Far from home, a lonely traveler flies through the infinite universe.
It travels among the twinkling stars, under the steady sunlight, and through the endless void.
It also travels alone.
Only now did Rock truly understand what this meant.
It's a lonely thing, accustomed to resting peacefully in place and letting the world go by. but. There is always something.
In the narrow gap between two boulders, the rocks watch rabbits frolicking, hiding from hunters, and foraging for autumn's scarce food.
Deep in the underground classroom, it saw little spiders crawling around, weaving webs with countless patterns, like a fragile tapestry hanging on the dark ceiling.
Even before it really knew consciousness, when it was just an ordinary rock, it somehow saw the clouds rolling over it and the eagles dancing in the wind.
There is always something. life.
But now, there is only a silent swarm of gravel and stones following it, unconsciously attracted by a skill (meteor shower). But this is not life.
However, there is no despair or depression in the rock. Because it never really understands life. Why do spiders build those webs that always turn to dust after a few months? Why do rabbits frolic and give birth to babies, only to have them die within just a few years?
They don't really grow. A brief burst of life before inevitably succumbing to the tyranny of time.
The rock doesn't care about time, so it knows it is superior to others. It's been a long time coming by now. Is the wizard who threw it here dead and turned to dust?
That's why it's not hostile, it's not malicious. Why worry about things like retaliation when you can just wait for the enemy to leave?
This is a lesson that many other practitioners can learn a lot from.
But the rock doesn't know that, so it focuses its attention on its only true traveling companion. Because...have you ever really been alone in this world?
Pursue:
Current altitude: 179 500 123 222 meters
The stone never closed the screen again, it just left it there, ticking steadily upward, a reminder of home, a constant companion.
There is also a promise of return.
Why worry about loneliness or time when you can focus on numbers?
Then, the number finally crosses a threshold, and the rocks gather together, immediately shedding all appearance of hibernation.
Because it will reach its next destination soon.
Seeing a map of the solar system, the stone charted a simple course: where to find the most appropriately sized rocks so that it could raise an army worthy of its return.
It had charted a course toward what it saw as the outline of a large rock band, somewhere in the middle of the solar system.
But it ran into a problem.
Current speed: 5511.7 meters/second
The rocky field that seemed so large in his mind was actually sparse.
The distance between each rock was huge, and most annoyingly, the rock couldn't move through them fast enough to drag them into its wake.
No, it has to slow down, slow enough to rest on each stone for a moment, and then it can bring them to its [meteor shower].
What about the kicker? There's no longer an eternal pull of gravity pulling the rock here, so slowing down actually takes time. Really, it takes the same amount of time to speed up.
It is no longer a rock. No, the stone's rapid flight turned into a crawl.
But this newly discovered location may be luckier than the others.
Because - as the rock slowed down past the large planet it reached, it noticed something. This asteroid, which is really just a fancy name for a big rock, isn't alone—it has orbiters.
The stone was large, much larger than the stone itself - but it didn't bother the stone as much as it once did. As a Level 7 [Practitioner], it can better perceive the relative power of life, and it knows that the barren stone in front of it has no spark.
However, it is too big for the rock to carry around. Therefore, without hesitation, the rock immediately started its [Energy Conversion] thruster, activated its [Diamond Skin], and crashed into the larger rock at the fastest speed.
Collision activated!
[Unnamed] Processing 332.1 * 133653.3 / 4 = 11096 565.2 dmg gives
New speed [unnamed]: 4723.1 meters/second
It's normal for asteroids to break into pieces, breaking into smaller pieces. But what confuses the rock is...
artificial satellite. They didn't immediately start orbiting the rock, which would have to use a [Meteor Shower].
But why?
Why do larger rocks attract orbiters but smaller rocks don't?
As our hero ponders this new predicament, it feels like it's on the verge of a new breakthrough. It resonates within its realm, a concept it can almost understand. It's close, close to understanding.
It had correctly inferred before that the difference between it and the planets was fundamentally a matter of scale, but it hadn't yet realized the full implications of this.
But now it was very close, peering over another cliff, wedged between boulders but wanting to roll off. What's waiting for you below?
The rock is concentrated in its [cultivator] field. What exactly is this new domain? It has acquired this thing, some kind of boundary or feeling that extends into the distance, but it has not yet gotten much use out of it.
But if this area does anything, it's that it sharpens the rock's senses. Or no, "sharp" is not the right word. Let's...difficult. Our rocks are rounded and not very sharp.
Anyway, continue.
As it focused on the tiny movements of the surrounding rocks, its [Meteor Shower] skill failed and the stone finally realized something basic. This is wrong. It has been thought that only larger rocks would attract orbiters, but this is a misconception.
Again, it's just a matter of scale.
Because as it looked at the rock formations around it, really looked at it, as its precise curling tail gradually spread out into the realm of rock, it discovered that gravity was everywhere.
Every little piece of pumice has some impact, affecting those around it. Rocks, gravel, orbiters are all pulling against each other in a dizzying dance, painting unimaginably complex patterns on the canvas of stars.
Yes, gravity is everywhere, everywhere.
As the rock focuses its chi and reaches out its hands, fields of energy, it can almost feel an impossibly vast canvas stretching beneath it - the invisible force of gravity.
Even now, in the emptiest of spaces, that rock stands on a hill.
But the stone is also the mountain itself, influencing everything around it. Still to a small extent due to its small size.
But if it stretches out its breath and hits the canvas...
Level!
1/1Philosophical breakthrough!
You have reached the eighth level of cultivation!
You are now in the [Astral] realm.
Statistical data!
Energy level (E) = 10000mw
Core heat (T): 4000K
Domain size(d): 100.0 km
Moving on to the next area = need to break through
Get new skills!
gravity launcher
Use your chi to manipulate gravity to launch objects where you want them.
Stone didn't even glance at the new screen or try out its new abilities - it didn't need any of those. Its attention is focused solely on its stretching tendrils of chi and the canvas of gravity beneath it.
Then it starts to draw.
Long and powerful stripes, forming three concentric circles around it, slightly offset from each other by a small angle.
Gradually—inevitably—the clusters of meteors, rocks, and gravel surrounding it, the shower itself, began to gather into those three rings. Organization, rotation.
It starts out slow, like a nervous dancer trying ballet for the first time. But confidence is growing, and so is speed and momentum. Onward, onward, the rocks swirled in a dizzying dance around our hero who sat at their center, focused in serene meditation.
Current speed: 0 meters/second
The rock itself had no speed at all, but that didn't bother it anymore. Because around it, it can see speed. speed. flight.
A dance.
Then, finally, it reaches for the new skills it has learned. (gravity launcher).
It selects a larger rock in the outermost ring and activates the skill.
Gravity launcher activated!
Launched at a speed of 70 meters/second
It feels the omnipresent gravity and can feel the rumble of power in that shot as the chosen meteor careens off into the distance at breakneck speed. Rock is pleased with his new skill, it is indeed a powerful weapon.
It likes this.
Who is more fit to cast the first stone than another? A rock knows no sin.
Just like that, as the rock prepared to set off for its next destination, it sensed something... strange.
This is its [Ki
of Sto
e] part of the skill, even its domain, now increases its scope. It felt...a thing. Some kind of metal was approaching, and it wasn't just flying around under the influence of gravity, but under its own power.
The rocks immediately gathered together and accelerated towards the target, the rotation speed of all three weapon rings increasing. It moved closer to the thing, eventually sensing it at the edge of its territory. It is a metallic creature shaped like a sphere with a beam of fire shooting out of its back and a small flash of light in front of it.
But - something went terribly wrong with it. This is the instinct of the rock, it knows.
There is no hierarchy to this thing. It's more like the meteor it just destroyed - although there's no hierarchy, there's a spark in it. Something to guide it forward. intelligence.
science. Use the power of physics and reasoning to create a ship that can navigate outer space and sense strange things out there. Strange things... like a rock playing on the canvas of gravity.
But the rock knew this was wrong. It doesn't belong here - it doesn't belong in this level of the solar system.
Instinctively, a classification applies to what's inside the rock.
Gravity launcher activated!
Launched at a speed of 92 meters/second
The object tried to dodge the projectile, but the rock focused on its area, drawing a gravity valley along which the projectile traveled, inevitably following the object.
It cannot escape. There is indeed a crash, but... no experience. However, the thing was destroyed anyway, crushed by a projectile when the rock decided to destroy it. instinct.
But the Rock knows - if anything - little reconnaissance drones like this...
There will be more.
Then the rock lost consciousness, looking for anything strange, feeling some vague feeling, almost excited, but not quite. The rocks are not quite in place yet. It doesn't really feel like it.
But when it sensed larger metal vessels entering the solar system, it began accelerating towards them.
