30 Breakthrough and Awakening
The Milk Way experienced an upheaval that night. A starry phenomenon suddenly occurred, causing the brightness of the billions of stars to surge to a bewildering level. Their radiance bloomed like the most luminous gems scattered in deep space, compelling many powerhouses around and beyond the galaxy to lose their cool.
Cong Kai, the principal of the 4th high school, had just returned to his mansion in one of the prominent residential neighborhoods of Asia Metropolitan Region's 4th district. A trace of worry flashed through his wizened eyes as he looked up at the blinding stars that had lit up the whole sky.
"This is the second time this phenomenon has happened! What could be inducing it?"
Principal Cong Kai sighed and retracted his gaze. His gut feeling was already warning him that some trouble would be arriving close to the Milky Way because of these repeated phenomena. With that in mind, he hastily entered his mansion, eager to make a few important calls.
-----
There was an exceedingly large space fortress floating at the border of Mother Earth's solar system, just beyond the axes of Pluto and Neptune. This colossal structure of a technological wonder was one of the prime military facilities that guarded Mother Earth, the headquarters of the Federation, against alien threats.
A robust middle-aged man with long blonde white hair, piercing hazel eyes, and sharp facial features was standing in one of the core observatories of the space fortress. He was Axel Skog, the forefather of psionics, who had awakened as the first psionic more than a thousand years ago. He was also a celebrated general and fleet admiral of the Earth Federation Army.
Axel Skog looked out into space, carefully watching the burgeoning starry phenomenon. He frowned and spoke to the beautiful assistant behind him, "I can't tell what is causing this. But I fear the phenomenon will attract some troublemakers to our galaxy. Let's put out a three-star red alert to all units to guard against them."
"Yes, general," the beautiful assistant answered and walked away.
-----
Many powerhouses around the Milky Way reacted to the phenomenon in various ways. Some moved their subordinates closer to Mother Earth to guard against the resulting trouble, while others asked their respective intelligence agencies to find the cause.
However, all the chaos had nothing to do with Tang Mu, who happened to be the principal cause of the phenomenon.
At that moment, his consciousness was still soaking in an ocean of knowledge as he quickly took firm steps towards becoming a rank-one metaphysical being.
His physique was also experiencing extraordinary transformations as the boundless psionic energy continuously overflowed from his unlocked Galactic Chakra before surging into his body.
Under the baptism of this energy torrent, his bones, muscles, blood vessels, organs, and other living characteristics experienced drastic changes and repeatedly strengthened. Even his skin was exuding a radiant milky glow due to the rapid modifications within his body.
Little Green had grown numb with surprise after watching it all. The guy's breakthrough process had exceeded her expectations by a large margin.
Usually, those breaking through to the rank-one metaphysical level would only experience a psionic energy baptism for about half an hour. Even the geniuses from those top races would take at most three hours to break through to rank one.
But what about Tang Mu? Seven hours had already elapsed since the guy started his breakthrough. But even then, his body was still undergoing the psionic energy baptism.
Moreover, the energy pouring from his unlocked chakra showed no signs of subsiding, meaning the breakthrough was still ongoing. The whole process had broken into the realms of the abnormal, even at the scale of the universe.
"Maybe this is why the one in the core of the star orb chose him." Little Green thought and continued waiting at the side.
-----
Tang Mu felt like he was back in his mother's womb. His spirit was in a strange state of blissful intoxication as he immersed himself in the psionic energies and fragments of mysterious knowledge that constantly flowed into his body and actualized consciousness.
He didn't know how much time had passed. Nevertheless, his senses gradually returned, and he could feel every part of his body changing and growing more robust. Whether it was the skin, the muscles, the organs, the cells, and their components, they were all evolving as he experienced the transcendence towards a higher life level beyond human limits.
The process continued for an indeterminate amount of time until he suddenly felt a tremor shock his actualized consciousness. His mind, which had just been in the cycle of absorbing the mysterious knowledge and psionic energies, turned blank for a second.
The next moment, his mind cleared again, and he awoke with every thought in high definition. Just then, a light bulb went on in his head, and he suddenly felt like something was weird.
He hadn't opened his eyes. But he could still 'see' or perceive the area around him. Whether it was the cute Little Green, who was floating at the side, the large arched stone slab with the mural, the incorporeal floor of the platform, or the ethereal stairs some meters away, they were all clear in his mind's eye, even when he didn't use his eyes to observe them.
"Oh, you have awakened your spiritual sense while breaking through to the rank one level!" Little Green's voice sounded from the side. "This is becoming more and more interesting."
"Spirit sense!?" Tang Mu exclaimed as his eyes fluttered open.
"Yes, spiritual sense," Little Green emphasized. "It's that mysterious perception ability you are using to survey this area. Since it's connected to your mind, everything you sweep or envelope with this spirit sense will appear in your mind's eye."
"Judging from the strength of your spirit, you'll be able to sense a maximum of a one-kilometer radius when you leave the Celestial Gallery. As long as you extend your spiritual sense, you'll be able to perceive vivid details of everything within this sphere of your perception even without using your eyes."
"This..." Tang Mu's heart trembled with excitement. His hopes soared since the ability was perfect for hunting in the painting dimensions. No snakes would threaten him again without overcoming the surveillance of his spiritual sense.
Moreover, while experimenting with the ability, Tang Mu determined that it didn't require a lot of energy and mental strength to maintain. He could thus effortlessly keep it active at all times and constantly be on guard against sneak attacks that could come his way.
Little Green smiled and said, "Just be careful while using the ability. Rank-four and above metaphysical beings can detect your spirit sense if you use it to monitor them. I don't need to tell you what could happen if they realize that a rank-one has already overcome the realms of common sense to awaken his spiritual sense."
"I understand," Tang Mu replied solemnly. He didn't wish to attract unnecessary attention and court death. So, he would have to remain careful while using the ability.
Little Green nodded and observed Tang Mu with interest. "Your breakthrough caused a lot of commotion. I'm guessing your spiritual sense is not the core superpower you awakened. Am I right?"
Tang Mu grinned. He had already absorbed most of the mysterious knowledge and gained enlightenment about his core psionic superpower during his breakthrough. He just needed some practice, and he would eventually master it and use it by instinct.
"Just watch me for a moment," he said while smiling at Little Green.
He immediately emptied his mind and achieved a highly focused state. Then, in a heartbeat, he closed his eyes and instantly visualized a highly detailed image of a black iron rod within his mind.
At the exact moment that the iron rod formed in his mind, his eyes flared open and flashed with mysterious runes. He instinctively stretched out his hand and felt the psionic energy flowing into it.
Just then, something bizarre happened. A dull silhouette of something looking like an iron rod slowly appeared in his outstretched hand. At first, it was transparent with vague details. But as Tang Mu continued pumping in more psionic energy, it increasingly grew solid and more well-defined.
Twelve seconds later, after Tang Mu had expended about 5% of his psionic energy, it finally materialized and became a concrete black iron rod. Every detail about it, including the weight, the color, the length, etcetera, was like he had imagined in his head. It had just mysteriously appeared out of the blue through the ingenious usage of his psionic energy and thoughts.
"This..." Little Green exclaimed, clearly losing her composure for the first time. "This is the apex superpower of Mentifery. It's the power of Imagination or Instant Manifestation. It allows you to materialize your thoughts and imagination into reality. How are you able to awaken such an abnormal power at rank one?"
Her little green eyes had already widened after she witnessed everything that had happened. They kept darting back and forth between Tang Mu's face and the materialized black iron rod in his hand. She was clearly in a state of extreme stupefaction, and it was as if she was looking at a never-before-seen monster.
