Let's Hit Qi Condensation Layer Two First

"It is dreadfully feeble. Vastly inferior to what I had anticipated."

At those words, the other sect leaders chimed in unison, as if they had merely been holding back their grievances.

"Indeed. It falls short."

"I loathe to agree with Augustus, yet its inadequacy is undeniable."

"It is terribly insufficient, yes! It doesn't even make a ripple in my dantian, yes!"

"……."

Hmm. As expected.

Reaching the Transformation Realm with mere Black Moon Pills was an impossible feat. Then again, having never fed them to anyone before, Cho-young had hardly been certain herself.

"To be frank, I never expected two measly Black Moon Pills to break you through to the Transformation Realm either," she admitted.

Gye Wang-geon furrowed his brow, silently demanding an explanation.

"It was simply the finest spirit pill I could concoct at my current cultivation realm."

"Dost thou mean… upon ascending to the next realm, thou canst forge elixirs vastly superior to this?"

"Yes. The higher my cultivation ascends, the greater the variety and potency of the spiritual herbs I can manipulate."

It had been the exact same back in the game Biseungdo.

Cho-young's cultivation journey had always centered around harvesting superior spiritual herbs. While other players broke through bottlenecks to attain overwhelming martial might, she had advanced her realm solely to unlock higher-grade flora.

Through that singular pursuit, she had reached only the 3rd Layer of Qi Condensation. One might call it negligible, yet the veteran high-rankers who consumed her elixirs had all achieved Great Perfection at the 4th Layer of the Nascent Soul Realm. Back then, those venerable powerhouses had practically revered her, going so far as to call her 'Mommy.'

And now, that very same crafter was preparing to raise the realms of living, breathing grandmasters in reality—guiding them toward the Transformation Realm, a height she had never once witnessed firsthand.

She needed to conduct her own research. This was not merely about receiving a luxury apartment and prime real estate; she possessed her own professional pride. Her ambition was to enable someone to shatter the mortal ceiling into the Transformation Realm using a pill born of her own hands—a goal that had eluded her in the game, which she now intended to fulfill in reality.

"Even so, the volume of our spiritual qi hath undeniably swelled," Gye Wang-geon mused. "Could one say a millennium of bitter cultivation hath been reduced to nine centuries?"

"Uh… that means it's a good thing, right?"

"Though it fell shy of our grandest hopes, shaving away an entire century warranteth our profound gratitude."

Figures. Was it because they had lived for so long, or because they still had over a thousand years of life left to burn? High-tier cultivators who could have vaporized someone on a whim for displeasing them were instead offering genuine ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠thanks.

"Next time, I'll bring something truly insane."

First things first: let's push for Qi Condensation Layer 2.

Meanwhile, Jay stared at the steady influx of likes on the photos she had taken at Nice Pictures and uploaded to Stargram, a faint, smug smile curling her lips.

"Cheon Cho-young… whoever you are, the true trendsetter around here is me."

She ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was a titan ranked among the Top 10 Most Influential Figures in Neo Seoul. There was no universe in which she would allow herself to be overshadowed by a thumbnail posted by some nobody streamer.

'Jae-hee, you're genuinely addicted to social media.'

'Why can't she put her damn phone down even while eating?'

'Um… how long are you going to keep taking photos? The food's getting cold.'

Influencer Jay recalled the voices of her past. Social media addiction—before she became a household name, everyone had unanimously branded it as her greatest character flaw. Yet, the moment fame took hold, the narrative shifted entirely.

'Unnie! I love that you post every single day!'

'Influencer Jay Emerges as the Vanguard of Youth Culture.'

'If you want to know what's in, look at Jay.'

Her addiction had been rebranded as sheer professionalism. Thanks to that relentless drive, Jay maintained a habit of scrutinizing spheres far outside her immediate domain, and one of her regular stops was the Streamer Community Board.

During a recent visit, one name had dominated every thread: Cheon Cho-young. Word had it she hosted some bizarre broadcast crafting mystical elixirs, stirring up a massive cultural wave in less than a week.

'Who the hell is this girl?'

A massive bust. An exquisitely sculpted face. And above all else… she was ridiculously young!

Soothing her prickling ego by telling herself it wasn't jealousy, Jay had begun digging into Cho-young. It was during that search that she discovered the Zewibe Store, immediately captivated by the retro aesthetic showcased in the thumbnail.

'This… this could make serious money.'

Nice Pictures Studio? A hidden gem with that kind of authentic vintage charm existed in this city? As someone who kept the entire history of fashion and trends locked in her cybernetic memory banks, retro was an irresistible goldmine.

'I have to jump on it first!'

True to her reputation as someone who dictated trends from the bleeding edge, Jay had acted instantly. And the payoff was immediate.

The engagement exploded, with followers already reposting her feed across every major platform.

"Hah. Behold the Jay Effect."

And indeed, without Cho-young ever realizing it, Nice Pictures Studio found itself caught directly in the wake of that influence.

One week later, the studio was besieged by unprecedented prosperity.

"I'm dreadfully sorry, we're completely booked for today."

"Tomorrow? Tomorrow is packed solid as well."

"Ah, if you'd like to reserve a slot, the earliest opening is about six months from now."

Fully booked!

"A-A broadcast network? You want to rent the entire studio space? Of course, absolutely!"

Major networks came knocking!

"Alright, look here everyone! One, two, three, smile!"

A flood of customers demanded authentic portraits shot on vintage DSLR cameras, and to handle the surge—

"Certainly! Our editing staff will take care of all the color grading and touch-ups!"

The owner had even hired an entire team of assistants where none had existed before.

The commercial explosion ignited by Cho-young and amplified by Jay did not halt at the studio doors. Across the net, the Small Business Merchant Forum was undergoing an upheaval of its own.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Throughout the single week Nice Pictures flourished, countless merchants abandoned MegaChrome to set up shop on Zewibe. A platform that had hosted barely twenty desolate stores experienced the bizarre miracle of attracting over two hundred active businesses in mere days.

Simultaneously, the holographic terminal of Jeong-gu—the lone remaining employee at Zewibe headquarters—was practically melting from non-stop incoming calls.

"Pardon? Who did you say you were? Dove Pharmaceuticals? An ad… you wish to place an advertisement with us? Why?!"

"N-No! It's not that I'm refusing! Yes. Yes! Let's arrange an in-person meeting to discuss the particulars!"

Rrrring—

"Hello? …Excuse me? Pajeok Holdings?! You want to invest in Zewibe?! F-Five hundred high-grade spirit stones…?! Naturally! We'll scrap every antique computer terminal in the facility immediately! Yes, sir!"

"What? Now it's Hyunsan Securities?!"

"Hello? Influencer Jay? A modeling contract offer?!"

"Rookie actress Alice? Wondering if we have any interest in signing her as our brand ambassador?!"

"Dear heavens, what on earth is happening? Cho-young Farm… Cho-young Farm… what kind of place is that?! N-Now isn't the time to gawk! Row the boat while the tide is high!!"

The time it had taken from the inaugural opening of 'Cho-young Farm' to this utter madness: exactly one week.

Could Cho-young have ever imagined that a single flap of her wings would ripple across the world, overturning lives and lifting her own destiny to an entirely new plane?

One week prior.

After parting ways with the five sect leaders, Cho-young had returned home and thrown herself entirely into raising her Universal Resonance percentage. The plan was simple: plant more herbs, craft more pills.

One day, two days, three days, four days. Streaming without fail every single day, Cho-young poured every ounce of her concentration into alchemy.

Shipping logistics had been delegated to Hye-yeon. Though Hye-yeon was a streamer with her own channel to run, the promise of spirit pills as compensation had completely won her over, prompting her to launch an packaging stream. While packing cardboard boxes in a room drew even fewer viewers than exploring haunted houses, Hye-yeon was living her best life.

Cho-young only needed eleven percent more. Yet for some maddening reason, no matter how many hours she broadcasted, the Universal Resonance gauge barely crawled.

"By any chance, could all the cultivators in chat raise their hands?"

Hands sprouted in the chat by the dozens, yet—

An entire week of relentless streaming, and it had risen by a pathetic three percent!

"Haaah." A heavy sigh slipped through her lips.

"Ah. No, it's nothing. Just thinking."

Cho-young gazed blankly at the towering stack of finished spirit pills piled neatly in the corner of the room. She couldn't very well treat Hye-yeon like a sweatshop laborer every single day, so the plan had been to amass a massive stockpile before releasing it onto the store in one grand batch.

Pausing in thought, Cho-young suddenly raised both hands and slapped her cheeks. Smack!!

Right. Don't lose heart. Cultivation was always supposed to be an agonizing crawl. Getting to sit on my ass and advance my realm is already a godsend.

Three percent had taken seven days. That meant the remaining eight percent would roughly take twenty-one days. To be safe, she'd budget a full month.

Turning away from the mountain of pills, Cho-young brought up her holographic interface and logged into Zewibe. When she opened the marketplace homepage, her eyes went wide.

"Huh? Why are there so many stores now?"

What had once been a sad two-page directory had exploded into ten full pages of storefronts.

…Well, whatever. Not my problem.

Shrugging it off, Cho-young entered her shop dashboard and adjusted the inventory counters.

'Stock: three hundred units… and begin sales.'

The instant she tapped confirm—

Ping-ping-ping-ping-ping—!

A relentless cascade of order notifications flooded her inbox at blistering speed. And at the exact same moment—

"…Huh?"

She felt it: an immense tide of spiritual qi surging violently into her dantian.

"……Wait, what?!"

Spiritual qi pooling into her body meant only one thing—the Universal Resonance gauge had shot up! Scrambling to pull open her system status, her jaw dropped.

One hundred percent! Universal Resonance had finally maxed out!

How? How is this even possible?!

Could it be…?

Cho-young stared at her storefront analytics. Even at that very second, purchase orders were slamming in without pause.

The resonance percentage wasn't just capped—it was overflowing!

No wonder the store count spiked! In the past, whenever order volume surged, Zewibe's ancient infrastructure would inevitably choke and crash the webpage. But with so many merchants migrating over, had the platform expanded its server capacity? The lag had completely evaporated.

Zewibe's loading times were crisp and instantaneous. Had the company finally pumped real capital into their backend? Because the site could cleanly process the massive crush of traffic, the spiritual qi born of their collective anticipation was funneling into her without losing a single drop!

A butterfly's fluttering wings conjure a typhoon, and the typhoon's gale in turn lifts the butterfly back into the skies. Yet Cho-young remained entirely oblivious to the fact that this tempest had originated from her own small choices.

'Wait… this ability isn't restricted to live streams?! Anywhere cultivators congregate because of me, it builds up regardless of the platform?!'

Cho-young mentally applauded the newfound revelation. But just as the thought crystallized, an eerie sensation washed over her—her physical body suddenly felt as light as a feather.

"…Wait, huh?"

The chat erupted into total chaos, but Cho-young was in no position to care.

"I-I can't balance my own body either!!"

Completely powerless, she rose helplessly into midair, drifting toward the ceiling like an untethered balloon.

"What in the world is happeninggg?!"

And then—

Fwoooosh!!

Her figure vanished into thin air.