[Weekly Cultivation Upgrade: LOCKED (4 days, 21 hours remaining)]
The red, flashing, unyielding message burned in Lin Hao's vision, a digital mockery of his power.
He was stuck.
He sat on the cold concrete floor of his warehouse, his 1110 UP feeling less like a treasure and more like a pile of cash he couldn't spend. He was a god in chains, a speed-runner forced to watch a four-day unskippable cutscene.
The frustration from this single, non-negotiable rule was a physical, sour taste in his mouth. His plan to save his family, his need for tens of thousands of UP, all of it was now on pause.
He was annoyed, restless, and bored.
To distract himself, to at least feel like he was gathering intelligence, he opened his laptop. The rest of the world, after all, wasn't on pause. The BSA's "Global Announcement" two days ago had kicked the world into a new gear.
The news feed was exploding. The top story on every network: "BSA DEBUTS FIRST 'PRODIGY CLASS' - LIVE!"
Lin Hao clicked the link. A professionally produced, high-definition broadcast filled his screen. The tone was no longer the grim, somber announcement of a new era; it was the slick, high-energy hype of an Olympic athlete profile.
"Welcome back to this historic, global broadcast!" an enthusiastic announcer's voice boomed. "We've all seen the 'brute-force Awakened', brave heroes like the 'Hero of City U', who have shown us the raw power of instinct!"
Lin Hao winced at the mention of himself. He was already being used as a "B-Roll" example.
"But today," the announcer continued, his voice dropping in reverence, "the BSA, in partnership with the Guardian Families, is proud to introduce the future. Not the 'Awakened,' but the cultivators. The prodigies who were born for this. Let's meet them!"
The camera panned across a brightly-lit training ground, a high-tech plaza that had clearly been built in secret long ago.
"From the Beijing Chen Family, direct-line descendant of the great Elder Chen himself, we have Chen Long!"
The camera zoomed in. A young man, perhaps twenty, stood with his arms crossed. He was tall, impossibly handsome, and wore a pristine, white, embroidered tunic. He seemed to be radiating an aura of absolute, unshakable, arrogant confidence. He looked directly into the camera and smirked, as if he owned it.
"And from the Shanghai Xiao Family, the 'Ice-Jade' of the South, the brilliant Xiao Mei!"
The camera cut to a 19-year-old girl. She was the polar opposite of Chen Long. Where he was a roaring fire, she was elegant, cold, and still. She stood with perfect posture, her eyes closed, ignoring the broadcast entirely. She was, in every sense, an ice-princess.
"These two," the announcer gushed, "are the gold standard! The first of the 'Hero Class' recruits, chosen to demonstrate what true potential looks like!"
Recruiter Han, the man Lin Hao had met on campus, stepped into the frame, a microphone in hand. "Thank you. What you must understand," Han said, "is that raw power, like we've seen in our brave 'Awakened,' is only the start. The Guardian Families have Gongfa, true cultivation methods, that harness this power."
He gestured to Chen Long. "Chen Long, if you would?"
Chen Long scoffed, as if this were all a childish game, but he stepped forward. He walked to the center of the plaza, where a three-foot-wide, solid granite boulder sat.
"Chen Long," Han announced, "will now demonstrate the 'Stone-Shattering Palm' from his family's 'Raging Lion' Gongfa."
Lin Hao leaned in, his own frustration momentarily forgotten, replaced by cold, analytical curiosity. A real Gongfa.
Chen Long didn't just punch the rock. He performed.
He took a low, horse-riding stance. He inhaled, and Lin Hao could see it, the Reiki in the air, the faint blue river, suddenly swirled, gathering toward the young man. It was a smooth, practiced, efficient pull, nothing like Lin Hao's own brute-force absorption.
"Hah!" Chen Long shouted. His palm, which was now glowing with a faint, yellow, earthy light, slammed into the boulder.
KRA-KOOM!
The granite boulder didn't just crack. It exploded into a thousand small, pebble-sized pieces.
The on-site crowd roared. The announcer was breathless.
"Incredible! A flawless execution! The power! The control!"
A flashy, graphic chyron, like something from a sports broadcast, appeared at the bottom of the screen.
[CHEN LONG - AGE: 20][REALM: LEVEL 4: GRANDMASTER (BONE FORGING)]
The announcer's voice was filled with awe. "That's right! What the rest of the world sees as the peak of human potential, the 'Hero of City U's' raw limit, is just the starting line for a true prodigy like Chen Long! This is the power of a real Gongfa!"
The broadcast continued, showing Xiao Mei lightly tapping a block of ice, freezing it solid with her own, different-colored Qi.
Lin Hao, in his dark, empty warehouse, leaned back.
He looked at the TV, where the world was fawning over a Level 4: Grandmaster. He looked at his own status. [Level 6: Marrow Cleansing]. He looked at the red, flashing LOCKED message.
He wasn't impressed. He was analytical.
"Level 4," he muttered. "A full two realms behind me."
But as he watched Chen Long arrogantly brush the stone dust from his perfect, white tunic, Lin Hao saw the real problem.
He had replayed the footage. He saw the way Chen Long gathered Qi. It was smooth. It was trained. That prodigy, he realized, almost certainly had a [Level 5: Superior Root], maybe even a [Level 6: True Root].
Chen Long was a Level 4 with a Level 5 (or higher) Talent. Lin Hao was a Level 6 with a Level 2: Waste Root.
Lin Hao was a monster truck, powered by a single, over-clocked lawnmower engine. Chen Long was a finely-tuned, perfectly-built Formula 1 car, just pulling out of the garage.
Lin Hao's LOCKED message meant he was stuck at Level 6 for four more days. These prodigies, with their superior foundations and family resources, were not stuck. They would be Level 5 by tomorrow. They would be Level 6 by next week.
His two-realm lead was a joke. It was a head start that would evaporate in an instant if he didn't fix his core.
The frustration he'd felt at the "LOCKED" message, the burning need to protect his family, all of it now had a new, terrifying urgency.
He had to fix his foundation. Not for power. For survival. He had to fix it now, while he still had the lead.
He looked at his 1110 UP. He looked at the talent-upgrade path.
[Talent: Level 2: Waste Root] -> [Upgrade: Level 3: Inferior Root]? (Cost: 1,000 UP)
It was an agonizing, infuriating purchase. One thousand points. It was everything. It was a massive chunk of his "family safety fund."
But he had no choice.
He was a planner. And this was the only logical, long-term, ruthless play.
"Confirm," he commanded, his voice a cold whisper in the dark.