A Bug In Fate

The sun hung high in the sky while, below it, a young man was attempting something this world had never seen before.

Sure, countless people had imagined doing the same thing, but history was proof that all they had done was waste their time and achieve nothing.

Ravenna, who had been sitting on the chair, was now standing beside him. Her expression was strange, just like the thoughts running through her mind.

What am I supposed to do?

Meanwhile, Alden took a breath.

But it wasn’t like earlier, when he had tried various combinations of short, long, and sharp inhales.

No.

It was simply a casual breath.

As the mana entered his body, he tried his best to circulate it. But the result was exactly what he had expected.

There simply wasn’t enough mana.

The amount entering his body was too little to complete even a single cycle.

13%.

The orb in his hands displayed his failure with perfect accuracy, as that was precisely what it had been designed to do.

"Alden, I’m not trying to tell you to give up, but are you sure about what you’re doing?" Ravenna asked in a calm tone.

The number 13% was already surprisingly high for something as simple as casual breathing. A normal human’s limit was around 20%, yet here her student was already reaching a considerable portion of that efficiency without following any proper breathing method.

Even so, for Alden, it was still a failure.

His baseline was 65%.

And now he was trying to create a method capable of reaching that level—or perhaps even surpassing it—using nothing more than natural breathing.

Ravenna couldn’t help but feel that her student was challenging everything she knew about cultivation.

"Teacher Ravenna, just trust me this one time."

Alden looked into her eyes, and she could only shake her head helplessly.

After that, Alden tried the same method, if you could even call simply breathing a method in the first place.

He tried it several times. Sometimes he coughed, while other times he couldn’t even complete a full cycle of mana flow.

At first glance, it might have looked like he wasn’t making any progress.

But the orb in his hands told a different story.

16%.

The earlier 13% had increased to 16% in just ten minutes.

Alden looked at the orb with a smile, and his determination grew even stronger. He continued doing the same thing over and over again, refusing to stop.

Meanwhile, Ravenna’s eyes narrowed as she watched the progress.

Even she could no longer deny it.

Whatever Alden was doing, it was working.

The results were right there before her eyes.

Time passed in the blink of an eye as a silence filled with anticipation, excitement, and nervousness settled over the open field.

Hours passed, and the sun began to move lower towards the west. Meanwhile, Ravenna simply sat at the table, calmness and amusement lingering in her eyes.

How could a person remain shocked for hours? At some point, you simply had to accept reality and move forward.

That was exactly what she was doing.

*..Heheh... I wonder what will happen if he goes to the Central Continent..*

She smiled at the thought, but then shook her head as another thought crossed her mind.

*...What if someone tries to kill him?*

She paused.

*...No, there is no "what if." I’m sure there will be an assassination attempt on him...*

While she was worrying about her student, the student himself was doing something completely crazy.

He was forcing his body to adapt to something as simple as casual breathing.

And to make matters worse, it was actually working.

The mana efficiency had risen from 16% to 41%.

It was a huge leap.

Contrary to Alden’s expectations, the process wasn’t becoming harder.

It was becoming easier.

*I guess it’s true that the first time is painful, but as you keep doing it—*

*Focus, Alden. Focus... The sky is blue, and I am a genius.*

He immediately stopped his thoughts and distracted his mind before his overthinking could take over again.

Just like that, time passed again, and this time Ravenna didn’t tell him to stop for dinner. She could already see that he was close to his goal, and disturbing him for something as simple as a meal didn’t seem worth it.

In Alden’s hand, the number on the orb had been constantly changing for the past few minutes, and it didn’t stop even after he reached 60%.

It kept increasing.

Sixty-one... sixty-two... sixty-three...

And then—

70%.

It was an unexpected leap.

"Stop."

Ravenna said it in a calm tone, and Alden slowly opened his eyes. He looked down at the orb, which was displaying a 70% efficiency rate.

"Oh..."

He sounded surprised as he looked at his teacher, who was standing there with a frown.

"It seems your baseline has increased again, and I think it’s because of the repetitive exposure to mana," she said.

"Yeah... I think so too."

He was actually sure of it because of his physique. Over the past two months, his physique had adapted to absorbing mana at 65% efficiency, and now seeing another five percent increase wasn’t exactly outside the realm of possibility.

But Ravenna wasn’t as convinced as he was.

Don’t tell me that as time goes on, his baseline will just keep increasing... What the hell?

She thought inwardly while looking at the orb.

Meanwhile, Alden looked thoughtful before deciding to ask his teacher.

"Teacher, what should we do now? I have already reached my baseline and even increased it. Should I now add circulation and exhaling to fully complete my technique?" He tilted his head.

Ravenna remained silent for a moment before speaking.

"Hehe... I want to suggest something, but I have a feeling that by the end of this, my view of the world might change completely," she said.

"What is it?"

"Why don’t you try to reach a 100% efficiency rate?"

Ravenna suggested what was on her mind. Her instinct as a researcher was tingling constantly. But suddenly another thought followed behind it with much more impact.

*..Wait... Why am I treating my student like an experiment?*

The thought crossed her mind, and her earlier excitement immediately faded.

For a moment, Ravenna simply stared at Alden.

Her mind had already begun imagining the possibilities. What would happen if his efficiency reached 80%? 90%? What about 100%? Would his physique adapt again? Would his mana circulation change? Would something completely unexpected happen?

There were countless questions.

And as a researcher, she wanted answers to every single one of them.

But as his teacher, she knew better.

Alden wasn’t some mysterious phenomenon sitting in front of her waiting to be studied. He was her student.

Someone who had trusted her enough to follow her guidance.

Someone whose safety was now partly her responsibility.

Ravenna quietly sighed.

*..I was so excited about discovering something new that I almost forgot that there is a person standing in front of me.*

She had spent decades pursuing knowledge, researching techniques, studying cultivation, and chasing answers to questions that others considered impossible and in addition to the guild work which was also paper related, her mind has developed a mindset, which wasn’t suitable for this moment.

Perhaps that was why she had become so accustomed to treating everything as a subject of research.

But Alden was different.

He wasn’t a subject.

He was her first student.

And if she couldn’t even protect him from her own curiosity, then what kind of teacher was she?

The thought made her expression soften.

Her curiosity hadn’t disappeared.

Neither had her desire to understand what was happening to him.

But now she understood that there had to be a line between being his teacher and being a researcher.

And that line was his safety.

The thought crossed her mind, and her earlier excitement immediately faded.

"Wait... I don’t know what will happen if you actually reach that point, so I think you shouldn’t push yourself. Seventy percent is already enough for a high-level technique. I doubt there will be anything better than that," she said in a serious tone.

Meanwhile, Alden could feel that his teacher was worried about him, and a smile formed on his lips.

He wasn’t worried himself, as he believed in his physique enough. He had already gained many abilities from it, such as poison resistance, mana sense, universal comprehension, and even basic swordsmanship skills.

He looked into her eyes with a soft smile and spoke in a calm tone.

"Teacher, you don’t have to worry about me. Who can know my physique better than myself? And I’m confident that nothing harmful will happen to me," he stated.

Ravenna shook her head helplessly.

"But you also don’t know what will happen, Alden," she insisted.

"Hehe... You’re right. I don’t know what will happen, but I know that whatever happens will be good for me." He smiled.

"Teacher Ravenna, please trust me again, just like you did when I suggested our bet."

Her brows furrowed as she considered his words.

*Sigh... I just hope nothing bad happens.*

She hoped silently as her gaze lingered on him. He looked completely fine.

"Alright... Let’s do it. But promise me you’ll stop if you don’t feel well."

Alden nodded, and once again, he sat down in his cultivation spot.

The story had taken another twist.

Even though he had already achieved his goal, Alden wasn’t going to stop.

Not until he reached his full potential.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!