Breaking Through to Planetary Level and a New Clone

'--kg!!!'

"I've finally reached my limit. That's quite a feat."

Xu Ai sighed.

She had taken the Millennium Willow Heart back when she returned to the Base City, around the end of October, and it had raised her physical fitness straight to the limit of Intermediate War God Level.

After that, she'd relied entirely on hard training in the Gravity Chamber.

After more than two months, she had finally reached the limit of High-level War God—or, in other words, the limit of an Earthling at Apprentice Level—at the end of January: --kg!!!

It certainly hadn't been easy...

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

With Hen Ren's experience to draw on, Xu Ai was confident she knew what to do. After telling Xu Xin she was going into seclusion, she sat cross-legged on the floor of the Gravity Chamber.

Unlike Hen Ren, who had broken through to Planetary Level as both a Genetic Warrior and a Spirit Reader at the same time—a far more difficult feat—Xu Ai didn't need to do that. Her Spirit Reader talent showed no signs of awakening; she was simply a Genetic Warrior.

Closing her eyes, Xu Ai guided the Genetic Origin Energy within her body into motion, following the method Hen Ren had used to break through. It gathered in her Dantian into a spinning sphere, which kept turning as it honed itself, contracting and expanding, until it finally collapsed. After a jolt, her planet took shape.

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

"It's still just an amateur breakthrough method. When I have time, I'll summarize it, improve its efficiency and success rate, and then put it out there."

With a proper method for breaking through to Planetary Level, at least those War God Level Martial Artists would have something to look forward to...

Xu Ai loosened up her limbs. Drawing on Hen Ren's experience, she focused her thoughts, and an invisible pressure radiated outward. Fire Domain!

"It looks like my talent leans more toward the Law of Fire. My special ability isn't much use, but I might as well take a look."

Xu Ai sank her consciousness into her body, and a message appeared.

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

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

In her previous life, there had been a theory about the special abilities in Swallowed Star: perhaps the special ability gained at Planetary Level was actually an Innate Secret Technique bestowed by the Primal Universe, only called a special ability because it was so weak...

Xu Ai had no way of knowing whether that was true or not, since she hadn't entered the universe yet. But being able to glean information from special abilities did make it seem quite likely.

"Now for the important part!"

At a thought from Xu Ai, the system panel, unseen for a long time, appeared before her.

The first option she saw was the clone feature. There was also a new option.

"Trial?"

A new feature had appeared, and Xu Ai was naturally very interested. Still, she had to take things carefully.

She'd choose a clone first!

Xu Ai opened the clone option. As before, most of the templates were grayed out. A few had color, but they looked like ordinary characters from everyday life.

Without a second thought, Xu Ai opened the recommendations.

The first recommendation was a beautiful woman with a pair of butterfly wings, floating in midair.

"Cai Yi from Sword and Fairy? What's going on?"

Xu Ai was speechless. Was there anything special about this butterfly spirit? Wait...

Cai Yi from Sword and Fairy was pretty, but this template was ridiculously beautiful!

"An exceptionally beautiful humanoid woman with butterfly wings... This is the Zerg Mother Empress, isn't it?!"

After all, the Monster Race in Swallowed Star didn't take human form...

The Zerg Mother Empress was one of the Six Great Peak Races in the current Primal Universe. Along with the Human, Monster, and Automaton races, they occupied most of the Primal Universe's core regions.

Though they were called empresses, that was just what humans called them. Their appearance was close to that of human women, but in reality, they had no gender!

So... Cai Yi was...

Xu Ai was speechless, but after thinking it over, she understood the advantages of choosing Cai Yi.

First, the Zerg Mother Empress had peak bloodline, a tenfold Gene Level, and was born at Planetary Level, reaching World Lord Level upon adulthood. They were also 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 Empresses were few in number, so they were more united and had far less infighting. As long as they proved their talent, it was also easier for them to obtain a legacy.

Finally, there was the Zerg Mother Empress's Innate Secret Technique! Never mind anything else—she could create Zerg Warriors, so her Innate Secret Technique surely included the ability to create! And creation would affect her ability to improve her own Gene Level during the Universe Master stage!

"Mm, I'll put her in the candidates section for now."

There were still several more recommendations to look at.

Xu Ai moved Cai Yi aside. A humanoid black shadow appeared behind her. Still somewhat puzzled, she glanced at the character's name and couldn't help but pause.

"Shipgirl?"

That was right, this black shadow was a Shipgirl! Or, to be more precise, an Automaton—a form of Intelligent Life!

Unless it had a fixed outer shell, Intelligent Life had no fixed shape. There were many kinds of Shipgirls, too, so perhaps this Shipgirl template was a humanoid black shadow to represent an appearance that wasn't fixed?

"The Automaton Race is a good choice, too, but it seems like they all have to acknowledge a superior as their master. That's not ideal. Those restrictions would be a real hassle."

Xu Ai dismissed it immediately. Maybe she could find a chance to get herself an Intelligent Life clone to use in the future, but for now, she'd pass.

Next came the fierce-looking image of a demon woman: Andariel from Diablo. She was clearly from the Prison Race. Xu Ai didn't know much about the Prison Race, except that they loved fighting, which made each individual extremely powerful.

Mm, that alone was enough for Xu Ai to eliminate Andariel.

They weren't even that strong, so what was the point of all that fighting...

The fourth was Diancie from Pokémon. Mm, she was definitely from the Crystal Race.

Xu Ai's impression of the Crystal Race was that its individuals were reasonably strong and quite united, but had no particular distinguishing traits. Overall, though, the race was very powerful.

The opposite of the Prison Race.

So, no...

Next came some giant creatures, such as Godzilla and Ghidorah. Xu Ai reckoned they would be classified as either Monster Race or young Star Behemoths.

The Monster Race was fine, but Star Behemoths couldn't return until they reached Immortal Level. Before that, they could only wander the universe. Xu Ai didn't even bother considering that option—straight to the pass pile!

Besides those, there were also a few that seemed like Special Lifeforms. Mm, they probably weren't very powerful; otherwise, they wouldn't be restricted to Planetary Level by Xu Ai's own strength...

And Xu Ai didn't know enough about them, so she wouldn't take the risk.

"After all that, the Zerg Mother Empress is still the most suitable..."

Having made up her mind, Xu Ai brought Cai Yi back up.

Next came setting her identity and background.

Xu Ai thought it over. A Zerg Mother Empress had just been born, so she would definitely be at Planetary Level.

And Zerg Mother Empresses were already rare. There was no need to worry about saving Nutrient Solution. She would probably be immersed in it from birth, then reach Planetary Level Nine not long after emerging.

As for her age, she'd just been born...

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

Her strength would definitely be Planetary Level Nine!

Next should have been some settings for her growth, but since Cai Yi had only just been born, those settings had been condensed.

That left only the choice of her mother's strength...

"Two slots? Two mothers?"

Uh, Xu Ai thought it over. "Mother" should be a placeholder, since Zerg Mother Empresses had no gender.

It probably meant a partner, with "partner" referring to a friend, someone to go adventuring with.

"Can I give her two Universe Master mothers?"

Xu Ai focused her thoughts, but the attempt failed...

Clearly, the system wasn't going to let Xu Ai dream too big!

Although the original story hadn't said whether those above Immortal Level could have children, it probably wasn't possible.

At least not within the Primal Universe...

"Then how about two Universe Venerables? Wait, Zerg Mother Empresses have no gender, and their Gene Level is so high. They should be able to reproduce asexually. I only need to consider someone who could give birth to Cai Yi."

But the gap couldn't be too large, either. After all, not every couple was like Luo Feng and Xu Xin.

Time to test it...

"How about one Universe Master and one Universe Venerable?"

[×]

"One Universe Venerable and one King Level... No, an Ordinary Immortal?"

[×]

"One Invincible King and one World Lord..."

[√]

"It worked. Looks like World Lord Level is probably the upper limit for reproduction in the Primal Universe."

The rest was up to the system.

As her vision blurred for an instant, Xu Ai gained another perspective...