Extraterrestrial demons invaded; I laid the groundwork eight years in advance.

As the sun began to set, the sunlight shifted from the gentle warmth of the morning to the lazy heat of the afternoon, filtering through the gaps in the bamboo grove into the bedroom.

Shen Bai woke up from his bed.

He opened his eyes and glanced at the clock on the wall—2:12 PM.

I slept for almost six hours.

His second-tier physique allowed him to recover most of his fatigue from last night, and his mental exhaustion also subsided considerably.

He lay there for a while, listening to the wind outside the window and the rustling of bamboo leaves, then sat up, washed up, and left the bedroom.

The study door was ajar.

Shen Bai pushed open the door and entered, then paused for a moment.

The raven didn't perch on its usual spot on the east side of the windowsill, but stood in the center of the desk, its body taut and its black feathers slightly raised.

It had its back to the door, but turned around and stared straight at Shen Bai.

Those eyes have changed.

His pupils, which were originally as black as ink, now had a faint halo of dark purple.

The halo wasn't a reflection—it emanated from inside the eyeball, like two ignited purple stars, burning brightly in the depths of the eye.

Shen Bai stared at it for a moment, vaguely sensing something flowing in the depths of the purple, like liquid light, or some kind of energy compressed to its limit.

"Gah—"

The raven cawed once.

It was deeper than usual, with a tremor that Shen Bai had never heard before, penetrating his eardrums and reverberating within his skull.

At the same time, an unfamiliar fluctuation of consciousness entered Shen Bai's senses.

It is not language, not writing, but a pure, unadorned spiritual transmission, like a painting directly imprinted into the mind.

He saw himself standing at the study doorway, dressed in dark gray loungewear, and looked somewhat surprised.

It's from the raven's perspective.

Shen Bai's spiritual power spread out silently, like a thin layer of mist, slowly enveloping the raven's consciousness.

He didn't force his way in, but touched it slowly—a polite probe he had done many times with the Dawn team members, but this was the first time he had used it on a spirit beast.

When that spiritual force came into contact with his spiritual force, there was no repulsion; instead, it merged naturally, like water dissolving into water.

He felt a strange emotion—curiosity, nervousness, and a hint of indescribable excitement.

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A newly formed spiritual crystal was condensing within the raven's sea of ​​consciousness, its edges sharp and emitting a faint, dark purple light.

First order.

Although its performance differed from that of a human breaking through to the first level, the raven did indeed break through.

From the first level of apprenticeship when spiritual energy was restored to the first level now, this crow only took a month, faster than most of the Dawn's reserve members.

What it displayed after its breakthrough was neither an ordinary physical enhancement talent nor a conventional extension of spiritual energy—but a pure spiritual talent.

Shen Bai withdrew his mental energy, stared at Raven for a few seconds, and tentatively said:

"Can you understand me?"

The raven tilted its head, its purple eyes blinking.

Another mental fluctuation came, but it wasn't a visual image; it was something closer to "understanding by feeling."

"confirm"

This feeling was strange. The raven didn't seem to know how to use this ability very well. The information it conveyed was somewhat vague, with a frosted glass-like texture, but the meaning of "confirmation" was clear.

Shen Bai also gleaned something additional from that fluctuation—the raven was smug.

It broke through to the next level and embarked on the path of cultivation, eager to let him know.

"Besides looking at me, what else can you do?" Shen Bai asked.

The raven was silent for a moment.

That spiritual energy surged again, even more intensely than before.

Shen Bai felt an invisible spiritual force emanating from those eyes, spreading outwards like ripples.

The light in the study distorted slightly for a moment.

The leaves of the potted green ivy in the corner moved swiftly without any wind, as if touched by an unseen hand. A page of a book on the bookshelf was turned, and then closed again.

Shen Bai even had a momentary illusion—the walls of the study seemed to be expanding outwards, and the space was getting bigger.

The raven withdrew its power, and the glow in its purple eyes dimmed slightly.

A vague message came from the mental fluctuations: it can interfere with perception and create illusions.

The "movement" of those leaves and books was not due to telekinesis, but rather the raven made him "think" that they had moved—in Shen Bai's mental perception, those things did indeed happen, but in reality, they had remained completely still.

Shen Bai understood.

This is not a physical attack, but a psychological deception.

Shen Bai stared at it for a few seconds, then suddenly reached out and separated a strand of the Apostle template from his consciousness, touching the raven.

"Don't resist."

The raven made no move, just quietly watching Shen Bai.

Trust needs no words.

The Apostle template unfolded on the raven—a new panel page was generated in Shen Bai's consciousness.

Each apostle's panel is unique. The template provides the basic framework, and the specific content is automatically filled in by the system based on the scanned data.

[Apostle: Raven]

[Race: Demon Race - Spirit Raven]

[Realm: First Tier, First Level]

[Qualification: Blue - Rare]

[Talent: Mental Skill]

[Ability: Mental Connection (Can communicate with biological consciousness)]

[Ability: Raven's Eye (Weaves illusions, distorts the perception of living beings)]

Shen Bai looked at the information on the panel, his gaze lingering for a moment on the four words "Spirit Raven's Eye".

The Eye of the Raven – a pupil technique that creates illusions and distorts perception.

At its current level, the raven can only influence low-level creatures. It is unknown whether it will be able to weave illusions that can enthrall high-level cultivators as its level increases.

With blue aptitude, a mental talent, and special abilities, Raven broke through to the first rank in just one month without any training or cultivation methods. Raven's bloodline was more extraordinary than he had expected.

The raven tilted its head, seemingly also sensing the contents of its own panel.

A hint of doubt came from the mental fluctuations—it didn't quite understand what "aptitude" and "talent" meant, but it could sense that these things were important.

"Blue aptitude is pretty good for a human," Shen Bai said. "I'll test you again after you upgrade your Eye of the Spirit."

The raven cawed, its voice tinged with smugness.

It hopped two steps, leaping from the center of the desk to in front of Shen Bai, and looked up at him.

Shen Bai reached out and patted its head.

The raven squinted, and the dark purple halo weakened somewhat, but did not disappear completely.

"I'll name you this."

Raven opened her eyes, her purple pupils meeting his gaze with a hint of expectation.

"Du." Shen Bai thought for a moment, "From now on, I'll call you Xiao Du."

The raven cawed, its mental fluctuations filled with elation.

It didn't know what the name meant, but anyway—it had its own name now.

So it "recited" the pronunciation in its mind many times, like a child who has received a new toy, repeatedly confirming the pronunciation.

Shen Bai sat down in the chair, his fingers tapping lightly on the armrest.

He wanted to create a separate cultivation method for the raven—to guide the growth of spiritual power and lay the foundation for other abilities that might awaken in the future.

The raven awakens a spiritual talent, which is unsuitable for human cultivation methods and may even damage its foundation due to the mismatch in energy circulation paths.

He looked at the raven and opened the system panel.