The first sensation was weight.
Not physical—but existential. Pressure radiated from somewhere beneath his consciousness, a crushing density like the moment before a black hole consumes a star.
Then came pain.
A dull ache in the chest. A throb in the jaw. The faint taste of copper.
Rayen Wu opened his eyes to a cracked bamboo ceiling, thin light bleeding through. His throat burned. His breath rasped. The air was musty—dirt, blood, rotting wood.
This wasn't a lab. There were no reactor panels. No containment field hum. No biosensors.
Not Earth.
Not home.
[ Q.E.D. INITIALIZING... ]
▓ Core Consciousness Thread Linked
▓ Neural Host Compatibility: 39%
▓ Boot Progress: 12%… 33%… 58%
▓ Simulation Architecture: Corrupted
▓ Recovery Mode: Partial
[ Host Brain Activity Detected – Unknown Pattern Set ]
[ Warning: Neural shell recently deceased. Bioelectric field fading. Estimated degradation in 10.8 hours. ]
He tried to move.
Pain wrapped around his spine like wet rope. His muscles refused to respond cleanly. Something popped in his shoulder as he rolled over, breath hitching.
It wasn't his body.
Smaller frame. Lighter. Malnourished. Damage near the ribs and right lung. Callused hands with cracked nails. Old bruises.
"Q.E.D.," Rayen whispered. "Scan. What happened?"
[ Q.E.D. ALERT – Host Memory Signature Found ]
▓ Memory Echo Cluster: Pre-mortem active state
▓ Syncing partial data… Standby...
He braced himself. Then it hit.
Not like a download—like a fall.
Visions. Feelings. Alien emotions shoved into a mind not built for them:
– A boy kneeling in front of a glowing mirror.
– Laughter from a crowd of outer disciples
.– A voice pronouncing a single word: "Talentless."
– Pain. Shame. Failed breathing exercises. Forty-seven times.
– A final Spiral Breath attempt.
– Qi feedback. Internal rupture.
– Darkness.
Rayen gasped and dropped to his hands and knees, retching dry. His vision swam.
He had died once before.
And now, he'd inherited someone else's death.
[ Memory Sync: 68% Complete ]
[ Key Concepts Extracted: Qi / Meridians / Dantian / Spiritual Root ]
[ Mapping to Local Energy Signatures: Match Confirmed ]
The logic began to fit.
This world functioned on metaphysical energy flows—Qi—drawn from the environment, cultivated internally via spiritual roots and funneled through a specialized organ: the dantian.
This body had none.
[ Host Body Diagnostics:▓ Dantian: Absent
▓ Meridians: Collapsed
▓ Qi Affinity: Null
▓ Internal Organ Stability: 36%
▓ Projected Failure: 10.2 Hours ]
Rayen didn't panic.
He calculated.
No root. No dantian. No flow. Incompatible with native cultivation models.
But I didn't bring their models.
I brought mine.
He pulled himself onto the broken meditation mat in the center of the dirt-floor hut. The only remaining possession was a half-folded robe marked with a burn—perhaps from the last Spiral Breath attempt.
"Q.E.D.," he croaked. "Any technique templates in host memory?"
[ Searching... ]
[ One technique found: Spiral Breath – Rank: Unclassified ]
[ Description: Crude loop-based breath method for non-root cultivators. Attempt history: 47 (All Failed) ]
[ Estimated Risk: High – Internal damage likely at host stability level ]
[ Recommendation: Simulate before attempting physical execution ]
Rayen closed his eyes.
"Simulate Spiral Breath. Version zero-point-one. Set parameters to visualized loop compression and breath-driven intake."
[ SPIRAL BREATH v0.1 – INITIALIZING... ]
▓ Inhale → Rotation Initiated → Compression Attempted → Exhale Stabilization
▓ Loop Pattern: Crude
▓ No internal flow channels present
▓ Launching controlled test...
He inhaled.
Something moved—subtle as dust under moonlight. A ripple in his chest cavity. Not Qi. Not yet. But a trigger.
A second breath. Then a third.
[ Qi Absorption: 0.003% ]
[ Loop Distortion: 87% ]
[ Retention Rate: Unstable ]
His eyes rolled. Blood trickled from one nostril.
He adjusted his posture, remembering the death-flash.
"Shift compression point down two centimeters. Reduce intake time. Rotate 12 degrees counter to diaphragm angle."
[ Adjusting... Retry in 3... 2... ]
Again.
The spiral caught—briefly. Like a wire connecting to a broken socket.
A flicker of something real.
[ Qi Retention: 0.009% ]
[ Spiral Cohesion: 11% ]
[ Simulation Feedback: Weak, but viable. Recommend version upgrade. ]
Rayen slumped forward, every breath a tremor. Sweat soaked his chest. His hands shook from strain.
But he smiled.
It was working.
[ MEMORY PING – Residual Death Pattern Detected ]
▓ Source: Final Neural Echo of Previous Host
▓ Classification: Terminal Memory
▓ Triggering Forced Playback for Data Acquisition...
Rayen tensed.
The world blurred—
And he was someone else, one last time.
He fell into the boy's death like it was his own.
No transition.
No time to prepare.
The room was colder. Smaller.
The body weaker.
Chest barely rising. Bones trembling under skin stretched too tight. Fingernails purple. Breaths wheezing, blood-crusted lips mouthing the same words:
"Just one loop... let me have one... please..."
Each inhale scraped fire along broken channels.
Qi twisted in reverse.The Spiral turned too sharply.The compression node ignited in the wrong place.
Snap.Pain like a blade dragged sideways through his gut.
Vision white.
Then red.
Then dark.
No scream came.
The boy died without a sound.
Rayen's mind re-synced with a gasp. His lungs refused air. He collapsed sideways, elbows cracking against the floor.
It wasn't pain. Not exactly.
It was a ghost of it. A memory encoded in death, replayed across his nervous system like an echo through rusted wire.
But it felt real.
Because it had been real.
[ Q.E.D. LOG – Terminal Memory Echo Complete ]
▓ Emotion Set: Desperation. Isolation. Final Intent: "Survive the spiral."
▓ Echo Quality: 93% Fidelity
▓ Observation: Host's final attempt used flawed compression offset
▓ Conclusion: Correction possible. Fatal error replicable
Rayen lay there for several minutes, letting the shaking subside.
His mind sorted the fragments:
What the boy had tried.
Why it failed.
What it felt like to die trying.
He didn't lack will.He lacked data.
Rayen sat up slowly, hands steadying against the cracked bamboo beam.
"Q.E.D.," he said, voice low but sharp. "Begin Spiral Breath version zero-point-two. Factor in death resonance profile. Optimize to avoid known error vector."
[ SPIRAL BREATH v0.2 – COMPILING... ]
▓ Memory Correction Enabled
▓ Injury Avoidance Routines Active
▓ Spiral Loop Optimization Engaged
▓ Compression Alignment Adjusted: +17%
▓ Rotation Speed Throttled by 11%
▓ Death Profile Integrated
[ Begin Simulation ]
Rayen closed his eyes and inhaled. This time, his body resisted less.
Not because it was stronger.
But because the simulation fit.
The energy moved through a mapped path—slow, thin, but coherent. Not forcing Qi into broken channels, but shaping a simulated spiral based on environmental absorption and artificial pressure modeling.
He rotated it once.
Held it.
Let it pulse.
Exhaled on compression.
Again.
And again.
[ Qi Absorption: 0.019% ]
[ Loop Distortion: 38% ]
[ Retention Rate: 0.014% ]
[ Thread Initiation Threshold Approaching... ]
A flicker.
A sharp pulse through the gut. Not pain—feedback.
Something formed.
Delicate. Loose. But real.
The first spiritual thread.
[ Thread Formation Detected ]
[ Count: 1 / 9 ]
[ Spiral Cohesion: 33% ]
[ Retention Loop: Weak but Stable ]
[ Dantian: Absent – Artificial Anchor Node Substituted ]
Rayen opened his eyes, the world swimming.
A fine layer of sweat coated his back.
He was shaking—but not with strain.
With momentum.
I'm not dead. He is. But the thread he died chasing—I caught it.
Then something shifted.
Not inside.
Outside.
[ Q.E.D. ALERT – External Energy Signature Detected ]
▓ Radius: 8.6 meters
▓ Qi Fluctuation: Passive Observation
▓ Classification: Unknown Cultivator
▓ Status: Holding Position
Rayen didn't breathe.
A shadow passed just beyond the door frame—just a flicker through the bamboo lattice.
Too quiet.
Too still.
Someone was watching.
"Suppress signature," he whispered. "Silent spiral mode."
[ Switching to Silent Spiral Mode... ]
▓ Outward Flux Suppressed
▓ Retention Loop Maintained Internally
▓ Detection Risk Reduced: 91% → 14%
The presence lingered.
Rayen could feel it—barely—like pressure on a fracture.
Then it moved.
Steps shifted away.
Silence returned.
[ Threat Profile De-escalated – External Entity Departed ]
He exhaled.
Slow. Measured. Cold.
Someone felt the spiral forming.They were close enough to react—but not attack.Maybe they don't know what I am. Yet.
He looked down at his hands. They were shaking.
But they were his.
He still had time.
"Store Spiral Breath v0.2. Begin background refinement loop. Prioritize thread retention. Run every twenty minutes unless I'm unconscious."
[ Acknowledged. Loop Data Saved. Milestone Reached: Thread One Formed. Estimated Time to Thread Two: 3.2 Hours at Passive Rate. ]
Rayen leaned back against the wall, head tilting to the roof.
The stars weren't out yet.
But the shadows already felt deeper.
[ Q.E.D. ALERT – Signal Anomaly Detected ]
▓ Location: Subsurface grid (beneath hut)
▓ Type: Feedback pulse
▓ Signature Class: Unknown
▓ Similarity to Q.E.D. Pulse Pattern: 0.014%
Rayen blinked.
"What?"
[ Possibility: Artifact or residual construct using recursion logic. Not Q.E.D.-linked. Proximity within 50 meters. ]
No. That's impossible.I built Q.E.D. alone. No parallel architecture should exist.
Unless... I wasn't the first to try.
He stood slowly.
The spiral still turning faintly inside him.
Another signal means another construct—or another failure.
Then—
tap.
A soft, deliberate knock.
Just once.
At the hut's front door.
As if something had waited for the spiral to start... and only now decided to answer it.