4: The Beginning

4: The Beginning

Tian Lang had never imagined stepping into a real spaceship one day, well, it would be more accurate to call it a space cruiser. It was enormous, at least a kilometer long, but probably more; measuring the size of something so colossal was difficult without having something to compare it to.

He walked alongside the representative from The Eternal Star Academy, whom he now knew was named Wu Jian. The man had been assigned as his "guard" on the way to the university.

"This is your room; you can stay here for now. Once we reach the central planet, you will be notified via the communicators." Wu Jian pointed towards a large door. They were in the central part of the cruiser, where few people were authorized to enter. Tian Lang had seen many guards with fierce looks on the way, and somehow he had felt their "strength" He didn't know how to describe it, but it was like a sixth sense that he developed upon awakening his spiritual roots.

Feeling the stellar Qi had started to become easier and easier.

"Take this." There was a flash of blue light, and in Wu Jian's hands suddenly appeared an ornate dark-colored box with golden and light blue patterns engraved on its surface. It looked elegant, expensive but not ostentatious; its size was small, barely large enough to fit in the palm of an adult man.

"What's this?" He carefully took the box; since it was being given to him, he wasn't going to refuse it.

"It's a welcome gift from the director. He's very happy that you've chosen The Eternal Star Academy and wants you to know that he welcomes you with open arms."

The director, if this were a normal cultivation novel, then he would be the sect leader, the strongest of the academy.

Tian Lang looked at the box with anticipation. Nothing similar had happened in the novel, at least not to the main character, so this development was interesting to him.

"Then, see you soon. I will let you know when we are close." Wu Jian bid farewell, and Tian Lang nodded to him. He approached the door of his room, suddenly feeling a "wave" of energy coursing through his body. Somehow, his inner Qi responded, and the doors opened.

He blinked, looking at the door frame. He remembered that in the novel, there was something called an energy recognition scanner. For cultivators, fingerprints, iris scans, or DNA tests were unreliable. In the vast universe, there were various ways to bypass such tests.

But there was something that was very difficult to overlook: Qi. Just as spiritual roots are unique to each person, the Qi they produce also has its own special energy "signature"

Qi could be hidden, but changing the unique energy signature it produced was something that no one had managed to overlook so far, making it the most reliable "security" method.

He entered the room, the door closing behind him. He had to admit that his living situation had really changed quite a bit in a short time. He went from an old and worn-out room to what looked like a futuristic presidential suite.

The bed was huge and looked extremely comfortable, with soft and clean sheets. Whether it was the floors or the walls, everything seemed sparkling, and the space was at least three times larger than the room where he had woken up.

He could see more doors, probably leading to a private bathroom and kitchen, although he wasn't sure. He walked over to the bed and sat down on it; it was truly comfortable, much more comfortable than even his bed in his previous life.

He wondered if these were the benefits of living in the "future"

He looked at the box in his hands and, unable to wait any longer, opened it. What greeted him was a black ring with silver engravings; in the center, finely calligraphed, was the word "Tian"

Clearly, it was made for him. He wondered how the director had managed to make something like this so quickly. He took the ring, recalling the information he had about rings from the novel.

He put it on his index finger and felt something similar to the sensation when the door scanner read his energy signature, but much softer. Whether it was the door or the ring, both had his energy signature registered due to the awakening ceremony. That ceremony wasn't just to help young people unlock their talent; it also served as a way to register their identities clearly and infallibly.

He felt the Qi inside him stir slightly, and then the ring in his hand glowed softly. Suddenly, in his mind, information that he didn't have before was presented to him as if he were reading a book quickly but clearly.

"Hyperspatial Storage Ring." If one were to think in terms of cultivation novels, they could quickly associate this with a spatial ring commonly seen in those stories.

This was not different, yet it was more than that. The space inside it was enormous, at least ten square kilometers of free space for him to store anything. But that wasn't its only function. Suddenly, in his mind, he saw several screens of information.

Whether it was his personal information, the status of his bank accounts, or his personal belongings, everything was presented to him. He also gained a direct connection to the "Spiritual Network" which was the most advanced version of the internet in this universe.

With a thought, a holographic screen appeared before him, allowing him to navigate to any site he wished. The way the ring connected to the Spiritual Network wasn't through an ordinary "signal." He didn't know the exact "science" behind it, but it was a quantum connection, a link that didn't depend on distance or time.

It was fascinating.

But at the same time, he wondered how private this was. Although it was great to have, if he couldn't store things without others knowing what was inside the ring, then it simply wouldn't serve him any purpose.

He recalled some fragments of the novel; it seemed that those with a cultivation level and enough knowledge of spiritual matrices could "modify" the ring's system. In fact, many cultivators paid matrix masters to do this for them, while many others preferred to learn on their own and do it themselves.

It was a common practice and something that all cultivators accepted as necessary, so it wasn't "illegal." All cultivators valued their privacy, and the Earth Alliance could never take that away from them.

Tian Lang wondered if this ring already had those protections or if he would have to figure out how to install them himself.

He looked at his bank account. The original Tian Lang hadn't had one because he was an orphan; what savings could he have had? But now he had a bank account in the Earth Central Bank, with 500,000 high-grade spiritual stones.

He closed his eyes, recalling the exchange rate explained in the novel. There were low-grade, medium-grade, high-grade and celestial-grade spiritual stones.

Ten low-grade spiritual stones equated to a hundred thousand Alliance dollars, the standard currency for non-cultivators. He didn't know much about the mortal economy in the Earth Alliance, so he couldn't say if this was a lot or a little.

He quickly did a search on the holographic screen, reading the results from various sites until he could form a basic idea.

"So, the average salary of a middle-class worker in the Alliance is $3,000 a month" There was no lower class; in the Earth Alliance, hunger or poverty didn't exist. With its size and the amount of labor it needed, jobs were abundant all the time.

When the universe is the playing field, resources are never scarce, only the manpower to obtain them.

Now he remembered the exchange between spiritual stones: one medium-grade spiritual stone equaled a hundred low-grade stones, and one high-grade stone equaled a thousand medium-grade stones.

Doing some basic calculations, he realized something.

"Now I'm fucking rich." If he were an ordinary mortal with the amount of spiritual stones he now possessed, he could easily live his entire life without working.

But... that was talking about mortal economics. What about cultivator economics?

He would have to find out later. He looked at the almost empty space in the ring and noticed several sets of neatly arranged clothes.

He took one out and upon looking at it, he noticed the "mark" of The Eternal Star Academy on it. It was a uniform, dark in color with silver embroidery. It looked like a robe but at the same time resembled a uniform akin to what soldiers might wear at elegant events or something similar.

The design description came to his mind, recalling some paragraphs from the novel.

"But why black?" he wondered and then remembered the differences among students, because of course, there had to be differences.

Like the equivalent of a sect, universities divided their students into three classes: Common Disciple, Elite Disciple, and Principal Disciple.

Unlike Earth universities, in the Earth Alliance, there was no division by years because for cultivators, whether it was one year or a hundred didn't matter; what mattered was their strength.

In the three main universities, disciples were classified not only by talent but also by cultivation level.

Even if your talent level was low, as long as your cultivation level was high, you could advance in the "class" scale.

Of course, there were exceptions, and Tian Lang had become one of them.

Initially, regardless of whether your talent level was medium or high grade, all new students entered as Common Disciples. The uniform they wore was dark red with black engravings.

Then, after their cultivation reached a certain level, they could enter the annual class ascension competition. If they passed the tests, they could become Elite Disciples, and their uniforms would change to light blue with white engravings.

But what about the black then? Those were the best of the best; whether in strength or talent, their status was distinguished and recognized even outside the Earth Alliance.

Tian Lang felt a headache coming on as he held the dark uniform of the Principal Disciple in his hands.

Of course, he could choose not to wear it; disciples weren't obligated to carry them unless it was a special occasion for the university. But wearing it also brought benefits; after all, it wasn't just simple clothing.

The engravings on them were spiritual matrices, providing many beneficial effects to those who wore them.

He didn't remember everything, but he remembered enough. There were matrices for self-cleansing, matrices that accelerated natural healing, defense matrices, as well as Qi recovery matrices.

In summary, they were essential gear for cultivators, unless, of course, you got your own custom-made clothing with matrices selected by you.

Of course, the quality and strength of the matrices varied depending on the quality of the garment and who made it. Tian Lang had no doubts about the quality of the clothing he was holding; it was created for the Principal Disciples of one of the three great universities of humanity.

It was definitely high-quality in all aspects.

"Well, I did want better clothes, didn't I?" Looking at the clothing he was now wearing, he couldn't help but look at the dark uniform with better eyes. Without thinking too much, he found the bathroom, which he easily located, and used the shower.

He made sure to bathe properly, somehow less uncomfortable than before even though he now possessed a body that wasn't his own. It was strange; he thought he would have more trouble with it, but somehow he adapted quickly. He wondered if the awakening had something to do with it. At that moment, he felt a mind-body connection that was hard to describe; it was as if his true self had been "born" or something.

Once he was done, he dressed in his new uniform and looked at himself in the large mirror in the bathroom. His hair was somewhat long, so he had to comb it a bit, but apart from that, he looked pretty decent.

"Well, at least I'm better looking than before." He definitely looked much better, although maybe gaining some muscle wouldn't hurt; he was a bit skinny.

Unable to resist, he struck some strange poses in front of the mirror, glad that no one could see him at this moment.

Once he was satisfied, he left the bathroom. Perhaps he hadn't even started cultivating yet, but he certainly began to feel like a real cultivator now.

Suddenly, he felt the ring on his hand light up slightly, and an "alert" appeared in his mind. He raised his hand, and a holographic screen appeared in front of him.

It was an incoming video call, the contact already registered as Wu Jian. He would have to check what other contacts he already had on his list. Without thinking too much, he accepted it, and soon an image of Wu Jian appeared in front of him, greeting him with a smile.

"I see you've changed your clothes; that's excellent. We'll be arriving at the Earth Solar System soon. I just wanted to let you know to be ready."

Tian Lang blinked in surprise; that was much faster than he expected. Not even three hours had passed.

"I'm ready," he nodded and ended the call. In reality, he hadn't brought anything with him other than his cellphone and the uniform from High School Number 12. Maybe he was a bit hasty, but he wanted to get to the center of human activity as soon as possible.

He looked at the extremely comfortable bed he hadn't been able to use and sighed, hoping his accommodation at the university would be just as good.

Soon, he left his room and walked down the hallway, nodding to the guards who were guarding the place, and soon he found Wu Jian.

"I see you're eager. Do you want to take a look?" he asked with a smile. Tian Lang didn't exactly know what he meant, but he nodded anyway.

The man put his hand on his shoulder, and everything around him changed. It was as if his location had abruptly shifted. Tian Lang had to rub his eyes to calm the disorientation.

When he looked up, it was to see an impressive sight. Inside the main control cabin, there were huge "windows" that allowed views of the outer space.

Ahead of them, approaching at great speed, was the solar system. Tian Lang remembered the images of the solar system from his previous life, but this one was very different, mainly because there were many more planets of various sizes, and the sun was inscribed with a huge spiritual array that was visible in space.

The ship was fast, and in no time, they arrived at a special place. Seeing Earth from space was something Tian Lang hadn't expected to do in his lifetime, though this wasn't the same Earth as in his past life, it wasn't very different either.

Well, not so different if you didn't count the four enormous planets orbiting around it.

Each was at least ten times larger than the earth., and thank God Tian Lang wasn't a scientist, or he'd be going crazy trying to figure out how on earth humanity managed to put four of those things around Earth without affecting gravity or anything similar.

"Beautiful, isn't it? The center of human territory." Not many people could easily reach here; the solar system, along with Earth, was called the sacred lands of humanity, where everything began, the first home.

The strongest experts were here, as well as the most important activity center, the three great cultivation universities, the nine celestial clans, and the four major stellar trading companies.

If this were an average xianxia story, this would be the place the protagonist would reach after about five hundred chapters.

Soon, the ship headed towards one of those four enormous planets.

The three great universities shared one of the four "stellar worlds" as they were called. They weren't ordinary planets; they were important treasures. Unfortunately, Tian Lang didn't know much about this, as it hadn't been explained in much depth in the novel.

He supposed it was a future plot, but it didn't make sense to think about it for now.

All the ships following the main cruiser came to a halt over the space of the Northern Azure Cloud planet. The Nangong clan's ships headed directly towards the planet called the Southern Spirit Valley Star, where the nine great clans resided.

Seeing the enormous planet drawing nearer and nearer was a surreal sensation, one of the many Tian Lang had been experiencing this day. He wondered if his sense of surprise would atrophy after today; he hoped so, or his heart would truly have problems keeping up with it all.

They descended onto what looked like a landing platform with many more ships. Tian Lang couldn't help feeling nervous. So far, there had been no change with his spiritual energy, so maybe that "thing" hadn't really activated, which was good. But his nervousness stemmed from more than that. He could sense strong auras waiting on the platform; they were definitely the director and some masters. Meeting strong people felt much more significant when you knew several of them could destroy planets with a snap of their fingers.

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"Must I really be here?" Xu Mingyue felt her eye twitch slightly as she looked at her older sister, who seemed to have an extraordinary lack of interest in the important event before them.

"You're one of the main masters of the Silver Moon Peak. Of course, you should be here!" She almost wanted to shout, but the director and other masters weren't too far away. Even if she was using a sound transmission technique, she was sure they could hear their conversation if she didn't control herself.

Xu Yinxing scratched her head, tousling her shoulder-length silver hair. Her violet eyes looked at her younger sister with annoyance, but a pleading look almost akin to a puppy's made her swallow her words.

"Fine, but this is stupid. He's just a brat with a bit more talent than the others. I don't understand why there's so much fuss." For her, as one of the main experts of the Eternal Star Academy, it was more important to cultivate properly and keep progressing. Wasting time welcoming a kid who was just starting out wasn't worthy of her.

"Don't you remember?" her younger sister looked at her in amazement, as if she had said something foolish.

"Remember what?" This time she paid more attention. As a main master, she had many duties, and remembering every "important thing" was complicated, so she left most of those matters to her assistant... that is, her sister.

Xu Mingyue sighed and almost wanted to pull her hair out in frustration.

"This is important because he's the latest genius with a special grade talent to be born in this generation!" Xu Yinxing still looked puzzled.

"The Ascending Dragon Conference," she said, and this time Xu Yinxing's eyes widened in recognition. It had been almost a hundred years since the last Ascending Dragon Conference, so she had forgotten that it was approaching again.

This was an important event held every hundred years, where different races from across the universe gathered for a competition among their youngest talents. Only those with a special grade talent born during the 100-year waiting period could participate, and there had to be at least 100 participants per race. Tian Lang had become the last genius they needed to secure a spot.

The conference was important for many reasons, and there were only 3 years left until its arrival. Nobody could control the birth of geniuses, and for cultivators, 3 years was a mere blink. The Earth Alliance had thought they couldn't secure a spot this time, but Tian Lang's appearance had changed things.

Now everyone was enthusiastic, and all the major clans, universities, and businesses had begun preparations for humanity's participation in this event.

Xu Yinxing suddenly straightened up, the lazy expression on her face disappeared, and her eyes suddenly became serious. Now, her astonishing height of almost two meters was more visibly imposing. She looked towards the cruiser that had landed with unknown thoughts, then spoke to her sister.

"If that's the case, things are going to get quite busy, huh?" Remembering the events of a hundred years ago, she couldn't help but grit her teeth. This time, humanity had to go further. Allowing the same humiliation as in the past was not something she would allow to happen again.

"Thank you for reminding me, Yue. I've been too lazy these days." With firm steps, she walked over to where the director and the other masters were chatting.

She had a request to make.

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Tian Lang suddenly found himself teleported outside the ship, wondering if humanity in this universe had some sort of obsession with bending spacetime, though denying its usefulness would be foolish; it certainly saved time.

He was greeted by a crowd of people, including academy staff and Alliance soldiers, but the most important ones were those standing in front of everyone.

"Welcome, young Tian Lang." the director stepped forward. At first glance, guessing his age would be difficult; his androgynous appearance and long black hair would make people mistake him for a youth in his twenties, but Tian Lang knew his real age surpassed a thousand.

He stepped forward and bowed respectfully. "Greetings, Director Hao." no surname was used because nobody really knew his full name.

Even Tian Lang didn't know much about Director Hao despite his meta-knowledge; he was a mystery in many ways.

The man who always seemed to have his eyes half-closed smiled warmly.

"I'm glad to welcome you to The Eternal Star Academy. I hope you have a prosperous and adventurous cultivation journey. Let me introduce you to the main masters of the academy; they will be responsible for your future education." he pointed to the people beside him, naming each one. Tian Lang bowed respectfully to them, recognizing several by their names.

Unable to help it, his eyes met the gaze of the tall woman with short, silver hair. She was striking for many reasons, her height being just one of them, along with her astonishingly well-proportioned body barely concealed by her uniform. If one were to judge solely based on external appearance, they would undoubtedly give her a rating of 100 out of 10, but to Tian Lang, she could very well be a demon he was staring at, even if she was extremely attractive.

Her violet eyes met his, and Tian Lang felt a shiver run down his spine as she directed a smile at him.

Of all the people in Eternal Star Academy, she was the one he least wanted to encounter.

"There are still many matters we must attend to, but Master Xu Yinxing has volunteered to be your guide around the school for just today. I hope you two will get along," with that said, the people began to bid him farewell. The director waved a final goodbye before his figure vanished, followed by the other senior masters. It happened so quickly that Tian Lang didn't even have time to properly process the words until only he, the tall woman, and a girl slightly older than him remained, who seemed to be almost as tall as the silver-haired teacher.

He blinked in confusion and then looked towards the teacher, who smiled at him, her eyes gleaming with clearly sinister intentions.

The corner of his mouth almost twisted as he realized the situation.

"Tian Lang, huh? That's an interesting name. You can call me Master Xu, or Big Sister Yinxing if you'd like." she smiled widely and casually patted his shoulder. Her simple touch made Tian Lang almost fall to his knees in pain, feeling his shoulder burning in agony. It was as if a gorilla had struck him.

"Eh?" The teacher looked at him, confused, and Xu Mingyue quickly stepped forward, stretching out her hand and allowing a soft silver light to cover Tian Lang's body, causing all the pain to suddenly disappear. He blinked at her and smiled in gratitude.

"You must be more careful! He hasn't even started cultivating yet!" Xu Mingyue scolded with a pout on her face while her gentle hand massaged Tian Lang's shoulder, still emitting that silver light from her palm.

"Really? I thought you were some kind of genius or something, why haven't you started cultivating?" she asked, hands on her hips, leaning forward to look at him. Despite wearing a multi-layered tunic, that didn't stop certain huge attributes from fluttering with her movement, Tian Lang summoned the willpower of a transmigrator to avoid looking and instead met her gaze directly, gritting his teeth, deciding whether he should bolt or not.

"I don't have a cultivation method," he finally decided to respond. The woman in front of him was difficult to deal with for many reasons, but she also presented an opportunity. If one were to talk about hidden experts, mentioning her would be the first thing you'd have to do. Her strength surpassed that of ordinary main masters, and she had a mysterious background that even the university respected. If possible, he wanted to obtain a good cultivation method to start his cultivation path, and if he played his cards right, he could get it from her.

"Eh, really? Well, you're in luck! I don't usually apologize to people, but since you suffered a bit because of me, let me help you with this." she lifted him from his half-kneeling position and then glanced at her younger sister.

"It's okay, Yue, I'll take it from here. You can go on and continue practicing," she winked, but Xu Mingyue didn't leave immediately. Instead, she looked at Tian Lang and asked carefully.

"Will you be okay?" Tian Lang looked at the kind girl and returned a slightly crooked smile.

"I think I can handle it."

Xu Yinxing's eyebrow twitched slightly. She wasn't that bad...

Both sisters exchanged looks for a moment before the younger one sighed and bid Tian Lang farewell before disappearing into thin air. Seriously, did everyone here know how to teleport or what? Tian Lang wanted to learn it too.

"Well, kid, get ready. It's been a while since I showed this place to people. You should be grateful; not many can hang out with this lady," she said as if it were something special, but Tian Lang knew it was because no guy would really dare to try it, but he decided not to say it out loud.

As she began to drag him along, he wondered if it was too late to run.

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Note:

Things are progressing, what do you think so far? World-building is quite challenging, and I often find myself having to tweak paragraphs that I had written that are just a bunch of information dump. I don't want to overwhelm this with just that, but sometimes it's necessary to give structure to the story and the setting.