Circumstances

Yuan stood up, silver-white light continuously circulating across his skin before finally converging into his eyes.

Within his black pupils, two faint, strange silver-white asterisk-shaped symbols were outlined; this was a sign of profound insight into a Conception, though Yuan was still completely clueless about how to actually utilize it...

Yuan felt a surge of joy, clenched his fists, and punched forward. "Bang! Bang!" He could now even create sonic booms in the thick air of Dongyuan Planet!

"Congratulations. Entering the Earth Rank as a Genetic Warrior via the Spirit Reader path—now focus on building a solid foundation, and the Flying Star Rank will be within your reach!" Jona looked at the excited Yuan, feeling an inexplicable sense of closeness to him and a budding desire to nurture his talent.

She stepped forward to block Yuan, who was about to climb back into his Action Mecha, and asked, "What is your name, and which district do you live in? With your talent for comprehending a Conception while only at the first stage of the Earth Rank, you shouldn't be a nobody!"

"Jona isn't an insider?" Yuan was somewhat surprised.

Thinking that he was still a member of her Scavenger Team and that his information wouldn't be hard to find, Yuan answered honestly and modestly: "My name is Yuan Stone. My talent is actually quite average; being able to comprehend a Conception was just a stroke of luck."

"You are Yuan? Yuan Stone, living in Living District 15, with parents who are both mine workers?" Jona raised an eyebrow, looking quite surprised.

"Captain, you know me?" Yuan was even more surprised than Jona. Although the people living around him were generally friendly, in the eyes of those outside his social circle—people he rarely interacted with—his reputation was poor. Those jealous types called him a weak pretty boy who was useless for anything other than his looks!

On Dongyuan Planet, where strength was everything, this was a very serious accusation. In the past, although Yuan felt quite melancholy about such talk, he remained outwardly magnanimous and even tried his best to stop his friends from going to argue on his behalf.

Yeah, I'm useless for everything except being handsome! But I'd really love to trade this handsome face for 6,000 years of life at the Flying Star Rank. Wouldn't that be sweet! This had been Yuan's true inner thought for a long time.

Jona's expression suddenly turned odd. It was unclear what she was thinking, but she seemed to want to laugh while trying hard to hold it back: "My name is Jona Guila, and Brandy Guila is my younger sister!"

The others present were still confused, but Yuan's expression was already (Shocked.JPG, see book review).

For a moment, a complex emotion—a mix of embarrassment and shame—surged into Yuan's heart. Brandy Guila was also famous in Yuan's social circle.

Not because she was beautiful, but because Brandy was the number one fan among his little group of fangirls! A total menace!

She was renowned throughout the Martial Arts Hall's advanced division in the Tuka Tribe's Living District 15 for her glorious record of feeling physically ill if she didn't shout, "Little Yuan, I love you! I want to have your babies!" the moment she saw him.

I actually just made that face at Brandy Guila's sister. Yuan stood where he was, covering his face with his hands, wishing he could die of embarrassment on the spot!

He had to face it eventually. Yuan lowered his hands, revealing an expression that was neither crying nor laughing: "Hello, Sister Jona!"

Watching Yuan's twisted expression, Jona couldn't help but chuckle. She teased, "My sister was still talking about you today!"

"But don't worry, I won't tell her you've been in my Scavenger Team! Otherwise, she'd definitely throw a fit and cry until she forced her way into my team!"

"After all, she's only at the first stage of the Earth Rank, and not every first-stage Earth Rank warrior can be like you..."

"I'm in a hurry to get to the mine; let's chat another day!" Seeing that Jona showed signs of wanting to keep talking, Yuan reminded her with some difficulty.

"Right, right!" Jona snapped back to reality and signaled everyone to board their mechas to proceed to the mine as planned.

While Yuan was climbing into his mecha, his mother sent a message to his Smart Wristwatch: those two Light-Deriving Snakes had left! Autumn would be rescued immediately! She told him to rest easy at home and focus on his cultivation...

Yuan breathed a sigh of relief: those people in the shadows shouldn't be paying attention to Autumn and his wife anymore. After all, trapping Autumn was just a means to an end; their target had been the Purple Crystal all along!

It was just that he now had to live in the wilderness, and he didn't know how to explain it to his parents.

The Purple Crystal was still cackling in his mind: "I told you so, hahaha!"

Yuan ignored it and busied himself strapping into the mecha. Then, he suddenly realized something and roared in his Consciousness Sea: "My dad is safe, but I'm in danger! Hurry up and show me your method!"

Only after Yuan's reminder did the Purple Crystal realize that it could usually only perceive the external information that Yuan himself perceived.

No longer worried about being detected by the hidden experts in the team, it extended its perception out from Yuan's body...

"You were right! I sense it—high energy ahead! There are experts hiding their presence, closing in fast!"

The people behind them hadn't expected Yuan to stop and break through not long after leaving the city, and thinking something had gone wrong, they had decisively changed their original plan!

The Purple Crystal cackled in the Consciousness Sea: "Quick, maneuver the mecha twenty meters to the left, then relax your body and let me take over! Watch and learn!"

Yuan channeled his Origin Energy and savagely punched the red emergency brake button in the center of the mecha's control panel. With a crack, the transparent anti-tamper cover shattered!

Taking advantage of the moment before anyone else could react, Yuan maneuvered the mecha twenty meters to the left in 0.05 seconds. Only then did the others in the team react.

"Bastard!" the several Sky Rank (Universe Rank) warriors hidden within the team cursed inwardly. The incident was so sudden that they were caught in a dilemma the moment they reacted!

This distance of twenty meters would take a Sky Rank expert less than one-hundred-thousandth of a second to cover, but that was only if they weren't in a mecha!

Even if they used the fastest way to break free from the mecha, it would take them 0.05 seconds. Who knew what variables might arise in such a long time!

The four Sky Rank warriors hidden in the Scavenger Team, relying on years of tacit cooperation, reacted in this split second.

Two of them erupted with energy, breaking free from their mechas directly, while the other two decisively followed Yuan's lead and smashed the emergency brake buttons on their own mechas.

The four of them split into two directions and pursued Yuan!

The two who were still in their mechas took only 0.02 seconds to close in on Yuan, but it was already too late!

In that 0.02-second window, Yuan relaxed his body, and the Purple Crystal took over instantly!

A force that Yuan could not resist flooded his entire body, and he instantly lost all sensation and control over his own limbs.

In Yuan's perception, time seemed to slow down. Those omnipresent rays of light suddenly gained clear speed and mass!

He could even clearly feel the different colors reflected when light of different wavelengths gathered in his eyes!

The Purple Crystal manipulated Yuan's body, plucking specific wavelengths of light from the outside world. Those rays of light seemed to come alive, twisting and intertwining with each other to form another strange, complex, and seemingly perfect pattern!

The pattern formed a peculiar force that wrapped around both Yuan's body and the entire Action Mecha.

"Light Secret Technique: Light Chasing Flash—activate!" the Purple Crystal roared in Yuan's Consciousness Sea, feeling quite pleased with itself.

"What a chuunibyou line..." Before Yuan could even voice his retort, he instantly lost all sensation, sinking into a pitch-black, bottomless slumber.

In that 0.02-second window, just as the warriors piloting their Action Mecha were about to make contact with Yuan's mecha, they saw Yuan's entire figure seemingly swallow the surrounding light.

The light around him twisted violently, plunging into a massive patch of surreal darkness, and then the darkness vanished in an instant; Yuan, along with his entire mecha, had disappeared!

All that remained were the four men who had missed their target and the rest of the Scavenger Team, staring at each other in bewilderment.

"Should we kill them to silence them?" a simple-looking team member transmitted quickly, the murderous intent belying his previously naive, smiling eyes.

The one who appeared to be the leader of the four transmitted a refusal: "This Qiaona has some background; there's no need to invite extra trouble. Leave one person behind to check if they have any issues."

"The other three, split up in three directions to conduct a rapid search, and report the situation to our superiors!"

By the time Yuan regained consciousness, he had no idea how much time had passed. Before he even opened his eyes, he heard the sound of water droplets hitting stone nearby, and in the distance, it seemed as though Desolate Beasts were letting out strange, overlapping howls.

Beside him, a campfire seemed to be warming one side of his body.

Yuan struggled for a long time before finally opening his eyes. The sky outside was already dark, and he found himself inside a cave. The campfire nearby was the only source of light, and his Action Mecha stood not far away.

"Where is this?" Yuan wanted to speak, but he found his voice to be incredibly weak.

"You're awake?" A little girl who looked only seven or eight years old, dressed in animal skins with messy hair, was staring at him with adorable, wide eyes.

Seeing Yuan react, the little girl suddenly shouted, "The Mecha Big Brother is awake! Mom, come look!"

The voice, which was full of vigor and somewhat inconsistent with her age and appearance, gave Yuan a start. He tried hard to lift his arm, only to find that he could barely move his fingers before running out of strength.

A man and a woman, who looked like a married couple, approached at the sound. The woman, dressed in animal skins, said gently, "Little brother, you're awake? Quick, have some soup."

Yuan managed to sip a little soup, feeling some warmth return to his body. Who are these people?

The man, wearing crude armor made of colorful iron scraps, shoved a slightly warm stone into Yuan's hand and said coldly, "Use your Isis Race cultivation technique to absorb the power in this stone, and you will recover."

The woman smiled gently, "Don't worry, we won't hurt you!"

Purple Crystal? Purple Crystal? Are you there? Although Yuan couldn't sense his Consciousness Sea, he tried calling out in his mind twice, but unfortunately, there was no response.

Yuan followed the instructions; given his current situation, he had no better options.

Gentle energy flowed out from the stone. It was quite a marvelous feeling to actively absorb energy for the first time.

After all, for ordinary life forms below the Sky Rank, the density of energy within their bodies was far lower than the average concentration of Universe Energy in the air of Dongyuan Planet.

The man in the crude armor spoke with a hint of admiration in his voice: "To be able to exhaust the energy in your body to the point of fainting when you are only at the first stage of the Earth Rank—that is quite remarkable!"