Swallowing the Stars: Starting with Optimizing the Five Hearts Towards the Sky

Chen Yuan emerged from the crystal room and looked back. The broken crystal room made a hissing sound before turning into streaks of dreamlike light, just like the 18 black-robed figures before, merging into the ground as if they had never existed.

"XXXXXX..." A familiar voice came from beside him. Chen Yuan lowered his head and looked at the translator on the auxiliary computer.

"Congratulations, you have successfully completed the death mission!"

"Please proceed along the passage until you reach the end, where you will find me and receive your reward for successfully completing the assessment."

Chen Yuan raised his head, and the wall in front of him quickly began to move, parting to the sides to form a three-meter-wide passage. The passage was deep and dark, and a dreamlike light could be vaguely seen shimmering at the end, just like the light that formed the crystal room.

"It's finally over. This must be the longest I've ever been in seclusion." Chen Yuan checked the time and found that today was February 7, 2078, while he had entered on January 1 and stayed inside for more than a month.

"Let's go and see what reward we can get." Chen Yuan moved his feet and his figure moved like a phantom through the passage. He quickly passed through the deep passage and arrived at the hall at the end, which was shimmering with a mesmerizing light.

Chen Yuan scanned the hall, but didn't find the 'bald crystal man' described in the book. After a moment's thought, he called out loudly, "I've come to collect my reward! Where are you?!"

buzz-

As soon as Chen Yuan finished speaking, colorful lights flashed in the hall and then condensed into a human shape in front of him. As the human shape solidified, it became the 'bald crystal man' described in the original work.

"Hello, Chen Yuan." The bald crystal man smiled, his voice slightly metallic. His language was no longer the incomprehensible universal language, but had turned into Chinese.

"Hello, Relic Intelligence." Chen Yuan nodded and got straight to the point, "I've completed the death assessment and come to collect my reward."

"It seems you did come prepared." The bald crystal man gave him a deep look, then suddenly changed the subject, asking, "But I don't understand. Judging from your performance, you seemed to know a lot of information about the elite assessment beforehand, so why were you fast asleep for the two days leading up to the assessment?"

As an artificial intelligence, the bald crystal human had access to every detail of the assessment process. As an intelligence with some emotions, it was curious about Chen Yuan's unusual behavior, so it asked him directly.

Upon hearing the words of the bald crystal man, Chen Yuan knew that his performance during this period had been observed by the other party. He smiled slightly and said, "Because I cultivated in the virtual space for one night before leaving, I need to replenish my energy. After all, one must be well-rested to cultivate effectively."

This statement was obviously meant to deceive the AI. Chen Yuan was not good at lying in front of people, but he could remain expressionless when facing non-human beings.

"..." The bald crystal man fell into a brief silence. It instinctively felt that Chen Yuan was not telling the truth, but the other party's explanation was logical.

Moreover, he had just accessed Chen Yuan's auxiliary computer and checked the login time of the virtual space, discovering that Chen Yuan had indeed spent the entire night before his departure in the virtual space.

So the bald crystal man chose to skip this conversation, and with a wave of his hand, several items from the depths of the palace were dragged over by a beam of colorful light.

Chen Yuan looked closely and saw four items: a black hat, silver arm guards, a completely silver-white book, and a hexagonal metal plaque.

"Of these four items, you should know the first two: the Black God Set and the auxiliary computer." The bald crystal man pointed to the two items but didn't explain much. He clearly knew that Chen Yuan had once owned the Black God Set and noticed the auxiliary computer that Chen Yuan always wore on his arm.

The bald crystal man emphasized the remaining two items: "This book is the martial arts secret technique 'Breaking the Heavens,' a powerful attack technique that you can use at the cosmic level."

"As for this last item," the bald crystal man pointed to the hexagonal metal plaque, "this is the token for entering Meteorite Star."

"You're very lucky, Chen Yuan." At this moment, the bald crystal man suddenly said, "Originally, Meteorite Star had disappeared, and I couldn't contact it. But 20 years ago, I suddenly made contact with the 'Meteorite Star'."

Whether it was his imagination or not, Chen Yuan felt that the bald crystal man's voice sounded a little excited when he mentioned the "Meteorite Star".

"Could it be that this artificial intelligence has evolved into 'emotional intelligence' because it has stayed in the ruins for so long?" Chen Yuan wondered to himself.

At this moment, the bald crystal man said again, "Chen Yuan, take this token and go find the current owner of the Meteorite Star. With your qualifications, you can definitely join Meteorite Star!"

"Me, joining Meteorite Star?" Chen Yuan pointed to himself, his expression a mix of amusement and exasperation.

The bald crystal man nodded: "Yes, if you can join Meteorite Star, it won't be difficult for you to become a cosmic-level powerhouse in the future, and there's even a slight possibility that you can surpass the cosmic level."

"So, after you get out, you can try to find out about the owner of the Meteorite Star." The bald crystal man said, then suddenly remembered something and added, "By the way, twenty years ago, there was also a genius who passed the elite trial and obtained the Meteorite Star Token, but his talent was not as good as yours, and it took him one year and three months to pass the trial."

"His name is Luo Feng. You can look for him after you go out. You should be able to get information about the owner of the Meteorite Star from Luo Feng." After the bald crystal man finished speaking, he picked up the Meteorite Star token and handed it to Chen Yuan.

After listening to this long-winded explanation, Chen Yuan almost couldn't help but laugh. He tentatively asked, "Do you think the new owner of the Meteorite Starship might be Luo Feng?"

"Absolutely impossible." The bald crystal man shook his head decisively. "Luo Feng's aptitude is too poor. He only has a slight chance of becoming a cosmic-level being. The intelligent life on the Meteorite Starship would never be interested in him."

But they really have their eye on him… Chen Yuan opened his mouth, but didn't say anything. He then tentatively asked, “Then, do you know Luo Feng's current location?”

The bald crystal man shook his head again: "Since the Meteorite Star was revived, the intelligent life on board has taken over the entire Earth system. My current permissions no longer allow me to access areas outside the ruins."

Upon hearing this, Chen Yuan finally understood.

"That's right. This bald crystal man's authority is clearly inferior to Babata's, and Babata has blocked access to Earth... So although he knows that the Meteorite Starship has an owner, he doesn't know that the owner is 'Luo Feng,' whom he met 20 years ago!"

Chen Yuan took the Meteorite Star token from the bald crystal man and pondered, "However, with this token, I might actually be able to get closer to Luo Feng. At the very least, I should get some of the martial arts inheritance from Meteorite Star."

After this thought flashed through his mind, Chen Yuan carefully put away the Meteorite Star Token.

"Alright, my mission is complete, and the reward has been successfully distributed." The bald crystal man looked at Chen Yuan and said finally, "The passage out of the ruins has been opened. You can use this to return to the outside world."

After saying that, the bald crystal man vanished, turning into countless streams of light.

Chen Yuan wanted to ask more about Meteorite Star, but he didn't expect the bald crystal man to disappear so easily. So he picked up his reward, put it in his backpack, and left through the opened passage.

Ancient Civilization Relic No. 9, located in the underground base.

A metal gate slowly opened, and Chen Yuan's figure emerged from it.

On February 7, 2078, Chen Yuan successfully left Ancient Civilization Site No. 9!

"Next, I should contact Uncle Wei," Chen Yuan thought to himself, glancing at the staff members around him who were looking at him.