Transcendent Dawn

A crow flapping its wings settled on the shoulder of Su Lu who was standing on the rooftop, looking at the scene below.

“She’s really… useless, isn’t she?”

Su Lu looked at the short fight going on below with a speechless expression.

Well to call it a fight is an overstatement.

In essence, it was just a scene of a robber who had been run straight into intending to make a move, while Li Weiwei screamed and ran.

‘Even though the [Wind Whisperers] magic potion doesn’t increase strength or constitution, her performance… is truly disappointing. But she’s a common human after all, so it’s understandable.’

Su Lu thought for a moment but didn’t step in.

Even if the place was remote, Li Weiwei’s high-pitched cries for help during her wild escape would surely draw attention, attracting someone to come and help. He didn’t need to get involved.

However, Su Lu was quite pleased with Li Weiwei’s ability to cause a scene.

He was running the Midnight Diner to gather information, just to grasp the situation in East City and to get some extra experience points.

“Too bad… even if I accumulate enough experience points, I can’t take on the second-tier profession until the world levels up and the Spirit Tide revives to a certain degree. ”

Su Lu sighed and his figure disappeared.

…

The next day, Su Lu had workers look at his shop and started planning for renovations.

At the same time, he was also preparing a notice for temporary closure and a change of business hours.

If he continued to disregard his customers like he did before, the remaining old patrons would likely turn against him, causing him to end up with nothing at all.

The only solution Su Lu could think of was to announce it ahead of time and give his patrons some time to adjust. As for how effective this would be, that would be up to fate.

In addition, the crow he had tamed brought two more friends the next day. Su Lu tamed them too, and gave them not too imaginative names: ‘Ada’, ‘A’er’, ‘Asan’.

“Three… It’s just enough. Any more would draw attention.”

After closing the door, Su Lu thought for a moment. He took out a few spiritual ingredients he had gathered from the mountains, and began to cook a dish.

Different spiritual ingredients were blended in his hands, and the final product was a plate of stir-fried black fungus that emitted a slight glow.

“Hmm, using different spiritual ingredients to create different spiritual recipes… This one should be able to stimulate awakening… But I don’t know how effective it will be.”

As he thought, Su Lu came to the alley behind the kitchen, knocking on the garbage can next to him.

Fwoosh! Fwoosh!

Among the flapping wings, three crows descended. The leading one was the largest, its feathers the softest, smoothest, and most majestic.

“Eat!”

Su Lu put out the stir-fried black fungus.

Ada, majestic as ever, shoved his siblings aside and pecked a bite. His intelligent eyes widened, and he began pecking rapidly.

“Don’t hog it!”

Su Lu reprimanded Ada, allowing the other two crows to approach.

“It seems, my recipes are to their liking… or maybe they just sense that the food is good for them. After all, they’d probably eat anything if they thought it held the key to evolution, even if it were a pile of dung.”

Su Lu’s expression softened. He still chose not to try the food himself, but instead watched the reactions of the three crows carefully.

They squabbled amongst themselves, leaving not a bit of the black fungus, not even crumbs.

After finishing, they appeared somewhat dazed, like they were drunk.

Seeing this, Su Lu decided not to allow them to fly around aimlessly. He gathered them and brought them back into his house, then he himself went out to an unlicensed internet café.

‘Although many posts and forums have been deleted, the wisdom of the community is boundless, there’s still relevant search results…’

Su Lu flipped through these and found a local forum. The interface looked very formal, without any advertisements, and even required verification for entry.

“Please answer the question: do… you have nightmares?”

Looking at the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ options below, Su Lu rolled his eyes and chose ‘yes’.

“In your dreams, you see…”

Su Lu thought for a moment, typed in ‘Grey Mist’, that was not it, then typed in ‘Giants’, ding! He successfully entered the forum.

The website interface transformed, the background turned to pure black with an illusion of fog rising.

At the top is a single line of declaration: “We all know the changes in this world, and the existence of the mysterious. This forum is a pure exchange forum, to provide a channel of communication for our brothers and sisters. Warning: Meeting offline is risky! Please be careful!”

‘Hmm… quite formal…’

Su Lu flipped through the posts below and found that there were almost no meaningless posts, they all had substantial content.

Of course, the most common discussions were about various ‘evolutions’ and ‘superpowers’.

This was followed by various concoctions and material acquisitions.

‘It seems that they have discovered… some spells. Even people who haven’t had nightmares can use them, but these come with a risk of failure…’

‘Hmm? There’s an imaginative tycoon who is giving animals these spells… what talent!’

As Su Lu looked, he discovered that the netizens had identified roughly four professions:

Namely, the physical ones – [Hunter], [Ancient Martial Artist], and the casting ones – [Wind Whisperers], [Telekineticist].

As for information on each profession, and recipes for the attribute-enhancing magic potions, all of these were kept hidden.

‘After all, this is public information, and maybe others have already developed other professions….’

Su Lu still hoped that within his broader scheme, these occupational people could forge more paths. After all, in the end, they would all provide nourishment to him.

Just as he was flipping through, he came across a post:

“Actual record of the East City Kung Fu Challenger busting dojo’s!”

After clicking on it, there was actually a video of a young man practicing martial arts and fighting.

“After identification, this guy is definitely an [Ancient Martial Artist], absolutely!”

“That palm breaking the wooden planks, so cool! Definitely using the legendary inner strength!”

“This guy is an idiot. Being so high-profile, he’s asking for trouble!”

“Estimation, he doesn’t know that there are many people like him, thinks he’s the most special!”

“He lives in East City, watching, heavily watching!”

“Latest news, the person is named Wang Chaoqun, from an ancient martial arts family, twenty-five years old… he will challenge the New Moon Fighting Gym tomorrow.”

…

Loads of comments were posted.

Su Lu’s expression stirred:”The New Moon Fighting Gym… isn’t that the one run by Cheng Feng? Sister Red also mentioned this… It seems to be true.”

You have to admit, he quite admired this Wang Chaoqun.

Even if ordinary people have transcendent powers, their mindset is hard to change.

But it’s different for those who have practiced martial arts since childhood. Their fighting consciousness can enable them to fully utilize their transcendent powers, and even try to challenge across different classes!

“That Richie Rich, Cheng Feng, is going to have problems. However, he probably doesn’t mind and is actually quite excited, huh?”

“After all, this is the real ‘Ancient Martial Arts’, ‘Inner Strength’!”

Thinking of this, a smile couldn’t help but appear at the corner of Su Lu’s mouth.