Ren walked over to his desk and woke the apartment’s main display.

The screen unfolded into the air in front of him — a thin sheet of soft blue light, sharp enough to read at any angle, dimming or brightening based on the angle of his eyes. It was the kind of technology that would have felt like science fiction in his last life and was so ordinary in this one that no one even commented on it.

He navigated to the official Orien School portal and logged in with his student ID and password. The login interface paused for a fraction of a second, registering something — and a small banner appeared at the top of the dashboard, replacing the usual school news ticker.

AWAKENING CONFIRMED. PLEASE COMPLETE TALENT REPORT.

’So they already know,’ Ren thought. ’The portal verifies the awakening the moment a registered student logs in after midnight. Faster than I expected.’

He clicked the banner.

A simple form appeared, asking for the talent that had awakened. Below it, a clean dropdown list of every officially recognized talent type, sorted by rarity — common at the bottom, rare near the top, legendary right at the top in soft gold lettering.

Bloodline Plant Lord was at the very top of the legendary column. Listed in bold.

Ren hesitated for the briefest moment.

’No point hiding it,’ he thought. ’The school has its own scanners. They’d find out the moment I walked back through the gate. Better to be cooperative — at least with this part. Hiding the System is non-negotiable. Hiding the talent would just slow me down without protecting it.’

He selected Bloodline Plant Lord. Pressed submit.

"...Well, that’s done," he muttered.

He leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms overhead, lacing his fingers behind his head.

Now all he could do was wait.

About thirty seconds later—

Ding.

A new notification appeared on his light-brain — a school-priority email, marked urgent, with three small icons indicating attached cultivation packages.

Ren leaned forward immediately.

"That was quick."

He opened the email.

Inside was a large package of documents, evidently auto-generated and sent the moment his report had hit the school’s systems. The documents covered the three evolution pathways:

Bloodline Plant Lord Pathway, Bloodline Pathway & Plant Pathway

Along with the pathway reference documents, the school had attached a generous starter package of cultivation resources, available for download:

A special cultivation technique for the Bloodline Plant Lord pathway, An energy meditation method, Basic fist combat training, Basic footwork training & A basic evasion technique

Ren whistled softly.

"Not bad... they’re giving quite a lot to beginners."

He opened the first document.

Bloodline Plant Lord Pathway — Reference Manual.

— • —

First Stage — Seed Stage.

At this stage, the cultivator fuses their soul with a special seed. This fusion forms a permanent symbiotic bond. The seed becomes the cultivator’s core of life. As long as the seed survives, the cultivator cannot truly die. Even if their body is destroyed, regeneration is possible from the seed — though at this stage, regeneration is very slow.

Ren blinked. "...Wait."

He read the line again.

"...So basically, partial immortality."

’On the very first stage,’ he thought, ’this pathway already gives partial immortality. No wonder it’s the rarest.’

He scrolled to the next section.

Second Stage — Germination Stage.

At this stage, the seed awakens and begins to grow. The cultivator must nourish the seed using their own blood, similar to how water feeds ordinary plants. Through meditation, the seed also absorbs natural energy from the environment.

As the seed grows, root-like spiritual channels spread throughout the cultivator’s body. Vitality dramatically improves. Lifespan extends to roughly five hundred years. Healing speed climbs sharply. Physical strength rises in proportion to the cultivator’s potential.

Ren slowly nodded. Five hundred years sounded extreme. It also sounded barely-warm-up for a pathway whose first stage offered partial immortality.

Third Stage — Sprout Stage.

The seed evolves into a spiritual sprout. At this stage, the cultivator must integrate genetic materials from plants, animals, and rare substances. Most of these materials can only be found inside Secret Realms. They form the foundation of the cultivator’s future evolution. Even powerful noble families and high-tier cultivators fight over these resources for their descendants.

Once the sprout forms, the cultivator undergoes a major physical evolution. Their strength can reach 100 to 500 tons, depending on potential. Regeneration improves dramatically — lost limbs can regrow within one or two months.

Ren leaned back in his chair.

"...One hundred tons?"

He rubbed his chin.

"Yeah... if I had this kind of strength in my last life, I should have sent Truck-kun flying instead of getting run over by it."

He shook his head and kept reading.

Fourth Stage — Seedling Stage.

This stage marks the true beginning of advanced cultivation. The plant spirit becomes stable and powerful. Inside the cultivator’s soul-space, a spiritual plant begins to grow. Leaves and branches start forming. Each leaf and branch represents a new ability.

These abilities depend on the materials used during earlier stages. At this stage, the cultivator produces a special energy called Bloodline Plant Energy. Possible abilities include:

Powerful regeneration, Control over ordinary plants, Faster recovery by absorbing natural energy and Absorbing life energy from plants and animals (warning: leads to unstable foundation and limited future potential)

Ren exhaled slowly.

"...Damn."

"This pathway is actually broken."

He saved the document, made a mental note to read it again three more times after his first cultivation session, and opened the second.

Bloodline Pathway — Reference Manual.

In this pathway, cultivators focus entirely on bloodline power. They strengthen their bodies through blood tempering, refining their blood using special techniques and intense combat. At later stages, cultivators can fuse beast bloodlines or rare genetic materials found inside Secret Realms. Eventually, they reach the stage known as Blood Lord, where their bloodline power becomes extremely dominant over all other forms of energy in the body.

Ren shrugged. "Yep... the classic warrior route."

’Fight, get stronger, evolve through combat. Beautifully simple. The kind of pathway my old self would have romanticized in a webnovel and gotten killed trying to follow.’

’Direct, brutal, and the most popular path on the planet for a reason. Sixty percent of all awakeners go this way. The cultivation manuals are everywhere. The mentor pool is massive. The instinct to punch a problem until it stops being a problem is universal.’

He moved on.

Plant Pathway — Reference Manual.

The Plant Pathway focuses on energy cultivation and nature connection. Cultivators nurture a spiritual plant seed using natural energy. Instead of focusing on raw physical strength, this pathway specializes in energy control and environmental power.

Cultivators absorb energy from sunlight, the earth, and the surrounding life force. Although their physical strength is usually lower than bloodline cultivators, their energy reserves and regeneration abilities are extraordinarily powerful. The Plant Pathway is also the most common path among scholars, alchemists, and long-distance combatants.

Ren tapped a finger against his desk.

"And this one’s the mage route, more or less."

’Mom and Dad walked this one. So did about thirty-five percent of all awakeners. Solid, sustainable, well-supported. The pathway with the most public manuals, the most public mentors, and the lowest fatality rate. The pathway most likely to keep you alive long enough to actually live.’

He closed all three documents and leaned back in his chair.

For a moment, the room was completely quiet.

Three pathways. Three completely different lives. Different friends. Different enemies. Different futures.

And he hadn’t even chosen, really. The pathway had chosen him.

’Bloodline Plant Lord,’ he thought. ’The strongest. The rarest. The one most people will never see in their lifetime.’

’And, almost certainly... the most hunted.’

That last thought sobered him.

He turned the chair toward the window and looked out at the city.

’Stage 1 gives partial immortality. Stage 3 gives a hundred tons of strength. Stage 4 grows abilities like leaves on a tree. And the manuals stop describing the higher stages because, presumably, anyone who reaches them is no longer reading public manuals.’

’Every powerful family on this planet would kill for a child with this talent. Every secret organization would kill to study it. And here I am, a quiet eighteen-year-old in a quiet apartment, holding a talent the world considers almost legendary.’

’And I don’t even know how rare yet. The manuals call it the rarest, but no manual lists actual numbers. I’ll have to ask Mom and Dad.’

He had not been a Bloodline Plant Lord because he had earned it. He had been because the System, the multicolored ball of light still humming softly in his consciousness, had quietly tilted the awakening in his favor. Without it, he would have rolled the dice like every other student in his class. Bloodline. Plant. Maybe nothing at all.

Instead — this.

The most valuable. The most dangerous. The most watched.

He let out a slow breath.

Then a slow grin spread across his face anyway.

"Alright," he said quietly. "Time to read the manuals properly... and start my cultivation journey."