Chapter 27: Promotion, the Second Awakening!

As the sky grew completely dark, Xinghuo was taken away for psychological counseling to prevent any lasting trauma.

A significant portion of the handlers, meanwhile, were investigating the cause of this loss of control incident.

Mada was a Second-Awakened psionic; he had been a handler for several years and was quite experienced. He usually had no so-called "inner demons," nor had he reached the stage where promotion was necessary. Yet, during an operation, he had suddenly become distorted.

While the authorities were grieving, they also responded with absolute vigilance. Groups of handlers, each possessing various tracking and investigative abilities, arrived at the scene, hoping to find the culprit from the smallest clues.

If someone were to look down from the heights of the Megacity, they would see a multitude of figures moving through the air at speeds incomprehensible to ordinary people in the darkness.

Simultaneously, the three "wild" psionics caught by the logistics team during a "team-building" outing were being strictly guarded and interrogated by the authorities. They were wild psionics from different districts, yet they had managed to precisely locate each other to form a group within the Megacity, even risking an ambush on a handler.

Clearly, someone was connecting them. The authorities had to follow the thread to find this connector and eliminate the risk to the Megacity in advance.

From current intelligence, the opponent's abilities were highly bizarre. It was said they possessed a certain mysterious communication channel. They could contact one another with zero time lag, even directly reaching psionics of the same faction across several Megacities.

Some would trade or issue tasks within this channel; those who completed them would receive potion ingredients or psionic armaments. After every "contact," items would be delivered to the recipient through some unknown channel. This allowed them to hide very deeply; even if various Megacities suspected them, they were difficult to uproot.

The mysterious organization of unknown origin and the sudden distortion of a handler presented a sense of impending storm, making the high-level officials of the Handling Department quite serious. Neither could be underestimated; they had to remain vigilant.

At that moment, a report reached headquarters.

"Night General... that young man with the Mimicry Overlord mask? He's about to promote?" An elderly man with white hair asked in astonishment. "So soon? How long has he been with the Handling Department?"

"Counting it all up, it's been about a month," an elderly woman responded. "He has, after all, experienced multiple battles, even shattered a Forbidden Object and once faced a Ghost Immortal of unknown level. I thought we'd have to wait another month, but I didn't expect it to be this fast. It's likely a shift in his mindset has allowed his Soul Well to extend."

"That's for the best. Although we aren't sure what lies beyond him, for now, that entity doesn't seem to have hostility toward humanity," the old man said. "If we can catch a glimpse of that entity's silhouette while Night General is breaking through, that would be even better."

"At the time, we only detected the disappearance of the Ghost Immortal's aura; we didn't see the silhouette of that entity. Such a pity..."

***

On the other side, Li Yela felt the changes in his Soul Well. After confirming a certain shift in his mindset, his Soul Well began to extend, continuing to expand into the Void Realm.

This was the sign of an imminent second awakening.

Thus, he said plainly, "I'm about to promote."

He became the fastest-promoting handler among the dozen or so newcomers in the four branches of this No. 3 Border City. If Li Yunyan were here, she would likely have shouted, "Today, I enter the realm of the Land Immortal!"

For the sake of safety, Cheese's expression flickered slightly before she said softly, "Congratulations."

She then grabbed Li Yela and pulled him into the car, immediately notifying Yang Chen.

When the two arrived at the branch, Yang Chen was already waiting at the door. Yang Chen did not seem surprised by Li Yela's promotion speed. After watching him for a moment, he nodded and said, "You are indeed about to promote. This is your first promotion. Before you succeed, you must be careful of the infiltration of power from the Void Realm and potential interference from Void creatures. Cheese, the other teammates, and I will all watch over you."

The promotion ritual was dangerous. Especially during the process, if one encountered interference from Void creatures, it was practically a one-in-ten chance of survival.

This was because, besides using bloody and evil rituals to enter the physical world, there was another way for Void creatures to manifest: occupying a psionic's body! A perfectly compatible body was an irresistible temptation for a Void creature.

Several cases could be found on the Handling Department's forums. It was said that a Void creature with impressive intelligence, upon discovering a body that fit it perfectly, launched an assault on a certain psionic. After multiple failures, it turned its sights on the psionic's children and descendants, persistently interfering in an attempt to seize a body. This led to a very high probability of the psionics in that family losing control.

And since Void creatures were essentially unkillable—killing their physical manifestation only exiled them back to the Void—they became a nightmare for that family. This was the tenacity of Void creatures.

Of course, low-level awakened psionics generally could not attract the attention of Void creatures. For someone at Li Yela's level, encountering a Void creature was a low-probability event.

"If I'm really unlucky and encounter a Void creature, how should I deal with it?" Li Yela considered his own luck; he felt it wasn't impossible for a Void creature to run right into his face.

"Once a psionic expands their Soul Well, they actually leave a projection in the Void Realm through it," Yang Chen explained as he led Li Yela and Cheese into the branch. "The more times you awaken, the larger your projection in the Void Realm becomes."

"Understood. My current projection is too small, so Void creatures generally won't find me. Once I've awakened multiple times and my projection grows, they will naturally be able to sense me," Li Yela nodded. "But my luck is truly not great. What if I really get caught?"

"Don't say such unlucky things," Cheese frowned, giving Li Yela's calf a dissatisfied little kick.

"However, it's normal to have such concerns," Yang Chen comforted him. "During your promotion, we will also be watching you from within our own Soul Wells. If a Void creature truly discovers you and attacks you while you are only at the Second Awakening, it likely won't be a powerful entity. We can scare it off or stall it until your promotion ends."

"No wonder you need to watch over me. It's like being a 'Protector' in a Xianxia novel," Li Yela mused.

"That's why, with us here, your main concern should be the influence of the Void itself," Yang Chen said with a serious expression. "According to our analysis, it might be the rules of the Void: it might guide you into a desire for slaughter, turning you into a demon of killing; or guide you to release your desires; or even induce you to pursue certain untouchable, mysterious knowledge..."

Li Yela had heard this many times, but he still didn't quite understand the danger. "Is it a direct change in personality?"

"Yes. Once influenced, you are no longer yourself, yet you won't even realize it," Yang Chen said deeply. "For example, a Glutton I handled before. He was originally a family man, but the Embers Church guided him to become a psionic, which led to his direct distortion. To suppress that insatiable hunger, he eventually turned on his wife and children."

"There was also a big shot in the academic world who was bewitched during his promotion and obtained certain mysterious knowledge. To pursue that knowledge and the so-called truth, he conducted human experiments on his own daughter and students. It resulted in a tragic incident that left everyone sighing."

"Turning a man willing to die for his family into a cannibal who devours them; turning a kind scholar into a paranoid monster—that is the influence of the Void's power."

Li Yela's heart raced. "This Embers Church really does nothing but evil!"

At the same time, Li Yela felt fortunate that he had chosen to join the official side. If he had been a wild psionic and lost control without being cleaned up immediately, who knew what would happen to his sister? Eaten? Sacrificed?

Li Yela couldn't bear to think he would do such things, but that was the distorting power of the Void. Before being distorted, those psionics wouldn't have believed they would do those things either.

However, perhaps 'Mr. Shadow' wouldn't let him be easily distorted by the Void? Then again, it was hard to say; perhaps Mr. Shadow *wanted* to distort him. He simply knew too little about Him; he would have to find an opportunity to fish for information.

Li Yela asked again, "As a psionic of the Myriad Manifestations Path, do I need to take a potion for my second awakening?"

Without using the correct potion, a psionic's abilities are acquired randomly during promotion.

Randomly!

Therefore, even if psionics of the same level follow the same path, their strength can vary wildly. Some handlers have extremely strong offensive capabilities. Like Xinghuo, who possessed immense destructive power as soon as he became a psionic, becoming a human flamethrower. Other psionics of the same path might have auxiliary abilities like water perception or electromagnetic interference. For newcomers of the same path to have such a massive gap in combat power—isn't that infuriating?

To avoid this, psionics need to take potions. Like Cheese, whose first two awakenings were auxiliary abilities; it wasn't until her third awakening that she used a potion to obtain an offensive ability, Word Soul. Because she didn't dare risk the "luck of the draw," she could only spend merit points to buy potions.

"No. Our Handling Department doesn't have potions for the second awakening of the Myriad Manifestations Path," Yang Chen shook his head regretfully. "We only possess second-awakening potions for the Divine Command and Nether Paths. We have none for the other paths. Perhaps some long-standing psionic families do..."

"However, for the third or fourth awakening of the Myriad Manifestations Path, I can arrange potions for you; I've even prepared some materials. But for the second awakening, there is truly nothing we can do."

Previously, when Yang Chen fought Captain Furnace, it was actually to obtain a relatively rare material. It could be used in the third or fourth awakening, essentially laying the foundation for Li Yela's future progressions.

"Captain, you're so biased!"

"Exactly!"

"The Captain is being unfair!"

The members of Team One present immediately began pointing fingers at Yang Chen.

Yang Chen grinned and cursed, "Which one of you hasn't been helped by me!"

In reality, Yang Chen was indeed putting a lot of effort into helping Li Yela, even intentionally letting him take on heavier responsibilities. But this time, he could only let Li Yela rely on his own luck.

Li Yela nodded gratefully to Yang Chen. "Thank you, Captain. But this time... even if it's a matter of luck, since it's my second awakening, there should be a general range, right?"

"Void Beast Speech, or mimicking the abilities of certain animals. Rarer still is mimicking the characteristics of certain transcendent creatures. Myriad manifestations, the myriad things of the world..." Yang Chen mused. "Remember Captain Furnace? He is on the Myriad Manifestations Path just like you. In his second awakening, he gained the ability to mimic the Blade Scythe."

The Blade Scythe was a type of small, social transcendent creature. They had sharp teeth and claws, and sharp, blade-like dorsal fins on their backs. Once they started rolling, they would turn into a dangerous ring of blades. This transcendent creature lived in the Calamity Forbidden Zone: the Doomsday Forest; they were indigenous to it. A single Blade Scythe might be a low-level existence in the food chain, but once their numbers rose, a swarm of thousands of Blade Scythes rolling their blades simultaneously could even hunt Calamity Behemoths.

Captain Furnace had obtained the ability to mimic this creature. His limbs could transform into weapons at any time, greatly enhancing his melee capabilities. He didn't even need to prepare psionic armaments.

After thinking, Li Yela nodded. "I understand. In the end, it still comes down to luck. What should I do now?"

"Sit quietly and meditate. Once you feel you can pass through, go through the Soul Well. When your consciousness reaches the Void Realm, you have succeeded. Be extremely careful during the process!" Yang Chen led Li Yela and the others into a small room in the branch filled with observation windows.

The room was not large, but it was filled with various instruments Li Yela didn't recognize. Most of these were designed to stabilize the user's state and allow the outside world to accurately monitor Li Yela's physical condition.

"We will stay in the outer room to protect you," Yang Chen said, exiting the room after helping Li Yela sit in the equipment.

He appeared in the detection room outside the chamber.

"How long will the promotion take?" Li Yela asked from the center lounge chair.

"It could be anything," Yang Chen's voice came through the communicator on the wall. "Some finish within two minutes, while others take several days. We will be watching over you the entire time."

"Don't be nervous, don't respond to those calling voices, and don't be deceived by illusions," Cheese reminded him once more.

At that moment, Cheese saw a frog plushie appear in the observation room at some unknown time. It was even holding a sign: [Go for it! Don't be nervous, I'm here ψ(*｀ー)ψ]

'Even the plushie came to guard him? Since when did this kid get so close to a plushie?' Cheese thought, but she didn't pay it much mind and continued watching Li Yela to prevent any accidents.

Inside the room, Li Yela closed his eyes and entered meditation. Soon, his consciousness saw his Soul Well. It was a passage projecting a brilliant starry sky, and his consciousness was located in a misty space beneath the passage. As long as he passed through this wellhead, he could reach the starry sky below and successfully promote.

Thinking this, Li Yela attempted to pass through the passage.

As soon as he entered, many noisy sounds rang in his ears. Subsequently, images began to surface before his eyes. Li Yela saw himself sitting upon a magnificent throne, with countless figures kneeling before him. It seemed that with a single command, he could wield supreme power.

'Nonsense. Even in my most ridiculous dreams, there wouldn't be a scene like this,' Li Yela complained internally.

Then came countless amounts of gold and silver treasures; it seemed he could obtain anything just by speaking.

'Wow, too fake!' Li Yela remarked inwardly and continued forward.

Afterward, he saw beautiful girls, dressed provocatively, smiling seductively at him. It seemed that if he merely beckoned with a finger, they would undress. Li Yela even saw Cheese and the plushie among them, as well as Heavy Cavalry and Shadow Stream, along with many girls he had only met once.

'How unrefined. I haven't even experienced torture, and they've already moved to the honey trap?' Li Yela continued forward.

Then, the images all vanished, but he heard a voice.

"Your father cruelly abandoned you, causing your mother to die of illness, leaving you and your sister to fend for yourselves. Don't you... want to know where he is and what his fate is?" The voice was low and elegant. "Look back, and you will see the answer."

Li Yela paused. He actually felt a sudden impulse to look back and see where that bastard was now. But reason stopped the impulse, and he continued forward. He was already approaching the exit of the Soul Well.

When he passed through the Soul Well and saw the vast starry sky, a powerful force surged into his body. He also saw the cheering Yang Chen, Cheese, the plushie, and the others.

Li Yela smiled and suddenly made a sign in sign language.

'Want to go eat?'

The others were puzzled. A sign appeared on the plushie's board: [What's wrong? What does that mean[_?]]

Everyone looked at Li Yela with confusion.

Li Yela sighed, "How insidious, even using this!"

He knew that before the plushie learned to type on the sign, it had learned sign language. And since this plushie did not know sign language, it was a fake.

All of this was fake!

Thus, Li Yela took another step forward.

In a trance, he heard the laughter of 'Mr. Shadow.'

Then, the illusions before him all vanished, replaced by the true starry sky of the Void Realm. A surge of power rapidly flooded his body, making Li Yela's physical form and psionic abilities increasingly powerful.

Li Yela successfully promoted. Second Awakening!