Chapter 68: Chapter 68: Soul Tempering Preparation

Runar floated carefully in the Infinite Qi Realm, his Rule-fused body glowing with soft golden-silver light.

Through the soul connection, he watched his clone body settle into sleep with Celestia back in Suite 4701. That part of him was at rest. This part needed to prepare for the hardest cultivation session of his life.

Alright. Time to get serious about this soul problem.

He’d spent almost six subjective years in here already during the breakthrough process. Now he needed to spend decades more fixing the imbalance that breakthrough had created.

Through his awareness, he could feel the Eternal Nexus Ascension technique running passively in the background. It had always been designed to cultivate body, qi, and soul simultaneously—that was one of its core strengths. Even now, the technique was working to refine his soul, tempering it slowly and steadily according to the cultivation method’s parameters.

But that was the problem. Slowly and steadily.

His body and qi had undergone massive qualitative changes during the Universal Genesis breakthrough. The body was built from fused Rule-light containing characteristics of all 3,333 Rules. The qi came from a micro-universe dantian with cosmic-level energy density. Those changes had been sudden, revolutionary, a complete transformation in minutes.

His soul was refining itself according to the technique, yes. But the technique’s soul cultivation was designed for gradual, balanced progression. It couldn’t account for the body and qi suddenly jumping multiple major realms ahead in a single breakthrough.

The soul was improving. Just not nearly fast enough.

At the technique’s natural pace, my soul would catch up to my body and qi in maybe… fifty years? A hundred? And that’s subjective time in the Comprehension Space. External time would be months or years.

I can’t wait that long. I need to accelerate the process far beyond what the normal technique provides.

Which meant creating a new soul tempering method specifically designed for rapid advancement.

But first, let me see what resources I actually have to work with.

Runar pulled up his system interface, focusing on the inventory section he hadn’t checked in weeks. With everything that had happened—the breakthrough, the soul shattering, the body reconstruction—he’d completely forgotten about the various rewards and items he’d accumulated.

[System Inventory]

The interface populated with hundreds of items. Spirit stones, pills, techniques, treasures—things he’d gathered over his month of life, rewards from achievements, purchases from the system mall ages ago.

But several items immediately caught his attention:

Unclaimed Rewards: 47

Wait. Forty-seven unclaimed rewards?

Runar focused on that section and a new list appeared:

Achievement Rewards – Unclaimed:

Breakthrough to Meteor Forging (x9 stages beyond normal): 50,000 System Points, Random Treasure Box (Supreme Grade) Breakthrough to Satellite Orbit: 100,000 System Points, Random Treasure Box (Divine Grade) Comprehending 100 Laws to 100%: 200,000 System Points, Law Fragment Box Comprehending 500 Laws to 100%: 500,000 System Points, Law Fragment Box x3 Comprehending 1,000 Laws to 100%: 1,000,000 System Points, Rule Fragment x1 Comprehending 3,333 Laws to 100%: 3,333,000 System Points, Reality Fragment x3 Creating Supreme-Grade Technique (Stellar Foundation Unity Method): 1,000,000 System Points 16 Years Continuous Cultivation in Pocket Universe: 5,000,000 System Points, Mixed Reward Box (Primordial Grade) x3 Killing 10,000+ Enemies in Pocket Universe: 10,000,000 System Points, Chaos Droplet x1 Killing Supernova Realm Enemies (500+): 25,000,000 System Points, Weapon Enhancement Token (Primordial) Perfect Battle Record (16 years, 0 defeats): 15,000,000 System Points, Combat Technique Box (Supreme) Mastering 50+ Techniques to Perfection: 8,000,000 System Points, Technique Fusion Manual (Divine) Creating 100+ Original Techniques: 12,000,000 System Points, Innovation Token Soul Cultivation Achievement (Peak Early Supernova before age 1): 20,000,000 System Points, Soul Treasure Box (Primordial) x5 Various Minor Achievements: 35,000,000 System Points (combined)

Holy shit. Over 135 million System Points just sitting here unclaimed?

He’d been so focused on cultivation and breakthroughs that he’d completely ignored the reward notifications. They’d piled up in the background, waiting for him to manually claim them.

Runar immediately selected [Claim All].

[System Points Acquired: 135,083,000]

[Items Acquired:]

Reality Fragment x3 (Total: 6) Chaos Droplet x1 (Total: 2) Soul Treasure Boxes (Primordial Grade) x5 Mixed Reward Boxes (Primordial Grade) x3 Random Treasure Boxes (Supreme Grade x1, Divine Grade x1) Law Fragment Boxes x4 Weapon Enhancement Token (Primordial) Combat Technique Box (Supreme) Technique Fusion Manual (Divine) Innovation Token

The System Points number made him pause. Over 135 million points. That was genuinely massive wealth in system terms.

And I already have 3 Reality Fragments and 1 Chaos Droplet from previous rewards. Now with the new ones, I have 6 Reality Fragments total and 2 Chaos Droplets.

He pulled up his existing special resources:

Special Resources (Previously Acquired):

Reality Fragment x3 Chaos Droplet x1 Soul Pills (Self-Refined): Divine Grade x127, Supreme Grade x43

Special Resources (Newly Acquired):

Reality Fragment x3 Chaos Droplet x1

Total Special Resources:

Reality Fragment x6 Chaos Droplet x2 Soul Pills (Self-Refined): Divine Grade x127, Supreme Grade x43 Soul Pills (Self-Refined): Divine Grade x127, Supreme Grade x43

Right, I almost forgot about those. During my alchemy training in the Pocket Universe, I refined hundreds of soul pills. Couldn’t make Primordial grade back then—didn’t have Rule comprehension. But Divine and Supreme pills are still useful.

He examined the soul pills he’d made. They weren’t as potent as Primordial grade, but they were clean, well-refined, and tailored specifically for his cultivation method.

Runar reviewed his complete soul treasure inventory:

Divine Grade:

Soul Pills (Self-Refined): x127 Soul Cleansing Pills (System): x100 Various treasures from reward boxes

Supreme Grade:

Soul Pills (Self-Refined): x43 Soul Expansion Elixirs (System): x50 Various treasures from reward boxes

Primordial Grade:

Soul Crystals: x10 Soul Essence Pills: x15 Soul Tempering Jades: x5 Soul Convergence Pills: x25 Spiritual Root Enhancement Elixirs: x10 Soul Flame Catalysts: x5 Consciousness Expansion Formations: x3 Memory Palace Construction Jades: x2

Chaos Grade:

Chaos Droplets: x2

This is a massive arsenal of soul treasures. Way more than I initially thought I had.

The plan crystallized in his mind:

First: Use Reality Fragments to deepen Rule comprehension to maximum effect.

Second: Begin soul tempering with the Rule Severance technique.

Third: Use Divine and Supreme treasures during early tempering stages—my soul is currently Middle Supernova, so these will help push to Peak Supernova.

Fourth: Use Primordial treasures to advance from Peak Supernova toward Neutron Star realm.

Fifth: Use first Chaos Droplet to breakthrough from Peak Supernova to Neutron Star realm. Chaos essence provides the qualitative leap needed for major realm advancement.

Sixth: Continue tempering with any remaining Primordial treasures and whatever the clone finds externally. Push from Neutron Star toward Peak Neutron Star.

Seventh: Use second Chaos Droplet to breakthrough from Peak Neutron Star to Early Black Hole realm.

Eighth: Final soul tempering to reach critical density, then detonate soul bomb for metamorphosis.

It was a comprehensive plan that would take decades of subjective time in the Comprehension Space. But with this many resources, it was achievable.

I should check what’s available for soul cultivation specifically.

He opened the system mall interface and navigated to the soul cultivation section.

[System Mall – Soul Cultivation]

The list was extensive. Techniques, treasures, pills, formations—everything categorized by grade and price.

Soul Treasures:

Soul Cleansing Pill (Divine Grade): 50,000 Points each Soul Expansion Elixir (Supreme Grade): 200,000 Points each Soul Crystal (Primordial Grade): 1,000,000 Points each Soul Essence Pill (Primordial Grade): 1,500,000 Points each Soul Tempering Jade (Primordial Grade): 2,000,000 Points each Soul Metamorphosis Elixir (Chaos Grade): 50,000,000,000 Points each Eternal Soul Crystal (Chaos Grade): 100,000,000,000 Points each

Soul Techniques:

Nine Revolutions Soul Tempering Method (Supreme Grade): 500,000 Points Immortal Soul Scripture (Divine Grade): 800,000 Points Heaven Devouring Soul Art (Primordial Grade): 3,000,000 Points Chaos Soul Rebirth Technique (Chaos Grade): 500,000,000,000 Points

Runar’s eyes widened at the Chaos-grade pricing. Billions. Tens of billions. Even hundreds of billions for the most powerful items.

Chaos treasures are in an entirely different league. I have 135 million points—enough to buy plenty of Primordial items, but not even close to affording Chaos grade.

Good thing I already have 2 Chaos Droplets from achievements.

Runar studied the options carefully. The Primordial-grade Soul Crystals and other Primordial treasures would definitely help. He could afford quite a few now.

With my Rule comprehension, I could theoretically refine Primordial-grade soul pills myself now. Rules are the key to Primordial alchemy—understanding why herbs combine at fundamental levels.

But…

He looked at his Rule-fused body, remembering how he’d accidentally destroyed formations just by moving.

I have zero qi control right now. Alchemy requires incredibly delicate manipulation of energy and materials. I’d probably destroy the cauldron, waste the herbs, and create explosions instead of pills.

Better to just buy Primordial pills from the system mall and use the Divine and Supreme pills I already made.

He decided on purchases:

Soul Crystal (Primordial Grade) x10: 10,000,000 Points Soul Essence Pill (Primordial Grade) x15: 22,500,000 Points Soul Tempering Jade (Primordial Grade) x5: 10,000,000 Points Soul Expansion Elixir (Supreme Grade) x50: 10,000,000 Points Soul Cleansing Pill (Divine Grade) x100: 5,000,000 Points

[Total: 57,500,000 System Points]

[Remaining: 77,583,000 Points]

But before using them, he needed to open those reward boxes and see what else he’d gotten.

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