White Cloud Continent
Card in hand, Lu Yuan pressed the two together — his unbound card and his new exclusive card, stacked flat against each other.
Safer that way.
He willed the transfer, and the balance from the unbound card migrated over. His account details now read:
> **[Origin Bank Card (Common)]** > **[Exclusive: Lu Yuan (Private Information)]** > **[Balance: 243,000 Zero-Rank Spirit Crystals (Private Information)]**
Spirit Crystals at the Trainee Grade were also called zero-rank. He studied the readout with quiet satisfaction, then tucked the card away.
By the time he walked out of the bank, the sky had already darkened.
The auction had run from morning straight through to evening. His stomach growled — that was expected.
He wasn't in the mood to do anything else tonight. He found a small restaurant run by a human Gene Warrior, had something to eat, then headed back to his rented room. After washing up and lying down, he turned his thoughts to what came next.
The auction was over. He could leave Sandy Rock City whenever he wanted.
But...
*Since the Training Hall's Gravity Room works this well, why not burn through my Spirit Crystals here first? Leave once I've converted everything into real power.*
For any other Gene Warrior, that kind of thinking would be completely unimaginable. But Lu Yuan had two Boss Grade genes and a Boss Grade Gene Armament — the returns on his Gravity Room time were extraordinary. Every day he stayed, every session he put in, was worth it.
Decision made: convert every last Spirit Crystal into strength, *then* leave Sandy Rock City.
Meanwhile, Zhuo Ming couldn't contain himself for even a moment. The instant their group stepped out of the Land of Origin, he was already flooding the Future War Gods Group with the story of Lu Yuan's auction VIP box.
**Zhuo Ming:** *Not gonna lie — Yuan-bro is genuinely cracked. He's been in the Land of Origin for barely a month and a half and already pulling over 200,000 Spirit Crystals like it's nothing. That's more than our whole squad leader earns in two years. When we got back that evening, squad leader just completely shut down. Mark my words — Yuan-bro is one hundred percent going to be one of Great Qi Star's future heavyweights. Or I'll do a handstand and wash my hair.*
**Wang Xiangxiang:** *@Lu Yuan Big shot, please take me under your wing!! I'll send you ten thigh-high stocking pics!! 🙏🙏*
**Wenni:** *Wahhhh! Xiangxiang-jie, count me in! We'll send them together!*
**Gu Yu:** *Yuan-bro, could you maybe ease up a little on the gender requirements? I think I've got pretty delicate features too...*
**Cao Yan:** *Lu Yuan's unreal. Honestly, you're making me want to go.*
**Moli:** *[quietly raises hand] Please include me, thank you.*
A grin tugged at the corner of Lu Yuan's mouth.
He stared at Wang Xiangxiang's message. His fingers moved almost before he could think, and a line of text began forming:
*All three together?! DM me! Send them all to me!*
But before his thumb reached the send button, his reflexes kicked in before he could think twice, and the entire line was gone.
He reposted with complete solemnity:
*"That message was absolutely not typed by me. There must have been some malevolent deity tempting me just now."*
*"I am a man who has risen above base desires."*
*"How could I, Lu Yuan, ever be that kind of person?!"*
**Zhuo Ming:** *Yuan-bro, I get it! Buy a full set of Elite Grade Armaments, throw in one Boss Grade armament on top, and it's gone before you blink. I understand completely!*
**Lu Yuan:** *......*
He almost said he already had two Boss Grade armaments — and that his Spirit Crystal drain was entirely on cultivation, not gear. After a moment's thought, he let it go and kept the banter going without tipping his hand.
*"Honestly, it's nothing special. Spirit Crystals burn fast. They'll be gone before you know it."*
The next morning, he went back into the Land of Origin.
His routine became rigid: up at first light, straight to the Training Hall, five hours in the Gravity Room, break for a meal, another five hours, then back to his room. Each five-hour session consumed roughly six thousand Spirit Crystals. A full day ran to over ten thousand.
As his tempering level climbed, each percentage point came harder and cost more. By the later stages he was burning through roughly fifteen thousand Spirit Crystals a day — the equivalent of one and a half Trainee Rank Elite Grade Armaments, every single day. Any other Gene Warrior would find that figure incomprehensible.
Seven days into his first session, he had spent around eighty thousand Spirit Crystals. The White Mist Light Gate finished repairing itself, and it was time to leave.
He took a day to recover. He brought Li Qinghe out for dinner, wandered through a mall with her, and bought a few new sets of clothes for both of them. He also spent some time chatting with his classmates in the group.
The next day, he went back in.
He stayed ten days.
Then he entered once more, and stayed eleven.
On the seventh day of that final stretch, his Crimson Copper Light gene tempering reached seventy percent. He double-checked the number — he thought he'd misread it.
The cultivation speed was staggering — ten times faster than at Trainee Rank. The only reason it didn't *feel* fast was that the higher the tempering percentage climbed, the more Spirit Crystals each increment consumed and the slower the progress crawled. Without that drag, he could have gone even further.
By the eleventh day, what had been over 230,000 Spirit Crystals had been ground down to just over two thousand.
When Lu Yuan finally stepped out of the Land of Origin, his progress stood as follows:
His **Crimson Copper Light** gene — which had still required continued tempering after being evolved to Boss Grade — had reached **94%**.
His **Black Steel Force** had broken through to the **Third Level**.
Though not yet fully tempered, his defense had **nearly doubled** compared to what it had been before. Even so, he already surpassed ordinary Elite Grade warriors at the same rank. His strength had risen to the point where it was no longer far behind his defense.
His only remaining gap was speed.
But with two Boss Grade genes, a Boss Grade Gene Armament, and Crimson Copper Light amplifying his combat power twofold at full output — that combination was nothing to take lightly. The results more than satisfied him.
Before finalizing his departure, he spent time on the Battle Net doing research.
He was not prepared for what he found.
A First-rank Potent Healing Serum cost **1.2 million** Red Maple Coins per bottle.
He double-checked. He thought he'd misread it.
Speed Serums ran **2 million** a bottle.
Strength Serums and Defense Serums were **1.5 million** each.
*The prices are absolutely insane.*
Gene Alchemists made entirely too much money. If he had formulas and knew how to brew serums, he'd have quit adventuring ages ago and just printed coin. Unfortunately, he had neither, so there was nothing for it.
In the end, he gritted his teeth and bought one bottle of each type as emergency backup. On top of that, he stocked up on several more bottles of First-rank Potent Healing Serums and picked up a few other special items. If his cultivation costs were this steep, spending this much on survival insurance made sense — he had just gotten his exclusive account card. If he died on the road and dropped it, that was 243,000 Spirit Crystals lost. He didn't even want to think about it.
The serums alone came to **6.2 million** Red Maple Coins. With everything else included, the total crested **nine million**.
The biggest single line item was the Potent Healing Serums — he'd bought multiple bottles of those.
Money truly went out like water.
*Honestly, if I had serums to sell, I could make a killing. What a shame.*
His research also filled in his picture of White Cloud Continent.
Sandy Rock City, Stormwind City, and the other starting cities all sat on White Cloud Continent. The most prosperous city on the entire continent was **White Cloud City** — a city that had existed in the Land of Origin from the very beginning.
The continent was enormous. Despite all the races having explored it for many years since entering the Land of Origin, vast stretches of territory remained completely uncharted. Humans, elves, gnolls, and cat-kin were not the only ones who had landed here — many other races had settled on White Cloud Continent as well. Scattered throughout were numerous other cities, some built into the Land of Origin from the start, others established by the races over time.
Some regions were so dangerous that even Battle Emperor-level powerhouses could not safely venture into them. To enter those places was to die.
Those extreme zones were still far beyond anything that concerned Lu Yuan right now. But the road between cities was already a real danger. Leaving Sandy Rock City meant crossing territories full of high-ranked Feral Beasts — he would very likely run into Second-rank creatures, and possibly even Third-rank ones.
This was one of the most dangerous and grueling stages in a Gene Warrior's growth.
After weighing his options, he settled on **Tianrao City** as his destination. It was the nearest human-race city to Sandy Rock City, and the route there passed through fewer high-ranked Feral Beast territories than any alternative — an important consideration for someone at his level.
He committed the route from Sandy Rock City to Tianrao City to memory, tracing every waypoint carefully. The last thing he needed was to get lost and wander into worse territory.
Ready at last, Lu Yuan emerged from the Land of Origin.
He appeared outside the Training Hall, as usual. He glanced back at the entrance.
In the more than half a month he had spent inside the Land of Origin, he had been here almost every single day. He had actually grown a little fond of the place.
*A shame to leave.*
He turned away, walked out through Sandy Rock City's gate, and stepped into a landscape of rolling yellow sand stretching away in every direction. He scanned the horizon, getting his bearings.
"Sandy Rock City is to the west... Tianrao City is northeast, which means... this way?"
He oriented himself and fixed his heading.
Lu Yuan set off toward Tianrao City.