The Terrifying 1200-Fold Increase in Efficiency

Across the vast and boundless Beiming Sea, there are countless islands of varying sizes.

Aside from the sacred island at the very center, which boasts a terrifying diameter of 1 billion kilometers, there are only four other super-large islands, each with a diameter of over 100 million kilometers.

These four islands are located in the four cardinal directions around the central sacred land, serving as the training camps for the Planetary Level, Universe Level, Domain Lord Level, and Sector Lord Level elites, respectively.

Ordinary students are restricted to staying within their own training camps.

Only core-level students are permitted to select one of the many smaller islands as their private territory and request that a Sector Lord-level powerhouse construct their preferred residence and environment.

At this moment, on the Stellar Level island, Villa No. 124201795, the new residence of Yu Duan.

Time to soak in the nutrient solution again...

In the underground quiet room of the villa, the stark-naked Yu Duan lay down in the nutrient pod once more, feeling his cells begin to absorb the strange substances within the liquid, while his consciousness logged into the Virtual Universe.

In the Virtual Universe, within the star-sea space of the Beiming Sacred Land, Yu Duan's figure appeared directly in the living room of his residence.

"Open the Secret Technique Pavilion!"

As soon as Yu Duan finished speaking, the little sprite Tianran hurriedly saluted: "Yes, Master ∠(°ゝ°)!"

The next instant, a pale blue light screen emerged.

The secret techniques collected by the Beiming Sacred Land, while not comparable to the five peak powers, are more than sufficient for a little guy at the Stellar Level.

The secret techniques are categorized by the major laws, and under each category, they are further divided into options such as Domain, Law Entry... Law Recognition, and Complete Law, depending on the level of insight and mastery required.

The dazzling array of secret techniques left Yu Duan feeling dizzy.

Of course, these techniques are just for looking; basically, they all cost money.

The training rules of the Sacred Land are simple: they distribute money, using 'Universe Coin' as the unit. Whatever resources, treasures, or secret techniques one needs, one must buy them personally.

Stellar Level students undergo a ranking battle every 10 years, and money is distributed based on the results of these battles.

The payouts begin for the top 1,000 in the ranking battle. Breaking into the top 1,000 for the first time earns a direct reward of 100 billion Universe Coins.

Breaking into the top 100 for the first time rewards 1 Hunyuan Unit.

Following this logic, breaking into the top 10 rewards 10 Hunyuan Units; reaching the very top spot rewards a massive 100 Hunyuan Units.

This scale of funding is quite high; one must know that the base prize for the top 1,000 in the universe-wide genius competition is only 10 Hunyuan Units.

From the prize money, it is evident how much the Beiming Sacred Land values and invests in young geniuses.

Of course, they only value the top 1,000; they are the main force of the genius competition and a way to demonstrate the 'political achievements' of the Universe Kingdom.

"Poor, can't afford it, simply can't afford it."

"The next ranking battle is a little over 6 years away, and based on my current combat power, there is absolutely no hope of breaking into the top 1,000."

"I hope that after reaching the peak of the Stellar Level, the efficiency of my progress grinding can give me a surprise."

In reality, Yu Duan could avoid being poor if he were simply willing to take on a master.

Given Yu Duan's talent, even an Immortal Marquis would not refuse to take him as a disciple, and even a King-level powerhouse would hold him in high regard.

But if he waits a while longer, until his progress grinding efficiency improves and he displays even more heaven-defying talent... even if he cannot attract the Beiming Kingdom Lord, he could at least apprentice under a super Immortal.

Although there are not many true King-level existences under the Beiming Universe Kingdom, this does not mean that among the Beiming Kingdom Lord's disciples, there are no outstanding figures among the Kings.

If I don't sing, I'll be silent; if I don't fly, I'll soar... I am still very young, I will take it slow.

Yu Duan did not continue browsing the various secret techniques and went straight to the training field to continue honing his actual combat skills.

The improvement through the nutrient solution was simply too fast; his original force-exertion techniques were passable back at the Planetary Level.

But among the Stellar Level students of the Beiming Sacred Land, who average over 30 times the force-exertion efficiency, his were far too low.

In the blink of an eye, half a month flashed by.

In the basement of Yu Duan's villa, the white nutrient pod had remained silent.

"Beep!"

As the prompt sounded, the door of the nutrient pod slowly opened. The naked, lean, and handsome youth sat up from the clear, water-like nutrient solution and stepped out.

Boom!

Fiery light-energy origin power instantly flooded Yu Duan's skin, vaporizing all moisture in an instant.

A black ring flew over from the side, and the moment it touched Yu Duan's finger, it transformed into a Tier 3 Origin Power Battle Suit worth tens of thousands of Universe Coins.

"This is... the power of the Stellar Level peak!"

Yu Duan felt the immense, surging power filling his body; a single swing of his arm contained over 500 million tons of physical strength!

Whoosh!

Yu Duan executed the Floating Light Glancing Shadow movement technique, his entire figure flickering like light-shadow bubbles, arriving at the second-floor training room with extreme speed.

"Tianran, activate the mimetic training environment, simulate natural stellar light irradiation!"

"Yes, Master ≧▽≦!"

The little sprite Tianran hurriedly waved her small hands, and in an instant, the entire cultivation chamber became transparent, transforming into an endless expanse of deep space.

In the deep space, a colossal star burned fiercely, like a massive fireball that had not been extinguished for hundreds of millions of years!

This was the light-harvesting array that Yu Duan had set up back when he was still at the Planetary Level, with an efficiency of just over forty times!

"Increase the light intensity until I give the order to stop!" Yu Duan commanded calmly.

"Understood, increasing light intensity!" Tianran stretched out her two small hands and tapped on the virtual screen.

Boom!

In an instant, that blazing star let out a roar, its color shifting from yellow in a heartbeat, turning into a scorching blue giant star within moments, with temperatures of tens of thousands of degrees Celsius enveloping Yu Duan.

And this was still not the limit for a peak ninth-stage Stellar Level powerhouse; Stellar Level experts could easily fight within the deeper layers of a star.

Universe Level experts, a tier higher, even used terrifying extreme celestial bodies like white dwarfs or even neutron stars as their battlefields.

About five minutes later, after feeling that his tolerance for the high temperature was nearing its limit, Yu Duan finally spoke: "That's enough, maintain the stellar light at this intensity."

"Yes, Master, the relevant data has been recorded!"

Yu Duan took a deep breath to calm his slightly excited mood, then focused his consciousness, sending his mind into his internal space.

The internal space that was once only 10 meters in diameter at the first stage of the Planetary Level had now become a vast space with a diameter of 9 kilometers.

Dreamy, multicolored rays of light radiated from the Book of Causality, shrouding the entire space in a hazy glow.

On the Book of Causality, a line of ancient and complex characters was jumping rapidly.

"Repaying the advanced cost, basking in sunlight for 400,000 hours, current progress: 200,715 hours and 17 minutes..."

Yu Duan did not care about the current progress; he cared about the efficiency.

In the blink of an eye, the 17 minutes from just a moment ago had directly turned into 37 minutes.

In a mere 3 seconds, the progress bar had jumped by 1 hour.

"The efficiency has increased by about 1,200 times!"

Yu Duan clenched his fist tightly, his entire body's force surging and boiling along with his emotions!

Originally, according to Yu Duan's expectations, he would have been satisfied if the efficiency had increased by three or four hundred times!

As it turned out... it was a full 1,200 times!

It would still take 200,000 hours to pay off this advanced cost.

However, with a 1,200-fold increase in efficiency, it would only take—about 7 days!