Chapter 2: The Devouring System
The journey towards the Verdant Spring Sect was tense, silent save for the crunch of leaves underfoot and the unnerving calls of unseen, adapted creatures. Bai Xue moved with predatory grace, her senses scanning the thickened woods constantly. Li Chen stumbled more often, his body thrumming with unspent cosmic power he couldn't properly control. Every rustle, every shift of shadow, made him jump.
"Host exhibits elevated stress hormones," the System noted blandly. "Recommend meditation to stabilize nascent cultivation."
"Meditation? While dodging mutant squirrels that probably spit acid?" Li Chen shot back mentally. He glanced at Bai Xue's rigid back. "She thinks I'm a walking disaster. Which, fair. But how do I stop being one?"
"Comprehension requires time and conflict. Power demands application. Observe."
A low growl vibrated from a thicket ahead. Bai Xue froze, hand flashing to her sword hilt. A creature emerged – not a wolf this time. It resembled a badger, but scaled in iridescent plates, with three barbed tails lashing behind it. Its beady eyes glowed with malevolent green light.
System Analysis:
Entity: [Scaleback Burrower - Mutated]
Cultivation: [Mid Stage Qi Condensation]
Threat Assessment: Moderate (Reality Adaptation: Enhanced Physical Defense/Poison Spines)
Anomaly Detected: Embedded Spatial Storage Fragment (Degraded) - Estimated Capacity: 0.5 cubic meters.
Spatial storage? Li Chen's eyes widened. Loot! Before Bai Xue could act, the Burrower lunged, surprisingly fast. Bai Xue's sword flashed, a streak of silver light, but it screeched off the creature's iridescent scales, barely leaving a scratch.
The Burrower recoiled, hissing, spines along its back flaring like poisoned needles. Bai Xue danced back, her expression tight. "Its scales resist Qi! Don't let those spines touch you!"
"Host Command: Engage Devour Protocol on designated anomaly?" the System prompted, highlighting the faintly shimmering spot near the creature's chest – the Spatial Storage Fragment.
"Devour? Like... eat it?" Li Chen thought frantically. The Burrower whirled, focusing its beady green eyes on him, the easier target. It lunged.
Instinct screamed. Power surged. Li Chen didn't think about swords or techniques. He focused on that shimmering anomaly within the creature, the wrongness the System pinpointed. He reached with the vast, untamed energy within him, not to push or distort, but to... consume.
"Command Acknowledged. Executing: Reality Fragment Acquisition - Target: Degraded Spatial Storage Matrix."
There was no flashy beam. No dramatic pull. One moment the Burrower was mid-lunge, the next, it stuttered. A tiny, almost invisible flicker passed through its form, centered on its chest. The creature slammed into the ground just short of Li Chen, letting out a confused, pained squeal. Its movements became sluggish, clumsy, the unnatural sheen on its scales dulling.
System Notification:
Reality Fragment Acquired: [Degraded Spatial Storage Matrix]
Integration Commencing...
...
System Function Unlocked: [Personal Pocket Dimension - Tier 0]
Capacity: 0.5 cubic meters. Access: Mental Command.
Warning: Fragment Acquisition caused minor spatial instability. Local Reality Integrity: 99.8%.
Li Chen stared. He felt it. A tiny, intangible space, a void he could perceive. He mentally pictured his half-eaten instant noodle cup from his apartment back home. Poof. It vanished from his mental inventory… and materialized, steaming slightly, in his hand.
Bai Xue gasped, her sword lowering slightly. She hadn't seen the instant noodles appear, but she'd seen the Burrower falter as if its very essence had been momentarily siphoned. She saw the look of stunned realization on Li Chen's face. "What... what did you do?" she demanded, her voice laced with a new layer of wary confusion. "Its spirit aura... it dimmed!"
The Scaleback Burrower, disoriented and weakened, scrambled back into the undergrowth, abandoning the fight.
Li Chen looked from the steaming noodle cup to Bai Xue, then shoved the incongruous meal into his newly acquired pocket dimension. It vanished. "Uh... experimental technique?" he offered weakly. "Called it... Spatial Lunch Theft?"
Bai Xue stared at him, her expression unreadable. "You siphoned a fragment of its innate spatial talent," she stated flatly, her earlier disbelief hardening into something sharper. "That's not a technique. That's... devouring. Like a Voidbeast." She took a step back, her hand tightening on her sword hilt. "Who are you? Truly?"
The accusation hung heavy. Devouring. The System's term. Reality Fragment Acquisition. It sounded less like cultivation and more like... predation. Li Chen felt a chill that had nothing to do with the forest air. "System? What exactly did you just do? And why does she think I'm like a Voidbeast?"
"Host acquired latent spatial structure embedded within the entity," the System replied, its tone unchanged. "Integration enhances Host utility. The entity lost an anomalous trait it could not fully utilize. Efficiency improved. Local entities perceive the energy signature of acquisition as similar to natural void-aligned predators who consume spatial anomalies."
"So I look like a cosmic vacuum cleaner to the locals? Great. Just great." He met Bai Xue's guarded eyes. "Look, I don't know what a Voidbeast is. I barely know what cultivation is beyond cheap novels. This... 'devouring'... it wasn't intentional. It's part of the... 'glitch'. The system I'm stuck with." He gestured vaguely at his head. "It does things. Sometimes I just point it and hope."
Bai Xue studied him, the intensity of her gaze almost physical. She saw the genuine bewilderment warring with the unnatural power radiating from him. She saw the modern clothes, the lack of any sect insignia, the utter lack of foundational knowledge. It clashed violently with the casual reality-bending he displayed. "A system?" she murmured, the word foreign on her tongue. "Like... a Dao artifact bound to your soul? But sentient?"
"Something like that," Li Chen admitted. "And it's less 'sentient' and more 'disastrously literal'. It says the world... adapted when I showed up. Made everything stronger. Meaner."
A flicker of understanding dawned in Bai Xue's eyes, chased by dawning horror. "The Great Resonance," she breathed. "Two days ago... a wave of energy swept the continent. Cultivators reported sudden breakthroughs... and beasts mutating overnight. Sect Elders spoke of the 'Veil' thinning." Her gaze snapped back to Li Chen, sharp as a blade. "You caused that?"
Li Chen winced. "The System says it 'calibrated reality'. Sounds like the same thing."
Bai Xue was silent for a long moment, the implications crashing over her. This bewildering, dangerous man wasn't just an anomaly; he was the source of the sudden, terrifying escalation. He was a walking catalyst for chaos. Her knuckles were white on her sword. The pragmatic choice, the safe choice for her sect, was clear: subdue him. Bring him in for the Elders to dissect.
Li Chen saw the calculation in her eyes, the hardening resolve. He braced himself, feeling the ocean of power surge in response to his spike of adrenaline. "System, combat options? Preferably non-lethal. I don't want to fight her."
*"Host possesses overwhelming theoretical advantage. Practical application remains inefficient. Probability of collateral spatial/temporal damage: 78%. Recommendation: Negotiate."*
Before either could act, a guttural roar, deeper and far more menacing than the Voidfang Wolf's, echoed through the trees, shaking the very ground. It came from the direction they were heading – towards the Verdant Spring Sect.
Bai Xue's head snapped towards the sound, her face paling. "That's... too close to the outer perimeter!"
System Alert:
High-Energy Signature Detected.
Entity: [Stonehide Direbear - Alpha Mutated]
Cultivation: [Peak Foundation Establishment - Enhanced]
Reality Adaptation: Geomantic Empowerment / Seismic Roar
Threat Assessment: Extreme.
Analysis: Signature bears residual trace of Host's initial Reality Calibration energy. Escalation confirmed.
"Peak Foundation? Mutated? And it's got a taste for my energy?" Li Chen groaned. "Fan-freaking-tastic."
Bai Xue made her decision. The immediate threat superseded the enigma. "We need to move! Now! If that thing breaches the outer wards..." She didn't finish, already turning and sprinting towards the roar, her grey robes a blur. "Try not to break anything else on the way!"
Li Chen followed, the System humming with new alerts. "Host, the Stonehide Direbear represents significant biomass and potential anomalous fragments. Devour Protocol is recommended."
"Devour a Peak Foundation mutated bear? Are you insane?" Li Chen thought, leaping over a root.
"Host possesses the theoretical capacity. Efficiency of acquisition increases with target power level. Opportunity for System upgrade: High."
As they burst into a large clearing, the sight stole Li Chen's breath. The Stonehide Direbear wasn't just large; it was a moving mountain of muscle and jagged, crystal-studded rock. It stood easily fifteen feet tall on its hind legs, its roar sending visible shockwaves through the air that cracked ancient trees. Before it, shimmering faintly, was a barrier of greenish light – the Verdant Spring Sect's outer ward. Cracks spiderwebbed across its surface with each roar.
Standing defiantly before the barrier were three other cultivators in grey robes similar to Bai Xue's, looking terrified but resolute. Their combined Qi blasts splashed harmlessly against the bear's stone hide.
"Bai Xue! Thank the ancestors!" one yelled, spotting her. "The ward won't hold! We need Senior Brother Liang!"
Bai Xue skidded to a halt beside them, sword raised. "He's reinforcing the inner arrays! We hold it here!" She glanced back at Li Chen, her expression grim. "Whatever your 'system' can do... now would be the time!"
The Stonehide Direbear's massive head swiveled. Its eyes, glowing like molten amber, locked onto Li Chen. It sniffed the air, a deep, rumbling inhalation. Recognition flared in its bestial gaze. This was the source. The origin of the power that had reshaped its world. It dropped to all fours, the ground trembling, and charged directly at Li Chen, ignoring the other cultivators and the weakening ward.
Panic and the System's cold logic warred within Li Chen. Overwhelming theoretical advantage. 78% chance of breaking reality. Devour Protocol recommended. The bear was a juggernaut of adapted power, a direct consequence of his arrival. And it wanted him.
He couldn't run. He couldn't hide. He had to use the busted power he barely understood.
"System!" Li Chen yelled internally, bracing himself as the earth shook beneath the Direbear's charge. "Devour Protocol! Target... target whatever anomaly it's got! But try not to get me squashed!"
*"Command Acknowledged. Targeting Primary Anomaly: [Geomantic Core - Tier 1]. Warning: Target is actively channeling power. Acquisition may induce catastrophic energy backlash. Executing..."*
The System interface flared. Li Chen felt the vast power within him lunge outward, not as a wave, but as a focused, ravenous pull, directed at the glowing core of power within the charging behemoth. Space around the Direbear warped violently, not like the gentle distortion against the wolf, but a visible tearing sensation. The bear stumbled mid-charge, a roar of pure agony and confusion ripping from its throat as the crystalline structures embedded in its hide flared erratically, then began to fracture.
System Alert:
Reality Fragment Acquisition Attempt Initiated!
Target: [Geomantic Core - Tier 1]
Warning! Target resistance: Extreme!
Reality Strain: Critical! Localized Spacetime Integrity Compromised!
The air screamed. The ground beneath the Direbear didn't just crack; it fragmented, chunks of earth and rock hovering weightlessly in a rapidly expanding sphere of distorted gravity and shimmering, unstable light. The Verdant Spring Sect ward flickered violently. Bai Xue and the other disciples were thrown back by the sudden, chaotic surge of uncontrolled energy.
Li Chen stood at the eye of the storm he had unwittingly unleashed, his eyes wide with terror and awe, feeling the System strain as it tried to consume the heart of a mountain made manifest. The Stonehide Direbear, caught in the chaotic vortex of its own power being violently siphoned and the destabilizing spacetime, let out a world-shaking bellow of primal fury and pain. Its massive form began to crumble at the edges, disintegrating into swirling dust and chaotic geomantic energy drawn into the ravenous pull of the System's Devour Protocol.
The last thing Li Chen saw before the swirling maelstrom of devoured reality and ursine fury engulfed his vision was Bai Xue's face, pale with horror, shouting something lost in the roar of unraveling existence.