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[SYSTEM – PHASE TWO: INITIATED]
📜 Mission Panel: Optional Tasks Available
> 🔹 Tier-2 Optional Mission – "Hidden Elimination"
Silently eliminate a rank-1 rogue spirit beast that's been attacking outer forest routes. No witnesses. No trace.
> 🔹 Tier-1 Optional Mission – "Shadow Escort"
Escort a merchant caravan under a fake identity across three checkpoints, defending without being revealed.
> 🔹 Tier-3 Optional Mission – "Market Manipulation Trial"
Artificially raise and crash the price of one low-rank item without alerting system regulators.
---
Tianzun reviewed each.
> "No public fame. All require stealth, intelligence, or strategy. Good."
He selected all three.
> "Simultaneous play. Minimum exposure. High shard yield."
---
Later – System Space – Training Realm Design
He floated alone within the void — then expanded a platform into a spatial testing chamber. The floor beneath him changed from cold stone to burning sand. Air pressure increased. Phantom projections hovered around him: each mimicking flawed or experimental techniques.
He chose one.
> Technique: Flame Spiral Dash (Hybrid Movement Art – Incomplete – 63%)
Goal: Optimize into battlefield-grade dash maneuver using explosive tendon-surge followed by flame-burst retraction.
> "Begin simulation."
His figure flickered across the arena—once, twice. The third time, the spiral tore mid-pulse and launched him into the sand. He grunted. Chest seared.
> "Again."
He repeated it 39 times.
On the 40th—
Breakthrough.
The spiral closed. The flame redirected. The rebound balanced.
A clean, elegant circular dash carried him through the simulation space in a perfect arc.
---
[SYSTEM – TECHNIQUE BREAKTHROUGH ACHIEVED]
> ✅ Reward: +1,500 Celestial Shards
✅ Reward: +1 Passive Trait Point
✅ Reward: +"Technique Resonance Booster – Tier-1" (Shortens crafting stabilization times by 15%)
Ling Yuan's voice echoed.
> 「Hah. Not bad, brat. You've got the brains and the pain tolerance."
> "Brains make the blueprint. Pain builds the bridge."
> 「That's a cult leader quote, you know that?"
Tianzun smirked.
---
[Trading Terminal – Active: Aggressive Mode ON]
📊 Balance:
Celestial Shards: 11,250
Liquid Profit: +1,830 today
Realized Losses: -480 (absorbed from artificial crashes)
Tianzun watched his price manipulation ripple across the market. He had dumped low-tier pills into the trade stream, flooding supply. Prices crashed.
He lost 480 shards.
Then he bought up twice the quantity at rock-bottom.
Two hours later — market rebounded due to "shortage rumors" caused by his own alt-account bidding war.
Profit: +1,200 shards.
> "Bleed small. Eat big. Leave quietly."
---
Mission 1: Complete
> Silent beast kill in the outer forest — staged as a predator ambush
✅ Reward: +2,000 Celestial Shards
Mission 2: Complete
> Escort mission done using clone talisman purchased at 40% discount
✅ Reward: +1,500 Celestial Shards
Mission 3: Complete
> Market manipulation — success without detection
✅ Reward: +3,000 Celestial Shards
📊 New Balance: 18,580
---
That night, Tianzun sat in his courtyard.
Yoru sat on a roof beam above, swinging her legs slowly.
> "So, let me guess… those market dips? You."
> "No idea what you're talking about," he said calmly.
> "You never leave the estate. Yet your influence spreads like ink on paper."
> "That's because I draw in silence."
She grinned. "You're weird."
> "You're late to that realization."
She paused, then added softly, "You feel stronger."
> "I'm not strong. I'm efficient."
---
Later, Tianzun stared into his palm.
The system shimmered there like a quiet sun.
> "Only halfway to the minimum…"
He glanced at his balance:
📊 Celestial Shards: 18,580 / 93,000 Needed for Safe Breakthrough
> "Time to open advanced missions. Risk goes up. But so does gain."
His eyes flickered with cold determination.
---