Breaking Through to Planetary Level and a New Clone

"200,000kg!!!"

"Finally reached the limit. Truly a rare feat."

Xu Ai sighed.

Back when she returned to the base city, around late October to early November, she had consumed the Millennium Willow Heart, pushing her physical fitness directly to the limit of the intermediate War God level.

After that, it was all down to diligent training in the Gravity Chamber.

It took over two months, but by the end of the first lunar month, she finally reached the limit of an advanced War God—or as the people of Earth call it, the Apprentice Level—at 200,000kg!!!

This was certainly no easy task...

"Next is the breakthrough to the Planetary Level..."

With the breakthrough experience of Hen Ren, Xu Ai already had a solid grasp of what to do. After telling Xu Xin that she was going into seclusion, she sat cross-legged on the floor of the Gravity Chamber.

Unlike Hen Ren, who had to break through to the Planetary Level as both a Genetic Warrior and a Spirit Reader simultaneously—a task significantly more difficult—Xu Ai did not need to. Her Spirit Reader talent showed no signs of awakening; she was purely a Genetic Warrior.

Closing her eyes, under Xu Ai's control, the genetic energy within her began to circulate. Following the method Hen Ren used for her breakthrough, she condensed it into a rotating sphere within her Dantian. It spun continuously, polishing itself, contracting and expanding, until finally, it collapsed. With a single vibration, her planet took form.

It sounded simple, but it took Xu Ai two full days to achieve.

"It's only an amateur breakthrough method, after all. When I have time, I'll summarize it, improve its efficiency and success rate, and then publish it."

If there were a specialized breakthrough method for the Planetary Level, those War God level warriors would at least have something to look forward to...

Xu Ai stretched her limbs. Following Hen Ren's experience, she focused her mind, and an invisible pressure radiated outward: Fire Domain!

"It seems my talent leans more toward the Laws of Fire. Although this special ability isn't particularly useful, let's take a look."

Xu Ai sank her consciousness into her body, and a piece of information surfaced.

"Fire-attribute Fire Refining, an offensive special ability. Not bad."

Hen Ren had the water-attribute Water Soft Body, a defensive ability that reduced impact damage by ten percent, with an upper limit below the Universe Level.

In her past life, there was a theory regarding the special abilities in Swallowed Star: that the special abilities obtained at the Planetary Level were actually innate secret techniques bestowed by the primal universe. It was only because they were too weak that they were labeled as "special abilities"...

Whether this was true or not, Xu Ai, who had yet to step into the universe, naturally didn't know. But being able to receive information from the special ability itself, it was highly likely that this was indeed the case.

"Now for the main event!"

With a thought, the long-unseen system panel appeared.

The first thing that caught her eye was the clone function, and beyond that, a new option had appeared.

"Trial?"

Suddenly having a new feature, Xu Ai was naturally very interested, but she still had to be cautious.

Let's select the clone first!

Xu Ai opened the clone option. It was still a vast sea of gray templates, with only one or two occasionally showing color, but looking at them, they were just ordinary, everyday characters.

Without a second thought, Xu Ai clicked on the recommendations.

The first recommendation that caught her eye was a beautiful woman with a pair of butterfly wings, floating mid-air.

"Cai Yi from Chinese Paladin? What is going on?"

Xu Ai was speechless. Did this butterfly fairy have something special about her? Wait...

Cai Yi from Chinese Paladin was beautiful, but this template was excessively beautiful, wasn't it!?

"An excessively beautiful humanoid female with butterfly wings... This is a Zerg Mother Empress, isn't it!?"

After all, the Monster Race in Swallowed Star didn't have human forms...

The Zerg Mother Empress was one of the six peak races of the current primal universe, occupying the core regions of the primal universe alongside the humans, the Monster Race, and the Machine Race.

Although they were called "Mother Empress," that was just the human term because their appearance resembled human females. In reality, they had no gender!

So... was this Cai Yi...

Xu Ai was speechless, but upon reflection, she realized the benefits of choosing Cai Yi.

First, the Zerg Mother Empress possessed a peak bloodline, a ten-fold genetic level, and was born at the Planetary Level, reaching the World Lord level upon adulthood. Furthermore, their bodies were larger than humans! The World Lord level Zerg Mother Empress enslaved by Luo Feng in the original story was about twelve meters tall!

Second, unlike the human and monster races, the Zerg Mother Empress race was more united due to their smaller numbers, with less internal infighting. Moreover, as long as one proved their talent, obtaining inheritance was much simpler.

Finally, there were the innate secret techniques of the Zerg Mother Empress! If nothing else, being able to create Zerg warriors meant her innate secret technique must involve creation! And creation would influence the improvement of one's own genetic level during the Universe Master period!

"Hmm, I'll put her in the candidate pool for now."

After all, there were several other recommended choices.

Xu Ai pushed Cai Yi aside. A humanoid black shadow appeared behind her. While she was still feeling confused, she glanced at the character name and was taken aback.

"Shipgirl?"

That's right, this black shadow was a Shipgirl! Or rather, the Machine Race, an intelligent lifeform!

Unless the outer shell was fixed, intelligent lifeforms themselves did not have a fixed form. There were many types of Shipgirls, so this Shipgirl template was just a humanoid black shadow, representing an unfixed appearance?

"The Machine Race is also a good choice, but it seems the Machine Race all have to acknowledge a superior as their master. That's not very good; the restrictions are too troublesome."

Xu Ai immediately ruled it out. Perhaps she could get an intelligent lifeform clone to use in the future, but for now, she would pass.

Next was a hideous female demon figure, Andariel from the darkness, clearly belonging to the Prison Race. Xu Ai did not know much about the Prison Race, only that they highly revered slaughter, which made their individual combat power very strong.

Hmm, based on this point alone, Xu Ai eliminated Andariel.

If their strength isn't even that great, what's the point of all that slaughter...

The fourth one was the Pokémon Diancie; yes, she must be from the Crystal Race without a doubt.

Xu Ai's impression of the Crystal Race was that their individual strength was decent, they were quite united, and they lacked distinct characteristics, but the overall strength of their race was quite formidable.

They were the polar opposite of the Prison Race.

So, forget it...

Next, there were some giant creatures, such as Godzilla, Ghidorah, and the like. Xu Ai estimated that they would likely be classified as the Monster Race or cubs of the Star Behemoth race.

The Monster Race would be fine, but Star Behemoths can only return to their kin once they reach the Immortal level. If they don't reach the Immortal level, they can only wander the universe. Xu Ai didn't even look at this; she passed on it immediately!

Besides these, there were some suspected special life forms. Hmm, they probably wouldn't be very strong, after all, they had to be restricted to the Planetary Level by Xu Ai's own strength...

Moreover, since Xu Ai didn't know the details about these, she wouldn't take the risk.

"After going around in circles, the Zerg Mother Empress is still the most suitable..."

Having made her decision, Xu Ai brought Cai Yi back out.

Next came setting up the identity, background, and such.

Xu Ai thought about it; a Zerg Mother Empress would definitely be at the Planetary Level just after birth.

Furthermore, the number of Zerg Mother Empresses is naturally small, so there is no need to consider saving nutrient fluid. They are likely soaked in nutrient fluid from the moment they are born, and shortly after coming out, they would reach the ninth rank of the Planetary Level.

As for age, just born...

The gender was locked, so Xu Ai couldn't fill it in...

The strength must be the ninth rank of the Planetary Level!

Next, there should have been some growth settings, but because Cai Yi had just been born, the growth settings were compressed.

Finally, only the choice of the mother's strength remained...

"Two blanks? Two mothers?"

Uh, Xu Ai thought about it; "mother" should be a figurative term, after all, a Zerg Mother Empress has no gender.

It probably means a dao companion; here, "companion" refers to a friend, a friend to adventure with.

"Can I have two Universe Master mothers?"

Xu Ai's heart stirred, and then came the failure...

Clearly, the system wouldn't let Xu Ai dream too big!

Although the original work didn't state whether those above the Immortal level could have children, it was likely impossible.

At least, it was impossible within the original universe...

"Then two Universe Venerables? Wait, the Zerg Mother Empress has no gender, and her gene level is so high, she should be able to reproduce parthenogenetically. I just need to consider one who can give birth to Cai Yi."

But the gap shouldn't be too large either; after all, not every couple is a combination like Luo Feng and Xu Xin.

Let's test it...

"Then one Universe Master and one Universe Venerable?"

[×]

"One Universe Venerable and one King Level... forget it, an ordinary Immortal?"

[×]

"One invincible King Level and one World Lord..."

[√]

"It worked. It seems the World Lord level is the upper limit for reproduction in the original universe."

The rest was left to the system.

Accompanied by a momentary trance before her eyes, Xu Ai gained an extra field of vision...