CHAPTER 34: IDENTITY - I

A day before the incident...

Lucian was strolling down the moderately active streets of Northern Luminaris. His head was slightly tilted down, his eyes blurry with a hint of indecisiveness.

"What should I do...?" Unknowingly, his voice slipped through his throat as his mind seemed to have drifted into a world different than his.

’The more I think about it, the more it keeps bugging me... The fact that I have no idea what to do now is driving me insane. I have every cheat one could possibly ask for, yet I feel no motivation to climb higher in terms of strength and power.’ He pocketed his hands and subconsciously walked at a steady pace.

’The power is good and all, but for some reason, it just doesn’t feel right. No matter how much I try, I keep thinking about it. This whole situation — the system, the apocalypse, the resemblance of the current situation to my book, everything — it just doesn’t fit right.’ Brimming with a mix of annoyance and frustration, Lucian shut his eyes and gritted his teeth, frowning.

His left hand slid out of his pocket and rested over the back of his head.

"Maybe I should just stop thinking and go with the flow. After all, even I have no idea about how powerful of creatures I’ll have to face, given that the gap between my storyline and this edited version has begun to widen."

"Not to forget, I still am pretty poor, considering the fact that I neither have a roof to take shelter beneath nor any money in my wallet. If anything, I’m comparable to a beggar as of now. Might as well get a bowl at this point." He muttered in a low, almost inaudible voice while shaking his head sideways.

"Ack!"

Suddenly, a voice jolted his mind awake. Lucian snapped open his eyes and raised his head. A young man, seemingly in his late teenage years, clasped onto his forehead. His body was hunched, faint groans escaping his lungs.

Behind him stood a young woman of the same age group. She, too, was dressed casually, which quite literally surprised Lucian. Up until now, everyone he had seen within the city since waking up was dressed in at least a single piece of armor. Of course, there were exceptions, such as himself and Sera. But to see a pair such as them roaming freely intrigued him.

"Watch where you’re going, man!" The young man groaned loudly as he raised his head. Almost instantly, his eyes slightly widened and eyebrows stretched upwards. Through the faint reflections of his glasses, the man’s eyes sparkled with a mix of emotions.

Without hesitation, he leapt towards Lucian with his arms wide open. Lucian, on the other hand, could see every movement of his muscles; yet, he decided not to move — he didn’t have to.

Ever since Lucian had stepped into the world of cultivation, a few peculiar changes had occurred throughout his body, mind, and soul.

To begin with, the process of cultivation depended on 3 crucial factors that determined both whether one is qualified to embark on such a path that demands continuous trials of will and mental fortitude and how far one could tread on this seemingly endless path of immortality.

As such, the first requirement to walk upon such a path was to innately sense the faint presence of Qi — the omnipresent energy said to be the very core of all that exists and all that doesn’t exist.

As simple as it sounded, some spent years and decades just to grasp that feeling. And once someone could distinguish between such energy, they were required to look within their own existence and sense the immense amount of concentrated pure qi stored within their body since birth as life force.

The third and last step was to intake the Qi from the surroundings and accept it as one’s own. Not literally, but metaphorically. Only when one could grasp the control over such a cycle of absorbing Qi could someone be qualified to step into "cultivation."

However, Lucian’s case was different. Since he did not attempt to fulfill such requirements in the slightest. In a world where Qi did not exist to begin with, how could one sense it?

It was all thanks to his newly acquired authority that he was able to overcome such requirements by absorbing the mana core with brute force and achieve a successful breakthrough.

As a result, his body had broken through humane limits, and he gained a new ability. An innate ability that enhanced his perception and allowed him to sense his surroundings by sensing the nearby energies.

It was complicated, but at the same time, it was the same thing that allowed him to overcome the killing intent within the Hunter’s Association. By using that same method, Lucian had divined that there was no killing intent in the young man’s moves. Thus, he let it slide.

The man’s arms crossed around Lucian’s body and locked behind his back as he, in an instant, closed his distance with Lucian. Before he knew it, the man was hugging Lucian tightly with his body grinding against his... or so he thought.

Almost immediately, the man shifted his weight backwards. Fortifying his feet on the ground, the young man bent his body back, lifting Lucian off the ground. Arching his back all the way, the man was set on slamming Lucian’s head into the ground.

Lucian stayed completely still-faced throughout his attempt, and mere inches away from hitting the ground, he surprisingly disappeared from the man’s grip.

Oblivious to such a thing, the man grinned and yelled out loud, "Been a while."

*THUD!*

With his target gone from his grip, the young man’s calculations stumbled as his head hit the ground with a loud thud. As he hit the ground, a single word escaped his lungs as a wail, forcing Lucian to widen his eyes in utter shock.

"Lucian!" His voice was loud and clear.

"How... does he know me!?"