Dantian Explosion (2)
Dantian Explosion (2)
How is a game character's death determined?
Ever since the concept of HP emerged, the vast majority of games tend to follow it.
Jirak Cultivation Chronicles, which prioritizes realism, is a bit different.
First of all, there is no such thing as a visible HP bar.
There are no status ailments letting you know if your character is poisoned, nor any notices indicating whether you've recovered.
"If you don't know, you just gotta die" is rampant here.
If you inquire with customer service, they will answer you, but even that can only be verified after the character has already died.
So, returning to the main topic, what is the scope of Jirak Cultivation Chronicles' death determination?
Opinions vary widely on this matter. That is because the genre is Xianxia.
In genres like Fantasy or Wuxia, no matter how strong someone is, decapitating them or blowing out their heart usually kills them. Or grinding their entire body into powder.
In Xianxia, even doing that won't kill them.
Even at just the Core Formation stage, they tend to survive even if their neck and heart are blown away.
From the Nascent Soul stage onward, a second spirit body called the Nascent Soul is formed, so just destroying the physical body is nowhere near enough.
Because they can reconstruct their physical body through the Nascent Soul.
You managed to kill even the Nascent Soul? Congratulations. Then, they resurrect through a separated soul clone they created beforehand.
You managed to kill even that? Congratulations once again. This time, they will resurrect through a method you don't even understand.
The higher a cultivator's realm, the more extremely tricky it becomes to kill them.
One player said they barely finished off the same guy after killing him more than ten times.
However, this is strictly a story for when one's realm is high.
At low realms, they possess weaknesses no different from ordinary people.
That Gong whatever-his-name-was who died by my hands also died because his head exploded.
Most at the Qi Condensation stage won't be any different. Foundation Establishment is similar.
Before logging into the game, I asked in detail about this determination.
Upon checking through customer service, they stated, 'Death is confirmed only when the player completely loses control over the character.'
It's an answer that could cause debate depending on interpretation.
Because it's impossible to know how far the scope of control extends.
So I asked by postulating a hypothetical scenario.
And the game company's answer was enough to resolve my doubt.
Q. If the physical body is dead, but control over the character is maintained within the formation's Jingimaek, is death confirmed?
A. If the ego is maintained inside the Jingimaek through a special method, the death determination is suspended.
If the ego is lost over time, a death determination will be issued under the system's judgment.
Conversely, if conditions are met to escape the Jingimaek and fully play, gameplay can continue.
It is no different from saying that even if you are dragged into a tiger's den, you will live if you keep your wits about you.
If I can control the character even to a minimal degree within the Jingimaek, I am not dead yet.
This is the maximum resistance that I, a mere Qi Condensation cultivator, can muster.
To slightly manipulate the flow of the Jingimaek and detonate it.
Though my soul will have to endure until then.
The Azure Wood Qi Absorption Technique is a cultivation method specialized in gathering spiritual energy, as well as a sensory technique.
There is no study related to the soul.
The body-tempering technique Hyeonmok Dantangyeol and the spiritual sense technique Cheongsim Yeonshingyeol are the same.
In the first place, how great could the abilities in Qi Condensation techniques be?
There is just one, the highest-level technique among those I have mastered.
It was the cultivation technique Jeokryeon gave me in the early days: the Returning Meridian Qi-Nourishing Technique.
This technique is of no help whatsoever in gathering spiritual energy.
It is a technique that focuses on the circulation and manipulation of spiritual energy, and the soul from which consciousness extends.
From the introductory stage, it is a high-level technique that requires support from middle-stage Qi Condensation, outstanding sensitivity, and extensive knowledge regarding spiritual sense.
Without Jeokryeon, I wouldn't have been able to cultivate the Returning Meridian Qi-Nourishing Technique even if my life depended on it.
Fitting its high difficulty, the effect was outstanding.
Even though my physical body vanished and my soul was swallowed by the formation, I was able to maintain the form of my soul.
Kwajijik. Kwajik.
The barrier surrounding me, a spirit body, wavers.
The massive spiritual energy swirling from the outside was constantly gnawing away at the surface of the barrier.
It won't last long.
I must do something.
"The body is the vessel, the meridians are the paths, qi is the flowing water, and the soul is the master."
I recite the verse governing the soul written in the Returning Meridian Qi-Nourishing Technique.
Relying on the verse, I increase the stability of my soul and feel the texture of the spiritual energy.
A single strand of consciousness painfully slips out past the barrier.
As soon as it does, it is crushed to death by the intensity of the spiritual energy.
The failure returned as backlash.
The barrier that was barely being maintained falters.
I gritted my teeth and recited the formula of the Returning Meridian Qi-Nourishing Technique.
Qi seeks not abundance, but only purity.
Meridians seek not breadth, but only unblocked flow.
Qi circulates through a hundred meridians, and a hundred meridians return to the origin.
The origin nourishes the soul, and the soul governs qi.
Qi and soul rely on each other, so their cycle never ceases.
"Cough!"
It's useless. The cost of backlash was not something that could be resolved by a formula of mere Qi Condensation.
The moment of death brought on by a single mistake.
I quickly organized my thoughts.
What is it that I must do? What am I best at?
My survival is secondary.
The important thing is to save Jeokryeon.
In that case, this barrier distinguishing me from the spiritual energy is unnecessary.
Since it suspended the system's death determination even for a brief moment, it has fulfilled its role.
"Release."
Without regret, I disbanded the barrier.
My soul began to disintegrate into spiritual energy, piece by piece.
Chijijik. Chijik.
This sound of being swept away by the wave of spiritual energy is almost like the static of a notification window.
Ignoring the approaching Grim Reaper, I expanded my qi sense.
My talent that Jeokryeon praised.
The single greatest talent this body possesses.
"Forget the formulas of difficult techniques like the Returning Meridian Qi-Nourishing Technique or the Azure Wood Qi Absorption Technique."
When I broke through, I didn't need these things.
There was only a challenging simplicity.
"Do not distinguish between spiritual energy and myself."
Since I have lost my physical body, I shall treat this formation as myself.
As it happens, formations and immortal cultivators have quite a few elements in common.
"The dantian is the formation core. The meridians are the Jingimaek. The self is the Jinmun."
I interpret the complex principles lightly.
My thoughts become clear, and my body selects the instinctive correct answer.
"All that remains is for me to seize control of the spiritual energy."
My turbulent soul regained tranquility as if cared for by someone, and the spiritual energy could be freely governed as if it were a part of my own body.
Is it just my imagination? There are gentle gazes looking down upon me.
Is it Jeokryeon? If you are alive, please watch over me.
"The explosion for breaking through realms was expansion. An internal expansion for myself."
Before I knew it, entrusting my body to the flow, I naturally sat cross-legged.
Then, I slowly brought my hands together in front of my dantian.
"This time it's different. Not for my sake, but for hers. To protect her, and blow away everything else that gets in the way."
Nothing is needed besides the dantian.
Once that happened, the process that was already simple became even simpler.
"Explosion is birth, but the singularity is annihilation."
The formula strikes through my mind.
A technique created solely for this moment—no, a divine ability.
Spiritual energy rushing toward the formation core.
The form of spiritual energy condensing in prayer of resurrection is altered by me.
The left palm faces the sky, and the right palm faces the earth.
Projecting a hypothetical core at the center, I overlap both hands top and bottom.
As if a giant were crumpling an object by brute strength.
Compress. Compress. Compress beyond measure.
Compress past the limit, all the way to the absolute limit.
The sphere of spiritual energy covering the completed formation core thus.
Like the eye of a storm, that place alone shall be the sole sanctuary.
"Explosion is birth, but the singularity is annihilation."
I speak the formula once more.
For this is the beginning and the end of this divine ability.
The vast spiritual energy of the formation contracted to a single point.
No one could possibly guess the process that would unfold next.
I know.
I learned about a similar phenomenon in science class.
In fact, anyone in reality would be able to recall it.
The explosion phenomenon of a singularity.
We called it like this.
"Big Bang."
I release my overlapped hands.
Spiritual energy expanded in all directions.
○
And then, there was no one.
「Jirak Cultivation Chronicle Gallery.」
「Title: Hey, did anyone else just feel a strange vibration?」
Failed at crafting a magic treasure because of some stupid earthquake-like thing.
It fucking pisses me off.
「Title: Is there a war going on in the Middle Realm or something?」
Why is it shaking so damn much?
「Title: My master is saying weird stuff right now.」
(Image showing a certain region of the Middle Realm)
Middle Realm Jirak-bro here.
My master is a fairly high-realm cultivator, so he rarely gets flustered, right?
But while teaching me, he suddenly hardened his expression, stared intently toward below, and said this:
'Did a Middle Realm cultivator descend to the Beomingye? No, is it annihilation? Or birth?'
Just in case, be careful. Looks like a Middle Realm cultivator descended to the Beomingye.
「Title: More than a few people felt this vibration, is this really just a Middle Realm scale?」
Even the smallest Beomingye is half the size of Earth.
If other Beomingyes felt this vibration too, what the hell happened?
「Comments」
└ I'm in a top-tier one and it shook for me too?
└ Shudder, how big was top-tier again?
└ Some Jirak-bro calculated it, said it's roughly the size of Jupiter.
Mangnyeonggye.
The South.
A demonic realm called Nanhuang.
Countless cultivators gathered at the border of this place, which was also the domain of numerous demonic path cultivators.
They were silent.
Silent out of shock.
Mangnyeonggye is vast.
It was so vast that no one knew its true depth.
However, as of today, it became a little narrower.
That is because the southern continent called Nanhuang...
■
...was pitch-blackly annihilated along with the heavens and the earth.