Dual Realm Exchange System

”What the hell...?”

Damian stared at the wall of translucent blue notifications filling his cultivation chamber, his brief triumph over reaching Body Tempering Level 1 immediately buried beneath System messages.

Fortunately, they were not actually random.

After several seconds, the overlapping screens rearranged themselves into four distinct layers, the first group moving forward while the others faded slightly into the background.

Damian focused upon the nearest panel.

[Congratulations! The Host has successfully stepped onto the path of cultivation!]

[Energy Compatibility successfully established between the Host and Shengyuan!]

Another notification immediately followed.

[Tutorial Quest Three Completed!

Quest Name: A Different Path

Objective 1: Acquire a complete introductory Cultivation Technique — Complete.

Objective 2: Successfully begin cultivation — Complete.

Objective 3: Reach Body Tempering Realm — Entry Stage — Complete.

Reward: Special Power — One Proof, Eternal Proof.]

Damian’s eyes sharpened.

There it was, the third tutorial reward!

One Feat Per Level had already been absurd enough to completely redefine his future in Valoria, while Permanent Realm Passage had transformed the Dual-Realm Exchange System from glorified storage into an actual bridge between civilizations.

Naturally, Damian had been extremely curious about what Shengyuan’s tutorial would provide.

The answer appeared before him.

[Special Power Acquired: One Proof, Eternal Proof.]

[Description: What has been proven once shall remain proven forever. What has been perfected shall not be denied by lesser causality. The Host’s existence within Shengyuan has been recognized, reinforced and recorded.]

[Effect One — Eternal Progress

1. All genuine advancement achieved by the Host becomes permanently secured.

2. The Host may improve, stagnate or advance slowly, but cannot naturally regress in cultivated realm, technique mastery, accumulated knowledge, Specializations, magical proficiency, bodily condition or other legitimately established development.

3. Damage may temporarily reduce capability where physically appropriate, but recovery will always return the Host toward the highest legitimate state previously achieved.

4. Age-related decline is negated until the natural end of lifespan.]

Damian stopped reading.

”...Excuse me?”

He leaned closer, reread the final lines, then summoned his Character Sheet long enough to confirm that his lifespan had not magically become infinite.

It had not, and he remained mortal, yet apparently, his body would never undergo the normal deterioration associated with aging.

His muscles would not gradually weaken merely because decades passed. His mind would not become slower because his body grew old, and Skills he had mastered would not rust simply because he had not practiced them for several years.

If Damian reached some spectacular physical peak at fifty, then he could apparently maintain that state at sixty and beyond, right until the final moment permitted by his natural lifespan.

Then?

According to the additional explanation that appeared when he focused upon the effect, his existence would simply reach its limit and collapse.

No period of long decline nor years of slowly becoming unable to walk, think or control his own body.

He, Damian Baines, would remain at his best until the metaphorical battery reached zero, then crumble into dust almost instantly.

Damian’s expression became complicated.

”So basically... Saiyan aging rules, except the ending is considerably less dignified.”

Still, that was insane, and the first line was even more ridiculous.

Progress could not be lost, huh?

Damian had experienced enough life to understand how terrifying that concept was.

People forgot languages, athletes lost conditioning, experts became rusty, and bodies weakened after injuries.

Even learned knowledge faded without use, while years of progress could disappear because someone spent six months bedridden.

For Damian?

If he genuinely reached a level of ability once, then that achievement became a permanent floor beneath him.

He could only ever improve above it and simply could not fall below it naturally.

”That alone could qualify as a cheat ability for a transmigrator,” Damian murmured, before remembering that it was only the first effect.

He moved downward.

[Effect Two — Perfection of Being

1. The Host’s present existence is protected by the proof of his perfected possibilities.

2. Entities sharing the Host’s present spacetime remain capable of interacting with, harming and killing the Host through ordinary means.

3. However, hostile interference originating through cross-temporal causality cannot directly erase, cripple, corrupt or prematurely terminate the Host before his present existence earns the corresponding consequence.

4. When necessary, the System generates a simulated perfected future-state of the Host to oppose such interference.]

Damian became silent, then he read it again once, twice, and then three times.

”Okay... that one is truly terrifying.” Damian commented with a deep breath.

The first effect of this new special power protected progress whereas the second protected causality.

A cultivator standing outside his door could still burst in and cut his head off, and a dragon in Valoria could still roast him into barbecue.

Poison remained poison, swords remained swords, and Damian was not receiving some earth-shattering declaration that nothing could ever harm him again.

But apparently, if some monstrous future enemy learned time travel and decided that killing Damian at Level 1 sounded easier than fighting whatever Damian eventually became?

Too bad.

Something resembling a perfected simulation of future Damian would appear within the causal interaction and tell them to kindly fuck off.

Damian slowly scratched his cheek.

”So if someone from five thousand years in the future looks at a portrait of me and decides, ’This bastard caused all my problems, let me go strangle him while he’s weak,’ the System essentially responds with, ’No spoilers.’”

That was...

Comforting.

...and also deeply concerning.

Because a power protecting him from future interference implied that future interference was apparently a thing that could happen.

Damian immediately decided not to think too hard about that.

There were some doors a Level 1 Mage and Level 1 Body Tempering cultivator had absolutely no business opening.

The final effect appeared.

[Effect Three — Shengyuan Proof Record

1. The Host’s Shengyuan existence has been digitized through the Dual-Realm Exchange System.

2. All recognized cultivation advancement may now be quantitatively tracked.

3. Cultivation realms, techniques, comprehension, mastery and compatible progression paths will display measurable advancement values.

4. This function records progress. It does not create progress without cause.]

Immediately, a new interface unfolded.

[Shengyuan Cultivation Record

Name: Damian Baines

Cultivation Realm: Body Tempering Level 1

Realm Progress: 0%

Cultivation Method: Five Elements Harmonization Art (Human)

Technique Mastery: Entry (3.17%)

Martial Skills: None.

Daoist Arts: None.

Special Cultivation Feats: None.]

Damian’s eyes practically glittered.

”Oh, now this I like.”

This was the kind of thing cultivation novels constantly gave their protagonists, progress bars, mastery values, and a clear indication of advancement!

Thankfully, with this, there would not be any sitting beneath a waterfall for thirty years wondering whether he had become one percent better at swinging a sword.

He could actually see progression happen, and more importantly, the Special Power’s derived system from effect three was not giving him free improvement.

The panel explicitly stated that it only recorded legitimate development, so if Damian wanted the Five Elements Harmonization Art to advance, he still had to cultivate.

If he wanted mastery, he still had to comprehend and practice.

The cheat aspect of it all was the certainty of knowing whether something worked or whether one training method was better than another.

He could experiment with pills, arrays, different environments, altered breathing cycles and Valorian magical assistance, then directly compare the result.

For someone with Damian’s personality, that might be even more dangerous than raw power.

”You gave a logistics worker measurable cultivation productivity,” Damian muttered solemnly.

”System, I don’t think you understand what you’ve done.”

The first layer of blue screens finally faded, allowing the second group of notifications to surge forward.

[Cross-System Advancement Detected.]

[Special Power: One Feat Per Level has completed adaptation to Shengyuan.]

[Clarification: Cultivation Realm advancement qualifies as a Level Increase for the purpose of this Special Power.]

Damian shot upright.

”HOLY SHIT, IT WORKS?!”

His voice echoed through the otherwise silent cultivation chamber as a new panel opened before him.

[Special Power: One Feat Per Level!]

[Upon qualifying advancement, the Host may select one Feat from either available Realm Pool.]

[Valoria Feat Pool]

— Origin

— General

— Class

— Racial

— Special

[Shengyuan Feat Pool]

— Body

— Skill

— Qi

— Spirit

— Essence

Damian nearly laughed, because this was utterly outrageous.

He had wondered whether Shengyuan cultivation would count before beginning, but actually seeing confirmation was something else entirely.

Every Valorian level could grant him a Feat, and now, every Shengyuan cultivation breakthrough could also grant one!

On top of that, either advancement could theoretically select from either realm’s pool!

Damian immediately saw the temptation, but he also immediately saw the problem.

If he started mixing everything indiscriminately, he could easily waste the greatest advantage the System had given him.

Valoria already offered absurd Feats specifically designed around Classes, Skills and Character Sheet mechanics.

Whereas Shengyuan likely possessed an entirely different development structure.

After several minutes of deliberation, Damian settled upon a simple rule.

”When I level in Valoria, I take a Valorian Feat. When I break through in Shengyuan, I take a Shengyuan Feat.”

This rule was not absolute.

If some extraordinary situation appeared later, Damian was not stupid enough to bind himself forever.

But as a default policy, it was clean, efficient, and most importantly, prevented one progression system from cannibalizing the other.

Damian selected the Shengyuan pool.

The options appeared.

Body Feats:

Damian’s lips parted slightly.

Then the next category opened.

Skill Feats:

”Those names sure are overpowered,” Damian muttered speechlessly.

He opened the Qi tab.

Qi Feats:

Damian then focused on the Spirit section.

Spirit Feats:

Then came the final Essence tab.

Essence Feats:

Damian stared at the countless options, realizing that he recognized far too many of these concepts.

Some were physiques that cultivation protagonists stumbled into after falling from cliffs, luck blessings that ensured every random cave contained a dead immortal’s inheritance, and even weapon talents that turned farming hoes into divine killing implements.

Multiple dantians, monstrous souls, absurdly large or pure Qi Seas...

These were not skills at all, but were more like protagonist templates being offered as selectable bonuses!

And just like Valoria’s Feat choices, the problem was not finding something good.

The problem was that almost everything looked good!

Damian spent nearly twenty minutes opening descriptions, comparing immediate benefits against long-term scaling and forcing himself not to become distracted by names like .

Eventually, practicality defeated greed, and his finger settled on one option.

[Feat Name: Cultivation Prodigy

Feat Category: Qi

Effect: Increases the Host’s base cultivation speed by 10% per point of Intelligence.

Current INT: 7.

Current Cultivation Speed Bonus: +70%.]

Damian sighed with satisfaction at his choice and its effect.

His six-hour breakthrough had already seemed suspiciously smooth because of his Mage sensitivity, and now every future cultivation session would become seventy percent faster on top of whatever advantages he gained from pills, formations, techniques and resources.

Even better, the Feat scaled with Intelligence, so every future INT increase would improve his cultivation speed again.

A Mage Attribute was directly accelerating cultivation... that was exactly the kind of cross-system synergy Damian wanted!

Before Damian could properly celebrate, the third layer of notifications moved forward.

[Tutorial Complete.]

Damian’s smile slowly faded.

[The Host has successfully established a preliminary foundation within both authorized realms.]

[Valoria: Identity established. Class acquired. Independent livelihood and advancement path established.]

[Shengyuan: Cultivation established. Local affiliation and resource access established.]

[The Dual-Realm Exchange System determines that compulsory introductory guidance is no longer necessary.]

[All future non-emergency quests are optional unless explicitly stated otherwise.]

[May your exchanges prove profitable, Host!]

Damian remained quiet for several seconds.

Strangely, he felt a little wistful.

The tutorial had not been some annoying game assistant forcing him through ten pointless menus.

It had given him direction when he possessed nothing, leading him toward the Adventurer’s Guild, made him test the System Storage to open Shengyuan, then pushed him to establish cultivation before he could become comfortable merely trading between worlds.

Every reward had fundamentally changed his situation.

First, One Feat Per Level.

Then, Permanent Realm Passage.

And now, One Proof, Eternal Proof.

Damian exhaled slowly and smiled.

”Thanks.”

He did not know whether the System was intelligent or whether anyone was listening.

Still, gratitude cost nothing.

Then the fourth and final group of alerts appeared.

[Basic Realm Synchronization Information Unlocked.]

[Temporal Ratio: Valoria 1 : Shengyuan 1.]

[Time continues simultaneously in both authorized realms regardless of the Host’s current location.]

[Realm transition does not generate meaningful temporal displacement.]

[Exchange Storage remains synchronized with the Host across both realms.]

[Cross-Realm Adaptation will continue automatically where compatible System functions encounter differing natural laws.]

Damian nodded slowly.

A one-to-one ratio simplified things enormously.

There would be no spending a week cultivating in Shengyuan only to discover that six months had passed in Valoria nor any absurd time-dilation exploitation either, but Damian would happily exchange that potential advantage for predictable timing.

Then the final notification appeared.

[New Optional Side Quest Available!]

[Quest Name: The Birth of a Journeyman!

Description: The tutorial may be complete, but establishing a foundation is merely the beginning! Reach beyond the Novice threshold and take your first true step into Valoria’s wider world!

Objective: Reach Overall Level 6 and become a Journeyman!

Reward: Special Power — Skill Upgrade System.]

Damian tapped the edge of his staff against the ground, his gaze remaining fixed upon the final line.

Skill Upgrade System, huh?

The name was kinda obvious this time.

As this was a Valorian quest, this was likely a Valorian-focused reward, and if there was one thing about skills that Damian knew in Valoria, it was that they could either be bestowed or learned.

Bestowed were capped until you ’unlocked’ the higher tier version to overwrite the previous one and learned had to be grinded for oneself the hard way.

If this new power could upgrade bestowed or learned Skills and Specializations...

Slowly, the corners of his mouth rose.

He had ten thousand five hundred Qi Nourishing Pills sitting inside Exchange Storage, and reaching Level 6 was exactly what he had purchased them for.

Damian looked at the quest panel, then at his inventory, then back at the quest panel.

A dangerous smile spread across his face.

”Well then...”

It seemed the tutorial ending did not mean the System had stopped being generous!