Chu Kuang

One hundred thousand years into the Martial Dao Era, Milky Way Galaxy, Sirius Domain, Tian Yuan C Star.

Tian Heng Third Middle School, Class Seven, First Year.

This was a vast martial arts hall spanning several thousand square meters, built entirely from dark alloy. All kinds of instruments filled the surroundings, along with a group of robots clutching medicine bottles and standing at the ready.

Numerous banners hung from the surrounding walls: "If you fail to master martial arts, you'll amount to nothing in old age. If you don't work hard today, your head will roll in the Dark Domain tomorrow. As long as training doesn't kill you, train like it will..."

Inside the martial arts hall, more than a hundred teenage boys and girls were undergoing their end-of-month assessments before an instrument.

"Lin Su, Mad Ape Technique at Minor Mastery, vitality level 4.7."

"Wang Xi, Tian Yuan Art at Minor Mastery, vitality level 5.1."

"Zhang Ming, Bedrock Technique at Minor Mastery, vitality level 4.5."

As the results of each student were announced, many of those present showed either worry or delight.

After completing his assessment, Zhang Ming approached Chu Kuang with a miserable expression. "I'm done for. My vitality level is only 4.5. My dad will probably beat me to death when I get home."

Chu Kuang shook his head. "I told you to train properly, but you insisted on playing virtual games."

"You know how it is. I don't have much talent for martial arts, so I can only take the path of Gene Evolution."

Zhang Ming shook his head, then said, "My dad said he'll get me a First-Order Gene Evolution potion after I graduate high school. Want one too?"

Chu Kuang fell silent for a moment before replying, "The Gene Evolution path is too narrow. I still want to try the martial path."

"Then why are you still wasting time on basic martial arts?" Zhang Ming looked as though he could not bear to see him throw away his potential.

Meanwhile, as one student after another completed their tests, homeroom teacher Xu Yue shook his head, his expression displeased. "You little brats are the worst class I've ever taught."

"Damn it, eight months of first year have already passed, and barely any of you have a Life Level above 5. You've trained so badly you might as well have trained yourselves into dogs."

At that, Xu Yue looked toward the crowd. "Jiang Feng, come up."

"Yes, Mr. Xu."

A figure stepped out from the crowd.

Jiang Feng was a full 1.95 meters tall, built like a Brute Ox.

He walked up to the instrument and allowed it to scan his physique. A line of data soon appeared.

"Jiang Feng, Brute Ox Technique at Major Mastery, vitality level 5.9."

"Level 5.9!"

"Holy crap, he's already at 5.9? Doesn't that mean he's guaranteed a spot in the top 100 in our grade at No. 3 Middle School?"

A wave of discussion broke out among the crowd, and many students wore envious expressions.

Since humanity stepped into the stars, human civilization had established vitality levels. Every increase in Life Level represented a leap in the energy level of life itself.

At Level 1, the standard was one hundred kilograms of strength along with the corresponding physical qualities.

After that, every increase in Life Level doubled one's strength compared to the previous level, while overall physical fitness also doubled from its original foundation.

Most of the class had vitality levels between 4 and 5, amounting to a little over one thousand kilograms of strength. Jiang Feng's vitality level was as high as 5.9. Didn't that mean he possessed three thousand kilograms of strength?

"Not bad. At this rate, your vitality should break through Level 6 before the first-year final exams."

Xu Yue nodded in satisfaction and said, "Throw a punch."

"Alright."

Jiang Feng nodded. His pupils contracted instantly as he activated his technique and threw a fierce punch.

The punch was like a Brute Ox Pushing Mountain, carrying the force of a collapsing peak. It slammed into the instrument and actually made the testing device tremble with a thunderous boom. A line of data then appeared on it—4653KG.

"Brute Ox Fist at Minor Mastery, punch-force amplification 0.55 times."

"With a 0.55-times punch-force amplification, his Brute Ox Fist is probably close to Major Mastery."

A wave of astonished voices came from the crowd. The limit of Minor Mastery for a beginner fist technique was a sixty-percent punch-force amplification. Since Jiang Feng could produce a 0.55-times amplification, his Brute Ox Fist was likely very close to Major Mastery.

Xu Yue nodded in satisfaction as well and looked at Jiang Feng. "Not bad. Starting next month, you'll receive ten extra bottles of Nutrient Solution every month."

"Thank you, teacher."

Jiang Feng beamed. Only after thanking him did he step down.

Xu Yue then looked toward a girl in the crowd. "Lin Shuyao, you come too."

"Lin Shuyao is testing too. She's a genius who started cultivating internal martial arts early. I wonder how she compares to Jiang Feng?"

"It'll definitely be Lin Shuyao. Internal martial arts generally aren't cultivated until the second year or later. They're far more prestigious than external martial arts."

"Not necessarily. Internal martial arts progress slowly in the early stages, and they consume far more resources."

"That applies to other people. Lin Shuyao's parents are both Transcendent Realm powerhouses. The cultivation resources she has access to are far beyond anything we can compare with."

The students discussed animatedly, all showing curious expressions.

At that moment, Lin Shuyao stepped forward and allowed the instrument to scan her. A line of data soon appeared.

"Lin Shuyao, Spirit Stream Technique at Major Mastery, vitality level 6.1."

"A vitality level of 6.1 means 3,400 kilograms of strength. That Life Level is probably no worse than the lower-ranked elites in the Key Classes."

A burst of astonished cries rose from the crowd, and many students looked stunned.

Xu Yue nodded even more approvingly before saying, "Try striking with your palm too."

"Alright."

Lin Shuyao nodded and slashed out with a backhand palm strike. A surge of mighty internal force emerged from her palm, forcefully making the instrument tremble. Then a number appeared before everyone's eyes.

—5356KG.

"Spirit Stream Palm at Minor Mastery, palm-force amplification 0.58 times."

"Not bad. Your Spirit Stream Palm is nearly at Major Mastery. Put in more effort and train hard recently."

Xu Yue nodded in satisfaction. As the teacher in charge of Class Seven, First Year, his performance was closely tied to these students' martial cultivation. If a few good prospects emerged during the college entrance examinations, the rewards issued might allow his cultivation to advance further.

If he could nurture a top-tier genius, he might even obtain an opportunity to break through to a higher realm.

Although this year's Class Seven students were not particularly dazzling, they were still fairly promising. At the very least, Lin Shuyao and Jiang Feng were both good prospects.

"Jiang Feng and Lin Shuyao both have decent talent. It shouldn't be difficult for them to cultivate a Martial Dao True Body before the college entrance exams. The question is whether they can cultivate a battle body."

"As for Chu Kuang, if he keeps dragging this out, it'll be too late."

As Xu Yue spoke, his gaze finally settled on Chu Kuang. After some thought, he called out, "Chu Kuang, come and give it a try too."

Chu Kuang stood up and calmly walked to the instrument, allowing it to examine his body. A line of data soon appeared as well.

"Chu Kuang, Basic External Martial Arts at Major Mastery, Basic Internal Martial Arts at Major Mastery, vitality level 4.8."

"Only 4.8?"

A disappointed murmur spread through the crowd. They were clearly taken aback.

There were more than a hundred students in Class Seven, First Year. This result would rank around thirtieth in the class. It was still above average, but it seemed far too low for Chu Kuang.

Chu Kuang was no ordinary person. Back in middle school, he had consistently ranked among the top three students in his class. He had cultivated Basic External Martial Arts to Major Mastery at an early age.

Unfortunately, Chu Kuang had not cultivated any advanced techniques afterward. Instead, he had persisted in cultivating basic techniques, causing his Life Level to progress very slowly.

Xu Yue's brow furrowed slightly. He studied Chu Kuang for a moment before asking, "How have you considered the matter I mentioned to you last time?"

Chu Kuang calmly replied, "This student still wants to cultivate the basic techniques to perfection first."

"Foolish."

Xu Yue's expression changed at once. With a look of frustration, he said, "Basic techniques are only transitional. Major Mastery is enough. Even if you cultivate them to perfection, their effects will still be far inferior to advanced techniques at Major Mastery."

"Your comprehension is decent, but you're not a peerless genius. Your bone is only average to below average as well. If you waste too much time on basic techniques, cultivating advanced techniques later may delay your college entrance exams."

Chu Kuang fell silent. Under normal circumstances, Xu Yue's advice was indeed the best choice.

Unfortunately, Chu Kuang's situation was different. He was not originally from this world. He had been reincarnated from a human of Earth one hundred thousand years ago, carrying with him a special opportunity.

At that thought, Chu Kuang lowered his eyes slightly, and a panel immediately surfaced in his mind.

Name: Chu Kuang

Race: Human

Life Level: Level 4.8

Realm: Body Forging Major Mastery, Organ Refining Major Mastery

Bone: Average Fourth Grade

Comprehension: Upper Seventh Grade

Physique: Mortal Body

Cultivation Techniques: Basic External Martial Arts Major Mastery 99%, Basic Internal Martial Arts Major Mastery 93%, Iron Armor Technique Nascent Stage 53%.

Martial Techniques: Basic Fist Technique Major Mastery 97%, Basic Spear Technique Major Mastery 98%, Basic Movement Technique Major Mastery 95%, Mountain Suppressing Fist Nascent Stage 41%.

With a thought, he opened Basic External Martial Arts, and a detailed panel for the external technique immediately appeared.

Basic External Martial Arts: The Compendium of External Martial Arts under heaven. Easy to learn but difficult to master, it is the most suitable technique for laying a human foundation. Comes with perk: Compendium of External Martial Arts, Purple.

Compendium of External Martial Arts, Purple: All external martial arts are within easy reach. When cultivating techniques of the same type whose cultivation realm does not exceed Basic External Martial Arts, cultivation speed increases threefold, while the difficulty of breaking through bottlenecks decreases threefold.

Aside from Basic External Martial Arts, the perks carried by basic martial arts such as Basic Internal Martial Arts, Basic Fist Technique, Basic Spear Technique, and Basic Movement Technique were all similar.

Only Iron Armor Technique and Mountain Suppressing Fist were different. Their perks were respectively: Iron Armor, White, and Mountain Suppressing, White.

Iron Armor, White: Iron armor protects the body, impervious to blades and spears. Iron Armor Technique's defensive power increases by ten percent.

Mountain Suppressing, White: A fist suppresses mountains and rivers, with strength enough to shatter peaks. Mountain Suppressing Fist's maximum power increases by ten percent.

After years of exploration, Chu Kuang had roughly understood the effects of his cheat.

His cheat allowed the cultivation techniques he practiced to generate exclusive perks, and the effects of each technique's perks differed.

Basic techniques leaned toward cultivation, while advanced techniques leaned toward increasing combat power.

Furthermore, perk quality rose according to the realm of the technique: Nascent Stage was White, Minor Mastery was Blue, and Major Mastery was Purple.

Taking the Compendium of External Martial Arts perk as an example, the bonuses were thirty percent for White, onefold for Blue, and threefold for Purple.

Over the years, Chu Kuang had focused his efforts on diligently cultivating basic techniques. Now, all of these basic techniques were not far from perfection.

Based on the earlier data, once he cultivated these basic techniques to perfection, the effects after their perks advanced would definitely undergo a qualitative leap. There was a high probability that his cultivation speed would increase tenfold.

He knew very well that with his Fourth Grade Bone, the very bottom of the middle Third Grades, he was unremarkable in this glorious age of humanity. Above him were the upper Third Grades, top grade, earth grade, and heaven grade bones.

Without his cheat, he would most likely stop at the First-Order Mortal Transformation Realm in this life. Even if he had a small chance of breaking through to the Second-Order Transcendent Realm, he would only become one of the weakest in that realm.

Under such circumstances, the basic technique perks that increased cultivation speed were the key to how far he could go in the future.

"Chu Kuang!"

Seeing that Chu Kuang remained silent, Xu Yue said with frustrated impatience, "In another two months, it'll be the first-year final competition."

"Every year, the top hundred students in our school's first year receive places to cultivate in the Dark Domain."

"If you fail to seize this opportunity, one step behind will lead to every step behind. In the future, you may never catch up with your classmates again."

For the first time, Chu Kuang showed interest.

The Dark Domain was both the greatest opportunity behind humanity's rise and humanity's greatest trouble and enemy.

The formation of Dark Domains was related to dark matter and dark energy in the universe. As early as the era of Earth civilization one hundred thousand years ago, humanity had discovered that hidden matter and energy existed in the universe.

People discovered that a certain kind of energy was constantly driving the expansion of the universe, yet human civilization could never find where this energy was hidden. Thus, it was named dark energy and dark matter.

It was not until the year 2761 AD, later known as the first year of the Martial Dao Era, when humanity had initially grasped the threshold of Space Technology, that it discovered the existence of this dark matter and dark energy.

Dark matter had been hidden in the space around every planet all along. Because this dark matter and energy existed at extremely high levels, they surrounded planets and formed Dark Domains.

The size of a Dark Domain was closely related to the material world of reality.

In the universe, ordinary matter accounted for around 4.7%, while dark matter and dark energy—namely Source Energy Matter and Cosmic Source Energy—accounted for approximately 27% and 68.3% respectively.

In other words, the energy and matter of the Dark Domain around a planet, combined, were equivalent to more than twenty times the planet's mass.

Strictly speaking, the energy within Dark Domains was not actually dark energy. It was extremely similar to the spiritual energy found in the spirit realms and immortal realms of novels, and people called it Cosmic Source Energy.

This Cosmic Source Energy possessed extraordinary and transcendent uses. After living beings absorbed and refined it, they could continuously grow stronger and could even become gods seated upon divine thrones or saints who were immortal and indestructible.

Dark Domains were filled with countless opportunities, but they also contained a large number of Source Beasts and native lifeforms. Thus, Dark Domains were places where opportunity and danger coexisted.

Humanity divided Dark Domains into six levels: Level 0 Dark Domains, Level 1 Dark Domains at the dwarf-planet level, Level 2 Dark Domains at the planetary level, Level 3 Dark Domains at the stellar level, Level 4 Dark Domains at the black-hole level, and Level 5 Dark Domains at the galactic level.

The energy gap between each level of Dark Domain was exponential. Some terrifying creatures in Level 2 Dark Domains even possessed the dreadful power to destroy mountains and suppress great peaks.

They were only high school students, so naturally, the Dark Domain they would enter was a Level 0 Dark Domain.

A so-called Level 0 Dark Domain was an asteroid-level Dark Domain. Under the current definition of an asteroid's size, it referred to a celestial body with a maximum diameter of no more than one thousand kilometers. Its corresponding Dark Domain was also the least dangerous of all Dark Domains.

Yet even a Level 0 Dark Domain was filled with high-quality Cosmic Source Energy. Absorbing it for just one day was equivalent to cultivating outside for an entire month.

Moreover, the Dark Domains they were allowed to enter had all been cleared by humanity many times. They were tiny Level 0 Dark Domains with almost no danger whatsoever.

This was an extremely rare opportunity. Tian Yuan Third Middle School's first year had more than five thousand students, yet there were only one hundred available slots.

Of those hundred-plus slots, the Key Classes would take fifty. Averaged across the remaining forty-plus classes, there would only be one or two slots per class.

At that thought, Chu Kuang calmly said, "Don't worry. Within one month at the latest, I'll begin cultivating advanced external martial arts and do everything I can to secure a slot."

"...Sigh."

Xu Yue sighed. Knowing that Chu Kuang had not taken his words to heart, he could only wave him away.