Finally.
Runar felt a surge of excitement. The technique was complete. Perfect. Optimized beyond anything that should exist at this grade.
Time to breakthrough.
He prepared to exit the Comprehension Space, ready to attempt the advancement immediately—
Then paused.
Wait. Should I test this first? Make sure there are no unforeseen issues?
His programmer's caution kicked in. Never deploy code to production without testing.
He created a simulation environment in the Comprehension Space, modeling his entire cultivation base and running the breakthrough sequence virtually.
The simulation began.
Qi flowed into the dantian. The compressed sphere began to collapse inward, forming the singularity. The event horizon formed. The accretion disk started spinning. The first orbital sphere condensed. The dantian walls reinforced themselves. The bones began accepting the runic structures—
[SIMULATION SUCCESSFUL]
[ESTIMATED BREAKTHROUGH TIME: 6-8 HOURS]
[ESTIMATED PAIN LEVEL: EXTREME]
[ESTIMATED ENERGY REQUIREMENT: 50,000 HEAVEN-GRADE PILLS EQUIVALENT]
Runar nodded. That matched his expectations. The energy requirement was massive, but he had Divine-grade pills that would more than cover it.
Alright. Everything checks out. Let's do this.
He exited the Comprehension Space.
Reality snapped back. Runar opened his eyes in his room, sunlight streaming through the window. He checked the time through his enhanced perception—no second had passed externally despite spending hours in the Comprehension Space.
Perfect. Mom and Dad are still making breakfast. I have time.
Reality warped and he appeared in the Infinite Qi Realm
He sat cross-legged on the white gold floor, pulling World Qi and Star Qi Pills from his inventory—fifty of them each, each containing the energy of entire worlds. More than enough to power the breakthrough.
He placed them in a circle around himself, ready to consume them as needed.
System, monitor my breakthrough. Alert me if anything goes wrong.
[UNDERSTOOD, HOST]
[BREAKTHROUGH MONITORING: ACTIVE]
[GOOD LUCK]
Runar smiled slightly at the system's encouragement. Then he activated the Eternal Nexus Ascension's Meteor Forging sequence.
The technique engaged.
And immediately, he felt the qi in his dantian begin to shift.
The compressed sphere of golden energy started to collapse.
Not gradually. Not gently. But with sudden, overwhelming force.
Runar grabbed a World Qi Pill and swallowed it, flooding his system with massive amounts of energy to fuel the transformation.
His dantian sphere compressed inward, the density increasing exponentially. 10x. 100x. 1,000x. The pressure was incredible, like trying to squeeze an ocean into a teacup.
Pain exploded through his abdomen. Not the cellular refinement pain from Stardust Awakening—this was structural pain. His dantian itself was being restructured at a fundamental level.
He grabbed another pill. Then another. The energy poured in, fueling the collapse.
The sphere compressed down to a single point.
The singularity formed.
And everything changed.
Suddenly there was gravity in his dantian. Not physical gravity, but qi gravity—a pull so strong that every bit of energy in his body was being drawn toward that central point.
His meridians trembled. His acupoints resonated. Even his cells felt the pull.
The event horizon snapped into existence around the singularity, a perfect sphere of runic structure holding the infinite compression at bay. Circular pressure runes glowed with power, maintaining the boundary.
Qi began to spiral inward, forming the accretion disk. Faster and faster, the energy whirling around the singularity like water circling a drain. But this wasn't random chaos—it was structured, organized, controlled.
The first orbital sphere condensed from the disk, pulling away and settling into a stable orbit. Stage 1 of Meteor Forging.
The dantian walls reinforced themselves, the triple-layer runic structure activating. Hexagonal, circular, and triangular runes blazed with light, the inner surface of his dantian suddenly covered with intricate glowing patterns.
But the transformation wasn't done.
His skeleton began to burn.
Not with fire—with qi. Energy flowed from his dantian through his meridians and into his bones, carrying the runic structures he'd designed.
The triangular stability runes etched themselves into his outer bones. The sensation was like having his skeleton carved from the inside, each rune cutting deep into the dense cortex. He bit down on his lip to keep from screaming, tasting blood.
The circular pressure runes formed in the inner trabecular bone, creating pathways and channels. His bones became hollow in places, filled with structured qi instead of empty space.
The hexagonal efficiency runes imprinted into his marrow spaces, transforming the very source of his blood production into something supernatural.
Runar consumed pills mechanically, his enhanced mind tracking the process even through the agony. World Qi Pill after Star Qi Pill, each one providing the energy needed to complete the transformation.
Twenty pills. Thirty. Forty.
The polar jets formed at the north and south poles of his black hole dantian, streams of hyper-compressed qi erupting outward and connecting to his meridian network.
His cultivation base roared with new power.
[BREAKTHROUGH SUCCESSFUL]
[METEOR FORGING REALM - STAGE 1]
But Runar wasn't stopping.
The energy was still flowing. The transformation was still active. Why stop at Stage 1 when he could push further?
He consumed the remaining pills, flooding his system with enough energy to power a small sect for decades.
The second orbital sphere condensed. Stage 2.
The third. Stage 3.
His black hole dantian grew more sophisticated with each advancement, the accretion disk spinning faster, the singularity becoming denser, the orbital spheres multiplying.
His skeleton strengthened with each stage, the runic structures multiplying and shrinking, becoming more concentrated and powerful.
Fourth sphere. Fifth. Sixth.
The pain was transcendent now, beyond anything he'd experienced during Stardust Awakening. This wasn't refinement—this was transformation. His very existence was being restructured.
Seventh. Eighth.
At the ninth stage, something unexpected happened.
The technique tried to push further. Tried to create a tenth orbital sphere, to break past the normal limit of Meteor Forging the same way he'd broken past Stardust Awakening's limit.
But it stopped.
A wall. An absolute barrier. Not artificial, not imposed by the technique, but fundamental.
[BREAKTHROUGH HALTED]
[METEOR FORGING STAGE 9 - LIMIT REACHED]
[CANNOT ADVANCE FURTHER]
[REASON: UNKNOWN]
Runar opened his eyes, panting, his body drenched in sweat. The transformation was complete. Nine orbital spheres circled his black hole dantian in perfect harmony. His skeleton had become a masterwork of runic engineering.
But he couldn't push past Stage 9.
Why? I broke past Stage 10 in Stardust Awakening. Why can't I break past Stage 9 here?
He tried again, gathering more energy, activating the technique, pushing against the barrier.
Nothing.
It wasn't that he lacked power. It wasn't that the technique was flawed. The barrier simply... was. Immutable. Absolute.
What am I missing?
Runar spent another hour trying different approaches. More pills. Different energy types. Forcing the breakthrough through sheer willpower.
Nothing worked.
Finally, exhausted and frustrated, he stopped.
[ANALYSIS COMPLETE]
[SYSTEM ASSESSMENT: Barrier is not technical in nature]
[Hypothesis: Host's potential has not been sufficiently stimulated]
[Recommendation: Cease forced advancement attempts]
My potential hasn't been stimulated?
Runar sat back, thinking.
His cultivation journey so far had been easy. Almost absurdly so. He'd gone from newborn to Stage 333 Stardust Awakening in days of internal time, then to Stage 9 Meteor Forging in hours. All with pills and perfect techniques, in a completely safe environment.
He'd never faced danger. Never been pushed to his limits. Never experienced the desperation that forced breakthroughs in life-or-death situations.
The body and soul remember, he realized. They know I haven't truly earned this power yet. They're refusing to advance further until I prove myself.
It made sense, in a way. Cultivation wasn't just about energy and technique—it was about tempering the self through adversity. And he'd had zero adversity.
I need to let nature take its course. Stop forcing it. The breakthrough to Stage 10 will come when I genuinely need it. When I'm pushed beyond my current limits.
He checked his status:
[CULTIVATION: Meteor Forging Realm - Stage 9/9]
[FOUNDATION QUALITY: FLAWLESS (TRANSCENDENT)]
[COMBAT POWER: Unable to calculate - exceeds standard measurements by too wide a margin]
[SPECIAL FEATURES:]
Black Hole Dantian (Operational) Enhanced Skeletal System (Fully Integrated) All previous cultivation benefits maintained and enhanced
Runar stood, testing his new body.
He felt incredible. The power flowing through him was on a completely different scale than before. He clenched his fist and heard the air crack from the pressure.
I need to be very, very careful not to accidentally destroy things, he realized. My physical strength just increased by orders of magnitude.
He went out of the realm a while later after stabilizing his realm.
Then some minutes later when he was meditating.
A knock on his door made him jump.
"Runar?" His mother's voice. "Breakfast is ready, sweetheart. Are you okay? I thought I heard... strange sounds?"
I must have made a lot of noise when clenching my fist. Damn.
"I'm fine, mama!" he called back. "Just... doing some exercises. I'll be right down!"
"Alright. Don't push yourself too hard. You're still adjusting to your new body."
If only she knew.
Runar quickly used a minor cleansing technique (one of the thousands he'd studied) to remove the sweat and clean his clothes. He checked his appearance in the mirror.
He looked the same—seven years old, handsome features, long black hair. But his eyes seemed deeper somehow. More profound. The eyes of someone who'd just undergone a fundamental transformation.
I'll have to be careful. Can't let anyone realize I broke through. Especially this quickly.
He opened his door and headed downstairs, his enhanced senses cataloguing everything with perfect clarity. His mother's heartbeat in the kitchen. His father reading news on a projection screen in the living room. The neighbor's cultivation session three houses away (they were struggling with Meteor Forging Stage 2—he could sense the imperfections in their technique).
Everything is so clear now. So detailed. Is this what higher cultivation realms feel like? Just... more awareness?
He sat down for breakfast, playing the role of a slightly tired seven-year-old who'd been "exercising."
And as he ate—his Supreme-grade physique automatically extracting and refining even the abysmal tiny and minor amounts of spiritual energy in the food—Runar made a decision.
Since I can't breakthrough further right now. Fine. Then I'll focus on something else.
Intent comprehension. Law studies. Technique mastery. Building my foundation in other ways.
And when the time comes—when I finally face real danger, real challenge—I'll be ready to break through that barrier and achieve something unprecedented.
But for now...
He looked at his parents, smiling and talking about their day, completely unaware their son had just achieved something that would make Supreme-level cultivators weep with envy.
For now, I'll live this life. Train properly. Prepare for the academy. Help Celestia grow stronger. And wait for the moment when my true journey begins.
The Meteor Forging technique was complete.
His power was beyond measure.
But his greatest challenges were still ahead.
And Runar Cross was ready for all of them.