Trying to Break Through

Since this mysterious Purple Crystal had existed peacefully in my Consciousness Sea for so long, it probably wasn't dangerous for now.

Light rippled across the purple crystal's surface, making it shine like a real gemstone.

"It's so beautiful!" Yuan couldn't help feeling an urge to claim the gem as his own.

Trying to put aside his unnecessary thoughts, Yuan considered the problem in his Consciousness Sea. "My top priority is figuring out how to take the knowledge that there's a purple crystal in my mind out of my Consciousness Sea!"

"Only then can I determine what the Purple Crystal is like and whether it will affect my future cultivation."

Looking at the still-thin mist of Spiritual Force in his Consciousness Sea, Yuan felt helpless.

"Even if this Purple Crystal really has some amazing properties, if it keeps me from breaking through to Earth Rank in time, it'll all be for nothing!"

The "Creator" was "fair." Humans had far more intelligence than other species, but in return, their bodies had weaker genes.

The Light-Deriving Snake Race's oppression and the limits of their lifespan had always hung over the humans of Dongyuan Planet like the sword of Damocles, threatening their continued existence.

Yuan tried a few more times. Whether he attempted to hypnotize himself or tried to engrave the image of the purple crystal in his mind,

he always returned to cultivation, bewildered, and ended in failure.

After all those attempts, Yuan finally came up with a clumsy solution: every time he left his Consciousness Sea, he would take one word with him.

That way, he could tell himself what to do once he left his Consciousness Sea.

Yuan found a piece of "paper." Each time, he memorized an Isis Race character and told himself to write it down after leaving his Consciousness Sea.

"Search... exists in... Consciousness Sea... purple... crystal... what... is it?"

The Purple Crystal seemed capable of erasing Yuan's memories of itself from his mind at any time, yet it seemed completely indifferent to what he was doing.

The last time he left his Consciousness Sea, Yuan looked at the familiar purple crystal before him and felt a little relieved.

Yuan searched the entire internet of the human Yisi Kingdom, but found no information about "a purple crystal existing in the Consciousness Sea."

He only found a Dongyuan Planet specialty called Mituoya, which looked like purple crystal and gave off energy with a calming, soothing effect.

It was an A3-grade mineral, widely used in the cultivation of Spirit Readers from Earth Rank to Flying Star Rank.

He tried subtly questioning his mother and calling his father, who was at the mine, but neither could give him an answer.

He nearly made his mother, Doris, suspect that something had gone wrong with his cultivation, but managed to brush off her concerns.

Yuan, a naturally optimistic person, was at a loss. At last, he chose to give up—for now!

Nothing was impossible, as long as you were willing to give up!

He put away the note, ate dinner, cultivated for a while, and went peacefully to sleep...

The next day, at the senior division of the Martial Arts Academy,

all the boys and girls aged twelve or younger from the nearby residential communities had gathered there. None of them had yet taken the second aptitude assessment.

Those with sufficient aptitude would be selected as Reserve Warriors. Those who fell short would return home after graduating from their general studies and strive to reach Earth Rank.

Then, when they came of age at eighteen, they would go out to find work and live independently.

Yuan walked into the classroom, and everyone immediately turned to look at him.

"Looks like the news about my C+ aptitude as a Spirit Reader has already reached the academy."

Yuan warmly greeted his classmates one by one and took his seat.

The girls looked at Yuan's usual smiling face, unsure whether they should go over and comfort him.

It was Class Monitor Karin Wright who approached first, concerned for her classmate, of course.

"You don't have to 'force a smile.' We understand if you feel weak sometimes. After all, no one can be strong all the time."

Before Yuan could react, her words struck several of the others nearby, who had also recently taken aptitude tests and gotten poor results.

Some of the more sensitive girls even laid their heads on their desks and cried. After all, it took enough resources to empty an ordinary family's savings to raise someone to Earth Rank.

Their close friends hurried over to comfort them, while classmates who had a grudge against them muttered a few mocking words.

Then other students nearby pulled those classmates back. They fell silent too. After all, the person suffering today could be you tomorrow...

Yuan suddenly burst out laughing. "Don't be sad, everyone! Our parents worked so hard to raise us. They didn't do it so we could spend every day moping and feeling sorry for ourselves!"

"Don't feel sorry for our parents. Why should we?"

Yuan's explosive words drew everyone's attention.

He continued, "One day, we'll have children of our own. We'll work hard just like our parents did, and even give everything we have to raise them to Earth Rank."

"These endless cycles are our fate, and they're also the reason our Isis Race has stood firm on Dongyuan Planet for hundreds of millions of years!"

"If every member of a race facing hardship lacked that kind of resolve, they might as well go extinct!"

"Do you want your future children to spend every day feeling sorry for you?"

"You'd probably slap them and tell them to hurry up and cultivate! Breaking through to Earth Rank, starting a family, and making a living—that's what matters!"

The sudden turn made the whole class burst into laughter, sweeping away the sadness.

The girls came over with relieved smiles and tried to find things to say, commiserating with Yuan. A C+ aptitude as a Spirit Reader still gave him some chance of being selected as a Reserve Warrior.

To maintain his image as someone who worked hard, and keep his "inspirational speech" from losing its impact, Yuan couldn't say too much. He could only join the girls in pretending to feel regret.

Yuan's best friend, Yiming Hu'er, sat beside him and was used to "being jealous" of him every day. At last, he couldn't take it anymore.

Looking at Yuan surrounded by girls, he teased, "Quit pretending. You've become the 'chosen one' in the 'netizens'' eyes. I bet you're grinning in your sleep!"

Yuan joined the girls in ganging up on Yiming, while smugly thinking, My best friend really gets me... Unlike these girls, who do nothing but admire me...

Even the teachers came over to comfort Yuan during a break, asking if he wanted them to find a way to get him specially admitted as a "Reserve Warrior." Yuan politely declined.

With his aptitude, even reaching Flying Star Rank would be difficult, let alone reaching Universe Rank and going to war. It would only waste society's resources.

Thanks, but no thanks. I'd rather live a quiet life as an ordinary citizen.

That evening, Yuan went home and continued cultivating. He entered his Consciousness Sea and stared at the purple crystal, feeling dazed for a while before recalling the previous night's events.

"Given that my Brain Domain Width is 37, I should be an absolute genius."

"Could this damned crystal have absorbed my solid Spiritual Force, leaving me with this pitiful mist?"

"I wonder how much those girls would admire me if they knew I was actually a genius."

"Wait—admire!" Yuan finally realized what set him apart from others: almost everyone around him liked him and wanted to be close to him!

Everyone thought it was because Yuan was cheerful, optimistic, and positive that people liked him.

But clever Yuan had long since realized that he'd gradually developed such an outgoing personality precisely because nearly everyone around him had treated him kindly since childhood.

Aside from his family, who he saw every day, and his best friend Yiming, whom he'd played with since they were little, no one thought this was unusual.

Wherever people lived, there were bound to be those who stood at the top of the social pyramid.

Ultimately, it was the psychological "mere exposure effect." The more often people encountered something, the more they liked seeing something familiar.

And Yuan was the kind of person who naturally drew people's attention wherever he went.

The advice to "grow a thick skin" when pursuing a girl was also based, to some extent, on this effect.

Whether she would eventually fall for you depended on plenty of other things, but making sure the person you liked saw you regularly was an easy way to build affection...

Even if you couldn't be lovers, you could still be back—cough, cough... good friends.

"Could the Purple Crystal be what makes me special?"

Yuan felt speechless. "What kind of stupid ability is this? It absorbs my aptitude and blocks my path to genius!"

"Wasn't it supposed to help the protagonist become a powerful cultivator, like in those 'cultivation novels' online?"

The days flew by as he cultivated. Some people finished their aptitude tests and happily went off to become "Reserve Warriors."

Many more returned in disappointment, their dreams shattered. They had to start over and wait for graduation to approach...

During this time, Yuan also kept the promise he'd made on a whim: he played games with Old Man Luo. The old man was truly a monster who had lived for over five hundred years. He crushed Yuan so thoroughly that Yuan shut down and excused himself on the spot.

Old Man Luo was left behind, laughing loudly.

"Just wait until I reach Earth Rank. Then I'll have time to practice my skills. You just wait, old man..."

In the blink of an eye, Yuan's Genetic Warrior strength had reached the peak of Apprentice Level 9, while his Spirit Reader ability had also "slowly grown" to Apprentice Level 7.

Knowing the odds weren't good, Yuan still looked up how to break through to Earth Rank, just like many others.

The Gene Origin Energy Cultivation Method—Cultivation Guide described how to break through from Apprentice Level 9 to Planet Rank 1. It involved a sequence of nine unusual movements.

Warriors and Spirit Readers had one fundamental difference: the Warrior's source was the "Dantian" in the abdomen, while the Spirit Reader's source was the Consciousness Sea in the head.

As soon as Yuan performed the first movement, he felt his whole body start to heat up. As he went through one movement after another, every cell in his body seemed to boil.

The Genetic Origin Energy lying dormant in his cells began to gather like drops of water. The droplets joined into streams, then trickles, then rivers.

A wave of heat surged from his whole body, constantly spinning and gathering, until it finally converged in the Dantian in his abdomen.

"Boom!"

The Genetic Origin Energy began to spin faster, expanding and contracting again and again. With each contraction, its volume grew smaller!

Yuan felt as if his consciousness itself shuddered, and his body trembled!

He had failed! Just as the Genetic Origin Energy was about to condense into a solid, an invisible pair of hands scattered it again.

The chaotic Genetic Origin Energy he had roused couldn't possibly settle back down quietly. Yuan spat out a mouthful of blood and was gravely injured!

Fortunately, his strong body and metabolism helped him recover. Yuan managed to sit up and regulate his breathing. Only after a long while did he finally stabilize his injuries.

Yuan could clearly feel that the bottleneck before Earth Rank had loosened a little. Perhaps after recovering, he could try a few more times and have a good chance of breaking through.

But Yuan also sensed that some of his body's potential had been used up. He would begin to age earlier than before once he became an adult! "Just like everyone says!" Sadly, no miracle had happened to him.