Chapter 51: Breakthrough

Jackson had a fairly good opinion of Alchemist Dawn. Now that the man had successfully become a true Rank Two Alchemist, he was someone Jackson could no longer afford to ignore.

Wondering why Dawn had contacted him this time, Jackson opened the message.

After reading through its contents, a faintly suspicious look appeared in his eyes.

Accompany him deeper into the Blood Demon Forest...

The request itself was simple enough.

And the reward was quite generous.

If this had happened a few days ago, Jackson probably wouldn’t have hesitated for even a moment. He had been desperately short on money back then, and a generous reward was more than enough reason to take a certain amount of risk.

But things had changed.

He was no longer in urgent need of money.

More importantly, the location Alchemist Dawn had mentioned was deep within the Blood Demon Forest.

That was an entirely different matter.

Second Sequence monsters were common in those deeper regions. Even Jackson, who had already accumulated considerable combat experience and possessed the Golden Brush, wouldn’t casually venture into such a dangerous place without proper preparation.

He leaned back slightly, his fingers tapping against the side of the hunter license as he carefully considered the situation.

After roughly analyzing the possible risks and rewards, Jackson didn’t rush to accept the mission.

Instead, he sent a short reply saying that he needed some time to think about it.

He had barely sent the message when a response arrived.

Alchemist Dawn:No problem. Take your time. I’m not in any hurry anyway. I’ll leave in a week, so just tell me your decision by then.

Jackson stared at the message for a few seconds.

There was nothing unusual about the words themselves, but he could sense a faint trace of determination hidden behind them.

It was obvious.

That fellow was hell-bent on going.

Even if Jackson refused to accompany him, Alchemist Dawn probably wouldn’t abandon the plan.

Jackson couldn’t help shaking his head.

"A week of time is enough for me to reach the Second Sequence Realm..."

A faint smile appeared on his face.

If he could successfully break through to the Second Sequence within that period, the situation would be completely different.

At that point, Jackson wouldn’t mind accompanying Alchemist Dawn into the depths of the Blood Demon Forest.

After all, there was no harm in having a Rank Two Alchemist owe him a favor.

More importantly, Jackson had a feeling that this trip might bring him an unexpected harvest.

...

Later that night, after enjoying a warm dinner with Mother Rose and Aella and spending some time with his family, Jackson finally returned to his room.

The warmth and laughter from downstairs gradually faded behind him as he closed the door. Once the room fell quiet, Jackson sat down cross-legged and began meditating.

He took out a Peak Rank One pill manufactured by Awakened Paradise.

The Dual Essence Pill.

It was considered one of the best Rank One pills for simultaneously enhancing the two primary attributes of an awakened.

Jackson placed the pill into his mouth and swallowed it.

A moment later, a rich medicinal energy exploded inside his body.

Warmth spread through his limbs, flowing through his meridians and gradually being absorbed into his body. His spiritual force circulated at full speed, guiding the medicinal energy toward every part of his body that could benefit from it.

Jackson quietly waited.

Yet not long afterward, he opened his eyes.

A subtle look of helplessness appeared on his face.

The energy of the Dual Essence Pill had already completely dispersed.

Jackson carefully sensed the changes within his body before letting out a quiet sigh.

"The effects of Rank One pills are not the same as before..."

That was the problem.

As his strength continued to increase, the effectiveness of Rank One pills had already begun to diminish.

What once provided him with a significant boost was now barely enough to produce a noticeable improvement.

It was like trying to fill an increasingly large lake with a cup of water.

The resource hadn’t changed.

He had.

If Jackson wanted to continue advancing at his current pace, he would eventually need to obtain Rank Two pills.

The other option was to hunt more corrupted monsters and absorb their corruption cores.

Both possibilities made his brows furrow slightly.

He had already hunted most of the weaker corrupted monsters in the surrounding area.

The monsters that remained were far more dangerous.

Almost all of them had reached the Second Sequence.

With his current strength, challenging them would be extremely risky.

As for purchasing Rank Two pills, it wasn’t that Jackson couldn’t afford them.

The problem was their price.

At his current stage, Rank Two pills were simply too expensive to use as a regular cultivation resource. Even with the wealth he had accumulated recently, spending enormous amounts of money on pills every day would quickly drain his savings.

Jackson sat silently for a moment.

His fingers lightly rested against his knee as he considered his options.

In the end, there was only one thing he could do.

"I can only continue to persist..."

Jackson slowly closed his eyes again.

He wasn’t going to let a temporary bottleneck stop him.

If the easy resources were no longer effective, then he would simply have to find another way forward.

After all, his path had never been an easy one.

With that thought, Jackson stopped meditating and took another Dual Essence Pill from his storage.

He held the pill between his fingers, examining its smooth surface for a moment before activating the Golden Brush.

The pill’s status window appeared before his eyes.

[Peak Rank One Dual Essence Pill — A pill created from the mixture of exquisite Rank One ingredients and the heart of a molten lion. It is very effective at increasing both the primary attributes of awakened beings.]

Jackson silently summoned the Golden Brush into his hand.

Golden light shimmered faintly along its tip as he focused his attention on the status window.

He had tried this countless times already.

Still, Jackson wasn’t willing to give up.

With a thought, he attempted to rewrite the pill’s rank.

[Peak Rank One Dual Essence Pill] → [Low Rank Two Dual Essence Pill]

For a brief moment, the change actually persisted.

Jackson’s eyes immediately lit up.

But that excitement lasted only a few seconds.

The rewritten information began to tremble.

Then, like a structure that could no longer support its own weight, it suddenly collapsed.

The altered information disappeared, reverting back to its original state.

[Peak Rank One Dual Essence Pill]

Jackson stared at the status window in silence.

Once he had noticed the diminishing returns of Rank One pills, he had immediately begun experimenting with ways to overcome the problem.

His first idea had been simple.

If Rank One pills were no longer effective enough, why not simply turn them into Rank Two pills?

Unfortunately, reality had repeatedly slapped down that brilliant little plan.

No matter how many times he tried, he failed every time.

The Golden Brush could rewrite the information attached to an object, but there appeared to be limits to what it could actually change.

Perhaps there were certain fundamental restrictions that even the Golden Brush couldn’t override.

Jackson let out a reluctant sigh.

It seemed he still had a long way to go before he could casually rewrite anything he wanted.

Putting away the Golden Brush, Jackson looked at the Dual Essence Pill in his hand.

Even though its effectiveness had diminished, it wasn’t completely useless.

A small improvement was still an improvement.

He swallowed the pill once again and closed his eyes.

Soon, his breathing became steady as he sank back into deep meditation.

There was no shortcut this time.

He could only continue accumulating strength little by little.

And Jackson was confident that if he maintained this pace, he would reach the Second Sequence within one week.

...

Time continued to flow like water.

Six days passed in the blink of an eye.

On the morning of the seventh day, Jackson sat cross-legged in the center of his room, his body perfectly still and his breathing steady. With every slow breath he took, the spiritual force within his body circulated in a steady rhythm, continuously nourishing his newly transformed spiritual space.

Inside that space, an almost corporeal dragon soared through the air.

Its enormous body moved gracefully through the vast darkness, circling the boundaries of the expanding domain as though inspecting its territory. Every movement carried an imposing pressure that was completely different from before.

After days of relentless effort, Jackson’s spiritual space had once again broken through its previous limits.

Ten meters.

It had reached an astonishing ten meters in diameter.

This was already beyond what should have been possible.

Even the legendary geniuses possessing nine-resonance talents were supposed to be capable of expanding their spiritual spaces to only nine meters, reaching the so-called perfect foundation.

Yet Jackson had surpassed that limit.

And he had done so with a five-resonance talent.

Within his enormous spiritual space, faint reddish smoke slowly drifted through the darkness like thin clouds.

This wasn’t ordinary mana.

It was the magical power unique to Second Sequence awakened beings.

An energy born from the fusion of spiritual force and mana.

Although the amount currently circulating within Jackson’s spiritual space was still relatively small, its quality was vastly superior to the energy he had possessed during the First Sequence.

This was also the reason Second Sequence experts could completely dominate First Sequence awakened beings.

The difference wasn’t merely a matter of quantity.

It was a fundamental transformation in the quality of their power.

Jackson silently sensed the changes taking place deep within himself.

A powerful sensation surged through his body, and despite his usually calm temperament, a hint of excitement finally appeared in his eyes.

He had done it.

In only seven days, he had crossed the boundary between the First and Second Sequence.

Jackson summoned his status window and carefully examined the information displayed before him.

[Name — Jackson Von Maximus]

[Age — 16]

[Talent — Aura of Slaughter]

[Realm — Early Second Sequence]

[Spiritual Force — 10.7]

[Mana/Physique — 10.1]

Jackson stared at the status window for several seconds.

A faint smile slowly appeared on his face.

Early Second Sequence.

He had finally stepped into an entirely new realm.