Reincarnated With The Degenerate System-Chapter 239: Calm Before the Storm Part 1

When I woke up, Hai-Min was asleep on my chest.

Out of all the times I had done this, this was the first time it felt different. The room was quiet, yet my chest felt heavy in a way I could not explain.

She had one hand curled against my shirt, like she was afraid I might slip away. Her breathing was slow and warm against my skin. I stared at the ceiling and tried to steady myself.

There was something about her that pulled me in. It wasn’t just her face or her body. It was her very presence.

And that scared me more than I wanted to admit.

Closing my eyes, I took a slow breath to steady myself.

Now that I had come this far, I needed more strength. Not for pride. Not for status. I needed it to protect her quiet life. To protect the family we might build one day.

Every girl I had been with used protection. The technology made it almost impossible to fail. Accidents were never a concern.

But with her, it was different.

I wanted a child with her one day. A kid who carried my name. One who looked like her and smile the same way she did.

Thoughts of marrying her crossed my mind more than once. Just taking her hand and making it official.

Then reality settled in.

Work piled up. Plans waited. Enemies watched.

There was no space for a wedding right now.

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Days passed, then weeks. Weeks turned into months.

We climbed to the twentieth floor. Reaching that level placed us ahead of most guilds in the city.

The construction project moved fast as well. Steel frames rose from the ground. Supply lines ran without delay.

Soon, I was able to station part of my guild in the mountain region near DEGEN HQ. The area was harsh, but it gave us control over key routes.

To make travel easier, we built a one-way rail line beneath the highway.

A substation connected it straight to the city. No traffic. No delays. Just direct movement of men and goods.

Permits were handled by Hayes. After I bound him to serve me, his attitude changed. Meetings that once took weeks were cleared in days.

Looking back, my methods were bolder and less ethical, but I could not deny they were more effective. Everything got to move faster.

I headed to the specialized building where my core members trained. It stood near the peak of my mountain base.

Only one structure sat higher—the main compound where my thirty-bedroom mansion was built.

Placing the training hall this high was not just for style.

If anything went wrong, I wanted my strongest people close to the center.

From there, the view stretched over the entire territory. The lower facilities looked small from this height. Guards patrolled the paths. Transport rails cut through the slopes below.

Everywhere I looked, construction filled the landscape, reaching as far as the eye could see.

The scale was massive.

People did not stay quiet about it. I received backlash from business groups, rival guilds, even a few officials who thought I was pushing too far. Some called it reckless. Others said it was close to madness.

I didn’t care.

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Inside the Training Hall.

I walked to the center and observed them. None had successfully formed a complete magic circle yet.

"Show me," I said.

One of the core members stepped forward and inhaled. Mana gathered around his feet, thick but unstable.

Three seconds later, the structure cracked and burst into sparks.

Silence filled the hall.

"This isn’t about output. You already have enough raw power. What you lack is control and structure."

"Magic works on harmonization. Your internal mana has a rhythm. Every element also has a rhythm. If they align, the flow stabilizes. If they clash, interference destroys the structure before it can mature."

I extended my hand and released a thin stream of mana. It flowed steadily, like a quiet current.

"Close your eyes. Don’t force anything. Just feel your own flow."

They obeyed.

"Now, think about water," I continued. "Not the wave itself, but its nature. It flows. It adapts. It yields, then returns. If your mana feels rigid, it won’t align. It also helps to keep your emotions in check."

One member opened his eyes. "So we adjust ourselves first?"

"Yes. Anger sharpens fire but destabilizes water. Calm steadies water but weakens fire. Your state matters."

That wasn’t the case for me. For some reason, my body could cast any element without being influenced by my emotions. It was as if my neurological system was... broken. Anger, sorrow, happiness—none of it changed my brain waves.

Frankly, they were nowhere near controlling elements yet. I only brought up those advanced topics to push them, to give them something to aim for.

"Focus on getting control over the energy inside you first. Dealing with the outside comes after."

They tried again, sweat beading on their foreheads. Tiny points of light rotated, flickering less each time.

By the end of the session, fifteen of them could maintain a stable mana control for over ten seconds. Still no circles, but now they understood why.

"Don’t chase complexity," I said before leaving. "Master the foundation."

I stepped out of the hall and walked higher up the mountain path.

At another training hall, the ten girls were already at work. Circles rotated beneath their feet—stable, refined, precise.

They stopped when I arrived.

"You’re ready for the next stage,"

"The first series you’ll learn is called Enhance Magic. This is for close-quarter combat, so if you rely on long-range attacks, you can skip this for now. You only have so much time each day, so it’s better to focus on one specialty first."

They all nodded.

"Strength enhancement channels your energy through your muscles. Speed enhancement reduces resistance and improves coordination. Durability reinforcement compresses your energy beneath the skin, acting as a buffer against impact."

Alexa asked, "Can we use all three at the same time? Or cast it multiple times?"

"You can. But balance is key. Too much strength without enough durability will tear your muscles. Your bodies are already stronger than normal thanks to your awakened abilities and cultivation, so I’d say you can push it up to three times. Any more than that, and your body will take backlash."

All of their eyes brightened.

If they mastered this, they would move past the normal S Rank standard. At that point, the only real threat would be those carrying overpowered Celestial Weapons.

Those weapons were on another level. Even basic control over magic and cultivation sometimes wasn’t enough to close the gap in raw output.

That didn’t mean they couldn’t win.

Battle wasn’t decided by strength alone. Strategy, timing—those still mattered more. I was only talking about pure destructive power.

After giving them a few final pointers, I left by the terrace and headed down another path.

This corridor was sealed off from the rest of the base. Layers of barriers covered the entrance. The air grew colder the deeper I went.

Soon, the walls shifted from polished stone to raw rock, carved straight from the mountain.

Below my mansion lay my most guarded secret.

I stepped into one of the inner chambers.

The room was massive, hollowed out by force rather than tools. In the center sat an oversized reinforced bed, more like a platform.

On top of it, a fifteen-foot dragon slept comfortably.

She had grown fast.

The essence I fed her had pushed her evolution far beyond last time. Compared to the version I once saw in the simulation, Shadow had already reached nearly half that size.

She was no longer a pure flame dragon.

In return, she gained versatility.

Fire remained her strongest affinity. But now, faint traces of other elements moved within her. I could sense it in the mana surrounding her body. Different frequencies overlapped instead of one dominant flow.

That changed made her less specialized.

But far more unpredictable and flexible.

One golden eye opened and studied me. A low rumble rolled from her chest, softer this time.

"Father, I want to eat more food."

I scratched my head.

"You’re going to bankrupt me at this rate. I’ve been sending members on expeditions to other towers nonstop just to keep up with your appetite."

Shadow’s eye narrowed.

A puff of smoke shot from her nostrils—right at my face.

Her tail flicked once, knocking over a reinforced crate like it weighed nothing. Then she stretched slowly on the oversized bed, claws digging into the metal frame as if to remind me how much she had grown.

The pressure in the room spiked for a second, then faded.

"Father is a meanie! Why are you being so cheap with your only daughter?"

My god... she’s got an attitude now.

Well, that’s what I get for spoiling her so much.

I rubbed my forehead. "Alright, alright. I get it. You’re my only daughter. I’m cheap and poor."

Shadow let out a dramatic huff. "See? You admit it!"

I chuckled. "You really are impossible. I’ll feed you more."

With a reluctant sigh and the crushing thought of my bank account bleeding out, I started dumping sack after sack of cores into her room worth billions.

Her appetite wasn’t just big—it was economy-shaking. She was single-handedly inflating the market.

She looked utterly pleased and started munching on them like they were snacks.

I opened my mouth to explain that money doesn’t grow on trees, but I knew better.

She would just flash those golden eyes at me and say, "You’re rich, so it doesn’t matter."