The Small World — Envisioning Space-Type Genes
"Alright, let's head in."
Li Qinghe smiled and patted Lu Yuan on the shoulder, steering him toward the main gate.
Once inside the Talent Camp, Lu Yuan swept his gaze around. The grounds were enormous — and completely deserted. Not a soul in sight.
"Why is there no one here?"
Li Qinghe laughed. "The campus covers four million square meters, but total enrollment is only 826 students. Seeing nobody is perfectly normal."
*Four million square meters. Eight hundred and twenty-six people.* Lu Yuan blinked.
The two soon arrived at a room deeper within the facility. Two guards in black uniforms flanked the entrance. As Lu Yuan's gaze moved over them, their aura pressed against him like a physical weight. *Battle Master Rank at minimum,* he thought. *Possibly Battle General.*
When they caught sight of Li Qinghe, both guards straightened and bowed.
"My Lord Li! We weren't expecting you."
"I'm bringing someone for the assessment."
"Of course — please come in."
The door swung open.
Inside was an office.
Beyond himself and Li Qinghe, seven others occupied the room. A white-haired elder sat behind the desk. The remaining six consisted of two middle-aged men, a mature woman, and three young candidates — two girls and a youth.
As Lu Yuan and Li Qinghe entered, every head turned. The three young candidates studied him with undisguised curiosity. He noticed their attention settled on him more than on Li Qinghe.
The white-haired elder regarded him with a warm smile.
Li Qinghe stepped forward.
"Elder Yu, this is the talent I've recommended. His name is Lu Yuan."
A burly middle-aged man among the recommenders flashed a wide grin.
"If Qinghe's vouching for him, he can't be bad."
Then he glanced sideways at Lu Yuan, smirk sharpening.
"Junior Sister Li — is this your little brother? I've never seen you this close with another man before."
Li Qinghe's brow arched. She fixed him with a flat look.
"Who I'm close with is none of your business."
The grin froze on the man's face. He pursed his lips and went quiet.
The other two recommenders, who'd been edging forward to add something, also fell back. They turned to their own candidates — both girls — and murmured quiet words of encouragement.
Lu Yuan wore an expression of perfect innocence. *He got shot down elsewhere and now he's directing his mood at me? What did I ever do?*
Elder Yu smiled and glanced around the room.
"Shall we head out? The time is about right."
"All four candidates are here. Let's move."
As the group made their way to the testing venue, Li Qinghe walked alongside Lu Yuan and filled him in on the camp's offerings:
"This school has high-grade training facilities — Gravity Rooms, Simulation Rooms, Spirit Power Rooms, all of it. The collection also includes rare Transcendent Genes, powerful Gene Armaments, Body Techniques, and more."
Lu Yuan's eyes sharpened.
"Gravity Rooms and Simulation Rooms? Are they free to use?"
Back in the Land of Origin, renting those wasn't cheap. The Simulation Room in particular carried a steep premium. Free access would be a genuine windfall.
Li Qinghe smiled knowingly.
"Technically free — but tied to your ranking and credit points. You'll learn the specifics once you join. That said, the training equipment isn't really the draw. With enough Spirit Crystals, you can access those in the Land of Origin too. What the Talent Camp offers that you can't get elsewhere is its collection — rare Transcendent Genes, Body Techniques, and natural treasures that simply aren't available for purchase at any price. Getting access to even one could make a significant difference to your strength."
*If there are genuinely powerful Transcendent Genes here...* The thought made Lu Yuan's pulse quicken.
He quietly directed a Spirit Power transmission to Li Qinghe:
*Qinghe-jie, you mentioned the camp has a lot of rare genes. Are there any related to time or space?*
He already knew that spatial gates appeared on planets from time to time — leading to other races' worlds, to uninhabited planets, and occasionally even to stars. But something more intriguing was taking shape in his mind.
Li Qinghe replied through the same channel:
*There's actually a Small World right here inside the Talent Camp — specifically for testing new recruits. They keep Feral Beasts in it and use it for every intake assessment.*
*Small World?* Lu Yuan repeated. *What's that?*
Catching his look of confusion, Li Qinghe answered aloud:
"It's a pocket dimension carved out by a Battle Emperor who has inscribed a space-type gene. They're not large — a few hundred kilometers across at most — but perfectly adequate once you've shaped the interior into a testing environment."
The words hit him like a stone dropped into still water.
"Inscribing a space gene lets you create your own world?!"
Li Qinghe had inscribed a space-type gene herself, so she spoke from genuine familiarity.
"That depends entirely on quality. Common Grade space genes certainly can't manage it. But space-type genes as a category are exceptional — compared to most Transcendent Genes, they're among the most powerful available. Which is exactly why they're so rare. Any space-type gene, even a Common Grade one, will have people competing bitterly over it."
Lu Yuan's mind was already running ahead.
*Gene quality isn't an issue for me.* With the Evolution Cube, he could push any space-type gene to the highest tier. And if he evolved it far enough—
*Could I eventually forge a world of my own?*
One thought chased the next. Space brought time to mind.
*If I found a time-type gene and evolved it to its absolute ceiling — could I actually cross the river of time itself?*
The more he turned it over, the harder his heart beat. He could barely contain his urge to get his hands on a space-type gene and inscribe it immediately.
He looked at Li Qinghe with unconcealed eagerness. She caught the expression and laughed.
"That depends on what quality of space gene you're talking about inscribing."
She was teasing him — but even so, this changed everything.
The group soon arrived at a concealed chamber.
Opening the door revealed a subtly warped, shimmering plane suspended mid-air at the center of the room, its surface showing shifting glimpses of forests and flowing rivers. Like a mirror floating in space.
The entrance to the Small World.
Two men stood at readiness nearby: a black-haired man and a golden-haired man, flanked by an array of instruments.
The four test candidates stepped forward.
Elder Yu gestured them over.
"Come here."
They approached. The two girls stood nearby — one with a soft, round-cheeked face and bright eyes, the other with cropped hair and a measured gaze. The brown-haired youth stood a little apart, arms crossed, already sizing up his competition.
Lu Yuan glanced at the other three. All of them were watching each other with the same careful wariness.
*Everyone here cleared the same bar to get in. Everyone wants first. No one wants last.*
Elder Yu addressed them in a calm, measured voice:
"Your task is to enter this Small World, hunt the Feral Beasts inside, and collect the marks attached to their bodies. Each mark represents points — the stronger the beast, the higher its value.
"A warning: there are four Second-rank Boss Grade Feral Beasts inside. They are all Low-level Bosses, but at your level, they are still genuinely dangerous. Hunt your prey — and make sure you do not become prey. This is not the Land of Origin. If you die here, there is no respawning."
He handed each candidate a small black instrument — a thumbnail-sized metal chip.
"All the beasts inside have been fitted with special marks. After collecting a mark, press this chip against the instrument to record it. Your final standing is determined by total points at the end of the test."
He outlined the point values:
"The four Second-rank Bosses carry the top scores — 50,000 points each. For First-rank beasts: Common Grade is worth 1 point. Low-level Elite is 10, Mid-level Elite is 20, High-level Elite is 30, Peak Elite is 50. For First-rank Boss Grade beasts: Low-level Boss is 1,000 points, Mid-level Boss is 2,000, High-level Boss is 3,000, and Peak Boss is 5,000."
A brief pause, then:
"The test runs for ten hours. The passing threshold is 10,000 points. First place earns a bonus of 100 credit points. Second place earns 80. Third earns 50."
The short-haired girl frowned. "What does fourth place get?"
Elder Yu smiled pleasantly. "Nothing."
She went quiet.
His expression turned serious.
"One final condition: this test must be completed through your own abilities alone. Anyone caught cheating will be disqualified immediately — and permanently barred from the Talent Camp."
He looked them each over.
"Any questions?"
Silence.
"Then prepare yourselves."
The recommenders took the last few moments.
Lord Liu — the burly middle-aged man — planted a heavy hand on the brown-haired youth's shoulder.
"Bring me first place. If you don't, you'll answer for it when you come out."
The youth straightened. "Understood, My Lord Liu!"
The other two recommenders gave their candidates quieter, gentler send-offs.
Li Qinghe reached over and pinched Lu Yuan's cheek with a mischievous grin.
"Yuan-didi, give it your all. First place earns a reward from big sister."
At that, the brown-haired youth turned cold eyes on Lu Yuan.
"First place is mine."
Lu Yuan looked at him. He raised a genuine thumbs-up and nodded with complete goodwill.
"Nice. Good luck — I'm rooting for you."
The youth's expression went blank. *???*
His face flushed red. He drew a sharp breath through his nose and held himself in check through visible effort.
*Lord Liu vented all his outside frustrations on me before we even walked in here — and now I have to deal with this too? What is happening today?*
The strained look that crossed his face told its own story. He glanced at Lu Yuan, then gave a tight, determined nod.
The two girls watching from the sidelines turned away almost simultaneously, shoulders trembling as they fought back laughter.
All four crossed through the spatial gate.
Space rippled. Lu Yuan's vision blurred and snapped back into focus.
He was standing on an open grassland. The grass stretched past his waist — thick, lush, swaying in a sourceless wind. Far behind him, a mirror-like boundary shimmered at the edge of sight: the perimeter of the Small World.
He glanced at the other three. All watching each other already, eyes careful.
Lu Yuan picked a direction no one else had taken, stepped into a sprint, and dissolved into an afterimage.
The other three, finding there was nothing more to observe, each chose their own path and disappeared.
He pushed deep into the grassland, moving fast.
Without warning, the tall grass erupted.
A massive yellow lion — a prairie lion — burst from the brush and launched itself straight at him, jaws spread wide. By its bulk, High-level Common Grade at most.
Lu Yuan made no move to evade. The lion's jaws closed on his armor.
**Crack.**
The lion's teeth shattered. Blood welled from its own gums.
A howl of pain—
**Boom.**
Lu Yuan raised his fist and brought it down on the lion's skull without a moment's pause. The prairie lion dropped to the ground and went still.
He crouched, found the mark on the beast's back without difficulty, and pressed his chip to the instrument.
*Beep.*
**1 point.**
He raised an eyebrow and walked on.
*First-rank Common Grade. Worthless as a challenge.* The test had barely started. The real picture would only emerge once the prey grew stronger.
He kept the four Second-rank Bosses in mind — fifty thousand points each.
*Time to find them.*
Outside the Small World.
Elder Yu moved to the instrument cluster and activated the system. Four light screens materialized in the air, each showing a candidate's feed in real time.
Everyone pressed forward to watch.
Li Qinghe's eyes lit up. She went straight to Lu Yuan's screen.
He was moving swiftly through the grassland. The brown-haired youth's screen showed nothing but a trailing gust — already deep in the brush and gone from sight. The two girls had each split off in separate directions.
Then: the prairie lion on Lu Yuan's feed, hurling itself at him. He appeared not to notice at all. The jaws came down on his armor—
**Crack.**
Every watcher's jaw clenched in sympathy. Their own teeth ached.
The mature woman among the recommenders let out an amused laugh.
"Junior Sister Li, your protégé has impressive defense. That prairie lion — High-level Common Grade by the look of it — and its teeth snapped right off."
On screen: **Boom.** The lion crumpled.
Li Qinghe's smile curved upward.
Then the point count registered.
*1 point.*
Someone murmured: "...Only 1 point."
A ripple of quiet amusement ran through the room.
Any warrior who had inscribed a Guardian Type gene could have handled that bite without flinching — it proved nothing yet. The real assessment would begin when the targets grew stronger.
For now, Lu Yuan had already moved on, vanishing deeper into the grassland.