Wei Wen had briefly considered giving the Dragon Blood to Luo Feng, but ultimately dismissed the idea. It was unnecessary.
For one, Luo Feng would obtain a vial of Dragon Blood himself soon enough—likely within two weeks. Since this was his resting period before the next mission, the timing wasn't urgent.
Second, even if Wei Wen gave the Dragon Blood to Luo Feng early, it wouldn't help Wei Wen himself reach the Planetary Level through the feedback mechanism that enhanced a companion's strength.
And more importantly, if Wei Wen waited too long and his strength grew too high, the Dragon Blood's effectiveness might sharply decline.
All in all, the Dragon Blood yielded the most dramatic results when consumed by someone relatively weak. The lower the base strength, the greater the leap.
As Wei Wen made his decision, the Dragon Blood he'd applied began to activate.
Heat spread from the affected areas, waves of warmth rolling through his muscles and veins. The temperature of his body steadily climbed.
It felt like thousands of ants gnawed at his flesh, a numb yet searing pain crawling under his skin—far worse than pain alone. A combination of burning and aching that would normally knock someone unconscious.
Luckily, due to Wei Wen's system, the side effects were heavily suppressed. Otherwise, even someone with Luo Feng's grit had once fainted from the Dragon Blood's torment.
Szzzzzzz~
The strange, potent energy of the Dragon Blood surged through Wei Wen's cells. He could feel it. Every cell was like a starving beast, devouring the energy, evolving by the second.
Even compared to the two times he had awakened as a Spirit Reader, the transformation he was undergoing now was on an entirely different scale—more rapid, more thorough.
The genetic material in his cells was being rewritten at its deepest layers. Useless genes were purged, while essential ones were enhanced. A full cellular refinement, working thousands or even tens of thousands of times faster than any previous cultivation method.
This was true evolution.
As his physical body strengthened, so did his ability to handle greater Spirit Force.
Within his consciousness sea, that boundless inner domain shrouded in mist, the dark golden nucleus—his Spirit Reader core—stopped its usual slow rotation.
Instead, it flared like a broken dam.
Torrents of Spirit Force burst out, pouring into his sea of consciousness and throughout his body. The flow was so dense it resembled liquid, not gas.
The growth of his Spirit Reader ability had entered an entirely new phase.
The dark golden nucleus was releasing power at a rate thousands of times higher than usual. What had once been a slow release of faint mist now surged like a hurricane.
From a strength just shy of Elementary God of War, his Spirit Force skyrocketed.
Soon, the mist-like Spirit Force began to condense—droplets forming. This marked a pivotal stage: his Spirit Force now existed in a mixed state, part mist, part liquid.
He had stepped into a new realm of power.
…
"Is that it? Has the effect stopped?"
Wei Wen opened his eyes, the afterglow of transformation still humming through his nerves. His body trembled with suppressed energy.
"4.9x Strength Boost, activate!"
Boom!
He slammed a fist into the alloy wall of his training chamber. His punch dented the metal halfway in.
Another blow followed—this time from his right hand—and again, the wall caved under his power.
The sudden surge of strength needed release. So he did what any warrior would: he let it out in the rawest, most instinctive way—through force.
The increase was tangible. He could feel it in the tightness of his muscles, the weight of his steps, the control in his strikes.
"There's also the Black God Battle Armor."
Wei Wen had long coveted this relic from the Ninth Ancient Civilization Ruins. In the early stages of cultivation, it was arguably the most valuable piece of equipment for survival.
Being familiar with the original Swallowed Star timeline, he had always planned to acquire one. He just hadn't expected to get it this quickly.
The refining process was simple—blood bonding.
A slight grin played on his lips.
He took out the armor set, its surface pitch-black and faintly metallic. At first, there was nothing unusual. But thirty seconds later, a strange sensation prickled his scalp.
Ssszzzzz~
The armor quivered in his hand, rippling like liquid obsidian. It began merging into his skin, wrapping around his body cell by cell.
The entire binding process took about 20 minutes.
Wei Wen examined the result.
With a mere thought, his body became shrouded in a tight, black membrane—like a second skin.
According to the lore, once equipped, the Black God Battle Armor could blunt the full-force attack of a Planetary Level warrior down to just one-tenth of its original power.
Even more impressively, that remaining tenth would be spread evenly across the entire suit, dissipating the damage and protecting vital organs.
Outside of the top-tier elites like Hong and Thunder God, no one at the Planetary Level had ever managed to kill a warrior wearing the Black God Armor.
In other words, while Wei Wen may still be at the God of War Level, his survival rate just skyrocketed.
After refining both the Dragon Blood and the armor, he quickly cleaned up and made his way toward the Nine-Story Tower.
This time, a number of students were already gathered outside.
"Wait, isn't the public recruitment date still a week off?"
"Maybe he's one of those specially recruited talents?"
They whispered when they saw Wei Wen approach. A new face always stirred some attention. But no one thought much of it.
Every year, the Elite Training Camp publicly recruited 10 students. But every now and then, prodigies would be added outside that window.
"Hey, you from China?" a short-haired guy greeted.
"Yeah, you too?" Wei Wen replied.
"Nice. Another one for our country. Keep grinding, brother." The guy smiled warmly.
"There's actually one more of us," Wei Wen added. "You'll see him soon enough."
"Hmph, so what if China's got a few new recruits?" a mocking voice cut in.
Wei Wen didn't even glance in that direction.
Instead, he simply smiled. Then, with a flick of thought, a burst of Spirit Force exploded outward.
Whoosh!
Six flying knives, SS-grade, shot from the compartments in his boots and hovered midair, inches from the heckler's face.
The other guy froze. The casual arrogance disappeared in an instant, replaced by cold fear.
Had the rules not forbidden internal duels, Wei Wen could've killed him before he even blinked.
There were other Spirit Readers at the camp, sure—but none with such terrifying mastery.
Controlling six SS-grade blades simultaneously, with such blistering burst speed, meant one thing: his Spirit Force had reached at least Mid-tier God of War Level.
That wasn't just strong. It was overwhelming.
Even High-tier God of War fighters could be eliminated with that kind of attack precision. The heckler, clearly only at Elementary Level, was a bug in comparison.
With a mere thought, Wei Wen recalled the blades. They zipped silently back into the boot compartments.
No more mocking. No more chatter.
He stepped into one of the private training rooms.
No one tried to stop him this time.