Solo Cultivating in Superhero Academy
Chapter 70: Changes

Chapter 70: Changes

Elius sat cross-legged in the glowing moss, his mind a clear, still lake. He exhaled slowly, and the air around him vibrated.

The cultivation screen hovered in his vision, dimming the world, and he activated the cultivation technique he had acquired in the goblin dimensional rift — [Qi Circulation Method] — a simple yet efficient foundational method.

It wasn’t flashy, but it was dependable. He had used it before to rapidly absorb raw Qi, even when his surroundings were unstable.

But now...

Now was different.

The moment he cycled the technique, the atmosphere trembled.

The moss crackled.

The trees around him — those towering, yellow-green behemoths — began to hum in resonance.

The vibrant veins running across their trunks surged, pulsing with electrical arcs that snapped and coiled like serpents of light.

The air became thick with ozone. Static gathered, rising like steam off his body.

The energy here... it wasn’t just ambient spiritual Qi.

It was wild. Untamed. Elemental.

Hive like Qi energy.

Lightning rumbled through the air, not as thunder but as a steady, spine-rattling bzzzzzzzzzt that echoed with the faint chittering of countless unseen insects.

Around Elius, the moss lifted — yes, lifted — in thin strands of green light, forming filaments that coiled into runes in mid-air.

Electrical arcs laced themselves into ancient patterns above him.

The golden swords on his back buzzed, trembling as if excited, resonating with the dimensional rift’s living frequency.

Elius focused harder.

Cycle. Cycle. Cycle.

He circulated his technique again and again, each loop pulling more of the dimensional rift’s ambient energy toward him.

Soon, it wasn’t just Qi flowing — it was like drawing the conscious will of the Buzztric Hive itself.

The power clung to him, spiraling tighter and tighter, dancing around him like lightning moths.

Energy condensed above him.

Not Qi.

But something denser. Wilder.

Thunder Essence.

He could feel it, heavy like liquid steel and sharp like broken glass.

It wasn’t just buzzing — it was screeching now, surrounding him with a storm of unprocessed elemental chaos.

The yellow-green light turned violent.

The arcs intensified, and even the ground shook softly beneath him.

He clenched his jaw, sweat beading at his brow.

Just a little more...!

He reached out mentally, calling the essence to enter his body.

Just when it looked like the arcs would surge directly into his meridians—!

DING!

A sudden, jarring chime echoed in his mind like a hammer striking a gong.

A mechanical voice followed, clear and grating:

SYSTEM WARNING!

The host is attempting to absorb unregistered elemental energy.

— Current environmental Qi is composed of Electric Thunder Essence and Insectile Gu Essence.

— The host’s cultivation technique is designed only for basic Qi absorption and lacks compatibility for elemental refinement.

— Error: No Thunder Cultivation Method Detected.

— Error: No Gu-Based Cultivation Method Detected.

— Absorption attempt: DENIED.

Recommendation: Seek compatible cultivation techniques to safely absorb and refine current elemental energies.

Note: Unauthorized refinement may result in meridian damage, internal backlash, and potential spiritual core fragmentation. Proceeding is not advised.

The system screen glowed blood red.

Elius’s eyes snapped open.

"What...?" he whispered.

His concentration broke, and the swirling lightning arcs scattered like startled birds.

The glowing runes burst into sparks, the electrical lines retracting violently back into the trees and moss.

His body slumped forward slightly, robbed of the energy he had been pulling for nearly fifteen minutes.

He panted.

Confused.

Frustrated.

Incredulous.

"...What the hell was that?"

He stared at the fading remnants of the energy storm that had built around him. It hadn’t just refused him. It rejected him.

In his past life, when he played the cultivation-based game that was similar to his system now, dimensional rifts had always been fair.

You enter, you fight, you absorb the Qi that exists.

Elemental affinity could be a bonus, sure—but never a requirement.

Back then, it didn’t matter where the energy came from.

Fire from a volcano dimensional rift? You could absorb it.

Dark Qi from a crypt? Just needed a stronger body.

Even demonic yin from forbidden zones — with some clever tricks — he could refine it with a base cultivation method.

But now...

This system seemed the same but different at the same time.

"...So that’s how it is," he muttered.

He looked at his system screen again, flipping to the list of techniques he had stored.

Only one glowed — the basic Qi Circulation Method. It was good... but it was also plain.

And now it was useless in this dimensional rift.

Thunder and Gu.

The two elements comprising the energy of the Buzztric dimensional rift. Without techniques to handle either... he was effectively starving in a feast hall.

He stared at the moss.

Sighed.

Then slowly clenched his fists.

"No matter what, I think I shouldn’t rely on the idea that this system screen of mine is the same as the player system from my last life. It could be the same, but at the same time, it could be different too," he muttered.

Elius acknowledged that due to these changes, he made a mistake.

He opened his inventory tab on the system screen, cycling through his stored gear and items.

His eyes fell on the currency section—0 elemental crystals.

The bet he placed with the Vanguard Justice Juniors wasn’t just about ego.

It was about resource accumulation.

He needed Thunder or Gu-based techniques, and he couldn’t get them by meditating here. But he could get the next best thing.

Magic Crystals.

He stood up, dusting off his robes.

"I’ll harvest everything this dimensional rift has to offer," he declared, his voice calm but full of steel. "Then I’ll exchange them for fire or Earth Magic crystals on the outside."

His eyes blazed faintly.

"Even if I can’t absorb the energy... I’ll mine its value."

His sword hovered beside him again, its edges still tinged with static. He patted it lightly.

"Let’s get to work."

And then—

He opened his eyes fully.

Elius stood in silence, the humming pulse of residual Hive-energy still fading from his body.

His spiritual sense extended outward like a fishing line, trying to gauge the environment—and that’s when the atmosphere shifted.

Something was wrong.

He blinked, his eyes narrowing as he turned toward the area where he had left his teammates.

There, a sudden chill ran down his spine, cutting through the electric warmth of the dimensional rift.

The grass beneath his feet rustled unnaturally, not from wind, but from a ripple in energy.

The hairs on his nape bristled.

"Don’t tell me," he muttered as he looked at the direction where he left his team for the meantime.

He moved quickly, dashing through the mossy underbrush of the glowing forest, ducking beneath roots as thick as bridges and leaping over a stream of blue, sparkling water.

As he emerged from the tree line into the open grove where his team had been training, he stopped cold.

His breath caught.

A massive wall of sand had risen from the earth—no, not just sand.

It was compacted, shaped meticulously into a perfect square.

Towering like a structure carved from ancient sandstone, it pulsed faintly with glowing geometric lines etched across its surface, like circuitry.

In the very center was an indentation—square as well, slightly convex—like a coffin.

Embedded.

Closed.

Elius was curious, "just what is this thing in front of me?"