A Blue-Tinged Forest and the Weight of Hidden Power
In a strange forest suffused with blue rather than the usual green.
Wolf-sized insects resembling spiders but with elongated bodies and disproportionately large maws launched wave after wave of attacks. The Demensys cruiser’s combat unit’s mission was to buy time for the rest of the troops to evacuate while conducting a measured retreat of their own.
The squad leader’s urgent shout rang out, but Han Yujin had already moved long before the cry even left the man’s lips. His response was anything but that of a raw recruit.
He sprinted toward a beleaguered ally while laying down suppressive fire with his Arcether pistol. The instant he arrived, he flowed seamlessly into a coordinated assault using a Lumina Spear, dispatching the monster in one clean stroke.
The excited squad leader shouted despite the dire situation, then quickly regained his composure. With relentless enemy assaults continuing even as they fell back toward the ship, a single lapse in focus could undo everything they had achieved so far.
A short while later, the simulation training—built from real mission data—came to an end.
The moment he removed the helmet designed to immerse the user in illusion without disrupting their sense of reality, the capsule lid opened on its own.
Stepping out of the capsule with practiced ease, he joined the others in formation at the central area. Immediately, various data sets materialized as large holograms in the air ahead, drawing everyone’s attention. The left side displayed information visible to the entire unit, while the right showed personalized readouts meant only for each individual.
In the meantime, Training Officer Captain Marisad stepped forward with two non-commissioned officers. One was the simulation supervisor, the other the combat analyst.
“Attention.”
The middle-aged female officer, having secured their focus, began her customary feedback session.
She started with an overall situation briefing that included the timing of the ambush, scale of casualties, and critical moments. This was followed by detailed team feedback and then individual critiques.
A simulation without proper feedback lost most of its value. Considering how difficult it was to achieve growth through self-reflection alone, this structured approach was essential.
Compared to modern Earth’s military training, the differences were staggering—so vast it was hard to know where to begin the comparison.
With that feedback session, today’s training finally concluded.
After returning the training equipment, Han Yujin headed to the mess hall in the living quarters, laughing and chatting with his squadmates. Despite having arrived here only about a month ago, he already wore a private first class insignia on his shoulder.
And astonishingly, he was just two weeks away from the corporal promotion exam.
The squad leader’s earlier remark about “receiving the captain’s favoritism” had clearly been no exaggeration.
Of course, it’s only possible because my training scores and actual ability back it up.
By safely consuming the elixir he had received as a reward from the selection test inside a Level 5 Aether Training Room—or rather, by making it appear that he had—he could now reveal a bit more of his true capability.
He stood at the very peak of Level 3 spiritualists.
Considering that Level 4 spiritualists were equivalent to the Dharma Soul stage and treated as non-commissioned officer rank, he was currently the strongest among all enlisted personnel.
In truth, he would have preferred to reveal Level 4 strength immediately, but since doing so risked drawing suspicion, he had decided to stretch the timeline to a comfortable full year.
Even before reaching the Decisive Stage, he had possessed a lifespan exceeding five hundred years. Now, with an astonishing lifespan that easily surpassed a thousand years, there was no reason to rush—even if time was precious.
What was slightly amusing was that, despite not yet fulfilling the full service period required to remove the conditional tag on his citizenship, his citizen level had already reached 2. This was notable when a significant portion of imperial citizens lived and died as Level 1 citizens their entire lives.
It showed just how highly the Galactic Empire valued military service in the space forces. It also meant that being cautious and enduring here was by no means a waste of time.
Another substantial benefit was the free access to artificially concentrated Aether Training Rooms.
The spiritual energy density in a Level 4 Aether Training Room was nearly four times that of Earth. He could expect even higher-level rooms to match or surpass the Primordial Forest—perhaps even exceed it.
After finishing a meal that looked rather plain but tasted excellent, he secretly packed a portion into his Spacer Ring as Mu-yong’s share.
Upon returning to his quarters, he scooped up Mu-yong, who had been wrestling alone with the Taiyi Five Elements Dao Scripture’s jade slip, and ruffled her thoroughly. Mu-yong, who seemed to have grown tired of racking her brains and welcomed the break, wagged her tail wildly despite not being a dog.
He gave her the food he had brought, let her rinse her mouth with spiritual wine, and enjoyed a brief rest.
“Alright, time to train again.”
He pushed aside Mu-yong, who was already showing sly interest in progressing from spiritual wine to Jade Dew Wine and even further to Blood Spirit Transformation Wine, and took out the Five Elements True Spirit Great Stone from within the Mountain Sea Pearl.
Pop-pop-pop…!
The instant he did, a faint sound like bursting air echoed, and a small bird made of light appeared above the black Five Elements True Spirit Great Stone. It glanced around, spotted Mu-yong whose eyes were sparkling, and flew straight toward her.
Good thing they get along so well.
As if there was some natural understanding between speechless creatures, they chittered and chirped at each other while racing around the room in a frenzy. He would have liked to leave the Five Elements True Spirit Great Stone with Mu-yong so she could play with it when alone, but…
He couldn’t predict what variables might arise if he left the Tongtian Spirit Treasure unsupervised like that. Although he had completely refined it and could communicate with it, the young spiritual entity’s mischievous nature was considerable, making him uneasy.
While he was already being extremely cautious to avoid suspicion, he could not afford to slip up on even these minor details.
In any case.
Despite the small commotion around him, he closed his eyes in silence and focused on the Five Elements True Spirit Great Stone.
More precisely, while circulating the Taiyi Five Elements Dao Scripture, he concentrated on the five special elemental forces he could grow familiar with through the stone.
The Crimson Lotus True Flame of fire.
The Purple Heaven Divine Lightning of thunder.
The Carefree Cloud Dragon of wind.
The Great Blue Profound Water of flowing water.
The Firm Gold Thick Earth of the land.
These forces were on an entirely different level from mid-grade spells such as the Pure Yang Extreme Flame or the Deep Sea Cold Ice Water.
Naturally, training them was no easy task. Had it not been for his transcendent comprehension, even with his Decisive Stage-level comprehension he would have been tearing his hair out.
It’s a relief that I completely refined the Five Elements True Spirit Great Stone…
If he had only possessed the Taiyi Five Elements Dao Scripture, even his transcendent comprehension would have left him sighing endlessly.
Still, no matter how many times he reviewed it, the difficulty was worth enduring. Even though he had only just dipped his toes in, his body itched with the desire to test it properly.
It’s so outstanding that even if I disguise it as a fortuitous encounter, it will be difficult to reveal its full extent.
No matter how impressive the Galactic Empire was, cultivation methods of this caliber could not be common. If he accidentally drew the Emperor’s attention or the interest of high-ranking figures he could not handle, it would become troublesome. A suitable disguise was essential.
In truth, even that was only possible if he could disguise a fortuitous encounter during a mission. If no such opportunity presented itself, he would have no choice but to continue using clumsy Origin Power Great Hands mixed with the Wonryeok Mudo.
It might be a bit greedy to hope for such an opportunity to appear right away on this mission.
The day they would arrive at the destination of that “important exploration mission” he had heard rumors about even before receiving his unit assignment was not far off. Most likely, it would be roughly a week to two weeks after he successfully passed the promotion exam.
The timing was remarkably convenient. From the feel of it, it seemed Lieutenant Colonel Brenar had intervened to adjust the promotion schedule. Truly considerate of her.
Dismissing the stray thoughts that had briefly surfaced, he focused once more on training the Taiyi Five Elements Dao Scripture through the Five Elements True Spirit Great Stone.
How quickly and smoothly he could cultivate this method would determine when he reached the Nascent Soul stage.
Planet X-24.
It was the twenty-fourth among planets that appeared to possess residential or large-scale mining value but had yet to be properly explored. Once exploration was complete and it was incorporated into the Empire, it would finally receive a letter such as B or G depending on its characteristics.
The Demensys cruiser, which had arrived at Planet X-24 roughly a week earlier, remained in orbit while deploying dozens of satellites to gather all kinds of data.
In some sectors, over a hundred reconnaissance drones had already entered the atmosphere to conduct detailed exploration—analyzing terrain, collecting material samples, and more.
Han Yujin observed every part of the process as a crew member of the cruiser and found himself repeatedly impressed by the Galactic Empire’s superiority.
Planet X-24 was not caught on the Empire’s radar for nothing. It possessed an environment suitable for human habitation, and bipedal intelligent beings with green skin lived in scattered tribes at a Stone Age level of civilization.
Even among these green-skinned intelligent beings, subspecies appeared to compete with one another. Despite their low level of civilization, they were extremely aggressive and possessed considerable strength.
Their great chieftains were at the late Dharma Soul stage, which made them quite powerful for a primitive civilization.
However.
At the center of the planet’s largest main continent, something displayed a completely different appearance and capability—one that could not be properly assessed through orbital observation or reconnaissance drone searches alone.
The great tribe there seemed to possess a distinctly different faith. At the same time, they appeared to have a system that went beyond a simple large tribe and could be considered something closer to a kingdom. It was confirmed that an exceedingly cruel regime was in place.
All of it seemed possible because their great chieftain possessed late Decisive Stage strength.
“Moreover, this bastard even possesses what appears to be an Aetherial Weapon.”
Perhaps because this was an important mission to explore an entire planet from scratch, Captain Brenar herself was conducting the briefing.
Here, an “Aetherial Weapon” referred to an object equivalent to a Dharma Treasure or Spiritual Treasure in the cultivation world, or an artifact in fantasy terms.
As those thoughts crossed his mind, the briefing continued in a way that firmly seized Han Yujin’s attention.
“Because reconnaissance was extremely limited, reliability is low. However, the shape and operating principles of this Aetherial Weapon resemble the Dharma Treasures used by cultivators. It must not be underestimated.”
The Galactic Empire naturally knew of the cultivation world’s existence. However, encounters were so rare that interest remained very low.
Because of this, even most soldiers who had received at least one lesson on the subject looked slightly bewildered. Only after searching through information via their Intellitron chips or Nexus Bands did they recall the details and follow the briefing.
While they did so, Han Yujin stared intently at the great chieftain prominently displayed on the holographic screen ahead.
More precisely, he was staring at the staff the creature held—one that clearly carried an Eastern feel.
Should I call this good luck, or say the first mission is already burdensome…
If this were reality and he lacked allies at Lieutenant Colonel Brenar’s level, he would have to approach this opponent with extreme caution. There was also the possibility that a crisis might arise here that could force him to reveal his true strength, so he could not simply view it as fortunate.
Still, it might become an opportunity to disguise a fortuitous encounter.
He listened with greater focus to the continuing briefing from Lieutenant Colonel Brenar.