Five Emperor Grade Genes, and Yeye's Challenge of the Prodigy Rankings

Emperor Grade Transcendent Gene: Space Gate.

This Combat Technique established a connection between two Spatial Anchor Points, tearing open a spatial gateway between them directly.

Of course, the gate's range had its limits — the amount of Spirit Power Lu Yuan possessed determined how great a distance he could bridge.

Compared to Space Teleportation, though, the travel distance of a Space Gate was far greater. The difference wasn't small.

Moreover, for spatial movement into areas he could not sense, a Space Gate was considerably safer. If a physical object happened to occupy the Spatial Anchor Point on the other end, the gate simply would not open — unlike Space Teleportation, which could deposit him straight into a solid object.

At his current reserves of Spirit Power, spent in full, Lu Yuan estimated he could open a gate spanning nearly a hundred thousand kilometers.

For evading pursuit, this ability was clearly superior.

The one drawback was that opening a Space Gate carried a noticeable delay — making it less practical than Space Teleportation in live combat.

That said, even after the evolution, he retained his ability to teleport instantly.

The inherited knowledge carried within the Space Gate's Transcendent Gene had dramatically deepened his understanding of spatial force. His teleportation delay was now even shorter than before, leaving opponents even less time to react.

He could even use spatial force offensively.

He could now tear open a thin, unstable Spatial Rift — and if anyone blundered into it, the raging spatial force erupting from the breach would be devastating. Even a Battle King might not survive it.

And this was while his mastery of spatial force was still rudimentary.

If he ever achieved genuine command of it, he would be able to trigger something far more frightening: a spatial fission — a localized detonation of spatial force at a precise point of his choosing.

If a spatial fission detonated at the exact spot where an opponent stood... who could possibly survive that?

Unfortunately, that remained beyond him for now. But the future was long, and there was nothing stopping him from looking forward to it.

Beyond the inherited knowledge and Combat Techniques, the raw attribute boost from Space Gate was equally satisfying — nearly fivefold compared to its King Grade form.

With his last Spatial Type gene fully evolved, all of Lu Yuan's Transcendent Genes had reached their new forms.

He still had space to inscribe one more Transcendent Gene.

His gaze fell on the two rare and powerful genes he currently held: Wind Thunder Fury and Radiant Brilliance.

Wind Thunder Fury was a single-target offensive gene. Radiant Brilliance was a support-type Combat Technique — one that purified negative status effects and bolstered the user's own power.

Both had genuine merit. He could only pick one.

*If only I had two open Gene Chain slots,* he thought with a pang of frustration.

After some deliberation, he recalled: Wind Thunder Fury was a gene he'd obtained before evolving his Gene Armament to Emperor Grade. At the time, he hadn't anticipated having a special Combat Technique like Crimson Storm available to him. His offensive output still wasn't exceptional, but it was passable enough.

His real vulnerability was curses and debuffs — once afflicted, he had no reliable way to cleanse them.

He thought back to the team battle on Ice Vein Star. That Gnoll genius had cut his combat power significantly, and if he hadn't had the Battle Disciple Emblem to fall back on, he might not have been able to take down a mid-level Battle Venerable genius like Shuiji.

With that settled, he decided: Radiant Brilliance first. That way, the next time he ran into a curse or a debuff, he could purge it on the spot.

No sooner decided than done. He took out the Radiant Brilliance Transcendent Gene and began the inscription.

Radiant Brilliance was a King Grade Transcendent Gene. For Lu Yuan, whose other genes were all Emperor Grade, the difficulty was trivially low. He slotted it into the empty Gene Chain with ease.

Then came the will battle. The Will Remnant embedded in Radiant Brilliance took the form of a colossal white tiger with two great wings. Tendrils of soft white light flickered across its body, giving it an almost sacred radiance — but those eyes burned with deep crimson bloodlust, making it anything but welcoming.

King Grade gene or not, the gap between this Feral Beast and Lu Yuan was simply too vast.

With his greatsword in hand and battle armor equipped, he activated Crimson Storm. Wave after wave of blood-red sword shadows, combined with the weight of his blade, tore the tiger's remnant apart without effort. With the Will Remnant vanquished, the inscription was complete.

As a light-element Transcendent Gene, Radiant Brilliance offered balanced gains across all attributes. Strength saw the largest boost, but defense, agility, and spirit all rose significantly as well.

And as he had expected, the inherited knowledge encoded in a King Grade light-element gene covered the application of light force.

Lu Yuan raised a hand. A small orb of light materialized in his palm.

*Hm... good for lighting a room. Not much power to it.*

His command of light force was still extremely limited, after all.

*Still — at least I won't need to switch the lights on at night anymore.*

He began the evolution.

Nearly five million Fifth-tier Spirit Crystals later, it was done.

Emperor Grade Transcendent Gene: Sacred Light.

Sacred Light's Combat Technique effects were broadly similar to Radiant Brilliance's, only markedly stronger. Both its purification power and its self-enhancement capabilities had increased substantially.

Beyond that, Sacred Light allowed him to channel light force directly into his weapons, amplifying them — particularly effective against dark-element Combat Techniques and dark-element Feral Beasts.

The inherited knowledge of light force and the gene's overall attribute boost were also considerably stronger than its previous form.

Lu Yuan got up, showered off the blood left by the evolution, and stepped out of the bathroom.

This round of breakthroughs was now complete.

He had reached Battle Venerable rank and possessed five Transcendent Genes — every single one of them Emperor Grade.

Even among geniuses born to Battle Saint or War God bloodlines, those who could boast a gene roster like his were vanishingly rare. At this point, Lu Yuan was a true prodigy among his peers by any measure.

The only problem was that none of the five Emperor Grade genes had been fully tempered yet.

White Jade Spirit Body had originally been Lord Grade; after its evolution to Emperor Grade Earth Spirit Body, the retained tempering sat at just under 4%. Life Tide, Mechanical King, and Space Gate had all been King Grade in their previous forms, so between 10% and 20% of their tempering carried over. Sacred Light was the last to be evolved — inscribed from a completely untempered Radiant Brilliance — and its tempering stood at 0%.

The thought of fully tempering all five Emperor Grade genes was, frankly, daunting. Just tempering a single King Grade gene to completion had taken over three months of real-world time and burned through over a million Fifth-tier Spirit Crystals. Emperor Grade genes would surely take even longer and consume far more.

Just thinking about it gave him a headache.

But that was the price of power, and the work was his to do.

Between the breakthrough and evolving all his Transcendent Genes, he had spent nearly twenty days of Land of Origin time. He had two days left before he had to leave.

Today, he had no intention of training. He wanted to have some fun.

He thought for a moment, then took out his Communication Crystal and called Si Tingxue.

The crystal pulsed with white light a few times, and Si Tingxue's face appeared — flushed, with a light sheen of sweat on her features.

She looked at him. "What do you want?"

Lu Yuan grinned. "Taking a break today. Want to grab a drink at a bar?"

Si Tingxue blinked. Then she fixed him with a glare and cut the connection.

Lu Yuan stared at the darkened crystal. *...What?*

He clicked his tongue. *That ice block really has zero charm.*

*Well, if she won't come, I'll find someone else.*

He called Rebecca next. Her face appeared almost immediately, cheeks and forehead shining with sweat, still catching her breath as she waved cheerfully.

"Yuan! What's up?"

Lu Yuan opened his mouth to speak — then the image shifted. He caught a glimpse of Rebecca's sweat-soaked training uniform, and beyond her shoulder, Si Tingxue in a white training outfit.

His expression darkened the moment he spotted her.

*What's that ice block doing there?*

Then Si Tingxue's face pushed into the frame. She fixed him with a glare.

"Rebecca and I are training. Go train yourself — stop bothering us!"

Lu Yuan sighed. "You still need to balance work and rest. You haven't taken a break in ages — you've been Battle Venerable for a while now."

Si Tingxue had already reached maximum tempering during the competition on Ice Vein Star and had broken through to Battle Venerable just a few days after their return. Lu Yuan had been training under his mentor Si Tingyu at the time. Si Tingxue had told him about it with a hint of pride.

He'd thought she was being insufferably smug, so he'd invited her to spar — and she'd accepted eagerly, only to get thoroughly demolished until she questioned everything she knew about herself. She hadn't spoken to him for several days afterward, and had apparently been training nonstop ever since, without rest.

Si Tingxue was quiet for a moment. Then she looked at him.

"What rank are you now?"

"Just broke through to Battle Venerable," Lu Yuan said with a smile.

Rebecca's head appeared beside Si Tingxue's, the two of them squeezing into frame together. Rebecca stared at him with wide eyes.

"Yuan, you're already Battle Venerable? That's so fast! I still need a bit more time."

Si Tingxue's mouth twitched. She spoke stiffly.

"Congratulations."

Then, in a flat, disgruntled tone: "I'm going back to training!"

She cut the connection, leaving Rebecca's startled yelp hanging in the air.

Lu Yuan stared at the now-dark crystal, thoroughly puzzled.

*Is she upset again?*

*Feels like every single day she's either angry or on her way to being angry.* He briefly contemplated reminding her to drink warm water, then thought better of it. She was a Gene Warrior — it wasn't like warm water would do much for her anyway.

Still, neither Si Tingxue nor Rebecca was free to hang out.

*Bit of a bummer.*

He quietly reached out to Amy next. She answered quickly, cheeks puffed out, eyeing him like a personal enemy.

"What do you want, you big liar?"

The expression on her face stopped him for a moment. Then he broke into a grin.

"What else? I want to take you out and have some fun. Amusement park?"

Amy's enormous purple eyes went even wider.

"You've got nerve!" she fumed. "If you hadn't gone and performed so brilliantly on Ice Vein Star, my great-grandfather wouldn't be supervising my training right now! I haven't been allowed out to play in ages!"

Her eyes shimmered with gathering tears, as if she might burst into sobs at any moment.

A flicker of guilt stirred in Lu Yuan's chest. He spared her one second of silent sympathy.

Then he smiled again. "So how about we sneak out right now? Just for half a day — call it a mental break."

Amy's eyes lit up. She wavered, visibly tempted. "...Is that really okay?"

At that exact moment, something shifted in the image. Over Amy's shoulder, Wang Lingling's face appeared, peering through the crystal at Lu Yuan with a warm, gentle smile.

Lu Yuan: *...*

He straightened at once, his expression going completely flat. "Amy, I was simply testing whether you were truly committed to your training — and to think you were actually considering going out to play? I'm deeply disappointed in you. Get back to training at once. Goodbye!"

He cut the connection.

Amy stared at the dead crystal, utterly bewildered, those enormous purple eyes blank with confusion.

Wang Lingling stepped forward, warm smile unchanged. "My lady, time to train. You need the Gravity Room and Blood Soul Pills to strengthen your body and spirit — only with consistent effort will you have a chance of inscribing an Emperor Grade gene when you reach King Grade."

Amy's face crumpled. "Lingling, can I please go out and play for a bit?"

"Lu Yuan should be Battle Venerable by now," Wang Lingling said, her smile unshaken. "If you don't work hard, he'll probably stop bringing you along on his adventures."

Amy's brows shot upward in indignation. "That liar wouldn't dare! Hmph! Once this lady inscribes an Emperor Grade gene, I'm going to pin him down and give him a proper beating."

The mental image clearly delighted her. She broke into a wide, gleeful grin — and then, buoyed by the thought, cheerfully went back to training.

Back in Lu Yuan's rented apartment.

He was sprawled across his bed, letting out a long sigh.

*One day off, and even Amy is stuck in training. Just my luck.*

Too bad Wang Lingling had been there — no way to sneak her out.

Then his eyes lit up. *I'll call Yeye.*

He took out his Communication Crystal and called Yeye. The crystal pulsed white for a moment, and then the connection opened. Yeye's face appeared — lovely features carrying that slightly dreamy, absentminded quality she always had. A small smile rested on her lips.

"Yuan, what's up?"

"Yeye, what are you up to?" Lu Yuan asked with a grin.

"I'm planning to make a challenge on the Prodigy Rankings," she said. "I'm just about to go find someone ranked on it to fight."

That caught him off guard. He blinked.

Then again, it made sense. Yeye's natural talent was extraordinary — when they'd last spoken a month ago, she had already broken through to Battle Venerable. Challenging the Prodigy Rankings now was a perfectly natural next step.

And he himself had been thinking about the same thing. Why not head over and watch?

"Yeye, where are you?" he said. "I'll come join you — I want to see for myself how strong the people on the Prodigy Rankings actually are."