In the dark void of the universe, a silver-gray spaceship zipped through space at superluminal speed.
What surprised Qi Yuan was that the owner of the ship—who had purchased all the Thunder Source Clan slaves—had yet to summon any of them.
This was fortunate. It gave him time to familiarize himself with the newly acquired system.
> "Apprentice Return System: Imparting cultivation experience or gifting items can trigger returns."
"Gifting is easy enough to understand, but how does the return from imparted experience work? Any experience I give to a disciple must be something I've already mastered. Even if it returns tenfold, or a hundredfold—what's the use?"
But the return rate was incredibly enticing.
> "Beyond the base multiplier, there's a chance to trigger a 100x critical reward. If I could recruit a genius disciple with a base return rate of 100x, and then trigger a 100x critical hit—that would be 10,000x returns!"
That would be insane!
With returns like that, he wouldn't need to worry about realm or cultivation. He could just keep pumping money and resources into disciples, and soon become the richest man in the Original Universe.
With that kind of wealth, no treasure would be out of reach, and his cultivation would soar like a rocket.
Of course, this was just an ideal fantasy. In practice, there were many limitations.
Firstly, the return function could only be triggered once a month.
Secondly, the gifted items had to be relevant to the disciple's current realm—otherwise the return rate would suffer.
Thirdly, critical hits were rare and required gifts that deeply moved the disciple.
That meant the gifts not only had to be valuable, but meaningful—hitting the disciple's emotional core.
Also, once an item triggered a return, it couldn't be reused. He'd have to constantly come up with new items and ways of giving them.
It would be time- and resource-consuming.
But all of that was secondary. His biggest challenge was still finding a disciple with a high base return multiplier.
Qi Yuan himself was only at Star Level 2, and now a slave controlled by a biochip. Even if he wasn't stupid, there was no way a true genius would be willing to become his disciple.
...Or was there?
He looked around.
As the ancestor-like figure of the Leiyuan Clan's martial arts, if he simply asked, few of the clan members would refuse. Many had once been his disciples anyway.
> "Let's check the potential of the Leiyuan Clan first."
With a thought, he used the system to scan the qualifications of those around him.
The more he checked, the more disappointed he became.
[Target: Longshan, Base Return: 4x, Can be bound]
[Target: Shen Buhai, Base Return: 3x, Can be bound after accepting as disciple]
[Target: Tang Hong, Base Return: 3x, Can be bound after accepting as disciple]
Out of hundreds of Leiyuan clansmen, most only had 3x to 5x return rates.
The highest was just 8x.
> "Not a single one exceeds 10x… the Leiyuan bloodline is quite ordinary."
But he had no better option right now.
> "I'll just pick the tallest among the short ones. Since the system doesn't limit the number of disciples, I'll experiment."
Qi Yuan's gaze settled on a middle-aged clansman at the edge of the crowd.
This man wore tattered clothes, looked skinny and frail, with gray hair like a weathered farmer who had spent decades tilling fields.
Yet this was the only person whose return rate reached 8x.
Qi Yuan was surprised.
In the original owner's memory, this man didn't seem outstanding. He had access to the same resources as the others but had always progressed slowly. Even now, he was only at Planetary Level 2, lagging behind others of his generation.
However, his foundation was rock-solid. Though slow, his progress was steady. His fighting techniques and physical skills were the best among his peers.
> "Is this guy a Leiyuan Star version of Emperor Zhuofeng?"
> "Well, no better choice. You'll be my placeholder for now."
Qi Yuan made up his mind and sent a thought to the illusory system panel in his sea of consciousness.
A crisp system prompt chimed:
> [Target: Cang Fan, Base Return: 8x, Meets disciple conditions. Bind?]
After selecting confirm, the panel displayed Cang Fan's profile:
Name: Cang Fan
Race: Thunder Source Clan
Realm: Planetary Level 2
Attribute: Thunder
Cultivation Path: Warrior
Basic Return Rate: 8x
The info was brief. Qi Yuan glanced over it, then dismissed the panel.
> "I've got a disciple now. Should I test the system's return function?"
He paused.
He was penniless. Aside from imparting cultivation experience, he had nothing of value to give—no item to trigger the return.
Worse, he was still a slave monitored via biochip.
Any unusual action could be detected by the master, leading to possible capture or even execution.
> "I'm too weak right now. I must stay hidden and absolutely avoid exposing that I've bypassed the biochip's control."
> "For now, I'll stay quiet until we land."
---
Thunderstorm Planet was a well-known resource world in the Eternal Star Region.
Blanketed by thunderclouds all year round, most of the surface was in a perpetual, oceanic thunderstorm.
Even planetary warriors couldn't survive there for long without supplies.
But in this brutal climate, a rare resource—Thunder Crystal Ore—was born.
Thunder Crystals could be used to refine Force weapons or smelted with other metals into Grade C alloys. It was a valuable cosmic material.
Thanks to its rich Thunder Crystal reserves, Thunderstorm Planet was worth more than a dozen ordinary life planets.
A fortune even cosmic-level powerhouses would covet.
But none dared claim it.
The reason? The planet's owner was backed by the Ortega Family, a force too powerful to oppose.
---
In the spaceship's holding cell, Qi Yuan sat among the other Thunder Source slaves, quietly cultivating using the original owner's method.
Strands of cosmic energy entered his body, slowly refined into pure genetic energy.
But the pace was painfully slow.
> "This method is too crude. And I have no resources to aid cultivation. At this rate, it'll take decades—maybe centuries—to break through to Star Level 3."
He sighed.
The cultivation method originated from the wreckage of a crashed alien ship on Leiyuan Star—barely enough to reach the star level.
> "If I don't find a better cultivation method, I'll never reach the peak of the star level in this lifetime."
---
(End of Chapter 2)
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