Chapter 25 - The First Foundation Pill
Veyr threw a golden pill at my feet.
"Take it."
[Perfect Foundation Pill]
[Guaranteed breakthrough.]
Too perfect.
Fen's warning again.
Do not accept Foundation.
Mira fought three elders at once.
Jace was bleeding near the fifth bell.
I needed power now.
The system displayed:
[Consume pill → Foundation Establishment]
[Refuse → allies' survival probability: 18%]
It knew exactly where to press.
I picked up the pill.
Veyr smiled.
Then I crushed it under my boot.
"No."
The system flickered.
[WHY?]
That was new.
"Because every shortcut you've offered has pointed me where someone else wanted me to go."
The system went silent.
Then my Ash Root ignited.
Not with fire.
With absence.
The qi around me collapsed inward.
The crushed pill dissolved into raw essence.
The furnace leaked qi.
Broken formations leaked qi.
Even Veyr's attack leaked qi.
My root consumed failure itself.
[Unique breakthrough condition discovered.]
[Foundation cannot be granted.]
[Foundation must be built from rejected paths.]
I laughed through blood.
"That's more like it."
The first stone of my Foundation formed inside my dantian.
Not gold.
Black.
May you like
Veyr stopped smiling.
