106: Chapter 106 Don't overthink it, let's kill the bugs together.

"Having trouble with your cultivation?"

Li Yuan was stunned, subconsciously repeating the question, his brows immediately furrowing.

He pulled Laya to sit opposite Elia, the three of them forming a small triangle on the bench of the observation deck.

In the distance, the mechanical arms of the starship manufacturing center were still waving tirelessly, but for now, the attention of all three was focused on this more personal matter.

"What exactly is the situation?" Li Yuan asked with concern, his tone very gentle.

"The exact situation... I'm not too sure either."

Her voice was several degrees lower than usual, carrying a clear sense of dejection.

"It's just that although my cultivation speed hasn't changed, and I absorb the same amount of energy every day as before, it's just..."

She paused, as if it were hard to say: "I just can't seem to reach the threshold of Tier 4."

Laya blinked and leaned in closer: "Is Sister Elia unhappy because you want to advance to Tier 4?"

"Yes." Elia nodded, her silver ponytail swaying gently with the movement.

"Many of the classmates who came with us for the exchange semester have already advanced to Tier 4. Like Sai Wei, Chen Jingyi, and also..."

Her gaze swept over Li Yuan and Laya, her voice dropping even lower: "You two as well."

The disappointment hidden in those words was almost overflowing from between the lines.

Li Yuan and Laya exchanged a glance, both seeing the realization of "so that's it" in each other's eyes.

No wonder Elia had been so unusual lately.

She was the first among the freshmen of this year at North Star Academy to reach Tier 3—going from awakening to Tier 3 in just one month, setting a school record.

But now, the geniuses of the same batch were breaking through to Tier 4 one by one, while she was stuck at Tier 3 without moving an inch, not even knowing if she had reached the peak of Tier 3.

This disparity was quite a blow for the slightly proud Elia.

Of course, Elia didn't know that Li Yuan was also Tier 3.

The 100 million life essence required for his Lord of Light to advance to Tier 4 had been deducted for over half a month, but there had been no movement since.

However, Li Yuan did feel his physique slowly strengthening, and he guessed that the deducted life essence was in the process of transforming his body.

It was just that because the Light Guardian was so tanky, he had performed a fake advancement on the spot during his battle with Olivia, so in everyone's minds, Li Yuan was a Tier 4 B-rank, and a strong one at that.

"Don't worry."

Now that he finally knew Elia's trouble, Li Yuan was not worried at all.

This world followed the law of conservation of energy; as long as one could absorb energy, one would always become stronger.

Li Yuan patted Elia on the shoulder, preparing to help her check her specific cultivation situation one problem at a time.

"First, tell me, do you have any special feelings when cultivating? Is it a feeling of fullness, like you can't absorb any more energy?"

This was the most common situation.

Many talented individuals, after reaching the limit of their current tier, would develop a "sense of saturation" towards energy, requiring time to slowly digest and adapt, or to break through the bottleneck through a special opportunity.

But Elia shook her head: "No. It feels like power is constantly being absorbed into my body, but no matter how I absorb it, it has no effect..."

She paused, as if trying to find an accurate adjective, and finally said with some frustration: "My body is like a bottomless pit. The energy goes in, and then... it just disappears."

"Disappears?" Laya tilted her head. "Is it leaking out?"

"Doesn't look like it." Elia frowned. "It just feels like it's been absorbed, but it hasn't produced the expected effect."

She raised her hand and made a vague grasp in the air.

"Whoosh—"

A sharp sound of wind rang out, the speed so fast that the naked eye could barely see the trajectory.

Li Yuan raised an eyebrow.

The force and speed of that grasp were indeed far beyond the physical strength of an ordinary Tier 3 awakened one—even stronger than some Tier 4 warriors who specialized in physical combat.

"See, my physical strength has indeed become much stronger." Elia withdrew her hand, but her tone was even more dejected. "But there's almost no improvement in the talent itself."

Strength improvement?

Li Yuan's heart stirred.

He suddenly remembered that after the last space battle, the fleet had absorbed a large amount of life essence energy produced after the Zerg corpses evaporated, which was the main reason that prompted many people to advance quickly.

And in his perception, besides the portion he had absorbed himself, the largest torrent of energy... had been absorbed by Elia.

At the time, he had even marveled at how high this girl's absorption efficiency was.

Now it seemed that that massive amount of energy hadn't been wasted, but had settled in her body in another form—strengthening her physical body.

This situation... why does it feel so familiar?

Li Yuan rubbed his chin.

Didn't he also throw his 100 million points of life essence into the system without hearing a sound, only for his body to slowly get stronger?

As for his core talent, "Intent of the Northern Darkness," it didn't even have a clear tier; he only felt the Qi vortex constantly growing and becoming more solid, but it had never triggered a so-called "advancement."

Could it be that Elia's situation was similar to his in some way?

A thought suddenly popped up.

Should he... try using internal vision?

Last time when he was dual cultivating with Laya, his internal vision ability could already extend into Laya's body, clearly seeing the flow of light energy within her.

If he tried it on Elia, maybe he could discover something.

Thinking of this, Li Yuan looked up and looked at Elia seriously: "Do you trust me?"

"Ah?" Elia was a bit taken aback by his sudden question.

"My previous talent was energy affinity-oriented; even though it has evolved now, I am still particularly sensitive to energy flow."

Li Yuan explained half-truthfully, "I want to try using my ability to see the energy situation inside you; maybe I can find the root of the problem."

He paused and added: "It might require physical contact, so it's easier for my energy to enter your body and take a tour."

Elia's face turned red in a "swoosh."

The blush spread from her earlobes all the way to her neck, and it was particularly obvious on her fair skin.

Her eyes drifted away in a panic, her fingers unconsciously twisted together, and her lips moved, but no sound came out.

Laya blinked from the side, looking at Li Yuan, then at Elia, and suddenly gave an "Oh—" as if she had just realized something.

Then she very consciously raised her hand: "Then I'll go keep watch! I promise not to let anyone come and disturb you!"

After saying that, she skipped to the entrance of the observation deck, standing with her back to them like a little guard, and thoughtfully covered this corner with a layer of faint light energy—which could both soundproof and block the view.

Li Yuan was left speechless: "There's no need to be so exaggerated..."

"Yes there is, yes there is!" Laya didn't look back, her voice carrying a bit of mischief, "Sister Elia is thin-skinned~"

Elia's face turned even redder.

She took a deep breath, as if she had made a big decision, and finally looked up at Li Yuan.

Her icy blue eyes still held lingering shyness, but more than that, there was trust.

"...Mm." She replied softly.

Li Yuan smiled, took her hand, and walked to a more secluded spot in the corner of the deck.

The two sat down facing each other, in a meditation posture, with their hands pressed against each other.

"Relax." Li Yuan said gently, "Just like you usually cultivate, operate your talent normally to absorb Moonlight Power, and I will follow your energy flow to see the situation."

"...Okay."

Elia closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and tried to calm herself down.

A few seconds later, faint Moonlight Power began to appear around her.

Li Yuan also closed his eyes, his consciousness sinking into his Energy Center.

The bei ming core slowly rotated, and a wisp of pure true essence of the Northern Darkness separated from the Qi vortex, flowing along the meridians to his palm, and then through skin contact, carefully probed into Elia's body.

It was a success.

Unlike the state where Laya's body was filled with light energy, the energy performance inside Elia's body was somewhat similar to Li Yuan's.

What flowed in the meridians was milky white liquid Moonlight Power, the speed of the energy flow was very steady, circulating back and forth, forming a perfect Great Circulation.

And in the very center of her Energy Center—

A crystal as clear as a peerless jade was quietly floating above the sea of Qi.

It was translucent and milky white, with tiny light spots slowly flowing inside, as if it had sealed a miniature starry sky.

The cosmic energy in the air, as well as the thinner Moonlight Power, were seeping in through her skin pores, merging into the milky white energy flow in the meridians, flowing into this crystal, and then flowing out from it.

These energies were transported to all parts of the body along with the circulation, and then... merged into the flesh and bones.

After probing around, Li Yuan slowly withdrew that wisp of true essence and opened his eyes.

Elia opened her eyes almost at the same time, looking at him nervously: "How is it?"

Her cheeks still held a blush, but the worry and expectation in her eyes had already overwhelmed the shyness.

Li Yuan pondered for a few seconds, organizing what he had seen.

"Judging from the energy flow..." He weighed his words, "It seems there's no major problem."

Elia's eyes dimmed for a moment.

He paused and stated his conclusion: "If I really have to say it, it feels like... not enough energy."

"Not enough energy?" Elia was stunned.

"Yes." Li Yuan nodded. "Your body and talent core seem to be undergoing some kind of deeper transformation, and the energy required seems to be extremely massive."

He thought of his own system that had swallowed 100 million life essence without any reaction, and suddenly felt a sense of shared fate: "Simply put, it's not that you can't advance to Tier 4, it's that the 'experience points' required to advance to Tier 4 are very high, so the progress bar is moving particularly slowly."

Although this explanation was a bit game-like, it was surprisingly easy to understand.

"So don't worry." He stood up and pulled Elia up as well. "What you need now is not bitter cultivation, but more 'nutrients'."

"Nutrients..." Elia murmured, repeating the word.

"I discovered before that after killing bugs, a kind of energy would accumulate in the air, which was also the reason why everyone collectively advanced after the last battle, and the practical trial is in a few days."

His voice carried a reassuring certainty. "At that time, there will be as many bugs as you want. Kill more, and maybe as you keep killing, you will just 'bang'—"

He made an explosion gesture. "Advanced."

Elia looked at him, and the light finally rekindled in her icy blue eyes.

That light was very weak at first, but gradually became bright and firm.

She nodded vigorously: "Mm!"

"That's right!" Laya had run back at some point, hugging Elia's arm, and said with a grin, "Don't worry, Sister Elia, Master and I will help you lure more bugs over! I guarantee you'll have a blast killing them!"

"...There's no need for too many." Elia was a bit embarrassed by her enthusiasm. "A moderate amount will do."

"How can that be!" Laya said righteously. "If you're going to kill, kill a big one! I heard there are Thunder Beast nests on the trial planet, we can go and wipe one out!"

Li Yuan put his hand to his forehead: "...Laya, you're so brave!!!"