Chapter Thirteen: The Path to the Awakening of the Stellar Ring

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Yulian certainly didn’t sneak up stealthily; he jumped up boldly and openly. As an uninitiated sensitive, though he understood the principles behind the powerful psychic techniques from his previous life, he naturally couldn’t unleash them yet. But at least he knew that if he slammed his psychic energy down onto the ground, it could propel his body upward.

So, carrying his broken, frail body and a belly full of what seemed like wailing nanomachines, he leapt onto the back of the gravel dragon and, gripping his war hammer, struck fiercely, smashing it hard against the creature’s skull.

The gravel dragon’s massive body twitched and trembled uncontrollably once more; even its wings shuddered slightly before it could no longer continue its ascent. Sergeant Baka on the ground watched intently, letting out a beastly roar—more bear than man—and pounced like a hunting giant bear, pulling tightly on the dragon’s trailing tentacles.

Veins bulging on his forehead, muscles taut across his arms, waist, and abdomen, as if his torso had been cinched tight, he shouted, “Bien Baka!” and miraculously hauled the creature back to the ground.

Yes, this scene was indeed surreal, but it could still be chalked up to the “innate strength” of the Bien Bears. Fortunately, he hadn’t slammed the proud gravel dragon to the ground and then swung it around like a sack of potatoes; otherwise, Yulian might have suspected this guy was a hidden awakened.

Sergeant Youyou charged forward with a howl, striking the dragon’s belly with a hammer blow, but it didn’t break through the defenses. Instead, Lieutenant Mondsen, whose body was already aflame, silently propped himself up with half his strength and, summoning his remaining courage, viciously drove his chainsaw sword into the creature’s wound, twisting it hard.

The dragon snapped its tail, swatting the lieutenant and the towering black soldier aside, but it couldn’t stop Yulian, who was standing atop its head, from smashing the power hammer onto its skull once again.

At last, the massive dragon’s body could no longer hold up and collapsed. Yulian lost his balance and slid down from its head, slamming his entire back heavily onto the ground with a sharp thud, feeling as if all his bones had shattered.

Yet, even like this, it was not dead. The gravel dragon propped itself up on its broken wing membranes with its forelimbs, raising its head and opening its blood-red maw to bite at Yulian, who was right at its feet. One had to be grateful that despite being called a “dragon,” it had no neck; otherwise, Yulian would have been snapped in an instant.

At that moment, it seemed no one else could come to Yulian’s aid except for Sergeant Ina Shirika, who had just jumped down from the artillery tower after firing off the last shell.

Yes, the ammunition was depleted again, and the loader was barely clinging to life, dragged to the side by the gravel dragon’s bomb breath earlier.

However, the future god-level sniper, Miss Ina, seemed to be possessed by the soul of a future era. She used the hand-cranked machine gun to fire precise bursts, and combined with the heavy fire from the city walls and the machine guns of two armored vehicles stationed at the gate, they managed to shoot down all the insect dragons—an impressive victory.

Perhaps the “Dragon-Slaying Battle” at the supply depot was so captivating that everyone overlooked the situation outside the city.

Ina was preparing to come down and reload to continue providing fire support to the front. After all, although the aerial enemies had been defeated, the underground front was far from over.

But just as she leapt from the tower, she saw Yulian sliding down from the dragon’s head. Without hesitation, the sergeant raised her rifle at her waist and fired a burst of bullets.

One had to admit, Ina had likely maxed out her shooting talent even in the womb. Though she barely had time to assume even a basic shooting stance, instinctively, almost every bullet struck the dragon’s head, with one even hitting its eye.

The gravely wounded monster could no longer activate its positional shield and had to endure the bullets piercing its eye. Its vision went completely dark, unable to locate its attacker, and it bit at empty air.

Before it could even register disappointment, a piercing pain tore through its belly. Yulian had rolled beneath the dragon’s propped-up ribcage, gripping the sword’s hilt embedded in its torso. He yanked it out fiercely and thrust it in again with all his might.

The gravel dragon, as if its nerves had been pinched, stiffened and twisted its jaws open, coughing once—not blood, but a final burst of energy. At the last moment of its life, it launched an energy blast at the heat source on the city wall.

That heat source was exactly the muzzle of Ina’s rifle.

“Boom!” Flames and arcs of electricity erupted on the steel city wall. The iron plates, fragile as plastic sheets, tore open a twisted gash. Though Ina had leapt down from the breach early, she was still caught by the blast’s aftershock, slamming onto her back.

She felt as if she had been hit squarely by a speeding tank, her insides twisting violently. If she hadn’t been wearing her powered exoskeleton, that blow would have been fatal.

The sergeant crashed onto the ground in an ungainly star shape, covered in dust and dazed, taking several seconds to regain her breath. Fellow soldiers hurriedly helped her up, noticing she had been thrown outside the city walls, landing near the trench.

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Through the flames and smoke near the city gate, she saw Yulian slowly crawling out from beneath the fallen giant beast’s corpse. She had just breathed a sigh of relief when frantic soldiers dragged her into the trench.

Once steady and looking ahead, the sergeant’s expression soured. Before her lay the enemy, having already broken through to this position.

Indeed, after the chaos triggered by the gravel dragon’s appearance, the ground assault monsters had finally pierced the fire line. Their insectile and bestial forms were vividly grotesque; their shells, muscles, and claws were all honed for slaughter, chilling the onlookers.

Many soldiers encountering them for the first time screamed in uncontrolled terror.

Shooting at monsters and engaging them in hand-to-hand combat were entirely different matters; most ordinary soldiers could not manage the latter.

Biting her lip and gritting her teeth, Ina resolved to stand and fight to the death. Naturally, she didn’t notice that Yulian had emerged from under the giant beast clutching a crystal.

That crystal was the gravel dragon’s dragon crystal—a condensed energy form of the “phantom beast,” a physical manifestation of its spirit. Its mere existence suggested immense value; it could easily serve as a prime ingredient for magical potions, likely worth thousands of pounds.

Indeed, the truth was as such.

Of course, given the differing worldview, here supernatural advancement did not rely on drugs or acting but on the classic, old-fashioned, and somewhat mystical triad of “comprehension,” “awakening,” and “cultivation.”

Yulian had already passed the comprehension stage; he could now freely use basic psychic skills. Next was the necessary awakening stage. Only by reaching this step could one open the soul’s deepest core—the spiritual universe known as the “Star Ring.”

Only then could the invisible, omnipresent cosmic psychic energy resonate internally and externally, forming a divine communion between two “universes.” This marked the true entry into the realm of psychics, the path to transcending earthly bounds and roaming the stars.

As for awakening methods, they were diverse. Some were beaten nearly to death but survived, awakening through pain; some were scared awake after being thrown off cliffs; others forced themselves awake by ingesting poison; some experienced great joy or sorrow; others followed secret tomes step by step; some were enlightened by masters; others jolted awake by electricity... In short, anything imaginable had been tried.

With trillions of intelligent beings known in the universe, even if only one in ten million was a sensitive, that was still a vast number. Such a volume naturally yielded myriad awakening methods.

The gravel dragon’s dragon crystal could serve perfectly as the main material to “shock awake” someone.

Specifically, a sensitive with some psychic perception could use their subtle ability to explore the crystal, find the internal energy source’s intersection point, and inject all that into themselves.

One would feel their spirit overflow with fullness, cognition expand and distort, and the soul reshape into emptiness. They must endure until the clouds part and the flower blooms under the bright moon. When their soul was torn and recomposed beyond the body’s limits, they would behold the universe and open another realm of life.

Of course, more likely, they would simply start a new life altogether.

“Using ‘electric shock’ to awaken is the wrong path. Good children must never try it!”

Across the universe, any somewhat serious psychic cultivation group warned their apprentices thus.

Yulian had no intention of doing so. Not because he feared being overwhelmed—he had seen all sorts of scenes in his past life and could endure this small pain—but because there were plenty of steady, proper ways to awaken. Why suffer unnecessarily? He wasn’t a masochist.

Besides, the dragon crystal could be refined into a fine supernatural treasure or sold for money if nothing else.

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More importantly, estimating from his birthdate, the star governing today was either “Eternity” or “Balance.” If he performed the ritual successfully, his star chart would likely become a pure white nebula—the so-called “Cultivator.”

This path of the Star Ring had two branches: “Energy Modulators” and “Stalkers.” The former pursued spiritual cultivation; the latter specialized in working behind the scenes. But purely in combat terms, both developed broadly—from strength to agility to intelligence to red to blue. They cultivated martial arts, physique, and psychic arts, but none to mastery.

Pure white, in other words, easy to illustrate.

In his previous life, Yulian had never heard of anyone taking the “Cultivator” path becoming a great power. Moreover, the two branches’ lineages were said to have completely broken off after the seventh ring, and no protagonist with a main character’s aura had patched them up.

Frankly, it had no real future.

In his past life, Yulian was a “Free Knight,” a master of the seventh ring of the “Wanderer” Star Ring, having risen step by step. Though forced to be an idealistic fool this life, now that he had chosen this path, how could he not explore what lay beyond the eighth ring?

Of course, according to some dubious occult theories he had obtained, the Star Ring names were not merely traditional titles but represented deep metaphysical concepts.

“Balance” and “Eternity” sounded lofty and grand.

Many psychic masters Yulian had met in his past life believed that if the paths beyond “Balance” and “Eternity” could be restored, they might represent the harmony between science and mysticism, the balance between the material world and the spirit realm; or eternal life between body and soul, the lasting transmission of truth and law, and so forth.

Precisely because it sounded so grand, it never seemed quite credible.

Yulian was only one step from the peak and knew all too well how difficult the next step was. If not for his desire to advance beyond the eighth ring, would he have dared challenge the secrets behind the King of Star Dragons?

Of course, this had nothing to do with him having good relationships and no other options! Really!

Even complete advancement paths were this arduous, let alone incomplete ones.

Don’t think that just because you transmigrated and were reborn, you’re automatically the protagonist. His past life had taught him realistically that this aura was occult—if it existed, it could also vanish. Given a ready path, why choose to challenge hellish difficulty?

“Shura” sounds like a protagonist? “Mastery” sounds glorious?

So this time, he would be the “Star Realm Swordmaster” who pierced nine heavens with a single sword, or the “Sky Mentor” who ignited stars and sculpted black holes by hand! Conveniently, he already had clues to break through those two paths...

In summary, the dragon crystal could be kept for now and used when the star position shifted.

As Yulian mulled this over, he crawled out from beneath the gravel dragon’s corpse. His eyes immediately took in the scene beyond the city gate: the terrifying claw insects had already surged up the gentle slope, their sharp hooked claws slashing like blades. The soldiers in the trench scattered in panic, heads down and desperate.

The only one not fleeing was Sergeant Ina, standing firm atop the trench wall like an unyielding statue. One hand smashed the head of a claw insect, the other brandished a sword to block another’s huge pincers. Blood and sparks splattered across her dust-streaked face, but she was like a mountain.

At that moment, a jumping insect leapt beside Ina, its hooked blade aiming for her neck. The sergeant was oblivious—or even if she noticed, it was too late to react.

“Damn your cosmic spirit!” Yulian crushed the dragon crystal in his hand.