Lance let out a helpless sigh.

  If he had known to awaken the Solar Stellar Flame before running the System's reconstruction program, he could have smelted the Gold Rank Blaze Demon Wolf's corpse into a small chunk of essence first, then reconstructed it. That way, the resulting "Energy Supply" would have been much smaller in volume, instead of the several-hundred-meter-high meat-mountain he had ended up with.

  He pulled up the properties of the massive energy mass:

  Energy Blood Core: Contains the entire life vitality essence of a Legendary Void Beast.

  Properties: Consuming grants Energy Reserve: 20,000 EU (Approx. 2 million days of standard consumption).

  Buff: Grants continuous Cultivation Rate Boost: 500%.

  "Twenty thousand Energy Units?" Lance rubbed his chin. "It seems most of the Epic Rank core's energy was consumed during the reconstruction process to forcibly grant me the Solar Stellar Flame. Normally, the spiritual mana reserve of a Rank 6 core should be in the millions. Still, a five-times cultivation speed boost is a nice surprise. It's just this size..."

  Just as Lance was fretting over the giant, one-meter-diameter blood-red crystal, he felt a wet sensation on his shoulder.

  Turning his head, he saw Noir staring unblinkingly at the blood core. Drool dripped from the corners of all three dragon mouths, his eyes filled with longing.

  "You greedy little thing."

  Lance chuckled. He waved his hand, slicing off about a fifth of the blood core for himself, then pushed the remaining massive energy block in front of Noir. After all, as the Void Beast with the highest bloodline rank on this planet, Noir's growth required massive biological energy support.

  Roar—!

  Seeing this top-tier supply, Noir let out a high-pitched dragon cry of excitement. His tiny body instantly expanded, returning to his original form of over thirty meters long. He opened his gaping maw and swallowed the liquid-gem-like blood core whole.

  Humm—!

  A violent wave of life fluctuations instantly erupted from around Noir. His size began to expand in the empty air at a speed visible to the naked eye. Bones lengthened, and dense dragon scales shimmered with a metallic luster.

  System Announcement: Your Contract Beast has acquired high-energy nutrients. Triggered S-Rank Talent: Overclocked Evolution!

  Status: Entering Rapid Growth Mode. In this mode, growth rate increases by 10,000x until reaching adulthood or energy reserves are depleted.

  "Ten thousand times growth rate?"

  Lance was stunned by the data. Ten thousand times meant that Noir's growth in one year would be equivalent to ten thousand years of evolution for others of his kind.

  Although the maturation period for peak bloodline Void Beasts was incredibly long—according to Federation history, humanity's strongest, the "Supreme War God," took a full seventy thousand years to reach the peak, and an SSS-class species like Noir would normally take hundreds of thousands of years to mature—with this heaven-defying trait, he could reach his peak in just a few decades.

  "Plus the five-times cultivation boost from the energy blood core... doesn't that make his current growth efficiency fifty thousand times the norm?"

  Strange light flickered in Lance's eyes. This meant that as long as he could provide higher-energy flesh essence in the future, Noir's leap in power would far outstrip all of humanity's geniuses. This dragon might even sweep through the Federation before Lance himself reached the cosmic peak.

  Roar—!

  Sensing the power surging within him, Noir circled excitedly in the sky a few times, then rapidly used Form Mimicry to shrink down, turning back into a fist-sized creature before landing on Lance's shoulder and falling into a deep sleep.

  "With this talent, you can finally barely keep up with my pace." Lance affectionately flicked the little guy's horn.

  Then, he looked at his share of the blood core. He didn't eat it immediately. Instead, he tried to mobilize the Solar Stellar Flame within him to wrap around it and levitate it.

  "This flame can actually manipulate objects remotely like telekinesis. Truly an S-Rank trait."

  In the Interstellar Federation, powerhouses capable of controlling objects were called Psions. This was an extremely rare branch of ability, centered on the application of "Mental Pressure."

  If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  The Federation's classification for combat abilities was strict: the grading from F to S was essentially a multiplier of combat power.

  C-Rank: Boosts combat power by 300%.

  S-Rank: Boosts combat power by 1000% (10x).

  Take a warrior with 100 Soul points for example: if they awakened F-Rank telekinesis, they could only unleash 10,000 kg of force; but if they awakened S-Rank, the explosive force would reach a staggering 100,000 kg.

  Lance's Solar Stellar Flame, being an S-Rank trait, possessed not only terrifying destructive power but also telekinetic capabilities on par with a B-Rank Psion. He drew the blood core into his palm and swallowed it in one gulp.

  System Alert: High-purity Life Essence ingested successfully.

  Current Energy Reserve: 40,000 EU!

  Cultivation Rate Boost: 500% (Activated)!

  Hearing the system alert, Lance reveled in the surge of Source Mana coursing through him like a raging river.

  In that instant, the burns and micro-muscle tears left from killing the Blaze Demon Wolf knit together instantly under the wash of massive energy, restoring his body to peak condition.

  System Alert: Minor damage repaired. Energy Reserve consumed: 20 EU. Constitution (CON) +20!

  An increase of 20 CON meant his raw explosive power had skyrocketed by another 600 kilograms. Compared to his previous state where minor injuries only yielded a few attribute points through natural recovery, his current enhancement efficiency had multiplied fivefold.

  "If this conversion ratio holds, once I burn through all 40,000 EU, my Constitution will hit at least 40,000. That's a solid step into the threshold of Grandmaster."

  Lance's lips curled up slightly. Such a massive energy reserve was enough to let him spend recklessly in the high-intensity battles to come.

  "However, physical damage is easy to come by, but how do I damage my soul? Only by putting my soul into a Near-Death Loop can I trigger the Evolutionary Compensation mechanism to rapidly boost my Soul stats."

  Lance fell into deep thought.

  "Forget it. I'll look for soul-cultivation methods after I get back to the city. Let's go, Noir. Time's about up. Let's find some trouble for the beasts in the wilderness."

  He patted Noir, who was sleeping soundly on his shoulder, and with a blur of motion, vanished into the depths of the night.

  Time flew by.

  The next afternoon, accompanied by the deafening roar of engines, an Aerospace Carrier as heavy as a mountain range slowly descended onto the initial rendezvous point.

  On the scorched earth of the gathering site, dozens of surviving students waited tensely. The moment the carrier's hatch opened, they almost wept with relief.

  The past day and night had been a living hell for them.

  Most of these people were at Bronze Rank, Tier 1. Any common Level 1 Void Beast could tear them apart easily. Although ninety percent of the creatures on this planet were just wild beasts that hadn't reached energy standards, under extreme nerve tension, they didn't even dare use force against regular animals, fearing that leaking Battle Aura would attract the terrifying predators nearby.

  Ever since watching Lance kill the Shadow Stalker and leave, this group had been huddled in hidden rock crevices or bushes. Even so, of the more than three hundred prospective professionals dropped here, only seventy-odd remained.

  Humm—!

  The hatch fully opened, and several blue Tractor Beams descended from beneath the carrier.

  The survivors scrambled toward the beams, letting the gentle force lift them into the ship.

  "I lived... I finally survived!"

  "I never want to see this hellhole again..."

  "Director Raymond said as long as we make it back alive, we get Guild certification."

  "Even though the death rate is double previous years, the pass rate actually went up."

  Inside the ship, the survivors gasped for air and discussed frantically, venting their pent-up fear.

  "Everyone, rest where you are. The critically injured must go to the Med-Pods for rapid repair immediately. Once all surviving personnel return, we depart. At that time, you will all become officially certified warriors of the Profession Guild."

  A deep, calm voice came from the ship's control room.

  Director Raymond, dressed in a black Tactical Gi, walked out accompanied by several guards armed to the teeth, all at Bronze Tier MAX. Looking at the remaining seventy-odd people, his gaze held no fluctuation.

  As a high-ranking Guild official, he knew well that the birth of every powerhouse was accompanied by iron and blood.

  Tens of thousands of years ago, professional certification wasn't this dangerous. But people soon realized that certified warriors received a basic allowance of 10,000 Credits per month—equivalent to a monthly salary of a hundred thousand in the peaceful era.

  This generous treatment bred parasites. Countless people would get certified, then hide in safe zones to squander their days, refusing to go to the front lines to clear Void Beasts. This led to a massive waste of Federation resources, nearly bankrupting the treasury.

  Eventually, the Federation enforced a new assessment system: Live Combat Slaughter. Only those who achieved sufficient kills in the wilderness and survived were qualified to be called warriors. Furthermore, there was a fixed annual hunting quota; those who failed to meet it had their allowances cut.

  This regulation pushed the Federation's martial civilization back into a period of explosive growth.

  Director Raymond scanned the crowd, his brow furrowing tighter.

  "Lance hasn't returned? Did something happen?"

  This made him restless. Lance was evaluated as an A-Rank Elite. If he were lost here, it wouldn't just be a loss for Silvermoon City, but a huge regret for the entire Human Federation.

  Just within the last day, Raymond had received encrypted calls from several cross-provincial Chief Inspectors. These titans who dominated entire regions offered extremely generous terms, hoping Raymond would recommend Lance to their provinces for further study.

  If something happened to Lance, he truly didn't know how to answer to those big shots.

  "Director, gathering time is up. The ship's heat signature is attracting a lot of Void Beasts. If we draw in a big one above Gold Rank, this transport carrier's shields might not hold," a subordinate reminded him quietly.

  Though massive, the carrier was an administrative transport vessel with relatively weak defenses.

  "Wait," Raymond said coldly. "His Bio-signature is still active. We absolutely cannot leave."

  The guards exchanged glances, daring not to object, and focused entirely on monitoring the radar.

  However, just then, a sudden change occurred.

  ROAR—!!!

  A violent roar that shattered the clouds exploded from the distant horizon.