Chapter 476 - 347: Breakthrough to Legend, Star Core
Morning. The top floor of the Jiangzhou City Superpower Management Bureau Headquarters.
Inside the training room, Wei Song sat cross-legged on a specially made alloy floor.
Three goose-egg-sized golden Source Crystals were lined up in a row before him, emitting a pure and vast, primordial essence.
His eyes were slightly closed. With each breath, the miniature Thermonuclear Core in his chest spun a little faster.
Ten years. From 10% into the Awakening Initial Stage to 99% of the way through the Grandmaster Level.
He had completed countless high-risk missions, killing innumerable Cultists and Mutants.
The Source Crystal Fragments he had accumulated filled two safes, and he had also managed to save three complete Source Crystals.
Everything had led to tonight’s breakthrough.
’Time to begin.’
He lifted his right hand, gesturing as if to press down on the three Source Crystals. They trembled, and fine golden cracks spiderwebbed across their surfaces.
Three streams of pure golden energy followed Wei Song’s breath, flowing into his nostrils and entering his Sea of Spirit.
Deep within his chest, the dormant miniature Thermonuclear Core began to awaken.
Its rotational speed soared from three thousand RPM to thirty thousand, then a hundred thousand... like a star being forcibly compressed, struggling frantically within his flesh and blood.
The temperature of the Thermonuclear Core climbed sharply: five thousand degrees, ten thousand degrees, thirty thousand degrees...
The thermal field around his body began to expand uncontrollably. The surrounding air distorted into visible ripples, and the alloy walls began to glow red.
「Outside the training room」
Zhou Zhen stared blankly at the floor and walls. At first, there were only faint tremors, but they grew increasingly violent, quickly spreading throughout the entire building.
It was as if an ancient Fierce Beast were awakening in the room, its every heartbeat causing the very Earth to tremble.
"The commotion from the General’s breakthrough... It’s too much!"
He murmured under his breath as fine beads of sweat broke out on his forehead. This was fear in the face of an unknown Power.
Lin Wei stood three meters behind him, her expression blank as she stared at the incandescent white light shining through the crack under the door.
Ling Xi crouched in a corner of the hallway, her eyes shut tight, her body trembling slightly.
Her Perception Talent was fully active. In her mind’s eye, the inside of the training room had become a sphere of pure light.
The temperature was unimaginably high, and the fluctuations of Energy made her very Soul tremble.
"Is this what it means to be a Legend?" she asked, her voice hoarse.
Suddenly, a low hum emanated from the room. The Management Bureau building shook violently, and every glass window shattered at the exact same moment!
Shards rained down like a torrential storm, refracting countless rays in the daylight.
Inside the building, piercing alarms blared as flashing red lights illuminated every terrified face.
But the most terrifying sight was in the sky.
The lead-gray clouds looked as if they had been torn apart by an invisible, giant hand.
A pillar of incandescent white light, more than a hundred meters in diameter, shot up from the roof of the training room, piercing the heavens!
In Jiangzhou City, millions of citizens looked up at the same time.
They saw it in the city center, atop the Management Bureau building: a sphere of incandescent white light, expanding.
It was like a... Miniature Sun, slowly rising to shine alongside the real one!
𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂
Wherever the light passed, dark clouds dispersed. Two suns now hung in the sky.
The temperature began to spiral out of control. The leaves on the trees lining the streets curled, yellowed, and then burst into flame.
The paint on cars parked along the road began to bubble and peel.
Although Wei Song had made some contingency plans, he never expected the disturbance to be this immense.
The residents of the buildings closest to the Bureau had all been evacuated. Inside the empty homes, some of the curtains began to smolder.
Farther away, a chaotic cacophony of screams, cries, and car alarms erupted from the terrified populace.
"What is that?!"
"Did the Management Bureau... just blow up?"
"Run! Run for your lives!"
The crowd scattered in all directions, like a panicked ant colony.
「Three hundred meters underground, somewhere in the Capital City of the Great Yan Kingdom」
Inside the nation’s top-secret monitoring center, blood-red alert boxes flashed across dozens of screens simultaneously.
[Level Five Energy Fluctuation Detected]
[Coordinates: Jiangzhou City Superpower Management Bureau Headquarters]
[Energy Type: Unknown High-Thermal Rule]
[Threat Level: SSS]
[Recommendation: Activate Highest Alert Immediately]
An old man in a dark blue military uniform, his epaulets adorned with three gold stars, shot up from his command chair.
He stared at the largest screen in the center of the room, his pupils constricting.
On the screen was a live satellite feed.
Above Jiangzhou City, the sphere of incandescent white light was rapidly expanding, emitting a terrifying Rule Fluctuation.
"Another Legend... has been born in Great Yan?"
The old man’s voice was hoarse, laced with incredulous delight.
Nearby, a technician in gold-rimmed glasses typed furiously at his keyboard, sweat dripping from his brow onto the console.
"Sir, the Energy readings are still rising..."
"It’s already broken past the Level Five Initial Stage!"
"No, it’s still rising! Level Five Middle Stage, Level Five Late Stage... It’s—it’s stopped!"
The technician snapped his head up, his voice raw. "It’s stabilized at the Level Five Legend Initial Stage!"
The old man took a deep breath and pressed the comms button.
"Activate the highest alert. Notify all departments to be on standby, but... do not interfere with General Wei."
He stared at the screen, a complicated look in his eyes.
Wei Song had reported his breakthrough attempt to the Beijing Headquarters, but over the years, hundreds of Grandmasters had reported their own attempts, and not a single one had succeeded.
"If a Legend has truly been born, this is a blessing for Great Yan. Humanity’s hope of purging the Rifts has just grown stronger."
「Jiangzhou. Inside the training room.」
Wei Song could no longer hear anything. His consciousness was completely submerged deep within his chest.
The Thermonuclear Core had expanded to its absolute limit, its diameter growing from the size of a walnut to a fist, then a soccer ball, then a washbasin...
Countless streams of Energy erupted from its surface, like the solar prominences on the sun.
The core temperature broke one hundred thousand degrees, then two hundred thousand, three hundred thousand...
But all of this heat was contained within his body by an invisible force—the Power of Thermal Energy Control.