eptember 1st, just past 8 PM. A convoy of armored Elite Training Camp vehicles rolled to a stop at the main gate.
From them, one after another, students returned from the Wilderness Zone. Among them was Wei Wen, dragging an oversized military pack practically bursting at the seams.
His pack was so stuffed it looked like it could split open at any second. Anyone with a shred of common sense could tell: Wei Wen had taken down a lot of monsters.
Gasps and murmurs spread like wildfire.
"Look at that bag. Did he clean out a whole region by himself?"
"Once he hands in all those monster materials and earns his Battle Points, his ranking is going to skyrocket."
"No doubt. With his talent, he might pull off something outrageous right out of the gate."
Students rushed down the stairs toward the massive obsidian Black Dragon Ranking monument at the front plaza of the training camp, eyes glued to the leaderboard etched into its surface.
The Black Dragon Ranking updated constantly—pausing only at midnight on the 28th of each month—but this moment felt different. Wei Wen's performance was expected to shake the rankings in real time.
People whispered about him with something close to awe. Rumor had it he mastered the Second Layer of the Ninefold Thunder Blade in just ten days. Over a month had passed since then. Some guessed he'd already reached the Fifth or Sixth Layer. A feat like that could only mean his Force Rating and Trial Tower Score were just as insane.
Was another once-in-a-generation genius about to emerge—one who could crack the top 100 on their very first submission?
More than that: could Wei Wen hit the top of the entire list?
Suddenly, someone shouted, "It's updated! Wei Wen's rank changed!"
Everyone surged closer.
"What rank is he now?"
"He was 181st just a second ago. Now... he's first?!"
Silence dropped like a hammer. No one knew what to say. Students. Instructors. Even some God of War–level evaluators. All of them were stunned.
"A newcomer ranking first on day one of their first month... has that ever happened before?"
Only five people had ever broken into the top 100 during their first month at the Elite Training Camp. All five were considered transcendent geniuses—four had reached high-tier God of War status, and one had already surpassed that level.
And now, Wei Wen had leapfrogged them all.
"There's no way he'll stay first. Maybe the others just haven't turned in their monster materials yet."
"We'll see. Let's wait for the rest of the uploads..."
Hours passed. The rankings continued to adjust. But Wei Wen held firm at number one. He hadn't even updated his Force Grade yet.
And the crazy part?
He didn't need to.
"I heard he's held the number-one position for over half a month now. That's just absurd."
"Right? I heard even the veteran students have been wiped off the leaderboard by Wei Wen alone. Kid's making China proud."
Every evening, when students returned from monster hunts, the first thing they did was check the Black Dragon Ranking.
And every day, Wei Wen's name was still sitting comfortably at the top.
For any student to break into the top 100 in their first month was historic. For Wei Wen to take first place?
That wasn't just impressive. That was a miracle.
By September of the year 2056, whispers of Wei Wen's feats had reached the highest echelons of power across the world.
An 18-year-old kid from China had shaken the foundation of the training system designed to produce the world's strongest fighters.
It didn't add up. He was too young. Too new.
How was he progressing this fast?
Was it pure talent? Some freakish comprehension ability?
From the start of human cultivation history until now, no one—no one—had ever displayed growth like this.
Which begged the question... what was behind Wei Wen's power?
Even though it was well known that Hong—one of the Three Pinnacle Leaders—personally favored Wei Wen, many high-level elites couldn't help but grow uneasy.
Meanwhile, Luo Feng had long since discovered that Wei Wen, like himself, was a Spiritual Force Practitioner—a Psycher Master.
Back when their true natures were still undisclosed, Luo Feng had already sought Wei Wen's guidance on Mental Force cultivation.
Neither of them had access to official secret techniques then. Even so, Wei Wen's control over his mental energy was stronger.
After they both obtained legitimate technique scrolls, Luo Feng's growth accelerated, though obstacles remained—especially after reaching the Third Layer of the Ninefold Thunder Blade. At that point, Wei Wen had nothing more to teach him in that area.
Wei Wen still paid close attention to Luo Feng's development. Their growth paths were tied together. Any time Luo Feng had questions, Wei Wen would offer his insights.
As for the foundational Psycher Master art—the 312 Mental Force Manipulation Diagrams—Wei Wen could demonstrate it easily. The technique itself was complex, but once Luo Feng saw the core patterns, he could memorize them almost instantly.
As for Wei Wen's optimized version of the Ninefold Thunder Blade, it had already been released publicly under the name New Ninefold Thunder Blade, so there was no need for secrecy anymore.
Wei Wen taught him that as well.
Luo Feng quickly committed the upgraded technique and the 312 Diagram Method to memory. From then on, his cultivation involved both martial and spiritual aspects.
He spent his days immersed in the saber art. His Psycher abilities allowed him to sense the energy flow through each strike in microscopic detail. That meant every swing was not only physical training but also spiritual refinement.
His learning curve spiked.
Before long, his Psycher amplification reached terrifying levels.
[System Notification]Your friend Luo Feng has comprehended the optimized Ninefold Thunder Blade. Your understanding of the technique continues to improve.Congratulations: you have fully mastered the Ninth Layer of the Ninefold Thunder Blade.
Your friend Luo Feng is deepening his command of Mental Force. Your own control has evolved.Congratulations: your current Mental Force amplification has reached 12x.
Wei Wen watched Luo Feng's progress with a mix of surprise and inevitability.
"He's catching up fast—but that's to be expected," Wei Wen murmured. "Once you're in the Elite Training Camp, even the worst students improve at twice their old pace. Luo Feng's probably growing three times faster than before."
Indeed, within just two weeks, Luo Feng had drastically improved his saber technique, his amplification, and his understanding of Psycher combat.
With the enhanced defense mechanics built into the New Ninefold Thunder Blade, his Trial Tower performance also saw a spike.
By this point, Luo Feng's Combat Multiplier had hit 12x.
He'd also just received the Dragon Blood Elixir—a rare genetic enhancer that only the top 100 trainees earned.
[System Notification]Your friend Luo Feng is refining Dragon Blood to increase his physical and spiritual strength. Your own power is also improving...
Typically, the broader a Psycher Master's brain region, the harder it was to break through to Planetary Level.
Take someone like Iste—a Planetary-tier Psycher—but his mental amplification was still stuck at 9x.
Luo Feng's mental amplification was already 12x and rising, but his brain region was much wider, meaning he needed even more raw power to break through.
Wei Wen, however, was different.
Unlike most Psycher Masters whose mental energy gathered in their brains, Wei Wen's Mind Force was stored in his Sea of Consciousness—a spiritual core space that didn't rely on brain structure.
Because of that, the size of his brain region never limited him.
The result?
His breakthrough threshold was lower. Once his Mind Force intensity reached a certain level, a natural evolution would trigger.
As Luo Feng refined the Dragon Blood Elixir, Wei Wen's physical power also exploded upward—from the low-end God of War standard (a striking force of around 64,000 kg), past the median (around 96,000 kg), until he stepped into the realm of a mid-tier God of War.
And thanks to the vast reserve of latent Psycher power he'd been storing, his Mental Force had already surpassed the required threshold.
At that moment—without fanfare, without resistance—Wei Wen ascended to Planetary Level.