Rain was sleeping soundly on his new bed in his newly acquired house when the sudden noise of growling and the sound of stones breaking jolted him awake. Groggily, he sat up, rubbing his eyes. "What could be growling at this hour?" he muttered, listening carefully. The noise echoed faintly, and after a moment, he pinpointed its source: the nearby closed mine.
He remembered why he had managed to purchase the house so cheaply. The previous owner's family had been disturbed by similar sounds from the mine. When the owner, a master warrior, went to investigate, he discovered zombies. Though his strength slightly surpassed theirs, he encountered two zombies matching his power level. Unable to defeat them, he had barely managed to escape and sealed the mine.
Rain stood up, stretching as he prepared to leave his room. As he walked toward the mine, a question gnawed at him. "Why didn't the previous owner enlist the help of other master warriors or inform the government to clear the mine?"
The thought had crossed his mind when he first bought the house, but he hadn't given it much weight until now. He murmured to himself, "Perhaps the owner was trying to hide something about the mine. Zombies don't just appear without a source—they need bodies, and there's no strange domain here like in the Radiation World."
Rain's curiosity surged as he approached the mine, the growling noises growing louder with each step. Remembering the Radiation World, he called upon the soul chip to access the main body's memories. Almost instantly, the memories played in his mind like a vivid, 24-hour movie, which Rain sped up to absorb quickly.
As he reviewed the memories, he focused on the personal panel of the main body:
Personal Panel:
- Name: Rain
- Realm: Middle D-rank
- Physical: 10.98 (20)
- Agility: 7.7 (20)
- Genetic Energy: 10.13 (20)
- Genetic Energy Refinement: 30 (100)
Techniques:
- Poison Claw 1st Chapter (D) – Familiar (9/9) – 2.2%
- Life Vine Shield (D) – 100 (Start)
- Spring Rain Sword Art (E) – Master
- Iron Sword Art (E) – Master (52)
- Cloud Sword Art (E) – Master (64)
- Sword Technique: Master (90)
- Movement Technique: Master (38)
- Shadow Sword Art (E) – Proficient (36)
Mysteries:
- Poison Stone – 0.12%
- Sap of Devil Trap – 0.001%
- Dark Iron – 0.0006%
- Rain Stone (D) – 1.81%
Reflecting on the personal panel, Rain thought, '"Instead of calling him 'Main Body,' it's better to distinguish us more clearly. He will be Radiation Rain, and I shall be Star Rain."' From Radiation Rain's memories, Star Rain now understood the plan. Radiation Rain had reached the peak of middle D-rank and could advance to late D-rank at any time, but he chose to wait until his agility also reached the limit of middle D-rank.
Star Rain recognized why Radiation Rain had made this decision. When Radiation Rain had previously broken through from the beginning to middle D-rank without maximizing his agility, it created an imbalance where his physical strength outpaced his agility, limiting his effectiveness. Due to scarce resources, he hadn't been able to correct this imbalance, as it would have taken weeks to achieve the necessary progress.
Now, however, things were different. With the Dead Battlefield Domain descending near his city, the opportunity had changed. By defeating the monsters within the domain and earning merit, he could gain access to valuable resources—ones that were previously too costly or restricted—allowing him to boost his agility and achieve a balanced breakthrough.
Star Rain also noticed that the palm techniques he practiced were absent from Radiation Rain's personal panel. From the memories, he understood that Radiation Rain had yet to access his own memories, so his personal panel had not been updated. Additionally, Radiation Rain's compression of the Rain Stone had increased and would soon reach 2%. Radiation Rain had also attempted to gauge the stage of his Rain Artistic Conception, but when he closed his eyes to visualize the black space of his mind, no light sprout or seed form appeared. This revealed one of the distinct differences between their two worlds.
Star Rain opted to absorb only the sword art practice memories from Radiation Rain, leaving the rest untouched as they held no relevance to him.
Rain shifted his attention to the stone sealing the entrance of the mine, listening to the unsettling growls emanating from behind it. He glanced at the time through his soul chip, which kept track of time more effectively than any expensive, commonly unavailable timekeeping equipment. The chip displayed 3:07 a.m.—only a couple of hours remained until dawn. Soon, he would need to head to the city gate for the mission to retrieve the Water Monkey Wine.
Deciding against removing the stone blocking the mine entrance for now, Rain made up his mind to investigate the source of the zombie transformation at a later time.
With some time left before dawn, Rain chose to practice his palm techniques but first reviewed his personal panel.
Personal Panel:
- Name: Rain (Yun Ting)
- Realm: True Energy
- Physical: 1.956 (20)
- Agility: 1.78 (20)
- Genetic Energy: 2.08 (20)
Techniques:
- Poison Claw 1st Chapter (D) – Familiar (9/9) – 2.2%
- Life Vine Shield (D) – 100 (Start)
- Spring Rain Sword Art (E) – Master
- Iron Sword Art (E) – Master (52)
- Cloud Sword Art (E) – Master (64)
- Sword Technique: Master (90)
- Movement Technique: Master (38)
- Shadow Sword Art (E) – Proficient (36)
- Blood Flame Palm (D) – Familiar (27)
- Wave Palm (E) – Master (87)
- Dark Bone Palm (E) – Master (74)
- Dual Hand Palm (E) – Master (68)
- Snake Palm (E) – Master (61)
- Force Palm (E) – Master (54)
- Palm Knife (E) – Master (51)
Mysteries:
- Poison Stone – 0.12%
- Sap of Devil Trap – 0.001%
- Dark Iron – 0.0006%
- Rain Stone (D) – 1.81%
After returning from the Golden Treasure House yesterday, Rain had cooked a meal and eaten it before diving into his practice of the palm techniques he had acquired. He began with the lower-ranked techniques, each one progressing to the master level after about three hours of focused practice. With each new palm technique mastered, the subsequent techniques required even less time to reach mastery. As his true energy waned and fatigue set in, Rain decided to rest, concluding his practice session.
With time still left before dawn, Rain thought to himself, 'There's still time; let's practice a middle-rank palm technique.' He chose the Hard and Soft Palm Technique. Accessing the detailed instructions stored in his soul chip, Rain absorbed the understanding of the technique and began practicing.
The initial attempts were clumsy, with Rain struggling to coordinate the transitions between hardness and softness. By the second attempt, he performed the moves smoothly, correcting his stance and flow without any errors. With each subsequent attempt, the technique advanced rapidly, reaching 80% of the familiar realm before the progress began to slow.
As the first rays of sunlight broke the horizon, Rain's practice had pushed the Hard and Soft Palm Technique to 4% of the proficient realm. Satisfied with his progress, he paused and returned to his house to prepare for the task ahead.