Worldwide Class Change: Minimal Effort, Maximum Reward!-Chapter 156, The Watcher (1)

Lin Yi took one step forward.

And an indigo light appeared before the second step landed.

It was not the spatial distortion of a movement technique building to completion. It was immediate, a column of deep indigo cutting through the upper atmospheric layer of the Allheaven Expanse with the specific quality of something that did not travel through space so much as it chose a location and occupied it. The light existed, and then the man within it existed, and the transition between those two states was not observable.

He was tall. Pale skin, the kind that suggested an existence that had not been in direct contact with ordinary sunlight for a very long time. Blue hair, the specific shade of deep water before it goes black, falling in a straight line to his shoulders. His eyebrows were blue, his lashes were blue, and his eyes were the eyes of something that was not entirely human, the irises shaped and colored in the specific pattern of a dragon’s, the vertical thin pupils resting in his irises that showed both intensity and might. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

He wore full armor. A Functional armor, built for use, carrying the specific worn-in quality of equipment that had been inside genuine engagements more times than its owner bothered to count.

Behind him, the ten Buddha wheels hung in the air. Not attached to him, not floating in a way that suggested mechanical support. Simply present, arranged in a configuration that Lin Yi’s perception read as significant without immediately being able to articulate why, the wheels pulsing with a faint golden light that was not the same as the indigo of the man’s arrival but was clearly connected to his operational might.

That’s the Ten Buddha Wheel, Lin Yi thought. So this entity is of divine origin. This is the first time I’ve ever seen it, but it matches the descriptions from every text I’ve studied.

Ten golden wheels, each rotating at a frequency that lags slightly behind the adjacent one by no more than two revolutions. And that resonance... it’s unmistakable. It’s definitely the Ten Buddha Wheel.

Then, the system prompt appeared.

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[Cang Yutian]

Classification: Watcher of the Thunder Dragon God

Class: Deity

Level: 240

[An entity of celestial appointment, stationed in the Allheaven Expanse as the designated guardian of the Thunder Dragon God. His authority in this space is absolute with respect to the Thunder Dragon’s protection.]

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Level 240. Deity class. Ten levels above Lin Yi’s current 230. Lin Yi looked at the prompt and then at the man and then at the thunder dragon, which had continued its traversal without acknowledging the arrival of its watcher.

"You took a step," Cang Yutian said. "One step toward the Thunder Dragon God."

It can talk, Lin Yi thought. First time seeing an entity talking since I became a hunter.

"Yes I did," Lin Yi answered. "I see no reason why I shouldn’t be able to travese this area in search of more celestial jades."

"The direction was toward the Thunder Dragon God," Cang Yutian said. "In this space, that is not a direction that is available to you."

"The rules of the Allheaven Expanse," Lin Yi said, "state that spirit beasts and ancient entities protect jades in their possession with the full measure of their capability." He met the man’s dragon eyes. "The rules do not include a prohibition on approaching them."

"And the wording itself suggests that an attack on this spirit beast is not just possible, but expected. Protection? Protection from what, exactly? You don’t define something by what it defends against unless there’s a known threat. Why emphasize its protective nature unless confrontation is anticipated... or even inevitable? Or am I missing something?"

Cang Yutian looked at him. The swirling in his irises did not change pace or quality.

"The Thunder Dragon God is not a spirit beast in the classification this event’s rules are referring to," Cang Yutian said. "The event rules describe guardian-tier entities that hold jades as protectable resources. The Thunder Dragon God does not hold jades. It does not function as a jade guardian. It is here for a different reason than the jade system, and the protections applicable to that system do not create access rights to entities that exist outside it."

Lin Yi looked at the thunder dragon. "Then what jades does it have?"

"None that concern you," Cang Yutian said.

"If it holds no jades, then the event framework doesn’t apply to it at all," Lin Yi said. "Which means approaching it falls outside both restriction and permission. Neither allowed nor forbidden, just... unregulated. In other words, it exists in a neutral state within this event."

Cang Yutian fell silent for a brief moment as the ten Buddha wheels behind him gave a single pulse. "You’re mapping out a line of reasoning," he said at last, voice steady. "Starting from the event’s rules and working your way toward a path that lets you approach the Thunder Dragon God." His gaze lingered on Lin Yi, sharper now. "And you’re doing it while looking at the Thunder Dragon God and calculating the angle you would need to reach it from this position."

Lin Yi said nothing.

"I can see what you’re doing," Cang Yutian said. The flatness in his voice was not irritation. It was the specific communication of someone who has watched many people attempt many things and is not required to pretend that the attempt is not visible. "I have been the watcher of the Thunder Dragon God for considerably longer than you have existed. People have attempted to approach it before. Some of them were significantly more sophisticated in their justifications than you are."

"And?" Lin Yi said.

"And I told them to step back," Cang Yutian said. "I am telling you the same. Step back. The Thunder Dragon God is not accessible to any participant in this event. Not through the jade, not through the event rules, not through any justification you can construct."

His dragon eyes then looked at Lin Yi directly. "Step back. Or die."