crack in the ground where magma pressure hissed violently beneath the stone.
Yes.
That would work.
Lian sprinted toward it.
Behind him, the Beetle charged.
Its shadow swallowed his tiny body.
Lian stopped.
Turned.
Waited.
He studied the crack beneath him—the pressure, the angle, the stone locking the vent shut.
Then, with perfect precision, he slammed his tail against a loose shard of basalt wedged in the crack.
CRACK.
The stone popped free.
The world exploded.
A geyser of white-hot magma erupted upward with explosive force.
Not ordinary lava.
Compressed magma.
The eruption became a spear of blinding white fire.
The Beetle had no time to stop.
The geyser struck its exposed underbelly.
In an instant its glowing veins turned blinding white as its insides vaporized.
Steam exploded from the cracks in its armor.
The creature collapsed, its shell splitting open like shattered glass.
Silence returned to the cavern.
[VOID LEDGER]
Unconventional.
Messy.
Highly improvised.
Four out of ten for style.
Ten out of ten for avoiding digestion inside a beetle.
Now eat.
The Essence is fading.
Lian climbed over the corpse.
Inside the shattered thorax, a glowing orb pulsed faintly.
The Heart-Core.
Pure condensed mana.
Without hesitation, he bit down.
Lightning exploded across his senses.
The taste was bitter ash mixed with molten energy.
Power surged through his tiny body.
[ESSENCE CONSUMED: 15/100]
[EVOLUTION PATH UNLOCKED: OBSIDIAN GROWTH]
[ABILITY ACQUIRED: HARDENED PLATING (RANK F)]
[VOID LEDGER]
Congratulations, Master.
The first step toward universal domination—
Eating bug guts.
Lian ignored the sarcasm.
Even now he could feel his scales thickening.
His body growing denser.
More solid.
Back on Azure Peak, Gao and his disciples remained pinned to the ground beneath the invisible weight of Lian Shenhai's presence.
Suddenly—
The temperature spiked.
Grass burst into flames around the motionless figure seated in the chair.
Each breath Lian's body took increased the pressure in the courtyard.
Gao gasped.
His ribs creaked painfully.
"He… he isn't just a cultivator…" Gao whispered.
His eyes trembled with fear.
"He's… a volcano…"
Far away, in the magma cavern, Lian stood atop the Beetle's corpse.
His scales gleamed darker now.
Denser.
[VOID LEDGER]
Stabilization complete.
Density increase: 0.005%.
Status upgrade: From "Snack" to "Slightly Harder Snack."
Please do not become arrogant.
The nearby Lava River houses creatures that eat these beetles for breakfast.
And judging by the tremors—
Breakfast time is approaching.
Lian turned toward the horizon.
A river of molten gold stretched through the cavern.
Beneath the lava, something massive moved.
For a moment—
The river split.
And two ancient crimson eyes opened in the darkness.
Lian smiled.
"Good," he murmured.
"I was getting hungry."
[NEXT OBJECTIVE: REACH THE MAGMA FALLS]
[HUNT TARGET: CRIMSON SERPENT]