Back within Aeon’s private dimension, deep inside the Ocean of Eternal Genesis, a massive expanse of incandescent golden water began spinning violently.
The fluid currents compressed tighter and tighter until they formed a dense, two-meter-long glowing cocoon that vibrated with immense pressure.
Pop!
Instantly, the pressurized cocoon expanded to its absolute limit before bursting outward, splashing torrents of golden life essence across the tranquil sea.
As the liquid shield dissolved, a completely naked boy appearing around eleven or twelve years old was left floating harmlessly above the shifting waves, his eyes gently closed.
His body looked as though it had been meticulously carved into shape by the gods themselves. He possessed dazzling, flawless white skin where the intricate networks of multi-colored rune patterns were slowly beginning to fade back beneath the surface.
His long white hair, tipped with brilliant blue accents, drifted softly through the air. His new physique was defined by lean, perfectly synchronized muscle groups that would make the most dedicated gym enthusiasts burn with absolute envy-not overly bulky or grotesque, but flawlessly streamlined to showcase the brutal efficiency of his ’training’.
Sprouting from his lower back was a sleek white dragon tail, accompanied by two sharp, black dragon horns crowning his head, clearly cementing his identity as a member of the dragon race.
Suddenly, Aeon snapped his eyes open, his gold and purple draconic pupils glowing with a faint, dangerous light. He dropped his feet downward, making direct physical contact with the water’s surface as he stood up completely upright without sinking a single millimeter.
He lifted his hands to his face, tentatively opening and closing his fingers into a tight fist. With every single squeeze of his hand, a sharp, concussive pressure wave detonated from his palm.
WHUMP! WHOOOM!
Aeon’s mouth fell open in absolute shock, thoroughly baffled by the terrifying physical strength resting beneath his skin.
He had literally generated a localized shockwave by simply flexing his palm. What kind of cataclysmic destruction would he unleash if he actually swung his fist forward with maximum force?
"Hahaha! Surely that one month of absolute torture was completely worth it," Aeon chuckled, deeply satisfied with the reality-breaking results of his experiment.
Yeah, one full month. Aeon had remained locked inside that golden cocoon for an entire month of internal time. With every single 0.1-second cycle destroying, recreating, and aggressively strengthening his physical shell, it meant his anatomy had successfully weathered the apocalyptic loop more than 25 million times.
In this cosmic world, a cultivator’s raw destructive capability was measured through a standardized set of tiers;
[ Universal Destructive Scale ]
1. F: Building Level
2. E: Village Level
2. D: Town Level
3. C: City Level
4. B: Mountain Level
6. A: Island Level
7. S: Country Level
8. SS: Continental Level
9. SSS : Planet Level
10. EX: Star Level
This universe was exceptionally vast and dense. Even the absolute weakest F-rank cultivator possessed the raw strength output needed to completely level a standard physical building.
Because of this massive baseline destructiveness, the layout of modern societies had continuously adapted over millennia to contain the population. High-end metropolitan buildings were heavily reinforced with protective arrays to ensure they couldn’t be easily destroyed by every newly awakened F-rank user.
Furthermore, the laws of the Valtthoros Empire and any other power houses strictly prohibited anyone above the baseline level from engaging in active combat inside residential civilian zones.
Because of those strict laws, every major city and rural village contained specialized combat Arena grounds designed to safely absorb high-tier destructive output.
If cultivators wished to settle a lethal dispute outside of an arena, they were legally required to march deep into the untamed wilderness, but never within urban boundaries. It was a brutal world where even standard F and E-rank users carried the power to wipe out entire buildings and localized villages.
Wanting an accurate reading of his new strength, Aeon addressed his companion interface. "System, can you measure exactly how strong I am right now?"
[DING]
[Certainly, Master. Synchronizing your updated physical density with the cosmic database...]
|--------- TRUE SYSTEM STATUS-------|
[ Name: Aeon Astaraeas ]
[ Title: The Progenitor ]
[ Race: Origin Devouring Celestial Dragon ]
[ Cultivation Rank: F ]
[ Talent: Infinite ]
[ Special Talent: Infinite Evolution ] ( Rank: Infinite )
[ Paths: Warrior, Arcane, Spiritual ]
[ Physique(s): Infinite Void Devouring Physique ]( Rank: Infinite )
[ Bloodline(s): Celestial Dragon Bloodline ] ( Rank: EX )
[Origin Devouring Dragon Bloodline] ( Rank: Origin )
[ Affinities: Void (Infinite), Moon (EX), Ice (EX), Storm (EX) ]
[ Inventory: Uncommon Magical Swords x60, Phoenix’s Essence, Void Cleaver, Dao Fruit of the Cosmic Dragon... ]
[ Combat Destructive Level: Mountain Level ]
Aeon carefully read through the updated interface, his eyes locking onto the two major changes in his status.
"My cultivation rank has officially reached the F rank? Well, that’s completely understandable since I’ve only tempered my body and haven’t actually refined my core to cross over into F+, the true peak of the first stage," Aeon murmured, before his eyes darted to the very bottom entry.
"And holy shit! I can literally destroy entire mountains with nothing but my bare fists? That is so incredibly dope!"
A sudden, highly audacious idea flashed through his mind. He immediately prompted the system again. "System, am I allowed to continue this runic refinement loop indefinitely without actually stepping across the boundary into the E-rank stage?"
[Yes, Master. You can theoretically choose to stall your stage breakthroughs, but your physical refinement limits will inevitably halt once you reach the absolute peak threshold of the Mortal Realm.]
Aeon blinked, slightly confused by the system’s choice of phrasing. Although he was ecstatic that he could continue stacking stats at the lowest tier, what did it mean by a Mortal Peak Realm ?
"Can you clarify that? What exactly do you mean by the peak of the mortal realm?"
[It means that your physical F-rank stage cannot expand infinitely into the cosmos, Master. Once your raw stats reach the absolute maximum capacity that the mortal realm’s laws can physically support while remaining at the F-rank, thus your progress at that level will stop. At that exact intersection, you must choose to advance your cultivation stage into the next rank.]
Aeon fell completely silent for a long moment as the immense weight of the system’s logic settled into his mind. Then, his voice began to tremble violently with uncontainable excitement as a terrifying new realization took root.
"Wait... doesn’t that mean if I aggressively grind my stats until I reach a Star-level destructive output using my F-rank alone... and then achieve another separate Star-level output once I reach E-rank, repeating that exact same perfection method all the way up to EX-rank... If I maximize the peak of the mortal threshold inside every single individual rank, wouldn’t that make me freaking, amazingly overpowered?!" Aeon grinned widely, unable to contain his ambition.
"Hahaha!"
[Yes, Master! You possess the absolute talent required to execute that exact trajectory. However, doing so means your raw physical presence would eventually become vastly stronger than the mortal universe itself. The localized fabric of reality would be completely unable to handle your sheer existence. That structural anomaly would force the Akashic Records to either violently destroy your physical form or place an absolute seal on your coordinates. Therefore, you must proactively seal your own power outputs to match the maximum tolerance of the mortal realm as you advance.]
"Hahaha... wait, huh?" Aeon’s villainous laughter cut off instantly as the system’s heavy warning registers. He paused in place, letting the structural reality of the cosmic laws settle into his thoughts.
He let out a soft sigh, shaking his head with a mixture of clarity and bitter defeat. "Right. Of course. It makes perfect sense. It’s the exact same reason why high-tier Constellations and ancient Gods are fundamentally barred from descending directly into the lower mortal worlds. But that’s completely fine.
Holding a Star-level destructive output at the lowest stages of cultivation is already more than enough. I am one hundred percent certain that I will be unimaginably stronger than even the most legendary genius EX-rank cultivators in history."
He paused, a dark, confident smile returning to his face. "And when you couple that with my multi-path cultivation, I won’t just be fighting one or two EX-rank powerhouses simultaneously, I’ll be capable of sweeping entire groups of them clean."
Aeon stood quietly for a few minutes, his expression turning deeply serious as he mapped out his upcoming schedule. "If I have the potential to build a foundation of that caliber, I can’t afford to waste another single second of my time. It’s time to grind."
He dropped his center of gravity, sinking back into a cross-legged meditative posture directly on top of the golden waves.
"The previous phase was entirely about refining the biological body. Now, it’s time to focus the runes directly onto the Cosmic Core itself. I will utilize the exact same parameters: endless, non-stop destruction and creation."
Aeon closed his eyes, preparing to ignite the volatile runic matrix inside his dantian. But right before he initiated the flow, a sudden memory of the intense, choking agony of his previous run made him snap his eyes wide open.
"Wait a minute... since my physical flesh is already fully tempered and won’t be disintegrated by the ambient energy this time, why should I force myself to manually drink the golden water while enduring that blinding pain?" Aeon muttered, a clever smirk crossing his face as he recalled one of the primary active effect tied directly to his physique.
He locked his gaze onto the golden sea beneath him, preparing to unleash his true nature as he spoke the single command he had always wanted to say.
"DEVOUR."
Whoosh!