Free Web NovelChapter 64: Re-Optimize
The ward-circle campsite was the best thing that had happened to Ren’s cultivation since entering the Greymist Stretch.
Clean air, stable ground energy, no corruption pressure draining his filtration. For the first time in six days, he could cultivate without spending half his output just keeping the bad energy out. He sat cross-legged near the edge of the ward circle after dinner, closed his eyes, and started his evening session.
That was when he noticed the problem.
His core energy circulation — the Ren Valis Version, the optimized breathing pattern that had been his daily foundation since the Hollowroot Realm — felt slightly off. Not broken. Not damaged. Just a half-step out of sync, like a pair of shoes that used to fit perfectly but his feet had grown since the last time he checked.
— • —
He stopped and thought about it. The math was simple. When the System had first optimized his cultivation techniques, his foundation had been early Germination — shallow roots, narrow channels, limited energy capacity. Since then, he had pushed through the entire Germination stage to peak level, deepened his root network, expanded his channels, and spent a week in a corruption zone under constant energy pressure that had forced his body to adapt in ways normal training never would.
His foundation had changed. His techniques hadn’t kept up.
It was like driving a car at sixty in a machine that could now do a hundred and twenty. Everything still worked, but he was wasting potential with every breath. The old calibrations were holding him back.
’Time for an upgrade,’ he thought.
OPTIMIZE. freēwēbηovel.c૦m
Target: Full technique re-calibration — all "Ren Valis Version" protocols.
Current foundation: Peak Germination, top 0.1%. Root network fully deployed. Channel capacity expanded +34% since initial optimization. Energy cycling efficiency outdated by current growth rate.
Re-calibrating...
— • —
The System worked for about thirty seconds. Ren could feel it in the background of his mind — a cool, precise process running through his techniques one by one, measuring them against his current foundation, identifying the gaps, and rebuilding each one from the ground up.
Then the results came in.
Re-calibration complete. Ren Valis Version 2.0 applied.
Core Energy Circulation: breathing pattern adjusted for expanded channel capacity. Energy absorption rate +22%. Cycling speed +15%.
Waste reduction: near-zero at current output levels.
Combat Technique Package: strike efficiency re-tuned for increased root-network density. Power transfer improved +19%. Reaction-speed ceiling raised. Footwork recalibrated for current body weight and muscle distribution.
Energy Filtration (Corruption-Zone): cycling timing tightened for field conditions. Corruption resistance +11% above previous field optimization. Channel defense protocol upgraded for mid-tier corruption exposure.
Overall training efficiency gain: +26% compared to Version 1.0 protocols.
Twenty-six percent. That was not a small number.
Ren opened his eyes and took a breath using the new cycling pattern. The difference was immediate. The energy moved through his channels faster, cleaner, with a smoothness that made the old version feel like running through sand. Every breath pulled in more natural energy and processed it more efficiently. His roots absorbed it deeper. His seed received it purer.
He ran a quick combat form — three basic strikes and a block, the kind of sequence he could do in his sleep. The strikes were sharper. The energy transfer was tighter. The same movement, but it hit harder because less force was being lost between his root channels and his fists.
’That’s a serious upgrade,’ he thought. ’I should have re-calibrated days ago.’
— • —
He spent the next hour testing the new versions in a proper cultivation session. The ward-circle’s clean energy was perfect for it — no corruption interference, just pure cultivation under an open sky with the old Valis formation humming faintly beneath him.
The results were clear by the time he finished. His daily cultivation speed had jumped by more than a quarter. His combat techniques were sharper across the board. His corruption filtration was significantly more efficient, which meant he could operate in the zone for longer without draining his reserves. And the energy flowing through his channels felt right in a way it hadn’t for days — like a machine that had been running slightly off-tune and had finally been adjusted back to where it belonged.
Kaia pulsed warmly. She liked the new calibration. The energy flowing through her roots was smoother, and the cultivation session on the ward-circle ground had settled her in a way that nothing else in this zone had managed.
Ren leaned back and looked up at the stars through the gap in the canopy. The corruption zone was dark and wrong in every direction, but inside this circle of clean ground, under the ancient ward built by someone who might have shared his blood, things felt almost peaceful.
— • —
He thought about where he stood. Peak Germination, fully locked. Techniques re-optimized for his current level. A purified Crimson Vitality Bloom ready for absorption. The Life-and-Death Beetle waiting in Spatial Storage. A group of allies who were getting stronger every day alongside him.
The path to Sprout was real now. Not theoretical, not someday-maybe. He had the foundation, the materials were coming together, and the System was doing what it did best — turning his effort into results that no normal cultivator could match.
He still had to find more materials. The Crimson Vitality Bloom was one piece, but the Sprout breakthrough would need several compatible resources absorbed together. The deeper zone, where the mutations were stranger and the corruption was heavier, was where the rest would be.
That was tomorrow’s problem.
For tonight, he had clean air, a twenty-six percent efficiency jump, and a warm pulse in his chest that felt settled and content for the first time in a week.
’Not bad,’ he thought. ’Not bad at all.’
Kaia agreed.
— • —
Author’s Note: Ren Valis Version 2.0 is live. Twenty-six percent efficiency gain across the board. The System keeps earning its place. Next Chapter, Selene teaches something only a fellow BPL can teach — and Ren learns it a little too fast. Thanks for reading!
