Corporeal Phase

"Immediately gather the energy around you."

Feeling a stinging pain on the side of his face, Ren Ye gritted his teeth and casually lowered his head; discovering the ice bath had begun to glow intensely with a tint of blue color.

It wasn't just the color that surprised him but the condition his body was in at that moment; feeling as though his body was floating and feeling a course of freezing energy run through his veins.

Having heard what Old Yi had said, he didn't hesitate any longer and sat up cross-legged, closed his eyes, and began to enter meditation mode.

'The energy is surrounding my entire body, covering it in frost. I can barely move.'

Although the temperature in the room had gone down tremendously, Ren Ye felt somewhat refreshed as though he had woken up from a good sleep. He felt an icy aura shrouding his figure.

He exhaled and inhaled deeply, visualizing his surrounding,s and began to expand his senses in an attempt to absorb the energy inside the tub. He lifted his left arm and stretched out his palm with closed eyes.

"Absorb."

He muttered under his breath as the energy inside the tub began to swirl and intertwined with one another; surrounding Ren Ye's body before joining into one.

Old Yi shot him an impressed glance as he observed his palm, seemingly waiting in case of a disaster.

Vine-like flakes began to spread from the tub and onto the walls of the room.

Old Yi lowered his dark eyes before lifting his hand and roughly placing it on the back of Ren Ye, lightly pushing him and causing his body to bend forward.

The energy surrounding him began to flow upwards and wrapped around his forearms to his palm, the corner of his face clenched from the freezing cold.

Before long, a ball began to materialize its form on his palm.

The remnants of the blue energy were gathered into one place, allowing Ren Ye to grab ahold of the energy. He didn't open his eyes yet and continued to focus on absorbing the leftovers from the bathtub.

After a moment, the energy dispersed as the ball was fragmented into sharp icy flakes, landing on his palm.

Ren Ye slowly opened his eyes and cast his eyes onto his hand; seemingly shocked.

"Is this over?"

"Not yet, take some time trying to familiarize yourself with your newfound energy of yours before proceeding," Old Yi informed him with a stern voice.

He nodded his head and continued to focus on controlling the energy inside of his body.

-

Ren Ye opened his eyes, and within his gray eyes, a thin line of blue glow peeked out.

He had completed his control of the energy and was certain he had finally advanced. He let out a relieved sigh and glanced toward Old Yi,

"Why did you lightly push my back?"

He snorted and shook his head, "If I didn't, you would have lost control and turned into ice; I was informing you to pay attention."

[Ding! Congratulation on advancing to Corporeal Phase I]

[Go to Reward to claim your prize!]

Heh? There's a new tab?

Ren Ye excited the screen and discovered another bar had appeared on the home screen of the system, he clicked on it.

[Reward]

[Claim!]

[User is given two choices to choose the desired prize]

[Choice I: Ice Body]

[Choice II: Frost Daggers]

"Choices?" Ren Ye was momentarily stunned and rubbed his chin with interest, "I get to choose?"

"Techniques!" Old Yi exclaimed with eager eyes, "Great!"

Ren Ye clicked on Choice I and the details popped up in front of his face,

[Details: Ice Body is a technique when activated, covers the user's body in frost for five seconds. It is a defense technique against attacks on the body of the user and backfires the attack back to the attacker.]

[Technique Grade: A]

"This one is defensive," Old Yi rubbed his beard, "I believe the other one is an offensive one. The choice is up to you to choose.

Ren Ye clicked on Choice II.

[Details: Frost Daggers is a technique when activated, allows the user to conjure tiny ice daggers. It is an offensive technique against enemies from afar.]

[Technique Grade: A]

Ren Ye was lost in thoughts after seeing the options he was given; the choices were extremely enticing and beneficial for his future. Although Ice Body is a good technique, he was slightly attracted by Frost Daggers.

"Old Yi, if you were in my shoes," Ren Ye couldn't help but ask in a trance, "Which one would you choose?"

Old Yi let out a chuckle, "Depends on what I may face in the future. If I am a person who is constantly targeted by assassins, I would choose the defensive one. This way, I could save myself from an attack."

"But if I am someone who hates and is wary of everyone, I would choose the offensive one. I could eliminate anyone that gets in my way with it," Old Yi let out an evil laugh.

Ren Ye nodded his head and thought deeply to himself,

'Ice Body is good but in Beikang, there won't be anyone targeting me like in Jindao. I cannot be certain that I won't be targeted but in cases, if I were to be embroiled in a scheme, it would come in handy with me being prepared in advance.'

'Frost Daggers, on the other hand, is suitable if I were to discover a scheme beforehand and decided to disrupt it by annihilating the mastermind using this technique, and taking the offensive is always a good thing to do! But if I were to be caught off guard, it could take a bad turn…"

"Right now, I don't plan on spreading my glory in this new world. I will try my best to avoid danger for the sake of my daughter…"

The more he thought, the closer he was to choosing Ice Body as his first Ice technique.

Old Yi snorted playfully, "I can see you're struggling to choose."

"Let me give you a piece of advice as an elderly," Old Yi smirked as his eyes lit up with excitement, "Always choose ones that will ensure your safety, not just in the present but also in the future."

"Other techniques could be learned later on but once you lose a limb, I'm afraid you won't be able to take it back."

Ren Ye listened to what he had said carefully and with a flicker of his eyelashes, he decided to pick Ice Body not without thinking.

He sensed in the long run, he may be put in a bad situation and doesn't wish to endanger himself along the way.

[Choice I: Ice Body]

[Do you wish to proceed?] [Cancel]

Ren Ye proceeded and the screen turned to another screen.

[Learning…]

Old Yi chuckled and swung two of his fingers, unclenched them from his tight grip and lightly pointed them toward his temple; much to the surprise of Ren Ye.

He opened his mouth and breathed out a foreign word in another language that Ren Ye was unable to comprehend, "Acquire."

Ren Ye closed his eyes as the tips of Old Yi's fingers shot out a golden beaming light and pierced through his temple, putting his mind at ease.

As though he had been enlightened, Ren Ye felt a burst of information crossing his mind and covering his brain in a warm cloth. He twitched the corner of his lips slightly.

The bones inside of his body felt as though they had been enlarged four times his size and despite no external changes, Ren Ye felt it deeply.

After a while, he grasped the concept of the technique. He gradually opened his eyes and glanced toward Old Yi who was crouching down.

"Don't ask, that took away half of my power," Old Yi let out a tired sigh and sat his bottom onto the ground, rubbing his waist, "You have absorbed all the pieces of knowledge of the technique."

"Don't bother me anymore."

Old Yi stood up and casually went inside Ren Ye's body.

[System is shutting down at this moment!]

[Recharging]

"Now that it has happened often, I wonder what exactly caused Old Yi to always be tired…"

Ren Ye hummed with interest and scanned the walls of the bathroom, noticing the ice had melted away and liquid remnants remained on the wall, the temperature had gone back to normal. He quietly opened the bathroom door and exited the place.

To the other room, Ren Ye sat down next to Ren Jia who was deep in her sleep. Noticing the silly drool on her face, he wiped them off using his fingers and glanced out the windows with a dazed face.

The moon was shining brightly above the dark gloomy sky, giving off a desolate and lonely feeling.

"What a weird dream. I wonder if they actually survived after I was killed?"

Ever since coming to this world, he hadn't thought much of his old friends in the other world. But ever since coming into contact with them in the dream, Ren Ye felt a numbing pain in his chest.

"Thankfully, Old Yi had entered my dream. If he hadn't, hmm."

"I wonder what would happen if he hadn't…"