As for Silver Horn, he still had over four thousand cubic units of Cosmic Crystal. Together with the large amount of alloy allocated earlier, it was enough for him to buy plenty of metal.
"First, use the optimal plan to push my main body to Universe level. Then speed up my comprehension of the laws and help my clone achieve a good ranking in the Ranking Tournament."
Having settled on a direction, Golden Horn no longer hesitated and decided to set out immediately. However, to avoid letting the Sirius clan discover that he was still alive,
he controlled his muscles and bones to writhe. His black scales gradually contracted, shrinking his body from a hundred meters to just over ten meters. The iconic golden horn on his forehead retracted, replaced by two curved black bull horns.
A moment later, an ordinary member of the Wild Bull Demon Race appeared in the void.
Golden Horn reached up and touched the two bull horns on his head, then chuckled. "No one should recognize me now."
He quietly flew away from Myriad Monster Star. Only after moving far beyond the planet's orbit did he take out a spare spaceship and set its destination for Exterminate Qiu Star.
Meanwhile, on Exterminate Qiu Star, Silver Horn had not been idle either.
He activated his intelligent terminal and searched through the metal materials in the Monster Hunting Hall marketplace, placing an order according to the "optimal package" from his inherited memories:
Formula Name: Precise Combination of 325 Types of Grade B Pure Metals Purity Requirement: 100% pure Grade B metals Effect: Inner World growth speed ×89 (89 times the natural speed) Time: Stellar level ninth order → Universe level first order, approximately 1 year (100 years naturally) Annual Consumption: 100,000–200,000 tons of Grade B metals Annual Cost: Approximately 18 cubic units of Cosmic Crystal
"Not too expensive." Silver Horn sighed in relief. More than four thousand cubic units of Cosmic Crystal would be enough to feed the main body for two hundred years.
Some alloy orders could be collected directly at the base, while others still needed to be transported from other planets. Silver Horn calculated the time. By the time Golden Horn's main body arrived, the goods should have mostly arrived as well.
To avoid any accidents, Silver Horn decided not to take any missions during this period and instead focus on waiting for the main body's arrival.
A month later, an inconspicuous civilian spacecraft slowly entered the asteroid belt on the outskirts of Exterminate Qiu Star.
Golden Horn stood before the porthole, gazing at the gray-white war planet in the distance as an inexplicable feeling welled up within him. A year ago, he had set foot on this land as Silver Horn. Now, his main body had finally arrived as well.
The spacecraft found a concealed spot within the asteroid belt and docked there. Silver Horn had been waiting for a long time. The two bodies looked at each other in the void and smiled, tacitly saying nothing more.
Silver Horn stored Golden Horn's spacecraft, then handed him a spatial ring filled with metal and Cosmic Crystal.
Golden Horn accepted the ring and sent his Spiritual Force inside. One hundred fifty thousand tons of Grade B alloy had been stacked neatly within, along with a full two thousand cubic units of Cosmic Crystal. It was enough to feed him for a long time.
"Let's go." Golden Horn gave a low roar. With a flash, he transformed into a streak of light and entered the Origin Core Space. Silver Horn stored the Origin Core within his body, looked around to make sure no one had noticed, then turned and returned to Exterminate Qiu Star.
Inside the Origin Core Space, Golden Horn impatiently opened the spatial ring.
He transferred all the alloy into the Origin Core, piling it into a small mountain before him. The metallic gleam of various colors illuminated the entire Origin Core Space.
"Time to eat!"
Golden Horn opened his jaws and unleashed his Devouring Talent. Countless alloys automatically flew into his mouth.
Warm energy exploded within his body, surging through his bloodline toward every limb and bone. He had already reached the Stellar level, ninth-order peak, and the Blue Fruit and Red Fruit he had consumed before had laid a solid foundation. Now, as this pure metal energy poured in, his cultivation began to rise at a visible rate.
Golden Horn immersed himself in the pleasure of devouring, nearly forgetting the passage of time.
According to the formula in his inherited memories, if he continued devouring at this speed, he would break through to Universe level within a year.
"Awoo~~" Golden Horn howled excitedly, his voice echoing through the Origin Core Space.
In the days that followed, Golden Horn devoted himself completely to devouring metal and charging toward Universe level.
Silver Horn, meanwhile, focused completely on comprehending the law secret patterns of the Heavy Treasure Beyond the Light-Year. Every ancient pattern that moved across the sphere's surface contained profound principles of the Space Law. They corroborated each other with Detailed Explanation of Space, causing his comprehension of the Space Law to advance by leaps and bounds.
Time flew by swiftly amid this happy atmosphere.
A year later.
Within the Origin Core Space, Golden Horn had devoured more than one hundred thousand tons of Grade B alloy. The boundaries of his Inner World continued expanding, while the nine Origin Core stars had already swelled to their limits.
Finally, at the instant he swallowed the last batch of alloy, boom!
The nine stars within the Origin Core exploded simultaneously!
A torrent of searing energy swept through the entire Inner World. Stellar fragments danced through the void, collided, recombined, and ultimately collapsed into a slowly rotating vortex galaxy.
The boundaries of the Inner World abruptly expanded outward, surging from ninety kilometers to a thousand li!
Golden Horn's body also expanded wildly at that moment—one hundred meters, two hundred meters—until it finally stopped at a full kilometer in length!
On his forehead, a third golden horn burst forth. The three horns formed a triangular arrangement, each one flowing with golden secret patterns and radiating a chilling sharpness.
The Metal Domain erupted from his center, enveloping the void for several miles around him.
Universe level, breakthrough!
Golden Horn opened his eyes, and golden light flared within his vertical pupils. He felt his soul leap to an entirely new level at that moment. His sea of consciousness transformed into a nebula, and his ability to sense and comprehend the Origin of Gold increased more than tenfold. His comprehension of the Space Law also surged, far surpassing the speed of his understanding at Stellar level.
"Universe level feels pretty good." He grinned, revealing a mouthful of sharp teeth.
Meanwhile, in the courtyard on Exterminate Qiu Star, Silver Horn was practicing a spatial secret technique.
Yan Chen stood nearby with his hands behind his back, watching expressionlessly.
Silver Horn flashed and teleported behind the target. His dagger thrust forward. This time, he was faster, and his trajectory was more treacherous. He did not even stir the slightest ripple in space.
Yan Chen raised an eyebrow.
After finishing his demonstration, Silver Horn withdrew his hand and stood still.
Yan Chen was silent for a moment, his gaze sweeping over Silver Horn again and again.
"Domain fifth layer?"
"Not quite yet," Silver Horn answered honestly.
Under the dual support of refining Beyond the Light-Year and studying Detailed Explanation of Space, he had unknowingly touched the threshold of the Domain fifth layer.
A rare smile appeared at the corner of Yan Chen's mouth. "Not bad. It has only been a year since you broke through the fourth layer, right? There's still a year before the Ranking Tournament. It seems you still have hope of challenging the sixth layer."
He paused, then added, "I'll report this to World Lord Demon Snail and apply for a breakthrough reward for you."
A few days later, a message popped up on Silver Horn's intelligent terminal:
Congratulations on breaking through to the Domain fifth layer. The Monster Hunting Hall has awarded 10,000 Contribution Points. They have been credited to your account.
Silver Horn looked at the extra ten thousand points in his account, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
Golden Horn had already broken through to Universe level, so he still needed to keep buying metal. There were four packages:
Optimal: 207 types of Grade C metals, 89× growth speed. Breaking through to Universe level ninth order requires approximately half a year and costs around 3 million cubic units of Cosmic Crystal. Premium: 120 types of Grade C metals, 39× growth speed. Requires approximately 1.5 years and costs around 300,000 cubic units of Cosmic Crystal. Economy: 50 types of Grade C and Grade B metals, 20× growth speed. Requires approximately 3 years and costs around 90,000 cubic units of Cosmic Crystal. Poor Man's: Pure Grade B metal scraps, 1× natural speed. Requires approximately 50 years and costs around 3,000 cubic units of Cosmic Crystal.
He had thought he had struck it rich, but it still was not enough to feed Golden Horn's main body. It was simply too expensive. He could only start with the cheapest package and wait until Silver Horn's clone finished the Ranking Tournament to see whether he could strike it rich again.
Since Golden Horn's main body had already broken through to Universe level, Silver Horn decided to go out and test his strength. Although Silver Horn was still at the Stellar level, ninth-order peak, with his three-hundredfold genetic level and his near-Domain fifth layer, he was comparable to a Universe level fifth order warrior.
With one Universe level main body and one Stellar level clone whose combat strength rivaled Universe level, their safety should not be a problem.
He activated his intelligent terminal and opened the mission hall, his gaze scanning rows upon rows of missions. In the end, his eyes settled on a patrol mission.
Mission Content: Patrol and photograph three fixed coordinates at the edge of the Withered Skeleton Galaxy, while keeping the spaceship's positioning system active throughout. Reward: 1,000 Contribution Points. Warning: This mission has a high danger rating. Team participation is recommended. Confirm acceptance as a solo participant?
Silver Horn did not hesitate and selected confirm.
One thousand Contribution Points were enough to buy quite a few good things. Besides, he wanted to see exactly how strong he had become.
He shut down the terminal, rose to his feet, and walked toward the docking platform.
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