Staying Alive Cautiously in the Celestial Realm and Becoming the Strongest

"You have a new package. Please check and receive it."

Wang Chen had just returned to his dormitory when the smart assistant's gentle voice reminded him.

Wang Chen opened the delivery cabinet built into the room, and sure enough, there was a tightly packaged box inside.

The laser-etched logo on the box was one he was very familiar with.

It has arrived?

Wang Chen's heart immediately jumped with joy, and he quickly took out the box.

As soon as he opened the sealed lid of the box, a gust of cold air rushed at him.

The contents stored inside were frozen at ultra-low temperatures, wrapped in a layer of crystal-clear ice, weighing about twenty to thirty pounds, and faintly pink in color.

This is Blackscale Lance Cavalry Fish meat!

The Blackscale Lance Cavalry Fish is a mutated organism. Due to its habitat on oceanic Ecological Experimental Stars and the stringent conditions needed for its reproduction, it commanded a significantly high price.

The fish could grow to a maximum size of over ten meters, diving to depths of thousands of meters in the sea to feed, with a growth cycle spanning decades. Its meat was not only exceptionally delicious but also imbued with abundant life energy.

Most importantly, catching this large fish on an Ecological Experimental Star was no easy task, and combined with the long transportation distances, Wang Chen had placed the order with a biotechnology company a month in advance. It only arrived today.

Rubbing his hands together in anticipation, Wang Chen placed the ice block encasing the fish meat into the cooking chamber to defrost.

Ten minutes later, he had sliced the twenty-plus pounds of fish meat into sashimi.

He dipped it in some homemade seasoning and began feasting heartily.

Defrosted Blackscale Lance Cavalry Fish meat must be consumed quickly. Otherwise, not only would its taste deteriorate, but the life energy it contained would also rapidly dissipate, resulting in a large loss of value.

Under normal circumstances, twenty pounds of fish meat would be enough for over a dozen people to share, and even for War Professionals with large appetites, it would sustain four or five people in a single serving.

For one person to consume it all, even if their stomach could handle it, it would be impossible to digest and absorb that much life energy at once.

You might literally eat yourself to death!

But Wang Chen was not an ordinary person.

His Heavenly Dragon Vajra Method had been cultivated to the third-tier realm, giving him extraordinary requirements for high-energy food and a digestive capacity far beyond that of regular people.

A large piece of delectable fish meat slid down into his stomach. With the strong churning motion of his abdomen, the fish dissolved into juices in mere moments, and the emitted life energy quickly integrated into Wang Chen's body.

He finished the entire twenty-plus pounds of fish in just an hour.

And even that was with Wang Chen deliberately pacing himself; otherwise, he could have eaten even faster.

The benefits that this Blackscale Lance Cavalry Fish meat brought to Wang Chen were substantial. After a night of cultivation, his Heavenly Dragon Vajra Method made significant progress toward reaching the peak of the third tier.

If he could consume this amount of equivalent-level mutant biological products daily, Wang Chen would soon be able to break through to the fourth-tier of this Body Refinement Cultivation Technique.

Unfortunately, Wang Chen's bank account couldn't handle the cost, and by Imperial citizenship ranking, he wasn't authorized to purchase such a large quantity of high-grade energy food.

The Holy Light Empire was a hierarchically rigid society, where nobles, scholar families, citizens, and lower-class residents had vastly different privileges.

As an Imperial citizen who held the status of a trainee officer, Wang Chen had the qualification to purchase Blackscale Lance Cavalry Fish of this grade.

On the other hand, a regular citizen or lower-class resident wanting to taste a single bite of Blackscale Lance Cavalry Fish meat could either mooch off someone else or resort to paying sky-high prices on the black market.

This was the law of the Empire!

On this note, elevating his citizen status had become Wang Chen's top priority on his path forward.

He decided his first step would be to attain Imperial War Professional certification.

The Imperial War Professionals were divided into seven ranks: F, E, D, C, B, A, and S, with higher ranks conferring correspondingly greater privileges.

Wang Chen needed the privilege boost granted by becoming a War Professional!

However, before taking the certification, Wang Chen had an equally important task to complete.

That task was his first genetic enhancement!

Although for Wang Chen, who possessed Spiritual Energy and practiced the Heavenly Dragon Vajra Method, whether or not he underwent genetic enhancement had limited impact on his strength, genetic enhancement still carried some risks.

Even though the side effects could be neutralized, Wang Chen deemed the investment unworthy—it lacked cost-effectiveness.

But he had no choice but to pay the price!

Without a record of genetic enhancement, if Wang Chen passed a high-ranking War Professional certification, he would undoubtedly stand out in a very unconventional way, drawing unnecessary trouble.

By that time, people would undoubtedly want to investigate the secrets of his body or the source of his astonishing strength!

Conversely, with the prerequisite of genetic enhancement, he would no longer seem conspicuous.

Of course, for his first genetic enhancement, he had to choose the best option.

Official genetic enhancements needed to be completed at designated institutions, so Wang Chen consulted online and discovered that the highest-quality enhancement package, including all services, would cost a total of one million Star Currency.

One million Star Currency!

Looking at his bank account, Wang Chen couldn't help but feel helpless.

His expenditures were too substantial.

Take the twenty-plus pounds of Blackscale Lance Cavalry Fish meat he had just consumed—it alone had cost Wang Chen over 100,000 Star Currency.

He had no way to come up with that kind of money right now.

But Wang Chen wasn't in a hurry and planned to revisit the matter after selecting his specialization.

Five days later, Wang Chen's comprehensive performance for the first academic year in the Mecha Combat Department was freshly released—668 points!

An auspicious score.

And incredibly outstanding.

Since the maximum score was 700, anything over 500 ensured a passing grade without any risk of elimination.

This score guaranteed Wang Chen a scholarship!

Having already planned everything out, he decisively chose Heavy Assault and Ground Warfare as his two pilot specializations.

These two specializations could be studied concurrently, so long as enough credits were earned, graduating wouldn't be an issue.

As the saying goes, good things come in pairs. On the same day Wang Chen received his excellent results, Sun Xinhong approached him with two classmates, requesting a customized Body Skill program.

"1.1 million Star Currency per person, guaranteed mastery!"

Faced with this business opportunity delivered right to his doorstep, Wang Chen didn't hesitate to unsheath his "dragon-slaying saber": "Non-negotiable!"

He felt no guilt about charging this much—customized Body Skills were worth every Star Currency and could even be considered a bargain!

Sun Xinhong's two classmates exchanged looks, both feeling the price was exorbitant.

1.1 million Star Currency—an amount an average person could barely save after a lifetime of hard work.

And Wang Chen was only committing to teaching fifty lessons.

However, after considerable hesitation, one of them finally asked, "Will the results be on par with Sun Xinhong's?"

"You'll have to purchase my biological supplements as well," Wang Chen replied with a faint smile. "Otherwise, no guarantees."

The classmate gritted their teeth. "Deal!"

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Second update delivered.