[System Alert]: Talent detected as Desolate Grade. You are eligible for the trials. Upon successful completion, you will receive the inheritance of the realm’s master: The Umbra Sovereign. Please proceed to the continent for testing.
The prompt echoed in Lance's mind. Simultaneously, the surrounding energy condensed into a perfect replica of himself—even the soul signature was identical.
"So that’s how Selina did it."
Lance's eyes flickered. Since she had already made her move, he couldn't afford to waste ti. Without hesitation, he plumted toward the continent below.
He left the shadow clone behind to deal with the others. As he descended, he scanned the landscape but saw no sign of the real Selina.
Whoosh!!
Lance landed firmly on the ground.
"What's the trial? Hurry it up. I’m in a rush," Lance said, speaking directly to the empty air.
His arrogant tone seed to catch the Central Intellect governing the realm off guard. There was a brief pause.
"Trial... initiated. To obtain the inheritance, you must pass three trials. The first trial consists of ten rounds of combat..."
"Don't bother with ten rounds," Lance interrupted. "Send them all at once."
The Intellect fell into a dead silence.
"What the hell? Are you here for a trial or to trash the place!?"
"Why don't you just ask to fight ten while you're at it!?"
If this had been any ordinary genius, the Central Intellect would have erased him on the spot. However, the man standing there was a Desolate Grade genius. Its master’s legacy required exactly this kind of monster.
"Beep... Fine!!"
Finally, the Intellect yielded.
"ROAR!!!"
"ROAR!!!"
"ANGH!!!!"
"AWOOOO!!!!"
Suddenly, beastial roars erupted from every direction, one after another.
The world-shaking howls sent tremors through the earth, making the ground shake violently.
Ten Void Beasts, radiating terrifying auras, manifested around Lance.
Their power levels ranged from Great Grandmaster (Rank 4) all the way up to Great Grandmaster (Rank 10).
That was a span of six minor ranks, but the actual power gap between those ranks was a staggering sixty-four tis.
To make matters worse, Lance realized these Void Beasts were all "Fourth-Turn" variants—aning they were four tis stronger than a standard Great Grandmaster (Rank 10).
In other words, Lance needed strength exceeding his own rank by 256 tis to kill them.
In terms of standard progression, that was a leap from Great Grandmaster (Rank 4) straight to Planetary Class (Rank 2).
This terrifying jump in scale was the hallmark of a Desolate Grade genius's combat prowess.
"Not bad, I guess."
Lance looked at the towering Void Beasts—so stood thousands of ters tall, others tens of thousands—and offered a faint smile.
"Hmph!"
In the next heartbeat, a cold snort escaped Lance’s lips. A wave of terrifying, pitch-black energy swept outward in an instant.
A dark energy barrier expanded from him like a shockwave.
Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!
Every single Void Beast disintegrated into ash the mont they touched the barrier.
The Central Intellect, monitoring the scene, went completely blank.
Had it possessed a human body, its face would have been a mask of utter disbelief.
How could Lance possess such monstrous power?
Was this really just a Desolate Grade genius?
"What's next?"
Lance asked, looking into the void. He had cleared the first trial in seconds.
If Sovereign Glacia snatched the good stuff first, he’d be screwed. He had to speedrun this.
"Congratulations. You have successfully passed the first trial. Initiating teleportation to the second."
The Intellect had guessed Lance’s intentions—he was clearly worried about the people ahead of him—so it didn't hesitate and activated the array.
Hum—!
With a ripple in space, Lance vanished.
He reappeared in a vast, dark expanse. Before him floated a massive plaza, and beyond that, a colossal stairway that stretched into the heavens.
On the stairs, a graceful figure was struggling to climb upward. It was Selina.
Hum—!
The mont he arrived, Lance caught Selina’s scent. He looked up and saw her straining against the incline.
"The second trial is just climbing the stairs?"
"Correct. Reaching the top will lead you to the next stage. Additionally, these stairs possess the pow—"
"Spare the details. I get it," Lance cut the Intellect off mid-sentence.
The Intellect: "..."
Before it could react, Lance stepped onto the stairs.
BOOM!
A crushing weight of Soul pressure slamd down on him.
"A test of willpower? This is almost too easy."
Lance smirked.
"The Soul pressure doubles every thousand steps. There are ten thousand steps in total, leading to a thousand-fold increase at the summit. However, as long as your will is firm enough, even an ordinary human can reach the top!" the Intellect’s voice rang out again.
Lance was speechless. He’d already told the thing he understood, yet it kept yapping. How annoying.
Without a second's hesitation, Lance kicked off.
Whoosh!
He beca a black blur, hurtling toward the peak at a terrifying speed.
The Soul pressure ramped up violently, but he felt absolutely nothing.
For soone who practiced the Eternal Soul Protocol, this kind of pressure was like a walk in the park.
A thousand-fold pressure didn't an one needed a thousand tis the Soul power to resist it; a ten-fold increase was usually enough to make it manageable.
Ten-fold didn't refer to quantity—if it were just about quantity, any Psion could do it. It referred to Soul quality.
Enhancing the essence of one's soul was incredibly difficult, usually requiring a high-level Soul Qualitative Shift during the Gold Tier (Rank 10) breakthrough, rare Soul-type abilities, or top-tier cultivation techniques.
So were simply born with indomitable wills.
Lance had all of the above: a Rank 10 Soul Qualitative Shift, powerful Soul abilities, and a godly cultivation thod. His Soul essence was off the charts.
Selina, on the other hand, was at her limit. She had only achieved a Rank 1 shift and had no extra boosters.
She had only made it halfway through sheer willpower and her multiple abilities.
Suddenly, a gale swept through the area.
Normally, such a wind wouldn't have moved her an inch, but under the crushing weight of the Soul pressure, she couldn't even keep her footing.
As the gust hit, she stumbled and began to fall.
Hum—!
Suddenly, Lance appeared. He reached out and caught her before she could hit the ground, pulling her into his arms.
"Are you alright?"
Lance asked with a faint smile, looking at her pale face.
"Lance...?"
Selina realized who was holding her, and her face instantly flushed crimson.
"Lance?! You brat, how did you get here so fast!?"
Sovereign Glacia’s voice exploded in his mind. She was fuming.
"You're here, so why shouldn't I be? Actually, just because of that attitude, I think I'll definitely be snatching this legacy."
Lance shot back. Sovereign Glacia was nearly smoking with rage. If Lance joined the fray, what chance did she and her disciple have?
"Oh, little brother, have so rcy on your big sister! Look at us, we're just poor War Orphans trying to survive. It's so hard! Why don't you just let us have this legacy? Tell you what... I'll even marry Selina off to you! We're all family here, no need to fight!"
Seeing that yelling didn't work, Sovereign Glacia imdiately switched tactics to playing the victim.
Her eyes and tone were so exaggerated that Lance actually shuddered.
"Fine, we'll go together. If it's a cultivation thod or a War Art, we can both learn it. If it's an item, I'll take what I need and give you the rest. Deal?"
"Yes, yes! It's a deal!"
Sovereign Glacia’s eyes lit up imdiately. Even the leftovers of a master would likely include plenty of Universal Class items. As long as she could obtain sothing of that caliber to repair her soul, it would be more than enough.
Anything was better than nothing.
As for cultivation techniques, she didn't particularly care. After all, the number of techniques she had mastered in her past life was no less than what the owner of this tomb likely possessed.
"It’s a deal!"
The two reached an agreent instantly.
Without warning, Lance reached out and pulled Selina firmly into his embrace.
The sudden move sent a jolt through Selina, and her entire face flushed crimson with heat.
"I’m taking you up!"
Lance gave a faint smile. A Soul barrier shimred into existence, enveloping Selina. He kicked off the ground, surging toward the top of the stairs at a blistering speed. In just two seconds, they reached the summit!
Behind the scenes, the Central Intellect was utterly dumbfounded.
"How is this possible? How can he reach the peak that fast while carrying soone else? Is his talent really only Desolate Grade?!"
The Intellect was completely bewildered!
Selina scrambled out of Lance’s warm embrace, her mind still a hazy ss of confusion.
"Giggle... We’re in luck. I just struck a deal with Lance. He’s going to clear the trial, and we’ll share the inheritance!"
Sovereign Glacia’s laughter echoed inside Selina’s mind.
Selina froze, blinking in surprise. She looked at Lance, a wave of genuine emotion washing over her.
An inheritance of this magnitude usually ant a fight to the death. Even fathers and sons had been known to turn on each other for far less!
Yet Lance was willing to share it with her.
But then, a realization struck her.
"Wait, ntor, you know Lance? Does he know you exist?!"
"Ahem... well, when you were injured earlier, he tried to save you. I thought he was going to hurt you, so I made an appearance. That’s how we t. Once he heard who I was, he practically begged to be my disciple. Too bad my inheritance only passes to won, not n!"
Sovereign Glacia spun the lie without missing a beat. One mont she claid she never lied to her disciple; the next, she was weaving an even bigger fabrication.
"Is that so? Why does that feel wrong?"
Selina was skeptical. Knowing Lance’s personality, it seed impossible for him to beg anyone to be his master. Given her ntor’s track record, she knew she wasn't getting the full truth.
Still, she didn't call her out on it.
"What is the third trial?" Lance asked, projecting his voice into the empty void.
Crack!
The mont the words left his lips, a passage tore open at the end of the Stairway Dinsion.
A massive, distorted space unfolded before them.
In the distance sat a gargantuan starship, its length stretching across a staggering tens of billions of kiloters. At that scale, a sun would look like a re grain of sand beside it.
The Tier 11 vessel lay there in absolute silence.
Lance’s eyes glead with excitent.
"If I use Reconstruction on this thing, could it reach Rank 13 or 14? Holy sht, what kind of level is Rank 14?"
The decision was made. This ship belonged to him.
"Lance, how about this? You take the ship and the cultivation techniques, and I take everything else?" Sovereign Glacia chid in.
She could clearly see how much Lance coveted the Tier 11 vessel.
"I’ll decide after I’ve picked what I want," Lance replied, ignoring her suggestion entirely.
Hum!
A shimr of light and shadow began to coalesce in front of them.
An elderly man slowly manifested before Lance and Selina. He was the Guardian AI of this secret realm—the central hub of the starship itself.
"After all these eons... I have finally found you."
The AI spoke with a heavy, ancient tone. As he looked at Lance, he was visibly trembling with excitent.
"Wait... this person has condensed a Soul. He’s a sentient lifeform!" Sovereign Glacia cried out in disbelief.
"A sentient lifeform?"
Lance’s pupils constricted. Maya had ntioned before that only Rank 12 intelligences could typically generate a Soul and beco a sentient lifeform.
Of course, just as there were geniuses among humans, there were exceptions among AIs. Clearly, the entity before them was a supre genius of its kind, having developed a Soul at Tier 11.
"Indeed, I am a sentient lifeform. You may call Blake. Respected Sovereign Glacia, you may co out now."
The old man smiled. Sovereign Glacia’s expression shifted instantly.
He had actually detected her. Then again, as a sentient lifeform, it wasn't that surprising. She had evaded the scans of the Tier 11 Intellect primarily because standard machines had a weak grasp on scanning Souls—they couldn't understand what they didn't possess.
But sentient lifeforms were different. Their understanding of the Soul was pushed to the absolute limit. Forget her; even the remnant soul of a World Lord might struggle to hide from his gaze.
Buzz!
The spectral image of Sovereign Glacia’s Soul manifested in front of Blake.
"Respected Sovereign Glacia," Blake said softly. "I have been watching you for ten million years."
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