Prologue 1: Lucian The Boy Genius

"I promise that I will never hurt or harm another living being, and instead treat and nurture them to the best of my ability for as long as I live. That is my Dao."

Inside a large auditorium, a single man—no, a single boy stood in front of more than thousands of people, all of them, intently listening to every word and breath that escaped his mouth. The boy was not some peerless Cultivator, not someone who could move mountains with his hands… and yet everyone listened to him.

How could they not, when the boy was the youngest ever in history to recite his Hippocratic Dao?

When most boys were just learning beginner's Math at 10 years old, Lucian had already mastered numerous science arts; from fluidly replacing someone's heart in less than an hour, to creating pills that would ensure a Cultivator's breakthrough.

A boy genius that will only come once in a million years.

[Lucian, can you tell us what your plan is, now that you are free to do anything you want? Everyone is saying the sky is not even the limit for you,] and once again, everyone anticipated what Lucian had to say as the event's host asked him a question. One would expect someone like Lucian to not even smile or have an exhausted expression painted on his face, but no—the only thing crawling on his face was a smile.

His black hair, and almond-shaped bright blue eyes made it clear to everyone who was present or to those watching him from their screens that he was the son of two nations.

[Technically, you can't open up your own practice yet since you're so young — so, are you planning on resting until then?] The host's playful voice echoed through the speakers, [Have some fun, experience the childhood you missed?]

"Well…" Lucian let out a small giggle, causing all who were watching him to also smile and laugh with him as his eyes almost disappeared. Lucian was more than fluent with his words, extremely articulate despite carrying a monotonous tone --- and yet his age still shows through his voice and demeanor, "...Creating pills are fun. So, I will probably just do that."

[Pft, as expected of the boy genius,] the host also shared a laughter with Lucian and clapped his hands, [What kind of pills do you want to create? Maybe finally a cure for Lithum Cancer? I think everyone would like that.]

"No, something more fun," Lucian shook his head.

[Like…?]

"A pill that would open everyone's Dantian and let them absorb Lith," Lucian once again smiled. His smile, however, was met with open mouths; even the host was unable to contain his confusion at his words.

[Open someone's Dantian…?] The host nervously laughed, [You mean turn someone who is not a Cultivator into a Cultivator? Only Cultivators can absorb Lith, Lucian.]

"Yes," Lucian nodded several times as he crossed his arms.

[Are you sure you don't want to just cure Lithum Cancer, the Rot, instead?] The host looked at all the people watching them in the large auditorium, still forcing out a laugh to keep the atmosphere going, [I don't know much about medicine, but I think that would be a lot easier. Isn't that right, folks!?]

"No," Lucian immediately shut the host down, "I've already made my first successful prototype."

[What… are you trying to say?] Everyone could hear the host gulp through the speakers.

"I am saying that I am already 51.6% there," Lucian then turned to look at the nearest camera pointed to him,

"Perhaps in 1, maybe 2 years… I would be able to perfect the pill."

"!!!"

And as soon as those words escaped his mouth, most of the people in the auditorium howled like monkeys. Some even threw their hands in the air while remaining in their seats — the Cultivators amongst the crowd, however, were completely silent.

[Are you saying that even someone like me, completely not from a Cultivator family… can become a Cultivator? Have… you tested it on yourself?]

"I never test my pills on myself, Mr. Walter. Even if they are already proven to be successful and safe," Lucian waved his hands and shook his head, "I'm still too young, what if I die?"

[Heh…] The host forced out another chuckle, [But… are you going to release it to the public?]

"Sure," Lucian shrugged, "According to the data collected this year, 2004 — 19.42% of the entire population are Cultivators. But with my pill, it will be possible that in 2007…

…more than 80% of the population will be Cultivators."

And, well… the boy genius did what he promised.

9 months later, Lucian was able to perfect the pill and everyone in the world witnessed a random normal human, without a trace of Lith in his body, become one of the mighty Cultivators on live TV.

Everyone could be a Cultivator if they wanted to. Could.

His other promise, the promise to turn most of the population of the planet into Cultivators did not even reach its initial stages. When everyone expected the boy genius to completely turn the world upside-down…

…he vanished.

Chapter 1: Lucian the Looter

"We need one more Looter! You, the one with the glasses!"

"Man, fuck… why would they choose the skinny ass bitch?"

"He's the foreman's favorite. Probably because they both eat dogs."

"Pft."

"Guys, stop it. It's already 2024, enough with the racism bullshit."

"Yeah, it's 2024 and a little bitch is still a little bitch, you little bitch."

Somewhere in the colorful city of Old York, the streets have become completely unrecognizable as they were filled with all sorts of flesh, ooze, and what could really only be described as a giant lump of guts. They were on the sidewalk, on the road, on the cars, in the cars, and some were even on top of the buildings.

One would probably ask just what sort of battle went on to result in something like this — but the unrecognizable colossal carcass sprawled right at the center of the street would immediately answer their question.

"Be careful not to damage the Lith, or you'll be paying us instead!"

"Boss, don't push him! The scrawny bitch might just fold into two!"

"Shut up and get to work!"

And right now, perhaps even more so than the colossal carcass or the blue crystals scattered everywhere, embedded everywhere across its flesh, the attention of most of the people was on a slightly short and extremely scrawny man — not because he was anything special, but because he was the complete opposite of that.

It was almost like he was using all of his strength in taking just a single step. His long black hair was disheveled; his bright green eyes, not only faded by his hair and glasses, but also by the large bags beneath them.

Suffice it to say, the others were entertained by this. One of the men heckling the poor man sneakily went behind him, before just placing his foot on his path and tripping him.

"Oh!?" The man just quickly took several steps back and started laughing, "Sorry, I didn't see you there!"

"..." The scrawny man fell face-first to the ground, but he did not even make a single sound and just stood up immediately. He glanced at the man who tripped him for a few seconds, but he did not really say anything and just continued to walk toward the carcass.

"Right. Pussy!" The man then looked at his friends, all of them high-fiving him as they watched the scrawny man not do anything and just started picking the blue crystals stuck on the monster carcass, "Run, fucking retard!"

"Lucian, don't mind them."

"I do not."

The foreman who called for the scrawny man approached him to try and help him, placing his hand on his shoulder to offer support and comfort, "Just focus, okay? I made sure there's still a lot of Lithum for you to loot. I know you need it."

"Okay."

"Commission's a little tight nowadays, so you need more to earn what you did last week."

"...I am grateful," the scrawny man finally opened his mouth to speak; his voice, extremely hoarse and deep, "This…

…will help me a lot, Mr. Yang." The scrawny and disheveled man was indeed Lucian. The brightness that once illuminated his eyes, and his cheery voice which caused everyone to be enamored by him, all completely gone. The smile on his face which made it seem that he could do anything he promised to do… now no longer existing.

What was there was only a husk, a machine that seemed to not even know how to move the muscles on his face. Devoid of any emotions…

…Dead.

Sadly, for all of Lucian's intelligence, he lacked one crucial thing — basic social awareness.

The boy genius who was once supposed to change the entire world…

…was now just a Looter who worked for scraps.

"Lucian… Why take this job? I know you're smarter than most people, you could have any other job in the world than this."

"I am not smarter than most people, Mr. Yang. I would not be here if I was."

The foreman, Yang's words were filled with concern, but Lucian did not look at him at all as he answered him. Lucian was just busy carving out a blue crystal stuck in the monster's flesh. And although he was visibly struggling to do so because of his skinny hands, every movement of his fingers seemed precise.

But as Lucian noticed that Yang's shadow was not leaving his sight, he finally glanced back at him and just sighed,

"This job pays well," Lucian whispered with his hoarse voice, "And it gives me more time to spend on… other things."

"Apparently not enough time for you. You look like you barely sleep, boy," Yang shook his head, "This pays well because it's extremely dangerous."

"I know."

"I'm really only keeping you because your Lithums are the cleanest out of all of these stupid motherfuckers, who can't even carve them out without nicking them!" Yang glared at the other Looters before focusing on Lucian again, 

"Look, just last week, someone died because the Cultivators didn't finish off the monster properly. A lot of people died, you could have been one of them."

"But I'm not," Lucian breathed out as he was finally able to get the blue crystal out. And despite him practically sawing the flesh, the crystal did not even have any sign of a scratch, "I could argue you could have also been one of them, Mr. Yang."

"You—" Yang was about to say something, but Lucian just walked to the next Lithum he could find and started carving it out again.

"Boss, stop giving the poor guy special attention. Can't you see he's struggling already without you nagging? Is it because the two of you both eat dogs!?"

"Who said that!? Just gather some lithums!"

"I'll gather your lithums!"

"What the—who keeps saying that!?" And finally, Mr. Yang left Lucian alone in peace and rushed toward the group that just mocked him. Sadly, there were too many looters there to even figure out who's who.

"Seriously though, why is the boss giving special attention to him?"

"Oh, you're new here." The other looters continued to talk about Lucian, "Apparently, that guy was some sort of boy genius scientist prodigy or something."

"What…? Then what's he doing here?"

"Well, you didn't hear this from me…

…but apparently, he killed someone."