Chapter 22: Magnetic Field Sensing

Ji Xinghuo stood up in the cultivation room.

He vividly felt an energy in his stomach churning like a live thing, quickly piercing through the stomach wall and spreading to his organs. Within seconds, it had spread throughout his body, saturating every muscle, bone, and drop of blood from the inside out.

Immediately, from head to toe, he felt a tingling sensation and his body hair stood on end.

Crackling sounds filled the air…

Ji Xinghuo heard strange noises above his head and smelled an odd burnt scent. Turning to the mirror on the wall, he saw each strand of his hair trembling.

Sparks flickered within his hair, the leaping electricity evident.

“Feels like I’ve been electrocuted!”

Ji Xinghuo looked at the hairs on his arm, under the skin a faint current was visible but other than the itch, there was no pain.

“Hmm…”

Suddenly he shook his head, his consciousness a bit blurry, filled with a hypnotic sleepiness.

“My brain is being remodeled too.”

Ji Xinghuo struggled to stay conscious, feeling his changes bit by bit.

Gradually, the electric current produced by his body grew stronger, and the flowing current strengthened the magnetic field. The two, inherently two sides of the same coin, rapidly spun, expanding outward to encase half the practice room. The free-floating stellar power in his body reacted with the magnetic field forming an invisible vortex!

The invisible magnetic field vortex attracted likewise invisible energies.

Ji Xinghuo couldn’t see them, but he could feel them.

It was etheric energy!

After the Star Gate opened, etheric energies continuously poured into Earth from the Star Realm. Nearly two centuries later, etheric energy already filled the globe.

From the core to the sea depths, up to the atmosphere and near-space, every inch of Earth was saturated with etheric energy, omnipresent as air.

Earth’s etheric energy density was naturally far less than in the Star Realm.

The total amount of etheric energy was even less—possibly not even a billionth of the Star Realm’s.

Even so, it was sufficient for Earth’s Alioths to cultivate normally, though few could actually sense the presence of etheric energy.

At this moment,

Ji Xinghuo stood at the center of an energy storm, throngs of etheric energy fervently rushed towards him, flooding into his body.

He felt an unprecedented exhilaration!

All fifty trillion cells in his body rejoiced, silently screaming, starving for decades and now finally satiated, greedily devouring the etheric energy.

As the etheric energy infused him, Ji Xinghuo’s body was transformed inch by inch.

This transformation wasn’t limited to physical enhancements; it penetrated his brain and senses. If a person has a soul, it too underwent a revolutionary change!

The merger and transformation continued.

After several minutes, visible currents could be seen on Ji Xinghuo’s skin, fleeting yet able to easily pierce through the air.

The sound of electrical discharges in the room intensified.

The currents multiplied, Ji Xinghuo was encircled by wildly dancing lightning, yet these bolts were bound by an invisible magnetic field, unable to leave his body.

Gradually, his entire being was covered in radiant electric light, his feet lifted off the ground, arms spread, floating in mid-air.

Half an hour later, the fusion finally approached its conclusion.

Bang!

A thunderclap.

The electric light around Ji Xinghuo’s body suddenly dissipated, revealing his body, his feet touching the ground again.

His clothes had been reduced to ashes by the high-temperature currents, leaving him in a state of undress. Fortunately, his power shoes and phone had been stored in a cabinet, minimizing losses.

“Phew!”

Ji Xinghuo looked at his robust body in the mirror.

From the outside, his body looked no different than before, slightly more muscular, and slightly whiter skin—hardly noticeable unless being observed closely.

But internally, he was completely transformed!

Every inch of his skin, each bone, and muscle were enhanced structurally and fiber-wise.

Even his blood seemed refined, its oxygen-carrying capacity vastly increased, carrying additional energy in its nutrients as they circulated within him.

This was stellar power fully integrating into his blood, enhancing the energy efficiency for his body movements!

Ji Xinghuo moved slightly and felt his strength had at least increased by half; his defense, speed, and recovery had all significantly improved.

What had enhanced the most was his burst power!

But he couldn’t fully utilize it here, so he wasn’t sure exactly how much it had improved.

Ji Xinghuo closed his eyes slightly.

Aside from his bodily enhancements, the spinning magnetic field endowed him with a new kind of perception.

This perception was different from vision or hearing and unlike any common sense—it allowed him to sense the existence of magnetic fields!

Everything in the universe has a magnetic field.

From an electron to a star, if it’s matter, it has a magnetic field; it’s an intrinsic property.

The size and strength of the magnetic field depend on the material’s properties.

At this time, without using his eyes, Ji Xinghuo could sense countless curving “lines” in the space around him, each line closed, with no beginning nor end, extending infinitely yet forming closed loops.

These were lines of magnetic force!

Clusters of magnetic force lines gathered densely, thousands, millions, billions—impossible to count.

Some were strong, some weak, big and small, each forming a magnetic field around objects.

Generally, the larger the object, the larger its magnetic field;

Conversely, smaller objects also had smaller magnetic fields.

Countless magnetic fields overlapped and influenced each other. Large fields contained smaller fields, and smaller fields contained even smaller fields; intertwined, they were omnipresent like an infinite expanse of a magnetic field ocean.

The largest field originated from beneath his feet, encompassing nearly all others.

“The Earth’s magnetic field!”

Ji Xinghuo realized immediately.

The strength of Earth’s magnetic field far surpassed others, yet its effects relative to macroscopic physical phenomena were also hard to notice.

Most magnetic fields were overlooked in daily life.

Ji Xinghuo adapted to this perception and found his range of magnetic field sensing reached up to three hundred meters!

Beyond three hundred meters, the magnetic fields rapidly weakened into the unknown.

This range covered almost the entire home department store!

In Ji Xinghuo’s sensing, he “saw” tens of millions of magnetic fields, most of which were very weak, with only a few being strong, especially the slender magnetic fields embedded in the walls, which were very noticeable—those were the circuits!

There were also variously sized and shaped special magnetic fields emanating from different electronics.

Lamps, refrigerators, computers, cameras…

Based on the shape of their magnetic fields, Ji Xinghuo could easily distinguish what they were.

Almost all these appliances had static magnetic fields, only one type kept moving; they were small in size but high in intensity.

“Mobile phones!”

Mobile phone magnetic fields were very distinct in Ji Xinghuo’s perception, standing out like lanterns in the night.

Each mobile phone’s magnetic field connected to a larger but weaker field.

That was the human body!

Ji Xinghuo focused his sensing for a while and discerned a pattern.

Most people’s biomagnetic fields were very weak, but there were always a few exceptions—those were Alioths.

The higher the rank of an Alioth, the stronger their abilities, the more distinct their magnetic fields.

He sensed a very strong humanoid magnetic field not far from him—belonging to the evil spirit overseeing the “Champion of Stars” store!

Among many human magnetic fields, the evil spirit’s field shone like the moon in a night sky, several times more distinct than other Alioths.

“Changes in the magnetic field should also reflect the person’s condition.”

Ji Xinghuo’s thoughts spurred.

Immediately, the spinning magnetic field was stimulated into operational mode, currents appeared on his skin, and his strength surged with seemingly inexhaustible power!

In his own sensing, the strength of his body’s magnetic field notably increased.

“Just as I thought.”

Ji Xinghuo didn’t continue testing as fully activating the spinning magnetic field required stellar power and now was not the testing time, so he exited the state.

“Truly a superlative Alioth ability!”

“This supernatural power completely surpasses human limitations.”

Ji Xinghuo was full of admiration.

The power enhancement brought by the spinning magnetic field was just one aspect. For him, still a novice Alioth, magnetic field perception at this stage was even more useful.

Although he could only sense the magnetic field and not affect or control it, it was definitely a top-tier sensory capability.

Mastering this perception through training, he could always detect changes around him.

Not to mention, the Myriad Star Pupil inherently had the function to predict danger.

Combined with magnetic field sensing, Ji Xinghuo believed it was nearly impossible for anyone to sneak up on him on his adventures in the Star Realm.

At this moment, Ji Xinghuo finally opened the interface of the Myriad Star Pupil.

【Stellar Power: 97/97】

【Abilities: Thousand Cunning Hands (Level 2, 1/227), Spinning Magnetic Field (Level 1, 1/359)】

【Spiritual Source Energy: 100】

“Stellar power increased by 41 points!” Ji Xinghuo was pleasantly surprised. It was common knowledge that merging with a foreign ability could increase stellar power.

He just hadn’t expected it to increase this much.

Normally, he would increase his stellar power by about 1 point with a week of diligent cultivation, but merging with the spinning magnetic field had increased it by 41 points, nearly doubling it, effectively saving ten months of cultivation!

“No wonder every Alioth desperately seeks to merge with special items.”

Ji Xinghuo couldn’t help but sigh.

Merging with a foreign species to increase stellar power did indeed enhance strength drastically.

However, increased stellar power from merging didn’t accelerate an Alioth’s life evolution.

If an Alioth’s body is likened to a bottle, and stellar power to the water within, then the increase in stellar power from merging made the bottle bigger, effectively enlarging the container. Whatever the progress towards the next life evolution stage was before merging, after merging it might even be further off.

Therefore, resources like life seeds, valuable for “enlarging” capabilities, are called special merging items.

Of course, merging with additional foreign species has only benefits.

This not only enhanced his strength but also increased his stellar power limit at this rank, laying a more solid foundation for the next evolution!

Next, Ji Xinghuo saw his new ability.

“A level 1 Spinning Magnetic Field requires 359 points of Spiritual Source Energy,” he exclaimed in surprise, looking at the remaining 100 points of Spiritual Source Energy. Whether upgrading Thousand Cunning Hands or Spinning Magnetic Field, he was a bit short.

“Although I can’t upgrade, I can still enhance my strength.”

Ji Xinghuo looked towards the right side of the interface, where a magnetic field shape projection enveloped the entire body model, slowly rotating.

Without hesitating, he invested all 100 points of Spiritual Source Energy into the Spinning Magnetic Field.