Chapter 70: Chapter 70: Reality Fragments & Soul Tempering

Runar floated in the white void of the Infinite Qi Realm, six Reality Fragments arranged in a circle before him.

Through the soul connection, he could feel his clone body sleeping peacefully with Celestia back in Suite 4701. That part of him was at rest. This part was about to begin decades of brutal cultivation work.

The moment he fully materialized in the space, Runar felt the difference. His soul relaxed, tension he hadn’t even noticed releasing. His thoughts flowed smoother, his mental processes operating with less friction.

Perfect. Now let’s begin.

He gathered the six Reality Fragments, arranging them in a specific hexagonal pattern around his floating form.

First, absorb all the fragments to maximize Rule comprehension. Higher comprehension means more effective soul tempering later.

Runar reached out with his consciousness and touched the first Reality Fragment.

Knowledge flooded in immediately—not words or images, but pure understanding that bypassed normal learning entirely.

Fire Rule. The fundamental principles of thermodynamic exchange. Why heat transferred from hot to cold at the quantum level. How energy states transitioned between configurations. The underlying mechanisms that made combustion possible.

His Fire Rule comprehension began deepening: 1% → 1.1% → 1.2%…

But then the process slowed dramatically.

Getting from 1.2% to 1.3% took longer than going from 1% to 1.2%. Each incremental increase required more understanding, more integration, more fundamental comprehension of principles that governed reality itself.

This wasn’t like learning a technique where you could just memorize the steps. This was understanding why reality worked the way it did. Every percentage point required genuinely grasping concepts that most cultivators never even perceived.

The fragment continued pouring knowledge into his mind, but Runar’s consciousness had to work to integrate it all. His Heaven-Defying Comprehension Mantra helped—all 100 parallel thought streams processing simultaneously, his +50,000% comprehension boost making the impossible merely extremely difficult.

Hours passed in subjective time as the first fragment slowly transferred its knowledge.

Days.

Weeks.

After one full month of continuous absorption, the first Reality Fragment finally crumbled to dust.

Runar checked his progress. The fragment had increased his Rule comprehension, but not evenly. Some Rules had jumped more than others based on the fragment’s specific knowledge:

Fire Rule: 1% → 2.1% Ice Rule: 1% → 1.8% Lightning Rule: 1% → 1.9% Water Rule: 1% → 1.7%

Other Rules had smaller increases, ranging from 1.2% to 1.6%.

Average Rule comprehension: 1.6%

One fragment, one month of absorption, 0.6% average increase.

Six fragments will take approximately six months total, and bring me to around 4-5% average comprehension.

It was slower than he’d hoped, but that was the reality of Rule comprehension and the only disadvantage of having to comprehend 3333 rules at the same time, if he only had one or two rules, the reality fragment would have been much more effective, raising it to a much more higher level. Even with his advantages—Heaven-Defying Comprehension Mantra, system assistance, Reality Fragments that provided direct understanding—advancing 3333 rules was a very grinding work. And the progress was much slower.

But it’s necessary. The higher my Rule comprehension, the more effective the soul tempering technique will be. Six months of preparation now saves years of tempering later.

Runar reached for the second Reality Fragment.

The process repeated. Knowledge flooding in, his consciousness working to integrate it, comprehension slowly deepening. This fragment emphasized spatial and temporal principles.

Space Rule: 1.6% → 2.9% Time Rule: 1.5% → 2.7% Dimension Rule: 1.4% → 2.5%

Two months passed absorbing the second fragment.

Third fragment focused on material and energy principles. Another month and a half of absorption.

Matter Rule: 1.7% → 3.1% Energy Rule: 1.6% → 2.9% Force Rule: 1.5% → 2.6%

Fourth fragment dealt with life, death, and existential concepts. Two months for this one—the concepts were particularly complex.

Life Rule: 1.6% → 3.3% Death Rule: 1.6% → 3.3% Creation Rule: 1.5% → 2.8% Destruction Rule: 1.5% → 2.7% Existence Rule: 1.4% → 2.9% Void Rule: 1.4% → 2.8%

Fifth fragment covered more esoteric principles. One and a half months.

Probability Rule: 1.3% → 2.7% Causality Rule: 1.3% → 2.8% Fate Rule: 1.2% → 2.4% Chaos Rule: 1.4% → 2.9% Order Rule: 1.3% → 2.6%

Sixth and final fragment provided a comprehensive boost across all categories, bringing everything into better balance. This one took the longest—two and a half months—because it was helping him integrate and harmonize all the previous knowledge.

When the last fragment finally crumbled to dust, Runar floated in the gray void in a meditation form, his consciousness burning with expanded understanding.

Nine months of subjective time had passed in the Comprehension Space. Externally, only about 13 hours.

He checked his final Rule comprehension levels.

[Rule Comprehension Update]

Average Rule Comprehension: 4.7% (across all 3,333 Rules)

Highest Comprehensions:

Life Rule: 5.8% Death Rule: 5.8% Space Rule: 5.6% Time Rule: 5.4% Matter Rule: 5.3% Energy Rule: 5.2%

Lowest Comprehensions:

Various obscure Rules: 3.1-3.4%

The improvement was massive. From 1% average to 4.7% average—nearly quintupling his fundamental understanding of reality. And even the lowest Rules had more than tripled.

The difference wasn’t just numerical. Runar could feel the Rules now in ways he couldn’t before. When he focused on Space Rule at 5.6%, he didn’t just understand spatial manipulation—he understood the dimensional framework itself, why distance was meaningful, how geometry emerged from fundamental principles.

This is what nine months of dedicated Rule comprehension gets you. And I have the Heaven-Defying Comprehension Mantra making it thousands of times faster than normal cultivators.

Without HDCM, absorbing these six fragments would’ve taken centuries. Maybe millennia. I have Truck kun to thank. Maybe I won’t beat him when I find him.

But more importantly for his current goal—4.7% average Rule comprehension meant the soul tempering technique would be far more effective than at 1%.

Now I can begin the actual soul tempering.

Runar reviewed his complete soul treasure inventory one more time:

Divine Grade: 227 pills and various treasures

Supreme Grade: 93 pills and elixirs

Primordial Grade: 75+ items (crystals, pills, jades, catalysts, formations)

Chaos Grade: 2 Chaos Droplets

The plan crystallized in his mind:

Phase 1: Use Reality Fragments to maximize Rule comprehension (current: 4.7% average).

Phase 2: Soul tempering with Divine/Supreme treasures to reach Peak Supernova.

Phase 3: Use first Chaos Droplet + soul bomb metamorphosis for breakthrough to Neutron Star realm.

Phase 4: Soul tempering with Primordial treasures to reach Peak Neutron Star.

Phase 5: Use second Chaos Droplet + soul bomb metamorphosis for breakthrough to Black Hole realm.

Phase 6: Soul tempering with remaining Primordial treasures to reach Peak Black Hole realm.

Phase 7: Wait for clone to find more treasures—Primordial grade and hopefully maybe a pseudo-Chaos items—then push to Quasar realm.

He checked his body control requirements again through the system.

[Body Control Analysis]

Current Soul: Middle Supernova Realm

Required for Basic Control: Late Black Hole Realm

Required for Full Control: Quasar Realm

I need to reach Quasar realm to fully control this Rule-fused body. Late Black Hole will give me adequate control, but Quasar is the real target.

Decades of work ahead. But achievable.

Runar consumed one Soul Cleansing Pill immediately. The Divine-grade pill dissolved on contact with his soul, spreading cleansing energy that would help prevent corruption during the tempering cycles.

Then he began gathering fused Rule-light to create the soul blade.

Golden-silver starlight materialized in the gray void—the same material he’d used to build his body, now being shaped for a different purpose. But this version was far more potent than before. At 4.7% average Rule comprehension, the fused Rule-light contained nearly five times the depth and power.

He compressed it into a sporit blade. Not a physical object, but a spiritual construct designed to cut through soul material with perfect precision.

I hope it doesn’t hurt. A lot. Continuously.

Through the soul connection, he felt his clone body still sleeping peacefully with Celestia. That version of him would wake up soon, attend the combat assessment, search for more soul treasures.

This version was about to undergo decades of self-inflicted torture.

Welcome to high-level cultivation. Where power requires sacrifices most people can’t imagine.

Runar raised the soul blade and made the first cut.

The blade sliced through his soul cleanly, separating a small section from the main mass.

The pain was beyond description.

It felt like having his consciousness torn apart, his sense of self fragmenting, every aspect of his existence screaming in agony. But the Comprehension Space’s soul-relaxing properties helped slightly, making the pain bearable where it might have been completely overwhelming.

The separated section began drifting away, the soul wound bleeding spiritual energy.

Immediately, Runar activated the healing phase. He gathered more fused Rule-light and directed it toward the wound.

The golden-silver starlight flowed into the cut, knitting the separated piece back into the whole. But as it healed, the Rule-light integrated itself deeper into the soul structure, making that section denser, stronger, more fundamentally attuned to the 3,333 Rules.

At 4.7% comprehension, the integration was far more thorough than it would’ve been at 1%.

When healing completed, Runar’s soul was whole again—but the healed section was qualitatively superior.

One cycle complete.

The improvement was tiny. Maybe 0.015% soul strength increase. Barely noticeable.

But I’m going to do this millions of times over the next few decades.

Runar steadied himself and raised the soul blade again.

Second cut. Second healing.

Third. Fourth. Fifth.

He settled into a rhythm. Cut, heal, integrate. Cut, heal, integrate.

The Comprehension Space’s uniform enhancement property proved invaluable. Each healing distributed power evenly throughout his soul rather than creating strong and weak spots. The soul relaxation helped him maintain focus through the constant pain.

Hours became days. Days became weeks. Weeks became months.

After the first subjective year, Runar had completed roughly 75,000 cycles. His soul strength had increased from Middle Supernova to Late Supernova realm.

He consumed his self-refined Divine-grade Soul Pills regularly—the ones he’d made during alchemy training in the Pocket Universe. They prevented deviation and provided steady enhancement. When those ran low, he switched to the system-purchased Divine pills.

Soul Expansion Elixirs helped when his soul approached capacity limits.

After two years: 150,000 cycles. Peak Supernova realm.

His soul had reached the threshold. He’d consumed all the Divine and Supreme grade treasures—both his self-refined pills and the system purchases. Peak Supernova was as far as normal treasures could take him.

The next major realm required a qualitative breakthrough, not just accumulation.

Time for the first soul bomb metamorphosis.

Runar stopped the cutting cycles and began preparing.

He withdrew the first Chaos Droplet from his inventory and set it aside, ready to guide the recombination.

Then he gathered an enormous amount of fused Rule-light—far more than he’d used for the cutting blades. At 4.7% Rule comprehension, the golden-silver starlight was potent.

He compressed it into a sphere at the center of his soul. Tighter and tighter until it reached critical mass. All 3,333 Rules poured their essence into the bomb, creating something that pulsed with barely-contained apocalyptic power.

When this detonates, my soul will shatter completely. The Chaos Droplet will guide recombination into Neutron Star configuration. This is going to hurt worse than anything I’ve experienced.

Runar steadied himself and detonated the soul bomb.

EVERYTHING EXPLODED.

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