The Star Swallowing Technique was an auxiliary secret technique for martial artists that Logo had obtained by chance in his previous life. Although it was not a combat technique, it had played an extremely important role in his growth.
According to Teacher Beifu, Xisi would break through within a month and become a full-fledged knight, making him the Campbell Family's first heir in line.
In Logo's plans, the Campbell Family was a force he had to control. The quality of one's starting point largely determined one's future achievements.
He would never give up that position to someone else.
If he wanted to catch up with Xisi in a short time, the Star Swallowing Technique was of the utmost importance.
Many factors limited the speed of human growth, and the ability to digest food was unquestionably one of them.
As the Star Swallowing Technique circulated, Logo could clearly feel the food in his stomach turning into nutrients at an astonishing rate and being absorbed by his body.
Once he had absorbed the nutrients, he waved Crassus over again. "Come on, let's keep going!!"
Sparring with Crassus to build muscle memory, eating, using the Star Swallowing Technique to digest the food, sleeping to restore his energy, then sparring again...
Over the next few days, Logo became like a machine, operating with precision. To Crassus's astonishment, his strength shot up like a rocket.
While Logo was working intensely to improve his strength, Gustavo was also using the Star Swallowing Technique to speed up his growth. He ate several times as much each day, and Spider Mom began looking at him strangely. She checked him over several times before finally leaving him alone, having found nothing wrong with her cub.
Dragon-Hunting Spiders were solitary creatures, but they placed great importance on the bond between parents and offspring. Their habits resembled those of the Metallic Dragon Clan, members of their mortal enemies, the dragon race: both valued blood ties and family.
But the two groups had completely different dispositions. Dragon-Hunting Spiders were widely recognized as belonging to the extremely evil alignment, while the Metallic Dragon Clan belonged to the lawful good alignment.
Under Spider Mom's care, Gustavo had no worries about food and could simply focus on growing.
Lancelot's situation, however, was different. He had run into trouble.
In the living room, his father Grove and several siblings sat around Lancelot. The atmosphere was somewhat somber. No one spoke; the only sound was the rustling of turning pages.
Even in the interstellar age, important contracts still had paper backups.
Lancelot looked at the "immigration application" in his hands, his heart feeling as though it had been covered in a thick layer of dust.
Awakening their memories did not turn them into different people. The three avatars still retained their original twelve years of memories and emotions.
Precisely because of that, his father's sudden "request" made Lancelot feel as if he had plunged into an ice cellar.
He had never imagined that his father, once kind and amiable and devoted to his family, could harden his heart enough in just a few years to send his own son to immigrate to another planet.
Although the Alliance's interstellar travel technology was already extremely advanced, its communications technology had yet to overcome its limitations. It was impossible to provide real-time communication on a large scale for citizens separated by several star systems.
Nor could the opportunities for advancement on a colony planet compare with those on Planet Oklo.
This was one of the Elven Plane's five great high-magic planets, part of the plane's most prosperous and powerful region.
On Blue Star, it would be like exiling a child from the Forbidden City to the northwestern frontier. No normal parent could make such a decision.
Looking at his son's vacant expression, Grove felt a surge of irritation. Still, to soothe Lancelot, he softened his tone and said, "Second son, Planet Golden Bridge may only be a low-magic planet, but the Alliance only began developing it recently. There are opportunities everywhere. If you go to school and build your future there, your prospects will be even better than if you stayed on Planet Oklo."
Lancelot said nothing. He simply hung his head as an unprecedented sorrow engulfed him like a tide.
"Second brother, Father's right. Your grades are excellent anyway, so where couldn't you make something of yourself? Besides, if you choose to immigrate, then Father's career could..."
At that point, his eldest brother Gerard hurriedly stopped himself.
Grove glared fiercely at his eldest son, then left the living room with the words, "Think it over."
The other family members soon left as well, leaving Lancelot sitting there alone, vacant and motionless.
Can you really abandon your own son for the sake of your career? Lancelot cried out in his heart again and again, but no one answered him.
At that moment, the memories of his previous life came into play. His emotions collapsed and recovered in a short span of time.
The next moment, the look in Lancelot's eyes changed.
It was cold and merciless!
He got to his feet, pushed open the door to his father's room, and said in an exceptionally icy voice, "I can sign it, but give me 200,000 crimson notes! And I want my household registration transferred to a public registration too!"
Grove had not expected Lancelot to come around so quickly. He froze for a moment, then smiled.
"200,000 crimson notes is no problem. I'll give you 300,000, and we'll do the registration your way too. We'll go take care of it tomorrow!"
"We'll go register it now. I only want 200,000 crimson notes, and I'll consider it a loan from you. I'll pay you back someday. Once the money's in my account, I'll sign! From then on, we're through. Don't come looking for me. We won't have anything to do with each other anymore!"
Grove was afraid Lancelot would change his mind, so of course he wanted him to sign as soon as possible. Only once the matter was settled could he put his mind completely at ease.
As for severing their relationship, he had already prepared himself for that and did not care.
And so Grove agreed to all of Lancelot's demands.
They then went to the nearest civil affairs bureau and changed Lancelot's household registration from a family registration to a public one, with the civil affairs bureau as his guardian.
Once that was done, Grove transferred 200,000 from his account to Lancelot.
After receiving the money, Lancelot signed his name on the "immigration application" without hesitation. He went home, picked up a few items of clothing and his communicator, then turned and left, swift and decisive, without the slightest hesitation.
"Second brother, he..."
Gerard watched Lancelot walk away, feeling utterly astonished.
Hadn't he changed a little too quickly?
Was this still his weak, easily bullied, accommodating younger brother?
A cold evening breeze stirred Lancelot's hair as he carried his leather bag. He took a gentle breath, and a cool sensation filled his lungs, sweeping away all the gloom and oppression in his chest.
"From now on, I'll live only for myself!" Lancelot faced the gradually setting sun, his voice firm as steel!
The story began several years earlier.
After Lancelot's mother died in a medical accident, his father Grove threw himself into his career. He grew increasingly distant from his children and gradually became a workaholic.
After several years of hard work, Grove had accumulated almost everything he needed for a promotion, but his rival was in much the same position, if not slightly better off.
With the upcoming election for a new term approaching, Grove grew anxious. Finally, after a friend reminded him, he set his sights on his children.
The Crimson Alliance was a technological civilization that had long since entered the interstellar age, with more than a hundred colony planets.
To control such a vast territory, talented people were indispensable, especially those from Planet Oklo.
As one of the Elven Plane's five great high-magic planets, Planet Oklo, thanks to its environment, produced humans whose bone density, muscle fiber strength, cardiopulmonary capacity, brain activity... and every other physical attribute far surpassed those of people from other, non-high-magic planets. They were stronger and smarter.
Therefore, to improve its citizens' genes, balance regional differences in development, and consolidate its rule over the colony planets, the Alliance government introduced many policies to encourage immigration.
The Alliance offered generous compensation to the families of those who chose to immigrate voluntarily, especially their immediate relatives.
There were not only material rewards, but also many intangible benefits and forms of compensation. It was comparable to receiving a commendation for a courageous act in his previous life: it might not stand out in ordinary circumstances, but at a crucial moment like this, when a career promotion was at stake, it was enough to make Father's dream come true.
After all these years, Father's qualifications had long been sufficient. He was only short of that little extra.
But in the Crimson Alliance, because people matured mentally at an early age, they already had the capacity to conduct civil acts at twelve.
Even a biological father could not make such a life-changing decision about his children's future for them.
Thus came the earlier scene, which had resembled a joint tribunal.
Before Lancelot's memories awakened, he had been mild-mannered, the family's good child and punching bag.
When Grove conceived the idea of trading a child for a better future, Lancelot was his first choice.
After all, when one could not treat everyone equally, only by sacrificing the kindest could one keep the peace.
And once that kind person was no longer willing to make the sacrifice, they would be branded a destroyer of harmony.
Grove had already prepared such a label, but Lancelot's decisiveness caught him off guard.