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Chapter 14: The Rune-Enhanced Human
🕑 Added 2024-12-17 11:25:35 +0000 UTCStar City Academy.
The night was silent, the world at peace.
Feng Qi sat on a bench by the lakeside, gazing at the moonlit water and the artificial mountains, lost in thought.
This afternoon's lecture at the cultivation exchange class had been met with an overwhelmingly positive response, sparking a new idea in his mind.
He couldn't guarantee he could save the future with his own power alone.
But he knew that if only his strength improved, it wouldn’t be enough to change humanity’s doomed fate. It had to be a collective effort.
That meant he had to create opportunities to accelerate human civilization's advancement.
This lecture made him wonder: could he become a teacher at the academy, guiding and nurturing exceptional talents?
Although he wouldn’t be able to join a cultivation research institute until he graduated, perhaps he could contribute as a teacher for now.
Take the Tiger Fist he had just taught the cultivation exchange class, for instance. In the days to come, it would inevitably be promoted, its influence spreading across Star City and eventually the world.
However, he was also well aware that doing so would inevitably invite trouble.
Suddenly possessing such extensive knowledge about cultivation and even pioneering fields unexplored by humanity would certainly appear suspicious.
But he had already devised a plan for handling this.
“Let them think what they want. I’ll just claim to be a genius—someone who can effortlessly create new cultivation techniques and explore uncharted fields. Why wouldn’t that make sense?”
At this moment, Feng Qi made a firm decision.
He would have to act like a genius.
This wasn’t just a matter of pride—it was a necessity. Without this persona, he had no credible explanation for how he obtained these cultivation techniques. Instead, he might as well publicly admit:
“Yes, I’m the once-in-a-million-years prodigy the world has been waiting for!”
His thoughts now clear, Feng Qi stretched and stood. He decided to return to his room to sleep and perhaps enter the Dream Realm again, continuing to battle domain creatures, level up his bloodline strength, and uncover its secrets.
On his way back to the dormitory, a faint harmonica melody reached his ears from afar.
Looking up, he spotted a petite figure sitting under a willow tree near the lake, illuminated by the soft glow of the streetlights.
The figure hugged her knees to her chest, holding a harmonica in her hands. The melody she played was melancholic, its rhythm shifting between fast and slow, as though narrating a sorrowful story.
As Feng Qi approached, he realized it was the voracious eater he had encountered at the cafeteria earlier that day. But what puzzled him was that her eyes now glowed with vertical pupils, shining an eerie purple light.
Noticing his approach, the girl stopped playing and turned to face him. Her violet eyes shimmered ominously as she opened her mouth, revealing two small, sharp fangs.
A primal, savage aura emanated from her, giving Feng Qi the illusion that he was standing before a wild beast ready to pounce and devour him.
“You’re not afraid of me?” the girl asked suddenly.
“Why would I be afraid of you?” Feng Qi was taken aback. Her question struck him as odd.
“Just a little girl, not some three-headed, six-armed monster. What’s there to be afraid of? If you keep this up, I might just punch you and make you cry,” he thought to himself, suppressing the urge to retort aloud.
“I’m Mu Qing.” Staring directly into his eyes, the girl introduced herself, awaiting his reaction.
Normally, anyone who heard her name at the academy would retreat without hesitation.
After all, she wasn’t just any student—she was a Rune-Enhanced Human.
What’s more, her enhancement was incomplete, making her prone to losing control.
Interacting with her was considered extremely dangerous. You could lose your life at any moment. As a result, the academy’s students avoided her like the plague, viewing her as a catastrophic threat and an outcast.
Hearing Mu Qing state her name, Feng Qi assumed it was merely an introduction. In response, he politely extended his hand and introduced himself:
“Hello, senior. My name is Feng Qi.”
Mu Qing’s reaction was completely unexpected. She frowned, her gaze sharp:
“You don’t know who I am?”
“Don’t know? Senior, are you famous?” Feng Qi asked with genuine confusion.
For several seconds, Mu Qing stared directly into his eyes before suddenly standing up and walking away.
Watching her retreating figure, Feng Qi was left puzzled.
“This senior… definitely has a few screws loose,” he muttered to himself.
Back in the dormitory.
Feng Qi retrieved his tablet from the suitcase and began researching.
His encounter with Senior Mu Qing had piqued his curiosity, especially the rune stone embedded in her right arm. It reminded him of domain creatures.
After all, having rune stones embedded in one’s body was one of the most prominent traits of domain creatures.
Logging into the Star City Academy forum, Feng Qi typed “Mu Qing” into the search bar and began scrolling through the results.
As he read, his expression grew more serious.
It was then he learned that Mu Qing was, in fact, a Rune-Enhanced Human.
The concept of Rune-Enhanced Humans had been briefly touched upon by Old Wang during their history lessons.
Like spiritual energy cultivation, Rune Enhancement originated from humanity’s early experimental research on domain creatures.
Back then, aside from researching the world’s spiritual energy, some scholars had sought to extract power directly from domain creatures.
Every domain creature bore a rune imprint embedded into their bodies, connected to their internal organs. Those scholars, aiming to unlock the secret to greater power, focused their research on these rune imprints. After countless attempts, they proposed a daring plan: the “Rune Enhancement Project.”
The plan involved extracting the “power of the runes” from domain creatures and embedding it into ordinary human bodies, granting them strength comparable to that of domain creatures.
At the time, this idea even overshadowed the spiritual energy research faction—now known as the cultivation studies—and became a dominant trend in humanity’s development.
However, the downsides soon became evident.
The first batch of test subjects, though initially empowered by rune implants, began to exhibit drastic behavioral changes over time, becoming increasingly uncontrollable and causing serious safety concerns.
While a small number of participants managed to stabilize and control the power of the runes, becoming formidable Rune Warriors, the overall success rate of the experiments was terrifyingly low. The potential for instability and loss of control was ever-present. Ultimately, the “Rune Enhancement Project” was shelved.
Meanwhile, cultivation studies, with its subsequent breakthroughs and innovations, emerged as the cornerstone of humanity’s development.
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