Hours later, deep inside the biological research wing, the alien tissue samples continued revealing their secrets. One researcher frowned, looking up from his station.
"Director."
Ward approached immediately. "What did you find?"
"We've confirmed something," the researcher said as the microscope image enlarged on the main screen.
Every Ouroboros cell contained microscopic crystalline structures. They weren't organs, and they weren't DNA; they were something else entirely.
"They naturally circulate energy," the researcher explained.
Ward leaned closer, his eyes narrowing. "Like Qi?"
"We think so," another scientist nodded, stepping forward. "It isn't just biological. It's... cultivated. That seems to be why they reject a good portion of our weapons' damage. Qi seems to have something to do with the spirit, and it's also known as life energy. I theorize that Qi rejects attacks that don't have life imbued in them to a high degree. It's difficult to be sure due to our lack of tools to measure spirit, but judging from the footage we have from spectator mode, the champions need a lot less force to inflict the same damage. The most likely reason is that doing the attack themselves with melee weapons acts as a much better medium of spirit, allowing the damage to be fully received by the creature instead of the mindless projectiles we use where most of the kinetic force simply gets rejected."
The room fell quiet as the weight of the discovery settled over the team. Ward didn't hesitate, immediately stepping up to the board and writing a new project name in bold ink: **PROJECT ASCENT**.
The objective was simple: understand cultivation. Not imitate it—understand it. Because understanding came first, and replication came later.
✦ ✦ ✦
Commander Hale entered the laboratory carrying another fresh after-action report. "The casualty numbers improved."
Ward looked up from his notes. "How much?"
"Thirty-one percent," Hale said, and the heavy atmosphere in the room noticeably brightened.
"What changed?" Ward asked.
Hale placed several combat recordings onto the table, queueing up the feeds. "We stopped treating them like animals."
Ward understood his meaning immediately. "We started studying them."
"Exactly," Hale nodded, tracking the video playback. "We know how they move, we know how they hunt, we know how they prioritize targets, and we know how they react to suppressive fire. The monsters haven't become weaker." A faint smile finally appeared on the commander's face. "We've become smarter."
Ward returned the smile. "Good."
✦ ✦ ✦
Late that evening, only three people remained inside the secure conference room: Ward, Hale, and Collins. The enormous holographic Earth slowly rotated between them in the dim light.
Collins broke the long silence, his eyes fixed on the blue globe. "...Do you think we'll win?"
Neither man answered immediately. Finally, Hale spoke, his voice quiet. "I don't know."
Ward nodded in agreement. "I don't either."
Another heavy silence filled the space before Ward looked toward the digital stars projected above the table. "But I do know this. Almost a week ago, we were waiting for someone to save us." He looked directly at Hale. "Today... we started saving ourselves."
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Outside the reinforced walls of Project Compass, the massive undertaking had already begun. The first Siege Capital rose from reinforced bedrock, and the first Super Shelter disappeared deep beneath the earth. Factories rapidly changed their assembly lines, and borders quietly vanished from military maps altogether. Humanity had stopped asking how to survive *now*—it had begun asking how to keep surviving.
Ward was about to leave the conference room when one of the younger analysts raised a hesitant hand. "Director?"
Ward stopped at the threshold. "Yes?"
"The System rankings," the analyst said.
Commander Hale looked over, snapping his attention back to the monitors. "...Right."
Since the arrival of the System, every human possessed access to the global leaderboards. Project Compass had long since established secure terminals where they regularly synchronized the publicly available information, and unlike the alien languages, these rankings required no decoding. The System displayed them exactly as intended.
"Bring them up," Ward commanded.
The lights dimmed slightly as a massive projection filled the conference room.
✦ ✦ ✦
══════════════════════════════
**Global Kill Leaderboard**
══════════════════════════════
**1. Shinigami** ... **80**
**2. Leon** ..... **13**
**3. Ray** ... **13**
**4. Aria** ..... **12**
**5. Victor** ... **12**
**6. Hassan** ... **11**
**7. Freya** .... **11**
**8. Kira** ..... **10**
**9. Ivan** ..... **10**
**10. Selene** ..... **10**
══════════════════════════════
Deep silence settled over the room. Commander Hale was the first to break it. "...Eighty?"
One of the analysts nodded rapidly. "We've verified it through multiple participants."
Hale slowly folded his arms, his brow furrowed. "The gap between first and second is... absurd."
Ward didn't answer immediately. Instead, his eyes drifted down the text. "Second through tenth... they're remarkably close."
Another researcher nodded in agreement. "Which means the competition for the top ten is genuine."
Ward looked back toward the first position, staring at the name. "But first place... is playing an entirely different game."
Nobody disagreed. General Ross quietly studied the display from the edge of the table. "Whoever Shinigami is... I hope he's still on our side."
✦ ✦ ✦
"Show cultivation," Ward requested, and the display instantly shifted.
══════════════════════════════
**Global Cultivation Ranking**
══════════════════════════════
**1. Leon**
• Immortal Cultivation: **None**
• Body Tempering Cultivation:
**Bloodline Awakening Foundation Realm**
• Self Cultivation:
**Self Expression Foundation Realm**
**Late Stage**
✦ ✦ ✦
**2. Shinigami**
• Self Cultivation:
**Self Expression Foundation Realm**
**Late Stage**
✦ ✦ ✦
**3. Ray**
• Body Tempering Cultivation:
**Bloodline Awakening Foundation Realm**
**Mid Stage**
✦ ✦ ✦
**4. Aria**
• Body Tempering Cultivation:
**Bloodline Awakening Foundation Realm**
**Early Stage**
✦ ✦ ✦
**5. Victor**
• Body Tempering Cultivation:
**Bloodline Awakening Foundation Realm**
**Early Stage**
✦ ✦ ✦
**6. Hassan**
• Body Tempering Cultivation:
**Bloodline Awakening Foundation Realm**
**Early Stage**
✦ ✦ ✦
**7. Freya**
• Body Tempering Cultivation:
**Bloodline Awakening Foundation Realm**
**Early Stage**
✦ ✦ ✦
**8. Kira**
• Body Tempering Cultivation:
**Bloodline Awakening Foundation Realm**
**Early Stage**
✦ ✦ ✦
**9. Ivan**
• Body Tempering Cultivation:
**Bloodline Awakening Foundation Realm**
**Early Stage**
✦ ✦ ✦
**10. Selene**
• Body Tempering Cultivation:
**Bloodline Awakening Foundation Realm**
**Early Stage**
══════════════════════════════
Richard Collins adjusted his glasses, leaning closer to the projection. "So Leon is cultivating two paths. I wonder who is stronger... Humanity's top cultivator or top killer?"
Ward nodded slowly. "Body Tempering and Self Cultivation."
"Is that... unusual?" Collins asked.
"It isn't common," Ward replied, pulling up auxiliary files. "The Guidance Library contains several historical references to dual cultivators. The difficulty isn't starting two paths—it's keeping both progressing together. Most eventually abandon one because the demands become too great."
Commander Hale looked closely at Leon's entry. "But he's managed it."
"So far," Ward's expression remained incredibly thoughtful. "The interesting part isn't just that he's walking two paths. It's that neither path is slowing the other down."
Another researcher stepped closer to the podium. "Shinigami is second despite cultivating only one path."
"And Ray reached Mid Foundation in Body Tempering," another added. "That's currently the highest pure Body Tempering cultivation we've recorded."
Ward nodded approvingly, looking around the room. "Three different approaches. A dual cultivator, a pure self cultivator, and a pure body temperer. Exactly the kind of comparison we need."
Every scientist in the room immediately understood his excitement. Three different cultivation models meant three independent datasets. Project Compass wasn't merely observing stronger humans anymore; it was watching entirely different methods of becoming stronger evolve side by side.
Ward smiled faintly, looking once more at the names before shutting the main display down. "The more paths humanity explores... the better our chances of finding the one that carries us to victory."