The Quantum Path to Immortality-Chapter 221 - 220: Dimensional Forest - Overwhelming Energy

The moment Kai crossed into Eternal Darkwood Forest, he gasped.

The energy here was thick.

Not just dense—thick. Like trying to breathe honey instead of air. Every breath pulled in Nexis so concentrated it almost felt solid in his lungs.

The ambient energy in Redwood City was already higher than most normal places because it was a cultivation city. But this...

[Ambient Nexis Density: 1,000× higher than Redwood City]

[Dimensional Energy Present: Trace amounts detected in atmosphere]

[Natural Treasures Detected (within 100 km radius): 47 items]

[Spirit Beast Population Scan...]

[Scanning...]

[Scan Complete]

[Tier 1 Beasts: 847,000,000,000 (847 billion)]

[Tier 2 Beasts: 340,000,000,000 (340 billion)]

[Tier 3 Beasts: 89,000,000,000 (89 billion)]

[Tier 4 Beasts: 12,000,000,000 (12 billion)]

[Tier 5 Beasts: 2,100,000,000 (2.1 billion)]

[Tier 6 Beasts: 340,000,000 (340 million)]

[Tier 7 Beasts: 47,000,000 (47 million)]

[Tier 8 Beasts: 8,000,000 (8 million)]

[Tier 9 Beasts: 1,200,000 (1.2 million)]

[Tier 10 Beasts: 89,000 (89 thousand)]

[Total Spirit Beast Population: Approximately 1.3 trillion]

Kai's eyes went huge. "There are over a TRILLION spirit beasts in this forest?!"

[Affirmative. Eternal Darkwood spans ten galaxy clusters—approximately 100 million light-years in true interior dimensions. The dimensional compression allows for ecosystem population density that would be impossible in normal space.]

[Warning: Tier 4+ beasts possess human-level intelligence and Law comprehension. Tier 6+ beasts may have cultivation bases exceeding Host's current power level. Tier 8+ beasts can destroy solar systems. Tier 10 beasts can annihilate entire galaxies.]

[Exercise extreme caution in deep forest regions.]

"But I'm only going to hunt Tier 3-5 beasts for now, right?"

[Recommended. Tier 5 beasts will provide good combat experience and moderate attribute gains. Tier 6+ combat should be avoided until Host gains more experience.]

Kai looked around the forest with new appreciation. The trees here were massive—trunks so thick twenty people couldn't link hands around them. The canopy blocked out most of the moonlight, leaving the forest floor in deep shadow.

Strange sounds echoed through the darkness. Howls. Roars. Screams that might have been beast or might have been human.

"System, I need to cultivate here. This energy density is incredible for the Void Scripture."

[Agreed. Recommend activating passive cultivation while exploring.]

[At current ambient energy density, passive cultivation rate will increase by 1,000%]

Kai grinned. "Lets do it."

He separated one thread of his consciousness—just one of his ten thousand parallel thought streams—and dedicated it entirely to running the Primordial Universe Void Scripture in passive mode.

He began circulating the technique according to the scripture.

And everything changed.

A Devouring Domain spread out.

A sphere of absolute darkness erupted from Kai's body.

Not a shadow. Also not the absence of light. Not even the deepest black imaginable.

It was Void.

Pure, conceptual nothingness. The fundamental emptiness from which all things emerged and to which all things would eventually return.

The domain expanded rapidly from Kai's center as kai controlled it range—one meter, two meters, five meters—finally stabilizing at a perfect ten-meter radius sphere with Kai at its heart.

Within that sphere, the Primordial Universe Void Scripture devoured EVERYTHING: and i mean everything.

Matter Consumption:

Air molecules: Broken down and converted to void energy

Dust particles: Disintegrated on contact

Fallen leaves: Erased from existence

Tree bark that touched the sphere's edge: Began flaking away as it was consumed layer by layer

Small insects: Unfortunate bugs that flew into the domain simply ceased to exist

The ground itself: The top layer of soil was slowly evaporating, leaving bare earth

Energy Consumption:

Ambient Nexis: Completely drained within the sphere

Natural energy from plants: Absorbed from roots and stems

Heat energy: Temperature inside the sphere dropped toward absolute zero

Light: Photons that entered never escaped—the sphere appeared pitch black from outside

Sound: Vibrations were absorbed—the sphere was completely silent inside

Dimensional energy traces: The tiny amounts present were eagerly consumed

Life force: Any living thing that lingered in the domain would feel their vitality draining instantly

This was a pure demonic technique disguised as a primordial one

The sphere moved with Kai as he walked. Wherever he went, that ten-meter radius of pure consumption followed like a loyal pet.

It was beautiful in a terrifying way.

Trees that stood outside the domain grew normally, their leaves rustling in the breeze. Trees whose trunks entered the sphere began withering immediately as their life force was drained. If they stayed in the domain long enough, they'd crumble to dust.

The ground showed a clear trail of Kai's passage—a path of bare, lifeless earth marking everywhere he'd walked.

[Primordial Universe Void Scripture: Active (Passive Mode)]

[Absorption Rate: 1,000× higher than in Redwood City]

[Cultivation Speed: +1,000% modifier applied]

[Estimated time to next 0.00001% progress: Approximately 3 hours of passive cultivation]

[Warning: Domain is highly visible. Stealth impossible while cultivating.]

[Recommendation: Accept the trade-off. Power gain outweighs tactical disadvantage.]

Kai laughed quietly. "I don't need stealth. I'm not here to hide—I'm here to hunt!"

The void domain pulsed around him as if in agreement, consuming everything within reach.

Kai walked deeper into Eternal Darkwood, his void domain devouring everything in a ten-meter radius around him.

The forest was darker here, the trees older and more twisted. Strange bioluminescent fungi grew on some trunks, glowing with soft blue and green light. Somewhere in the distance, something roared—deep and primal and angry.

After about 2 minutes of walking, leaving a trail of dead earth behind him, Kai's spiritual sense detected something small nearby.

A Tier 1 spirit beast. Alone. Weak. Probably foraging for food.

He approached carefully, his void domain moving with him like a bubble of annihilation.

In a small clearing ahead, illuminated by the faint glow of spirit mushrooms growing on a fallen log, sat a Horned Rabbit.

The void domain hadn't reached it yet—Kai was still about twenty meters away, and he'd unconsciously slowed his approach when his spiritual sense identified what it was.

The rabbit was... adorable.

Pure white fur that seemed to glow softly in the mushroom-light, like it had absorbed some of the bioluminescence. Big, round ruby-red eyes that sparkled with Tier 1 intelligence—not smart enough to talk, but smart enough to have basic emotions and survival instincts. A tiny pink nose that twitched as it munched contentedly on a glowing blue mushroom. Two small crystalline horns sprouted from its forehead, catching the light beautifully like little prisms.

It looked like something from a children's storybook. Like someone had taken the concept of "cute bunny" and made it into a spirit beast.

Kai stopped walking completely.

His void domain stopped with him, the edge of the sphere holding steady about twenty meters from the rabbit.

"System..." Kai whispered. "That's really cute."

[Affirmative. Tier 1 Horned Rabbit detected.]

[Constitution: 90]

[Spirit: 90]

[Intelligence: 10]

[Comprehension: 4]

[Nexis Spheres: Approximately 200]

[Known Abilities: Horn Pierce (basic attack), Enhanced Jump, Night Vision, Spirit Herb Detection]

[Threat Level to Host: Absolutely none whatsoever]

"I don't think I can kill it."

[Host requires combat experience and attribute absorption to progress cultivation—]

"But look at its little nose! It's twitching while it eats! That's adorable!"

[...Host is being distracted by aesthetic appearance rather than focusing on cultivation goals.]

"Can't I just... take it home? As a pet? Taylor would love it!"

[Host's mission parameters were combat experience and power gain, not pet acquisition.]

"But it's so cute!"

[Irrelevant to—]

Kai took a step forward without thinking, and his void domain advanced with him.

The edge of the sphere crept closer to the rabbit—nineteen meters, eighteen meters...

The rabbit's ears suddenly swiveled toward Kai. Its head turned, mushroom still clutched in its tiny paws.

Their eyes met across the clearing.

For one peaceful moment, nothing happened.

Then the rabbit noticed the sphere of absolute darkness behind Kai—a ten-meter bubble of pure void that was slowly advancing toward it, consuming everything in its path. Trees withering. Ground dying. Even the air turning cold and dark where the sphere touched.

The rabbit's cute expression transformed into pure, primal terror.

Its red eyes went huge. Its ears flattened against its head. Its entire fluffy body trembled as every survival instinct it possessed screamed RUN.

But it was a Tier 1 beast. Young. Inexperienced. And when confronted with a threat it couldn't understand, its instincts didn't say run.

They said FIGHT.

The rabbit dropped its mushroom and charged.

Not away from the void sphere—that would have been smart. No, it charged directly at Kai, because the small human child was between it and escape, and it needed to get through him to run away from the sphere of death.

"Wait, I don't want to hurt you—!" Kai started.

The rabbit didn't care about what Kai wanted. It was running on pure panic now.

It launched itself forward with surprising speed for something so small, its crystalline horns beginning to glow with concentrated Nexis as it activated its ultimate technique: Horn Pierce.

This was the rabbit's ultimate and best attack. A technique it had spent three years of its short life cultivating and practicing. A move that could punch through solid tree trunks. The accumulated skill of all its hunting and fighting experience.

To the rabbit, this was maximum power.

To Kai, it looked like an angry cotton ball with toothpicks glued to its head.

Kai didn't even move. Didn't raise his sword. Didn't even raise any form of defense.

He just... stood there. Watching the rabbit approach with something like pity.

The rabbit's glowing horn struck Kai's leg at full speed with all the force a Tier 1 beast could muster.

CRACK!

The crystalline horn shattered like glass hitting diamond.

Fragments of crystal scattered across the clearing, glowing faintly as they fell. The rabbit's momentum carried it forward into Kai's leg, then immediately reversed—the impact with Kai's absurdly dense energy body bouncing it backward.

The rabbit tumbled head-over-tail through the air.

It hit the ground once, bouncing like a skipped stone. Tumbled again. Bounced a third time.

Finally slid to a stop against a tree root, dazed, confused and hurt.

Kai looked down at his leg. Not even a scratch the size of an atom. His Constitution of 1,500,000 meant his energy body's density was so ridiculously high that the Tier 1 beast's full-power attack hadn't even registered as pressure. It was like being hit by a feather.

"Oh no! Are you okay?!"

The rabbit lay there in a crumpled heap, its broken horn leaking a thin trail of blood down its white fur. Its red eyes were glazed with shock and pain.

Then it started crying.

Actual tears rolled down its fuzzy cheeks as it made pitiful whimpering sounds that tugged at Kai's heart.

"No no no, don't cry!" Kai rushed over, temporarily forgetting about his void domain.

The sphere followed him as he moved.

The rabbit saw the advancing sphere of annihilation and tried desperately to scramble away, but it was too dazed from hitting Kai's leg. Its movements were uncoordinated. Panicked.

Kai reached it first, scooping the trembling rabbit up gently just before the void sphere could touch it.

The moment Kai's hands made contact, the rabbit left the domain's effect—Kai could instinctively control what his void consumed, and he definitely didn't want to accidentally erase his new friend.

"Shhhh, it's okay. That hurt, didn't it?" Kai cradled the rabbit carefully in both arms, feeling it tremble against his chest. "I'm so, so sorry. I didn't mean for you to break your horn. I just wanted to say hello!"

The rabbit struggled weakly, trying to escape, but it was hopeless. Kai's grip wasn't painful, but it was absolutely unbreakable.

"Don't worry! I'll take care of you from now on!" Kai smiled brightly at the terrified rabbit. "My sister Taylor will LOVE you! She's always wanted a pet but Mom said we couldn't afford to feed a spirit beast, but I can hunt for food now, so it's fine!"

The rabbit's struggling intensified.

"I'll name you... Cotton! Because you're fluffy like cotton! And soft! You're perfect!"