In the crackling sound, the faint firelight flickered a few times and finally died out.

The torch inserted into the stake had burned out.

The hidden mining tunnel was plunged into darkness, but Leaf Gray did not completely lose sight. The environment, which should have been pitch black, still retained some faint light in his eyes. He could clearly see the outline of Manager Miller's corpse not far away and distinguish the cold gleam shimmering on the blade of the sword he had discarded aside...

It wasn't that the tunnel wasn't dark enough, but his vision had significantly enhanced after opening his spiritual aperture.

Since opening his own spiritual aperture, Leaf Gray clearly felt a series of wonderful changes occurring in his body. His originally injured and weak body had now inexplicably gained considerable strength, and even his breathing had become much smoother.

"Haha... Hahaha... Hahahaha..." Leaf Gray couldn't help but laugh heartily, the sound echoing in the confined mining tunnel. He only stopped when the laughter agitated his injuries.

Suppressing the ecstasy in his heart, he began to carefully recall the sudden change that had just occurred.

It was certain that his sudden enlightenment was closely related to the mysterious shadow tree and also connected to that piece of dark red ore he had never seen before.

No, perhaps the ore wasn't the key; the truly important thing was the cluster of orange-yellow flame contained within the ore!

Just after the shadow tree grew roots and completely devoured that cluster of flames, he miraculously opened his spiritual aperture.

This shadow tree had never shown such abnormal changes before; it must have been stimulated by that orange-yellow flame into this unusual activity...

It seemed his previous speculation was correct. This shadow tree could indeed provide him with unexpected assistance, but he simply hadn't found the right method before.

After organizing his thoughts, he hurriedly concentrated his mind, wanting to observe the current state of the shadow tree. No matter what, since the orange-yellow flame had been devoured by the shadow tree, it must have caused some changes.

Perhaps because his emotions were too agitated, even though Leaf Gray tried his utmost to focus, he actually failed to visualize the shadow tree. This had happened often before, mostly due to insufficient concentration.

He took several deep breaths, waited for his mood to gradually calm down, and after a moment of quiet, tried again.

This time, he finally succeeded in seeing the shadow tree. Sure enough, just as Leaf Gray had expected, the originally gray and hazy shadow tree had indeed changed.

Overall, the shadow tree still maintained its original form, and the roots that had appeared earlier were nowhere to be seen. However, in a position below the crown, one leaf was enveloped in blazing firelight, as if burning.

Leaf Gray focused his gaze on that burning leaf, vaguely seeing an extremely complex and profound pattern branded on its surface.

He concentrated his spirit, trying to see the details of the pattern.

A sudden mutation occurred!

The tiny leaf rapidly enlarged before his eyes, instantly obscuring his entire field of vision. At the same time, a massive amount of unfamiliar information uncontrollably flooded into his mind. Leaf Gray felt as if he had been struck hard on the head with a heavy hammer. Without even having time to utter a grunt, he directly fell unconscious.

An unknown amount of time later, Leaf Gray slowly woke up, feeling only dizziness in his head and throbbing pain in his temples.

He shook his still-spinning head, forced himself to get up, and sat down with his back against the rock wall.

Recalling the experience before he lost consciousness, he was surprised to find that his mind was now filled with much information he had never encountered before. This information was deeply ingrained, as if it were his innate memory.

Leaf Gray calmed his mind and carefully sorted through these memories that shouldn't exist, quickly understanding the cause and effect.

Everything was still due to the shadow tree. After the shadow tree devoured the cluster of orange-yellow flame, a burning leaf appeared on the tree.

Contained within the leaf was a mysterious pattern, bearing a vast amount of magical knowledge. When Leaf Gray intently probed it, this knowledge was forcibly poured into his mind.

Sharpness!

This was what that leaf carried—a Spirit Pattern named "Sharpness."

Leaf Gray had heard legends about Spirit Patterns before. These were patterns containing mysterious power, closely related to a cultivator's daily life, cultivation, enlightenment, and combat.

It was said there was even a category of cultivators who specialized in studying Spirit Patterns, revered as Pattern Masters. However, such people were usually few in number, simply because studying Spirit Patterns was extremely difficult.

Understanding this, Leaf Gray attempted to mobilize the spiritual energy within his aperture.

However, he found the spiritual energy in his aperture was incredibly heavy and difficult to activate.

After a moment's thought, Leaf Gray remembered he was still within the range of the Metamagnetic Field's influence. How easy could it be to mobilize spiritual energy here?

Previously, Manager Miller had died by his hand precisely because of this.

He stood up and staggered away, walking while sensing the response of the spiritual energy in his aperture. He only stopped when he could freely mobilize this energy. This position was already outside the range of the Metamagnetic Field's influence.

The originally heavy and sluggish spiritual energy became exceptionally active, circulating slowly within his body under Leaf Gray's guidance. Wherever the spiritual energy passed, a warm sensation spread. Having never experienced this before, his heart was filled with novelty.

After experimenting for a moment, he remembered that Spirit Pattern. Almost instinctively, he channeled spiritual energy into his right palm.

Instantly, a stream of light flashed across his palm.

Although it was fleeting, Leaf Gray saw clearly—the pattern formed by the flowing light was complex and intricate, exactly the same as the pattern borne by the burning leaf!

"Is this Sharpness?" Leaf Gray looked down at his own palm.

Logically, he had just opened his spiritual aperture, his understanding of how to use spiritual energy was still rudimentary, let alone using spiritual energy to construct a complete Spirit Pattern.

Yet, he had done it so easily, as if he had practiced it thousands of times.

At this moment, his palm was emitting a faint glow, like a giant firefly. A tingling pain came from his palm, as if countless fine needles were pricking him from within the flesh.

Although it was just a flesh-and-blood palm, it gave off an extremely sharp feeling. Leaf Gray even felt that he could split hard rock with a single palm strike!

As this thought arose, he immediately fetched a basin-sized stone from nearby. Such stones were common in the mining tunnel, utterly worthless.

Setting the stone steadily in front of him, Leaf Gray raised his hand in a knife-hand stance, gathered his strength, and chopped down!

With a soft "shhh" sound, the basin-sized stone split cleanly into two halves, the cut surface smooth as a mirror.

Leaf Gray was stunned. Although he had been confident he could split the stone, he never expected such an effect. This wasn't splitting; it was cutting! And what achieved this was merely his own flesh-and-blood palm!

All of this was due to the empowerment of the "Sharpness" Spirit Pattern. This pattern seemed to make whatever it enhanced become incredibly sharp.

In the past, he had seen a cultivator of The Lunar Blight shatter a stone with one palm, and he had been in awe. Now it seemed, he could do it himself, and even do it better.

And this was just cutting stone. What if it were used on a person?

The glow on his palm gradually faded after cutting the stone—a sign of depleted spiritual energy. Simultaneously, Leaf Gray felt an emptiness within him, and a wave of boundless weakness washed over him.

He inwardly cursed his misfortune.

He had just opened his aperture and, on a whim, had forced the condensation of a Spirit Pattern. It was truly overestimating his abilities. This was clearly a severe overextension of his spiritual energy.

Intense drowsiness assaulted him. Leaf Gray forced himself to stay alert. If he fell asleep now, he didn't know if he would wake up again.

He hurried back to his original spot, took out a bottle of Vermillion Dawn Pill, poured a few into his mouth, and then grabbed a piece of beast meat, chewing it voraciously.

The efficacy of the Vermillion Dawn Pill gradually dissolved, nourishing his weary body, and the feeling of weakness slowly receded.

Leaning against the rock wall, he began to sort out his chaotic thoughts.

The shadow tree that had accompanied him for over a year, after devouring a cluster of orange-yellow flame, had helped him open his spiritual aperture, making him a cultivator. Then, while inspecting the shadow tree, he discovered a burning leaf and obtained the "Sharpness" Spirit Pattern from it...

Now, looking at that shadow tree again, Leaf Gray felt a strong sense of déjà vu.

After pondering for a long time, a light of understanding flashed in Leaf Gray's eyes, and he murmured to himself, "Isn't this just a... Talent Tree?"