Chapter Summaries

Li Qi achieved a Mental-Force Amplitude of 23 times and received direct admission to Zhaoguang Academy from chief examiner Ian, but chief examiner Marcel rejected the offer. Ian suspected Marcel had not read Li Qi’s file as the dispute over the admission unfolded.

• Li Qi tested a Mental-Force Amplitude of 23 times, the highest among the candidates, and Ian granted him direct admission without the Trial Tower assessment.
• Li Qi told Ivanko that he had received special approval, and they left to share the news with his grandfather.
• Ian told the chief examiners that he had admitted Li Qi, and Marcel challenged his decision, citing Li Qi’s father’s history.
• Marcel rejected Ian’s direct-admission privilege in his capacity as first chief examiner.
• Ian left the office and suspected Marcel had not read Li Qi’s file.

Li Qi learned that Marcel Holke had rejected his special admission to Zhaoguang Academy and returned to take the Trial Tower assessment. Marcel discovered Li Qi’s exceptional test results and, fearing blame, tried to unsettle him while delaying his assessment.

• Li Qi received notice that Marcel Holke had rejected Ian Tuert’s special admission application and returned with Ivanko to the academy’s testing site.
• Marcel read Li Qi’s file, discovered his twenty-three-times Mental-Force Amplitude, and panicked about the consequences of rejecting him.
• Unable to shift the blame, Marcel decided to disrupt Li Qi’s state of mind before the Trial Tower assessment.
• Marcel approached Li Qi and Ivanko, then claimed Li Qi had been moved to the end of the line because he had left midway through.
• Marcel’s intimidating gaze put Li Qi under pressure until Ivanko stepped between them, then Ivanko refused Marcel’s offer to wait with them and prepared to leave with Li Qi.

Marcel provoked Li Qi by revealing that his father, Delikur Royce, had been expelled from Zhaoguang Academy, then continued trying to disrupt Li Qi’s composure before his Trial Tower assessment. Li Qi suppressed his anger and began the assessment under Marcel’s supervision.

• Marcel told Li Qi that Delikur Royce had been forcibly expelled from Zhaoguang Academy, and Ivanko confirmed the story while warning Li Qi not to let Marcel provoke him.
• As the candidates waited, Stellar Level experts discussed Marcel’s interference and speculated that a strong Trial Tower result could cost him his position.
• Li Qi entered the testing room, where Marcel took over as examiner and insulted his father’s combat talent to unsettle him.
• Li Qi controlled his anger, sat at the Virtual Universe chair, and asked Marcel to begin the assessment.
• Marcel started the Trial Tower assessment, and the space around Li Qi began to change.

Li Qi began the Zhaoguang Academy Trial Tower assessment, using Bone Spikes and a shield to clear the first four floors. He entered the fifth-floor challenge knowing he could not pass it with his current strength, and aimed to kill as many Corpse-Eating Birds as possible before his Mental Force ran out.

• Li Qi chose twenty-three Bone Spikes and a shield, then killed the Corpse-Eating Birds required to pass the first three floors.
• Li Qi used his Movement Technique, Mental Force, and Bone Spikes to maneuver through the flock and clear the fourth floor.
• Li Qi concluded that the fifth floor’s hundred-bird requirement was beyond his current abilities.
• Li Qi began the fifth-floor assessment, intending to kill as many Corpse-Eating Birds as he could before exhausting his Mental Force.

Li Qi earned a first-class Trial Tower result, defeating Marcel’s attempt to undermine him. As news broke of a purge of corrupt instructors, Marcel faced severe consequences, and Li Qi learned the purge was behind the sudden commotion.

• Li Qi reached 47% completion on the Trial Tower’s fifth floor before his Mental Force ran out and the Corpse-Eating Birds killed him.
• Marcel reluctantly announced that Li Qi had earned a first-class result, only 1% behind first place, then left the testing room grimly.
• Marcel saw news that the incoming governor and Six Academies planned to purge corrupt instructors, while Ian noted that he had always considered Li Qi talented.
• Experts in the waiting area discussed Marcel’s likely punishment and the Empire’s crackdown, then left with their juniors.
• Li Qi joined Ivanko, who congratulated him and told him to check the news; after reading it, Li Qi realized what had happened, and Ivanko confirmed his suspicion.

Governor Lorenzo arrived on Kuka Planet and discussed the planet’s training system and his plans with his disciple Ian. He decided to rebuild the United Training Camp, beginning with a temporary camp, while Li Qi received his Zhaoguang City admission notice.

• Lorenzo arrived in Zhaoguang City and reunited with Ian, who explained how internal power struggles had affected the academy’s admissions.
• Lorenzo sent Ian to join the Stellar Training Camp under Domain Lord Bettekos and urged him to aim for the Molten Secret Realm.
• Lorenzo reflected on how his past choices had delayed Ian’s progress and recalled his own defeat in the Universe Peak Genius Battle qualifiers.
• Lorenzo and Ian agreed that the United Training Camp still needed to exist, and Lorenzo planned to establish a temporary training camp as a first step toward rebuilding it.
• Three days after the Admission Test, Li Qi received an admission notice from Zhaoguang City on his communicator.

Li Qi began his training at Zhaoguang Academy and discovered that his unusually high resource needs could leave him short of the strength required to remain there. He resolved to improve his Movement Technique and earn more Academy Points through Virtual Universe matches so he could obtain at least ten additional Red Dew Fruits.

• Li Qi received his Zhaoguang Academy admission notice and hoped to eventually reach the Stellar Training Camp to gain the privileges needed to save his family ranch.
• Li Qi moved into the academy dormitory, studied its hands-off and highly competitive system, and prioritized reaching Apprentice Level Nine Peak while improving his Movement Technique.
• Li Qi collected his monthly resources, studied the Emperor's Gene Origin Energy Cultivation Method, and used it with Red Dew Fruit and Nutrient Fluid to break through to Apprentice Level Eight in three days.
• Li Qi realized his powerful gene multiplier also made him consume training resources at an exceptional rate, so his remaining annual Red Dew Fruits might not be enough to reach Apprentice Level Nine Peak.
• Li Qi found that his one hundred Academy Points could buy only five Red Dew Fruits and that he needed to save some for Movement Technique courses.
• Li Qi decided to earn points through Virtual Universe matches after improving his Movement Technique, set a goal of obtaining ten more Red Dew Fruits, and searched for instructor lectures.

Li Qi attended a movement-technique lecture and learned how skill mastery affected survival in the Trial Tower, then continued training while waiting for a Spirit Reader lecture. Ten days later, he finally had the chance to attend a public lecture about Spirit Readers.

• Li Qi attended an instructor’s lecture on movement techniques, where the instructor explained that Perfect Level movement technique helped students evade attacks by using everything around them.
• The instructor described four skill levels—Basic, Subtle, Perfect, and Perfection—but admitted he knew little about Perfection Level.
• Li Qi recalled using Mental Force to reach Pseudo-Perfect movement technique in the Trial Tower and wondered what true Perfection Level meant.
• After attending a lecture on close-combat attacks, Li Qi tested his Force-Output Amplitude, found it remained onefold, and resumed practicing movement technique.
• Li Qi learned that Spirit Reader instructors rarely lectured and that courses cost academy points, so he waited rather than spending his points.
• Ten days later, Li Qi finally got the chance to attend a public lecture about Spirit Readers.

Li Qi attended an Illusionist’s public class and realized his unusually powerful Mental Force could make mental attacks dangerous to Martial Artists. Six months later, after reaching Apprentice Level Ninth-Order and earning too few points to fund his training, he received a message that made him spring up from the sofa.

• Li Qi attended a public class where an Illusionist instructor explained how Spirit Readers could use Mental Force to attack an enemy’s sea of consciousness.
• Li Qi realized his Mental Force was far stronger than that of ordinary Spirit Readers and could potentially injure or distract Martial Artists of his level.
• Li Qi trained in the Virtual Universe, but his Mental Shock barely affected matched demonic beasts, so he focused on his Movement Technique and defensive skills.
• Six months later, Li Qi reached Apprentice Level Ninth-Order and recorded thirty-seven wins and eleven losses in Virtual Universe challenges.
• Li Qi lamented that his thirty-six points were far short of his goal and considered asking his family for cultivation resources before a communicator message made him leap from the sofa.

Lorenzo turned the former United Training Camp into a more competitive Special Training Camp and ordered the academies to admit their top-ranked students. Li Qi Royce received an admission notice and realized the new camp was meant to cultivate candidates for the Stellar Training Camp, though he sensed something was strange.

• Lorenzo inspected the renovated C9-class spaceship and ordered the six major academies to rank their outstanding students.
• Sixty instructors submitted student rankings, and Lorenzo accepted Zhaoguang Academy’s explanation for including Li Qi Royce despite his low physical fitness.
• Lorenzo ordered every student on the lists to enter the Special Training Camp, saying those unable to reach the Stellar Training Camp would be eliminated within half a year.
• The six academy presidents sent admission notices to nearly five hundred students, replacing the United Training Camp with the Special Training Camp.
• Li Qi Royce received his admission notice, read that the camp was meant to cultivate Stellar Training Camp candidates, and realized something did not add up.

Li Qi entered the Special Training Camp and spent weeks cultivating toward Planetary Level, while his unusually high gene multiple slowed his physical progress. After mastering the Twenty-Eight Basic Controller Techniques and loosening his Mental Force bottleneck, he applied to Instructor Oris for breakthrough resources.

• Li Qi reasoned that the Special Training Camp would have fierce competition, packed his belongings, and told his family he was entering it.
• Li Qi traveled with eighty Zhaoguang Academy students to the camp, where he was assigned to a class of students who had not reached Planetary Level.
• Li Qi cultivated with daily Red Dew Fruits but lagged behind his classmates because his high gene multiple required far more energy to reach Apprentice Level Ninth-Order Peak.
• Li Qi completed the final stage of the Twenty-Eight Basic Controller Techniques, loosening his Mental Force bottleneck, and chose to wait until he could perform all twenty-eight techniques before attempting a breakthrough.
• Li Qi fully performed the Twenty-Eight Basic Controller Techniques and applied to Instructor Oris for resources to break through to Planetary Level.

Li Qi used Red Dew Fruits and followed the instructions from Mentor Oris to break through to the Planetary Level, first condensing a miniature planet from his Mental Force and then forming a green miniature planet from his Gene Origin Energy. As he released the Gene Origin Energy to discover his special ability, a flower seedling elsewhere in the Special Training Camp began growing at a visible speed.

• Mentor Oris gave Li Qi two sets of breakthrough resources after Li Qi requested enough Red Dew Fruits to attempt both breakthroughs.
• Li Qi followed the Spirit Reader instructions, detonated compressed Mental Force into a singularity, and formed a miniature planet in his sea of consciousness.
• Li Qi used his Planetary Level Mental Force to strengthen his body, triggering a transformation and learning that a Martial Artist's breakthrough meant advancing Gene Origin Energy.
• Li Qi consumed the remaining Red Dew Fruits, opened his dantian, and completed the movements that condensed his Gene Origin Energy into a green miniature planet.
• Li Qi released Gene Origin Energy through his body, and a flower seedling in the Special Training Camp rapidly grew.

Li Qi’s breakthrough to the Planetary Level triggered a mysterious ability that made the grassland’s flowers bloom and caused Law fluctuations at the Special Training Camp. After learning of the anomaly, Lorenzo and Frank suspected its significance and moved to quarantine Kuka Planet and keep the news from spreading.

• Wood-attribute trainees noticed cosmic energy surging as flowers and new plants rapidly grew across the grassland.
• Lorenzo sensed Law fluctuations near Li Qi’s room but arrived too late to locate their source.
• Li Qi tested his newly awakened ability after breaking through to the Planetary Level, but could only tell that his vitality had increased.
• Lorenzo’s report linked the grassland’s sudden blooming and the Law fluctuations to a trainee’s breakthrough ability.
• Frank ordered Lorenzo to seal Kuka Planet and cut its Virtual Universe connection while he went to inform His Majesty.

After a strange phenomenon appeared at Kuka Planet’s Special Training Camp, Governor Lorenzo Vance sealed the planet off and reported it to the Molten Empire. Molten Emperor Gurete Freiming watched a projection of the phenomenon after learning it may have accompanied a trainee’s breakthrough to Planetary Level.

• Lorenzo Vance cut Kuka Planet off from the outside universe and Virtual Universe network, then waited for the empire’s orders.
• Lorenzo reflected on his hopes of receiving Gurete Freiming’s guidance and his plan to help his disciple Ian enter the Stellar Training Camp.
• Domain Lord Frank traveled to Molten Emperor Star and reported the Kuka Planet phenomenon to Gurete Freiming.
• Frank described the phenomenon as “vibrant life, with a hundred flowers blooming” and showed Gurete a projection of it.

The Molten Sector Lord learned that Li Qi Royce’s rare Origin of Life ability had caused a vast anomaly on Kuka Planet Prairie and decided to cultivate him for the coming Universe Peak Genius Battle. The chapter ended with the Molten Sector Lord reflecting on the shackle blocking his own breakthrough to Immortality.

• Frank reported that the anomaly had transformed a large area of Kuka Planet Prairie, accelerated wood-attributed Gene Origin Energy, and caused fluctuations of Laws, so the Molten Sector Lord ordered the news suppressed.
• The Molten Sector Lord visited Marquis Rongdian in the Virtual Universe, and they investigated Origin of Life, learning it could be worth up to 1,000 Mixed Origin Units because of its potential to restore Divine Power rapidly.
• The Molten Sector Lord told Marquis Rongdian he planned to cultivate the young talent, and Marquis Rongdian promised his support before the two drank together.
• Back in reality, the Molten Sector Lord reviewed Li Qi Royce’s background and decided the upcoming Universe Peak Genius Battle could serve as training for him.
• The Molten Sector Lord recalled that, despite his achievements and progress in the Laws, he could not become Immortal until he shattered his Origin Core and completed the infusion of Divine Power.

The Special Training Camp announced a Ranking Trial that would eliminate one-tenth of its trainees. Lorenzo told Li Qi Royce that he had been specially approved for the Stellar Training Camp, but set a condition that he reach Perfection Level skills within a year, leaving Li Qi determined to grow stronger.

• The Special Training Camp announced that its Ranking Trial would eliminate the last few trainees in each of seven levels, amounting to one-tenth of the trainees.
• Lorenzo summoned Li Qi Royce and told him that Instructor Ian, who had approved Li Qi's admission to Zhaoguang Academy, had entered the Stellar Training Camp.
• Lorenzo announced Li Qi's special approval to enter the Stellar Training Camp, then said he would not accept the order immediately because Li Qi's current skills put him at risk of elimination or death.
• Lorenzo offered to approve Li Qi's entry if he reached Perfection Level skills within a year, with a Grade B nutrient pod as a reward and the Blood Blade Cone if he comprehended a domain.
• Li Qi accepted the challenge and left to train, while Lorenzo privately decided he could raise Li Qi's combat skills to Perfection Level within half a year to two years.

Li Qi realized the governor’s challenge reflected the danger of his powerlessness and resolved to become stronger, then used the Ranking Trial to improve his close-combat skills. After placing near the top and reaching the Perfect Level in combat techniques, he could match middling students in close combat, though his force amplitude remained low.

• Li Qi concluded that the governor’s approval for the Stellar Training Camp was likely a provocation and recognized that the grassland anomaly had drawn the empire’s attention to him.
• During the Ranking Trial, Li Qi repeatedly used his Bone Spikes to restrain opponents while practicing close combat, and he deliberately chose five weaker students as sparring partners.
• Li Qi placed near the top of the Ranking Trial, while the five students he had offended were eliminated from the Special Training Camp.
• A month later, Li Qi raised his combat techniques to the Perfect Level and improved enough to match students of middling strength, though his force amplitude remained low.

After half a year without advancing his combat techniques beyond the perfect level, Li Qi discovered a domain during a Virtual Universe sparring match. He realized his earlier breakthrough to planetary level had given him an artistic conception, then headed to the Governor's Office to claim his reward.

• Lorenzo watched Li Qi spar and judged that reaching consummate-level combat techniques would likely take him more than a year.
• Li Qi earned a middling ranking in the second Ranking Trial by relying on close-quarters combat, and began approaching the threshold of consummate-level techniques.
• In a Virtual Universe sparring match, Li Qi's opponent used consummate-level techniques to control the fight and try to wear him down.
• Li Qi's escalating saber strikes suppressed his opponent, and his final slash landed after his newly formed domain restricted the opponent's movement.
• Li Qi experimented with the domain in his room and realized that his earlier planetary-level breakthrough had been the moment he comprehended artistic conception.
• Li Qi left for the Governor's Office to claim his reward.

Li Qi revealed that he had comprehended a domain, fulfilling Lorenzo’s agreement and earning the promised Blood Blade Cone. Bettekos approved the weapon as a special reward after Li Qi completed two trial missions, and Li Qi prepared to return home before joining the Stellar Training Camp.

• Li Qi demonstrated his wood genetic energy domain to Lorenzo, who was astonished that he had comprehended one without reaching the perfect level in combat techniques.
• Lorenzo acknowledged that Li Qi had fulfilled their agreement and promised him the Blood Blade Cone, though he warned that the Stellar Training Camp prohibited weapons.
• Lorenzo consulted Bettekos, who approved Li Qi bringing the Blood Blade Cone into the camp as a special reward, provided Li Qi entered under his command and completed two trial missions first.
• Bettekos arranged for a spacecraft to collect Li Qi and told him to spend time with his family before leaving for the camp.
• Lorenzo informed Li Qi of the approval, and Li Qi remembered that he had not seen his family in nearly a year.

Bettekos reflected on Lorenzo’s potential and planned for him to eventually take over the Stellar Training Camp. Li Qi returned to the Royce Family after qualifying for the Stellar Training Camp, where his family celebrated his achievement.

• Bettekos considered Lorenzo’s limited knowledge of the universe’s great powers and decided he should learn how the Stellar Training Camp operated.
• Bettekos planned to succeed the Molten Secret Realm’s World Lord and have Lorenzo take over as head of the Stellar Training Camp.
• Li Qi returned to the Royce Family valley after nearly a year away and greeted Ninth Dad.
• Ninth Dad brought Li Qi to Eldest Dad and Garibuel and announced that Li Qi had qualified for the Stellar Training Camp.
• Li Qi explained that he had comprehended a domain, and Garibuel sent Father and Third Brother the news.