The world had not slept. Across every nation, emergency shelters overflowed with civilians seeking safety from the monsters beyond the Gates. Television stations abandoned normal programming entirely, broadcasting military updates and System announcements twenty-four hours a day. Every conversation eventually drifted toward the same question: How were the Champions doing?
As if answering humanity's collective wish, the familiar mechanical voice echoed once more inside every person's mind.
[New Function Unlocked.]
[Spectator Interface Activated.]
People instinctively closed their eyes, and a translucent screen appeared before their consciousness. Several options floated before them: Champion List, Kill Rankings, Cultivation Rankings, World Information, and Spectate Mode.
The internet exploded. Every shelter, every command center, and every family opened the interface simultaneously. Governments immediately assigned entire departments to analyze every available function, while ordinary civilians desperately searched for friends and relatives among the Champions.
For many, the search ended almost immediately. Thousands of names were greyed out, each accompanied by a single word: Returned. They were not dead, but returned. The realization brought mixed emotions; their loved ones had survived, but others hadn't. The names still absent from the Returned list remained somewhere beyond the Gates—still fighting, still alive, or at least not yet defeated.
Inside a military operations center in Washington, dozens of analysts worked side by side. "Open the rankings," an officer ordered. A technician nodded, and the translucent screen shifted.
Monster Elimination Ranking:
Rank 1 Shinigami: 12
Rank 2 Mike: 5
Rank 3 Ray: 4
Rank 4 Leon: 1
"...Only twelve?" one officer frowned. "That doesn't sound like much."
Another analyst shook his head. "It means nobody is surviving long enough to kill more."
The room became noticeably quieter. They couldn't even sate their curiosity regarding the top spot, as the spectate function was greyed out for Shinigami. However, it allowed them to spectate the others normally. Even the highest-ranked accessible Champion had only managed a handful of kills. Whatever waited in those worlds, it wasn't something humanity was prepared for.
Social media erupted with speculation. Who is Shinigami? A military operative? A professional assassin? Just a screen name? Entire communities began investigating the names appearing on the rankings; some were quickly identified, while others remained complete mysteries.
One name, however, attracted unusual attention: Leon. He was in fourth place with only one kill, yet somehow, his name also appeared elsewhere. "Open Cultivation Rankings," the operator complied, and the interface shifted once more.
Cultivation Rankings:
Rank 1. Leon:
Immortal Cultivation: None
Body Tempering Cultivation: None
Self Cultivation: Self-Expression Foundation Realm ( mid )
No second place existed. The remaining list was completely blank.
Confusion spread throughout the room. "...He's ranked first without cultivating?"
"No," one researcher leaned closer to the screen, pointing toward the final line. "He has cultivated. Just not the other two Paths."
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Around the world, similar conversations unfolded. Universities immediately began dissecting every word. Three cultivation systems—Immortal Cultivation, Body Tempering Cultivation, and Self Cultivation—were each listed separately, and each was apparently independent. Within minutes, research teams completely reorganized; some focused on Qi, others began examining genetics, and psychologists and neuroscientists found themselves unexpectedly pulled into classified government meetings. If the mind itself could become stronger, then understanding human consciousness had suddenly become a matter of national security.
The System interrupted the growing speculation.
[Guidance Library Unlocked.]
Another option appeared, and people selected it immediately. They were met with an introduction stating that heaven, earth, and man make up all phenomena, meaning the three paths of cultivation correspond to those three absolute components of the world.
Immortal Cultivation required the heavens to acknowledge an individual; without fortune, destiny, and a spirit root, no amount of effort could force the path open. Body Tempering Cultivation relied on the earth, where rich spiritual lands, abundant Qi, precious resources, and powerful bloodlines determined how far one could go. Self Cultivation belonged solely to mankind and required no external qualification—a person needed only themselves.
Thousands of pages of foundational theory, Qi circulation, and body tempering principles unfolded before their eyes. None of it granted strength directly, but it explained the core concepts. For Earth's greatest minds, that was more than enough.
Entire research institutes began reading simultaneously. Instruments that had spent decades studying radiation, electromagnetic fields, and particle interactions were quickly repurposed. Laboratories across the world began feeding the unknown energy through every sensor humanity possessed, though every new result raised more questions than answers. Qi behaved like neither matter nor energy, yet it interacted with both. Scientists scribbled equations, doctors debated physiological implications, martial artists argued over Body Tempering principles, and philosophers nearly came to blows discussing Self Cultivation. Humanity had been handed the first page of an entirely new branch of knowledge.
Then, someone asked the obvious question. A young programmer sitting inside an evacuation center hesitated before speaking aloud. "System."
The mechanical voice responded instantly. [Question acknowledged.]
"If these cultivation methods are so important... why aren't the Champions using this interface?"
Silence fell over the room as several nearby civilians looked toward him. It was a good question. After a brief pause, the System answered.
[Champions have not been connected to the Salvation Interface.]
The shelter became quiet. The programmer frowned. "...Why?"
The pause this time lasted noticeably longer—long enough for people to begin wondering whether the System had heard him at all. Finally, it responded.
[Cause Unknown.]
Murmurs spread immediately. Unknown? The System didn't know?
The programmer swallowed hard. "...Can you reconnect them?"
Another pause stretched out. [Attempting diagnosis...]
The words remained suspended before everyone's eyes as seconds passed. Then, another notification appeared.
[Unknown anomaly detected during transfer.]
[Diagnosis failed.]
Before anyone could process the implications, a new message flashed. [Attempting restoration...]
The message remained active, but no success notification followed. Only those two words remained, as though the System itself had encountered something it could not understand.
"Wait..." one official muttered in disbelief. "You're telling me our champions were thrown into another world with absolutely nothing?"
The System offered a final, chilling confirmation. [Correct.]
In another world, inside a frozen wasteland beneath a blood-red sky, Davis struggled through knee-deep crimson snow. His breathing had become ragged hours ago. Every few minutes, Miller took Leon's weight while Davis caught his breath, and then they switched again. Neither man complained, and neither suggested abandoning him.
Eventually, Miller spoke. "...Let's rest for a minute."
Davis looked toward the unconscious young man slumped over his shoulder, then toward the endless wilderness ahead. He shook his head. "He told us to keep moving. So we keep moving."
Above them, unseen by anyone in that world, millions of eyes suddenly opened. Across Earth, families, governments, scientists, and soldiers watched the live image in stunned silence. The man ranked first in cultivation—the only Champion who had entered a cultivation realm—was unconscious, covered in blood, and being carried across an alien world by two ordinary coworkers. No one understood why, but every eye remained fixed on Leon.