Lin Shu first made his way to the pills section. He was still uncertain about the mysterious pill he had, especially since he didn't even know its name. He could only hope to find a book that would allow him to identify it, whether through some form of experiment, its color, or perhaps any symbols associated with it.
He browsed the shelves for several minutes, scanning titles until something caught his eye.
A book titled "The Art of Pillcraft: A Comprehensive Guide to Elixirs and Remedies" stood out.
The introduction read: "This book serves as an essential guide to the many types of pills and elixirs used by cultivators, ranging from healing remedies to rare concoctions of great power. Inside, you will find detailed descriptions and the characteristics of various pills, including methods of identification, usage, and cultivation-related effects."
Satisfied, Lin Shu carefully placed the book in his satchel and headed for the history section. There, he picked up a few books, but one immediately caught his attention: "The Glorious History of the Zhaorath Empire". It was thick with the detailed records of the empire's rise, clans which would be useful later.
But the book Lin Shu was truly after was sitting just a few rows over. "The Farlands: A Mysterious Land Beyond the Known". He picked it up immediately, and after scanning a few other shelves, found nothing more that caught his interest regarding the Far Lands.
Next, he decided to explore books on formations and bloodbeasts—vital knowledge for his survival. In the bloodbeasts section, several books caught his attention, but one in particular stood out: "Demonic Beasts ".
He had never heard of these beasts, at least not in the Stone Path Hall or anywhere else he had been. Perhaps he had never had the time to explore such topics before. This book, which seemed more like a manual than a full text, was barely 40 pages long but was packed with useful information. Lin Shu decided to take it.
With his selections gathered, he made his way to the counter to pay.
The library worker looked at the books Lin Shu held and smiled knowingly. "Ah, I see you've found what you were looking for," he said, clearly unbothered by the typical interests of cultivators who came through.
"Good choices, son. All of these come to 1000 gold coins," the worker said.
Lin Shu handed over a leather pouch with the money and quickly left the library. He didn't have time to waste—he needed to return to the mine soon, and he still had to gather ingredients for his Thunderforge physique. The clock was ticking.
Lin Shu arrived at the heart of Cloudrest City—the Grand Market.
Spanning several streets and overflowing with life, the marketplace was a sprawling network of merchant stalls, permanent stone shops, and mobile vendors shouting their wares from under colorful awnings. The air was thick with the mingling scents of exotic spices, freshly steamed buns, ink-dyed silks, and refined ores being polished on-site.
Tall banners fluttered from rooftops, displaying sect crests and merchant guild symbols. Cultivators and commoners alike moved in waves, trading, bartering, arguing, and laughing. Carts loaded with glowing herbs rattled over the cobblestones while cultivator merchants demonstrated talismans that sparked with lightning or pulsed with fire to attract attention. There were auction houses, weapon forges, alchemy stalls, even rare beast cages shrouded with silencing formations.
Lin Shu walked through this chaos with a calm gaze, searching intently for the materials he needed for the first stage of the Thunderforge Physique. He visited shop after shop, cross-checking with books and the descriptions he had memorized: the bark of the Ironwood Tree, known for its conductive properties and body-hardening effects; the Storm Lotus Seeds, which carried minute traces of natural lightning qi; and finally, Refined Thunder Ore Powder, crushed and purified from high-grade thunder-infused ore, needed to stimulate the body's marrow during transformation.
After nearly thirty minutes of navigating through densely packed alleys and questioning half a dozen shopkeepers, he managed to acquire the required materials. They cost him a hefty sum of 2,300 gold coins—no surprise, as all of them were highly sought after for both refinement techniques and lightning-based cultivation arts.
With the materials secured, Lin Shu booked a small, modest house near the edge of the city—secluded enough to ensure privacy. He had no intention of returning to the mine until the first stage of the Thunderforge Physique was complete.
Inside the house, Lin Shu cleared the main room. The floor was swept clean, windows shut, and a formation carved into the wooden floor with precise strikes of his bone blade. He then laid out everything—surgical knives, qi-stabilizing needles, the pill furnace, and dozens of jade vials filled with the ingredients he'd just purchased.
Despite its name, the Thunderforge Physique was not something that could be achieved through meditation alone. The first stage required a specialized transformation pill, one infused with volatile lightning essence. The pill had to be absorbed into the bloodstream while the cultivator surgically embedded refined ore powder into specific nerve clusters and bone joints to stimulate conductivity through pain and pressure.
The surgery was invasive, and the pain—unbearable. It mimicked a body being reforged under storm and hammer. Only by inducing controlled trauma to his own body, guided by the technique's scripture, could the transformation truly begin. A healer couldn't be used, as the pain and nerve shock were essential—any external interference would cancel the marrow-forging reaction entirely.
But first came the pill. Lin Shu sat by the furnace, grinding the ingredients with precise qi pressure. He followed the method described in the technique—measurements exact, temperature fluctuations controlled with his internal energy.
And failed.
The mixture turned brittle and cracked. The next attempt—too dense, it shattered. Again, and again, and again.
He burned through his first batch of materials entirely, his forehead soaked with sweat, frustration tightening his jaw. He was forced to return to the market and purchase two more complete sets of ingredients, costing him another 4,600 gold coins. A painful loss—but necessary.
With only 38,002 gold coins remaining, Lin Shu returned. He calmed himself, controlling his breathing, slowing his heart. On the seventh attempt, the pill finally formed. It glowed faintly with a violet shimmer, lightning qi flickering along its surface like veins of power.
He swallowed the pill.
Almost instantly, his blood felt like it was boiling. His limbs trembled. He laid himself down and began the second step—cutting along specific nerves in his arms and legs, pressing the refined thunder ore powder into the incisions. Lightning qi surged into his nerves. He screamed, muffled by a thick cloth clenched between his teeth, body convulsing violently.
Twitching, pale, eyes bloodshot—he repeated the process, moving to his torso, his back, his spine. He pushed the storm lotus paste into his marrow points using long, needle-thin surgical rods. Every breath felt like it was striking his lungs with thunder.
His skin sparked. Blood crackled. His body jerked as if struck by a bolt from the heavens.
But he endured.
Hour after hour passed in a haze of agony. By the end, Lin Shu lay there, body twitching, pain-wracked—but alive. The first stage of the Thunderforge Physique was complete.
His bones were heavier. His skin tougher. His qi slightly more reactive to lightning.
But above all—he had survived.
Lin Shu jolted upright from the floor, the wooden boards beneath him splintering with a sharp crack as his body surged with new power. He clenched his fists tightly, feeling the difference instantly—his strength had undeniably increased. More than that, he could sense faint currents of lightning being generated within his body, slowly gathering and storing in his bones and flesh.
However, he quickly realized the accumulation was slow—too slow to use freely in rapid succession. So he sat, waited in silence, meditating as his body charged to its current limit. Only then, when the inner crackle of lightning surged close to bursting, did he move.
After about an hour, Lin Shu stepped out into the dusky streets of Cloudrest and booked a specialized training chamber built for cultivators—a place reinforced with formations to withstand destructive techniques and violent exertions. Once inside, he closed the door, stripped off his robe to his waist, and began.
He started with raw motion—running laps, weaving between pillars, leaping from wall to wall. To his satisfaction, his reaction speed and physical agility had increased notably. Even more impressive was his ability to channel lightning into his muscles, granting short bursts of acceleration that made him blur through the air.
Then came the true test.
Lin Shu activated his core technique: Ivory Dominion.
With a flicker of bone-qi, a sleek, curved bone blade formed over the back of his hand—and to his surprise, flickering arcs of lightning danced along its surface, crackling faintly. Curious, he slashed downward, the blade whistling through the air before striking the reinforced floor.
The impact tore a jagged line into the stone, and—shockingly—left behind a smoldering burn where the lightning discharged. Lin Shu stared at the scorched line and smirked.
"That's something, I guess," he muttered with a faint smile. "Now I need to figure out exactly what I can do with this lightning."
He spent the next few hours in intense training, alternating between experimentation and short bursts of recovery. He tested movement techniques, infusion methods, and combinations of lightning and bone. After exhausting himself and reflecting on everything he'd learned, Lin Shu reached a conclusion:
"The first stage doesn't massively increase my strength. Sure, my bones are a bit stronger—but their hardness hasn't improved drastically. The most noticeable change is speed—both reaction time and movement speed have improved. That's expected. The first stage was designed for acceleration, not brute force.
"The second stage, though... that's where strength comes in. It's supposed to grant a massive boost to raw power—and even let me unleash a thunder-based attack on par with a peak-tier Rank 1 technique.
"Unfortunately, I couldn't find all the materials I needed today. And I can't afford to linger here much longer. If I delay any further, it'll look like I ran off on a vacation while the Institute's forces are at war. I'll get fined... or punished."
Lin Shu rose to his feet once more, but this time not to train—this time, to push himself beyond his limit, just once more, before leaving.
His bones grew and shifted, forming armor around his body—jagged, seamless, and brutal. Lightning coursed over the surface in crackling pulses, arcs crawling over the plates of ivory. Lightning Steps activated, his feet sparking with every move. The transformation made him look inhuman—an avatar of lightning-wrapped death, armored in white bone. Spikes protruded from his shoulders, head, elbows, and knees—ensuring that any enemy near him would be struck by something sharp and lethal no matter where they stood.
He focused on the large stone boulder embedded in the corner of the room
He charged.
Lightning exploded from his limbs as he activated Thunderbolt Arc at close range, lightning and qi concentrated into his right fist. He collided with the boulder like a thunderclap incarnate.
Dust flew. The air cracked. The sound of destruction echoed across the chamber.
The boulder shattered into rubble, completely obliterated by the combined force of speed, bone, and lightning.
"...Even my use of lightning techniques has improved," Lin Shu muttered under his breath, stepping back from the crater. "Thunderbolt Arc is a little stronger now, when I fuel it with both my stored lightning and my qi."
And with that final confirmation, Lin Shu turned toward the door.he still had a few things to do before returning to the institute.