LOST CULTIVATION METHODS

The stench of rotting flesh, miasma, and dark magic lingered in the air as Jin crept through the beast encampment, his heartbeat echoing louder than the growls around him.

Every step was calculated, his transformed beast body keeping him hidden for the time being. It was a tense illusion of safety.

Dozens of malformed creatures moved throughout the camp.

Some dragged chains with screeching hybrids in tow; others fed on twitching slabs of meat with vacant, bloody eyes.

Jin didn't flinch — he couldn't. Not when the heart of the enemy's operation was so close.

And there it was.

An altar, pulsing with red light. On it, wrapped in decaying silk, lay a strange talisman. Unlike the others, this one was silent — yet Jin felt its hum through his bones.

[System Notification: Unknown Talisman Detected. Warning: Soul Imprint Active. Tracking Enabled Upon Contact.]

He hesitated.

But the risk was worth it. This could be a key to understanding — or destroying — the source of the mutations.

With a swift motion, Jin snatched the talisman and secured it in his pouch. The moment it left the altar, the entire camp seemed to shudder.

[Transformation Duration Remaining: 3 minutes 56 seconds.]

Jin moved fast, sliding between tents and bone pillars as alarms began to rise. A drum beat low and slow from the central tent. Beasts snarled, eyes scanning. One howled. Then another.

He broke into a run.

Behind him, howls turned to screeches. Magic flared.

Jin burst past the outer ring of the camp and dove into the underbrush just as his transformation dissolved. His human form reemerged, panting, blood running down his temple.

[Artifact Warning: Soul Imprint Activated. Owner Tracking in Progress.]

"Damn it," he cursed, clutching his side. His ribs ached from the shift.

Then the sky above him cracked.

A dark shadow loomed.

The necromancer.

The old man hovered above the trees, robes tattered, face sunken and deathly pale. His staff glowed with crimson lightning.

"You've taken what is mine," he hissed, voice carrying through the forest like a curse.

Jin backed away slowly, eyes narrowing.

"I don't know what this is," he said, "but it's not yours anymore."

"Everything in that camp is mine! And now… so is your life."

The necromancer struck. A beam of black fire shot toward Jin, who dodged instinctively, but not fast enough. It scorched across his shoulder, tearing through skin and muscle.

He screamed, crashing into a tree.

Blood soaked his sleeve.

"How did he find me so fast?" Jin muttered.

[System Response: The talisman is soul-bound. The owner can trace it across dimensions until the imprint is severed.]

"Of course it is."

Another attack came — a clawed shadow beast sprang from the necromancer's spell. Jin barely rolled away, but he knew he couldn't win like this. Not injured. Not out in the open.

He activated the Cloak of the Hidden Realm.

His form shimmered, vanished from sight.

The shadow beast pounced at air and roared in frustration.

Jin whispered, "System, store the talisman. Now."

[Talisman stored in System Vault. Tracking disrupted. Owner link severed temporarily.]

The necromancer blinked.

"Gone?"

He descended slowly, inspecting the area where Jin had vanished.

"Clever… But you're still close. I can feel the rot of my magic on you."

Jin held his breath from a nearby bush, every muscle locked in silence.

"I'll wait," the necromancer declared. "Your trick has a time limit. I'll make camp here and skin you when you crawl out."

He summoned a hovering platform and lowered himself to the ground.

Jin silently retreated.

Every step hurt. His shoulder burned. His legs trembled.

But he made it.

He didn't head toward Valeria. That would be suicide.

Instead, he ran the opposite direction — into the deepest parts of the wild forest.

Hours passed. The pain worsened.

Eventually, under the light of a dim moon, he found shelter — a hidden cave beneath an overgrown cliffside. He collapsed inside, muscles spasming.

[Cloak duration ending in 60 seconds.]

"System… bring out the talisman," he rasped.

It floated before him, glowing red once again.

[Warning: Soul Imprint dormant. Removal possible.]

[Option: Sever Imprint — Cost: High Spiritual Energy. Risk: Mental Backlash.]

"I don't care. Do it."

The cave lit up with ancient symbols.

Jin screamed as his mind burned — the talisman resisted. A thousand voices whispered, laughed, taunted in his ears. His vision blurred. Blood ran from his nose and ears.

His body arched in pain.

Then —

Silence.

[Soul Imprint Removed. Artifact is now inert.]

Jin slumped to the stone floor, gasping, shivering from the strain. But he was alive.

The talisman hovered gently. No longer red — now a pale, golden hue.

Its power, whatever it was, now belonged to him.

He tucked it into his robe, then closed his eyes.

Sleep took him like a black wave.

Back in Valeria...

Lana stood at the gates, arms crossed, staring into the horizon. Selene knelt beside the training grounds, sword untouched. Arielle lit incense at the shrine Jin had built. Lila was sharpening weapons — but her hands trembled.

"Three days," Lana whispered.

"He'll return," Arielle said, though her voice lacked conviction.

Selene placed her hand over her chest. "We'd feel it if something happened to him."

They believed in Jin.

They had to.

In the cave...

Jin awoke to the sound of birds.

The first natural sounds in days.

His wounds had clotted. The pain still lingered, but he could move. He gathered herbs from the forest and patched his shoulder as best he could.

Then he stared at the talisman.

[Artifact Classification: Unknown Ancient Seal — Origin: Pre-Demonic Era. Effects: ???]

"Great," he muttered. "Now I've got a mystery that almost killed me."

But part of him smiled.

This was progress.

He was no longer just reacting. He was learning. Pushing into the dark spaces no one else dared explore.

And he wasn't done yet.

Jin stood, shaky but determined.

"I'm coming home."

And when he did, the necromancer would learn —

He didn't chase prey.

He hunted.