Alex woke before sunrise.
The Valerian estate was quiet at this hour. Only the distant sound of servants moving through corridors broke the silence.
He sat cross-legged on the cold stone floor.
The posture came naturally.
Another memory from the original Alex surfaced.
Cultivation.
Alex exhaled slowly.
"Let's see what's actually wrong with this body."
According to the memories, Alex Valerian had never successfully cultivated.
He couldn't circulate Qi.
Couldn't open nodes.
Couldn't even complete the most basic training exercises.
Which was why the family called him useless.
Alex closed his eyes.
The world faded.
Slowly, he focused inward.
Qi was everywhere.
Thin streams of energy drifted through the air like invisible mist.
Alex reached for it.
The energy responded immediately.
Qi flowed toward him and slipped into his body with surprising ease.
His eyebrows twitched.
"That's… not normal."
Beginners usually struggled just to sense Qi.
Yet the energy entered his body effortlessly.
The warmth gathered near his abdomen.
Then the problem appeared.
Pain.
A sharp pressure spread through his torso.
Alex forced himself to concentrate.
His spiritual perception deepened.
And suddenly—
He saw it.
Energy channels spread throughout his body like faint glowing lines.
Nadis.
Thousands of them.
Most were dark.
Blocked.
Twisted.
Alex clicked his tongue.
"No wonder the original guy couldn't cultivate."
If the channels were blocked, Qi had nowhere to flow.
But then something caught his attention.
Near the base of his spine, a faint vortex flickered weakly.
The Root Chakra.
The first node every cultivator opened.
Except…
It was dormant.
Completely dormant.
Alex frowned.
"That makes no sense."
If the Root Chakra was never opened, the original Alex shouldn't have been cultivating at all.
Yet the memories clearly showed him trying.
Then Alex noticed something else.
A second node.
Much higher in the body.
Not at the Ajna node itself—
But completely behind it, deeper in the mind.
The moment his perception touched it—
Pain exploded inside his skull.
Alex gasped.
It looked heavily damaged, as if it had once been forced open violently.
The surrounding channels were warped violently, as if a massive surge of energy had once erupted from that point.
Alex slowly steadied his breathing.
"That… shouldn't be possible."
Cultivators opened nodes in sequence.
Root first.
Then the other major chakras.
Trying to force open a higher node before stabilizing the foundation was suicide.
Yet the damage clearly showed that someone had tried exactly that.
Alex studied the broken node carefully.
This node didn't resemble any cultivation node he knew from the memories.
It wasn't the Ajna node.
It existed behind it, deeper and hidden.
Almost like a secret node buried within the mind itself.
And judging by the memories of cultivation manuals…
No one in the Valerian family had ever mentioned such a thing.
Alex's expression slowly grew serious.
"If this node exists…"
"…then no one knows about it."
Which made the situation even stranger.
Because the damage was severe.
As if something ancient had torn through it.
Something powerful.
Something dangerous.
Then another thought surfaced in his mind.
Authority.
The broken crown symbol flashed briefly in his consciousness.
Alex's eyes snapped open.
His heart was racing.
The cracked node.
The strange power fragment.
The emotional perception ability.
"…They're connected."
Which raised a far more disturbing question.
Why would the original Alex attempt something this dangerous?
Unless…
He knew something.
Or someone had told him.
Alex rubbed his temples.
Fragments of memory tried to surface.
A voice.
A whisper.
A conversation he couldn't quite remember.
Then—
Nothing.
The memory vanished like mist.
Blocked.
Alex frowned.
"Someone tampered with his memory."
Before he could think further—
A knock sounded on the door.
"Young Master?"
The servant's nervous voice echoed from outside.
"The family training session will begin soon."
Right.
The daily training.
Which meant the entire younger generation of the Valerian family would be there.
Including Cedric.
Alex stood up slowly.
His head still throbbed slightly from the earlier backlash.
But his mind was clear.
"Tell them I'll be there."
Silence followed.
Then the servant answered hesitantly.
"…Yes, Young Master."
Alex stretched his shoulders.
If he wanted answers about this body…
The training grounds were the best place to start.