Chapter 6: Forging the Soul Fragment
Tian rested quietly at the completely dark bottom of the great lake. He did not move his massive golden body. He kept his large, glowing eyes tightly closed. The freezing cold water gently washed over his thick scales. The water felt very good against his tired muscles.
He needed to save all of his energy. He had exactly two hours to prepare.
He focused his mind directly on the glowing blue System screen. The screen floated perfectly in the dark space behind his closed eyelids. A bright white timer slowly counted down the long minutes.
[System Integration Target: Jian.]
[Time remaining: 1 Hour and 45 Minutes.]
[Status: Guardian resting. Energy levels slowly rising.]
Tian took a very deep, slow breath of the dark water. He felt the heavy water fill his giant chest. He let the breath out slowly. A large cloud of round bubbles floated quietly up toward the surface of the lake.
The small, silver fish slowly swam back toward him. They were completely terrified earlier. The boiling water had scared them away. But the water was perfectly cool and safe again. The tiny fish swam bravely around his large, horned head. They lightly bumped their soft noses against his hard, golden scales.
Tian completely ignored the small fish. His human mind was very busy. He was thinking deeply about the terrible pain he was about to feel.
He was going to cut a piece of his own soul completely off.
It was a very dangerous idea. A soul is not a piece of physical meat. A soul is the absolute core of a living creature. It holds memories. It holds personality. It holds life. If he cut too much off, his ancient dragon body would instantly die. If he cut too little off, the magical tool would not be strong enough to perfectly protect Jian.
He needed to find the exact perfect balance.
The white timer on the blue screen slowly ticked down.
[Time remaining: 1 Hour.]
Tian turned his vision completely inward. He looked deeply inside his own giant chest again.
He saw the four beautiful spheres of pure magical power. The red Fire, the blue Water, the green Earth, and the clear Air floated perfectly quietly in the dark space of his mind. They were completely separated. They were perfectly safe.
But Tian did not want to touch the four elemental spheres. He absolutely could not give Jian pure fire or pure heavy rock. That would just accidentally burn the man again.
Tian needed to find the completely blank, empty space exactly in the center of the four colored spheres. He needed a tiny piece of pure, blank cosmic energy. He needed a clean slate.
He pushed his invisible spirit hands carefully past the burning red sphere. He pushed perfectly past the freezing blue sphere. He reached the exact middle of his ancient soul.
He found exactly what he needed.
In the very center of his soul, there was a tiny, glowing white spark. It was not fire. It was not wind. It was just pure, raw, living light. It was the absolute core battery of his entire existence.
Tian took a very deep mental breath. He carefully reached out with two invisible spirit fingers. He gently pinched the tiny, bright white spark.
He pulled backward.
The pain hit him instantly. It was completely terrible. It was a thousand times worse than separating the four elements.
When he separated the elements, it felt exactly like pulling heavy ropes. But this felt completely different. This felt exactly like someone was slowly tearing a thick, bloody fingernail completely off his physical hand. It felt exactly like a sharp metal knife slowly cutting directly into his human brain.
His giant dragon body reacted violently in the dark water.
Tian opened his massive jaws wide. He let out a loud, terrible roar of pure agony. The loud roar shook the completely dark water. It created a massive, fast wave that pushed the tiny silver fish far away in absolute terror. The smooth grey stones beneath him loudly cracked from the heavy vibration of his painful roar.
He closed his giant jaws tightly. He gritted his sharp white teeth. He completely refused to stop pulling.
The tiny white spark slowly stretched. It looked exactly like a piece of sticky, bright white gum pulling completely away from a larger piece.
The terrible pain burned behind his glowing eyes. His massive golden claws dug deeply into the solid rock below him. He crushed the heavy stones completely into fine, grey dust.
"System!" Tian screamed loudly in his mind. "Help me cut it cleanly!"
The blue System screen instantly flashed with bright, flashing yellow warning lights.
[Warning: Critical Soul Damage detected.]
[Initiating Emergency Separation Protocol.]
The clever System completely understood his command. A thin, sharp, glowing blue digital blade suddenly appeared inside his mind. The blue blade carefully slid right between his invisible spirit fingers and the core of his soul.
The blue blade quickly cut the stretched piece of white light completely clean off.
The terrible, sharp pain instantly stopped.
Tian gasped loudly. He sucked a massive amount of cold water directly into his burning lungs. His giant body completely stopped shaking. He fell heavily against the broken grey stones. He was incredibly weak. He felt incredibly dizzy. A tiny, important piece of his life was permanently gone.
But the difficult surgery was completely successful.
He looked closely at his invisible spirit hands. He was safely holding a tiny, perfect, glowing white ball of pure soul energy. It was no bigger than a small human apple.
The blue System screen updated quickly.
[Soul Fragment successfully isolated.]
[Integrity: 100%.]
[Status: Raw. Unformatted.]
Tian looked tiredly at the white timer on the screen.
[Time remaining: 30 Minutes.]
"Good," Tian thought weakly to himself. "Now we must completely format the raw fragment. We must turn this raw light into a perfect, safe tool."
He gently handed the tiny, glowing white ball directly over to the blue System box in his mind.
The System instantly went to work. This was the exact thing the System was built to do perfectly. It completely loved building strict rules.
A new, large blue loading bar appeared. It slowly filled with bright green light.
[Formatting Soul Fragment.]
[Step 1: Installing Core User Interface.]
Tian watched closely as the System carefully wrapped the tiny white ball in layers of glowing blue digital code. The blue code looked exactly like thousands of tiny, glowing blue numbers and letters. The numbers completely surrounded the white light. They locked the wild magic safely away inside a strict blue box.
If Jian simply swallowed the raw white light, his human body would completely explode. The blue code acted perfectly like a strong, thick glass bottle. It would safely hold the powerful light inside Jian's fragile chest.
[Step 2: Installing Sensory Translation Filters.]
The System added another thick layer of glowing blue code. This specific layer was completely necessary. It would completely stop the magic from hurting Jian's human brain.
When Jian needed to feel the heavy magic, he would not feel terrible pain. The translation filter would turn the heavy magic directly into simple, glowing blue screens. Jian would completely see the magic as neat numbers, simple words, and safe, floating menus. He would understand the complicated cosmic rules completely easily, exactly like playing a simple game.
[Step 3: Installing the Four Elemental Class Templates.]
This was the absolute most important step. The System carefully reached out. It copied a tiny, completely safe echo of the four large colored spheres floating in Tian's mind.
The System carefully pushed a tiny red echo, a tiny blue echo, a tiny green echo, and a tiny clear echo directly into the formatted soul fragment.
These tiny echoes were perfectly locked safely behind heavy digital doors. Jian would completely have to earn the right to open those heavy doors. He would have to safely practice his martial arts completely perfectly to unlock the magic step by step. The System completely promised to never give Jian more power than his human body could safely handle.
The green loading bar finally reached the very end.
[Formatting 100% Complete.]
[The Dragon Avatar System Fragment is completely ready for deployment.]
Tian looked closely at the finished tool. It no longer looked like a raw, scary ball of white fire. It looked exactly like a small, perfect, glowing blue gemstone. It hummed softly and safely with perfect order. It was a completely beautiful thing.
The white timer on the main screen finally reached zero.
[Time remaining: 0 Minutes.]
[Target: Jian. Location: Wooden House 4.]
[Initiate Deployment?]
[ YES / NO ]
Tian did not hesitate for a single second. He pressed the bright golden word [YES].
He opened his physical eyes at the bottom of the lake. He opened his massive, golden jaws perfectly wide.
The small, glowing blue gemstone safely floated directly out of his dark mouth. It glowed incredibly brightly in the freezing cold water. It instantly shot perfectly straight up toward the surface of the lake. It moved completely exactly like a fast, underwater bullet.
It quickly broke the flat surface of the great lake. It flew completely silently high into the clear blue sky.
Tian completely shifted his mind. He did not want to watch the blue stone from the dark water. He wanted to watch Jian. He quickly opened a clear viewing screen on his main System box.
The blue screen completely showed the inside of Jian's small wooden house.
The house was very simple. It had soft dirt floors. It had simple wooden walls. There was a small, clean wooden table in the exact center of the room.
Jian was sitting completely perfectly on the edge of his small, soft bed. His dark eyes were tightly closed. His large, strong hands rested quietly on his knees. He was completely covered in dry, black ash from the morning fire, but he had absolutely not moved to clean himself. He had followed the Guardian's strict orders completely perfectly.
Jian was taking very slow, deep breaths. He was completely emptying his human mind of all terrible fear. He was bravely waiting for the heavy burden.
Tian watched Jian carefully. He felt a deep sense of absolute respect for the ordinary man. Jian was completely terrified of the unknown magic, but he was completely willing to sacrifice his own safe life to protect his beautiful village. He was the perfect choice for the First Champion.
Suddenly, a bright blue light completely filled the small wooden room.
Jian quickly opened his dark eyes. He looked completely directly at the closed wooden window.
The small, glowing blue gemstone flew perfectly right completely through the solid wooden wall. It did not break the hard wood. It passed completely through it exactly like a harmless ghost.
The blue gemstone floated perfectly still in the empty air exactly two feet in front of Jian's tired face.
Jian completely stopped breathing. He stared closely at the beautiful, glowing stone. It hummed softly and cleanly. It did not feel angry. It did not feel completely wild like the terrible magic in the village square. It felt perfectly calm. It felt exactly like a safe, heavy shield.
"This is the tool, Jian," Tian's deep voice echoed softly and perfectly inside Jian's quiet mind. "Do not fight it completely. Let it entirely inside. It will completely protect you."
Jian slowly nodded his head once. He did not run away. He did not raise his strong hands to block it. He completely bravely opened his broad chest.
The blue gemstone slowly floated perfectly forward. It touched the simple grey cloth of Jian's shirt.
It completely melted perfectly right through his human skin. It sank completely deeply into the very center of his chest, exactly near his beating human heart.
Jian loudly gasped. His dark eyes went completely wide. He grabbed his chest with both of his dirty hands.
Tian watched the blue System screen with intense, heavy focus. The red warning alarms completely stayed totally silent. The integration was happening completely safely. The thick blue digital code was perfectly protecting Jian's fragile human body.
Jian slowly fell backward onto his soft bed. He did not look like he was in terrible pain. He just looked completely overwhelmed. The bright blue light slowly completely faded away from the small room.
For exactly one long minute, the wooden room was completely perfectly silent. Jian just lay perfectly flat on his back, staring blankly straight up at the wooden ceiling.
Then, Jian quickly sat completely straight up. He looked totally confused. He completely rubbed his dark eyes hard.
He was looking completely exactly at the empty air directly in front of his face. But Tian knew exactly what Jian was truly looking at.
Tian's master System screen completely connected directly to Jian's new, smaller System. Tian could completely perfectly see exactly what Jian was currently seeing.
A completely perfect, glowing blue square box was currently floating beautifully in the empty air right in front of Jian's nose. It looked completely exactly like the master box Tian had originally seen.
The blue box had neat, perfectly glowing white letters.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZATION COMPLETE.]
[Host Integration: 100% Successful.]
Jian slowly reached his thick, dirty hand completely out. He gently tried to touch the floating blue box. His strong fingers completely passed perfectly right completely through the blue light. The box was not a physical object. It was a perfect mental projection safely locked completely inside his own vision.
Jian pulled his hand completely back. He read the glowing white words very slowly.
More neat words completely perfectly appeared on the beautiful screen.
[Welcome, First Champion.]
[User Profile Generated.]
[Name: Jian.]
[Title: The Vanguard.]
[Current Level: 1.]
[Physical Status: Healthy. Minor exhaustion detected.]
Jian stared completely quietly at the simple numbers. He completely totally understood them perfectly. The thick, messy, chaotic magic that had absolutely terrified him just two hours ago was completely perfectly ordered into neat, simple boxes.
A new, slightly larger blue screen perfectly popped completely up.
[New Quest Received: The First Step.]
[Objective: Your human body is currently entirely completely empty of structured chi. You must absolutely completely safely pull the clean ambient magic from the air and carefully completely push it perfectly through your new System Filter.]
[Reward: Unlocking completely the perfectly safe Basic Martial Arts Menu.]
Jian took a very deep, slow breath. He completely stood up from his soft bed. He walked perfectly into the exact center of his small wooden room.
He set his heavy boots completely firmly on the dirt floor. He closed his dark eyes. He completely remembered the absolutely terrible explosion of bright fire he had accidentally caused in the village square. He felt a tiny, completely sharp flash of total fear.
But then, he completely felt the heavy, safe, glowing blue gemstone resting quietly perfectly inside his chest. It completely pushed the fear safely away. It gave him perfect, absolute confidence.
He completely pushed both of his strong hands completely forward in a very slow, smooth, completely perfect martial arts strike.
He took a very deep breath. He completely deliberately pulled the invisible magic directly into his lungs.
He completely instantly felt the pure magic violently try to rush crazily into his human arms. It completely angrily tried to violently cause another massive fire explosion.
But the glowing blue System instantly slammed a heavy digital door perfectly completely shut inside his chest.
[Warning: Unfiltered Magic Detected.]
[Routing magic safely exactly directly perfectly through the Core Interface.]
Jian completely felt a very strange, totally safe, cool feeling exactly inside his chest. The wild, angry magic hit the thick blue digital glass bottle and completely instantly completely calmed down perfectly. The magic was perfectly completely safely forced through a tiny, completely safe valve.
A very small, perfectly safe, totally invisible push of clear air smoothly completely shot perfectly out of Jian's bare fists. The soft air completely gently hit the closed wooden window. It completely slightly perfectly rattled the hard wood.
There was absolutely no bright fire. There was absolutely no loud explosion. There was absolutely no terrible pain. It was a completely perfect, totally controlled, absolutely safe strike.
The blue screen completely happily flashed perfectly brightly with completely exciting golden light.
[Quest Completed: The First Step.]
[Reward Granted. You are now perfectly safe completely to begin totally training.]
Jian opened his dark eyes. He looked completely at his dirty, strong hands. He completely perfectly widely smiled. It was the absolute completely first happy smile anyone had completely perfectly shown in the entire village all day.
He completely dropped completely directly perfectly to his tired knees on the dirt floor. He completely bowed perfectly totally deeply to the empty blue box floating perfectly in his completely completely clear vision.
"Thank you, Great Guardian," Jian whispered completely softly into the quiet room. "I am completely totally absolutely completely ready to begin."
Deep down completely at the completely perfectly totally perfectly dark bottom of the great cold lake, Tian completely totally heavily widely smiled.
The heavy, totally terrible pain in his chest was completely totally absolutely completely totally completely worth it. His totally first soldier was completely safely armed. The Dragon Avatar System was completely alive. The real, totally difficult training was totally absolutely completely about to perfectly absolutely totally begin completely.