Chapter 82: Chapter 82: Earth-Prime 1

The clone opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling.

Four more days on the ship. Then Earth-Prime. Then Prime Origin Academy and its ten-thousand-year-old treasure vault.

Somewhere in that vault, there had to be Chaos-grade soul items. Or at least more Primordial grade. Enough to push the original’s soul all the way to Quasar realm and complete the final breakthrough.

He just needed to find them.

The next three days passed quietly.

The clone spent most of his time either in the suite or making quick trips to the trading post when new inventory arrived. The woman at the counter had been true to her word—she flagged every Primordial soul item that came in.

Day two: Three more Soul Crystals, two Soul Essence Pills. Cost: 7.5 million spirit stones.

Day three: One bottle of Soul Convergence Liquid, five Spiritual Root Enhancement Elixirs. Cost: 15.5 million spirit stones.

Day four: Four Soul Tempering Jades, six Soul Cleansing Pills. Cost: 11 million spirit stones.

Everything got transferred to the original immediately.

Celestia spent her time training. Not combat training—she’d already mastered her techniques to perfection. Law comprehension training. Sitting in the meditation chamber for hours, deepening her understanding of the five Laws she’d already perfected, looking for fusion applications she hadn’t explored yet.

Marcus knocked on their door twice trying to convince them to spar. The clone declined both times. No point revealing more capabilities than necessary.

Other candidates left them alone after the first day. Word had spread that the two top performers weren’t interested in socializing. People respected that. Or maybe they were just intimidated. Hard to tell.

On the fourth evening, the ship’s announcement system activated:

“All passengers, we will be arriving at Earth-Prime in approximately six hours. Prime Origin candidates should report to the main assembly hall at 0800 tomorrow for academy orientation. Thank you.”

The clone sat up from where he’d been reading a formation theory manual, Runes where really intersting. Six hours.

Tomorrow, they’d reach humanity’s origin world.

Tomorrow, the real treasure hunting would begin.

The clone woke up at six in the morning.

Two hours before assembly. He’d slept better than the past few nights. Probably because they were finally arriving. No more waiting around on the ship.

Celestia was already awake, standing by the window. The view had changed overnight. Instead of empty space and distant stars, there was a mega-planet filling half the window.

Earth-Prime.

The clone walked over and stood beside her.

The planet was huge. Ten times bigger than Earth. Blue oceans covered most of it, with green and brown continents visible between white clouds. But what caught his attention was the lights.

Cities covered entire continents. Not just cities—massive connected networks of buildings and roads that stretched for thousands of kilometers. From orbit, the whole planet looked like someone had drawn circuit patterns across its surface with glowing lines.

Formation arrays. Millions of them. Maybe billions. Every city, every building, every major structure had cultivation formations built into it. The arrays were so dense they created visible light patterns from space.

“Thirteen billion people live down there,” Celestia said quietly.

The clone knew that number from the files. Still felt unreal seeing it. Thirteen billion elite humans of the federation on one planet. Earth back in his previous life had what, eight billion? And that was considered crowded.

“Where’s the academy?” he asked.

Celestia pointed upward. “There.”

The clone looked up through the window’s upper section.

Floating above Earth-Prime’s atmosphere was an island. Not a space station. An actual island—land, trees, buildings, all of it just hanging in low orbit like gravity didn’t exist.

The island was enormous. Had to be five thousand kilometers across at minimum. Mountains rose from its center, forests covered the slopes, and structures that looked like cities dotted the landscape. The whole thing was surrounded by a shimmering barrier that held atmosphere in place.

Prime Origin Academy.

“How is that staying up there?” the Celestia asked.

“Spatial formations. Probably gravity manipulation too. The whole island exists in a pocket dimension that’s anchored to real space.” Runar tilted his head, studying it. “The formation work must be incredible. Keeping something that size stable would require constant maintenance and massive energy input.”

“Ten thousand years old,” the clone said. “They’ve had time to perfect it.”

The Absolute Infinity was approaching the island slowly. The clone could see other ships around it—smaller craft coming and going, probably academy staff and visiting cultivators. Their ship was bigger than all of them combined.

A notification appeared in his vision:

ARRIVAL IN 90 MINUTES

ALL PRIME ORIGIN CANDIDATES REPORT TO MAIN ASSEMBLY HALL AT 0800

“We should get ready,” Celestia said.

They went back inside and changed into the academy uniforms that had been provided. Simple design—black pants and shirt with a silver emblem over the heart showing a stylized star. The material was some kind of advanced fabric that adjusted to fit perfectly and had basic defensive formations woven in.

Runar checked his appearance in the mirror. Looked fine. The silver hair and starlight eyes made him stand out anyway. The uniform didn’t change that.

Celestia emerged from the bedroom wearing her uniform. She’d tied her hair back in a practical style that kept it out of her face. Heaven Piercer was compressed to forearm length and attached to her belt.

“Ready?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

They left Suite 4701 and headed toward the assembly hall.

The main assembly hall was on Deck One, near the ship’s bow. The clone and Celestia arrived fifteen minutes early, but the hall was already half full.

Two hundred candidates filled the seats in loose groups. Some were talking quietly. Others sat alone, looking nervous or excited or both. The clone spotted Marcus near the middle section, Khan further back, Lyra off to one side by herself.

Everyone noticed when they walked in. Heads turned. Conversations paused.

The clone ignored it and found two seats near the back. Celestia sat beside him, and they waited.

More candidates filed in over the next ten minutes. By the time the clock hit 0800, all three hundred were present.

Captain Vael walked onto the stage at the front of the hall. The room went silent instantly.

“We’ve arrived at Earth-Prime,” she said. No greeting, no preamble. “The Absolute Infinity will dock at Prime Origin Academy’s arrival platform in thirty minutes. After docking, you will disembark in an orderly fashion and proceed to the academy’s orientation assembly.”

She pulled up a holographic display showing a map of the academy island.

“The orientation will take place in the Grand Amphitheater at the island’s center. You will be sorted into classes based on your assessment performance. Class assignments are final. Don’t complain about them.”

The display shifted to show the different class tiers.

“There are five class levels. Foundation Class for those who scored below fifty thousand points. Advanced Class for fifty to one hundred thousand. Elite Class for one hundred to five hundred thousand. Apex Class for five hundred thousand and above. And finally, Sovereign Class, which requires special consideration beyond just points.”

Someone in the crowd raised their hand. “What’s special consideration?”

“Exceptional performance that goes beyond normal metrics. Has nothing to do with most of you.”

Vael dismissed the question and continued.

“Your class determines your resource allocation, instructor access, training facilities, and mission availability. Higher classes get better everything. That’s the incentive to perform well.”

She closed the holographic display.

“Contribution Points are the academy’s currency. You earn them through missions, competitions, and achievements. You spend them on resources, techniques, and services. Everyone starts with their assessment bonus. Don’t waste it on stupid things.”

The clone checked his contribution point balance: 500,000. Starting bonus for maxing out the assessment.

“Questions?” Vael asked.

Nobody raised their hand. Either they didn’t have questions or they were too intimidated to ask.

“Good. We dock in twenty-five minutes. Stay in your seats until the docking process completes. Then follow the marked path to the Grand Amphitheater. Don’t wander off. Don’t touch things that aren’t yours. Don’t embarrass yourselves.”

She walked off the stage without another word.

The hall remained silent for a few seconds, then conversations started up again in hushed tones.

“Five hundred thousand points for Apex Class,” someone nearby whispered. “Only like ten people scored that high.”

“More than ten. I counted fifteen in the top rankings.”

“Still. Fifteen out of three hundred. That’s brutal.”

The clone tuned out the conversation and focused on the window at the front of the hall. Through it, he could see the academy island getting closer. Details were becoming visible—individual buildings, roads, what looked like training grounds with massive formations carved into the earth.

The Absolute Infinity shuddered slightly as docking procedures began. Spatial anchors extended from the ship, locking onto corresponding points on the academy’s arrival platform. The process took about five minutes, then a final shudder ran through the floor as the ship settled into place.

“Docking complete,” an automated voice announced. “All Prime Origin candidates may now disembark.”

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