The door hissed open, and Lance stepped in.

  "Well, if it isn't my dirty little brother. You finally remembered your dear sister?" Glacia’s sulky voice drifted from the void.

  Lance rolled his eyes. She made it sound like he was some deadbeat who hadn't called back after a date. "Cut the crap. I’m here to settle things."

  "And how do we do that?" Glacia asked.

  "Are you familiar with [Soul Contracts]?"

  Glacia’s expression—or the mental equivalent of one—darkened instantly. "You brat! You want a [Master-Servant] contract? Dream on! I knew you were up to no good!"

  "I never said it was a [Master-Servant] contract," Lance sighed. "It’s an [Equality Contract]. We simply agree not to harm one another. That’s it."

  Seeing Sovereign Glacia’s misunderstanding, Lance had no choice but to explain.

  Once the realization hit her, Glacia coughed awkwardly to cover her embarrassment. "Ahem... right. My mistake. But seriously, do you even have a contract? Those things can usually only be constructed by powerhouses of the Star Sea Realm. I know how to build a Soul Contract, but I don't have the strength to pull it off right now."

  "I can handle the construction myself," Lance said with a faint smile. With a flicker of his will, his spiritual energy surged.

  Sizzle!

  His Soul energy began to trace glowing, intricate lines in the void with lightning speed.

  "He’s tracing an Equality Contract as a Grandmaster?" Glacia was stunned yet again. "What kind of monster is he? Even an Immortal Grade manual shouldn't allow someone at his rank to do this."

  While some geniuses or supreme manuals could bypass the Star Sea Realm requirement, "bypassing" usually meant doing it at the Galactic Realm. Doing it below that level was supposed to be impossible.

  Sensing her shock, Lance smirked. "What? Still want my manual?"

  "Ahem... your sister was just looking. Just a bit of curiosity, that's all. I don't want it, really!" Glacia laughed awkwardly, taking his words as a threat.

  "If you want it, I'll give it to you," Lance replied.

  His serious tone caught her completely off guard. Her mental gears ground to a halt. "You’d actually give me something that precious?" she asked, her voice trembling slightly.

  Suddenly, a realization struck her. "Wait a second... kid, you don't have a crush on me, do you?"

  Lance nearly choked on his own spit.

  Glacia, however, seemed to be genuinely considering the possibility. "I mean, the age gap is a bit wide, but for a Domain Lord, I’m practically a teenager. It's not entirely out of the question! Fine, let's do this—once I’ve reconstructed my physical body, we can give it a shot. I’ve never actually tried dating before anyway."

  Lance stared at the void, his face twitching. There was no denying that Glacia was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen—she eclipsed even Selina and Lorraine—but the thought of dating her hadn't even crossed his mind.

  "I’m terrified of you," Lance sighed, shaking his head. "Here, just take it. I don't want anything in return."

  He initiated a direct mental transfer, sending the cultivation chapters of the Eternal Soul Protocol to her.

  "Hehe, thanks, kid!" Glacia cheered, sounding quite pleased with herself for flustering him.

  She dove into the memories of the manual, but as she read, her mental image froze in horror. "Tearing the Soul to cultivate? This... what kind of monster manual is this!?"

  She was utterly baffled. She knew the agony of soul trauma better than anyone; she was currently half-dead just from a partial soul fracture. And this manual claimed that one had to tear their soul into ten fragments just to match the power of a Tier 8 manual? It felt like a cosmic joke.

  Admittedly, if one reached the tenth level of soul-shattering, the power multiplier was a staggering 1,000x. That was a feat even some Eternal Rank manuals couldn't achieve. But the prerequisite—actually surviving the fragmentation of your own soul—was mind-breaking.

  "I wasn't lying to you," Lance said with a smirk, enjoying the fact that he’d gotten the last laugh. "I can only practice it because of my unique physique. It’s useless to you."

  As he said, the manual was essentially a death sentence for anyone else. Only those at the Eternal Rank, whose souls could reform from ash, might attempt it, and even then, they could only reach the ninth level of shattering. The tenth level required a total soul obliteration followed by a resurrection—something only Lance’s Undying God-Body at its peak could facilitate.

  Glacia swallowed hard. "It seems your biggest secret isn't this manual at all, but your body."

  "You could say that. But maybe it won't be a secret forever," Lance replied, not bothering to deny it.

  At that moment, the glowing Soul Contract in the air flared with completion. "Take a look. If it's acceptable, brand it with your soul signature, and I'll let you out."

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Lance sent the contract into the bell. Glacia didn't even read the fine print before signing it.

  "Aren't you worried I sabotaged it?" Lance asked, surprised by her haste.

  "Kid, if you wanted to mess with me, would you really go through all this trouble?" Glacia laughed. "Besides, I’ve decided to trust you."

  "Fair enough. Since we're square now—you tried to steal my manual and I imprisoned you—let's call it even." Lance smiled. With a thought, he released the seal on the small bell.

  Vroom!

  A silhouette of light emerged from the pendant, coalescing into a woman of peerless beauty and grace standing before him. Looking at her, Lance briefly wondered if he should have taken her up on that dating offer after all.

  "Tee-hee! What are you thinking about, kid? Regretting your choice? It’s not too late to change your mind, you know!" Glacia teased, noticing his lingering gaze.

  Lance was speechless. Usually, he was the one doing the teasing, but he wasn't about to back down.

  "Fine," he said with a grin, stepping closer. "Let's start with a preview then. Come here and give me a kiss."

  This time, it was Glacia’s turn to panic. Despite having lived for millions of years, she was a complete novice in the realm of romance. Her face flushed a brilliant red, and she instantly transformed into a streak of light, diving back into Selina’s body.

  "I... I’m not feeling well today! Let's do it another time! Another time!" she stammered, her voice frantic before she went silent.

  Lance chuckled to himself and quietly exited the room.

  [System Alert]

  Soul repair complete. Consumed 5,000 Energy Reserves. Soul +5,000.

  Physical repair complete. Consumed 5,000 Energy Reserves. CON +5,000.

  Soul repair complete. Consumed 5,000 Energy Reserves. Soul +5,000.

  Inside his room, Lance was immersed in a state of rapid cultivation. With every passing minute, his CON and Soul attributes surged by 5,000 points.

  The journey from Planet Silvermoon to Ancient Earth covered a staggering distance of 70,000 light-years. The starship maintained its warp for exactly one hour. In that single hour, Lance's CON and Soul attributes both increased by 300,000 points.

  [System Alert]

  Congratulations! Your CON and Soul ranks have both reached [Grandmaster - Rank 6]!

  CON: 430,000

  Soul: 320,000

  Lance exhaled slowly as the notification chimed. With this surge in power, the two-rank gap that had previously existed between his CON and Soul had finally closed; they were now perfectly synchronized within the same rank.

  To break through to [Grandmaster - Rank 7], he needed to push both values to 640,000. At his current rate, that would take only one more hour. Reaching Rank 8 would require four hours, Rank 9 would take eight, and hitting the Rank 10 bottleneck would take sixteen.

  In total, it would take less than a day for Lance to skyrocket from his current level to [Grandmaster Rank 10 MAX]. Such a speed was nothing short of horrific.

  As for reaching the [Great Grandmaster] rank, that would require an additional 32 hours—roughly a day and a half. In two and a half days, he would stand at the pinnacle of the Grandmaster realm.

  Furthermore, once he hit that milestone, his Undying God-Body would evolve again, allowing him to regenerate from as little as one-ten-thousandth of his flesh. His cultivation speed would undergo another exponential leap. If he upgraded the quality of the Soul reserves he utilized, the rate of growth would become even more incomprehensible. He could only imagine what the limit would be.

  Because his cultivation had hit Rank 6, his base combat strength had settled at [Great Grandmaster - Rank 4], while his peak burst potential had soared to the level of a [Great Grandmaster - Rank 9].

  "Ding! The vessel has arrived at the Ancient Earth star system. Entering the Sol System. Starships are restricted from docking; please proceed via manual flight."

  The announcement pulled Lance out of his trance. His pupils contracted. Ancient Earth... the Mother Planet. We’re here.

  He didn't hesitate, jumping to his feet and sprinting toward the exit.

  Hiss—

  As Lance reached the airlock, the heavy blast doors slid open. A vibrant, sapphire-blue planet manifested before his eyes. Seeing the world that looked almost identical to the one in his memories from a hundred thousand years ago, Lance felt his breath hitch.

  "A hundred thousand years... and the Mother Planet hasn't changed at all," Lance whispered. He could see the faint line of the Great Wall tracing across a continent and the geometric shadows of the Pyramids.

  "Surprised? Does our home look a bit too primitive for your tastes?"

  A gravelly, aged voice drifted from behind him. Guardian Aether walked out, a faint smile playing on his lips as he gazed at the planet. He assumed Lance was confused by the lack of hyper-advanced skyscrapers and floating cities.

  "This is our ancestral home," Aether continued. "What it truly looked like a hundred thousand years ago... only the Martial Paragon has seen it with his own eyes. As humanity spread through the Solaris Intermediate Sector and beyond, we no longer needed Ancient Earth to be a hub of industry. The Paragon personally restored the planet to look exactly as it did in his oldest memories.

  "Of course, that’s just the surface. Ancient Earth’s defense grid is more advanced than any other planet in existence. Even a Stellar Class powerhouse wouldn't necessarily make it back alive if they tried to force an entry. Don't be fooled by the scenery."

  Lance’s heart skipped a beat. The Martial Paragon has seen it? That meant the Paragon had been alive for nearly a hundred thousand years. It confirmed his fears—the Paragon was likely on the very edge of his lifespan. Death could come for him at any moment.

  "Wow! Is that the Mother Planet? It’s beautiful!"

  Lillian came running up to Lance’s side, her eyes wide as she gazed at the world below. Selina followed shortly after, her expression softening as she looked at the sapphire orb.

  "It is beautiful," Aether agreed with a chuckle. "Let’s go. We have a busy day ahead of us."

  With a wave of his hand, Aether enveloped the group in a protective shroud and shot toward the planet. Security was absolute; Lance could see dozens of Great Grandmaster powerhouses patrolling the surrounding space. However, with a High Guardian leading them, they passed through the checkpoints without delay.

  Vroom!

  They pierced the atmosphere. As they descended, Lance noticed specialized drones immediately swarming the entry point to repair the localized atmospheric displacement.

  The moment they entered the inner atmosphere, Lance sensed several titanic presences. Three Stellar Class signatures and dozens of Planetary Class signatures were scattered across the globe. It was hard to believe such a small planet hosted such a concentration of power, but then again, this was the cradle of the human race.

  Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

  Three streaks of light hurtled toward them. A moment later, three elderly men appeared, their eyes instantly locking onto Lance.

  " This boy must be Lance, eh?" one of the men laughed, his gaze scanning Lance with approval. "Quite the striking young man! Tell me, boy, do you have a girlfriend yet? I have a granddaughter who's also fifteen—an S+ Rank genius. You two should get to know each other!"

  "Your granddaughter is alright, but she can't compare to mine," the second man interjected. "Young Lance, if you’re looking for a family to join, you can start calling me Elder Thorne right now!"

  "Grandpa? You’re seventy thousand years old, you old fossil, and you have the nerve to ask him to call you grandpa?" the third scoffed. "Lance, I don't have any girls of the right age, but I’ve got plenty of grandsons. We should all grab a drink and be friends!"

  System Notification: A massive stockpile has been detected!

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