The following morning, the manor balcony was bathed in the soft sapphire-and-gold light of the 3rd Heaven. The air felt alive with that familiar ten-percent richer essence, carrying a crisp sweetness that sharpened every sense. Flying constructs streaked across the twilight sky like living comets, their rune-etched hulls leaving faint trails of condensed starlight that lingered for precious seconds before dissolving.
Joshua stood ready beside the sleek, obsidian-and-cyan form of the Aetherial Eclipse. The high-speed aerial vehicle hummed with restrained power, its streamlined body designed for sustained velocities of up to one million miles per hour. Mid-grade combat automatons stood in neat formation nearby, their metallic frames gleaming under the eternal twilight, weapons systems retracted but ready.
The entire family had gathered to see him off. His mother adjusted the collar of his travel robe with worried hands. "Promise me you'll be careful out there, Joshua. That Starfall Site is no ordinary mine. The auctioneer warned about spatial rifts and essence beasts."
"I promise," Joshua replied gently, pulling her into a hug. "I have the Eclipse, the automatons, and my own strength. I'll return in about a year — hopefully with enough shards to secure our future for good."
Father clasped his shoulder firmly, his voice steady but thick with emotion. "We didn't come this far to lose you to some remote drift. Stay sharp, son. Remember why we're doing this."
Kai bounced on his toes, eyes wide with a mix of envy and excitement. "The Aetherial Eclipse looks so fast! Can we ride it with you when we turn sixteen? Just two more years until we can challenge the stairway together!"
Mia nodded enthusiastically beside her twin. "We've been training every day with Lira. When you get back, we'll show you how much stronger we've gotten!"
Joshua smiled warmly and ruffled both their heads. "I'm counting on it. Explore the reserves while I'm gone — the Eternal Bloom Gardens, the Mirror Veil Lakes. Make memories. When I return, we'll be even closer to ascending as a full family again."
Jared, the high-grade automaton butler, stepped forward with perfect poise. "All systems are green, my lord. Provisions loaded, navigation charts updated, and the mid-grade combat automatons are synchronized to your S-rank jade. Safe travels."
With one final wave and a heart full of resolve, Joshua boarded the Aetherial Eclipse. The canopy sealed with a soft hiss, and the vessel lifted smoothly from the manor platform. In moments, it accelerated into the vast skies of the 3rd Heaven, becoming a dark streak against the drifting isles.
The journey into the Outer Drift began.
For the first several weeks, the travel was almost meditative. The Aetherial Eclipse sliced through the realm at blistering speeds, weaving between floating landmasses and skirting the edges of known safe routes. Joshua spent long hours in the cockpit, circulating essence through his tempered skin, bones, blood, and internal organs while reviewing maps of the Starfall Site. The richer atmosphere supported his cultivation beautifully, making each cycle smoother and more potent than in the lower heavens.
But as the vessel pushed deeper into the uncharted regions, the scenery grew wilder and more treacherous. Vast stretches of broken isles drifted in chaotic patterns, some cracked open by ancient stellar impacts. Unstable spatial rifts flickered like jagged wounds in reality, occasionally spitting out bursts of raw essence that could tear lesser ships apart. Essence beasts — colossal creatures born from corrupted star shards — roamed these zones, their roars echoing across the void.
Six months into the journey, trouble found him.
The Aetherial Eclipse was cruising through a particularly dense cluster of drifting rubble when five powerful S-rank auras suddenly locked onto the vessel. Warning runes flared across the cockpit.
Joshua's expression hardened. He opened the communication array.
A holographic projection appeared — a burly, scarred man with a cruel grin. Lord Harlan.
"Well, well — if it isn't the famous passer-by himself!" Harlan's voice boomed with mockery. "Joshua, the anomaly who dragged his entire family up here like it was a vacation. We've been tracking your little joyride. Hand over the Starfall Site map and the deed, and maybe we'll let you limp back to your cozy manor."
Joshua kept his voice calm and even. "I bought the site fairly at auction. It belongs to me. Turn around. This doesn't have to end in bloodshed."
A sharp-featured woman appeared beside Harlan, her eyes cold. "Fairly? You treat the 3rd Heaven like a cheap waypoint. Most of us spent decades building influence here, and you just pass through without a care. Give us the map, or we'll take it from your corpse and leave your family wondering what happened to their golden boy."
Another attacker, a massive warrior with pure physical aura, laughed deeply. "Listen to the glitch-boy. Thinks his Anomaly status makes him untouchable. We'll crush that arrogance today."
Joshua sighed. "I offered peace. You chose violence."
He stepped out onto the stabilized external platform, the Aetherial Eclipse holding position with automated precision. The five S-rank nobles materialized in formation, their auras blazing.
Harlan raised his hand, stellar essence gathering into a devastating lance. "End him!"
The ambush erupted.
The attackers unleashed coordinated assaults — blazing stellar lances, crushing gravity wells, soul-suppressing waves, and raw kinetic strikes. But the moment their essence techniques left their bodies, Joshua's Anomaly Glitch surged outward like an invisible storm.
Their powers immediately began to flicker and distort. Harlan's stellar lance twisted mid-flight, veering wildly and exploding harmlessly against a drifting rock. The woman's suppression wave collapsed into chaotic sparks. Essence attacks misfired left and right, giving Joshua precious openings.
He channeled his innate abilities with focused intent.
Fire — embracing and nurturing at its core, yet capable of scorching, incinerating fury. A wave of warm, protective flame wrapped around his body like a shield before suddenly flaring into white-hot intensity, forcing one noble to retreat screaming as his robes ignited.
Lightning — pure dominating, assertive, and consuming force. Bolts of crackling energy erupted from Joshua's fists, assertive and unrelenting, shattering defensive barriers and consuming the essence of those they struck.
The fight turned chaotic and brutal.
"You rely too much on tricks!" the massive physical warrior roared, closing the distance with overwhelming brute strength. His pure physical blows bypassed much of the Glitch's effect. A devastating punch cracked two of Joshua's ribs and sent sharp pain through his tempered bones. Another strike bruised his shoulder deeply.
Joshua grunted in pain but refused to yield. "And you rely too little on adaptability."
He countered with raw power backed by glitched lightning — dominating and consuming. The lightning struck with assertive fury, finally dropping the warrior to his knees.
One by one, the five disgruntled nobles fell. Their essence powers, crippled by the Glitch, could not match Joshua's combination of elemental mastery and Anomaly advantage.
Standing over the defeated attackers, breathing heavily with several broken bones and deep bruises, Joshua made the grim decision. They had come to kill him and rob his family's future. He ended the threat permanently.
Accessing their jade tablets was almost trivial. B- and A-rank security crumbled instantly under his S-rank Anomaly protocols. With a small, amusing smile tugging at his lips despite the pain, he transferred their combined accounts.
"Seven hundred sixty million, one hundred five thousand digital star shards…" he murmured. "Not a bad bonus for defending what's rightfully mine."
Joshua returned to the cockpit of the Aetherial Eclipse, setting a course deeper into the Outer Drift. The vessel accelerated once more to its maximum speed, carrying him toward the Starfall Site — and whatever dangers or rewards awaited there.
The journey continued, but now with significantly heavier pockets and a clearer reminder that even in the grand 3rd Heaven, envy and ambition could turn deadly.