[! SYSTEM WARNING !]
[Host consciousness lost.]
[Host life signs declining...]
...
[Abnormal Water Qi current detected.]
[Escape trajectory unavailable.]
...
[Host drawn into a high-density Water Qi region.]
...
[Warning.]
[Water Qi Whirlpool detected.]
[Lightning Qi generated by violent Water Qi rotation.]
[Host trapped within the whirlpool.]
...
[Shell sustaining continuous impact.]
[Existing fractures worsening.]
...
[Previous injuries deteriorating.]
[Bone fractures increasing.]
[Meridians tearing.]
[Tendons rupturing.]
...
[Warning.]
[Mutated Hybrid Core destabilizing.]
[Core fractures detected.]
...
[Pure Beast Qi leaking...]
[Dormant Chaotic Qi leaking...]
...
[Active Beast Qi resonating with Pure Beast Qi.]
[Qi convergence complete.]
...
[Pure Beast Qi resisting Dormant Chaotic Qi.]
[Internal Qi conflict intensifying.]
[Meridian damage accelerating.]
[Tendon damage worsening.]
[Qi circulation collapsing.]
...
[Host condition: Critical.]
[Vital functions approaching failure.]
...
[Qi Veil Art activated.]
[Emergency circulation initiated.]
...
[Qi Veil Art overloaded.]
[Emergency circulation failing.]
...
[Unknown authority detected.]
[Source: ???]
[Analysis impossible.]
...
[Emergency protocol unlocked.]
[Qi Veil Art breaking past previous limit.]
[Qi Veil Art: Perfection.]
...
[Emergency Qi Veil established.]
[Host fully enveloped.]
[Conflicting Qi streams isolated.]
[External destruction resisted.]
...
[Whirlpool traversed.]
[Host has entered a Middle-Grade Pure Water Qi Vein.]
...
[Mutated Hybrid Core initiating self-repair.]
[Retrieving leaked Core Qi...]
...
[Pure Water Qi detected.]
[Hybrid Core instinctively absorbing external Water Qi.]
...
[Warning.]
[New Qi entering host.]
[Host body unable to assimilate new attribute.]
[Consciousness synchronization required.]
...
[Primal Repose activated.]
[Host consciousness entering Water Qi resonance.]
...
[Body reconstruction initiated.]
[Broken bones regenerating.]
[Damaged organs recovering.]
[Blood essence replenishing.]
[Meridians restoring.]
...
The last thing I remembered was being swept away by the river.
After that... everything disappeared.
I had expected to awaken in the same endless void that Primal Repose had shown me before.
Instead, when my awareness slowly returned, I found myself somewhere entirely different.
Above me stretched an endless blue sky, while beneath me lay a boundless expanse of water. One side remained perfectly still, its surface as calm as a mirror. The other churned endlessly, great waves crashing into one another as a powerful current spiraled into a vast whirlpool. Despite being completely opposite, both existed within the same endless sea.
My attention gradually settled upon them. At first, I merely observed the two sides, but before I realized it, I had begun to feel them.
The calmness, the flowing currents, the violent waves, and even the restless whirlpool no longer felt distant. It was as though my consciousness had quietly become part of everything before me.
The feeling was strangely familiar.
In my previous life, water had always been the foundation of life. Every living thing depended on it. Rivers nurtured civilizations, rain sustained forests, and oceans supported countless forms of life. Yet I had also witnessed its terrifying side. Floods buried entire towns, storms swallowed coastlines, and raging seas destroyed everything that stood before them.
Water had never belonged to a single nature.
It wasn't merely calm.
Nor was it merely violent.
Both were simply parts of the same existence.
The moment that thought crossed my mind, the two currents slowly flowed toward each other. There was no collision, no struggle.
Calmness and destruction intertwined naturally, becoming a single endless stream once more. Without realizing it, my consciousness followed that flow, and I could no longer tell where the water ended... and where I began.
...
Meanwhile, outside the realm of consciousness, the unconscious body of the tortoise continued undergoing its silent transformation.
[Host consciousness synchronized with Water Qi.]
[Water Qi resonance established.]
[Trace resonance detected with leaked Pure Beast Qi.]
[Mutated Hybrid Core stabilized.]
[Temporary equilibrium established between the four Qi.]
• Beast Qi — Stable.
• Pure Beast Qi — Dormant.
• Chaotic Qi — Dormant.
• Water Qi — Mostly Dormant.
[Qi Veil Art maintaining Qi circulation.]
[Body reconstruction complete.]
[Water Qi Attribute successfully formed.]
[Water Qi integrated into host.]
[Primal Repose entering its final stage.]
[Host consciousness returning...]
The endless water that had remained perfectly still for what felt like an eternity finally rippled.
A single ripple spread across the surface, followed by another. Before long, countless ripples quietly expanded across the endless water. The connection I had shared with it gradually faded, and the peaceful world around me slowly grew distant. The blue sky, the endless sea, and everything within it quietly disappeared into darkness.
Little by little, my awareness returned.
The familiar weight of my shell rested upon my back once more. My neck and limbs were tucked safely inside it, yet they no longer felt battered or weak. The pain that should have greeted me was nowhere to be found.
Instead, an unfamiliar strength quietly filled my body, while an indescribable calm settled over my mind.
I didn't know what had happened while I was unconscious.
But I could tell...
Something had changed.
Slowly, I opened my eyes.
Darkness greeted me for only a brief moment before I realized I was still inside my shell.
Instinctively, I stretched my neck outward, followed by my forelimbs, and slowly pushed myself free.
Cool water immediately brushed against my scales.
I blinked.
Clear blue water surrounded me in every direction. Gentle currents drifted silently through the cavern, carrying countless tiny specks of light that shimmered like floating stars. Soft blue radiance seeped from the surrounding rock walls, illuminating the entire underground space without the need for sunlight. Strange crystal formations covered parts of the cavern, while patches of aquatic plants swayed gently with the slow currents.
"...An underground lake...?"
I slowly looked upward.
Far above, the water disappeared into darkness, where a massive whirlpool silently rotated like the mouth of an endless abyss.
Despite its terrifying appearance, not a single disturbance reached the peaceful water below, as though the two regions had been completely separated.
Only then did I lower my gaze toward myself.
My forelimbs looked completely different.
The battered scales I remembered had become darker and more compact, fitting together almost seamlessly. My claws had grown slightly longer, their edges sharper than before. Even the moss that had covered my shell for so long had almost completely vanished, revealing a darker shell beneath, its surface appearing far sturdier than I remembered.
I slowly flexed one forelimb.
It moved effortlessly.
The pain that should have been there had completely disappeared, replaced by a quiet strength flowing throughout my body.
"...What happened to me?"
"...And where am I?"
I couldn't remember anything after being swept away by the river. Yet somehow, I had ended up here.
As I remained still, an odd sensation suddenly caught my attention.
The water around me felt... alive.
I didn't need to see the currents to know how they flowed. Every gentle movement, every ripple, every shift within the underground lake appeared clearly in my mind, as naturally as breathing.
At the same time, a cool energy drifted through the water, quietly surrounding my body.
It didn't feel hostile.
Instead, it felt strangely familiar... almost welcoming.
"...What is this feeling?"
I unconsciously tried to sense it.
The moment I did, the cool energy immediately responded, gathering around me before slowly dispersing back into the lake.
I frowned.
"...This isn't Beast Qi."
A familiar blue screen suddenly appeared before my eyes.
[Host consciousness fully synchronized.]
...
[Time elapsed since loss of consciousness: 6 Months.]
"...Wait."
I froze.
"...Six months?"
My breathing stopped.
"What do you mean... six months?"
The blue screen remained before me.
Before I could process those words, another line slowly appeared.
...
[Emergency recovery sequence completed.]
...
[Water Qi Attribute successfully awakened.]
...
[Displaying current host status...]