Chapter 49: Two Levels Up

Ji Xinghuo returned to the villa on Qinghao Road, picking up the ether-sensitive exotic from his room before heading to the training room.

After eating a Qing Sky Fruit in the afternoon, he had already digested and felt the effects.

The hunger-like sensation he felt after using the Life Spirit Seed before made it clear he could merge with another exotic.

Sitting in the middle of the training room, he examined the exotic in his hand. The most common method to merge with an ether-sensitive exotic is to eat it. Without hesitation, he tossed the quartz-like exotic into his mouth. It was a bit hard but luckily only the size of a green bean. He swallowed it down with his saliva.

After waiting a few minutes, Ji Xinghuo started to feel it.

Ether energy was starting to surge towards him.

However, it was much quieter than when he merged with the spinning magnetic field. It was so silent he might have thought the merge failed if he couldn’t feel the difference.

The ether energy, previously invisible, became slightly clearer in his vision.

It was everywhere.

Like air, it was hard to detect but deeply affected everything.

As Ji Xinghuo absorbed the ether energy, he felt his body subtly transforming. This transformation didn’t affect his physical condition but made him more sensitive to ether energy.

The ether energy in his senses grew clearer, almost visible to the naked eye.

He activated the Myriad Stars Pupil interface.

His star power was slowly increasing. Every few seconds, the value would jump up by one point!

Over the past forty-plus days of hunting, he hadn’t practiced specifically but the frequent use and recovery of star power had the same effect, increasing his star power by 2 points. Now, it was 103. After merging with the ether-sensitive, it shot up like a rocket.

The increase in star power stopped after half an hour.

【Star Power: 161/161】

Ji Xinghuo was both shocked and delighted.

Previously, when he merged with the spinning magnetic field, he gained 41 points of star power. Ether-sensitive, a high-quality ability, added 58 points, even more than the spinning magnetic field.

He took a few steps around the training room. The increase in star power also enhanced his physical condition, but not by much.

The interface updated as well.

【Ability: Ether Sensitive (Level 1/23)】

“Only 23 points of spirit source energy to upgrade?” Ji Xinghuo was extremely surprised. It seemed that the amount of spirit source energy needed to upgrade an ability was linked to its quality. The higher the quality, the more spirit source energy needed, and vice versa.

He looked down at 【Spirit Source Energy: 132】

Previously in Peak Valley, although he didn’t kill the Giant Reaping Scythe Fiend, he did kill dozens of creatures. He had also encountered several battles on his way back to Olympia.

Including the 38 points he had before entering Peak Valley, he now had a total of 132 points.

Ji Xinghuo immediately upgraded his Ether Sensitive ability.

As he invested the spirit source energy, the progression of Ether Sensitive slowly moved forward. He felt his sensitivity to ether energy gradually increase.

Soon, Ether Sensitive was upgraded to level 2!

【Ability: Ether Sensitive (Level 2/103)】

“I can upgrade to another level!”

Ji Xinghuo was thrilled. This ability upgrade was much easier than he anticipated. In a flash, Ether Sensitive upgraded to (Level 3/433).

Level 3 Ether Sensitive!

He looked around, focusing slightly made the ether energy visible before his eyes.

This energy had no color, like molecules or particles that make up matter. They were invisible on a microscopic level but appeared as a gas on a macroscopic scale, always transforming and moving.

When he moved his hands, stirring the air, it also disturbed the ether energy, forming whirls and turbulent flows with no apparent pattern.

Ji Xinghuo observed himself.

It was clear his body had a much greater impact on ether than other objects.

It wasn’t just because of the Ether Sensitive ability. It was because he is an extrahuman, and the star power inside him was transformed from ether energy.

He went outside for a stroll, and by observing, he quickly realized the use of Ether Sensitive. Where ether energy gathers, phenomenal powers influence the area, like Ren Mian’s garden, which had a much higher density of ether energy than other places.

The higher the density of ether energy, the stronger the power or the presence of some precious treasure.

Ji Xinghuo quickly figured out the trick.

Combining his magnetic field sense with Ether Sensitive should enable him to accurately gauge an extrahuman’s strength. The accuracy was quite high.

“Know yourself and you will win all battles.”

“This is indeed a good way to grasp an enemy’s strength!”

Ji Xinghuo glanced at the remaining 6 points of spirit source energy. He decided not to use them and returned to the training room to continue his practice.

His bench press total reached 800 kilograms, but for safety, he only used a 500-kilogram barbell. He performed numerous sets of bench presses, squats, and deadlifts, as well as other exercises that drained his physical and star energy. Combining aerobic with anaerobic, it took him more than an hour until he was utterly exhausted.

“Phew…”

Dripping with sweat, Ji Xinghuo sat down, noting the time. “Now, it’s about watching the recovery speed of the star power.”

Two hours later, his star power was fully recovered to 161/161.

“That was fast!”

Although the full recovery took 20 minutes longer than before, his star power had increased by about 60 points. After calculations, his star power recovery speed had increased by approximately 38%!

His physical strength recovered even sooner.

The spinning magnetic field also sped up physical recovery. He felt no fatigue an hour and a half earlier.

This significantly shortened his training cycles. He didn’t have to worry about excessive fatigue damaging his muscles and bones. As long as his star power recovered, he could immediately resume training.

Before, one training cycle took five hours. Now, it only took three!

“Let’s do it again.”

Ji Xinghuo sweated profusely, letting his physical and star energy bottom out, then waited another two hours for a full recovery. Seeing ample time, he stayed in the training room for nine hours, completing three training cycles.

When his star power fully recovered for the third time, the value suddenly jumped.

【Star Power: 162/162】

“It increased by one point!” Ji Xinghuo exclaimed joyfully.

Without Ether Sensitive, it would have taken him a week of practice to increase one point of star power. The increase of one point was definitely not just from today’s practice. It must have been just at the point of numerical change.

Otherwise, being able to increase one point every day meant his practice efficiency had increased sevenfold, an effect too miraculous even for Level 3 Ether Sensitive.

“I’ll try again tomorrow.”

Filled with anticipation, Ji Xinghuo returned to his room, washed up, and went to bed.

After only six hours of sleep, it was still dark outside when he got up and entered the training room to start another day of hard work.

The day gradually brightened.

Ji Xinghuo, tirelessly practicing, spent an entire star realm day in the training room. Aside from eating and using the bathroom, he never left, completing 14 training cycles over 42 hours.

The third day was the same.

However, right after Ji Xinghuo finished a training cycle, his star power increased by one point to 163/163.

“54 hours!”

Ji Xinghuo finally took a break after marking down the time of each training cycle.

This one point of star power growth took 54 hours of sweat, but it swept away the fatigue from his body and brightened his mood. This meant his practice speed had improved by about 30%, slightly less than the increase in star power recovery speed, but still significant.

“These past two days were just tests. It’s not possible to be this dedicated every day. I also need to train in martial arts and abilities.”

“However, I must complete at least nine training cycles every star realm day.”

“Every two star realm days, I will increase one point of star power.”

Ji Xinghuo quickly devised a new training plan.

Each day had 49.6 hours, with 27 hours for practicing star power, 9 hours for martial arts, 2 hours for archery, and the remaining time for eating, resting, and sleeping.

He didn’t know how long it would take until his next life evolution, but he had a feeling it wouldn’t be long.

He estimated his star power upper limit as a junior extrahuman to be around 230.

As long as he focused on training in Olympia for a few star realm months, he would likely evolve again.

“Mid-level extrahuman…”

Ji Xinghuo calculated the time. It was early October on Earth, and by the end of next June, he should be able to advance.

Upgrading from junior to mid-level extrahuman in less than a year, even on a global scale, was an incredibly fast pace.

“If I had more spirit source energy and could upgrade Ether Sensitive a few more times, I could be even faster.” Ji Xinghuo mulled over this, not knowing when his next hunting trip would be.

During a meal, he asked Ren Mian.

“There’s no plan for now,” Ren Mian replied. “If a suitable hunting target comes up, we’ll go out. But now it’s October, and I have to leave for a few months. I’ll return next year.”

“Where are you going, Sister Ren?” Ji Xinghuo was surprised.

“That’s my personal matter, and I can’t tell you right now,” Ren Mian replied with a mysterious smile. “I leave Olympia for about four months every year. During this time, you can move freely, return to Earth to live, focus on training, or hunt with other teams.”

Chi Zhonglin and Jiangnan Caiyi both nodded, already aware of this.

“I’ll return to Earth in a few days to participate in the martial arts master promotion competition,” Chi Zhonglin had already made arrangements.

Jiangnan Caiyi said, “I’m also going home to see my mom, but I’ll come back every two weeks to stay for a day to clean and care for Sister’s garden.”

The three looked at Ji Xinghuo’s puzzled expression, finding it a bit strange.

“Aren’t you going back to Earth, Xinghuo?” Ren Mian asked.

“I’ve only been in the star realm for a short time and don’t want to go back yet,” Ji Xinghuo scratched his head, not telling his teammates about the Sword Bureau.

Ren Mian smiled and said, “Then just stay here, peacefully train, and it’s perfect for you to watch the house for us.”

“No problem,” Ji Xinghuo readily agreed.

A few days later.

Ji Xinghuo was left alone in the villa.

Ren Mian had already left two days ago. Ji Xinghuo guessed she must have another more important botanical garden somewhere. The villa garden was just a temporary planting site for her, not important and could be abandoned at any time, including the tree used to cultivate Qing Sky Fruits.

Chi Zhonglin and Jiangnan Caiyi were also going back to Earth today.

After some thought, Ji Xinghuo asked Chi Zhonglin to bring a message to his elder brother Zhong Ming, telling him he was doing well and not to worry.

“Can’t you just call or send an email?”

“Is it better not to reveal my identity?”

After getting a firm answer from Ji Xinghuo, Chi Zhonglin felt it strange but guessed some reasons and agreed.

After seeing off Chi Zhonglin, Ji Xinghuo turned and entered the training room to start today’s practice.