One must acknowledge that, despite Mr. Idder was not very friendly, he was an excellent teacher who managed to captivate the class's attention and interest.
The anatomy and bloodline classes were fascinating, eventhough Liam struggled a bit as he had just started the subject.
As for the classes on spear arts, four elements, and practice, Liam was bored to death. He had already surpassed the rest of his classmates and knew everything the professors talked about.
After all, he was a Rank 8 existence. The classes were made for a group where nearly half were still high-level intermediate existences (rank 6). There were only four other Rank 8 students: three beginners and one advanced.
Surprisingly, Mario Barito, Yuri Levandovski, and Miranda Smith were beginner Ranks 8.
Although Liam didn't know them, he remembered their names. Yuri finished third in the last exam, while Miranda and Mario tied with him.
The advanced Rank 8 was none other than Sarah William, the top scorer of the test. She was already an advanced Rank 8 astral mage.
That's why the combat class was not this boring.
The school provided them with ten large arenas, each nearly a kilometer in diameter.
Each arena was reinforced with a variety of defensive runes. Except for demigods, no one could damage them.
This allowed the students to unleash their full strength.
The five Rank 8 students directly took an arena for themselves, and no one had objected.
Even Mr. Voinier, the combat teacher, who had to manage the whole class, paid a special attention to this arena and often gave them valuable advice.
Liam and the others engaged in duels, watching others fight while resting.
Regarding strength, Liam and Sarah were equal, while the other three were slightly weaker.
Although Sarah was at a higher rank than Liam, he trained in two different power systems, resulting in a qualitative power leap.
One was a long-range fighter, the other a melee fighter.
Of course, at their level, they both had techniques to compensate for their weaknesses. For example, Sarah had several layers of magical barriers around her body, while Liam could use spear aura for long-range attacks.
Nevertheless, each had their specialty.
They fought dozens of times, and it could be summarized in a few words: if Liam managed to get close, he won. Conversely, if Sarah kept him at a distance, she could overwhelm him with spells.
The five students quickly became acquainted and became quite close. Then, they decide to create a virtual discussion group.
After training together, friendship quickly developed.
The day passed quickly, and soon, Liam was back in his room.
He downloaded a lot of information about bloodlines and the anatomy of various serpentine and humanoid races and disappeared into a spatial rift.
He planned to spend some time in the void to get ahead in those subjects.
Classes changed after the aura recovering.
For theoretical classes, teachers would directly give them hundreds of digital books and ask them to study in their divine realm. In class, they only covered the most challenging concepts and spent half the time answering students' questions.
Unless at a completely different level, as it was the case for practice, elements, and spear classes, it was always interesting to listen to others' questions as they approached the situation from different angles.
Liam spent less than a year in the void before returning to Earth and then heading to the Andromeda galaxy.
The Andromeda galaxy was one of the first galaxies conquered by humanity.
Most major resources had been extracted long ago, and the area had been so exploited that no one came here for exploration.
It became a residential galaxy.
The alliance also had strict rules. Even if someone owned an entire galaxy, they had to allow students the right to visit their divine realms if they appeared in the galaxy and were not allowed to plunder them.
For the most powerful families with many secrets, this directly posed a problem, so they often made agreements with students and had them move their divine realm elsewhere.
They would, of course, cover all expenses.
The Adler family was far from those big families and could only afford to buy a single solar system.
There were two types of solar systems.
The commonest and cheapest one was when there was only a star.
The family would then move its planets and planes around and form a real system, often much larger than those found in a natural state.
The other type was when there were natural planets or planes in orbit around the star.
Often, these 3 stars worlds had existed for a long time and were full of resources.
Even if some planets could not support life, they were rich in mineral resources.
There was no waste in the universe.
Moreover, a planet or a large plane could accommodate higher existences and even supreme existences.
However, the Adler family was not wealthy enough to buy such a system and could only afford a small star on the edge of the galaxy.
When Liam teleported to the Adler system, he saw a red star with a diameter of a million kilometers, around which thousands of planes orbited.
These were the divine realms of the Adler family members.
Most were low and mid planes and less than 5% were upper-tier planes.
As for top-tier planes, there were less than a hundred. Top tier planes could reach up to 15 000 km radius, which was already huge.
Even so, they could only accommodate beginners of Rank 7. The plane would automatically limit everyone's strength at that level.
If a Rank 8 existence were free to unleash its power inside a plane, it would eventually shatter it.
That's why the plane's will imposed a limiter; it was its instinct for survival.
On the other hand, once a plane reached the absolute pinnacle, it had to make a choice.
Either it kept the form of a plane and sublimated its original stone into a planar core to become a great plane, or it completely changed its approach and became a planet.
At that point, it had to merge its original stone with a variety of extremely solid materials to form the planet's core.
It would use its will to collapse the edges of the plane and put them in a fusion state, creating the superficial part of the core.
It would then cover this superficial layer with what remained of the plane.
Overall, the planet's radius would be about 6000 km, and its surface area would be around two thirds of that of a great plane of the same level.
Although smaller, planets were pretty much sturdy that the flat dick of great planes thanks to its spherical form.
They could also accommodate stronger existences than great planes at the same level.
On the other hand, the edges of a plane were often desolate and devoid of spiritual energy, while a planet retained roughly the same density everywhere.
One could say that even though it was more difficult to become a planet, it had more potential. But the difficulty wasn't as simple as just doubling. It was exponential.
This was reflected in the distribution of the 3-star worlds in the Adler system.
The Adler family owned 17 3-star worlds, but only three were planets.
One of them was already an upper-tier planet with a radius of 30,000 km. It was the divine realm of the family's true god ancestor.
The other two were low-tier planets measuring between 7000 and 8000 km in radius. One belonged to Uncle Sam, the other to an elder of the family.
Among the great planes, the best was a mid-tier plane with a radius of 55 000 km. Both his mother and father had a low-tier great plane, but his father, Pierre Adler, took his divine realm with him and left to invade a great plane in a distant galaxy with several other family members.
Liam's grandfather was a pinnacle demigod. He had already attempted to light the divine fire, but a mistake in his breakthrough led to serious injuries.
He had already recovered his strength, but the failure of his breakthrough had left severe consequences.
He would never become a true god in this life unless a high god came in person to heal him.
If the Adler family had such means, they wouldn't settle for a small system in a poor galaxy.
Even so, his grandfather was "only" 2000 years old, and he could still live for several million years. Perhaps one day, a miracle would happen.
Age was a bit complicated to count due to differences in time flow, but it was always referred to Earth years.
Even so, it was a bit blurry. During one Earth year, some could live 1000 years in the void.
For example, Liam was only 17 Earth years old, but his body was already close to 30, and the difference would only increase.
It became a somewhat strange societal norm.
Liam headed towards a large intermediate plane that measured nearly 45 000 km in radius; halfway from the top of intermediate-tier great planes.
He entered through the plane's edge and soon felt a strong will scanning him, but it quickly receded after Liam presented his family's plaque.
Once planes awakened their will, humans placed a soul mark on them to completely control their divine realm.
Thus, the plane's will became a slave, but it wasn't even aware of it. It was the horror of soul slaves.
His paternal grandfather, the father of his father and Uncle Sam, had probably warned that there would be visitors today, so the world's will let everyone pass, even beings that exceeded its tolerance.
Since his grandfather was there, no one would dare to mess up in his divine realm, so the plane's will let them enter.
As he entered the plane's atmosphere, he quickly felt the surrounding laws strengthen.
He could only unleash his power over a few hundred kilometers here, much less than in the void.
He didn't expose his aura and transformed into a beam of light, slowly crossing the great plane.
He wasn't in a hurry and took the opportunity to look closely at the ground beneath him.
There were many intelligent races, such as elves, dwarves, humans, and beast-men.
They lived harmoniously in large cities protected by tall walls.
Outside these walls, nature took over. There were many wild beasts and races like orcs, trolls, or goblins.
The fauna and flora were particularly well-developed, and many trees exceeded a hundred meters height.
The closer he got to the center of the plane, the higher the concentration of spiritual energy increased. Trees and mountains became immense while living beings became stronger.
Finally, after ten minutes of travel, he reached a massive mountain several hundred kilometers high.
There were a few spiritual veins and the trees reached nearly five hundred meters height. Birds flew joyfully, and several small fairies chased after them.
For the beings of this world, it was the divine mountain, the resting place of their god, and literally the center of the world.
Liam went straight to the top.
The summit had been cut, offering a large flat area where a huge white and gold palace stood up.
There were thousands guards, and the weakest was at Rank 7.
Seeing Liam, they didn't react and let him go.
Inside the palace, he was greeted by a solemn and majestic atmosphere.
The walls were adorned with magnificent frescoes telling the story of the great plane since its creation.
He soon entered a huge hall.
Liam's grandfather, Gregor Adler, was sitting at a large table in front of the entrance, talking with his mother and Uncle Sam.
He smiled warmly upon seeing Liam approach.
"Ah, Liam, what a pleasure to see you here!" declared Gregor in a deep yet tender voice.
Liam smiled and went to kiss his grandfather on the cheek.
"Happy birthday, Grandpa."
"You've grown since the last time, Liam."
This was followed by a long family meeting.
The room was filled with Adler family members and other high-ranking guests.
The celebration was lavish, with delicious dishes, talented musicians, and graceful dancers. Animated conversations resonated in the grand hall.
Liam spent time talking with some cousins he hadn't seen in a while.
In the late evening, a huge birthday cake was brought in, illuminated by sparkling magical candles and the whole hall sang joyfully.
After that, the guests left one by one and soon only Liam, his mother, his uncle, and his grandfather remained.
As they were about to leave, his mother took the initiative and approached his grandfather.
"Father-in-law, Liam has excellent news to share with you!"
This caught the attention of the two men remaining in the hall.
Liam felt awkward being scrutinized like this but still told his grandfather how he had entered the elite class and about the demi-plane he had found.
"Hahaha,"
His grandfather burst into happy laughter and patted his shoulder.
"Well done, lad. Don't worry too much about the school's reward. Even if they give you just one pearl per month, there will be plenty of activities organized for elite classes. That's what really matters and the rewards will be enormous."
He took out a pearl from his spatial ring and handed it to Liam.
"This is a gift that your father, your uncle, and I have prepared for you for some time. We wanted to give it to you later, but since you've entered the elite class, you might need it sooner than we thought."
Liam took the pearl, grateful, and thanked his family once again.
After that, they bid their farewells, and each went back to their homes.
When Liam returned to his room, he hurriedly had his new pearl evaluated by his watch.
Resource Pearl (2 stars | legendary) - Spirit stone Vein: contains a small vein of spirit stones (spirit stones are very versatile, they can be used for practice, formations, alchemy, forging, or potioning. This vein contains a source stone that will continue to produce spirit stones as long as the mine is not overexploited. Locally increases the concentration of spiritual energy.)
Liam was speechless. This pearl had just earned him thousands of years.
Spirit stone veins took a long time to form, and not all of them had source stones.
The advantage of a source stone was that spirit stones renew themselves. The size of the vein would even increase.
Liam thanked his family once again in his mind.
It was a huge gift, and Liam decided to call his family immediately to thank them.