First-Rank Tempering Reaches Perfection

Both Gwen and Wang Lingling fell silent at Lu Yuan's refusal. Neither had expected him to turn it down without a moment's hesitation.

Amy grabbed his sleeve. "Three hundred thousand first-rank Spirit Crystals! Are you actually insane? Why won't you just take it?"

Lu Yuan kept his face carefully neutral.

Gwen, unhurried, leaned forward slightly and smiled. "Xiao Feng — you look about Amy's age, so I hope you'll let me call you that." She didn't wait for a response. "Whatever your reasons for helping her that day, you saved my daughter. That means we owe you a debt. If the Algaibi Family received a kindness and offered nothing in return, what kind of reputation would that leave us? What would people think? Would you really want to put me in that position?"

*So... refusing is actually the problem here?*

Lu Yuan looked at her pleasant, immovable smile. Then at Wang Lingling's politely expectant expression. Then at Amy, who was staring at him as though he'd lost his mind.

A corner of his mouth twitched. He forced a dry smile. "Since you put it that way — I won't stand on ceremony."

Gwen's satisfaction was immediate. "Now that's more like it."

She produced an anonymous payment card and slid it across to him. He accepted it without a word. "The funds will be transferred shortly. And the standing offer remains open."

He tucked the card away and nodded.

*Wonderful. Every single person in this household calls me Lei Feng now. If my real name ever slips out, I genuinely wonder whether Gwen would have me thrown through a wall.*

He kept the thought to himself.

*Should've thought twice before feeding Amy that whole Lei Feng story.*

"Well then." Gwen rose from her chair. "I have other matters to attend to. Lingling — Amy's arrived in Tianrao City. It's time for her to start growing. Keep her company."

"Understood, My Lord." Wang Lingling turned to Lu Yuan with a light smile. "Mr. Lei, shall I show you around the city?"

"No need to trouble yourself, Miss Lingling." He stood. "Now that I'm here with resources and proper training facilities, I should make use of the time."

Gwen led the way out of the reception room, expression settled into quiet approval.

Wang Lingling walked him to the main gate. The Algaibi Family carriage was already waiting in the drive, a middle-aged coachman standing at attention beside it.

Amy caught up before he could board. "You're really just leaving, just like that?"

"We're connected on the network," Lu Yuan said. "Contact me if anything comes up."

"Thirty thousand first-rank Spirit Crystals and you — you're impossible." She crossed her arms.

He said his goodbyes to Amy and Wang Lingling both, then stepped into the carriage. The door clicked shut.

Amy stood watching the vehicle pull away down the lane, shoulders drooping slightly as it turned the corner.

*...I still wanted him to join my adventure party.*

She sighed and turned back inside.

After walking Amy back in, Wang Lingling made her way to Gwen's study.

Gwen was still at her desk. She glanced up as the door opened. "What do you think of our guest?"

Wang Lingling considered. "A good person. He stepped in because he saw a human being attacked by outsiders — then turned down any reward for it. There's a principled quality to him. A decent heart." She paused. "Maybe a little naive."

Gwen hummed and continued working.

"There's one other thing." Wang Lingling recalled the first meeting — the brief flicker across Lu Yuan's expression the very first time someone had used that name. She relayed the observation: "I don't think Lei Feng is his real name."

Gwen set down her pen. A hint of amusement crossed her face. "You figured that out?"

Wang Lingling smiled faintly and explained the small tell she'd noticed.

Gwen shook her head. "Real name or not — it doesn't matter. If he turns out to be someone truly remarkable, we'll learn it in time. And if not, it makes no difference either way." She picked up her pen. "Go be with Amy."

"My Lord is right." Wang Lingling nodded and left the study.

The carriage rolled through Tianrao City's quieter arteries — the inner ring, sparse with foot traffic, its wide lanes lined by the understated architecture of old wealth. Through the window, Gene Warriors who happened to be passing would glance at the vehicle, then look again.

Lu Yuan understood why. The carriage bore the Tianrao Purple Vine crest on its side panel — the emblem of Tianrao Mansion. Whoever rode in it carried obvious status, and his face was an unfamiliar one.

He watched the scenery and thought ahead.

The carriage slowed to a stop.

"Mr. Lei — the Training Hall."

The Tianrao City Training Hall was on a different scale from Sandy Rock City's. Grander, more imposing, a constant flow of Gene Warriors moving through its doors. Unlike Sandy Rock City's hall, there were no Constructs serving on staff — this city was under personal ownership, and its Training Hall employed Gene Warriors directly in service roles.

None of that registered first.

What stopped Lu Yuan was the entrance.

Two colossal figures flanked the gate — which was already dozens of meters across. The one on the left was a tiger, ink-black from horn to tail, a single spike rising between its eyes. The one on the right was a bear armored in overlapping violet scales, each one the size of a shield. Both were easily several dozen meters from head to tail.

He'd assumed they were statues.

He stepped closer. The detail was wrong. The scale texture was too precise, too varied — the way actual edges caught light differently from polished stone. Every strand of the tiger's fur rendered in individual relief, not the smooth approximation of a sculptor's hand.

Then the atmosphere registered. A residual pressure, faint but undeniable, radiating from both figures.

Cold sweat crawled across his forehead.

He took an involuntary step back. "What's the deal with these statues?"

"They aren't statues, Mr. Lei." The coachman had stepped down from his seat. "Look carefully."

Lu Yuan looked. In the silence of the entrance plaza, the two figures seemed almost to breathe — to raise their heads, open their jaws, roar at a sky they could no longer see.

"Are these... actual Feral Beasts?"

"The left one is the Sky-Devil Calamity Tiger," the coachman said, his voice carrying a quiet note of pride. "The right is the Dragon-Blood Savage Bear. Both Emperor Grade Feral Beasts — killed by Battle Emperor-rank warriors of the Red Maple Empire and brought back. Their remains were preserved and installed here as ward totems. Our family's patriarch personally hunted the Sky-Devil Calamity Tiger himself."

*Emperor Grade Feral Beast remains. Used as ward decorations.*

Lu Yuan stared at them. Even stripped of all life, whatever had made these creatures Emperor Grade had left an imprint that time hadn't entirely erased. Standing close, his nerves registered something ancient and enormous — a pressure that had no business coming from something dead.

He collected himself, thanked the coachman, and walked inside.

The coachman departed. Under the sidelong glances of several Gene Warriors lounging near the entrance, Lu Yuan passed through the main doors.

Behind him, the conversation resumed.

"Who was that?"

"Arrived in a Tianrao Mansion carriage."

"Young, though. Might have only just gotten to the city. A Tianrao Family scion, maybe?"

"Whoever it is — that carriage means serious connections. But none of us have seen him before. Strange."

"The way he looked at those two and kept walking — composure like that? Talent Camp material, for sure."

Lu Yuan, oblivious, found a service attendant near the second-floor staircase.

"Hello. I'd like to rent a Gravity Room."

She smiled. "Basic Gravity Room is eighty first-rank Spirit Crystals per hour. Intermediate is eight hundred."

"What's the difference between basic and intermediate?"

"Basic ranges from one to one hundred times standard gravity. Intermediate ranges from one to one thousand."

He stared at her. "...One hundred times?"

Sandy Rock City's Gravity Rooms had maxed out at ten.

*That's not even in the same conversation.*

"One basic room, please. Five hours."

He handed over his card. She completed the booking quickly and set the room up. Minutes later, he was upstairs.

The door sealed behind him. He began raising the multiplier.

One. Three. Five. Seven. Nine.

At nine times standard gravity, his body found its wall — the point where holding a sitting position cost something real, where every breath carried weight. The familiar crushing pressure settled over him from all sides.

*Home.*

He sat cross-legged, drew out Spirit Crystals, and began to absorb.

Five hours later, he walked out with the look of someone who'd been thoroughly wrung out.

But the numbers had told a satisfying story. His Spirit Crystal absorption rate had been severalfold higher than any session he could remember — probably because both of his Boss Grade Transcendent Genes had reached that tier. He'd consumed over a thousand first-rank Spirit Crystals in the single session. Converted to zero-rank, that was upwards of ten thousand units.

*Enormous overhead.*

He turned it over as he descended the stairs. High consumption, high output. He could live with that tradeoff.

One day back in the real world. Then back to the Land of Origin.

He'd been cut off from Gravity Rooms for the entire Mist Forest crossing — months without proper training facilities. Now that he had access again, he intended to use every available hour.

The pattern established itself over the following days: Land of Origin for primary cultivation, Training Hall for Gravity Room sessions, and occasional real-world intervals in between. Whenever he surfaced into reality, Li Qinghe materialized to drag him somewhere in her fire-red hovering sports car. Li Qinghe owned a car, naturally — she'd only taken a taxi on arrival from the airport. But taking a taxi and letting her drive were two very different experiences.

Lu Yuan had learned to buckle his seatbelt before she even turned the key.

One particular morning, the knock came before he'd finished washing up.

"Yuan-bro! You up yet?"

He came out of the bathroom and pulled the door open.

Li Qinghe was leaning against the doorframe in a fitted white t-shirt and slim blue jeans, her figure fully and unavoidably on display. His eyes tracked across her chest before good judgment had a chance to weigh in.

The effect was, to put it plainly, considerable.

She caught the look. The corner of her mouth curved. "Well?" Mischief lit her eyes. "Does it look good?"

He cleared his throat. Nodded with complete solemnity. "Looks great."

Her smile widened — and her fingers shot out and caught his cheek in a grip that was not gentle. "Correct answer." She released him with a sharp exhale.

"Hmph." She straightened up. "Eat breakfast. Amy's evaluation is at ten. Get moving."

No. 1 had laid out a full spread — steamed buns of several varieties, pastries, all manner of things. They ate without lingering, then moved to the garage.

The fire-red hovering sports car sat waiting.

Li Qinghe slipped on her sunglasses, fit a cigarette between her lips, and turned the ignition.

Lu Yuan had both hands on the door handle before they'd cleared the garage entrance. Seatbelt clicked into place. Expression: resigned.

The car launched like a comet.

"Still this scared, after all the times we've done this," she said, not looking over.

"...I said you drive extremely steadily," he managed.

She glanced over, blew a smoke ring in his direction, and turned her eyes back to the road with an expression of pure contempt.

He tried a different approach. "Qinghe-sis, I've been thinking — maybe I should get my license. That way I could take over sometimes—"

"No."

"...Could I just take a taxi next time?"

"Hmph."

*At this speed, who wouldn't be scared?*

The car screamed through the inner ring of the city — quiet, residential, the kind of district where the streets were wide enough that Li Qinghe's definition of fast didn't technically get anyone killed. Through the window, the surroundings blurred into an impressionistic smear.

Lu Yuan stared at the indistinct scenery and felt vaguely untethered from reality.

Eventually the car stopped at a broad gate. Li Qinghe opened her door and stepped out. Lu Yuan followed, grateful for solid ground beneath his feet.

*Ten real-world days later.*

The rhythm held. Land of Origin. Gravity Room. Repeat. Spirit Crystal reserves bled out at a steady pace. Lu Yuan watched the numbers without particular alarm — high consumption was the cost of high throughput, and he'd long since accepted the arithmetic.

He had 300,000 first-rank Spirit Crystals when he'd started. At his current absorption speed, he estimated roughly three months of Origin Time before they ran out. That timeline would only shrink as his tempering advanced.

Only because his Spirit Crystal absorption rate was genuinely anomalous could he even push the pace this hard. Other Gene Warriors couldn't maintain this draw even with unlimited resources to draw from.

He kept training.

*One real-world week later.*

In the Land of Origin, more than forty days had passed.

Lu Yuan opened his eyes, checked his status, and felt something settle into place.

Rejuvenation gene — tempering completion: 100%.

He exhaled slowly.

Both Gene Chains were fully tempered. Black Iron Body at Boss Grade — complete. Natural Recovery at Boss Grade — complete. Both of his Boss Grade Transcendent Genes had been carried as far as current-stage cultivation could take them. Standing within the First-rank tier, he occupied rare company.

*Even a peak First-rank Boss Grade Feral Beast — I could dispatch one with ease.*

He let himself hold that for a moment. He was even quietly confident he could challenge Second-rank Feral Beasts above his nominal tier, fighting upward across rank boundaries.

But the milestone arrived with its next obstacle already attached.

The second Gene Lock had appeared.

He examined it. Eight black chains, each one thick and distinct, coiled around the lock.

*Eight.*

For the first Gene Lock, there had been three chains — three First-rank Origin Stones. Now he was looking at eight.

*How long will that take?*

He checked his Spirit Crystal reserves. Three thousand first-rank Spirit Crystals remaining. From three hundred thousand.

The 300,000 had felt like an enormous fortune. For the average First-rank warrior, it would have been an unimaginable sum — years of work, if they were lucky. For him, a few months of genuine training had nearly wiped it clean.

*This rate of consumption is only going to climb. Even another 300,000 might only buy me a month or two at most.*

High-cost, high-output. He sat with the arithmetic briefly, then set it aside. The math was the math. The answer was to keep the resources coming in.

Two objectives.

First: break the second Gene Lock. Eight First-rank Origin Stones, harvested by hunting Boss Grade and Chief Grade Feral Beasts. Killing at that tier consistently was the only way to collect them at any meaningful pace.

Second: charge the Evolution Cube and evolve the Rejuvenation gene.

The Crimson Copper Light was still off the table. He'd used it visibly too many times — Li Qinghe knew what it looked like, and if its form shifted after evolving, the discrepancy would be noticed. Too many questions he didn't want to answer under his current alias.

Rejuvenation was a different matter entirely. He'd never used it in front of anyone. Evolving it was completely safe. After the evolution, the physical enhancement would be substantial — a real step up in combat capability.

As for where to hunt — the answer was obvious.

The Mist Forest.

The outer ring was dense with First-rank Feral Beasts. Go a little deeper, and Second-rank specimens started appearing. For his current build — near-impenetrable defense, strong regeneration, double-complete Boss Grade tempering — the outer ring was a natural hunting ground. Even the peak First-rank Boss Grade inhabitants held no real threat for him now. And if Chief Grade ones were lurking in the mix, he'd welcome the encounter.

*The Mist Forest's outer ring. That's where I start.*

He began to plan his exit from Tianrao City.