Mirror Dream Tree

Merin opens his eyes in frustration—his comprehension of the Rule of Strength is stuck at 6.29%, and it has remained there for three months, an unprecedented stall that gnaws at him deeply, for never before has progress eluded him like this.

Despite designing thousands of muscle and bone structures capable of channeling the Rule of Strength to its pinnacle, the bottleneck refuses to break, and he considers shifting his focus—he could assist his brother or his two wives in advancing their transformation techniques, or even begin forming another spiritual core using the Rule of Gravity.

But no—he clenches his resolve, determined to push the Rule of Strength to ten per cent before touching anything else, though he sighs with growing uncertainty and eventually rises from his cultivation chamber to clear his thoughts.

Stepping into his office, he idly picks up his brother's transformation technique and begins to read, and the moment he sees its name—Corrosion Ant Transformation Technique—a memory from his previous life on Earth flashes in his mind: machines weakened by corrosion.

The thought unfolds further—mechanical strength, the raw application of force in engineered systems—and he wonders whether building a machine that channels physical strength might help him break through his bottleneck in understanding the Rule of Strength.

Inspired, he considers constructing an engine—not a simple mundane one, but a magical engine built with metal, runes, and formation arrays—and with renewed focus, he leaves his office and enters his research room.

He decides to begin from the basics: a coal-powered engine. Coal is already present in this world, but is only used for heating and cooking by ordinary folks or low-level cultivators.

And even if there is no coal in this world, he knows how to create coal. 

So, it doesn't coal is present or not.

Though he has never built nor fully studied an engine before, his wisdom and the vast simulation capacity of his mental space help him bridge the gap.

After a full month of experimentation, error, and iteration, he finally constructs a functioning coal engine, and when he sees black smoke puffing from the exhaust, his eyes gleam—not with satisfaction, but with purpose—as he decides to delay the magical version and first perfect the coal engine further.

After increasing the power of the coal engine, its coal consumption skyrockets, and the engine's size becomes cumbersome, prompting Merin to shift his focus toward building an electric engine instead.

To generate electricity, he considers using runes and formation arrays—but ultimately chooses the mechanical route, believing that if he can introduce a form of science accessible to ordinary people, then human civilisation will leap forward, and the world itself may reward his efforts.

He can already sense golden merit accumulating in his mental space, a cosmic acknowledgement of contribution to the world, though he lacks the ability to actively use it—so far, it has only served to make him slightly luckier in key moments.

He remembers how, just one day before the attack on his family, his comprehension of the Rule of Vitality reached ten per cent—if he had been even a day late, the consequences could've been catastrophic.

To build the electric engine, he needs a power source—electricity—and also a way to store it, so he sets his mind on creating a functioning battery along with the engine.

He secures a large empty plot of land in Tomio City, constructs a high-walled facility with a single large room, and dispatches his men to gather various types of metals needed for experimentation.

Relying on fragments of knowledge from his past life and his refined mechanical understanding gained through building the coal engine, it still takes him ten days to produce a working prototype and another five to refine and perfect it.

When he finally adds coal to the generator and starts the machine, electricity sparks to life, and as he grabs the output terminals with bare hands, he feels it crackling against his scales—harmless to him, but potent enough to kill a low-level spiritualist instantly.

Now, with electricity flowing, Merin turns to the next challenge—creating a functional battery to store that power.

Aluminium exists in this world, so there's a strong possibility lithium does too, though it's not guaranteed; still, unless he searches, he'll never find it.

He immediately orders his men to bring back every type of ore they can find, knowing he'll need a vast variety to identify any metal capable of efficiently storing energy.

Anticipating the need to isolate and purify lithium—if it exists—he instructs the city's blacksmiths and a group of spiritualists to collaborate and construct a large, high-temperature smelting facility capable of extracting trace elements from raw ore.

While the ores are being gathered, he focuses on building rudimentary batteries, using trial and error to test different materials, refining his technique with each iteration to better understand conductivity, charge retention, and elemental interactions.

Once his men present him with a collection comprising around 90% of the known ores in the world, Merin processes them meticulously, separating the metals and observing the unique energetic fluctuations produced by each one.

He channels electricity into the separated metals to see which materials hold a charge best, eventually discovering a smooth, silvery metal that exhibits excellent energy storage capabilities—even if he's unsure whether it's lithium, it works, and that's enough.

He isolates this mystery metal and experiments with it extensively, building batteries based on simple galvanic principles and improving their design until, after nearly a year of research and failure, he successfully creates a stable, rechargeable battery.

He installs one of these batteries in the newly constructed power plant and another in his personal lab, linking them through wired transmission and finally returning to his lab to begin constructing a practical electric engine.

After successfully building a 300-watt engine, he decides to use it for a practical application—an electric scooter—and within two days, he finishes ten prototypes.

He assigns several spiritualists working under him to design a scalable production process, aiming to create a factory that allows ordinary people to build these electric scooters from the first step to the last.

Finally, he instructs Zhen Qi to oversee the construction of additional power plants and transition the city's lighting and infrastructure to run on electric power, including building small charging stations throughout the city to support the new electric scooters.

Within two months, the production plants are completed and around a hundred scooters are built, prompting Merin to leave his tower and walk through the streets toward the power plant.

As he walks, a shadow passes overhead, and he looks up to see a gryphon soaring through the sky—its shimmering scales reflecting the sunlight like polished crystal.

It's Nora. A few months ago, she decided to complete her transformation into a level-four Crystal Dragon Gryphon, knowing that doing so would deepen her affinity with the Rule of Crystal and allow her to advance her comprehension far more quickly.

But that choice came at a cost—she wouldn't be able to return to human form until her understanding of the Rule of Crystal reached completion, a process that might take decades.

Seeing her, Merin is reminded of his brother and two wives—he's yet to help them push their transformation techniques to level four, a task he's been postponing for too long.

He resolves to begin tomorrow; their progress must come first, even before continuing his engine experiments, especially since his comprehension of the Rule of Strength is still stuck at 60.9%, though he senses the bottleneck beginning to loosen.

When he finally reaches the factory, he walks inside and inspects the hundred completed scooters, sleek and humming with quiet power, each a symbol of a new era.

To sell them, he knows he must first spark interest—so he summons Zhen Qi, who's in charge of both the factory and the construction of charging stations for scooters and future electric vehicles.

Merin instructs him to have spiritualists ride the scooters around the city to catch public attention, and also to train ordinary citizens on how to use them, ensuring the concept spreads quickly.

He adds one last order before leaving—that the spiritualists should gradually phase out of the production process, allowing regular workers to eventually manage scooter manufacturing independently.

With that, Merin returns to his tower and sits down with focused intent, pulling out the Corrosive Ant transformation technique—ready to begin the next stage of his family's evolution.

He begins by modifying the life structure of the Corrosive Ant, experimenting with parts drawn from his own dragon form, carefully adding and removing components to discover what enhances the technique without compromising its integrity.

After a month of work, he summons Kuro to his tower to discuss the changes, only to learn that over the past year, Kuro had already pushed his technique from 30% to 33% completion.

Kuro had completed his transformation to peak level three six years ago, and for the first five years, his progress had been steady—roughly six percent each year—but over the past year, it had slowed, as adapting his beast into a Dragon Hybrid required him to discard incompatible components and start anew in several areas.

They collaborate for a full month, pushing the technique to 50%, but Merin eventually begins to dominate the direction of the changes, and progress slows due to the imbalance in creative input.

Agreeing to part ways temporarily, they return to refining the transformation separately, each deepening their insights, and after another three months, they reconvene for a week-long discussion that leads to the final breakthrough.

The Corrosive Dragon Ant transformation technique is finally complete.

Without pause, Merin returns to his study, picks up the transformation techniques of both his wives—the Moon Beast and the Yinfire Serpent—and begins the next round of refinement.