The morning sun rays poured into the room as the sun rose from the horizon. Within the room, Asher could be seen sleeping like a log, his breathing steady and calm as he slept without a care in the world. The morning sun rays finally seemed to touch his face, and with that, his eyes finally fluttered open.

He yawned as he shifted from his lying position to a seated one, sitting on the bed with sloppy movements and groggy eyes.

’Hey, System, what’s the time?’ Asher asked the system mentally as his consciousness fully returned.

[1 p.m., Host]

The system replied with a chime as it had seemingly come to accept its role as a mere clock.

Asher sat on the bed for a moment. The one-month training had ended yesterday, and the moment he had returned, he had simply collapsed onto his bed and fallen asleep, not bothering to eat or even bathe, instead merely using Astra Energy to freshen himself up.

Although just four hours of sleep would return him to his peak physical condition with all exhaustion erased, it didn’t mean he didn’t know how to sleep in whenever he desired.

’It seems I slept in,’ Asher thought to himself as he swung his feet to the side and got up from the bed. ’It’s been a month since I had such a long and good sleep.’ He stretched as he thought, thoroughly enjoying the feeling.

He immediately walked toward the bathroom, where he spent over an hour bathing as he soaked himself within the bathtub. Coming out of the bathroom, he simply changed into new clothes and walked toward the balcony. He didn’t bother going to the cafeteria for food; he had enough within his system inventory, and he planned to eat until he was bloated.

Asher sat down with an exhausted sigh. With a wave of his hand, a variety of dishes appeared before him, and he began to eat without pausing. After a few minutes, he patted his belly in satisfaction; he was stuffed.

He remained silent, his eyes shifting toward the other balconies belonging to the Top Ten students. None of them were awake yet; they were all still asleep. Despite waking up late, Asher was still the first to awaken, everyone simply trying to get as much rest as possible after being deprived of it for the last few weeks.

Asher raised his head toward the sky, where the clouds and sun hung peacefully. After a moment of staring, he shook his head and decided to look at his system panel. After all, he had absolutely nothing to do.

’Status,’ he thought to himself.

The system responded immediately as the status screen opened before him.

[Name: Asher Wargrave

Age: Nineteen

Bloodline: The Wargrave Lineage

Physique: Absolute Physique

Titles: [Youngest Heir] [Tenth Sun] [Disgrace Of The Wargrave] [Unique Body Holder] [The Star’s Heir] [Monster] [Most Loved Wargrave] [Most Talented Wargrave In History]

Life Rank: Firmstar

Sub-Life Rank: Dust

Affinity: Lightning, Star, Space, Gravity, Light, [Hidden]

Strength: 890 → 913 → 1315

Agility: 915 → 933 → 1343

Vitality: 1127 → 1127 → 1538

Perception: 967 → 981 → 1357

Inventory: Platinum coins, assorted cuisine, liters of purified water, triangular wooden talisman, armors]

Asher stared at his system in silence, a smile embracing his lips as his eyes ran through it. The very first change within the system was his age; Asher had finally turned nineteen years old.

He had been eighteen when he gained admission into the Star Academy, and after spending a total of eleven months within the Separate Dimension, he had aged by one year. During the one-month training, his birthday had passed during that period. There had been no one to tell him happy birthday or give him a birthday cake or anything like that... well, not that he cared for such things, as men usually didn’t.

Even Thalric hadn’t said anything, to which Asher guessed the boy simply didn’t know his birthday date, something Asher didn’t particularly care about either. After all, he too didn’t know Thalric’s birthday.

He raised his hand, and on his wrist rested the watch Lyra had given him two years ago, prior to his awakening. His mind drifted toward Lyra for a moment before he shook his head, choosing not to think about her for now.

His eyes returned to the system, and the next change was his Life Rank. Within the month, Asher hadn’t only been attending the training. Although exhausted, he had still carved out a few minutes or even an hour daily to cultivate, hence finally breaking through into the Dust Firmstar Life Rank, which was the sixth Life Rank out of the ten major ranks.

(Faintstar — Kindlestar — Brightstar — Blazestar — Swiftstar — Firmstar — Wavestar — Voidstar — Soulstar — Crownstar)

(sub-Life; Dust — Spark — Flare — Pulse — Radiant)

Asher couldn’t help but smile as he stared at the system. It had taken him only two years to rise from absolutely nothing to this level. He had crossed more than half of the entire power system within just two years. How many people since the dawn of the new era could boast of such absurd talent?

Asher couldn’t help but feel proud. Yes, at this moment, he was genuinely proud of his achievements. Besides, why shouldn’t he be?

After basking within the thought of his own outrageous talent for a moment, his eyes shifted toward his stats.

He froze instantly, his eyes almost falling out of their sockets as he struggled to believe what he was looking at.

The first stat parameters represented his stats at the Radiant Swiftstar Life Rank, the middle parameters represented the gains from the one-month hellish training, while the final parameters represented his current stats after breaking through.

He immediately ignored the middle parameters. The former him would have been ecstatic at such gains, but right now, he couldn’t even be bothered with them. His eyes were firmly locked onto the final parameters.

Every single stat had increased by a minimum of four hundred points. To Asher, it was utterly insane, no different from complete madness. The numbers displayed by the system further showcased and informed him of the terrifyingly wide chasm separating each Life Rank.

Asher took a deep breath, inhaling and exhaling slowly as he tried to calm himself down. But how could he possibly remain calm? Four hundred points was simply monstrous. He closed his eyes for a moment before opening them once again and staring at the status screen. Every single stat had now crossed the one-thousand-point mark.

’It seems the system’s words from earlier were indeed true,’ Asher thought to himself.

There was no special evolution when he crossed the one-thousand mark in strength, agility, or vitality. He couldn’t help but sigh in disappointment, his expectations crushed once more. Although the system had already informed him that no evolution awaited him at that threshold, he had still held onto a flicker of hope.

Still, despite the disappointment, the increase in power alone was enough to make his heart pound slightly. The sheer difference between his former self and his current self was astronomical. If the previous Asher could fight evenly against opponents above his rank, then what about now?

Even he couldn’t accurately estimate the extent of his own strength anymore.