Chapter 30 - Undercurrent

Liam woke up to find the grain enjoying itself on the ground. With a small and silly dance that lasted a few seconds, he picked it up and returned to his usual demeanor.

"Mhmm, stable as Mount Tai or was it tall as Mt. Tai? Whatever. I am old so I should be like it." He said and nodded to himself.

Liam zoomed into the little grain. The results made him happy. He couldn't see the composition of the grain.

Which meant that it either became a failure. A tiny chance.

Or something much more profound that he couldn't casually observe anymore.

He remembered the days of grinding in idle games. Collect. Strengthen and repeat.

Liam wouldn't mind if he could use such a simple way to pave his way to absolute strength that no one could challenge.

The rules of life do not follow games.

He played with it for a few hours before he let it go. Results varied, but it seemed to be condensed liquid.

Nothing magical yet. Like turning into weird Dao heaven laws that would give him enlightenment.

Liam placed it further away and decided to create another one. Another quick nap later.

An identical grain stood beside its impostor, though they differed in colour.

He didn't wait too long and with full confidence of recreating them; he did the one thing every living being does when they encounter something that is foreign.

He ate it.

Unlike the liquid. Liam felt the power diffuse slowly as it melted away like ice.

It first travelled to his heart before it shot straight up into his head.

The cooling sensation made him feel jitters, and this time it lasted an entire minute.

When he got out of it. He noticed that his eyes became slightly better.

Moreover, the air grain gave him a staggering increase of mental strength.

Compared to the amount of liquid he used to drink in and the one he used to create the tiny grain.

A dimensional difference of at least 100. With the great success.

Liam decided to focus more on his other sensory organs in case another surprise comes.

The progress became much faster, and in 2 years he managed to upgrade the rest.

It didn't give him a dimensional change like the eyes did, though.

His hearing became some sort of six sense type of thing. The little nose of his did little to nothing.

Perhaps the lack of body would explain it. Nevertheless, the world seemed more vivid.

Overall, no large changes. The last two became a bit more peculiar.

Touch and smell. He felt like they switched their roles at one point and became very confused.

It took him a month alone to get used to the changes of those two.

Thanks to upgraded smell. He could touch and examine things not far away from him.

The weird thing made him think of a discounted divine consciousness that cultivators had.

Touch, on the other hand. Anything he touched became much more smelly if he didn't control it.

He didn't doubt that those two could have some weird uses. Except that now, he still lacks a body...

Taste itself didn't change as well. One thing it did, it made him a world class critic in his opinion.

Too salty, sweet, umami and anything in between he tasted. At least he could consider himself a chef teacher.

Although the changes didn't become a game changer. He didn't think of it as a waste of time.

"The time will come when they come handy." He said to himself.

On the other hand, the town became lively to a point where he had to split half of his time into human research.

He would have completed the transformation in a year otherwise. The breakthrough with grains also brought a lot of attention from the higher ups.

If liquid became a niche thing for potential apprentices. Then the solidified version had a glimmer of hope for unawakened elders.

Were they one day perfect it or bring it to another realm, they might be able to print awakened elders without danger.

Greatly bolstering their forces and perhaps turning everything around.

Liam, over the 2 years, made a couple dozen of grains and improved his mental strength to another realm.

No longer he fainted. With good luck, he could make 2 grains in a row.

The three elders mastered the creation of magical liquid, however, they couldn't at all see into the structure of the liquid.

So, their progress stalled. While the results lacked, just two years passed after all.

Such speed already surprised many in the headquarters.

To Liam's surprise, though. No new unawakened or awakened elders appeared to share the pie with those three.

Instead, a lot of new apprentices on the level of Terran or above appeared and began learning the way of creating mana liquid.

He didn't doubt that it would have become a sweatshop. If he didn't talk about quality over quantity.

Moreover, the difficulty of such refinement had shown itself. Just three out of ten apprentices that showed promising potential had managed to create it in a few months.

Others had little progress.

Liam and the three elders decided to focus on the high end of the research instead of taking time so apprentices can create it in larger quantities.

4 months later, they had a breakthrough.

Liam knew about his special condition and decided to create a half step. He had a right from the start.

To see inside yourself and see, or at least feel, the mental connection they had.

Blythe succeeded first and interestingly. She utilized the spirit and cooperated with it so it sees inside her.

At first she tried it with it summoned. The result became useless, but after she tried it with the spirit inside her crystal.

Blythe managed to feel, and a month later, see. Thanks to the paved path, the other two got it in no time.

Unlike Liam, who had to use his mental strength to strengthen his eyes enough.

The elders just had to fight for a few times and redirect the mana into their eyes.

...

"Hahaha! Watch me stinky Akand. I surpassed you once again!" Blythe said and showed off.

Her glowing eyes shattered the environment of the dark sky.

Akand, in his night wear begrudgingly praised Blythe before he went back to bed.

Who'd expect that she stood up till 3 am before waking up Akand just to show off.

Seeing his lackluster expression. Blythe returned to her room and decided to torment him enough in the morning.

The happy atmosphere didn't last long, though.

A massive change appeared on the frontlines. An invasion of the aliens almost broke the delicate balance.

A few spirits fell that night and a lot of personnel and veterans had to return.

To Liam, they became the greatest mystery. His familiarity with them never went past them fighting with the vines in the previous era.

The few books mentioned them as well. But the lack of information made it difficult.

Now, they arrived on the third side. Moreover, they held no intent of cooperating with humanity and spirits to fight off the vines.

No, they came as conquerors. Somehow, they cracked the language barrier in the following week and sent out an ultimatum.

Destroy the barrier, submit and become indoctrinated.

Many higher ups grew furious. After fighting for such a long time against the enemy, never giving up.

They should now just bow their heads?!

The two sides almost went into a full out war if the vines didn't exist. In irony, they became a binding force that held both sides from going all out.

Humans didn't want to face extinction.

And the alien conquerors seemingly didn't wish for the vines to succeed and wanted to take this place for themselves.

To Liam's surprise, whenever the aliens broke through a checkpoint in the first 2 months of the war.

A natural disaster appeared. This time powered with mana and, many more times, deadlier.

While unwilling to admit it. Liam remembered some snippets and with it came those weird natural disasters.

As if divine protection against the invaders.

Perhaps the God creator existed before the first era even began and truly created this planet.

If it did. Then, Liam's many questions it might answer.

He noted it down as one of his future goals. Perhaps the creator God might answer everything and more.

Or the other party had nothing to do with it.

The odds weren't impossible.

Either the transcendent being played chess with other Gods, experimented, or just wanted to survive against an enemy of God-like beings.

Liam had to gain a sufficient level of power, no matter what. He doubted that his current status would grant him a ticket to creator God, anyway.

Moreover, he couldn't even walk into the main church right now...

Every day, he wished he became reborn as some kind of low talent human than a spirit.