Wizard: My skills can be upgraded indefinitely.

Four years have passed silently on the wasteland, yet they are as heavy as iron.

A five-story stone tower now stands in the inner city of Blue Cave Mountain.

The tower is built of gray-white "pure light rock", and each stone brick is engraved with fine star patterns, which gleam with a faint silver light in the sunlight.

Instead of a crimson crystal hanging from the top of the tower, it is inlaid with a fist-sized "stellar core fragment," which ceaselessly absorbs the sparse stellar power between heaven and earth.

This tower is called the "Star-Attracting Tower".

The tower's owner's surname was Li, and his given name was Xing.

Before the morning mist had completely dissipated, Ian stood with his hands behind his back on the star-gazing platform on the fifth floor of the Star-Guiding Tower, gazing at the city gradually awakening below.

Four years.

For the survivors of the wasteland, this is a long enough time for children to grow into teenagers and teenagers to be tempered into warriors.

For Ian, these were four years of frantically plundering resources with the help of the panel.

Using the panel's keen ability to detect the abyss's aura, he traversed all the marked and unmarked star vein nodes within a thousand miles of Blue Hole Mountain.

Some are merely residual ripples of energy, while others contain pure crystals that have not yet been contaminated.

He also contacted several other shelters in the area, but none of them were as strong as Blue Hole Mountain.

Over the past four years, with the panel repeatedly breaking through limits, the [Purification Agent] and [Energy Tempering Agent] have become the best-selling products of Blue Cave Mountain.

Countless over-limit-up potions flowed to various parts of the continent through the Crimson Cloud Merchant Alliance, bringing back the resources Ian needed.

The original thirteen boys have long since shed their youthful naiveté.

A-Ku, A-Shu, Shi-Tou, and Xiao-Zhou, the four boys who were the first to complete the rune cycle, broke through to the Condensed Form stage a year ago.

Aku awakens the [Rock] ability, which causes his skin to display rock-like textures during battle, increasing his defense fivefold.

Ashu gained the [Wood Spirit Sensing] ability, which allows him to sense life within a radius of several thousand meters, making him invincible when tracking in the wilderness.

Stone and Little Boat awakened [Power Burst] and [Ultimate Defense] respectively, one for offense and one for defense, working together seamlessly.

As for Li Yao...

Ian turned his head and looked towards the corner of the observatory.

The boy, no, now a young man, Li Yao, sat cross-legged on a futon, his eyes slightly closed, his breathing long and deep.

His bare upper body was covered with old and new scars.

In four years, Li Yao rose from the early stage of the Condensation Realm to the peak of the middle stage, just one step away from touching the threshold of the late stage.

His stellar bloodline was extremely thin, which explains why the Starfall Core was given to Li Xing instead of Li Yao.

Li Yao has awakened another rare talent: [Battle Intent Boiling]. The more intense the battle, the faster the energy flows in his body, and the faster his injuries recover.

In Ah Ku's words, "When Yao Ge fights, he's like a mad wolf, getting fiercer and fiercer as he fights, he just can't stop."

"elder brother."

Li Yao opened his eyes, and the silver light deep in his pupils slowly receded.

He stood up, walked to Ian's side, his voice much more composed than four years ago, yet still carrying the sharpness unique to a young man.

"At the outer city outpost, the new batch of fifty lads all completed their rune cycles yesterday."

Ian nodded slightly.

Four years after the battle in the mine, he had Li Yao select fifty boys aged ten to fifteen from the outer city stronghold to teach them the rune cultivation method.

Four years have passed, and all of these teenagers have now entered the Awakening stage, with the three most outstanding even touching the threshold of solidification.

"Chen Jingshan sent someone to deliver the invitation yesterday."

Li Yao took out a gold-embossed invitation from his pocket and handed it to Ian.

"It's said to be the '100th Anniversary Celebration of the Crimson Cloud Business Alliance,' please do me the honor of attending."

Ian took the post and ran his fingertips over the intricate crimson patterns on it.

Four years ago, he was a promising newcomer who needed Chen Jingshan's "investment".

Today, he is the leader of the strongest force in Blue Cave Mountain besides the Crimson Cloud Merchant Alliance, truly standing at the pinnacle of power.

The name "Li Xing" is known to everyone, both inside and outside the city.

Even the veteran peak-stage Nascent Soul cultivators in the City Lord's Mansion would address him respectfully as "Mr. Li."

The reversal of fortunes happened in just four years.

Tell Chen Jingshan I will go.

Ian casually placed the invitation on the stone table beside him, then turned his gaze back to the distant wilderness.

The energy within his body had accumulated to a certain critical point.

The Starfall Core in his chest burned hot day and night, and deep within his bloodline, the miniature galaxy imprint spun faster and faster.

The orbits of the three planets, pulled by gravity, are almost breaking free from some invisible constraint.

The bottleneck to the Manifestation Saint Rank is right before our eyes.

"Pass the word down."

Ian turned around, his voice calm, but it made Li Yao's muscles tense instantly.

"Starting today, the Star-Guiding Tower will be closed for seven days, and no one is allowed to approach within a kilometer of the tower."

Li Yao's eyes lit up: "Brother, you want to..."

"Hmm." Ian nodded, his eyes as deep as the night sky.

"The time has come."

That night, at midnight.

The gray clouds that had been pressing down over Blue Cave Mountain for several days suddenly parted.

It wasn't the natural wind that dispersed the clouds, but rather it was forcibly torn apart by some invisible force!

Through the gaps, the deep starry sky is revealed.

Then came the second, the third, the fourth...

Through the gaps, the deep starry sky is revealed.

Then came the second, the third, the fourth...

Countless cracks spread out like a spider web, tearing the gray cloud to shreds.

Nearly 100,000 people in both the inner and outer cities of Blue Hole Mountain looked up at the same time.

"The sky... has cracked?!"

"That's... a star?!"

"So many stars! I've never seen so many stars before!"

Exclamations, screams, and prayers mingled together, drifting in the night wind.

At the top of the Star-Guiding Tower, Ian sat cross-legged with his eyes closed.

His bare upper body was covered with dense silver patterns on his skin, which spread from his chest to his limbs and eventually intertwined into a complete starry sky pattern on his back.

In the center of the scroll, the miniature galaxy imprint is no longer a phantom, but has solidified into a tangible form.

The three planets are spinning wildly, their gravitational pull creating ripples in space.

"bring it on……"

Ian muttered to himself, his hands forming an ancient star symbol in front of his chest.

The next second, countless stars that appeared in the sky trembled in unison.

hum!

A deep, resonant sound came from the depths of the starry sky, piercing through the clouds, penetrating the earth, and reaching the very soul.

Immediately afterwards, all the stars lit up at the same time.

It wasn't the usual gentle flickering, but a burning explosion!

Countless silver beams of light descended from the starry sky, like swords of divine punishment, precisely striking the top of the Star-Guiding Tower.

boom!!!

The intense roar shook the entire Blue Hole Mountain, causing dust to fall from the houses in the inner city and spiderweb-like cracks to appear in the earthen walls of the outer city.

"Activate all protective barriers!"

Above the city lord's mansion, the city lord's majestic voice rang out.

At the Crimson Cloud Merchant Alliance, Chen Jingshan stared intently in the direction of the Star-Guiding Tower, his face filled with shock.

"This kid... he actually went this far..."

The young man who needed his "investment" four years ago has now stirred up celestial phenomena and manifested divine power!

"That's a divine manifestation! A behemoth like that, with fewer than twenty in the entire continent!"

At the top of the tower, Ian is undergoing the most dangerous test of his life.

The power of the stars infuses the body, not with gentle nourishment, but with a violent erosion!

Each silver beam of light that blasted into his body felt like a million steel needles piercing every inch of flesh, every bone, and every meridian.

Severe pain?

No, that goes beyond the scope of "pain".

That was a tearing and reshaping at the energy level.

"This feels... somewhat like the process of a level three wizard condensing their elemental form, as described in the Shadowmoon Tower's data?"

He could clearly feel his blood boiling and evaporating...

Then, under the infusion of that immense stellar power, it was re-condensed and sublimated.

In the sea of ​​consciousness, the miniature galaxy imprint was spinning at an extreme speed, and the orbits of the three planets completely broke free from their restraints and began to expand outwards!

The orbital radius of the first planet tripled!

The second one saw a five-fold increase!

The third one... directly broke away from the original galactic plane, drawing a slanted arc, and forming a brand new gravitational triangle with the other two planets!

"Ugh!"

Ian jerked his head back, letting out an uncontrollable roar.

The silver patterns on the skin's surface shattered inch by inch, and before the blood could even seep out, it was evaporated into a blood mist by the power of the stars.

But the next moment, denser and more complex patterns regrow from deep within the flesh, like new branches, covering the entire body.

At the same time, the starry sky scroll behind him was also undergoing dramatic changes.

The previously blurry illusory images of stars began to solidify, differentiate, and recombine...

One, two, three...

Ten, a hundred, a thousand...

Ultimately, the entire scroll transformed into a miniature starry sky, no more than three meters in diameter, yet encompassing thousands of illusory stars.

The three main stars in the center were almost solid, emitting a heart-palpitating gravitational fluctuation.

A new bloodline skill has awakened: [Starry Sky Domain]!

Although it was only in its rudimentary form, and could only be maintained for a few dozen breaths.

But this means that Ian has officially entered... the Saintly Realm!

Boom!

The final silver beam crashed down, completely engulfing the entire Star-Guiding Tower.

The blinding silver light made everyone instinctively close their eyes.

As the light faded and everyone opened their eyes again, the gray clouds in the sky had closed up again, and the stars had disappeared.

The devastating scene just now seemed like an illusion.

But the figure slowly rising atop the Star-Guiding Tower was so real it was breathtaking.

Ian opened his eyes.

Deep within the pupils, there was no longer a single silver glint, but a swirling, illusory starry sky.

The three main stars slowly orbited along their new paths, each revolution causing a slight bend in the surrounding light.

He raised his right hand, his five fingers loosely clenched.

No energy was used; it was merely a thought.

The air within a hundred-meter radius of the tower suddenly froze, and the gravel, fallen leaves, and even the weapons in the hands of the guards in the distance slowly floated into the air and hovered in mid-air.

The range of gravitational manipulation has increased dramatically from the initial three hundred meters during the condensation period to... three thousand meters!

Precision has evolved from the coarse concept of "gravity increase or decrease" to the ability to manipulate the direction and magnitude of gravity of a single object, and even... create local gravitational singularities!

"This is... the power of divine intervention..."

Ian muttered to himself, his voice trembling slightly.

It is no longer a vague "manipulation of phenomena," but rather touches upon some of the...essence of the rules.

For example, he can now clearly perceive the "mass distribution" of all objects within a three-kilometer radius around him, and he can "see" the direction of gravitational lines.

They can even vaguely grasp the mysterious connection between "gravity" and "spacetime curvature".

Although it is still very rudimentary, the direction is already extremely clear.

"Once I've fully digested this legacy..."

Ian gazed at the night sky, his eyes burning with passion.

But the next second, he suddenly shuddered.

Deep within my consciousness, something seemed to have been touched.

That was... a soul connection that transcended the endless void.

The projection occurred at the moment of breakthrough and divine manifestation, and the deep awakening of the bloodline.

That fundamental understanding of the "laws of gravity" transformed into a massive flow of information, traveling along the pathways of the soul...

Surging towards another world!