16: the way

After Xiang Yan devoured the stars grudge, he not only received the massive torrent of information given to it by the will of the stars, but also an unexpected gift—the seed of the star.

This item could be called the greatest Legacy of the will of the stars. If used correctly, its minimum potential was 'Hyper-dimensional Observation'.

“seed of the star...” Xiang Yan whispered, fine and gorgeous auroras dancing at his fingertips, traces of pure cosmic energy flowing through them. The seed of the star rotated in his palm, emitting a soft light, like a star nurturing infinite possibilities.

This Legacy truly opened a path toward becoming one of The Strong Ones for him.

Based on the Legacy of the will of the stars, Xiang Yan sorted out several possible paths for advancement. Each was enough to grant him supreme power, but the final choice would determine his future destiny.

The first path was to find a suitable planet and use the seed of the star to undergo Fusion with it, becoming an Incarnation of the will of the stars—commonly known as a world will or the Heavenly Dao. This path was the most stable, allowing him to control a world and possess near-infinite lifespan and power.

However, the drawbacks were also obvious. Doing so would bind him directly to the planet, effectively imprisoning him in one place. Although his territory could continuously expand as he grew, and his Domain's range would not be limited to a single planet—eventually allowing him to roam the Universe once he reached a certain level—

The time required was immense. For someone like Xiang Yan, who had only lived for over twenty years, this span of time looked like nothing but despair at a glance.

The second path was to use the seed of the star as a tool and become a cosmic bandit from then on. He would seek out planets with a will of the stars to pillage, forcibly seizing their world power to accumulate capital and step into higher levels.

But the problems with this were also significant. Aside from other issues, doing this would cause his negative energy to explode, returning him to that arrogant state where he looked down on everyone. This caused this path's ranking in his heart to drop several places.

Thinking back, after learning about the strength of the Omir Star River Alliance from Cassius, the fact that his first thought was to fight them head-on rather than run was already a major red flag.

Fortunately, the one who came back then was a weakling; otherwise, in that game of 'winner winner chicken dinner,' he might have ended up as the chicken.

It was also fortunate that the advancement of his life level gave him a super powerful enhancement, allowing him to regain his sanity. If he had remained in that 'everyone is an eyesore, I am number one in the world' state, he probably would have prepared to use his abilities to take on the Star River Federation immediately after finishing his advancement.

The third path was to use the seed of the star as a commodity. He could find an extremely powerful world will or Heavenly Dao and offer the seed of the star to It in exchange for protection and nurturing, thereby rapidly increasing his strength.

To be honest, when he saw this option, Xiang Yan's heart skipped a beat. According to the information, if he truly offered this thing up, a protagonist status was guaranteed—and a lifelong custom version that would never be stripped away as long as he didn't seek death.

Furthermore, this custom version could be changed at any time according to his wishes.

It was of a completely different nature than those 'pigs' who take flight because they are standing in the wind, only to fall to their deaths once the wind stops.

Three seconds after seeing this information, all sorts of plots appeared in Xiang Yan's mind. Cold and aloof older sister Revered Master, pure and cute Junior Sister, beautiful CEOs, beautiful Revered Master's wives, kind sisters-in-law, gentle elder sisters-in-law... all sorts of 'colorful' scenarios kept popping up, making him incredibly excited.

Holy crap, stop! I can't think about it. If I keep thinking, I'll be controlled by negative emotions again.

Taking a deep breath to suppress his restless emotions, Xiang Yan glanced between his legs. Yeah, no problem, the 'Dragon' is ready to strike!

He continued reading. The fourth path was extremely simple and crude: use the seed of the star as a one-time consumable, fully unleashing its power to communicate with the will of the main universe and instantly boost his own strength. While this provided immediate results, estimates suggested he would at most reach the middle stage of a Starry Sky Traveler, or perhaps the high stage if he was incredibly lucky, with no further benefits afterward. Anyone who did this was either brain-dead or had 'mines at home'—no, even having mines wouldn't be enough to describe it.

One would have to be able to say, 'My father (or grandfather) is an Eternal True God.'

It could be called the ultimate waste of a heavenly treasure.

The fifth path also used the seed of the star as a one-time consumable. The difference was that this method provided no increase to strength, lifespan, or other such aspects; it simply granted the user all the abilities possessed by the will of the stars. Furthermore, these abilities would grow stronger as the user grew stronger, and the user wouldn't be imprisoned in one place.

However, there were problems. Assuming the ability score of the will of the stars 'atheran' was 100 points, someone choosing the fifth path who ended up with an ability score of 5 points would already be a peerless Prodigy. Most people hovered between 1 and 2.

Of course, there was no shortage of 'clever' people who thought: if a base score of 100 isn't enough, I'll just find one with a thousand, ten thousand, or even higher points.

The problem was that this thing was inversely proportional. If you looked for a 1,000-point source, the final evaluation would be 0 to 0.2; for 10,000 points, it would be 0 to 0.02.

In his memories, a big shot explained it like this: things like the will of the stars are the darlings of the Main Universe, but the Main Universe generally maintains a hands-off attitude. After they are born, it gives them a bit of startup capital and then lets them do whatever they want; it doesn't manage them.

The philosophy was 'responsible for birth but not for burial.' If you killed one, it proved the child wasn't excellent enough. You helped it weed out inferior products, so if you dragged the corpse over, it would give you a reward.

But your current behavior is equivalent to killing someone's child, dragging the corpse in front of them, manually stripping the child's clothes to wear them yourself on the spot, and then shouting 'Daddy' at the Main Universe.

In such a situation, it's already considered merciful that the Main Universe didn't slap you to death. Moreover, it even acknowledged its status as your 'step-dad' and gave you a few scraps; what more do you want, a bicycle?

Seeing the information on the fifth path, Xiang Yan's heart was full of 'WTF.' Although he knew before that the Main Universe was extremely tolerant, being tolerant to this extent was unparalleled.

Calming his thoughts, Xiang Yan began to think seriously. Five paths, like five forks in the road, lay before him. Each had its own pros and cons, but based on his needs, the first to be excluded was the fourth—what kind of garbage was that? The hidden dangers were too great.

That left only the second, third, and fifth paths to choose from.

Dammit, every time I look at the third one, I really don't want this thing called 'sanity' anymore.

After a long time, Xiang Yan finally made a choice. He chose...