Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

normal text is everything else 

Bold text is author notes/me speaking mid chapter   

text in' is quotes and thoughts of the mc  

and text in " is a character speaking  

chapter 1: my death and reincarnation to a new world   

My name is Chang Tian (ch-an-g ti-an for if you are having trouble trying to pronounce it). I was from a prosperous clan in the Tian-Yuan world before I died trying to break through the limits of the world and quite possibly the heavens. the heavenly tribulation had fallen on me. First was 81 lightning bolts, each progressively stronger than the last. I was at my limit, almost dead after the final lightning bolt but there was more, I gather all the mana I can before the next part of the tribulation comes, the fire tribulation. It was trying to turn me into ash. I was spent, about to die.  

when I heard an otherworldly voice say "yoink." and then I was taken to a secluded island in the middle of what I think the void is. I looked like I did when I was alive, a youth with deep dark blue eyes filled a profoundness that one could get lost in them with black hair and a saber strapped to my side.   

"I wonder how this one will act.... will he be normal, scared, angry, or will he surprise me." an old man said. He was dressed in a casual light robe and looked as old as time itself.   

'Remembering my experiences and knowledge before I died my instincts told me that this guy is very powerful and formidable. he is stronger than anyone I met in my life, I best be careful, but I don't think he will just kill me for no reason. he did bring my soul here after all.' I thought to myself.   

"What do you want with me? I am but a soul with no reason to live any longer" I said with a steady voice.   

"Oh, you are a surprising one, most people would be demanding that I bring them back to life or ask who I am and yet you ignore those types of questions and get right to business. I wonder why that is.   

but I'll answer your question first. I want you to make my world more interesting. I gave them the best place to cultivate and even some great gifts although 30% of them will never see the light of day since they don't know how to cultivate.   

I want you to introduce the world to cultivation. you are free to do it how you want to but I want you to have it done by the time you are about to surpass your peak power before you died last time but to make it easier for you to do I will give you some form of game system similar to what mortal rpg's use to keep track of everything.   

I will also give you the peak of talent, matching even my affinity. You also won't need to eat or drink to survive, your body will already be accustomed to using mana from around you to survive. After you reach a new realm, I will test your foundation and skills. I will give you rewards based on how you do." the old man said. 

"Why do you want me to do this. why did you decide on me as your reincarnate candidate?" Chang Tian asked.    

"You are filled with the desire to defy the heavens. Why else would you have called the 3-stage tribulation? You will be borne by the world in a forest. with the body of a 13-year-old." the old man said.  

next thing I knew I was in the middle of a forest in my birthday suit with what seems like endless mana.  

'let's check this system out'  

status;  

Name:  Chang Tian

race: human  

age; biologically-13  

level: 1  

cultivation: none  

I decided to start cultivating afterwards since I don't have to worry about eating after all. I find a safe area to cultivate in seclusion. 

Chapter Text

normal text is everything else 

Bold text is author notes/me speaking mid chapter   

text in' is quotes and thoughts of the mc  

and text in " is a character speaking  

Chapter 2: Cultivating in the Forest  

I welcome to what should answer one question. What are the paths and realms?   

To answer what a path is I will have to talk about the different paths. in general, a path is a way to gain power, if done correctly you can even reach godhood.   

I have 2 paths already fleshed out, the mage path and the warrior path. The warrior path is about tempering your body at first and later on finding better ways to use your weapon later. while the mage path is learning how the world works by learning concepts. the concepts can be about time, space, gravity, to karma, life and death, true and false, to the five elements wood, water, fire, earth, and metal. all the while strengthening their mind and letting them think like a supercomputer at later levels. The ninth realm is godhood but who knows if there is another realm past that or not. There is a variant of warrior that uses their body as their weapon called berserker, they strengthen their body even further mainly their blood and heart through manifesting blood veins. They burn their blood to give themselves bursts of strength they couldn't possibly have handled at their current level. They end up being able to pull in mana to temporarily strengthen their bodies even further at later levels.  

the realms for warriors are as follows; soldier, elite, commander, general, true, baron, lord, emperor, God.   

while the realms for mages are; apprentice, adept, true, high, archmage, ancestral, lord, emperor, God.   

and the realms for berserkers are blood condensation, awakening, bone sacrifice, soul, life transition, world, lord, emperor, God.  

Now back to the story.   

I start with cultivating my mind to initial apprentice before tempering my body into an initial soldier rank and manifesting my blood veins at the same time. allowing me to walk three paths all at once, which I will fuse into one eventually. I am glad I had took the time to learn how the different paths cultivate in my previous life, although I sadly wasn't able to learn how to cultivate the undying physique also known as the fiend-god body which has the ability to allow you to survive and heal as long as you have a drop of your lifeblood left. I settle down after a few hours and truly cultivate in seclusion for at least a few years. After 2 days have passed though I am dragged into a mindscape that is completely black. 

"Nice to see you again young Tian." a familiar voice calls out to me. "You have reached the initial step in three paths at once. will you have enough time to comprehend everything you'll need for them though. the wider your path the more time you'll need. You are fine for now with 100 years being your limit, and you don't need to comprehend anything right now but start at realm three you will. and if you want to pass that tribulation you will have to do something even, I couldn't do. elevate your entire being by one level, including your affinity. don't use your concepts and fight this beast for me I want to see how powerful your new path is right now. You have reached a new realm after all, quite fast as well. 

next thing I know I am in a gladiatorial arena with a chimera twice my size staring at me. I immediately start burning my blood and strengthen my hands with even more mana. and punch the damn thing as hard as I can. While it is clearly startled, it still responds quickly by biting my arm that is about to hit it, so it drags me with it from the force of my punch that sent it flying. My arm is mostly useless as it is let go of now. but the beast is almost dead as well. so, I fight through the pain and use my other arm to rip its throat out of its neck effectively killing it. before I as well pass out from the pain of having my arm nearly torn out.