The fog that shrouded Iron Cloud Mountain was not a natural phenomenon. It was a masterpiece of spiritual engineering.
From the outside, the mountain peak looked like a boring, gray, impenetrable bank of cloud, the kind that made drivers subconsciously lift their foot from the gas and turn around.
Inside the barrier, however, the night air was crystal clear.
Lin Hao stood on the cantilevered balcony of the West Wing, the wind whipping his hair. He wore his simple, black training clothes, the [Concealment Robe] and [Mask] resting on a table behind him.
He looked down.
Fifty feet below, on the manicured, moonlit lawn, a shadow moved. It was Blackie, his [Level 2] Spirit Beast. The dog moved with a silent, liquid grace that no mortal animal possessed. Its eyes, swirling with blue mist, scanned the darkness.
A rabbit, foolish enough to wander through the perimeter, suddenly froze near the gate. It had crossed the line of the "Phantom Fear" array. The animal shivered, paralyzed by a sudden, unnatural terror, before bolting back into the forest. Blackie watched it go, not bothering to chase. He was a guardian, not a hunter.
Lin Hao smiled. The outer shell was secure.
He turned his gaze inward, through the glass walls of the manor.
In the brightly lit East Wing, Mr. Zhang, Fatty, was pacing. He was on the phone, gesturing wildly with a half-eaten sandwich.
"I said fiber optic, not copper! The Boss needs zero latency! Yes, dig up the road if you have to! We have the permits! We bought the permit office!"
Fatty was thriving. He had found his calling as the bulldog gatekeeper of the estate. He was loyal, he was loud, and he was completely, blissfully unaware that his "Boss" was currently standing on the balcony, circulating enough energy to power a small city.
Lin Hao's gaze shifted again, this time looking beyond the mountain, twenty miles south, toward the sleeping suburbs.
[The Lin Family Home]
The morning sun was just touching the window, the one with the new glass, paid for by a terrified insurance company.
Lin Meng opened her eyes.
She didn't groan. She didn't hit snooze. She woke up instantly, her mind clear and sharp as a bell.
She took a breath.
For the last week, breathing had been a chore. Her "Clear Water Chant" had felt like trying to suck a milkshake through a thin straw. Her "Inferior Root" had been a bottleneck, a resistance she had to fight against.
But this morning...
She inhaled. The air tasted sweet.
The Reiki in her bedroom didn't just trickle in; it flowed. It felt natural, easy, and abundant. The "straw" had become a garden hose.
She sat up, looking at her hands. She felt... lighter. Stronger. The blockage she hadn't even known was there was gone.
She grabbed the manual from under her pillow. She didn't know how, or why, but she knew that the Masked Expert, the one her brother said had nodded at her, had done something.
"I won't waste it," she whispered to the empty room.
She sat cross-legged on her bed, closed her eyes, and began to cultivate her new, [Common Root] hungry for power.
[Skyview Manor]
Lin Hao felt the connection fade. He knew she was awake. He knew she was stronger.
He turned back to the city lights below.
He was [Level 8: Meridian Opening]. He possessed a High-Grade Gongfa, a Mid-Grade Body, and a Low-Grade Step. He owned a fortress hidden by magic and defended by fear. He had a loyal front man and a Spirit Beast guardian. He had ten billion dollars in the bank.
By any metric of the old world, or even the new "Awakened" world, he was a god. He was the "Hidden Boss" he had set out to be.
But Lin Hao didn't feel triumphant. He felt... small.
He opened his interface.
[Upgrade Points (UP): 33,360]
It was a fortune to a beggar. But to a king, it was pocket change.
He looked at the greyed-out options that loomed in his future.
[Target: Lin Meng | Talent: L4 -> L5 (Superior Root)]? [Cost: 500,000 UP]
[World Upgrade: Planar Ascension (Middle Spiritual Plane)]? [Cost: 10,000,000 UP]
Five hundred thousand. Ten million.
Those were the real numbers. Those were the costs to truly protect his family, to truly change the world, to break the ceiling that was trapping everyone on Earth at Level 9.
His "exponential loop" was earning him 100k a day. That meant five days for his sister's next upgrade. A hundred days for the World Upgrade.
It sounded fast. But in a world where Level 5 monsters were already breaking loose, where Level 4 prodigies were hunting for power... a hundred days was an eternity.
He gripped the railing of the balcony.
"The grind," Lin Hao whispered to the wind, "is only just beginning."
He turned and walked back into the shadows of the West Wing. The sun was rising on a new day, and he had a lot of money to make.