The forest was silent, but the air felt wrong—thick, unnatural. Sol Jin had sensed it all day, a presence like a shadow that bent light and time. He moved cautiously, Core pulsing, every nerve alive with anticipation.
From the mist emerged a figure, hooded, movement fluid and deliberate. A faint, eerie hum vibrated through the air, almost like the world itself was bending around him. Sol Jin's heart skipped. This was the presence he had sensed: the hooded genius.
> "So… you've been watching," Sol Jin muttered, voice calm, but his pulse quickened.
The figure didn't reply. Instead, an unnatural chill spread through the clearing. Shadows twisted, shapes flickered in impossible ways, and gaps tore open in the air, small rifts that seemed to distort distance and space.
Sol Jin's eyes widened. The forbidden corpse formula was at work—a secret technique rumored to manipulate the void, draw in energy, and create deadly spatial distortions. Few had survived even glimpsing it.
> "Impossible… how can one control this?" he whispered, Core pulsing violently. "Yet… the pulse feels calculated… intelligent…"
---
Without warning, the hooded figure struck. The air itself seemed to split, creating gaps that bent Sol Jin's movements. His dodges were partially effective, but every strike he attempted was warped by the formula, rendering his Core's predictions imperfect, unpredictable.
> "So this is… forbidden…" Sol Jin muttered, ducking as the space around him folded unnaturally.
The Core screamed internally, analyzing the distortions, trying to predict the genius' patterns. But the corpse formula was fluid, adaptive, and devastating. Every opening Sol Jin created vanished, every angle he calculated warped into danger.
The hooded genius moved like a phantom, strikes emerging from rifts, impossible to anticipate. Sol Jin countered, feinted, and adapted, but even the Infinite Schemer's Core could not fully account for a technique that bent reality itself.
> "I… can't… match this…" Sol Jin muttered, chest heaving.
---
A sudden strike forced him to the ground. Pain lanced through his side, a warning that this was no ordinary opponent. The hooded figure stood above, hood shadowing a calm, unreadable face.
> "You are clever… but cleverness alone cannot survive the corpse formula," the figure whispered, voice cold and measured. "Step wrongly, and you vanish."
Sol Jin's mind raced. Every fiber screamed to flee, yet he could not. Running would only prolong humiliation. He gritted his teeth, letting the Core guide him. Subtle energy flared, instincts honed by months of training pushing him to observe, adapt, and survive.
The Core pulsed violently, pushing his body beyond normal limits. Reflexes sharpened, awareness expanded—but even so, the corpse formula warped reality, creating gaps where none should exist, twisting his perception and throwing him off balance.
---
The hooded genius attacked again, faster, more precise. A gap opened beneath Sol Jin's feet, and he fell into a shallow rift, bruised but alive. The Core screamed, recalibrating, feeding him new probabilities, but the margin for error was shrinking.
> "I can't… predict this fully… yet I can learn," Sol Jin whispered. "I will not be defeated entirely."
He feinted, exploiting the slightest hesitation in the genius' movement. The hooded figure paused for a fraction of a heartbeat—a brief, almost imperceptible flaw. Sol Jin countered, striking a glancing blow. Not enough to injure, but enough to test, provoke, and learn.
> "Interesting," the genius whispered, tilting his head. "You adapt quickly… perhaps there is hope for you yet."
---
Finally, the genius unleashed a sweeping attack. The gaps in space widened, pulling Sol Jin off balance, forcing him to kneel. His Core flared, pulsing violently, but it could not prevent the defeat.
Sol Jin's chest heaved, blood and sweat mixing. Pride bruised, body aching, yet a spark ignited in his eyes.
> "This… is only the beginning," he whispered. "I will study, adapt… and one day, I will surpass even this forbidden power."
The hooded genius retreated into the shadows, gaps closing behind him, leaving only a faint hum. Sol Jin remained on the ground, Core throbbing, mind racing. He had been defeated—but not utterly broken. Knowledge had been gained, weaknesses noted, and a new target for revenge set.
High above, the cosmic presence stirred.
> "Yes… he faces his first true master. Pain, humiliation, defeat… all will temper him. The hooded genius has tested him, and the boy will rise stronger."
---
Night fell over the forest. Sol Jin returned to the cave, chest heaving, Core pulsing violently. He had faced something beyond minor prodigies, beyond monsters, and even beyond his own cleverness.
The boy who had been nothing now knew the existence of forces far greater—and his scheming mind began plotting for the inevitable rematch.
> "Next time… I will not fall," he whispered. "Next time… I will turn every rift, every gap, every trick against him."
The Infinite Schemer's Core pulsed in agreement. The road to Celestial power, cunning dominance, and ultimate revenge had only just begun.