Forming a specialization is no easy feat. There are four classes of specialization: poor, regular, rare and true specialization.

Only a handful of people out of a hundred cultivators in one domain actually form a specialization. One must have the ability to enter a meditative state that allows them to access the deepest chasm of their Qi reservoir. At that point their mind will be taken to a volatile space that could collapse any moment.

You then make an offer. If the offer is accepted then your conscious will be sent out properly, if not then you’ll have a few more chances to make up a new offer. Once your concentration collapses, the volatile space within the reservoir will collapse and you’ll suffer a huge blowback. This will damage your cultivation and in some cases, send one into a coma.

For a poor specialization, you don’t even need to offer much. A level 30 practitioner can ask to master one rank 3 skill and use it at will in return the Qi consumption of the skill will be risen by two percent.

For a regular specialization, it’ll be something that can only be accomplished if one is a sublime master of that domain. Using a level 30 practitioner as an example again, he can ask to master one rank four skill and use it at will except this time the Qi consumption would be around thirty percent more than usual. Fang-Da elder whom Ryu fought previously only achieved this specialization, he sacrificed his ability to use every other elemental Qi to enhance his earth Qi powers.

As for rare specialization, it’s much more difficult to achieve. Only one out of a few thousand people who have established specialization will have this type. This means that maybe one out of a hundred thousand people in a domain will achieve this. Usually only a supreme master in one’s domain will be able to do this like someone groomed with special care in a sect. The power granted is much more overbearing, usually in this category people ask for powers that belong to special bloodlines. One could ask for extreme fire Qi abilities when they don’t have the ability to use fire element or fuse multiple elements and be proficient in them. Ryu’s case is unique since he fused elements as he liked due to his ability to bend Qi to his liking, usually fusion between two element could increase one’s destructive power by threefold and fusing three could potentially raise it to tenfold.

The last category, true speculation is something that only legendary figures in the world have. One critical difference between true specializations than the rest is that poor, regular, and rare specializations grant a power that could be attained if one trained indefinitely. As long as it is not a true specialization, some expert out there will definitely be able to mimic the same ability. As for true specialization, it can’t be mimicked at all! The powers granted are quoted “out of this world” by countless cultivators. True specializations have the ability to bring back people with a foot in the grave, move mountains and oceans, split the heavens and basically anything that’s defined as impossible.

First rate sects will have a few rare specialization users but not a true specialization user. If one did show up, the whole continent would be either scouting him or plotting to get rid of the threat. In the past few hundred thousand years, no new true specialization users have showed up on the Heaven Continent. Currently right now in the Heaven Continent, there’s only six known sources of specialization users that have been around as long as one could remember. These are the six infamous danger zones according to Alexis’s documentation, the ones with true power on the Heaven Continent are these people. Shaolin, Wudang, the number one swordsman Musashi, the guardian of the Endless Labyrinth in the Feng Province, the master of the Fiend Tower that’s at the edge of three provinces and the tyrant beast that rules over the Southern Illusionary Sea. The latter two are beasts which make them even more horrifying since upper domain beasts are generally stronger than humans in the same domain.

The chances of achieving specialization are higher if you are at the peak of your domain but the main factor was the sacrifice portion of the bargain.

Ryu saw the two men approaching and braced himself. Fu-Ling and Joa-Wong smirked deep down because they knew they had an overwhelming advantage. They were cautious of the lightning fruit behind Ryu, if they even get tiny bit zapped by it then they would be critically wounded.

Suddenly Ryu’s aura disappeared as he put his right hand forward. His fist was open and the two bandits looked at him with amusement. Joa-Wong casually threw one of his daggers at Ryu, it pierced right through the left side of his stomach, between the cracks of the armor he wore. The cut was at least two inches deep, it’s not fatal but could be life-threatening if not treated soon.

“What the heck is going on? He ran out of Qi all the sudden?” Joa-Wong said in disbelief as he drew Ryu’s blood. Fu-Ling’s face was surprised as well, did Ryu finally give up?

A small distortion the size of a fist above Ryu’s hand could be seen at this moment, first it was murky then it cracked like the air was made of glass. Unexpectedly the space right in front of the bandits became distorted as well. Ryu’s entire body rapidly emitted a thick golden aura, so dense that it could be seen with the naked eye. He swiftly closed his right hand as he grabbed onto the distorted space and clenched as hard as he could.

The bandits were alarmed and their instincts told them to retreat right away however their body wouldn’t move properly. The space that was distorted in front of them slowly crystalized and suddenly shattered. A tear in space could be seen and within the cracked space was pure blackness. The bandits were instantly sucked forward as they hit dark vacuum space.

When the contact was made, the aura the bandits had covered themselves were instantly tore off and their flesh got ripped and shredded apart viciously. Suddenly the tear in space disappeared, a small thud could be heard as Ryu fell onto the ground. The bandits fell right afterwards with near fatal scars on their body. All the muscles at the front of the body were mostly gone and bones could be seen.

This was Ryu’s first specialization, Dimensional Destruction. Ryu revered the Fairy Lady and took her words to heart. When he reached level 39 first with his first reservoir, peak of Master Domain, he decided to contract an ability to manipulate space. From the skill and cultivation manuals he studied from in the forest, he learnt of the highest sacrifices possible. Sacrifices that take away your longevity yielded great powers but if the condition that kills you upon one use of your specialization, the power granted will be exponentially greater than other specializations. Usually no one will opt out for this mutually destructive option.

In one manual it mentioned that if you require the skill to use a hundred percent of your Qi from your reservoir and that skill will harm you fatally while you attack your opponent, the power granted will be at its greatest. This is what Ryu chosen to sacrifice. He asked for a devastating ability related to space and in return, all his Qi would be unavailable to him during this time making him utterly defenseless.

After the contract the skill entered his brain and he instantly knew it inside out. Dimensional Destruction was an ability that let’s Ryu literally grab, attack and destroy space. When this skill is active, Ryu is unable to use any Qi during this time but he can touch a piece of space and clench it, pull it, or push it to affect other spaces. He can punch the space in front of him and literally create a vacuum or he can condense the space in front of him and create a tear somewhere else. However in both instances, he’ll die right away after utilizing this skill.

So why is Ryu still alive after using this kamikaze move? He should have been ripped apart by his own skill. The secret lies in his second reservoir. In the whole world, no one has been recorded to have two reservoirs. Ryu creatively theorized that each contract is within one reservoir so he’ll just take a gamble and hope his second reservoir is still available to help him out when his first reservoir’s Qi is locked out. As Ryu clenched the space above his hand to create a vacuum tear in front of the bandits, he coated himself with the Qi from his second reservoir. This was Ryu’s first time trying this skill out since he couldn’t be sure if the Qi from his second reservoir would be accessible or not.

If Ryu wanted to kill the bandits for sure, he would’ve opened up a tear in space right beside the bandits. Instead he opened it up a meter in front of them giving the bandits plenty of time to run away. So why were the bandits unable to run away? It was because Ryu layered on his second specialization with his first reservoir!

This specialization was Time Dilation! He could manipulate time in a localized area and the same condition applies, he would have no access to Qi. Normally this condition is pretty useless since slowing down or speeding up time in a localized field to an expert is more of a nuisance and Ryu himself would have no means to kill that expert but again, with his second reservoir the situation is reversed. The range affected by this time manipulation is only around two meters long and wide. Ryu slowed down the time around their bodies, making their bodies unable to maneuver in time.

During this time slow-down, the two bandits’ minds were unaffected and countless horror thoughts popped into their head. It was like the worst torture possible, seeing your imminent death come extremely slowly. However, Ryu cancelled his skill right before he was about to take their lives.

Time and space. These two were the exact skills the Fairy Lady suggested to Ryu. Neither of these components could be reproduced by Qi at all. If the world knew that Ryu had achieved two true specializations then it would become the number one topic for a while, this was unheard of. Technically Ryu achieved three since he has the Absolute Agreement specialization with his second reservoir. However his second reservoir is special, Ryu gave vague demand for space manipulation and the highest sacrifice possible for his first contract but for his second contract he went the opposite route. He gave a detailed demand and low sacrifices first, thus giving birth to Absolute Agreement. This contradiction will shock those with real powers in the world much later down the road, this power should not exist in this world.

Ryu utilized the Superman-Mode skill he had learned from the scroll the monkey beast gave him in the Forbidden Forest. This skill allows you to utilize all your Qi at once for a brief moment and Ryu used it to shield himself from the tear in space in his hand. This left Ryu completely drained right after its usage.

The Infinity Tome hovered over Ryu’s unconscious body and saw Ryu bleeding out right under it. Suddenly the tome slowly enlarged to double its size and turned around to face the fruit. The electricity generated around the fruit intensified, it’s as if the fruit is scared of something.

Quicker than the speed of sound, the tome flew forward with a blank page wide open and closed when it arrived at its destination. If one had to describe then they would guess that a book ate the fruit. There was no one present to see this act. Ryu would definitely be shocked since the tome had been invisible and transparent the whole time it was with him. The two bandits would be shocked that a rank 8, possibly rank 9 fruit that has even killed a King Domain warrior that tried to approach it was easily contained by a book that appeared out of nowhere.

The tome instantly flew back to where Ryu was and opened up to a page with the method of absorbing raw Qi, specifically lightning. The information went straight into Ryu’s unconscious mind and his body began to act accordingly. This was made much simpler due to the fact that Ryu’s cultivation has reached a perfect level, his body is like a fine-tuned machine made for cultivating Qi. He only needed to adjust slightly to absorb lightning by the unnamed method.

Little by little the single streaks of electricity would zap out of the Infinity Tome and into Ryu’s body. This electricity was much tamer than before and seemed to be refined already. The quality of Qi is many domains higher than what an entry level Heaven Domain practitioner could absorb. However, this is just one of many streaks of lightning that the fruit emits on a daily basis and is nowhere near the maximum output that it could discharge. However, this minuscule amount is actually more than what a Heaven Domain expert would have in total! A speck of Qi from a higher domain expert is the equivalent of most of the Qi from a lower domain expert. Never mind Qi from a source that’s three or potentially four domains higher!

The deadly electricity entered Ryu’s body through his chest and goes straight into his second Qi reservoir. This should have ripped apart his Qi channels and destroyed his Qi reservoir still but the plant object in his second reservoir began to move in an excited manner. The incoming Qi were mostly gobbled up by it like it was candy. As it ate, it grew from a baby tree to a strong adolescent tree. The branches thickened and leaves bloomed out. The raw electric Qi that made it to his second reservoir had been reduced exponentially once again. This was the reason why Ryu could survive this lethal dose of Qi injection.

This excruciating process went on for three hours and if there was any expert present they would’ve been shocked to their core. Ryu’s second reservoir leveled up every few minutes, from early grandmaster Domain to peak Heaven Domain! This speed was inhumanly possible, something unprecedented was happening right now. Even if someone had unlimited resources, jumping nearly two domains in three hours is not possible! Suddenly the tome stopped glowing and closed. For the first time the beautiful golden tome didn’t have its imperial radiance and looked like it had aged.

Ryu slowly opened his eyelids and looked around in a daze. In front of him was the two bandits that attempted to take his life earlier. They were still clinging on their lives with everything they had but Ryu didn’t notice them, he noticed that his companion for the past three years was floating low near the ground and seemed to run out of energy.

Instantly Ryu meditated and focused his second reservoir to supply more Qi to the tome but for some reason the link to the tome was feeble. It’s as if the Qi passage that supplies energy to the tome had been damaged somehow. As Ryu attempted this, he noticed how his cultivation from his second reservoir that was behind by a whole domain was suddenly ahead by nearly a whole domain!

It took him a few more minutes to realize that the legendary Five-Colored Lightning fruit was missing as well. Piecing the information up he easily deduced that after the life or death gamble he made by utilizing his specialization, the tome seemed to have went out of its way to save Ryu.

“Thank you my old friend.” Ryu said with teary eyes, he was afraid that his best friend in the world was dying but he didn’t know what to do. No matter what he did, the tome would not respond to his command. It’s tightly shut and would only hover near his feet.

Thanks for reading! This is my first time posting a novel. I appreciate the feedback, especially about how the MC is too naïve and nice etc. Please message me how I can change him for the better (I don’t want to turn him into a scheming killer but other than that, I’m open to suggestions.