Chapter 75: Plans in the Dark

The auction hall below had transformed into a living beast of ambition and fear. After the host’s announcement about the Kharvax Prime spatial rift, the usual rhythm of bidding and item presentation had fractured. People were no longer fully focused on the stage. Instead, clusters formed everywhere — hushed conversations, urgent whispers, and the occasional raised voice as old rivals or former expedition members argued about past survivals and failures.

Lian sat back in the corner of their cramped hiding space, knees drawn up slightly, arms resting on them. His blue void eyes were half-lidded, staring at nothing in particular. The dust in the air caught the thin shafts of light from below, drifting lazily like slow stars. Twenty minutes had passed since he last looked through the peephole, but the energy of the hall still seeped upward — a constant, hungry murmur.

Elara remained leaning against the opposite wall, watching him. She hadn’t spoken much since his earlier dark reflections. She knew when to give him space.

Lian’s mind was working like a machine.

Six years.

It sounded long, but he knew how fast time disappeared when you were chasing strength. Six years to prepare for a place where even Void Ancestor Realm experts had died. Six years to turn his Stellar Circuit Star 1 into something that could survive that kind of hell. He needed techniques, resources, information, and most importantly — real combat experience against threats far beyond what this planet could offer.

He thought about money first. The auction had shown him how worthless small amounts were. One hundred billion credits for a single aug arm. He needed that kind of wealth, or at least access to it. Stealing was possible, but risky. Working for powerful organizations was worse — they would own him. The best path was probably the black market and underground arenas, combined with targeted robberies of those who deserved it.

Next came information. He needed everything about Kharvax Prime. Survivor logs, maps (even incomplete ones), known creature types, the nature of the life-eating organisms, unstable zones, valuable resource locations, and most importantly — reliable escape methods. He would start hunting information brokers the moment they left this place.

Then training. His body needed to be pushed harder. The reconstruction ability was useful, but he still didn’t fully understand its limits. He would need to test it in real danger soon. His Qi control had to become flawless Stellar Circuit Star 1 was respectable on a frontier world, but inside that rift it would be nothing.

Lian’s expression remained cold, but inside, a quiet fire burned hotter than ever.

He finally spoke, voice low.

“Six years is both too long and too short.”

Elara shifted slightly, the faint mechanical whir of her alloy limbs barely audible.

“We start tomorrow then?” she asked.

Lian nodded once.

“First, information. We find the best brokers on this planet. Pay whatever it costs. Then resources. Then training. We can’t rely on normal methods anymore.”

Elara was quiet for a moment before replying.

“You’re thinking about the Harvest Path again, aren’t you?”

Lian didn’t deny it. The temptation had grown stronger since the inner domain incident. Faster power. But the risks were real — corruption, voices, losing control. He had seen what it could do.

“Not yet,” he said finally. “Only if necessary.”

Elara accepted the answer. She knew pushing him would do no good.

Below them, the auction was slowly winding down. The host had shifted strategy, offering smaller but practical items — healing pills, basic survival gear, maps of known safe zones on various dangerous planets. Sales were brisk. People were already preparing mentally for the rift, even if it was six years away.

Lian finally stood up and returned to the peephole. The Sirenari woman’s box was closed. The Eternal Veil Syndicate representative was still present, but his earlier laughter had subsided. The crowd looked more organized now, though the underlying tension remained thick.

He watched a group in the middle section arguing quietly. One man wanted to go. His companion was trying to talk him out of it, mentioning how his brother had entered last time and returned missing both legs and half his sanity. The fear was real. But so was the greed.

Lian understood both sides perfectly.

The weak feared death.

The strong feared staying weak.

He turned away from the hole and looked at Elara.

“We leave when the auction ends. Quietly. No traces. We find a safe place to plan properly.”

Elara nodded.

“Understood.”

They spent the next several hours in near silence, listening as the auction continued. Item after item was sold. Fortunes shifted hands. Alliances were whispered into existence. The powerful grew more powerful, and the desperate grew more desperate.

Lian used the time to meditate again, slowly circulating his Qi, feeling every meridian, every small improvement in his Stellar Circuit Star 1. He tested small bursts of power internally, noting how much denser and more responsive his energy had become.

Elara eventually sat down across from him, closing her eyes as well. Her cybernetic systems hummed faintly as she ran diagnostics and optimized her own internal Qi flow. They were a strange pair — one driven by cold vengeance and burning ambition, the other by quiet loyalty and her own unspoken scars.

When the auction finally began to wind down, the host delivered a closing speech filled with excitement about the coming years and the legendary opportunities awaiting those brave enough to seize them. Applause rang out, mixed with nervous laughter.

Power Scale / Cultivation Realms (Quick Reminder)

Foundation Realm (Layers 1–9): Body forging, no external Qi.

Circuit Awakening Realm (Early–Peak): First Qi loop, internal bursts.

Core Condensation Realm (Early–Peak): External Qi release, short flight.

Stellar Circuit Realm (1–9 Stars): True flight, Qi armor, energy projection.

Nebula Dominion Realm and higher: Domain control, galaxy-level power, etc

Power Scale Reminder

Lian Yu: Stellar Circuit Star 1.

Elara Voss: Core Condensation Middle

Kharvax Prime spatial rift

Keep it as reminders