The silence in the underground vault was heavy, broken only by the hum of the industrial air recyclers.
Lin Meng was still staring at the handprint her brother had pressed into the solid steel beam. The "truth" he had shared, the Legacy, the inheritance, was overwhelming. But beneath her awe, the physical reality of her condition was still there. She felt weak. Nauseous. Her meridians ached with a dull, throbbing heat.
"Brother," she said, tearing her eyes away from the steel. "If you have this... this Legacy... why did I get sick? Why did the 'Clear Water Chant' hurt me?"
Lin Hao turned from the beam. He walked over to a metal workbench where he had set up a small medical station.
"Sit," he commanded gently.
She sat on the edge of the table. He placed two fingers on her wrist, pretending to check her pulse, while in reality, he was focusing his System interface on her.
"The Legacy isn't magic, Meng," he lied, mixing truth with fiction. "It's engineering. It's physics."
He looked at her, his expression serious.
"Think of your body like a pipe. The 'Clear Water Chant' is a high-pressure fire hose. If you try to force that much water through a narrow pipe..."
"It bursts," she whispered.
"Exactly. That's what you felt. You were beginning to rupture."
He focused his mind. "System. Scan target."
[Target: Lin Meng] [Cultivation: Level 1: Novice (Iron Skin)] [Talent: Level 4: Common Root]
He confirmed it. His remote upgrade in Chapter 71 had worked. She was a Common Root.
But "Common" was just that, common. It was the standard for the new world's infantry. It was Level 4. It was enough to cultivate mortal techniques safely.
But he had given her a Low-Grade Spirit Tier Gongfa. And he had given her Spirit Tier pills.
He was trying to turn her into a goddess using mortal clay. Level 4 wasn't enough. To handle Spirit-grade resources safely, to grow at the speed he needed her to grow without exploding, she needed to be better.
She needed to be Superior.
"Your talent," Lin Hao said, "is 'Common.' It's good. Better than most. But it's not enough for the Legacy."
He opened the [Upgrade Others] tab. He needed to see the path forward.
[Target: Lin Meng | Talent: Level 4: Common Root] [Upgrade: Level 5: Superior Root]?
He braced himself.
His own upgrade from L4 to L5 had been 50,000 UP (Chapter 60). The upgrade for his sister from L3 to L4 had been 50,000 UP (Chapter 71).
He expected the cost to be 50,000 again, maybe slightly more. He had 185,650 UP in the bank. He was ready to pay.
The number appeared.
[Cost: 250,000 UP]
Lin Hao went still.
Two hundred and fifty thousand.
The scaling wasn't linear. It was geometric. The jump from "Common" (Level 4) to "Superior" (Level 5), the realm of the true prodigies, the "1 in 10,000" talent, was a massive leap in quality. And the System demanded a massive price.
He looked at his balance.
[Upgrade Points (UP): 185,650]
He did the math instantly.
250,000 - 185,650 = 64,350 UP.
He was short.
He was short by an amount that, just a week ago, would have been an impossible fortune. Even now, with his 200k daily income looming, he didn't have it right now.
He looked at his sister. She was watching him, trusting him, waiting for the "Master" to fix her.
He couldn't fix her tonight.
If he tried to force her to cultivate now, she would only hurt herself again. Her Common Root was a bottleneck for the high-octane fuel he was pouring into her.
He let go of her wrist. He kept his face impassive, hiding the frustration that was boiling in his gut.
"Your foundation is still too narrow," he said calmly. "We cannot force it. If you practice the Chant tonight, you will damage yourself permanently."
Lin Meng's face fell. "So... I can't be like you? I can't use the Legacy?"
"Not yet," Lin Hao said firmly. "We need to... prepare you. We need to widen the pipe."
He turned away, walking back to the steel beam, his mind racing.
He needed 64,350 UP.
Midnight was 20 hours away. He could wait. He could just let her rest here, in the safety of the fortress, and upgrade her tomorrow night.
But "waiting" felt like defeat. And he had a suspicion, a dark, paranoid suspicion, that the world wasn't going to let him wait quietly.
He looked at his balance again. 185,650.
It wasn't enough for her.
But... was it enough for him?
He was Level 8. He was stuck at the peak of the Houtian realm, waiting for his weekly timer. But his Talent...
He opened his [Self Upgrade] tab.
[Talent: Level 4: Common Root] [Upgrade: Level 5: Superior Root]? (Cost: 50,000 UP)
For him, the host, the cost was standard. Fifty thousand.
He could upgrade himself to Superior Root right now. It would cost 50,000.
That would leave him with 135,650.
Then, tomorrow night, he would get 204,800. 135,650 + 204,800 = 340,450.
He would still have enough to upgrade his sister tomorrow.
He didn't have to choose. He just had to wait one day for her.
"Meng," he said, turning back to her. "Tonight, you rest. You sleep in the guest room. It's safe here. Tomorrow... tomorrow I will perform a procedure. A ritual. It will fix your foundation."
"Really?"
"Really," he promised. "But tonight... I need to meditate. I need to prepare."
He walked her to the elevator. He needed to be alone.
Because if he was going to upgrade his own talent to Superior, he had a feeling it was going to be... loud.