Breaking Through to Third-rank, Inscribing the Spatial-Type Gene

When Mechanical Control reached perfect tempering, white mist surged and parted to reveal the Gene Lock.

The moment Lu Yuan saw it, he froze.

To put things in perspective: even when he had broken through to Second-rank — having inscribed only a single Boss Grade gene and one Chief Grade gene — his Gene Lock had numbered a full eight chains. And that was already considered few, given his exceptional natural talent.

But now?

He had three Lord Grade genes to his name, and was breaking through all the way to Third-rank. His Gene Lock had only nine chains.

Only nine.

He had expected at least a dozen or so. He hadn't imagined it could be this few.

Lu Yuan was genuinely caught off guard.

He furrowed his brow. Then a thought struck him — his eyes went wide.

*Could it be the life sublimation from the Evolution Cube's metamorphosis?*

There was no other way to account for it. Nothing else explained why the number was so low.

Not that he was complaining. Fewer was better, as far as he was concerned. Fewer Gene Lock chains meant fewer resources needed to break through.

All he'd need was a single Second-rank Gene Evolution Fluid.

Since he had less than a day before he'd have to leave the Land of Origin, and the long stretch of cultivation had left him thoroughly drained, Lu Yuan decided not to break through just yet.

He left the training room and sent Amy a message:

*"Hey, little Amy, what are you up to?"*

A reply came quickly:

*"Just got into the Land of Origin. What do you want, you big cheat?"*

Lu Yuan smiled. *"Thought we'd go out and have some fun. How about we grab a seat at a bar?"*

Amy: *"Lingling said people who go to bars aren't good people! You'll get pregnant at a bar! I'm not going with you!"*

Lu Yuan blinked, mouth opening to respond.

On reflection, though, he realized there was — in a certain sense — some truth to what Amy had said.

Girls who frequented bars did tend to have... higher odds in that department.

Though he was quite sure Wang Lingling had meant something entirely different.

There had been the earlier business about holding hands causing pregnancy. At some point, Lu Yuan had taken the opportunity to bring it up with Wang Lingling directly.

It turned out it had been Amy's mother and Wang Lingling working together to pull one over on Amy.

Even the internet Amy had access to was a specially constructed local network her family had set up, filled exclusively with this kind of "knowledge" — holding hands causes pregnancy and the like.

At the time, Lu Yuan had been genuinely amazed.

No wonder Amy had been so confident when he asked if she'd ever looked it up online. Apparently it wasn't Amy who was wrong at all — it was that the entire Tianrao Mansion had been staging an elaborate performance for her benefit.

How could anyone stand up to that?

Still, Wang Lingling had mentioned afterward that Amy was getting older, and they could start gradually letting her see the world as it actually was.

Lu Yuan had given her a thumbs up and simply said, "Respect."

He had always thought of himself as someone who kept Amy in the dark a fair amount — but compared to Wang Lingling and Amy's mother, he was a complete amateur.

Amy sent another message:

*"But we could go to the amusement park."*

Lu Yuan raised an eyebrow. *"Deal. I'll come find you."*

As long as he wasn't cultivating, it didn't much matter to him where they went.

He stepped out onto the street and summoned Black Bear No. 1.

It hovered in the air, drawing stares from passersby — eyes wide, faces tinged with envy. A craft like this was clearly no ordinary machine. Just owning one was enough to make most people ache with longing.

Lu Yuan looked at Black Bear No. 1 and found himself thinking about when to give it an evolution boost. He still hadn't evolved anything since the Evolution Cube's metamorphosis.

Not that he'd had much choice. He'd been too busy cultivating, and all his Spirit Crystals were earmarked for evolution — none to spare.

He boarded Black Bear No. 1. The craft blazed off like a shooting star toward Tianrao Mansion.

It wasn't long before it touched down at the entrance.

Lu Yuan had visited Tianrao Mansion enough times that the gate guards already knew his face. When they saw him step down, both straightened with immediate deference.

"Young Master Lu."

Lu Yuan gave a brief nod. Neither guard moved to stop him — they stepped aside and let him through without a word. Wang Lingling herself had issued the standing order: Lu Yuan was welcome at Tianrao Mansion anytime.

Inside, he made his way unerringly to Amy's residential courtyard.

He knocked. The door opened to reveal Wang Lingling. She looked at him and smiled softly.

"Lu Yuan, you're here to see the young miss? Come in."

"Yeah. Lingling, you're not cultivating?"

Ever since that conversation where he'd learned about the grand Tianrao Mansion conspiracy to keep Amy naive, Wang Lingling's gentle smile had given him a mild case of psychological trauma.

This woman was ruthless.

If he had the choice, he honestly preferred not to be alone with her — mainly because he was a little afraid of being played.

"Just finished a session." Wang Lingling's smile remained sweet. "Somehow I have the feeling you're thinking something rather impolite, Lu Yuan."

His smile stiffened. "What? Absolutely not. Anyway — where's Amy?"

"The young miss will be right out."

Sure enough, Amy burst through her door moments later, bouncing with energy. Since they were heading to the amusement park, she hadn't put on her Gene Armament. Instead she wore a white princess dress, which, paired with her delicate features, made her look impossibly cute — like a real princess straight out of a fairy tale.

Well... in a certain sense, Amy was something of a princess.

"Big cheat, you're here! Let's go! I've been cultivating so long I'm totally exhausted."

Lu Yuan glanced at her, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

Not long ago, when the two of them had been discussing what Transcendent Gene he wanted in exchange, he'd thought it over and decided to ask for Spirit Crystals instead.

He was going to be evolving King Grade genes next, and that required a significant haul of Spirit Crystals. Even if he flipped a Transcendent Gene for profit, he had no way to inscribe another one right now — he already had Flicker slated for Third-rank inscription and Wind Thunder Fury for Fourth-rank. By the time he was approaching Fifth-rank, he'd be able to buy other rare Transcendent Genes from the academy. Amy's supply wouldn't be necessary.

Spirit Crystals were simply more useful.

So Amy had transferred five million Fourth-tier Spirit Crystals to him on the spot.

It never ceased to amaze him just how obscenely wealthy Amy was.

That same exchange was also when Lu Yuan discovered Amy had already broken through to Third-rank — which had made him a little envious. They were both using Enhanced Spirit Power Gene Fluid, but he'd lost several days to the Beast Tide and had extra Lord Grade genes to temper on top of that. Amy had still broken through ahead of him.

Good thing he was about to catch up.

He grinned. "If you're that exhausted, are you sure you still want to go out?"

Amy's face froze. She fixed him with an outraged glare.

"You promised we'd go to the amusement park! You're not going to back out, are you?!"

"Relax, I'm joking. Let's go."

The two headed out together, Wang Lingling trailing behind with her ever-present smile.

The amusement park Amy had in mind was something of a local landmark in Tianrao City — built entirely by the Tianrao Battle Emperor for her benefit.

In practice, almost nobody visited.

Most Gene Warriors were adults sixteen and older. When they needed to unwind after hunting Feral Beasts or grinding through cultivation, they headed to bars and similar establishments. What sensible person came to a place like this?

When the three of them arrived, the park was nearly empty — just a handful of staff and two or three small clusters of Gene Warriors scattered about. The few they passed gave their group decidedly strange looks.

Not that it dampened anyone's mood.

Amy's tastes were thoroughly girlish — carousels, fairy-tale rides, princess-themed attractions. Lu Yuan and Wang Lingling indulged her fully. And honestly, sitting in the pumpkin car wasn't bad at all.

At the very least, it was relaxing.

After half a day of play, Lu Yuan's Light Gate recharged. He said his goodbyes to Amy and Wang Lingling, then departed the Land of Origin.

Wang Lingling watched the white light fade where Lu Yuan had been, then turned with a gentle smile.

"Young miss, you've had a good long break. Time to get back to cultivation."

"Nooooo!"

Amy's face crumpled. She let herself be whisked away in Wang Lingling's arms, utterly miserable.

*Why did the big cheat have to leave so early?!* she thought bitterly. *She hadn't had nearly enough fun!*

Two days later.

Lu Yuan re-entered the Land of Origin.

He materialized inside the amusement park, immediately summoned Black Bear No. 1, and rode it to find a rental unit to settle into.

Back in the room, he sat cross-legged on the bed.

He took a deep breath, retrieved a Second-rank Gene Evolution Fluid, and drank it down.

The breakthrough began.

He'd used a Gene Evolution Fluid once before in the Aier Mechanical Ruins, so he knew exactly what to expect. Rich Spirit Power surged through him. The Gene Lock chains began snapping one by one.

Before long, all nine black chains had broken. The white mist dispersed — and Lu Yuan's fourth Gene Chain appeared.

The sensation of life sublimation washed over him. He could feel his strength climb by a considerable margin.

But this was only the beginning.

Eyes bright with anticipation, he reached into his spatial storage and drew out a pale blue orb of light.

Boss Grade Transcendent Gene: Flicker.

With a mental command, the blue orb dissolved into his body. Strange filaments of light threaded themselves into the empty fourth Gene Chain, weaving through the blank lattice.

He had been through gene inscription three times before. There were no surprises.

The inscription completed quickly, and Lu Yuan's consciousness sank into the white mist.

The final step: the Intent Battle.

The mist churned and parted. Before him stood a silver wolf — shoulder height roughly one and a half meters, a single horn jutting from its brow. Its eyes blazed crimson, filled with defiance and killing intent.

It let out a furious howl. Space rippled around its body — and then it was gone.

An instant later, a presence surged up directly behind him.

Lu Yuan's gaze snapped into focus. White Jade Spirit Body blazed to life across his skin.

*Clang!!*

An attack landed squarely on the back of his head. His defense held.

But it still left him rattled.

*That speed.*

Absurdly fast.

The Intent Battle opponent matched his cultivation level, which meant this silver wolf's will was at the entry stage of Third-rank as well. And yet it was only Boss Grade. And it had nearly caught him completely off guard.

*So this is the Flicker Combat Technique.*

Excitement surged through him.

*Terrifying. But it'll be mine soon enough.*

He swung his greatsword backward in a sweeping arc, condensing the strike into a streak of black blade-light.

Just before it could connect, the space around the wolf shimmered — and it vanished.

The pressure of that powerful aura erupted behind him again.

Lu Yuan's brow furrowed. He drove his right foot back hard in the direction of the presence.

**Boom!!**

His kick connected squarely with the wolf mid-lunge. It was sent tumbling away, its form growing slightly translucent.

Even with a technique as outrageous as Flicker, this was still a Boss Grade will remnant. Against his level of power, the gap was simply too wide.

Teleporting behind him and actually landing an attack still required a brief window — and once Lu Yuan adapted to Flicker's rhythm, that window was more than enough to retaliate.

Under normal circumstances, a kick like that would have killed any Boss Grade Feral Beast outright. But the wolf was a will remnant, not a living creature — it only grew more insubstantial, not dead.

He watched as the wolf blinked out of existence again.

He had barely registered the absence before that overwhelming presence erupted behind him once more, the wolf's claws already slashing toward his face.

He spun and thrust out a hand to grab it.

Space rippled. The wolf was gone.

The corner of his mouth twitched.

*This Flicker is absolutely shameless.*

A Boss Grade creature giving a Lord Grade warrior this much trouble. How was it this slippery?

Left with no other option, Lu Yuan settled into a game of cat and mouse. Each time the wolf attacked, he retaliated. With his speed, he connected the majority of the time — but occasionally the wolf slipped out through Flicker just before the blow landed.

A Boss Grade creature evading a Lord Grade fighter's attacks. That alone was absurd. And he was far stronger than a typical entry-level Third-rank cultivator, at that.

*This technique is something else.*

But hit after hit accumulated. The wolf's will remnant grew more and more translucent with each impact, and the interval between each Flicker stretched longer and longer — giving Lu Yuan ever-wider openings to exploit.

Finally, after a sustained barrage, the wolf let out one last howl of furious defiance — and its will remnant dissolved completely.

Lu Yuan exhaled slowly. The shock still hadn't fully left him.

*Just Boss Grade, and it was already that formidable. Good thing I didn't try to inscribe a Lord Grade or King Grade spatial-type gene — that could have gotten genuinely dangerous.*

As the wolf's will remnant faded, his consciousness returned.

He could feel Flicker fully inscribed into his Gene Chain. Instinctively — as naturally as breathing — he knew how to use it.

His body vanished from where he sat.

An instant later, he reappeared five meters away in midair.

Still cross-legged.

As he began to fall, he flickered again — and landed back on the bed.

Delight lit up his eyes.

*So this is Flicker.*

It was extraordinary.

At his current cultivation level, Flicker's maximum range was just over fifty meters per use. The Spirit Power cost was roughly equivalent to a single use of Nature's Touch.

Which was telling — Nature's Touch was a Lord Grade Combat Technique, while Flicker was only Boss Grade. That made Flicker's Spirit Power consumption remarkably heavy for its tier.

But for Lu Yuan, that was irrelevant. His Spirit Power was effectively limitless.

In raw movement terms, fifty meters was a distance he could cover in an instant anyway — the speeds were comparable.

The real advantage of Flicker was its unpredictability.

Under normal movement, changing direction mid-sprint cost speed. There was always a moment of deceleration, a telegraphed shift in momentum.

With Flicker, he could be sprinting full speed in one direction and then simply *appear* somewhere else entirely — zero momentum loss, zero telegraphing, no pattern to read and no angle to predict.

And this was only Boss Grade. Once evolved, the range would only grow — he was certain of it.

His eyes gleamed with anticipation. He'd evolve Flicker first.

*Let's see what it looks like on the other side.*