Evolving Spirit Power Gene Fluid — A Terrifying Cultivation Rate
"So this is the Aberration Entity that prevented the Night Watchmen of Yali City from finding any trace of the missing people?"
Gu An studied the wooden door carefully.
Lu Yuan nodded. "It should be a B-grade Aberration Entity. As for its specific capabilities, I'll leave the testing to you and your team, Director Gu."
"Very well."
Gu An gave a nod.
Lu Yuan thought for a moment, his expression growing unusually grave. "Actually, there's one more thing."
Seeing the shift in his face, Gu An paused. "What is it?"
"When I first arrived in Yali City," Lu Yuan said, "I swept the Night Watchman branch as part of my search for Aberration traces. I found that Tang Fei may be compromised — possibly connected to the Aberration Entities. I'd like you to have someone keep a close eye on him, Director Gu."
At those words, both Gu An and Secretary Liu stiffened, shock registering on both their faces.
A beat of silence fell before Gu An spoke, his voice measured. "You're saying there may be an aberrated individual inside the Night Watchman branch? But if he were truly aberrated, why would he stay and keep working there?"
Lu Yuan shook his head. "I'm not sure myself. What I do know is that after I defeated the Battle Sovereign behind the Soul-Devouring Orb, Tang Fei's reaction was deeply off — as though he had some connection to it."
Gu An's brow furrowed. Then, after a moment, he gave a firm nod. "Understood. I'll send people to investigate and keep him under close surveillance."
"Good."
With Tang Fei's situation now in Gu An's hands, Lu Yuan felt considerably more at ease. Whatever unfolded from here wasn't his problem to solve. The Red Maple Empire had no shortage of Battle Sovereign-rank powerhouses, and several Battle Emperors besides. It wouldn't fall to him unless a truly catastrophic threat emerged.
After that, he followed Secretary Liu down to the Underground Containment Room.
He chose not to enter the core area — he was wary that if the Evolution Cube absorbed unknown energies from within, the contained Aberration Entities might go berserk again. That was a situation he had no desire to create.
What he did notice was that the guard detail had grown dramatically since his last visit. Ten guards in total — eight at Battle King rank, and two, remarkably, who had reached Battle Sovereign level.
Clearly, his anonymous tip had been taken to heart.
With so many powerful figures stationed here, even if something went wrong, they should be able to hold the line until a Battle Emperor arrived. Then again, perhaps a Battle Emperor was already concealed here somewhere, simply beyond his ability to detect.
Either way, the sight of such a formidable guard configuration settled his nerves considerably.
With everything handled, Lu Yuan departed Night Watchman headquarters and returned to his villa in White Willow District.
Unless an urgent mission came calling, he had no intention of taking on any further assignments. It was time to get back to cultivation.
Two days later, his Light Gate recharged, and the path to the Land of Origin opened once more.
A flash of white light, and Lu Yuan materialized inside the Training Hall of Tianrao City.
The Evolution Cube within him gave a sudden shudder.
In the next instant, his consciousness soared free of his body, rising high above the vast continent below.
He could feel the Evolution Cube's connections extending toward several distinct regions — and compared to the last time, when he'd linked directly with the Prodigy Rankings stele, those bonds had grown noticeably deeper.
*What's going on?*
Last time, the phenomenon had only triggered because of the direct link with the stele. Why was it happening the moment he stepped inside now?
Then it clicked. The Evolution Cube had just completed its metamorphosis.
*Could it be that the metamorphosis deepened the Cube's ties to certain locations in the Land of Origin?*
He was still turning this over when a rush of falling swept through him, and his consciousness snapped back into his body.
Lu Yuan glanced around. The Gene Warriors moving through the hall still looked his way, their gazes carrying the same reverence as always. None of them seemed to have noticed anything unusual.
Good.
He then turned his attention inward — and discovered something remarkable: even without consciously projecting his consciousness outward, he could faintly sense the Evolution Cube's peculiar connections.
His eyes narrowed slightly. *Once I've burned through all my current resources, I can start thinking about visiting those locations.*
With that resolved, he checked the messages on his Communication Crystal. There were notes from Amy, Wang Lingling, and Yeye.
Amy's message was a string of complaints — she'd been dragged into closed-door cultivation again and wanted Lu Yuan to come rescue her.
He laughed and sent back a single reply: *Focus on your training.*
Wang Lingling's message, on the other hand, asked him to please not come looking for Amy — and she seemed to be in remarkably good spirits about it.
*Whenever Amy goes into isolation, Wang Lingling's the one overseeing her.* Given that woman's personality, she was probably thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to mess with Amy.
He was starting to wonder if Amy's aversion to cultivation had something to do with Wang Lingling's involvement. He shook his head and let it go.
Yeye's message was far more upbeat: her Prodigy Rankings position had broken into the top ten, landing her at 7th place. She'd wanted to share the news.
A small smile touched Lu Yuan's lips. "Congratulations."
*With Yeye's Innate King Grade talent, a ranking like that was only natural.* Her Combat Techniques were formidable across the board — Dark-type Transcendent Genes were on par with Light-type ones, boasting superior base attributes compared to most genes, with potent elemental power and unpredictable techniques to match. Cracking the top ten was no surprise at all.
*So she's probably gearing up for her Battle King breakthrough, too.*
*...Once I'm done with this cultivation session, I should bring her something good to eat. Celebrate together.*
He made a mental note of it.
Come to think of it — once he achieved the Battle King breakthrough, he'd be eligible to enter the Upper Layer of the Land of Origin. He'd heard it was dangerous, so he planned to push his strength further before making the attempt.
Still, when the time came, he could go find Li Qinghe and the others. At his current level, he wouldn't be dragging anyone down.
With that settled, Lu Yuan headed into the Gravity Room and prepared to begin cultivating.
But first, he wanted to test the Evolution Cube's new capability — its ability to enhance items not bound to his Gene Chain.
He produced a vial of Enhanced Spirit Power Gene Fluid (Third-rank).
Enhanced Spirit Power Gene Fluid (Third-rank) held Spirit Power equivalent to ten thousand Third-tier Spirit Crystals, with superior absorption efficiency. It was a formidable Lord Grade item.
Lu Yuan intended to evolve it.
He focused his will inward. The Evolution Cube pulsed with a dim cerulean glow, and thin threads of azure light spilled from his palm, wrapping around the vial.
An instant — and the glow vanished.
The liquid inside had transformed into a pale gold, with tiny sparks of starlight drifting within.
Information from the Land of Origin flowed into his mind.
*King Grade Spirit Power Gene Fluid: Third-rank Spiritual Item. Contains Spirit Power equivalent to 100,000 Third-tier Spirit Crystals.*
100,000.
Lu Yuan's eyes narrowed. A flicker of surprise crossed his face.
A tenfold increase in one step.
Not bad at all.
He checked the Evolution Cube's Spirit Crystal consumption.
His expression darkened slightly. This single evolution had cost 200,000 Third-tier Spirit Crystals.
And that was just a Lord Grade to King Grade upgrade. The drain was already considerable.
Still, he could take some consolation in the fact that at auction, a King Grade Spirit Power Gene Fluid would likely fetch around 400,000 Third-tier Spirit Crystals — a profit margin of roughly 100,000. Not that he planned to sell it. This was for his own use.
He thought it over, then pushed the evolution further.
The cerulean glow surged again, swallowing the King Grade Spirit Power Gene Fluid in his hand. Another instant, and it receded. The liquid had changed once more — now a gleaming platinum, dense and heavy as liquid mercury.
The Land of Origin relayed its verdict.
*Sovereign Grade Spirit Power Gene Fluid: Third-rank Spiritual Item. Contains Spirit Power equivalent to 1,000,000 Third-tier Spirit Crystals.*
Lu Yuan's eyes went wide.
One million Third-tier Spirit Crystals.
That was the equivalent of 100 Seventh-tier Spirit Crystals — packed into a single Third-rank Spiritual Item. The density was absurd.
*So this is Sovereign Grade Spirit Power Gene Fluid.*
A single vial could fully temper a Chief Grade Transcendent Gene to perfection. For a typical Battle General, one dose would have them seriously contemplating their next breakthrough.
*Extraordinary.*
He couldn't help but feel a swell of admiration.
Then he checked the cost.
Approximately 2,000,000 Third-tier Spirit Crystals.
...The cost was equally extraordinary.
He studied the vial and did some quick arithmetic.
Using evolved Sovereign Grade Spirit Power Gene Fluid for cultivation would roughly triple his resource costs. Fully tempering a Sovereign Grade gene to perfection already required over a million Seventh-tier Spirit Crystals — with the tripled cost factored in, he was looking at somewhere in the range of three to four million.
*...That's obscene.*
Lu Yuan frowned. Even with his current wealth, sustaining those numbers would be a struggle. His total assets amounted to only around fifty million Seventh-tier Spirit Crystals' worth. Run the numbers, and it might just barely cover fully tempering all his Transcendent Genes — with nothing left over for the evolution costs after his next breakthrough.
He might not even manage that.
He thought for a moment, then decided to test whether one more evolution was possible.
He focused his will inward —
Nothing. The Evolution Cube didn't stir.
*So that's the ceiling.*
For bonded Gene Armaments and Spiritual Items, the Evolution Cube could now evolve beyond Sovereign Grade. For non-bonded items, Sovereign Grade was the hard limit.
Expected. He'd already suspected as much. Disappointing, but not surprising — he'd mentally prepared for it.
*Alright. Time to put this Sovereign Grade Spirit Power Gene Fluid to the test. See what it actually does for my cultivation rate. Then decide on a strategy.*
Lu Yuan swallowed the platinum liquid.
The moment it entered his body, an overwhelmingly dense surge of Spirit Power began seeping through him.
The sheer volume was staggering — the equivalent of a hundred Seventh-tier Spirit Crystals all at once, an enormous influx even by his standards.
And yet the Spirit Power moved through him as if bound by some invisible restraint, flowing in with remarkable gentleness, integrating at its own measured pace without the slightest strain.
*This effect...*
A chill swept through him. *Just as I hoped. Far gentler than the Enhanced Spirit Power Gene Fluid. Not even close.*
He threw himself into full-power absorption. At his current rate, barely two minutes passed before the entire surge was fully processed.
Two minutes for a hundred Seventh-tier Spirit Crystals.
An hour's worth — three thousand?
No — accounting for the time needed to evolve each vial, call it three minutes per hundred. That still worked out to two thousand Seventh-tier Spirit Crystals absorbed per hour.
The scale of it hit him like a wall.
*This cultivation rate is terrifying.*
Back when he was at Battle Venerable rank, even at peak absorption efficiency, he'd managed around six hundred Seventh-tier Spirit Crystals per hour — and that was his ceiling.
This was more than triple.
Twelve hours of cultivation per day at that rate — 24,000 Spirit Crystals.
Per day.
Even if his available time in the Land of Origin stayed fixed at sixty days per session, sixty days at this pace would see him absorb over a million Seventh-tier Spirit Crystals.
Two sessions in the Land of Origin, and he could fully temper a Sovereign Grade gene to perfection.
*What kind of absurd pace is this?*
His scalp prickled.
*Do it. Do it even if it cleans me out entirely.*
Though he'd definitely need to generate more Spirit Crystals somehow, or he'd run himself dry before long.
He eyed the Evolution Cube. If the new evolution ability worked the way he thought, there was an angle here: buy up Third, Fourth, and Fifth-rank Spiritual Items, evolve them to higher quality, then resell at a markup. The margin should be real.
Of course, the evolved grade would have to stay within the natural ceiling of each item's original tier — push it too high and it would draw too much attention.
He'd work out the details later. For now, cultivation came first. He'd hold back roughly three million Seventh-tier Spirit Crystals' worth of assets to pilot the trading operation when he had bandwidth.
After all, his target clientele were the Battle General–to–Battle King bracket — the most populous tier among Gene Warriors — and operating costs per transaction wouldn't be steep.
With that settled, Lu Yuan began cultivating in earnest.
He worked in a steady rhythm: evolve a vial of Sovereign Grade Spirit Power Gene Fluid, absorb, repeat.
About twelve hours in, he hit his limit.
24,000 Seventh-tier Spirit Crystals absorbed — though the actual cost to produce that had been a full 72,000 Seventh-tier Spirit Crystals.
In a single day.
Not even a Battle Emperor would dare burn Spirit Crystals at this rate.
But the results were impossible to argue with. Lu Yuan had chosen Starfield Roaming as the first gene to temper — he'd need it for the Spatial Rift mission on Ice Vein Star. Even for a gene of that caliber, a full day's work had pushed his tempering progress up by 2%. That was just the early going, of course.
By his estimates, fully tempering Starfield Roaming to perfection would require roughly six million Seventh-tier Spirit Crystals in raw absorption — and at his tripled cost rate, the real price tag came to around twenty million Seventh-tier Spirit Crystals.
When he did the math, a dull ache settled in his chest.
*The cost really is obscene.*