One morning, two mysterious figures in black uniforms met quietly not far from the Stone family villa.
"Have you finished investigating everything about Yuan Stone?"
"I have. Since the higher-ups are interested in Yuan Stone, why not recruit him directly as a Reserve Warrior? One more wouldn't hurt."
"That's none of your concern. Tell me what you found."
"Yes! I looked up his test results from six years ago, when he was twelve. His Brain Domain Width was 37, an A+ rating—top-tier genius. But his Spiritual Force concentration was only C- at the time."
"C-? That low?"
"Yes. The people at the Flying Star Rank Training Camp for Reserve Warriors kept an eye on him for a while, but his talent as a Spirit Reader did turn out to be rather ordinary, so they gave up on him."
"A Brain Domain Width of 37 before reaching Earth Rank—he was a top-tier genius. What a shame. How has his cultivation been lately?"
The short black-clad man in charge of the investigation gave it little thought, assuming the taller man was simply lamenting the loss of a promising talent.
"According to the Martial Arts Hall's training records, his Spiritual Force reached the peak of the ninth Apprentice Rank not long ago."
"He still has more than half a year before he turns eighteen. We can be sure he'll break through to Earth Rank as a Spirit Reader. In the future, he may even have a slim chance of reaching Flying Star Rank."
"Well done!" the tall man said approvingly. "Send me all the information you've gathered, including details about his family."
The short man had just started to raise his wrist to transmit the information when the tall man stopped him.
"Don't use a public information channel. Transfer the files to me in person. Here's my communication code..."
The short man did as instructed, then asked, "Are there any new instructions from the higher-ups?"
The tall man smiled. "Well done. Return to your unit, and remember: don't tell anyone about this investigation!"
"Yes!"
The short man left happily. The tall man remained where he was, motionless, watching him go with an odd expression.
In a blind spot between the street's surveillance cameras, the short man suddenly dropped to his knees in agony, both hands clamped tightly around his own throat.
As if he were choking—or trying to strangle himself—his face flushed, and his whole body convulsed violently.
He struggled to his feet, trying to find help, but stumbled toward a trash can by the roadside and fell inside. His whole body dissolved into black ash.
Only the suit remained in the trash can, inconspicuous as ever.
Yuan had been feeling a little excited lately. Even AI3, the Martial Arts Hall's floor-cleaning robot, had noticed. It was gossiping about the latest news in the hall with K30, a sparring robot from the boxing department.
AI3's robotic eyes flashed red as it swung its vacuum nozzle back and forth, watching Yuan in the middle of the hall. He was directing five Flying Shuttles through the air while leaping around himself.
It turned to K30, who was as big and dumb-looking as a simpleton, and asked, "Hasn't that kid Yuan been at the peak of the ninth Apprentice Rank for ages? Why hasn't he broken through?"
K30 replied in a deep, rumbling voice, "He said before that he wanted to build a solid foundation and try to succeed on the first attempt!"
"I see," AI3 said. "That kid Yuan really is hardworking. Apart from eating and sleeping, he spends nearly all his time in the hall."
K30 sounded disdainful. "So what if he works hard? I could still knock him out with two punches!"
AI3 jeered, "You're nothing but a hunk of metal with a simple brain. Your body's mainly made of B9 Star Blue Gold. Even someone at Flying Star Rank can't break through it."
"Otherwise, with how slow you move, someone would've smashed your stupid head in ages ago!"
B9-grade Star Blue Gold was the best metal commonly used at the Flying Star Rank stage. Grades A through F corresponded to the metals commonly used from Earth Rank (Planet Rank) up to the Immortal stage.
Dongyuan Stone was a mineral native to Dongyuan Planet. It could catalyze metals from grades A through D, enhancing their material properties and more.
The Dongyuan Stone Mother mentioned earlier could even affect E- and F-grade metals. It was extremely valuable!
K30's simple logic circuits left it at a loss for how to respond, so it knocked on its own head and said nothing.
"AI3, K30, return to your workstations!"
"Let's go, let's go!" Caught red-handed by the hall's main control AI, the two robots hurried back to their workstations, ending their goofing-off time.
Yuan finished training early that day. He planned to go home, throw together something to eat, and strengthen his Spiritual Force some more.
His parents had been working overtime and hadn't been home for the past few days, so after training, he had to take care of his own meals.
Yuan had wisely kept the information about the purple crystal in his mind to himself. He didn't want to be dragged off somewhere and dissected in experiments as a "lab rat."
He hadn't even told his parents. After all, telling them probably wouldn't help...
After a makeshift dinner, Yuan sat on the sofa in his bedroom.
He told his personal AI, Tuya, to open an introduction to the methods Spirit Readers at the ninth Apprentice Rank could use to break through to Earth Rank, then began studying it carefully.
"Going from the ninth Apprentice Rank to Earth Rank is both the most important and most fundamental step in the advancement of life. Once you cross it, you officially leave the Apprentice Rank and become a Genetic Warrior and Spirit Reader in the universe."
"This article explains how to become a first-stage Earth Rank Spirit Reader."
"Spiritual Force can also be called mental power or the power of the soul."
"The human body is mainly divided into the body and the mind—or, in other words, the body and the soul. The mind and the soul are actually one and the same."
"The mind (soul) consists of mental power (the power of the soul) and consciousness!"
"When mental power becomes strong enough, it can leave the Consciousness Sea, control objects in the outside world, and even infiltrate other living beings' Consciousness Seas. Mental power strong enough to do this is Spiritual Force!"
"How does Spiritual Force at the ninth Apprentice Rank break through to Earth Rank?"
"First, Spiritual Force must reach the peak of the ninth Apprentice Rank!"
"Next comes 'consciousness.' The mind consists of 'Spiritual Force' and 'consciousness.' Spiritual Force spreads throughout the entire Consciousness Sea and is tangible!"
"Consciousness, on the other hand, is intangible and untouchable! What exactly is consciousness? What purpose does it serve?"
"You could say that Spiritual Force is the soldiers, while consciousness is the commander!"
"The strength of an entire army depends on two things: the soldiers and the commander!"
"The simplest example is that an ordinary person can lift heavier objects when their spirits are high. When their spirits are low, they might only be able to lift half as much as usual!"
"The body's strength is the same in both cases. The difference in combat strength comes from the mind's 'high' or 'low' state!"
"Consciousness is important to martial artists, and it's just as important to Spirit Readers!"
"A capable commander is better at directing troops."
"Among Spirit Readers at the same ninth Apprentice Rank, someone with strong consciousness can precisely control ten Flying Shuttles, or even more. Someone with weaker consciousness can only control four or five! That's the difference consciousness makes!"
"There are many ways to train consciousness."
"For example, overcoming hardships and adversity can strengthen a martial artist's will. In fact, 'strong will' is also a sign of powerful consciousness!"
"My consciousness is rather weak. I can control six Flying Shuttles at most."
"There are many benefits to living in a city protected by the strong, but it also means you miss out on a lot of tempering. This is a problem!"
"Of course, that's a crude method. The most popular secret training methods for consciousness on my Dongyuan Planet, among the Isis Race, are the Control Objects 108 Forms, a secret technique of the Controller school, and the Divine Thought 69 Forms, a secret technique of the Illusionist school. One is yang and one is yin, and both are extremely effective."
"Too bad I'm not a Reserve Warrior. I'll never get to see such excellent training methods."
"Of course, Apprentices have different levels of talent. Some have a low Brain Domain Width, while others have a high one—over 20, or even over 30."
"The higher their Brain Domain Width, the harder it is for them to break through. But their powerful consciousness will also allow them to achieve more in the future!"
At this point, Yuan winced. "The higher the difficulty? If I can't break through now, what good is a high achievement in the future?"
"When both consciousness and Spiritual Force meet the requirements, the next step is to break through!"
"Once both reach the threshold, a breakthrough could happen at any time, but there's no telling when. There are three ways to bring it about!"
"First, wait for an opportunity to come along, or encounter some situation that stirs your emotions and excites your 'consciousness,' triggering a breakthrough! You might also wait three or five years without making one."
"Second, continue strengthening your consciousness! Powerful consciousness can make Spiritual Force break through instantly."
"Third, the method this article will explain: the Seven-Layer Divine Thought Tower. It consists of forty-nine steps, each taking over an hour. You must build the Seven-Layer Divine Thought Tower in your Consciousness Sea. If you stop midway, you'll have to start over, so you must complete it in one go. Once you finish all forty-nine steps, you can break through to Earth Rank."
"Next is the detailed method for building the Seven-Layer Divine Thought Tower..."
"The article explains it clearly. A Spirit Reader's source of power is the mind—that is, the soul! The mind consists of 'Spiritual Force' and 'consciousness.'"
"Consciousness is the commander, and Spiritual Force is the soldiers?"
"Right. The article says my Spiritual Force reached the threshold ages ago, but my consciousness still has a long way to go."
Based on everything Yuan had learned since elementary school, he wasn't foolish enough to start cultivating the Seven-Layer Divine Thought Tower right away.
After all, the article clearly stated that the method would work best only after his consciousness had been strengthened to a certain level.
If he completed the cultivation and still failed to reach Earth Rank, he wouldn't get a second life to try again!
Yuan repeatedly memorized the steps for building the Seven-Layer Divine Thought Tower described in the article, making sure he knew them by heart before closing the computer.
Yuan had been rather average-looking as a child, but after turning eighteen, he grew more and more handsome. He was practically an improved version of Autumn and Doris combined. But once people found out that his talent as a Spirit Reader was only average too, far fewer girls wrote him love letters.
On top of that, the girls had gradually started dating, and things had been quiet for quite a while.
His good friend Yiming had already reached Earth Rank with the help of external aids and found himself a girlfriend. When he heard the news, he came over to tease Yuan, only for his own girlfriend to shut him down on the spot.
Yiming's girlfriend said the girls who liked Yuan had only gone quiet for the time being.
If Yuan really broke through to Earth Rank, or showed any interest in dating, it was obvious what would happen.
When Yuan heard Yiming's girlfriend say that, he nearly burst out laughing. You came all this way just to let me have the last laugh!
To save Yiming's pride in front of his girlfriend, Yuan struggled not to look at his increasingly dark expression, afraid he'd burst out laughing.
Yuan missed his classmates and friends' smiling faces. He decided to waste some "precious time" by going out for a walk.
His parents weren't home, and he'd been busy cultivating. He'd been staying in a lot lately.
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