I became a god by treasure hunting after arriving 500 years early

Next came the moment for serious cultivation.

In this sauna-like heat, the heart's pounding became increasingly violent, and blood circulation sped up rapidly, killing many skin cells outright.

The passive ability of "Eternal Body" activated, continuously healing the wounds.

Extraordinary Spark, Eternal Body, High Temperature Resistance, coupled with the robust heat emitted by the volcano, these multiple factors combined gradually allowed Lu Yuan to perceive a magical rhythm.

It was as if he had been thrown into a furnace, a gigantic furnace fashioned by the volcano itself, slowly melting together the abilities within him.

Even in his mind, a profound hallucination emerged!

Lu Yuan suddenly widened his eyes, sensing that bit of magical information.

"Eternal Spark!"

It was a metropolis of an alien civilization of enormous scale, skyscrapers, gear factories, behemoth chimneys, railroad tracks, exotic stones standing tall, and even waterfalls and streams babbling down.

Except, what flowed was not water, but steaming, glowing red lava!

This series of bizarre things piled together had a cultural flavor unique to an alien civilization.

In the very center of the city stood a vast volcano; lava flickered in and out of view at the mouth, emitting a dark red glow.

Countless blurry figures of aliens were worshipping towards the crater, their specific forms indiscernible.

Incomprehensible words entered his mind.

Lu Yuan was puzzled, this hallucination seemed to have no hostility, much like the mysterious scene triggered when he encountered a certain Ideal Rule.

"The Epoch is about to end..."

"They're almost here..."

"Have we not succeeded yet?"
Experience more on empire

It was unclear who spoke, a voice both aged and profound, indistinct, hard to make out.

"Creating a Divine Skill, how could that be easy? But, we're close."

"Before we leave, we must leave behind something."

Lu Yuan was shocked.

Was there actually a civilization capable of creating Divine Skills? What level of civilization was this?

Perhaps even stronger than the Great Lai Empire!

"What a pity, we are out of time... leaving our wealth to those who come after us..." said the voice with a touch of lament.

"We... are... the Gear Civilization."

"The Eternal Spark is an Ideal Rule wrought by our civilization."

"The upcoming Epochs will have this additional rule! All who come later can borrow its power!"

"People of the future, have you... conquered them?"

"If you haven't achieved victory... would you be willing to leave something behind like we did? Haha!"

The mysterious figure laughed heartily.

"No need for gratitude, this is what our Gear Civilization should do; remember the Gear Civilization..."

"What... you wish for more of the riches from my Gear Civilization? Strive to find them then, my civilization has treasures waiting for you... Search for the traces of my Gear Civilization!!"

And with that, the short hallucination ended.

It was somewhat nonsensical yet appeared to contain some valid information.

Lu Yuan's expression turned contemplative.

He began to faintly understand, this must be a very special Ideal Rule...

Certain rules of the Pangu Continent were like this.

Just like the equipment he forged, which had a prefix "Lu Yuan's."

As long as that piece of equipment existed, no matter whose hands it fell into, once identified, it would reveal this prefix.

That is to say, when the predecessors created rules, as long as they left some Ideal Marks, those who came in contact with these rules later would be able to learn this information.

"Who are 'they' referring to... The Four Great Calamities?"

"Even such a powerful civilization could only flee?"

"Did they go extinct, or are they alive?"

"Why don't you mark out the remains of the civilization so I can go dumpster diving!" Lu Yuan lamented.

There lay a heaven-defying-level tantalizing trash in front of him, but these guys refused to reveal where their homeland was, preventing him from raiding their graves.

It was very frustrating.

Wait a minute!

The intentions of those two figures weren't really to proclaim their grandeur.

It was for... showing off.

"Leaving something behind" and then just boasting about it... All this talk of "no need for thanks" and "search for it," wasn't it just leading on a wild goose chase?

Lu Yuan had a flash of insight.

He had to replicate the Greedy Demon God's boasting someday.

He even fantasized about a scene: on some day in the distant future, a traveler would find some shoddy equipment he had forged.

Then, Lu Yuan's otherworldly voice would appear: "Young man, by the time you find this equipment, I will have long perished, not even my ashes remain."

"But I, the Greedy Demon God, have hidden more treasures at the edge of the world."

"Do you desire my wealth? If you wish, I can give it all to you, go find it! I have placed all my treasures there!"

The traveler would scream with passion, "Greedy Demon God, where is the treasure?"

But the Greedy Demon God was unwilling to give away the location, just showing off and then disappearing.

Thinking of this scenario, Lu Yuan couldn't help but feel invigorated.

Indeed, the greatest joy in life was in tormenting others.

…

Just as Lu Yuan was lost in thought about the God ability, the reaction between Eternal Body and Extraordinary Spark reached a critical point.

He felt his soul violently distort, and he couldn't help letting out a mournful howl from his throat.

This excruciating pain was as if a large hand had forcibly merged Lu Yuan's two kidneys into one, beyond any description!

"Save me!" Lu Yuan bellowed, falling neatly into unconsciousness.

Unconsciousness was actually a blessing in disguise, at least sparing him the pain.

The Undying Giant Turtle, who had been watching over him, had a thought and quickly pushed aside the cover, jumping down to pull Lu Yuan out of the steaming cage.

The leather jacket emitted thick steam, while Old Cat on the side picked up a basin of water and splashed it over.

"Hiss!" The water, upon absorbing the heat, generated a thick mist.

"Can... Can this be eaten now?"

"It smells so good, my brother." The Undying Giant Turtle sneakily took a bite, like a top-notch bun with thin skin and a generous filling!

Lu Yuan, as a Level Three Transcendent Life with 15.5 points in God attribute, had a high-quality soul, a rare delicacy in the eyes of the Anomaly.

"It seems that he has lost the Soul Full status, the integration must have been successful," Old Cat watched the turtle warily. If the turtle were to turn traitor and consume humans, it would simply poison Lu Yuan to death and prevent his soul from being devoured as well.

The turtle felt somewhat embarrassed: "I was just excited for a moment; do you have to be so tense?"

The orange cat rummaged through Lu Yuan's backpack for a while, found a small bottle of "Soul Baby Fruit" juice, and dripped it into Lu Yuan's mouth.

The unconsciousness came quickly and left just as swiftly.

Soon, he slowly came to, opening his eyes with excitement.

The merger of superpowers had succeeded!

Extraordinary Spark and the Eternal Body had disappeared from his skill bar.

In their place was a new ability.

[Eternal Spark: Significantly increases personal lifespan, gains limb regeneration ability, keeps personal ability values at their peak for a long time, and prevents aging until the end of life's natural span.]

[At the same time, it is an ability that can be cultivated, continuously improving your three-dimensional attributes.]

[The cultivation speed is approximately 2-3 times that of the Extraordinary Spark.]

[The power is about twice that of the Extraordinary Spark of the same level.]

[Slightly raises the upper limit of your Divine Attribute.]

The fusion of the two abilities not only retained the original functions but also gained various enhancements.

The enhancement was indeed substantial.

Although still insufficient in the face of the Four Great Calamities.

But one must know, the calamities are the enemies of civilizations.

The power of a civilization might not even be able to overcome a calamity.

If a single Divine Skill could turn the situation around, the "Great Lai Empire" and the "Gear Civilization" would have crushed the anomalies long ago, why would there be a need to flee?

So Lu Yuan's expectations weren't actually that high; an improvement here, a completion there, all those little bits and pieces added up to quite a lot.

Moreover, his ultimate goal was actually just to survive from the Calamities and return to human civilization.

Even the Greedy Demon God, however greedy, didn't aspire to be unmatched under the heavens.

Lu Yuan activated Eternal Spark, and his skin surfaced glowed with an orange-red light.

"Why is it still red? It looks rather sinister."

He concentrated the Spark's power in his legs and gave a mighty jump upwards.

His muscles massively intensified, creating a fierce friction with the sand beneath his feet.

"Whoosh!"

The jump took him upwards of thirty meters, the height of a 10-story building.

The previous Extraordinary Spark could only take him to the height of about 5-7 stories.

"Seems like there's some gain, this trip wasn't in vain," Old Cat assessed critically.

Lu Yuan excitedly picked up the Superior dagger and made a heavy slash through the air.

"Rainbow!"

A searing red light, like a sword's blaze, sliced through the air, extending more than ten meters forward before slowly dissipating.

The air turned slightly warm.

The red light's physical destructive ability wasn't strong, but it possessed a certain level of spiritual attack potency.

"Energy that can overflow and harm others is a skill possessed only by Level Four or Level Five Extraordinary Spark," remarked Lu Yuan, his eyes twinkling. He then sighed.

In this damned world, without the Anomalies, he definitely would have been considered a famous master.

But with Catastrophe level anomalies hanging over his head, dragons must coil and tigers must lie low...

What dark times!

Fortunately, he finally escaped the "Soul Full" status. Different Space, Pioneer's Eye, Explorer's Eye, Storage Space, Eternal Spark, Craftsmanship, Space Shuttle, Insightful Rune Talent... a total of 8 abilities.

It meant he could move around the Pangu Continent in human form.

"Being a tree isn't bad, but it's still more comfortable to be in one's own body, there's a feeling of great freedom."

Lu Yuan began to run wildly on the volcano, with Old Wolf speeding behind him with howls.

Adrenaline surged through his body, making his nerves extremely excited.

The hot wind, carrying sand, whipped against his face, bringing a searing pain; he ran barefoot without shoes.

Lu Yuan fully enjoyed the pleasure that movement brought.

This must be the difference between animals and plants.

Born to run!

...

(PS: Thanks to Alliance Hierarch "Mountain Opening Axe", but the donkey is currently in a severe writer's block, I owe you the additional chapters. QAQ)