Chapter 979: Breakthrough 1

Five years later...

By the edge of the Scarlet Snow Mountains, at the peak of an abnormal rugged mountain.

The snow was piling up and the cold wind was brewing strongly. On top of a small snowy mountain, Garen sat by the edge of the cliff with his legs crossed and both eyes closed. Behind him, not far away, was a snow-white miniature Flying Ship with the number 15 clearly printed on the outside.

Whiz!

A ray of red light shone suddenly. Garen opened his mouth and a red glow shot out to encircle his body once before darting completely into his nostrils.

"Begin!"

He commanded in a low tone. A translucent pyramid, the height of a human then appeared before his eyes. On top of it was a dense flow of statistics and formulas.

The strange pyramid floated slowly before Garen; the statistics on it moving non-stop while beads of sweat were forming on Garen's forehead.

Rushing for Level Four from Level Three Energy Machinist turned out to be an entirely different thing compared to a Pilot -- it was so much harder.

Yet this sort of increase in his computing power was enough to keep Garen satisfied, just a mere four years to double his original strength. However, using the last one year to rush through it was not enough of a success, which made him slightly worn out. Within this one year, he had lost count of the number of times he had rushed for Level Four.

Back when he was a Pilot, rising up was an easy task. Though now as an Energy Machinist, he did not expect the chances to be this hard. All because of this, he stayed in the sect for a short period of time before he realized that he was not the only one. Advancing to Level Four from Level Three was indeed a difficult task and there was a lot of Energy Machinists out there who were not able to pass this test. This meant that the second Energy Machine Imprint was not that simple. It was a sort of qualitative change to increase the position of the Energy Machine Imprint, and it might even be harder than securing the third imprint.

It is because this was the stage where the Energy Machinist's gift in computing power is put to test.

Garen finally understood how mediocre his computing skill was. Even though he could slightly increase his computing speed, reflex speed, and computing comprehensiveness through his potential points, he was still unable to change the kind of creative thinking and critical thinking skills that only mathematics prodigies portrayed.

This was not something one could improve just by intelligence, but more on imagination, creativity, and even a positive mindset that would relate to the world.

So now, he was not just trying to overcome this Level Four barrier, he was also trying to break through his mental obstacle.

After all, he was still considered a man-made prodigy. Perhaps his computing speed, depth, and complexity were nothing less of a prodigy. He was definitely lacking some other elements.

The cold wind whistled violently. Garen crossed his legs and opened his eyes slightly. He did not know how much time had passed but the sky was gradually getting darker. He opened his mouth lightly, the sweat on his forehead was still increasing.

Whiz!

Another ray of red light shot out from his mouth, towards the translucent pyramid.

Clang!

The fierce sound rang throughout the area. Garen arched his back violently as he spurted out fresh blood. Instantly, his face darkened.

Far away in the snowy grounds, two focused disciples in white glanced warily at the cliff Garen was at. One of them was Bainster, the one who went to meet Garen back then. The other one was a girl with maroon-colored long hair, along with bangs styled neatly on her forehands which gave her a pure and lovely look. The white women's sect outfit hugged her curves perfectly, but the only unfortunate thing was that her actions were somewhat stiff. Even an action such as raising her arm to tidy her hair seemed a little hard.

This person was Hillco, the one chosen by Garen among a bunch of other loyal disciples to be the master occupant of his villa's sub-building -- the one chosen to enjoy the friendly effects of radiation.

Hillco used to be a normal person with ridiculously low talent as an Energy Machinist. However, she was not willing to sell herself out to gain the resources and conditions she needed either. So, she made her way to the ancient ruins and after a near-death struggle, she barely opened a small part of her computing brain. With the rise of her computing power, she managed to become a mere Level One Energy Machinist.

After that, she was accepted into the Scarlet Snow sect because of such peculiar transformation, to run experiments on how she managed to break through her brain's computing power. In the end, the experiments were unsuccessful and abandoned. Hence, she was let alone to fend for herself.

Among the others, Garen chose her because he saw the perseverance within her, the kind of firm belief only those who had experienced near-death experiences would only understand.

As for her slow actions, that was an after effect of her coming back from the near-death experience the last time.

Other than the head, for movements that people only need a second to prosecute, she needed at least ten seconds. Even if she had ten seconds, it was extremely challenging on her part. A simple gesture such as raising her arm to her forehead required at least ten seconds.

As for her rent, as a Level One Energy Machinist, Hillco was able to waive her daily quests as she was cooperating with the lab experiments. Besides food and accommodation, she was able to earn some allowance as an Energy Machinist, but a hundred Spar Stones a week was a very low price.

At this moment, Hillco and Bainster had their eyes glued on the snowy cliff that Garen had just attacked. As the red light escaped Garen's mouth and towards the translucent pyramid, Bainster's expression changed instantaneously.

"Brother Garen is using his secret method! Once the Cold Scarlet Snow secret method is used, if he can't breakthrough within the ten minutes, his injuries will be even more severe!!"

"What do we do then? We have to think of something to help Brother!" Hillco frowned.

"There's no way! This is a critical moment. The secret method has started already. His computing power will expand immediately to 150%. These four years, Brother Garen has trained the Cold Scarlet Snow secret method to the third level already, slow and steady with each step. He has attacked multiple times just now and didn't use the secret method, but now that he has used it, the power accumulated will be exerted all at once... He's able to succeed!" Bainster said heavily.

By then, the both of them were joined together with Garen. Within the second, among so many disciples, they were the only ones who had Garen labeled on them. The power of Garen would affect their future. Within the five years, they had paid a price too, but how many more years would they still need to pay? They were almost twenty-five already. Once they reach the key age, their brain's computing power would settle down and their limit would be set once and for all.

Right then, a ray of red light shone again at the edge of the snowy cliff, shooting accurately at the center of the translucent pyramid.

Garen roared and another ray of red light came out.

Clang!

The pyramid finally shook lightly and a small crack appeared in the middle.

Garen closed his altogether. Countless dense formulas of statistics computing formulas started to flow through his mind, with every possible computing thread circling his mind.

The cracks in the pyramid increased and became bigger.

"I understand now...! This level isn't about problem-solving, it's the breakthrough that matters!!" Opening his eyes, Garen opened his mouth again but the ray of red light remained in there.

The dense flow of statistics in the pyramid was gradually getting denser and more complexed.

Time was ticking. The cold wind continuously hit Garen, converting his sweat into ice cubes, layer by layer, almost turning him into a snowman.

Finally, with a raise of his jaw, the fourth ray of red light shot out and struck the vertex of the pyramid.

Crack!

Cracks instantly covered the whole surface of the entire pyramid, followed by crisp sounds of numerous silver bells chiming.

The whole pyramid shattered!

"He did it!!" Over here, Bainster and Hillco could not retain their excitement.

After Garen's hard work, he had finally managed to breakthrough successfully and achieve the Level Four Energy Machinist.

Compared to those prodigies in bigger sects with better resources, his breakthrough was unusually difficult, but compared to smaller sects like Scarlet Snow, to be able to reach Level Four before the age of thirty was an achievement above the ordinary.

The entire sect was pretty small. Among the disciples, there were the three of them. In addition to Garen, that would be four people. Among hundreds of people, only the four of them were able to reach Level Four before the age of thirty. The younger the person is, the more potential the person has.

To be able to reach Level Four at an age like Garen's, it meant that he was highly likely to be able to reach the Inherited Level. Just the thought of it made Bainster and Hillco smile in delight. Every year, approximately ten or so people are scouted and recruited from Central Metropolis to join the Scarlet Snow sect. They were all disciples, but how many of them actually managed to reach the Inherited Level? Technically speaking, although these elites had potential, each potential had its own limits too.

The competition within sects was unusually cruel. Some other sects had inside competition that led to hundreds of disciples being ambushed while fighting for resources. The Naga planet was full of danger, the mutated creatures in the ancient ruins were extremely dangerous; if ever faced by anyone from the sect, one would be dead for sure.

There was a high death rate for Energy Machinist competitions, which was also why Energy Machinists at the apex of the pyramid were able to put pressure into a Pilot's head. Natural selection of life and death was known as the cold-blooded competition system, and that was why the surviving Energy Machinist would be acknowledged to have truly strong combat skills. Compared to Energy Machinists, Pilots received lesser training, especially those fighting on the void battlefields to defend their planet.

After the pyramid broke into pieces, the second Energy Machine Imprint appeared in the back of Garen's mind. Both prints were floating side by side. The left one had a Big Bad Wolf mosaic print, whereas the right one was still empty, waiting for him choose a print when he got back.

Garen stood up with an overworked expression and ripped off the parts of his clothes that were stained with blood. Staring at what was left of the pyramid while it gradually disappeared into thin air, his body gave a violent shiver as he let out a breath.

With a crack, the layer of ice on the surface of his body shattered and fell to the ground.

"I've finally reached Level Four... Can't believe it took me five years... But it is still shorter than an average person's ten years, I guess it's not bad." A hint of satisfaction filled his eyes.

Turning around swiftly, he walked towards Hillco and Bainster. As he approached the both of them, Garen smiled and waved his hand.

"Let's go for a round of celebration. Now that I've passed this major threshold, reaching Level Five should be so much easier."

"Congratulations Brother Garen! Once you pass this obstacle, you can easily breakthrough Level Five using the Mars Radiation Stone distributed by the sect!" Bainster said excitedly, "Once you make it through Level Five, you'd be qualified to be a third disciple and become an elder Grandmaster!"

Hillco, who was standing by the side nodded in agreement. The smile on her face expressed a sense of heartfelt joy.

Garen shook his head with a smile.

"You're thinking too much, that's so far in the future. Just take care of yourself first, you're still at Level One after such a long time."

Bainster's expression stiffened as he rubbed the back of his head embarrassingly.