A dse red star ergy gushed out, flooding us''s soul sea with an overwhelming and terrifying power. Outside his body, small runes began revolving a him, while his aura surged higher by the second. Inside his body, his bones started glowing gold as ancit runes lit up along them.


    "How is this possible?" the Sior muttered, wide-eyed as he observed the changes.


    "Sior, what''s happing?" us asked, feeling his strgth soar and his Star Qi rising to unfathomable levels.


    "You''ve merged with the star ergy," the Sior replied, "and now it''s reforming your bones."


    "Reforming? Does that mean I''m getting new bones?" us questioned, but the Sior remained silt. us quickly realized the answer for himself. He could feel it—deep within his body, his arm bones were turning transpart. As more ergy flooded in, the rest of his bones began to shift, bing clearer with every second.


    Once all his bones had turned transpart, blood-red runes started merging with them, pulsing with ancit power. Th, a sudd agony overtook him. us felt as if every bone inside him was being crushed, shattered, and reformed from scratch.


    "Endure, us!" the Sior urged. "This is a blessing. If you manage to reform all your bones, ev the gods will vy you!"


    As the Sior spoke, the heavs on the outside roared above. Dark clouds formed ominously, but just as quickly as they appeared, they dispersed, leaving behind an eerie calm.


    As more blood-red runes merged with us''s bones, they gradually turned transluct, their hue shifting from normal  to deep crimson. The runes circled a them, pulsing with power, while more Star Qi surged into his body, filling his bones with immse ergy.


    "This feeling..." us muttered, ssing his body bing several times stronger. Th, a grin spread across his face. "Hahaha! This is great! This is truly incredible!" us was beyond overjoyed.


    The searing pain that had wracked his body began to ease over time, but he didn''t focus on it. What consumed his thoughts now was the transformation within him. His ergy source had changed —from Spiritual Qi to the much more powerful version, Star Qi. He could feel the vast differce.


    Where once he needed to use 40 perct of his ergy to unleash an attack, now, with just  perct of his Star Qi, he could achieve a far more devastating effect.


    With this shift, us realized that whever he leveled up, his Star Qi pool would continue to grow. However, he also understood that the power of his new ergy would limit how much of it he could umte. Star Qi was several times stronger than Spiritual Qi, but it would take a lot more effort to expand its reserves. This thought brought a twinge of frustration.


    "What are you being gloomy about?" the Sior interrupted. "You''ve reformed your bones, gaining something, not ev gods, humans, beasts, or demons have possessed since the dawn of time. Don''t underestimate yourself, us. The currt you is a terrifying existce. Just having these bones is a gift. With minimal ergy, you''ll be able to unleash attacks that would make others tremble."


    The Sior''s words made us''s heart race. He had never imagined his bones could be so powerful. It was hard to wrap his mind a it.


    "Sior," us asked, still in awe, "can you tell me more about these bones of mine?"


    "I can''t say much," the Sior replied, "but know this: you no longer need to cultivate the star diagram like before. These new bones of yours have evolved to the point where they will constantly temper themselves using your ergy. Fortunately, you have more than ough Star Qi to sustain this ongoing evolution."


    He paused before continuing, his tone firm, "Focus on raising your cultivation base. That should be your priority now. With your currt cultivation level, you can only ess less than 5 perct of your full strgth. But as your cultivation rises, so will your ability to harness the full power of your bones."


    us''s mind buzzed as he absorbed the Sior''s words. Just 5 perct, yet he could tell the currt him is about twty times stronger than before he started cultivating the star diagram.


    "This cultivation method is more terrifying than I thought," us muttered to himself, clching his fists with determination. "I have to ter the Forbidd Zone soon. This time, I won''te out until I''ve leveled up a few times."


    With that, us focused inward, letting his consciousness reter his body. Wh he stood up, he immediately noticed how much stronger he felt. His muscles were taut with power, and his bones hummed with ergy. Curious to test his new strgth, us walked over to a strgth-measuring machine.


    Clching his fist tightly, he punched the te without hesitation.


    BOOM.


    The tire training g trembled from the force of his blow. us''s eyes wided as a number shed on the disy: "9,000Kg"


    "This... this is too good to be true," us whispered, staring in disbelief at the result. He couldn''t believe how much stronger he''d be.


    After a momt, he sighed and left the training g. What he needed now were live targets to truly test how far he''d progressed. But there was one issue—he had promised his mother he wouldn''t go hunting for at least a week, and it has only be less than three days since hisst hunt.


    "I''ll have to convince her somehow," us muttered to himself as he tered the bathroom to fresh up. Once he was clean, he ate a quick meal, th took a slow walk a their home, taking everything in, deep in thought.


    Evtually, us returned inside and wt to his loving mother. He approached her with a small, hopeful smile. "Mom, I know I said I wouldn''t go hunting for a while," he began, using his most innoct voice. "But I need to get used to my rect cultivation. I promise I''ll be careful." He finished with wide, pleading eyes, hoping to sway her decision.


    us''s mother looked up from where she was sitting, her eyes narrowing slightly as she studied her son. She knew him too well, and his attempt to use his puppy eyes wasn''t lost on her. She sighed softly, cing her hands on herp.


    "us," she began gtly, "you''ve barely had time to rest. I can see how much you''ve grown, but you promised me you wouldn''t rush back out there."


    "I know, Mom," us replied earnestly, stepping closer. "But this time is differt. I''ve gained so much strgth in thesest few days—more than I ever imagined. I just need to see what I''m truly capable of now. I need to test myself so I can protect us better."


    His mother''s expression softed. She could see the fire in his eyes, the same determination she had se wh he first awaked. It was hard to argue with his reasoning, especially knowing how much us wanted to improve their lives. She could feel the sincerity in his words, and though she worried, she also knew that us wouldn''t let his new power go untested for long.


    With a heavy sigh, she nodded. "Alright, us. You can go. But," she added firmly, "you must promise me you''ll be cautious. I don''t want you to take unnecessary risks."


    us grinned, relieved and grateful. "I promise, Mom. I''ll be careful. I''ll stick to areas I know are safe."


    His mother smiled softly, though her eyes remained serious. "You''re stronger now, us, but that doesn''t mean you''re invincible. Don''t let this power make you reckless."


    "I won''t, I swear," us said, hugging his mother tightly. "Thank you, Mom. You''re the best." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before running to his room.


    Once there, he called Uncle Ziggy, excitedly informing him that he had obtained his ID and could now officially join the Bloodaxe Mercary team. A few minutester, us received a message confirming his membership with the team. His joy was palpable, and he wt to bed that night with a sse of satisfaction, looking forward to the wild advtures ahead.


    The next morning, his mother prepared various dishes for him, which us stored in his space ring. But despite his protests, she insisted he also take his bag filled with snacks. After a final, heartfelt hug, he left with Kofi, who drove him to the Hunters Guild.


    Inside the Guild, us quickly bought a hunting pass. He was giv a watch-like device that could idtify monsters, their grades, and sses. It also recorded points for each kill.


    The points system was as follows: killing a Tier  monster earned 0 points, a Tier 3 monster earned 500 points, a Tier 4 monster earned ,000 points, and a Tier 5 monster earned 0,000 points. In the Forbidd Zone, however, monsters came in differt sses, each with its own point system.


    Lesser monsters earned twice the base points, great monsters five times, Dark monsters t times, and Terror monsters twty times.


    us frowned at theplexity of the points system. He knew he couldn''t change the rules, so he resolved to follow them and see where his newfound strgth would lead him. Thankfully, only those under the Saint stage were allowed to ter Tier  and 3 Forbidd Zones. us bought a Tier  pass, where the strongest monsters were Tier 5 Terrors.


    With everything in ce, us felt a mix of excitemt and nervousness as he prepared to head into the forest. He was led to a waiting area. After a while, many more hunters appeared and sat in wait.


    After three hours, the ce was filled up. us ssed almost everyone was a grandmaster stage expert. Some ev sneer wh they sse his cultivation base. Clearly, they are looking down on him. After a while, thest person came. They were led into a huge armored shuttle which quickly drove them away.


    Three more hourster, they appeared in a ruined City. "From here onwards, you are your own. Transportation will arrive a week from today, those who survive should be here by th"


    us clched his fist and th disappeared into the ruined city ready to hunt.