The exit of the underground base.
Dressed in black casual clothes with a backpack on his back, Yun He stepped out of the elevator and into the wilderness.
Inhale~
He took a deep breath of the fresh wilderness air, basking in the sunlight with a cheerful heart.
An entire year without seeing the Sun.
The fighter jet sent to take him back to the Base City would probably need another two hours to arrive.
"In that case..."
He felt the stirring within his body.
"Then let's break through!"
With a thought from Yun He, the process began.
His body, already at the threshold of a breakthrough, instantly underwent a dramatic transformation.
His bones, bone marrow, meridians, muscles, fascia, skin, and everything else within his body began changing in an incredible way.
The genes within his body rapidly broke down and recombined.
A transformation of life itself!
This transformation was far more important than any he had undergone before.
Advancing from the Apprentice Level to the Planetary Level was a leap in the tier of one's existence.
After reaching the Planetary Level, one no longer needed to breathe, could fly freely through the air, and had an astonishing lifespan of 1,000 years.
In the universe, only those at the Planetary Level qualified to be called warriors.
Only those at the Planetary Level qualified for citizenship in the universe and could earn enough to feed and clothe themselves.
A Miniature Planet formed in his dantian and began slowly rotating.
Yun He's body left the ground, breaking free of Earth's gravity as he floated into the air.
The Miniature Planet had its own magnetic field, which counteracted Earth's gravity.
"I wonder what ability I'll gain from breaking through to the Planetary Level?"
Hovering a little over ten meters above the ground, Yun He closed his eyes and carefully examined himself.
The Miniature Planet within him was actually a pitch-black sphere that glimmered with a faint black light.
At that moment, the pitch-black sphere was emitting a mysterious fluctuation that spread into the outside world.
As the fluctuation spread, the surrounding sunlight was drawn toward him, flowing into Yun He's body like countless rivers converging and being absorbed by the pitch-black planet.
"This fluctuation is devouring light?"
This is the special ability I gained at the Planetary Level?
A light-type constitution?
Yun He froze for a moment, then shook his head and stopped dwelling on it. Once he entered the universe and logged into the Virtual Universe, he could take his time looking up the answer.
For now...
"System, you little bastard, shouldn't you show up now?"
Yun He asked tentatively.
In truth, he was not very confident. It was only a guess. He really knew very little about the system.
Suddenly~
Ding!
A crisp sound rang out in Yun He's mind, as sweet as heavenly music!
Yun He was overjoyed!
Just as I thought...
You little bastard, you've finally shown up again!
Congratulations on reaching the Planetary Level. You have received a reward. Would you like to open it?
Here it comes!
So my system works by giving rewards for leveling up?
Yun He drew a light breath.
"Open it!"
Ding!
Reward opening confirmed!
Yun He brimmed with anticipation. What would the reward be?
Ding!
Congratulations! You have received a tenfold gene level increase!
What?!
A tenfold gene level increase?!
*!!!*
Yun He sucked in a breath!
You're not messing with me, are you?
Ding!
Reward successfully delivered.
A warm current immediately emerged from the depths of his mind, flowing through his entire body in an instant and being absorbed.
"This feels so good!"
Yun He closed his eyes. His whole body felt wrapped in a warm current, cozy and comfortable, like an infant in its mother's womb. The warmth rapidly altered his genes, evolving them toward a higher level.
At the same time, an imposing pressure rose within him, layer upon layer.
An innate sense of nobility radiated from Yun He.
It was the nobility of his gene level.
If advancing to the Planetary Level was a leap in the tier of his existence...
Then this was a leap in his gene level.
A tenfold gene level already placed him among the universe's pinnacle bloodlines.
The Golden Horned Beast belonged to this level.
Of course, this classification of pinnacle bloodlines applied to species. Special lifeforms were excluded, because they were naturally born from the universe and possessed inherently superior gene levels, but could not reproduce on their own to form a powerful species.
Yun He hovered in the air with his eyes closed, his face filled with heartfelt joy and delight.
The leap in his gene level felt wonderful.
Every cell in his body seemed to cheer with joy.
At the same time, Yun He vaguely sensed a certain wondrous fluctuation in the void.
This is!
The fluctuations of the laws!!
Yun He was overjoyed.
"This is the Law of Light..."
"This is the Law of Earth..."
"This is the Law of Gold..."
Of these, he sensed the Law of Light most clearly.
If his perception of the other laws was faint...
Then the Law of Light was ten times clearer.
Yun He tried sensing each of the universe's ten origin laws. He could faintly perceive eight, while the other two were more mysterious and extremely indistinct.
Those two more mysterious laws were naturally the laws of space and time, the universe's higher laws.
Of the ten origin laws, he sensed the Law of Light most clearly.
Thus, Yun He immersed his entire mind in comprehending the Law of Light.
As time passed, a fluctuation radiated from Yun He's body.
All the light within a hundred meters of Yun He was drawn toward him and devoured into his body.
Countless rays of light visibly flowed toward Yun He's hovering body.
With so much light gathering, this stretch of space should have been brighter than anywhere else.
Strangely, as the light gathered, the space within those hundred meters grew dim instead.
Gradually, the hundred-meter patch of dimness shrank, growing darker as it contracted.
When it shrank into a circle ten meters across, it turned completely pitch-black.
Yun He stood in midair, his body enveloped by a pitch-black circular domain roughly ten meters across.
He was right at the center of the pitch-black circular domain.
Then the pitch-black circular domain began rotating slowly, its speed increasing steadily.
Five minutes later.
In midair, a black hole ten meters in diameter spun rapidly, emitting a gravitational pull that extended a thousand meters around it.
The light within a thousand meters, and even farther away, was immediately caught by its gravity, drawn in, and devoured by the black hole.
From afar, only a spinning black hole ten meters in diameter could be seen. Nothing inside it was visible, and Yun He's figure had vanished too. Not only did the black hole devour light, it seemed capable of devouring one's gaze as well.
It was nearing afternoon.
The Amazon Jungle in South America.
Above the wilderness.
A small black hole ten meters in diameter spun rapidly in the air, a little over a hundred meters above the ground.
Within a thousand-meter radius of the black hole, the reach of its gravitational pull, rays of light were captured and drawn in. They revolved around the central black hole, converged toward it, and were finally devoured.
This peculiar spectacle...
Immediately caught the attention of the staff in the underground base.
After all, the black hole was hovering right above their heads!
"My God! What is that?"
"What's going on? Why is there a black hole in the air outside our base?!"
"OMG!"
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Shrill alarms blared throughout the base, throwing the entire underground facility into chaos.
The staff hurried to film and record the strange phenomenon, reporting it to their superiors in their respective organizations.
"Reporting in! An unidentified celestial object has suddenly appeared a hundred meters above the No. 9 Ancient Civilization Ruins. We suspect it's a small black hole!"
"Reporting in! This is the No. 9 Ancient Civilization Ruins. Just now, an unidentified celestial object shaped like a black hole suddenly appeared above our heads..."
"...The black hole's visible event horizon is roughly ten meters in diameter. Its gravitational influence extends over a thousand meters in diameter, centered on the black hole, and hangs directly above our base. We've already sent the video..."
"Boss, you might not believe this, but there's a black hole spinning right above my head. It could swallow the entire base at any moment! I might not make it back alive. Remember to send my wages to my family..."
"Damn it, Jack, what the hell are you talking about? Have you gone mad? Or are you messing with me? Do you want to lose your job? Or have you been sitting around that underground base for so long that you've lost your mind? Oh God, someone save this poor boy..." Roars came over the phone.
The major powers across the globe were thrown into an uproar once again.
Before you continue