Chapter 1025: Advancement of Milk Power - Sustained Power

Chapter 1025: The Advancement of Healing Power—Sustained Force

Several days later.

At the outer perimeter of the Black Star Palace, waves of players from the Black Hole Frontier glanced about with wide-eyed curiosity, their gear and uniforms a motley assortment that made them resemble a ragtag band of cannon fodder, standing in stark contrast to the disciplined, legion-clad regulars surrounding them.

A massive influx of Southeast Asian players had defected to join the legion; some had already completed their registration at outposts like Black Gate Star, eagerly claiming their legionary benefits, indulging in lavish shopping sprees, and accepting the faction's main questline for the Shining World to begin their ascent, while a more leisurely contingent, having sworn their allegiance, had traveled in groups to the Black Star Palace, much like pilgrims familiarizing themselves with the capital of their future faction.

Among them, mechanical specialists were the majority, arriving at the Black Star Palace with the reverent awe of pilgrims on a sacred tour.

With the Chinese players largely dispatched on missions, the arrival of this fresh cohort instantly infused the Black Star Palace with a vibrant, bustling energy.

"So this is the Black Star Legion's headquarters in the Shining World? Quite the spectacle."

"The scale is immense, the facilities are complete, it looks thoroughly professional."

"I wonder if we might actually run into Black Star himself?"

The Black Hole Frontier players chattered excitedly, their eyes darting about as they marveled at the palace's vistas, utterly captivated by the sheer abundance of wonders.

Having drifted through the cosmos across three game patches, the factions they had once served were utterly dwarfed by the Black Star Legion; merely observing the capital's scale revealed an unbridgeable chasm in status, surpassing even the homeworlds of many cluster-tier civilizations, and for many, this was their first time standing within such a majestic stronghold, evoking the bewildered wonder of a country bumpkin stepping into a grand imperial garden.

"There are so many high-tier NPCs here, a whole host of Extremely Deadly ranked figures."

"If you cause trouble here, you'd definitely be slaughtered on sight."

Most players quickly tempered their behavior, too wary to stir up trouble on Black Star's turf.

They had never feared lower-tier factions like the Raesek Corps, acting with brazen impunity, but facing a cosmic apex power like the Black Star Legion, a significant portion dared not overstep, well aware that supreme forces possessed the means to swiftly mete out punishment.

Scattered among the crowd were a handful of spies dispatched by Southeast Asian club guilds; thanks to the Black Star Legion's largely open-door policy toward players, they had slipped inside without a hitch.

Ignoring the boisterous chatter of the ordinary players beside them, these mission-bound operatives opened the faction's dazzling shop interface and quest log, their faces instantly lighting up with delight.

Having successfully infiltrated, all they needed to do was grind for contribution points, climb the legionary ranks, and they would unlock greater benefits, allowing them to procure supplies on behalf of their guilds.

The plan was proceeding exactly as intended.

Just then, Hadaway, Fodin, and several other guards marched briskly past in the distance, immediately drawing the players' attention.

"Hey, look over there, those are the legendary Black Star Guards!"

"High-ranking figures of the Black Star Legion faction, I actually have their complete card decks, finally seeing the real deal."

"Fodin! I love you!"

Hearing the shouts, Fodin paused in his stride, turned to see a motley crowd of Immortals, offered a resigned smile, and raised a hand in a casual wave of acknowledgment.

Fodin's fame among the player base was extraordinarily high, extending far beyond the confines of the Shattered Star Ring.

Since these Black Hole Frontier players had joined the legion, they had naturally done their homework beforehand, and thanks to the widespread promotion of the Vayne brand, Fodin had firmly established himself as a beloved icon within the Black Star Legion.

"Why are you so popular, even the newcomers adore you?" Hadaway remarked with a tinge of envy.

"Just look in a mirror and you'll know," one of the guards muttered under his breath.

Hadaway: "..."

Seeing the stung expression on Hadaway's face, Fodin felt a pang of sympathy, sighed with a helpless smile, patted his shoulder, and softly consoled him, "Don't take it to heart, you're actually not that ugly."

"...I just can't bring myself to feel cheerful about it."

The procession of guards did not halt to engage the new players hoping to curry favor, instead quickening their pace and swiftly vanishing from sight.

Meanwhile, the eyes of several spy players within the crowd flickered with calculation.

Some of them carried not only the mandate to procure goods for their guilds and enjoy legionary perks, but also a secondary, covert directive: to embed themselves within the legion and monitor its movements.

Although the Southeast Asian clubs had not officially defected to change factions, the Shining World teemed with opportunities to interact with elite powers, leading them to establish clandestine contacts with several entities, the most active among them being the Infinity Consortium.

Sorokin had always harbored a keen interest in the player demographic; previously, players attempting to probe the Black Star Legion had suffered a minor setback at Han Xiao's hands, and now that players from other star domains had flocked to the Shining World, he saw it as a fresh opportunity, secretly dispatching agents to make contact with certain Black Hole Frontier players.

Lacking a system interface, Sorokin had nonetheless deduced certain patterns of player behavior through prolonged observation, specifically targeting those who had not immediately jumped ship to join the legion with repetitive mercenary contracts that required them to supply intelligence on the Black Star Legion's movements, particularly Black Star's own whereabouts, offering exceptionally lucrative rewards—though he could not explain the underlying mechanics, experience had proven that with sufficient coin, players could be molded into exceptional intelligence assets.

With money paving the way, numerous Southeast Asian guilds had quietly accepted Sorokin's contracts, effectively planting eyes deep within the legion's ranks.

Sorokin's fixation on Han Xiao's movements was deliberate; not long ago, tensions had erupted between Gorutan and Hela, prompting both Radiance and Ethereal to entertain darker ambitions toward Hela, harboring murderous intent, and as a collaborator, Sorokin was compelled to track Han Xiao's location, supplying Radiance and Ethereal with supplementary intelligence to pinpoint the optimal moment for action.

Several spy players exchanged covert glances, whispering among themselves.

"The guards are all at the Black Star Palace, which means Black Star himself must be here too."

"If we don't see him with our own eyes, will that count as completing the mission?"

"It should count, the guards' duty is close protection, wherever they are, Black Star is almost certainly nearby."

...

Elsewhere, Hadaway and the other guards arrived at the inner ring base, entering a high-tier combat training chamber in unison, where a Dominator clone stood vigil at the entrance, while Aurora sat at the room's center, her body rhythmically inhaling and exhaling life energy, resembling a swirling orb of pale gold mist that pulsed in brightness with each breath, flickering between light and shadow.

"Legion Commander." The group offered a respectful nod to the Dominator clone before turning their gazes toward Aurora.

Hadaway drew a deep breath, his spirit invigorated, and exclaimed in awe, "Such dense life energy, it seems its quality has undergone another refinement?"

Fodin nodded, "Black Star, is Aurora currently undergoing an advancement?"

Han Xiao, piloting the Dominator clone, gave a slight nod, "The life energy she has accumulated has finally breached its critical threshold, triggering a qualitative leap in her very life tier."

Before the launch of version 4.0, Aurora had mentioned she was nearing the threshold of the Calamity tier, and after more than half a year of steady accumulation, her reservoir of life energy had finally met the requirements, allowing her to take this monumental step.

Under their watchful eyes, Aurora closed her lids, her long lashes trembling faintly, as the radiance of life energy seeping from her skin grew increasingly brilliant, gradually bathing the chamber in an overwhelming white glow.

After a considerable time, the light slowly receded back into Aurora's form, her physique undergoing subtle transformations; her pale gold hair stirred without a breeze, growing smoother and more lustrous, each strand exuding a polished, rounded texture brimming with vibrant vitality.

Her skin grew tighter and flawlessly smooth, the milky-white complexion radiating an aura of sanctity, translucent and exquisite like a meticulously crafted work of art.

Aurora opened her eyes and slowly exhaled, the breath carrying traces of life energy that instantly purified the room's atmosphere, leaving it as crisp as if one had consumed a hundred sticks of mint gum; despite the chamber's cold, all-metal construction, it now evoked the serene freshness of the natural world.

Her advancement differed markedly from that of most Calamity-tier beings, devoid of any destructive upheaval; the abundance of life energy allowed her ascension to unfold naturally and seamlessly, bypassing any bottlenecks.

Aurora rose to her feet, her eyes sparkling with lively joy, and stepped before Han Xiao's Dominator clone, exclaiming excitedly, "Uncle, I've reached the Calamity tier, can you see any changes in me?"

Han Xiao studied Aurora from head to toe; once petite and endearing, she had now grown taller, her figure more refined, her features sharper, and coupled with the innate, approachable sanctity that radiated from her core, along with her flawless, porcelain-white skin that resembled a pristine sheet of paper, inviting one to inevitably wish to leave a mark upon its purity, she presented a style utterly distinct from Hela's razor-sharp, icy allure.

"You've grown even more beautiful," Han Xiao teased, "Other A-rankers become Calamities, but you, no matter how one looks at it, are an auspicious omen, entirely unrelated to the term Calamity, which is excellent, I am very proud of you."

Aurora blinked, her heart swelling with delight at the praise, but then remembering something, she couldn't help but pout, muttering, "Hmph, your words sound so sweet, yet you still went off to visit my sister, not even coming in person to witness my ascension to the Calamity tier."

Han Xiao sighed helplessly; his physical body had departed the Black Star Palace just days prior, slipping away in secret toward the Emerald Star Cluster.

He was fully aware that with a massive wave of new players flooding into the legion, the sheer number of eyes made it impossible to avoid espionage tracking his movements, so he had left the guards behind as a simple decoy. His physical journey to the Emerald Star Cluster served two primary purposes: first, to compete for the forthcoming Chaos Secret Energy, and second, to mitigate potential risks to Hela by personally providing covert protection, as a Dominator clone's combat prowess could never match that of his true form.

This maneuver, however, had caused him to miss Aurora's advancement.

Han Xiao cleared his throat and shot Fodin a subtle glance.

Fodin, having thoroughly studied the manual on Emotional Intelligence, understood Han Xiao's intent despite his mechanical frame lacking the capacity for actual eye contact, and promptly steered the conversation elsewhere, asking, "How much have your abilities changed after reaching the Calamity tier?"

At this, Aurora rolled her eyes at Han Xiao before turning her attention to Fodin, carefully sensing the shifts within her body, and flicked her wrist to conjure a sphere of life energy, its texture noticeably denser than during her B-rank days.

"My daily accumulation rate for life energy is many times higher than it was at B-rank, and its healing potency has grown significantly stronger; a single sphere of equivalent mass should now match three to four times the output I had before advancing..."

Hearing this, Han Xiao felt a pang of regret that his physical body was not present, otherwise he could have immediately tested just how much Aurora's healing prowess had increased.

Hadaway, unable to contain his eagerness, interjected, "Let me test your ability."

Aurora glanced at him, released a stream of life energy, and let it seep into his body.

In the next instant, Hadaway's eyes widened, his entire body relaxing into profound bliss as he threw his head back, letting out an involuntary groan of ecstasy.

“Ahh~~”

Han Xiao shuddered, nearly compelled to switch the audio to mute.

Damn it, such a wanton cry!

When I first met you, you were a battle-madman with a certain dignified aura; how did you degrade into this cheap spectacle?

Did I perhaps smash your brain to pieces over these years?

It breaks my heart, utterly breaks it!

“What in the world are you screaming about?!” A collective shiver ran through the crowd.

Hadaway hastily clapped a hand over his mouth, taking a few seconds to compose himself before exclaiming in delight, “Incredible! I feel so light, as if a crushing burden has been lifted from my shoulders.”

Observing his exaggerated reaction, the others harbored doubts, yet after absorbing Aurora’s energy, their skepticism vanished, replaced by awe as they fixed her with the reverent gaze one might reserve for a national treasure.

Aurora grew flustered under their scrutiny and murmured, “After ascending, my ability seems to have awakened several new functions. While accelerating wound recovery, it can also stimulate a target’s latent potential, elevating their condition and granting enhancements.”

“Indeed.” Fodin nodded. “My mind feels sharper, my vitality more vigorous. Beyond that, her life energy seems to carry a soothing resonance; my temperament has grown remarkably tranquil.”

Han Xiao was quite astonished. With his primary body absent, he could only scan the ranks of his guards, analyzing their combat attributes to deduce the evolution of Aurora’s power.

Beyond mere healing, she could selectively bestow various enhancements upon living targets: increasing maximum vitality, stamina, and physical endurance by twenty percent; accelerating base recovery rates post-treatment; boosting comprehensive resistance by twelve percent; elevating all attributes by seven to eleven percent; and amplifying ability potency by ten to fifteen percent. Each healing session could attach one such bonus, with the magnitude gradually scaling as she further refined her ability.

She was no longer merely a healer, but had transformed into an overwhelmingly potent support specialist.

Simultaneously, her life energy could pacify subjects, lulling frenzied targets into calm, and could purge berserk mental conditions, regardless of whether they were buffs or debuffs. It could even dissolve hostility toward her, instilling instead a fierce protective instinct. Though her ability severely lacked offensive might, it now granted her a unique means of self-preservation.

Furthermore, the lifespan of her life energy once detached from her body extended by dozens of times. The bloodline bond between Aurora and Hela had once again sublimated, functioning much like quantum entanglement, allowing her to perceive Hela’s vital signs regardless of distance.

Aurora harbored a vague intuition that further unraveling the ability’s genetic chain might enable distance-independent sharing of life energy with Hela, though mastering the Calamity-tier shifts in her power was still required to achieve it.

“As expected of an ability sharing S-tier potential; the higher the ascension, the more traits it unlocks.” Han Xiao rejoiced inwardly.

In his past life, Aurora had succumbed to her childish regression far too early, leaving her ultimate form a mystery; now, she delivered surprise after magnificent surprise.

Just then, a sudden inspiration struck Han Xiao. Recalling a crucial detail, he hurriedly dragged Fodin and Aurora into the legion’s internal biochemical laboratory, instructing them to cooperate on an experiment.

He had Aurora repeatedly channel life energy into Fodin, extracting cellular samples after each infusion to amass a vast array of specimens with varying enhancement counts, subjecting them to tests for baseline cellular vitality.

Before long, the results emerged. Gazing at the experimental report calculated by Philip, Han Xiao could not help but press his palm to his forehead and sigh in resignation:

“Honestly, I should have seen it coming. The sisters’ abilities are perfect opposites. Hela drains years from a life, so Aurora… naturally extends them!”

The report starkly revealed that each subsequent sample exhibited an exceedingly faint elevation in baseline cellular activity.

In other words, frequent healing by Aurora could prolong one’s lifespan.

At the B-tier, this trait had not yet awakened, and even now at the Calamity tier, the life-extending effect remained feeble, falling far short of the magnitude by which Hela could steal years.

Yet if she were allowed to mature further, would she not become…

An enhanced version of the Tang monk’s flesh?!

He felt as though he had just acquired another damn treasure…

——

(PY recommends: “I Will Never Be Emperor.” Even if I, Yu Zhiqian, starve to death or perish in poverty, I will absolutely never take the throne!)