Swallowing the Stars: Time Simulation

Chapter 208 Breakthrough, Metamorphosis

(At this point, the cheat system wasn't fully optimized, so it was essentially a forced breakthrough. However, it was later patched based on suggestions from enthusiastic readers, meaning that comprehension increased after the breakthrough!)

Within Yang Wu's sea of ​​consciousness, inside a colossal tower that nearly enveloped the entire void, nine incredibly blazing stars were orbiting along strange trajectories.

These nine stars orbit each other, forming a strange celestial structure.

And this is the essential composition of Yang Wu's soul.

Just as Yang Wu's mental energy touched the emerald green light spot, the Chaotic True Spirit appeared in Yang Wu's sea of ​​consciousness along with his mental energy.

Immediately, the emerald green light was directly absorbed by the nine stars inside the giant tower.

Immediately afterwards, wisps of mist began to form near the nine stars and quickly enveloped the entire galaxy. This mist rapidly altered the essence of Yang Wu's soul.

"Boom!"

With the change in the essence of his soul, Yang Wu, who had been unwilling to break through to the peak of the ninth level of the Hengxing realm, finally experienced a fundamental change in his sea of ​​consciousness.

After absorbing the emerald green light spot, the pure energy in the universe was frantically absorbed. The nine stars in Yang Wu's sea of ​​consciousness, which had already reached the limit of the star level, began to vibrate and expand in size as they continued to absorb energy.

boom!

Almost instantly, the cosmic energy above this vast wasteland was frantically devoured, forming a terrifying energy vortex.

Such astonishing energy surged into Yang Wu's sea of ​​consciousness, and the volume of the nine miniature stars also expanded rapidly, growing more than ten times larger in a short moment.

All nine stars were trembling, and in that instant, the largest star among them expanded to its limit.

boom!

The largest of these miniature stars suddenly exploded.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang...

The other eight miniature stars had also reached their limits. Affected by the explosion of the first star, they also exploded at the same time, turning into countless star fragments, and even forming a large amount of dust nebula in Yang Wu's sea of ​​consciousness.

Soon, everything returned to calm.

The countless nebulae, star clusters, dust, and many tiny planets generated after the Big Bang formed an enormous spiral galaxy in Yang Wu's sea of ​​consciousness.

At the core of this massive spiral galaxy, countless tiny stars converge, and the entire spiral galaxy also has eight spiral arms.

At the core of that spiral galaxy, where density is at its highest, lies a barely visible dark region.

That place is the first black hole ever formed in this entire spiral galaxy. This extremely tiny black hole is slowly devouring the surrounding stars, dust, and other matter, while also continuously generating purer energy.

chi chi...

A thin mist suddenly appeared out of nowhere around this giant spiral galaxy, shrouding the entire galaxy in a hazy halo.

The strange misty power that makes up this halo is the reliance of a cosmic-level mentalist—a first-tier cosmic-level mental power.

Yang Wu's spiritual mastery level has officially entered the cosmic level.

The breakthrough in his sea of ​​consciousness also led to the evolution of his body, and the evolution of his body, in turn, led to a breakthrough in Yang Wu's dantian.

In no time, Yang Wu's own martial arts realm also stepped into the first level of the universe level.

Yang Wu's breakthrough may seem slow, but it actually happened in an instant.

Just then—

"Boom!"

The chaotic energy around Yang Wu suddenly trembled.

"Roar!" "Roar!"

Upon witnessing Yang Wu's breakthrough, a host of different-looking Chaos Beasts burst forth from the nearby bushes like lightning.

At a glance, there were at least several hundred of them, and even the weakest of them was stronger than the Chaos Beast that Yang Wu had just killed.

"not good!"

Qian Shui, who was not far away, saw a large number of Chaos Beasts gathering towards Yang Wu, while Yang Wu seemed to be standing there in a daze. He secretly thought that something was wrong.

Whoosh!

A silver-white E-class spaceship appeared out of thin air, and Qian Shui flew into it and quickly flew towards Yang Wu.

Yang Wu quickly realized what was happening after hearing the noise.

He originally intended to take out his own D9-class spaceship directly, but seeing that Qian Shui's spaceship had already appeared, he simply flew towards it.

In fact, Yang Wu has now broken through to the first level of the universe level. With his genes, which are four times that of ordinary humans, he can fully exert the power of an ordinary ninth-level universe level with the assistance of 'Kash'. Give him some time, and there will be no problem at all in killing these hundreds of Chaos Beasts.

However, as the commotion grows louder, it will inevitably attract more and stronger Chaos Beasts.

Secondly, Yang Wu was currently troubled and had no mood to continue hunting Chaos Beasts.

Whoosh!

Yang Wu transformed into a blur and vanished instantly, then reappeared inside the E-class spaceship that Qian Shui was riding in.

The spaceship quickly disappeared from the sight of the enraged Chaos Beasts.

……

Inside the spaceship.

Yang Wu stood quietly to the side, unable to come to his senses for a long time.

He actually broke through?

"No wonder, the email from the Virtual Universe Company said that by the time we leave this initial universe, we will have already broken through to the cosmic level!" Yang Wu thought to himself.

Little did he know that absorbing just one Chaos True Spirit would lead him to break through to the first level of the Universe level.

Just after Yang Wu's breakthrough, he also sensed the change in the simulation interval within the time simulator in his mind; the time interval between each simulation had become...

Twenty years!

Although Yang Wu had already guessed something after the previous simulations—that the time spent in each simulation should not exceed a hundred times the interval between simulations—...

But this is just speculation; who knows what other changes might occur in the simulator after it reaches a cosmic level?

Furthermore, now that he has ample time and no longer needs to continue with the time-limited simulations, Yang Wu is considering testing whether he can accumulate simulation attempts on the time simulator for later use. He might even be considering saving the simulation attempts at the Eternal Star level for use at the Cosmic or even Domain Lord level.

But now, the time interval between each simulation has become twenty years, which has caused Yang Wu's plans to be postponed for a long time.

And most importantly, that's the hint Yang Wu received during the last simulation!

In the last simulation, Yang Wu spent thirty years in Chaos City.

In the first ten years, Yang Wu comprehended nine mysteries in the second picture of the Nine Universe Chaos Stele, the Fine Rain Diagram; but in the next twenty years, Yang Wu only comprehended three new mysteries in the Fine Rain Diagram.

Among the 27 new mysteries that have appeared in this drizzle painting, the level of profundity should be quite similar, so why is there such a big difference between the first ten years and the last twenty years?

After thinking about this question for a long time, Yang Wu finally came up with an answer.

That is—the Nine Universes Chaos Stele!

The simulation experience clearly shows that by making good use of the five opportunities to comprehend the Chaos Stele, I successfully grasped the 20 mysteries of the fundamental laws of space.

In the following twenty years, even if Yang Wu passed the sixth level of the Tongtian Bridge, it was only an additional opportunity to comprehend the Chaos Stele. It was perfectly normal for his speed to slow down!

This is the fundamental reason why Yang Wuming knew that his failure to break through to the cosmic level had already attracted a lot of attention, and that the time spent in the simulation would be extended after a breakthrough, yet he still hadn't broken through to the cosmic level.

Because if he doesn’t break through, Yang Wu can simulate more than ten times in the thirty years in Chaos City, and he can also accumulate dozens of times of comprehending the Chaos Stele!

After the breakthrough, although theoretically surviving to the limit in the simulator wouldn't reduce the time by much, the number of times Yang Wu could comprehend the Chaos Stele was greatly reduced. This would significantly slow down Yang Wu's progress!

Moreover, in order to make better use of the number of times he could study the Chaos Stele, Yang Wu, who already had six opportunities to study the Chaos Stele, did not go to the City Lord's Mansion to study the Chaos Stele even once in the past year.

But all of Yang Wu's preparations were ruined by this unexpected breakthrough!

The simulation interval is twenty years, which means that Yang Wu can only simulate it once in this Chaos City!

The opportunity to comprehend the Chaos Stele, which had been dozens of times, was instantly reduced to less than ten!

Who could accept this?

It should be understood that even if one reaches the Venerable Realm, without the extra blessings from higher-ups, one can only comprehend the Chaos Stele twenty times!

"Yang Wu, are you alright?"

Seeing Yang Wu standing there in a daze, Qian Shui asked softly.

Upon hearing Qian Shui's question, Yang Wu quickly recovered and said with a smile, "I'm fine! Thank you so much, Qian Shui!"

"It was nothing, just a small favor!" Qian Shui said with a smile. "Even without me, Yang Wu, you would definitely be fine!"

Yang Wu's burst speed was incredibly astonishing. According to Qian Shui's intelligent life observation, it had already exceeded the burst speed of an ordinary first-level domain lord. In addition, with the large number of rewards Yang Wu obtained in the Genius Battle, he must be carrying a spaceship of D grade or higher. In this inner area where there are only universe-level chaos beasts, there is really no danger.

"Yang Wu, you've broken through to the cosmic level?" Qian Shui suddenly asked in surprise.

Yang Wu's breakthrough to the cosmic level happened in the blink of an eye, so Qian Shui did not see the astonishing energy vortex.

"Yes!" Yang Wu said with a wry smile, "We've broken through to the cosmic level!"

Seeing the wry smile on Yang Wu's face, Qian Shui couldn't help but ask in confusion, "Yang Wu, shouldn't breaking through to the cosmic level be a happy thing? Why do you look troubled?"

"You have no idea what I've lost!" Yang Wu thought to himself.

With this breakthrough, he will need to use simulators to comprehend the Chaos Stele much less often in the future.

It's important to know that even if you pass through the twenty-first level of the Bridge to Heaven and become a Universe Venerable, you can only comprehend the Chaos Stele a total of 21 times!

To continue increasing one's number of enlightenment attempts, one must be granted such an opportunity by another great being!

"No, it's just that it was a bit sudden!" Yang Wu said calmly.

He was a man of extraordinary character; now that the deed was done, there was no point in dwelling on his original thoughts.

Even if he comprehends the Chaos Stele much less often, he will not stop his efforts to become stronger.

In recent years, he has broken into the top 1,000 in the entire universe, broken into the top 10, defeated Berlan, and even received emails from many venerable figures to accept him as a disciple...

While the time simulator helped in many ways, Yang Wu's own efforts were also crucial in accomplishing these tasks!

After all, real-life choices will more or less affect the experience in the simulator.

If he makes more progress in reality, he will have a better starting point when the simulation begins!

Just like becoming Jin Guanghou's apprentice, just like the trials and tribulations in the world of thunder...

In fact, even if Yang Wu stayed on Earth and did nothing, he could still become stronger by relying on the time simulator, but how could that compare to becoming the number one in the peak genius battle?

Having come this far, Yang Wu is no longer the boy who was ready to give up!

Even if the time simulator were to completely disappear now, he would not stop moving forward.

Just like Hong and Lei Shen, they didn't get many opportunities either, and were even surpassed by Yang Wu and Luo Feng one after another, but they still continued to move forward on the path of the strong!

In the original story, when this cosmic era ended, Thor was already the ruler of the universe, and Hong had long since become the strongest being in the universe.

Even among the entire human race, which occupied most of the original universe, there were only a few thousand such great beings, and the number of the strongest beings in the universe was less than a hundred!

In that instant, Yang Wu thought of far too many things!

The scene of him diligently training after he first came into this world.

If it weren't for those three years of hard work, Yang Wu wouldn't know when he would have been able to activate the time simulator in his mind.

Furthermore, Yang Wu's reckless actions within the Canglan Star Realm after becoming Jin Guanghou's disciple allowed him to successfully comprehend the Law of Fire.

Yang Wu then recalled his repeated deaths in the simulator, and the numerous warnings he received from Teacher Jin Guanghou...

"The path to becoming a strongman is fraught with difficulties and obstacles..." Yang Wu thought to himself.

"Lately, I've definitely become too reliant on the simulator! Even with my incredibly diligent cultivation in reality, it doesn't compare to the slightest progress I've made in the simulator. So, I've started to study the simpler laws of fire in reality, leaving the more difficult laws of space to my simulator self. Despite Master Jin Guanghou's constant reminders, I've already forgotten most of it!"

"My own competitive spirit is being constantly eroded by the simulator's rewards. It's as if as long as the simulator exists, I'm guaranteed to reach the top!"

Yang Wu felt utterly cold inside: "The recent simulation rewards have allowed me to surpass all the geniuses, and now I've even become a disciple of a Venerable One! But I've forgotten the experiences I had in the simulator, constantly being surpassed by other geniuses!"

"Even if the simulator really disappears, does that mean I'll always be surpassed by someone else?"

"No! Absolutely not!"

"Emulators are ultimately just aids; the true path to becoming a master still requires me to walk it myself!"

"Even without a simulator, I will definitely become the strongest being at the pinnacle of this vast universe!"

At this moment, Yang Wu's resolve hardened once again.

It was as if he had undergone a difficult transformation, shedding his initial naivety and the pride of becoming an unparalleled genius, leaving only a steadfast heart of a strongman!

The initial chapters on the heart of a strongman and the enlightenment of the fire law within the realm were not well written.

The matter of Heiming also became a tainted issue.

Logically speaking, it would be better if I didn't write such a plot.

However, I still wanted to give the main character some depth, though my writing skills might be lacking, so please bear with me. There won't be many scenes like this.

There's also the matter of breakthroughs! If we don't break through, there will be ten simulation experiences in 30 years in Chaos City, which is too much to keep up with. Giving it a brief mention would be too boring.

Therefore, I decided to break through in Chaos City a long time ago. I searched for a long time in the original work before I found a reason that was still quite suitable.

The Virtual Universe Company once said in an email that once you leave the initial universe, you will definitely be at the cosmic level, so they focused their breakthrough on the Chaos True Spirit, which is barely acceptable.

As for the growth ceiling that many readers have recently mentioned, which the protagonist cannot break through, there is definitely one, and a solution has been found. I won't spoil it here.

(End of this chapter)