2025-10-14 16:03:36By dusk, the glow of Salt Lake General softened into a tired orange haze. Rick dragged himself home, badge flickering green at the scanner.
The apartment smelled faintly of ginger tea and exhaustion. Evelyn looked up from her datapad. “So, how does it feel being the hospital’s latest saint?”
Rick smiled, weary. “If I’m a saint, then miracles are overrated.”
She stood, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. “They’re calling you the Golden Apprentice. Half the board’s buzzing about divine-meridian revival. The other half wants your license audited.”
He unbuttoned his coat. “Figures.”
“Rick, this isn’t funny.” Her voice hardened. “Rumors like that get people disappeared. My father says the Syndicate already requested your report.”
Rick’s expression darkened. “Your father’s always listening to the Syndicate.”
“He’s survived them,” she said quietly. “That’s the difference between you two.”
Rick sat, rubbing his temples. “I didn’t ask to be special, Ev. I just… saw the pattern, like a memory waking up.”
She came closer, kneeling beside him. “Then hide it. Publish the method under Yuren Sun’s name. Let him take the spotlight, it’ll shield you.”
He shook his head. “That’s not right. I won’t bury the truth behind a nameplate.”
Evelyn’s eyes softened. “Truth doesn’t help the dead, Rick. Only survivors.”
He looked at her, guilt flickering behind defiance. “You think I’m reckless.”
“I think you’re walking into a machine that eats people like you.”
The words hung there. She touched his hand; the golden pulse beneath his skin flared once, faintly lighting the room. She gasped, pulling back. “Rick, your wrist.”
He covered it quickly. “It’s nothing. Just after-effects.”
Her voice trembled. “It’s not nothing. Promise me you’ll stop before this ruins us.”
He didn’t answer. When she turned away, her reflection in the window looked like someone already grieving.
While the city slept, Isaac Voss moved like a ghost through the data-archives wing. The hum of servers filled the air, punctuated by his heartbeat.
He slid a clearance card into the console, his uncle’s ID, borrowed, not stolen. The monitor unlocked with a soft chime: Administrator Access Granted.
Footage flickered, ER cameras from the night of Lila’s revival. Frame by frame, Isaac watched Rick inserting the forbidden pattern of needles.
The child’s body glowing gold. Rick’s hand blazing brighter. “Not medicine,” he whispered. “Magic.”
He paused the feed, zooming in until Rick’s wrist filled the screen, the golden rune shining like a brand.
The door creaked behind him. He froze, but it was only the wind from the old ventilation shaft.
Isaac copied the file to a data-chip and pocketed it. “Let’s see how the Syndicate defines miracles.”
Before he left, the monitors flickered, static crawling across the frames. For half a heartbeat, golden light rippled through every screen, pulsing in sync with his own.
He backed away slowly, whispering, “What the hell?”
The lights steadied. Only silence answered. By morning, the rain had washed the city clean. The courtyard outside Salt Lake General smelled of wet concrete and ozone.
Rick walked among blooming patients and interns sipping coffee, nodding at him with mixed awe and unease.
One elderly patient stopped him. “Doctor Franklin, thank you for saving that child. We needed hope.”
Rick smiled faintly. “Hope’s contagious, ma’am. Be careful with it.”
When she left, he spotted Isaac across the garden path. The senior apprentice’s face was unreadable; he offered a stiff nod.
Rick returned it, sensing something brittle behind the politeness. A strange hum prickled beneath his skin, the rune answering a vibration in the air, too faint for anyone else to feel.
He flexed his wrist. The glow pulsed once, then settled. The city itself seemed to inhale.
From an office window above, Yuren Sun watched, one hand on the glass. His reflection looked older than it had the night before.
For a long moment, mentor and student shared the same sunrise, one heavy with warning, the other with quiet defiance.
Rick exhaled, unaware the rhythm in his veins had begun syncing with something deeper beneath the hospital foundations.
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Chapter 90. Departure To The Ruins
Morning light crept over the valley like a slow-moving wave of gold. It touched the roots of the living mountain first, then slipped across the grass that had grown overnight, then flowed down toward the stone paths Rick had carved. The air smelled fresh, like earth after a gentle rain, though not a single cloud floated in the sky. Everything here breathed. Everything lived.Rick stood at the valley’s edge with his pack open, sorting bottles one by one. He moved carefully, almost reverently, as though each vial held something sacred. His face was calm, but his eyes were sharp, focused, and touched by a quiet weight. The Elixir of Mercy was tucked deep in a padded pocket of the pack. Several stabilizing mixtures, dried herbs, silver needles, and Qi-thread tools filled the rest.Beside the pack lay a small wooden box carved with rune lines. Inside it rested the Homunculus Seed, sealed in a thin layer of glass crystal. It pulsed gently, faint blue light flickering like a heartbeat wai
Chapter 89. The Soul Elixir Completed
The valley was quiet the next morning, too quiet for a place that had recently woken into strange life. Mist curled low around the roots of the living mountain, drifting like pale ghosts between stone ridges. The air tasted heavy, thick with the scent of soil and something faintly metallic, the lingering echo of Qi storms that had raged during Bloom’s sealing.Rick sat alone near his alchemy circle, shoulders hunched. His hair was unkempt, his breathing slow and low, and his right hand kept trembling no matter how tightly he held it against his knee. Before him lay rows of cracked vials, scorched bowls, and half-dissolved Qi crystals. The experiments from last night had not stopped until dawn.He had failed nearly every attempt. But he was close. He could feel it.The formula he sought drifted at the edge of his mind like a shy whisper, a fragile truth that refused to step fully into the light. The Elixir of Mercy, the perfect Soul Elixir, the one that could heal life and memory w
Chapter 88. The Limits Of Perfection
The morning light in the valley was soft and pale, but it did not feel warm. The air carried a quiet unease, as if the world sensed that something new walked within it. Bloom sat on a stone near Rick’s alchemy circle, its vine-like legs folded neatly beneath its small frame. Its eyes glowed softly, pulsing in rhythm with a faint echo of Rick’s heartbeat.Rick stood a short distance away, breathing slowly, hands trembling as he heated a small flask with controlled Qi flame. His face was tired, the shadows beneath his eyes darker than before. He had not slept properly since the night Bloom was born. Luna stood at the edge of the circle, arms crossed over her chest, watching both of them with a mix of protectiveness and dread.Bloom watched Rick’s hands carefully, its head tilted like a curious child. “Why do your fingers shake?” it asked softly.Rick forced a weak smile. “Because I am still hurt.”“But you made me even while hurt,” Bloom said. Its voice carried a gentle innocence tha
Chapter 87. The Soul Bloom
The night in the valley was quiet, but it was not peaceful. The silence felt heavy, like the land itself was holding its breath. Rick had placed the Homunculus Seed on a smooth stone platform inside the ring of obsidian slabs he had carved with his alchemist code. The small seed glowed faintly, a soft white light pulsing inside its crystal-like skin. It looked harmless. It looked innocent.But Luna stood several steps away, her body tense, her eyes fixed on it as if it were a coiled snake waiting to strike.Rick knelt beside the platform, studying the seed. His fingers hovered above it but did not touch. He breathed slowly, steadying his heart.His pulse felt uneven ever since the first experiments. It was like two rhythms inside his chest were arguing with each other, one mortal, one divine.Luna finally spoke, her voice low. “Rick, this thing is not alive. It should not become alive. It is wrong.”He did not look at her. “It is a vessel. Nothing more.”“That is the same excuse use
Chapter 86. The Homunculus Seed
The valley had grown quiet over the past few days. The strange Qi rain had stopped falling from the sky, the shimmering plants had settled into steady rhythms, and the air felt heavier, as if the land itself held its breath. The dawn light stretched across the ground like a thin golden sheet, touching every root and stone.Rick stood at the center of the Alchemist’s Ring, surrounded by the obsidian slabs he carved his laws into. His eyes were shadowed from lack of sleep, and his hands trembled slightly. But he did not stop. He had collected a small pile of pale Qi crystals from the valley’s heart, crystals formed from the titan’s lingering essence and the valley’s healing hum.Luna watched him from a short distance. She sat on a rock with her legs pulled close, her expression troubled. Her crystalline arm glowed softly in the morning light, but her eyes were fixed on Rick’s movements.“Rick,” she said, her voice calm but tight, “you have been at this since last night. You need to
Chapter 85. The Alchemist’s Code
The sun had not yet risen, but the valley was already awake. The strange new life growing across the land pulsed with a slow glow, like soft breath moving through soil. Roots shimmered faintly under the earth, veins of Qi running through stone and water. Rick stood in the center of the clearing, the air cold against his skin, his breath rising like mist.He had not slept. His eyes were heavy, but they held a sharp clarity, the kind that came from painful truths finally settling in the mind.Behind him, Luna stirred from her makeshift bedding, rubbing her eyes with her good hand. Her crystalline arm shimmered with early light, casting rainbow reflections on the stone wall beside her.She stood slowly, watching Rick with worry. “You are awake again,” she said, voice soft.Rick did not turn. His attention was fixed on the obsidian slabs he had dragged from the valley’s edge. Dark, smooth, heavy stones lay arranged in a circle around the clearing. They reflected nothing, light simply sa
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