Ability: Devour

Before him, a colossal, pitch-black vortex spread across the space around it. As it spun, the surrounding space began to collapse and twist!

A black hole!

Those two words immediately surfaced in Yang Chen's mind.

The black hole was so dark it seemed bottomless.

Faintly, countless stars were reflected across its surface!

Yang Chen was shaken, but for some reason, the black hole filled him with an inexplicable sense of familiarity!

It was as if the black hole were a part of his own body, only severed from him—and now he had found it!

Only then did Yang Chen realize that the force drawing him here had come from the mouth of the black hole's vortex.

"Are you the one drawing me here?"

Yang Chen spoke softly.

But all around him, there was only silence, broken by the black hole's trembling!

A faint smile slowly tugged at Yang Chen's lips. He gently raised his arm, then gradually reached it toward the black hole.

Strangely enough, the space around the black hole could barely withstand the pressure it gave off, while Yang Chen's physical body was only at the Grandmaster level.

Compared to the space around him, Yang Chen's body was still far too weak.

And yet, where Yang Chen's arm reached, he felt no disturbance at all. Even the space around his arm had fallen still.

It seemed strangely empty, and stood out against its surroundings.

As if confirming his suspicions, Yang Chen slowly approached the black hole. The closer he got, the more strongly he felt its pull!

The feeling grew more intense by the moment!

Yang Chen was delighted, and quickened his pace a little.

Gradually, he drew closer and closer to the black hole, until he was standing right in front of it.

Only then did Yang Chen notice the streaks of dark light twisting and radiating from its surface.

Those streaks of light were what caused the space around the black hole to distort!

Yang Chen took a deep breath, then reached his hand straight into the pitch-black hole.

He had expected something painful to happen, but the instant he put his hand inside, he was astonished to find that his arm felt warm.

A wave of comfort surged through his arm.

Then he saw the energy inside the black hole continuously flow into his body. It traveled along his meridians, made a full circuit through his body, and finally entered his dantian.

The spiritual energy that had already entered Yang Chen's body also began to transform under the dark light.

Drops of liquid spiritual energy were enveloped by the black light, then gradually changed into the same dark hue.

Before long, all the spiritual energy in Yang Chen's dantian was shrouded in black light, and waves of formidable power radiated from the dark aura.

Yang Chen's spiritual energy cultivation had already broken through to the A-Class ability user level thanks to the A-Class infusion of spiritual energy. But as the dark light enveloped him,

his spiritual energy cultivation didn't improve much. Still, he could clearly feel that the quality of his spiritual energy was changing under the black light.

It was improving!

The A-Class infusion of spiritual energy had merely poured the world's most ordinary spiritual energy into his body. Among ability users, the reason some could defeat opponents at a higher level was entirely due to the quality of their energy!

Someone else might have only just reached A-Class, but if their energy was much higher in quality than yours, then your ordinary energy wouldn't necessarily measure up—even if you had spent a long time consolidating your strength at A-Class.

That was the difference in energy quality!

And now, the black hole's light was helping Yang Chen improve the quality of his energy!

As time passed, the spiritual energy shrouded in the dark light gradually took on the same shadowy hue.

Its color wasn't the only thing that changed. Its power also increased considerably.

Yang Chen could even feel that, relying on his spiritual energy alone, he could defeat Wild Wolf now!

Wild Wolf had spent a long time consolidating his strength at A-Class, but he had paid too little attention to the quality of his energy.

As for how Wild Wolf had escaped from an S-Class ability user, that was entirely because his ability was defensive—and a fairly good one at that.

Otherwise, with Wild Wolf's strength, it would have been extremely difficult!

Of course, even Wild Wolf himself hadn't noticed this!

Otherwise, Wild Wolf wouldn't have been unable to withstand even a single move from Yang Chen.

Then faint black light began to emerge from Yang Chen's body, and wisps of pressure burst forth from within him.

The pressure wasn't strong enough to twist the surrounding space like the black hole did, but it still sent ripples through it.

The black hole seemed to tremble as if it were alive. Then its enormous form suddenly began to spin, and before Yang Chen's eyes, it gradually shrank.

It transformed into a streak of black light, pierced through space, and shot straight into Yang Chen's dantian.

When the black spiritual energy in Yang Chen's dantian sensed the black hole's arrival, it seemed to catch sight of its king. It hurriedly made room for the black hole, then curled up in a corner of Yang Chen's dantian.

The black hole, for its part, seemed to think it was entitled to such deference. It swaggered into the center of Yang Chen's dantian, then fell still.

It turned into a black bead, quietly floating above his dantian.

Watching this, Yang Chen couldn't help finding it amusing.

Had this thing gained a mind of its own? It was getting awfully full of itself!

A moment later, Yang Chen suddenly seemed to remember something. He looked suspiciously at the black hole in his dantian and muttered, "But what ability did it give me?"

Before he reached the black hole, he had seen plenty of stars that carried abilities. And none of those stars had seemed as terrifying as this black hole.

But even though he had refined the black hole, he couldn't feel anything at all!

So what exactly was his ability?

Yang Chen was completely baffled!

The black hole seemed to notice his confusion.

The black bead that had been floating quietly in Yang Chen's dantian suddenly began to tremble violently. Then dark light burst from it, and a terrifying pulling force erupted in an instant.

Streaks of pitch-black light appeared in a flash.

Like black chains, they pierced through Yang Chen's body and shot toward a point in the starry sky.

Before Yang Chen could react, a crimson star was already wrapped in a dense web of dark light, then dragged toward him.

It hurtled toward Yang Chen at tremendous speed.

"What the hell is going on?!"

Yang Chen was dumbfounded. He wanted to dodge, but it was already too late!

That was a star! It was so huge that even with the body of a Grandmaster, Yang Chen couldn't possibly emerge unscathed from a collision with it!

Yang Chen could only watch as the flame-filled star hurtled toward him.

Then he slowly closed his eyes.

But a moment later, Yang Chen felt no physical pain at all. Instead, warmth filled his body.

What was going on?

Yang Chen froze, then hurriedly examined his body from within.

To his surprise, a small patch of crimson had appeared on the surface of the black bead.

A wave of heat radiated from that crimson patch.

"Could it be..."

Yang Chen swallowed. He thought he might have figured out what his ability was!

But if it really was what he thought, then it was absurdly powerful!

Heart pounding with excitement, Yang Chen opened his palm slightly and focused his mind. Flames immediately burst forth from his hand.

When Yang Chen channeled his spiritual energy into the flames, they quickly spread, then engulfed his entire body.

The aura of those flames was exactly the same as that of the star that had been wreathed in fire!

"Devour?"

Yang Chen looked at the blazing flames, yet felt no heat at all.

Then a page suddenly appeared in Yang Chen's field of vision.

It was much the same as before, except that it now had an ability section at the bottom!

Character: Yang Chen (Grandmaster!)

Physique: Mortal Grade

Title: None!

Level: A-Class!

Permissions: Check in! (On cooldown; 14 days remaining!)

Shop: Locked!

Ability: Devour!

Seeing the information on the page, and how his level had changed while an attribute had been added, Yang Chen was overcome with joy.

So he did have an ability after all!

A moment later, Yang Chen suddenly felt the world spinning around him. When he came to, he was back in his own home.

To be continued!