Zoran woke up to the feeling of weightlessness. It felt like being submerged underwater, but instead of drowning, he breathed the water naturally.
He opened his eyes and saw a dark space, with no light penetrating from above. Everything was dim.
Yet when he looked around, he saw the crevices on the ground and the gigantic spires towering from below like it was daylight.
He somehow knew of its position and size—even the tiny structural pores of the ground below, as if he was looking at it through a microscope.
He didn't see it, he sensed it.
Was this the Miasma, he asked himself.
His memory was hazy, but he could recall bits and pieces of the events that took place when he fell down the Miasma.
It flashed through his mind like pictures complete with the sensations and feelings he had when he experienced it.
He remembered his body writhing in pain as his entire being disintegrated. He remembered the battle that took place in his brain. He remembered his body being born anew.
That was all he remembered for now. His mind was still muddled from his long sleep.
Then, he felt a slimy object wrap around his pointer finger. It was cold to the touch, yet he felt no discomfort from it.
It was a thin tendril of the Miasma. It used to destroy his body, but now it affectionately snuggled on his fingers. It waved its slender body, greeting Zoran as he awoke from a long slumber.
Even the 'air' he was breathing was pure Miasma. It entered his body through his skin and penetrated all the way down to his organs and bones.
Instead of disintegrating it, the Miasma nourished his body. It explained why he felt full as if he just ate a whole table of meat and fish at a festival.
The image of a golden cultivation core passed through his mind.
It was the mythical dragon's core. He looked within his body and saw it gently seated on his dantian.
He remembered. He was now a criminal of the universe, a cultivator of Yi energy. He was now a practitioner of the Miasma Cultivation Technique.
He couldn't believe the luck he had.
First, he acquired the dragon's core. This was a SSS-class cultivation core that would be unattainable even if he had all the money in the world.
Originally, he was content with just an A-class cultivation core. But an SSS-class would help him contend with the Supreme Beings. His starting point was now better or equal to them.
This core was a thousand times faster than an A-class core in gathering Yi energy, in retaining Yi energy, and in efficiency.
It even had a built-in purification factor that concentrated the Yi energy to the topmost quality.
This was a treasure that did not exist anywhere else.
Of course, he almost lost his life to the mythical dragon for this treasure but just like the saying goes: high risks come with high rewards.
Next was his innate control with the Miasma.
This was an untamable beast that even the Laws of the Universe could not control. It was the enemy of all life in the world.
Yet Zoran commanded the tendrils as if it was another limb.
He could make the tendrils wrap around his body, slither across the floor, and enter his body to become nourishment for sustenance.
The best of all was his immunity to the degradation of life that the Miasma was so infamous about. Even the Supreme Beings could not be exempted from the degradation of the Miasma, but here he was, swimming freely amongst it.
Zoran inspected his body and felt the Miasma taking root all over his bones and organs. It supplied him with immense strength and durability.
He also gained muscle mass from the recreation of his body. The Miasma made his muscles grow more sturdy than if he had trained naturally.
He flexed his biceps and summoned strength beyond that of a human. He felt the familiar security of having power coursing through his veins. It was intense. He felt like he would burst at the seams.
He smiled. He was finally at the starting point of cultivation. He was finally at the 1st Stage of Body Strengthening.
But for him to fully utilize this power, he had to understand it.
The Miasma Cultivation Technique was a new form of cultivation that had never been done before.
The possibilities for progressing this cultivation was endless, limited only by the imaginations of its user.
It would also help him contend with the Supreme Beings. They said he could not surpass them and at best could only replicate their strength.
Zoran agreed with this too. After all, when he studied the 10 different cultivation techniques, he was only imitating the creator of the art.
So when he was given a second chance at life, he pledged himself to never use the Supreme Beings' techniques again.
The Miasma Cultivation Technique allowed him to do just that. He was no longer imitating anybody.
But at the same time, he no longer had anybody to imitate. This meant he would have to create his own artskills and techniques without the guidance of a mentor.
He would have to go through many iterations, go through trial and error, and spend a lifetime of years to perfect the technique.
This was why creating a new cultivation technique was virtually impossible.
Many tried and many failed to be innovative in their techniques, but it only left them as decrepit old men with regret plastered on their wrinkly faces.
The best others could do was deviate from an established path.
An example of this was a famous guy who practiced the cultivation technique of the Ocean God.
He was unsatisfied with the defensive nature of the technique and decided to add the lightning element to his arts, successfully boosting a significant amount of firepower to his attacks.
Zoran only knew a handful of people that dared to stray from the easy path and take the impossible route, and even fewer who had the ability to achieve it.
Of course, Zoran was also one of the people who had the ability and knowledge to do that.
He mastered all 10 cultivation techniques of the Supreme Being and in doing so, allowed him to master the fundamentals and basics of cultivation and how it worked.
Needless to say, Zoran was willing to develop this cultivation technique and become its progenitor.
He was confident, especially with the help of the mantra. After the Laws he acquired and the miracles he experienced, he was convinced of the mystical power of words. He had a feeling that this mantra would help him master the Miasma Cultivation Technique.
The first step in this mastery was figuring out what kind of cultivation technique it was.
There were five main types of cultivation: the Physique type, the Mage type, the Natural type, the Weapon type, and the anima type.
But before Zoran could figure it out, he heard a low gurgle of a growl just in front of him.
He looked up and saw a monstrous fiend staring right at him.