The Rebirth of Evelyn Knox

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The passage of time inside a cultivation array disk was difficult to judge, and oftentimes when the person entering felt that it might have been days since they entered, it was possible that barely a few minutes had gone by.

Similarly, it was also possible for one to end up spending hours or even days inside the cultivation array disk, not knowing just how long they had been in there.

When Evelyn had entered the cultivation array disk for 'Searing Soul', it had only taken her around twenty minutes in total from start to finish, even though to her it felt like she had been there for at least a few months. After all, even though most of the 'scenes' were skipped, she did view more than a decade of the 'Searing Soul' technique's development process.

After realizing that Amara might end up taking far longer than 'usual', both Cecilia and Evelyn decided it was better to assume she might take days, or even weeks.

This was another reason why spirit physiques were considered to have a superior talent in cultivation, aside from their higher rate of experience gain. Had it been a mortal to be in Amara's place, they would have had a real risk of perishing without food and water for an extended period of time.

Meanwhile, for the spirit physiques it was only a matter of waiting for a little longer, and there was no real 'risk' at all.

"Well, Vivi, would you like to wait for your big sis to come back first, or you wanna go now?"

"Um, now."

In sharp contrast to her big sister, Vivian didn't take much time to 'comprehend' her cultivation technique at all. The little redhead went in and out of the cultivation array within minutes, almost making Cecilia wonder if the little girl had really managed to do it or not.

"Are you sure you're done, Vivi? Don't worry about wasting spirit stones if you need to go again, you know, it's really no big deal—"

"No? I already burned the city inside. Auntie was very happy, and said I was just like her!"

Assuming that the 'Auntie' was probably the image left behind by the creator of the technique, Cecilia breathed a sigh of relief. "O-Oh, I guess it's fine then."

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Since it was uncertain how long Amara would take to finish her session, Evelyn and Cecilia decided that it was better to take up turns to watch over her without disrupting their other duties too much.

And when the two of them were busy with classes, it would be Vivian's duty to watch over her elder sister to make sure that the array didn't run out of spirit stones.

As Cecilia volunteered to watch over the redhead first, Evelyn was finally free to return to her room and claim her mission rewards.

Ruru seemed to realize what was coming, and recalling her traumatic level up experience three years ago, the pink fox gave her master a pitiful look.

Of course, with such a huge gain, Evelyn couldn't let little Ruru miss out. She could only console her partner by rubbing her fluffy little head. "Don't worry, although it might hurt a little, this will make us much stronger! Don't you want to become a big and strong fox, Ruru?"

The little thing seemed to actually think about it for a while before nodding with determination, and Evelyn chuckled as she placed the fluffy thing on her belly as she lay down on the bed.

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[ Red Mission, Acquire a Cultivation Technique ] [Claim!]

-Clear Condition: Comprehend a Cultivation Technique of any grade. [Fulfilled!]

—Use an array disc containing an existing cultivation technique to comprehend it. [Fulfilled!]

—Create your own cultivation technique, which needs to be at least grade three or higher. 

-Rewards vary depending on the grade of the cultivation technique! 

—Lower Grade Cultivation Technique (Grade 1, Grade 2, or Grade 3) 

-Experience: 10,000 points 

-Random skill (low level) 

—Mid Grade Cultivation Technique (Grade 4, Grade 5 or Grade 6) 

-Experience: 25,000 points 

-Random skill (mid level) 

—High Grade Cultivation Technique (Grade 7 or higher) [Fulfilled!]

-Experience: 150,000 points 

-Random skill (high level) 

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As she mentally pressed the 'Claim!' button next to the red mission panel, this time she actually received a warning message from her system, much to her surprise.

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[ Attempting to claim << Red Mission: Acquire a Cultivation Technique >> ]

[ Caution! ]

[ Current total experience is 3,110 points. ]

[ Claimable experience is 150,000 points. ]

[ Host not in an anomalous state. ]

[ Claimable experience approaching almost half of the theoretical maximum limit of one hundred times of the current total experience, and the absorption process may be fatal or crippling. ]

[ Confirm claim? ]

[Yes] / [No]

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It was the first time she had ever received such a warning, and Evelyn didn't dare to ignore it at all.

She understood that her 'system' wasn't a living thing capable of judging the situation by itself. It was entirely up to her to judge the validity of such warnings, and then decide if the risk was worth taking.

"Considering the fact that I have the ability to regenerate, even if the process ends up being 'nearly fatal', it's highly unlikely that I'll really die."

Moreover, fifty times her current experience would still be over five thousand five hundred points higher than the claimable amount, and even that was only half of the theoretical limit.

As for her little fox, although she didn't have advanced regeneration like herself, the amount of experience she would receive from their experience sharing skill [Lotus Throne's Shackles] would be at most fifty percent. And in the worst case, it could even be as low as twenty percent. 

Even if Ruru did end up suffering a little, there was still that mysterious [Lotus Throne's Golden Wheel], not to mention any other skills she might gain after hitting higher level milestones, so there really wasn't much to worry about.

For gaining what was essentially years of cultivation experiencing in an instant, this amount of 'risk' wasn't even worth mulling over.

Evelyn nodded to herself after making the decision.

[ Confirm claim? ]

> [ Yes ] <

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As soon as she confirmed claiming the reward, it was as if her mind exploded for a very brief moment, filling her vision with bright white light before clarity slowly returned to her.

However, what she saw made her shudder, because somehow, for the first time in her life, Evelyn found herself floating separate from her physical body as a 'soul' as she watched her own skin repeatedly flake off in small patches before it quickly recovered to normal, over and over again.

Ruru didn't seem to be going through similar distress, at least, as she had already fainted, but was breathing normally, just like last time. And Evelyn understood that since the little fox had only managed to get about twenty five percent of her reward's share, the negative effects it was going through weren't really that different from last time.

Of course, she could only be so sure because, even in her current state, Evelyn could clearly see the system prompts.

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[ Reward Claimed! ]

[ Experience increased by 150,000 points! ]

[ Lotus Moon Spirit Fox (Ruru) has triggered Lotus Throne's Shackles for a 25% bonus to gain 37,500 points of experience. ]

[ Current Experience is 150,280 / 700 points… ]

[ Lotus Moon Spirit Fox (Ruru)'s current experience is 39,830… ]

[ Level up! ]

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—Level 22 [150,280 / 700] → Level 23 [149,580 / 800]

—All attributes +3!

-Level up!

—Level 23 [149,580 / 800] → Level 24 [148,780 / 900]

—All attributes +3!

-Level up!

—Level 24 [148,780 / 900] → Level 25 [147,880 / 1,200]

—All attributes +3!

-Level up!

—Level 25 [147,880 / 1,200] → Level 26 [146,680 / 1,400]

—All attributes +3!

—Level 26 [146,680 / 1,400] → Level 27 [145,280 / 1,600]

—All attributes +3!

—Level 27 [145,280 / 1,600] → Level 28 [143,680 / 1,800] 

—All attributes +3!

—Level 28 [143,680 / 1,800] → Level 29 [141,880 / 2,000]

—All attributes +3!

—Level 29 [141,880 / 2,000] → Level 30 [145,280 / 5,000]

—All attributes +3!

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Milestone Level Reached! [Level 30 Milestone!]

All Attributes +30!

Attribute bonus per level increased from 3 to 4.

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As her system prompts continued unimpeded, Evelyn's mind was focused on something else entirely.

Because after comprehending 'Searing Soul', her understanding of the soul was already on a completely different level compared to before, and she realized that this unexpected 'dissociation' between her body and soul actually gave her an incredible opportunity!

Although they were 'separated' to an extent, Evelyn was well aware that her soul was still connected to her body. It was just that the enormous amount of spirit power pouring in from the world, when combined with her already 'heavy' soul, were simply too much for her current body to bear.

Under those circumstances, her soul had actually ended up being temporarily 'squeezed out' while her body 'expanded' to accommodate the increased volume of spirit power and soul, and eventually she would inevitably be sucked back in even if she tried to stay separated.

But simply being able to observe this state, as well as feel the resonance between her physical form and soul, gave Evelyn insights into their internal operations that she might not have gained even with decades of research on her own.

In fact, to say that her current insights of interaction between the body and soul exceeded even the founder of 'Searing Soul' wouldn't be far from the truth. While the difference in their levels of base knowledge was great, the headmistress hadn't ever gone through such an absurd phenomenon herself, after all.

And it also gave her an incredible lead in figuring out how to 'game' the cultivation array disk for 'Searing Soul'.