Word of Rayen's Reactor Phase breakthrough spread faster than Qi fire through dry talismans.
By sunrise the next morning, Lab 7B was besieged. Not by enemies—but by outer sect disciples, inner sect researchers, and even a few wary elders pretending they were "just passing through."
"I heard he fused his Core with a cosmic consciousness," one whispered.
"No, no," said another. "He absorbed the lab's formation and now speaks through furnace vents!"
Rayen stared out the window. "I leave reality for five seconds, and this happens."
Lin Xue calmly hung a scroll on the door: 'No Enlightenment Tours Today.'
Inside, the lab was humming. Literally. The Philosopher's Core now resonated across multiple planes, and the Reactor within Rayen pulsed in subtle waves.
Ji Rong, kneeling at an observation platform, muttered, "Qi currents are accelerating without central fluctuation. It's like the whole lab is adapting to him."
Tessa Wu was levitating again.
"I drank a test vial to prove it was stable," she called cheerfully. "Now my shoes hover and my brain keeps reciting binary."
"Unintentional side effect," Rayen said. "Or possibly… the first true alchemical Wi-Fi."
Han Bo scribbled excitedly. "We could network cauldrons."
"Don't," said Lin. "Please don't."
After restoring calm (and grounding Tessa with magnetic talismans), Rayen turned to his next priority: consolidating the Reactor Phase.
The process wasn't just about cultivation. It was optimization. He spent hours immersed in meditation, refining feedback loops between the Philosopher's Core and his spiritual field.
Each breath sharpened his perception of meridian rhythm, of chemical resonance, of shifting Qi tides within and without.
And in this elevated awareness, he felt it—an anomaly.
Something… watching.
:: External scan anomaly detected. Scrying trace confirmed. Source: unknown. Origin glyph embedded in third-tier atmosphere. Response? ::
Rayen's voice was ice. "Track it."
Later that evening, Elder Fan appeared in person.
"We received an official summons," she said. "Three sects want to meet the creator of the Philosopher's Reactor. And one of them—the Verdant Eye Pavilion—has issued a formal challenge."
Rayen blinked. "Challenge? As in… duel?"
Fan smirked. "As in alchemical confrontation. Research-based. The winner claims public legitimacy over their theoretical model. High-level scholars often settle disputes this way."
"Ah," Rayen said. "Academic bloodsport."
Fan handed him a jade slip. "You'll represent the Sect at the Grand Spiral Symposium. A month from now."
He turned to Lin Xue. "Let's hope they're not as explosive as Huang."
She raised an eyebrow. "We're bringing backup this time."
Rayen looked at his students. Yao Min was bottling a new mood stabilizer, Tessa was debugging her levitation tincture, and Han Bo's teapot had started speaking in rhymes.
"Are we?" he said.
That night, Rayen stood once more on the edge of the observatory balcony, the stars whirring slowly above. The Reactor within him throbbed with potential.
:: Core stability: 98.3%. Cultivation efficiency: rising. External threats: escalating. ::
He knew the next step wouldn't just be cultivation—it would be confrontation. And if his theories were right, someone out there wasn't just watching.
They were preparing to steal everything.
"Let them try," Rayen whispered.
The stars pulsed.