Rise of the Alchemy God

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Ethan didn't know how long he had been unconscious, but as he finally began to regain consciousness, he felt a soft sensation cradling him, one he didn't want to part from.

So, like a typical student wanting to sleep for five more minutes, he let his mind dive once again into the depths of imagination and drifted back to sleep.

But as he did, a fleeting thought crossed his mind.

'Strange, I haven't slept in a long time. Why am I sleeping now?'

This thought was like a small spark that triggered a chain reaction of thoughts, igniting his reason, which had been nearly dormant, to awaken.

With a jolt, he opened his eyes and sat up, scanning the surrounding environment for answers.

He immediately recognized the familiar interior of his minor dimension and calmed down a little.

Then, he realized that the soft sensation he had been feeling came from none other than...

'What the heck is this?' he thought as he examined the single bed, which seemed to be made of condensed clouds, soft like cotton.

Ethan was sure he had never brought anything like this into his minor dimension, nor had he ever seen this bed here before. So he wondered for a moment where it came from.

Gradually, his mind settled, and the events before his collapse resurfaced in his memory.

'Right, I was breaking through to the fourth stage,' he thought as he immediately opened his status screen to see if he had succeeded.

Not that he doubted the system's abilities, but it had become a habit for him to confirm his progress through the information on the system screen.

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[------------------------------

Name: Ethan

Cultivation: Soul Cultivation (Level 1)

QI: 0/200,000

Physique: Heavenly Body of the Sacred Flames

Strength: 341 --> 361

Agility: 335 --> 355

Intelligence: 304 --> 324

Soul Strength: 168 --> 173

[Shop]

[Storage]

[System points]: 585,130

-------------------------------]

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Seeing his new stats, he breathed a sigh of relief.

'Looks like I broke through without any issues,' he thought, reassured that he hadn't ended up like a charred barbecue, like the last time he had interacted with the space now present in his dantian.

Then, he noticed the QI requirements to level up again, and his good mood was instantly shattered.

Even though he had realized that the QI value seemed to increase every time, seeing a number like that was far from encouraging.

Ethan still believed the remaining 20 years here would be enough to make significant strides in this cultivation stage, but that also depended on several other factors.

Not wanting to look at that string of zeros any longer, he examined his stats and immediately noticed something.

'Wait, haven't they increased by 20 instead of 10?!'

All his stats, except for soul strength, had increased by at least 20 points, which was double the gain from previous levels.

He wondered if it would be the same for future levels as well.

He also noticed that his soul strength hadn't increased by 2 points, but by 5, which was more than double.

While he was noticing these changes, he failed to realize that he wasn't alone in this area.

While he was on that small wooden platform with a cone-shaped roof, not far from his bed, a woman sat on a single chair, made of the same soft material as the bed Ethan was resting on, watching him with an amused glint in her eyes.

Bai Yu, after finishing taking care of Ethan, spent some time savoring the sensation of having a real physical body again, rather than a mere condensation of spiritual QI.

She strolled through Ethan's vast herb garden, savoring the air and the feel of the grass against her bare feet.

She felt more in harmony in this place.

She had always wondered when she would finally be free.

Although Ethan's progress was far beyond what she could have imagined, it still wasn't guaranteed that the seal of the Amphora of the Seven Sages would loosen enough to allow her to fully reconstruct her physical body.

Her situation had undoubtedly improved since meeting Ethan, compared to before when she spent her time alone and in silence within the amphora's internal space.

Back then, she would occasionally wake every ten or twenty years, only to see that she was still there.

Although she had long since transcended the mortal realm and was accustomed to long periods of isolation while cultivating, it didn't mean she didn't feel any sense of loneliness.

It was simply that her mental strength, amplified by her high cultivation base and long years of life, muted the effects of that loneliness, so she didn't feel them as strongly as a normal person would.

After an indeterminate amount of time, she finally noticed Ethan beginning to stir and decided to return to the wooden platform.

She wondered how Ethan would react upon seeing that she no longer had an abstract form, but a real body.

She arrived at the scene and waited for him to wake up.

Ethan furrowed his brow a little, but then, as if not wanting to wake up, he returned to sleep just as deeply as before.

Just as she was about to throw some cold water on him to wake him up, she saw him suddenly sit up and stare around the single bed.

She didn't understand what had caused this reaction but didn't think much of it until she saw him acting strangely, muttering strange things, with his expression shifting constantly from surprise to joy, to sadness, and back to joy.

This odd behavior reminded her of someone.

Someone she had traveled and shared many experiences with.

Seeing this side of him, almost involuntarily, without her even realizing it, a slight smile appeared on her face.

In the end, she conjured a floating chair made of what seemed like shaped clouds and sat down comfortably, waiting for the weirdo in front of her to return to the real world.

And that moment didn't take long to come.

Ethan, having finally processed his new improvements, noticed the presence of a second person nearby, and for a moment, he almost panicked.

Then, letting out a slight sigh, he realized the figure seemed familiar.

Just as he finally focused on the person sitting not far from his bed, his expression froze.

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