Year 1, day 98
Today, I have reached the absolute pinnacle of body forging. No matter what I do, how much qi I circulate, or how much time I spend, my body no longer improves.
It's time for me to use the formation pill to break through to the foundation establishment realm.
Now that my body and meridians are strengthened, they can support a large amount of energy.
One could say that the first three realms only serve to lay a foundation for the Golden Core.
I must now shape my dantian to be ready to support my future Golden Core.
I must build the strongest foundation possible so as not to waste my potential and end up stuck after the Golden Core. Even if it takes more time, I must not rush.
The formation pill will allow me to bypass the lengthy process of primarily reinforcing my dantian and reach the beginner stage of foundation establishment within a few days without any negative effects.
Anyway, I am going into seclusion for a while.
...
"Liam Adler, what a pleasure to see you among us!" Mr. Idder said sarcastically upon seeing one of his two best students sitting at the table he had deserted for nearly two weeks.
"Uh, yes, uh, sorry about that, sir," the young man said with an embarrassed smile. "My divine realm evolved into a plane, and I used one of my family's treasures on it, but I had to stay with it all this time."
This immediately caused a commotion in the class.
Even though it was not difficult for a demi-plane to become a plane, the best students usually only achieved this in April while it was barely the end of February.
"I already know that, and I must say you're lucky and returned just in time," the teacher said, drawing the attention of the entire class.
The man smiled and stepped aside, revealing the hologram of a gigantic solar system.
"Let me present you the Polaris System. It has a total of seven natural planets, one lower rank 3 planet, 286 planes at various levels, and two asteroid belts."
As the students observed the new system with curiosity, the teacher's eyes crinkled like half-moons.
"Before we go any further, let's see if you've learned your lesson. Mr. Ligneul, remind me of the difference between a rank 3 planet and a natural planet."
In a corner at the back of the class, a young man stood up and swallowed hard, knowing Mr. Idder wouldn't let him go if he answered incorrectly.
"Uh, a rank 3 planet is a world that has evolved from a plane. The beings living there are generally limited in rank by the will of the world, but they can leave the planet at will. As for natural planets, they formed directly from cosmic dust under the action of the four primordial laws and are billions of years old," he said hesitantly.
"They almost never have their own wills, so there are no rank limits on them, and since they have been exposed to void energy for billions of years, they are often much larger and more resilient than normal planets, but they also teem with precious resources."
"Well done, Mr. Ligneul," Mr. Idder said, smiling. "It's rare for you to be so sharp-minded, so I don't want to spoil this good feeling today. Mr. Adler!"
He turned to Liam, ignoring the young man who sighed with relief at the back of the room.
"There's also something your classmate didn't mention that results from the fact that natural planets often don't have their own wills. Can you enlighten us?"
Unlike his classmate, Liam didn't flinch and answered in a calm tone.
"Worlds with their own wills position themselves in a solar system to foster life. So, it's not uncommon for many worlds with the same characteristics to be on similar orbits, or even the same one. However, natural planets don't do this, and most aren't conducive to the development of life. They often have extreme climates, like ice worlds or burning furnaces. Sometimes, life forms capable of adapting to these climates appear, but that remains very rare. After all, every form of life starts its path very weak. However, if a natural planet is well-placed, the beings inhabiting it are generally much stronger than even a pinnacle rank 3 worlds."
Mr. Idder seemed satisfied with his response and smiled, nodding at him.
"Good. Now that we're here, let's get back to the main topic. The Polaris System was dominated by the race of blood demons. It's a strange race with the ability to absorb the power and characteristics of the beings they devour, allowing them to reach the peak of rank 6. It's a good racial ability, but they focused too much on it and neglected technology, forging, artifacts, and in fact, everything not related to brute combat. They stagnated for hundreds of thousands of years and had very few superior beings."
The man clicked on his watch, displaying the image of several grotesque beings, as if several different races had been fused into one body.
"To make a long story short," Mr. Idder continued, "the blood demons had no natural enemies in their system and felt all-powerful. When they discovered another system, they had the incredible idea to attack it with all their might, leaving no one behind. Unluckily for them, they got caught in a spatial storm on the way that killed their most powerful members and a few superior beings. When the remaining troops arrived in the neighboring system, they caused some havoc before being chased to the last."
The teacher clicked on more buttons, displaying the hologram of a fleet of several hundred spacecraft.
"The ruling civilization of the neighboring system, which is much weaker, is purely technological. Only through cunning and a few tactical weapons were they able to kill the remaining rank 5 and 6 blood demons. After that, it took them nearly a thousand years to decide to act and send a war fleet to Polaris system."
The man closed the holograms and turned back to the class.
"As for what happened next, I'll be brief. Due to the domination of the blood demons, the Polaris System is very weak and loses ground quickly. Your mission will be to go there and fight these invaders. Don't worry about the superior and pinnacle planes; second- and third-year students will also be sent."
At this point, he brought up a giant hologram representing a huge chart.
"This brings us to the next part. All first-year students, whether in the ordinary, superior, or elite classes, will participate and be organized into fifty teams of 24, with two students from each class."
As some began to stir, the teacher slammed his fist on the table.
"To be clear, I couldn't care less about your opinion. The deputy headmaster decided this, so if you're not happy, you can go see him."
Knowing his terrible temper, the few troublemakers quickly calmed down, though they were still unhappy about teaming up with "trash."
"Each team will be sent to a lower plane, and you will have to get rid of the invaders. Besides the spirit stone veins, you are free to take whatever you want from the active worlds. If you're done with one world, you're allowed to move on to another lower plane. Those who can venture into space can also have fun with their fleets and bases in the asteroid belts. In any case, the ten best teams will be allowed to go to an intermediate plane once all the lower planes have been cleared."
Not giving them time to digest the information, he brought up twelve virtual urns representing the twelve classes of the school.
"Now, let's proceed with the draw and discover the teams."
...
A spatial rift opened in the Adler System of the Andromeda Galaxy, and Liam appeared above his divine realm.
Thanks to the family treasure, it had been more than two hundred and fifty years, and the realm had seen real progress.
The demi-plane had continuously absorbed void energy and had expanded, now measuring 850km in radius, while the plane's will that resided in the origin stone had slowly begun to perceive the primordial rules.
In terms of population, there were now nearly 25 000 red-moon Nagas, 19 000 Valyrs, and 210 000 Novarians.
All this was only possible thanks to the numerous reproduction pearls he had used.
"Nevertheless, I never imagined having a transmigrant so soon," Liam thought.
In the age of the gods, transmigrants were no longer fiction but a reality that most world owners faced.
Transmigrants could only escape reincarnation by two means. Either they were strong enough in their previous life to awaken their consciousness in their next life, or they had a special opportunity.
In either case, they would be key elements in the development of a world and needed to be guided, or they risked causing chaos everywhere.
This was one reason Liam had met James Constantine a few local years ago.
Besides that, there were over 300 rank 4 beings in his divine realm, and the three races alone occupied nearly 180 powers.
What he found most incredible was undoubtedly the fact that about thirty Novarians had managed to rise to rank 4, showing that this race shouldn't be underestimated either.
Over time, Novarians had finally become an intelligent race, and occasionally, some received the gift for magic, while others underwent a mutation granting them a spiritual root.
It was still far from allowing the race to rise, but even if the probability was quite low, they were so numerous that they ended up accumulating a certain number of high-level powers.
Among other things, the three races combined had about 8000 rank 3 powers and 70 000 rank 2 beings.
It was more than enough to form an army capable of sweeping through normal lower planes.
They could even face some intermediate planes since three of his believers had signed a pact with the world's will, allowing them to reach rank 5.
Speaking of which, he couldn't order the world's will to remove the level limit it imposed, even though he was its master.
For a world, imposing a barrier was like a reflex, something ingrained deep in their soul.
Even if he ordered it and was sure the world's will would try, it wouldn't succeed.
Fortunately, there were still some ways to bypass this limit, and the contract with the world's will was undoubtedly the most effective.
To make it short, this contract simply stipulated that in exchange for lifting the level barrier, the concerned beings had to protect the world at the risk of their lives, regardless of the consequences.
It was a contract sworn with the universe as a witness, and no one would dare break such an oath unless they had a death wish.
Finally, in terms of believers, there were nearly 1000 fanatics, 8000 devout believers, and 74 000 true believers.
Unfortunately, the problem with large populations was that it became difficult to raise believers.
Especially since he hadn't performed any miracles for hundreds of years, and there hadn't been any wars.
"In any case, that's about to change," Liam said with a smile.
...
Torrents of rain fell from the sky, flowing over the ground.
The forest was rather quiet, and most beasts and insects had taken refuge, waiting for the bad weather to pass before coming out.
Swoush
Swoush
Two figures rushed through the trees, leaving only shadows in their wake.
They sprinted for another good half-hour before stopping in a fog-filled valley.
The leading figure looked up to search for something, but his view was obscured by dark clouds.
"Alice, I think we've arrived. Do you see anything up there?" asked the young red-moon Naga.
The second figure stopped hovering and landed on the ground, also looking towards the sky.
"No, if I use a spell, they'll notice us," she said, shaking her head, making James sigh.
"It's the same for me. I can't use my spiritual sense because they'll detect me, and it'll give the impression we're trying to sneak in."
The two remained silent for a moment, not knowing what to do.
"Ah, to hell with it, I knew we shouldn't have taken this mission!" James roared, visibly at his wit's end.
Alice watched him destroy a few century-old trees and sighed, but she knew very well that with James's explosive temperament, trying to stop him was pointless.
"Thinking back, it was obvious there'd be trouble," she thought to herself.
It was now the end of their fifth and final year at the academy, and they had both reached the peak of rank 3.
In fact, it was entirely due to their good aptitude and the academy literally stuffing them with rare resources.
Coupled with their incredible technique, even a stupid pig could become very powerful.
Even so, they both stood out and were the top students of their respective classes, one as a cultivator and the other as a mage.
Nevertheless, let's get back to their current situation.
Normally, they would have both already graduated, but Headmaster Luminara had decided otherwise.
Even though he didn't force them, he made them an offer they couldn't refuse: one low-quality spirit stone each, and all they had to do was deliver a letter to the other continent.
The spirit stones provided by the academy were usually of poor quality and contained more or less the energy of a rank 3, but those of low quality contained that of a rank 4.
(Quality ranking of minerals: poor, low, medium, good, excellent)
It wasn't just a matter of quantity, but also quality. The spiritual energy of low-quality spirit stones was much purer.
Nevertheless, they were extremely rare and almost never available on the market.
In fact, only the sanctuary vein could produce them, but that only happened every few years.
Even so, most were left in the ground to improve its quality and make the vein grow.
With such precious resources, they were sure to reach rank 4 in less than a month.
So, even though the headmaster hadn't told them why, how, or even to whom they had to deliver the letter, they accepted.
All they had was a map that led them here and told them to look up.
"You know what, Alice, I got an idea. I'll just fly up there and find out for myself!" James said as he completely lost his patience.
In fact, flying was generally the privilege of intermediate life forms, but with the right technique or spell, mages and cultivators could also do it, though they were limited in speed and duration.
(PS: for those not designed to fly, of course)
"No, wait!" Alice shouted, but before she could react, James had already coiled his tail around his spear and launched himself into the air.
"Oh, come on!" she said, casting a spell and launching herself into the air.