Dual Realm Exchange System

Deep inside the pale Spirit Root Testing Orb, a faint light began to stir.

Damian stared without blinking as the nearly transparent mist within the crystal slowly gathered around the center, twisting together until a weak green radiance emerged.

Jian Rui’s expression immediately sharpened.

"Wood Spirit Root," he identified with a nod, though his voice carried some disappointment at the dimness of the light.

Damian was about to ask what the brightness represented when the green suddenly vanished, and a crimson spark appeared in its place.

Jian Rui blinked. "Fire now?"

The red light lasted barely two breaths before changing again, becoming a deep yellow-brown glow that spread through the mist, earth.

Then came a pale metallic white, metal.

Finally, blue light washed through the entire sphere like water pouring through clear glass.

Damian’s eyebrows slowly rose whereas Jian Rui had stopped speaking entirely.

The blue remained for several seconds before dimming, and for a brief moment, the Spirit Root Testing Orb returned to its original colorless state.

Damian glanced toward Jian Rui. "Did I break it?"

"No, Senior, that should not be possible..."

WHOOSH!

The mist within the crystal suddenly erupted as green, red, yellow, white and blue appeared simultaneously, no longer replacing one another but dividing the interior of the sphere into five intertwined streams.

They rotated around each other like colored rivers caught within a whirlpool, repeatedly separating and merging until the entire Spirit Root Testing Orb shone with five distinct colors.

Jian Rui’s eyes widened.

"Five Elements Spirit Root!" he exclaimed, leaning closer to inspect the orb before his excitement moderated slightly.

"Well, it’s a Low Grade one... but definitely of the Five Elements!" Jian Rui added with an intrigued voice.

Damian slowly released the breath he had been holding.

Five elements, huh?

According to Jian Rui’s hurried explanation, Spirit Roots were judged through two major qualities.

The number of compatible elements determined versatility, while the grade determined how efficiently a cultivator could actually interact with those elements.

A single-element Spirit Root possessed frightening advantages in specialization and cultivation speed because everything entering the body followed one path. Fire remained Fire, Water remained Water, and there was little need to balance competing energies.

Unfortunately, specialization also meant specialization.

A Fire cultivator could become terrifyingly powerful within their chosen element while simultaneously developing severe disadvantages against opposing energies or environments.

On the flip side, Multi-Element Spirit Roots sacrificed that efficiency in exchange for breadth.

Two elements were slower than one, three slower than two, and possessing all Five Elements made cultivation particularly demanding because every advancement required maintaining balance between Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water.

However, the reward was equally obvious in terms of versatility, compatibility, and access to cultivation methods that single-root cultivators could never properly touch.

A Five Elements Spirit Root was therefore one of the finest combinations imaginable in Shengyuan, provided its owner had enough resources, comprehension and patience to survive the miserable cultivation speed attached to it.

Damian stared at the glowing orb with a strange expression.

’Except I don’t actually have a Spirit Root.’

That was the part Jian Rui could not possibly know.

Damian had been born on Earth.

Human beings there had evolved beneath physical laws where Spiritual Energy seemingly did not exist at all, so unless someone wanted to claim an invisible supernatural organ had been hiding inside him for twenty-six years waiting for a cultivation world to appear, Damian very much doubted there was a literal Spirit Root somewhere in his body.

What he did possess though, was mana sensitivity.

As a Mage, Damian could already perceive ambient supernatural energy and interact with it directly. He had done exactly that after first arriving in Shengyuan, where Spiritual Energy had proven more stubborn than Valorian mana but fundamentally similar enough for his spells to function.

The Testing Orb was apparently not detecting the biological structure itself, but was testing function.

Could his existence sense Wood-attributed Spiritual Energy? Indeed he could.

Could he also sense Fire-attributed Spiritual Energy? Indubitably so.

What about Earth, Metal and Water? Well, apparently yes to all three.

His Mage perception was filling the same role a Spirit Root performed for Shengyuan cultivators.

’So the orb is asking five questions, and I happen to answer yes to all five.’

That also explained the Low Grade result.

Damian’s <Arcane Knowledge> remained at Novice.

His current understanding of mana, elemental transformation and supernatural energy was still embarrassingly basic by Valorian standards. If his ability to consciously perceive and manipulate ambient energy improved alongside that Specialization, then his apparent Spirit Root grade might improve as well.

Which meant his Spirit Root might not actually be fixed.

Damian’s lips twitched upward.

Now that was interesting.

There was another detail too.

Just because the orb sensed the Five Elements did not necessarily mean five elements existed.

It merely meant this particular cultivation civilization categorized its basic system through Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water.

Damian had already personally cast <Frost Ray>, so ice existed.

Valoria possessed lightning, light, darkness and countless other magical expressions, while even Corpse Qi had demonstrated that supernatural energy could develop properties far removed from these five foundations.

Perhaps the Azure Water Sector simply had no testing system advanced enough to account for anything else.

Jian Rui, meanwhile, stared at the orb with slightly furrowed brows.

He clearly remembered Senior Damian freezing one of the Fierce Boars with that strange ice technique, yet the Testing Orb displayed no Ice Spirit Root whatsoever.

The young swordsman opened his mouth, hesitated, then wisely closed it again.

Senior Damian was strange and unique, this had already been established.

There was no point damaging his brain by investigating every example.

Damian released the orb and stretched his fingers. "Well, that solves the important problem. I can cultivate."

"Indeed. Senior Damian’s Five Elements Spirit Root is extremely versatile, although your cultivation speed may be somewhat..." Jian Rui began carefully.

"Terrible?" Damian supplied.

Jian Rui coughed. "I would have said demanding."

"So terrible but with better marketing, got it." Damian concluded while folding his arms.

Jian Rui decided not to argue.

With the most important test completed, Damian finally turned his attention toward something considerably less mystical.

Inventory.

......

Damian had spent five years moving goods through warehouses, so once he stopped examining supernatural treasures like an excited tourist, the process became almost painfully familiar.

Stock had to be separated by destination, value, turnover and purpose.

The remaining Valorian trade goods came out first.

Damian emptied nearly everything still occupying Exchange Storage into the commercial tower, leaving only his personal equipment and necessities untouched.

Crates appeared one after another under the bewildered eyes of Jian Rui, Bo Wen, Lin Meiyu and Shen Lian, filling one section of the ground floor with Mana Crystals, miscellaneous materials, weapons, magical goods and the leftovers from his original experiments.

Lin Meiyu recovered first and immediately began organizing the mess.

Bo Wen stared at a pile of ordinary iron and mortal weapons with visible disdain. "Senior Damian, do you truly need these?"

"Nope. Anything I marked useless can be sold, donated, melted down or thrown at someone you dislike. I don’t care," Damian replied casually.

That answer delighted them considerably more than expected.

Several of the mortal weapons were perfectly serviceable for ordinary guards and poorer Outer Hall disciples even if they meant nothing to proper cultivators.

The Mana Crystals were the exception.

"Move all of those into the underground vault. Don’t sell them unless necessary, treat them as foreign reserve currency," Damian instructed, earning several confused expressions.

With a roll of his eyes, he explained. "They exchange cleanly enough with Spirit Stones that I would rather keep the energy than lose value converting back and forth."

That, they thankfully understood.

Once the Valorian stock was sorted, Damian placed his real order, and the Evergreen Sect treasury suffered.

Qi Nourishing Pills came first, with Damian ordering ten thousand five hundred of them, enough for ten theoretical complete Level-1-to-Level-6 Valorian progression packages.

That was followed by twelve hundred Qi Acceleration Pills, two thousand Grain Avoidance Pills, eight hundred Purification Talismans, six hundred Light Body Talismans, one hundred Spirit Gathering Arrays, one hundred and twenty Golden Shield Arrays and two hundred Warning Arrays.

He added eighty large jars of formation ink, several hundred kilograms of spirit rice and smaller experimental reserves of Marrow Cleansing Pills, Body Tempering Pills, spiritual herbs and various consumables that had demonstrated enough promise to justify further testing.

By the time Jian Rui helped adjust the quantities into proper treasury batches, the final order cost exactly fifteen thousand Contribution Points.

Damian stared at the number for several seconds, then approved it.

The four young disciples nearly suffered heart attacks.

For them, fifteen thousand Contribution Points represented nearly half a decade of nonstop missions, dangerous battles, sect duties and accumulated merit.

For Damian?

It represented the proceeds of twenty-five Healing Vials at his current wholesale agreement.

Tsk, tsk, cross-realm economics was completely disgusting!

What was it Janet said? Ref, do something!!

The goods arrived in several waves, and Damian stored them systematically until Exchange Storage approached its mass limit.

Pills occupied absurdly little room for their value while the rice, array plates and bulk materials consumed most of the weight.

Within less than two hours, his original Valorian experimental inventory had been replaced by a miniature Shengyuan export warehouse.

Now this felt familiar.

Damian looked over the organized shop floor and nodded in satisfaction.

"Much better."

......

Jian Rui escorted Damian into the Inner Sect afterward.

His assigned residence occupied a large private courtyard built around a quiet pond and medicinal greenery, with several connected chambers surrounding a paved training yard.

There was a study, servant quarters and storage rooms, while the rear of the property contained the feature Damian actually cared about: a private cultivation chamber positioned directly above a minor spiritual vein.

It may not be luxurious by Evergreen Elder standards, perhaps, but for Damian, who had spent most of his adult life worrying about hospital bills and rent?

It was simply ridiculous.

He completed the tour quickly, then stopped outside the cultivation chamber.

"You can continue with the shop and whatever duties you normally have. I want to test the cultivation techniques properly, so I’ll contact you afterward," Damian instructed.

Jian Rui clasped his hands respectfully. "Understood, Senior Damian. I will remain available whenever you require assistance."

Once the young swordsman departed, Damian entered the cultivation chamber and closed the door.

Six manuals rested inside his storage, but he only removed one, the Five Elements Harmonization Art.

Damian had considered the alternatives carefully.

The Evergreen Life Sutra offered safety, health and excellent long-term stability.

The Crimson Furnace Art promised speed at the cost of pain and danger.

Blackwater emphasized smooth circulation and coordination, Golden Edge strengthened bones and tendons for explosive force, while Mountain Root focused heavily upon durability.

All were useful, but Damian possessed advantages other cultivators did not.

He had resources, he had Valorian magic, and he had the Dual-Realm Exchange System.

Most importantly, his physical Attributes were terrible.

STR 3.

DEX 4.

AGI 2.

CON 3.

Looking at this horrendous spread, specializing further would merely create another weakness.

The Five Elements Harmonization Art was slower, more complicated and notoriously demanding, but its Valorian adaptation increased all four physical Attributes by 0.5 per level.

For someone whose magical foundation was already carried by high Intelligence, Wisdom and Spirit, a cultivation method that comprehensively repaired his physical foundation was almost offensively perfect.

Damian sat cross-legged and opened the manual, and from it, he learned that the Body Tempering Realm possessed ten minor stages.

Every cultivation method in this realm strengthened the entire body to some degree, but individual Arts emphasized different structures during each tempering cycle, which eventually created the differences between cultivators.

One might focus heavily upon muscle and bone, another upon blood and organs, and another upon meridians, flexibility or endurance.

The Five Elements Harmonization Art refused to choose.

Wood nourished flesh and vitality, Fire stimulated blood and physical force, Earth stabilized the organs and bodily foundation, Metal reinforced bones, tendons and structural strength, and Water circulated through the meridians and maintained fluid balance between everything else.

Every cycle tempered all of them.

That holistic approach sounded wonderful until one remembered that the cultivator needed to control five different elemental energies without allowing them to conflict.

Hence almost nobody chose the damned thing.

Even possessing a Five Elements Spirit Root merely provided permission to suffer.

Damian smiled slightly. "Perfect."

Before beginning, another thought suddenly entered his mind.

One Feat Per Level.

The System reward specifically mentioned increases in Overall Level, which sounded firmly connected to Valoria.

But his system also tracked cultivation separately.

Would reaching Body Tempering Level 1 count?

Probably not, right? After all, it was a different power system.

But the Special Power was a special power, it never stated that only Valorian levels were the factor.

Maybe it would work?

Well, there was only one sensible way to find out!

Damian closed his eyes and followed the breathing rhythm described within the manual, gradually extending his awareness outward.

Almost immediately, the world changed as countless motes of Spiritual Energy surrounded him.

Previously, Damian had sensed it as something resistant, supernatural energy that acknowledged his Mage control but responded with far less enthusiasm than Valorian mana.

Now he was not commanding it through a spell, rather he was inviting it inward, and the difference was astonishing!

Under Damian’s mana sensitivity, the supposedly difficult ambient energy became almost like putty within his hands.

He separated the five elemental tendencies described within the manual, guided them carefully through the prescribed cycle and drew the first thread into his body.

Wood to Fire, then to Earth, then to Metal, and then to Water before repeating the cycle again.

The energies entered one after another and began circulating, causing Damian to quickly lose track of time.

His breathing slowed while his consciousness settled into an extraordinary state where every muscle, bone and heartbeat seemed impossibly clear.

Spiritual Energy moved through him, carrying the five elemental characteristics without being stripped completely into some generic fuel.

He could feel their differences, their textures, and their tendencies.

And somehow, those differences made them easier rather than harder to guide.

Cycle after cycle continued as outside the chamber, afternoon slowly became evening.

Inside, Damian remained motionless.

Six hours after beginning his first meditation, the Five Elements cycle completed its final revolution and something within his body suddenly shifted.

A soft pressure spread through his flesh, bones, organs and meridians before settling into a stable rhythm.

Damian’s eyes snapped open, knowing that he had entered Body Tempering Level 1.

Then the Dual-Realm Exchange System appeared, a blue panel materializing before him.

Then another came, and another.

Damian’s excitement immediately became confusion as notifications began cascading downward faster than he could read them, one window multiplying into three, then five, then an entire wall of translucent blue light.

His eyes widened.

"What the hell...?"

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