When I was satisfied with the result. I took the paper and wrapped the five talismans. Then came the moment of truth, though I was almost convinced this was just some prank, but what happened next made me question reality itself.

  When I took my tablet, touched it with the paper, and clicked the volume up button five times. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The symbols began glowing — the same pale blue as the box. Though at first I was perplexed by what happened, that suddenly transformed to worry. If this is true, then the world we know will soon cease to exist, and there will be anarchy. But the worry didn’t st long, knowing that I have that thing that will ensure the safety of me and my family. Then,

  I left the setup (the ENA battery talisman covered in ENA accumuting talisman) on the balcony and went about my day.

  That whole day, I couldn’t focus on anything; that event was still eating at me. I checked the formation when I got home — still running. I tried to distract myself with my phone, but my thoughts kept circling back. After some time, I ate my dinner and went to bed.

  But that night, sleep wouldn’t come.

  It was around 3 am of the midnight, not being able to sleep, I went to the balcony to check on the formation. But this time, the light was off, meaning the process was complete. Hurriedly, I unwrapped the formation paper and took one talisman. Then I put it on the tablet. As soon as it touched, text started to fsh again. It said,

  activating core function….

  loading energy ….50%.......90%......100%

  creating new user

  enter your name

  [Eiren Vail]

  enter your age

  [18]

  authenticating user

  user creation successful

  The interface changed. It now looked like a new phone setup screen, but instead of icons, there were long paragraphs and strange buttons. This paragraph said the same thing that the man said, the one from the illusion. The difference is that it sounded more casual.

  After scrolling down, I found a next button. Which took me to another window.

  “You must be wondering, was it luck that that box fell into your hands? The answer is no. That box was programmed to be seen only by the person with the highest grade of spirit root.”

  “Now, you may ask what a spirit root is.

  Spirit root is your internal ability to absorb and produce ENA, which manifests in the state of a root. The quality of your spirit root suggests the speed of your future progress.”

  “Harnessing ENA is not as simple as absorbing it. ENA means Energy of Natural Alignment. You need to first align your body with nature. To do that, you first need to train your body to the maximum of what nature allows; only then will you be able to feel ENA and absorb it.

  The system of harnessing ENA is called cultivation. The name came from the process, which is the cultivation of natural energy within one's body. Cultivation is divided into three major phases. The first alone contains nine stages, and each of those has nine sub-stages. The first stage is called ‘Body Refinement’, the sub-stages are:

  Peak BodyInternal ScouringPathway IgnitionSight of CrityEar of EchoesNose of BreathTongue of TruthTouch of ResonanceSpirit Root AwakeningThese steps conclude the ‘Body Refinement’ stage. Beware that skipping any sub-stage has serious repercussions.”

  After I clicked next again, the home screen appeared with the heading ‘Body Refinement Stage’. There were 3 options:

  Talisman and FormationsCultivation TechniquesMartial ArtsOf them, I chose to click on the first one. There were now 3 videos:

  ENA Battery Creating Guide (Modified)Pill Creation FormationENA Battery Using FormationAfter watching these, I learned a modified version of the ENA battery talisman (for simplicity, this will be called ENA battery) that can store more energy. There is also a pill creation formation that uses ENA battery to create pills. Which can help with cultivation. And finally, the ENA battery using formation, which can release the stored energy within ENA batteries.

  Pill creation formation needs around 30 ENA batteries to create one physical refinement pill. After that, I spent another hour awake creating 30 modified ENA batteries and one modified ENA accumuting formation.

  After setting it up, I went to bed.

  Author’s note:

  If you’re enjoying the journey, a comment or rating means a lot. Chapter 4’s coming soon!