Enduring Laiya's barrage of gossip, Yang Ying possessed a decent understanding of the Hunter's Arm and Perseus Arm. Ten thousand years ago, the Glenvalians and the Tansing people were far mightier than any race currently inhabiting the Hunter's Arm and Perseus Arm.

To illustrate, the strongest race in the Hunter's Arm, the Galahns, controlled four of its twenty-eight star sectors, whereas the Glenvalians of ten millennia past commanded a full ten!

Back then, the Glenvalians were the dictators of the Hunter's Arm, striking whomever displeased them, forcing all other races to live under their oppression.

It was precisely because the True Human Empire exterminated the Glenvalians that those ten star sectors were left vacant. Subsequently, the Galahns, the Cycro, the Loa, the Kustar, and the Gostar—these five major races—all benefited from the demise of the Glenvalians.

The Perseus Arm's level of development was comparable to the Hunter's Arm, and the Tansing people’s strength was no less than the Glenvalians'. After their destruction, their territory was partitioned among other races. Yet, the Empire, for reasons Laiya did not fully grasp, did not station troops in the Hunter's Arm or the Perseus Arm.

This situation provided Yang Ying with an excellent idea. After bidding farewell to Laiya, he immediately returned to his dormitory villa, mentally journeyed to the Floating Continent, and sought out the General Staff, presenting his plan for them to discuss. When the Tansing and Glenvalian peoples perished, the vacant territories were taken over by various factions. Now that war had reignited, the fifteen-race alliance of the Perseus Arm involved nearly twenty star sectors, encompassing more than two-thirds of the Perseus Arm’s entire might—a force comparable to the combined offensive power of the Tansing and Glenvalians of old.

Perhaps those fifteen races were unaware of the Empire's true strength, but Yang Ying was certainly cognizant of it. Setting aside all else, the mere one hundred and eight thousand Level Ten courses available at the Glacier Central Academy were beyond the reach of any race in the Hunter's Arm; even the technologically advanced Cycro would require another hundred thousand years of development to draw even slightly near.

Although the Empire enjoyed relative peace within its borders, its people had not forgotten war. Brutal reclamation efforts and savage piracy served as sharpening stones for the Imperial military. Furthermore, the Level Four existences who survived the last great war were still very much alive, meaning the fifteen-race alliance of the Perseus Arm stood a slim chance of victory.

Following this conflict, the vast territories of those fifteen races and twenty star sectors would become available. If the Empire still refrained from stationing troops, it would present an opportunity for other races, and the three races under his command could secure a share of the spoils.

The Zerg main stronghold, Xylos Star, was located in the Perseus Arm, and the Human and Protoss fleets could arrive there quickly using spatial jumps.

With this in mind, seizing a portion of territory should not present a major issue.

Yang Ying instructed the General Staff to calculate the number of troops that could be deployed for this land grab without compromising the defense of the Solar System and A'er Star, tasking them with preparing several preliminary plans for deeper study.

Having settled this matter, he plunged back into his studies of pharmaceutics.

Time slipped by swiftly, and another half-year passed.

Yang Ying finally conquered the various hurdles from Level Nine, Class Three up to Level Nine, Class Nine. The mental connection provided by the Zerg and Protoss races swelled his spiritual power to over one billion units, and his virtual laboratory expanded to accommodate six hundred slots.

Five hundred and ninety-nine clones worked day and night researching and compounding elixirs, raising his experience rate to six hundred times that of others—one month of his research equated to fifty years of conventional effort!

During this period, to raise funds for laboratory expansion, Yang Ying made several excursions away from the academy, using these trips as a cover to launder various rare medicinal ingredients converted from silicon ore on the Floating Continent, subsequently compounding them into marketable potions.

However, he knew he couldn't engage in such activities too frequently. One or two times could be attributed to luck, but doing so repeatedly would inevitably arouse suspicion. Thus, on one of his outings, he set his sights on another target: the black market.

In the black market, one could acquire items unobtainable in legitimate commerce if the price was high enough, and the provenance of the goods was largely irrelevant. As long as it wasn't counterfeit, no one cared if it was stolen, looted, or transmuted from silicon ore.

The black market also offered one significant advantage: no taxes. The powers backing the black market had myriad ways to clean the transactions, ensuring banks or tax authorities would never come calling—though this convenience required paying a "small" service fee: twenty-five percent.

Yang Ying recalled his first, and only, anonymous visit to the black market. He had sold fifty vials of top-tier gene-stimulation serum, causing a frenzy of bidding that ultimately sold for an average price of 146 million per vial.

For a total of 7.3 billion in proceeds, Yang Ying walked away with 5.475 billion, leaving 1.825 billion in the black market’s coffers.

After that, he never returned, as he had accumulated sufficient funds.

Now, Yang Ying was focusing on his first Level Ten potion: Level Ten, Class One, the Supreme Longevity Serum. Its function was singular, yet powerful enough to enthrall emperors: extending life by one thousand years!

Dean Fascarion had earned the title of a One-Leaf Grand Apothecary solely by successfully compounding this serum. Over the centuries, the Old Dean had further refined his skills, now possessing the insignia of a Five-Leaf Grand Apothecary.

The Grand Apothecary insignia was shaped like a treelike plant. An apothecary capable of compounding Level Ten, Class One serum bore a single leaf on the branch. As their skill increased, a new leaf was added for every higher class of serum they could master.

The Old Dean’s insignia bore five leaves, indicating he could compound Level Ten, Class Five serums—a distinguished figure even among Grand Apothecaries.

Beyond that—such as the Level Ten, Class Nine Eternal Life Serum or the Level Ten, Class Ten Resurrection Potion—the greatest hurdle wasn't whether an apothecary could synthesize them; it was the sheer impossibility of acquiring the necessary ingredients.

In the Empire's history spanning hundreds of thousands of years, pharmaceutics had a profound lineage, with countless apothecaries pursuing their craft sequentially, long ago exhausting these materials. Today, the vast majority of those components were considered extinct, existing only in legend.

The Dean of the Apothecary School at the First Royal Academy on the Capital Star, Du Neihao, was an unparalleled Ten-Leaf Grand Apothecary and a Level Four existence. Yet, throughout his millennia-long life, he had managed to formulate only a single Resurrection Potion.

The Supreme Longevity Serum Yang Ying was currently researching was comparatively fortunate; methods for artificially cultivating all its required materials existed. While industrial production remained impossible, at least there was no fear of the ingredients vanishing completely.

In the virtual laboratory, Yang Ying's main body, joined by four hundred and ninety-nine clones—a total of five hundred—assaulted the Supreme Longevity Serum. The higher the grade of the serum, the lower the requirement for precision engineering, and the higher the demand for spiritual refinement.

All Level Ten serums required entirely manual preparation, with spiritual processing driving the entire procedure from start to finish. Any precision-based instrument would cause irreversible damage to the medicinal properties; the materials for Level Ten serums were simply too delicate.

Yang Ying now intimately understood this delicacy. The fusion of Solution A and Solution B was akin to walking a tightrope—leaning too far one way or the other resulted in failure.

One specific step demanded the simultaneous synthesis of five substances in a single, flawless execution. This was immediately followed by more than a dozen subsequent steps, allowing no margin for temporal deviation. Any impatience or hesitation would cause the reaction to lag or overshoot, leading to compounding failure. Crucially, the window of perfection was agonizingly brief—that singular, perfect instant perceptible only to those whose spiritual power had reached a certain mastery.

Yang Ying tried for three days but failed to compound the first successful batch. He then sought counsel from the Old Dean.

The Old Dean was astonished upon hearing the news. Yang Ying had consistently pursued his pharmaceutical studies in a secluded manner. Many knew of his rapid progress, but few grasped the true extent of his speed, capable only of educated guesswork.

The Old Dean was unaware that Yang Ying had already completed all nine classes of Level Nine serums. He had assumed that even with Igor’s supreme talent, Yang Ying would likely be synthesizing between Level Nine, Class Five and Level Nine, Class Six. The revelation that he had finished all nine classes of Level Nine utterly stunned the Dean, who repeatedly declared him a rare, unparalleled genius in pharmaceutics.

Yang Ying merely smiled, offering no comment. When he had first entered the academy, he had been preoccupied with concealing his true abilities to avoid drawing unwanted attention that might impede his actions.

However, now that Katerina had awakened, his initial objective was complete. The virtual laboratory, with its materials repository capable of unleashing unimaginable potential from silicon ore, secured, both phased goals had been achieved. If one were to ask his third phase objective, it was ascension to Level Four.

As Yang Ying compounded ever higher levels and classes of serums, his grasp of the pathways to Level Four grew clearer. It was near; the opportunity for Level Four was approaching him. This intuitive feeling lacked any empirical proof, yet Yang Ying held unwavering conviction in it.

With the objective in sight, the time demanded valiant effort and accelerated progress toward the finish line. Therefore, astonishing the masses was relegated to a secondary concern in Yang Ying's calculations.

Seeing a student of such limitless potential at his age, the Old Dean was overcome with joy. While detailing his experiences compounding the Supreme Longevity Serum, he inquired if Yang Ying would consider transferring to the Apothecary School at the First Royal Academy on the Capital Star. He offered to write a letter of recommendation, presenting Yang Ying to his own teacher, Du Neihao, the Ten-Leaf Grand Apothecary and Level Four existence.

Yang Ying considered the offer and replied that he had not exhausted what he could learn at Glacier Central Academy. The Old Dean, as a Five-Leaf Grand Apothecary, still possessed much knowledge from which he could learn, and he wished to remain at the academy a while longer.

Recalling the sensation he felt upon entering the academy, Yang Ying clearly understood that the opportunity for his Level Four breakthrough lay within Glacier Central Academy. While the Apothecary School at the First Royal Academy was vastly superior to Glacier Central’s, it did not align with the guidance of his instincts. Yang Ying decided it was best to stay put.

Finally finished with supplementing Chapter Three. My eyes are drooping; I’m heading to bed now. If you have Monthly Tickets, please cast them. If not, Recommend Tickets are welcome, and Diamonds are never refused. Thank you in advance. To find out what happens next, please log onto [website address], where more chapters are available. Support the author; insist on genuine reading!