My Apocalypse Territory
Chapter 488 - 447: The Transcendent Path

When Tang Yu entered the library, he immediately noticed Eileen sitting by the window, engrossed in a thick book.

Her soft, sky-blue hair was tied back in a ponytail, naturally falling over one shoulder, her bright, sapphire-like eyes, and delicate eyelashes made her skin appear as if it were finely carved from jade...

The warm sunlight spilled in from outside the window, forming the most beautiful painting with the girl who was absorbed in her book.

Tang Yu paused at the entrance of the library, standing still for a few seconds before he noticed Nancy was also there on the other side of the table.

She was wearing a loose, teddy bear pajama; her clothes had slipped down her arms at some point, revealing her smooth, jade-like shoulders, and...slightly distracting lace trim.

In front of Nancy, there was also an open book. Her eyes were fixed on it but without focus, her head hanging down, and Tang Yu worried a bit about Nancy's forehead hitting the table, not to mention damaging the table.

Seeing the two of them, Tang Yu felt like he was seeing a studious scholar and a slacker pretending to study.

"What am I then? The lazy learner?"

"Most of the books here are ones I placed, but honestly, I've read less than one-tenth of an index."

He walked forward and saw the book that Eileen was holding.

——[How to Cook Delicious and Effective Meals].

It was an ancient book he had found at a "Station" not long ago, still in its original form — Eileen had clearly learned the Third Epoch's common language and could use it without any barriers.

Realizing someone was approaching, Nancy suddenly woke up, raising her head and looked around blankly.

Eileen turned her head, her slender finger pointing to a picture of food on the previous page, as if asking, shall we have this for dinner?

Tang Yu involuntarily swallowed his saliva.

Eileen's enthusiasm for cooking had always been high. At first, when the territory had only two people, Eileen was the one responsible for preparing food every day. Later, even though chefs were employed in the territory, Eileen's culinary skills improved even faster, making it unnecessary to hire a personal chef for the castle.

Remembering the recent times when Eileen had been in seclusion, not seeing her busy figure in the kitchen, even the most famous chef's food from Green Shadow tasted bland and uninteresting to Tang Yu after a few meals.

——He wasn't really the type who had to eat three meals a day, although not yet able to fast, the daily steamed Crystal Jade Rice already fulfilled his nutritional needs.

His yearning for gourmet food was more about indulgence.

Eileen and Nancy felt the same way.

It was even better when tasting delicious food could also enhance one's strength.

...

Tang Yu discussed the cooking techniques for the gourmet dishes in the ancient book with Eileen for a while.

——His own cooking skill was only level 1 (max level 100), and he was best at boiling noodles, but his insights into gourmet food were absolutely spot on, something he prided himself on as a theoretical gourmet.

Beside him was Nancy, continuously drooling.

But Tang Yu hadn't forgotten his purpose — to ask Eileen about the details of the Transcendent Breakthrough — as in roughly ten days or so, he would reach a bottleneck and needed to prepare in advance.

The combat power of the territory was not insignificant at the moment.

Two Puppet Guards, three Nightmare Puppets, and the number of Floating Airships exceeded ten.

However, the true Transcendents were only three people: Eileen, Nancy, Yan Dingtian.

Only they had experienced the breakthrough from the Awakening Tier to the Transcendent, possessing this precious experience.

Tang Yu naturally thought of Eileen.

In terms of aptitude and the diligence in cultivation, Eileen far surpassed him, even after becoming Transcendent, the visible daily enhancements in her strength were still apparent.

She was skilled in planning, studying the cultivation methods that best suited her, having a lot of insights in this aspect.

She was Tang Yu's first choice to consult.

Nancy, however, was the first to be excluded; he could already imagine her response, "(⊙ˍ⊙)? Do you need preparation for becoming Transcendent? Isn't just sleeping enough?"

Yan Dingtian should have considerable insights, as he had lingered in the Awakening Tier for over two hundred years, rich in experience.

But consulting Old Yan was also negated—after all, in Yan Dingtian's mind, he was the immensely powerful and awe-inspiring Great Lord Tang; Tang Yu felt, such a self-demoting act was not for him!

There was also "Zhen," but "Zhen" was an elf, with a different structure from humans and different cultivation methods, which did not provide a reference value.

"…When the Source Qi liquifies and amasses to the size of a pond in the Qi Sea, that's when you can distinctly feel the obstruction."

Eileen thought for a moment and switched to a more straightforward example, "It's like a bucket filled with water, covered with a lid, unable to accommodate more. At this point, you need to tap into the Source Qi Sea, repeatedly striking to create cracks on the sealed bucket, until finally, the 'bucket' barrier is completely breached, and the Qi Sea flows into the external swimming pool, enabling one to become Transcendent.

The bottleneck needs repeated strikes, and each strike will consume almost ninety percent of your strength, hence, during this phase, time is crucially needed, apart from those auxiliary items, integrating any combat skill/magic or achieving Intent Realm control over oneself could greatly aid in breaking through the bottleneck…"

Everything Eileen mentioned was her personal experience.

Regarding the Ice Series Magic, she was extremely proficient, even capable of creating spells, and while she wasn't the first in her territory to reach Intent Realm control, she had crossed this threshold before becoming Transcendent.

Upon reflection, Tang Yu… didn't meet any of the criteria.

Sorrow overwhelmed him like an inverse flow of a river.

Could it be that I can only rely on consuming medications to shorten the duration? It seems like there's nothing shameful about it, after all, it's done through my own ability.

Eileen paused, then continued, "After becoming Transcendent, the pond-sized Qi Sea will expand swiftly, becoming a small lake. The first stage of Transcendent involves increasing one's accumulation, continuing to enlarge the lake until it reaches its limit, marking the first half.

The latter half starts when a Transcendent begins to condense their Power Core over the Qi Sea. Once a core is successfully condensed, there will be a significant increase in strength. This stage could be termed Senior Transcendent, not only significantly surpassing ordinary Transcendents in strength but capable of self-detonating the Power Core to gain power far beyond one's limits when faced with insurmountable dangers.

From the inheritance, I learned that up to nine Power Cores can be condensed, but this seems to exist only in theory. Generally speaking, a Senior Transcendent who possesses three Power Cores can begin trying to fuse the cores, breaking through to Transcendent Second Stage… The more Power Cores fused, the stronger the strength after the breakthrough, the higher the upper limit."

However, Eileen's understanding of Transcendence was limited to this.

As for the Transcendent Second and Third Stages, perhaps, she would need to wait until her own breakthrough, when the inherited knowledge would unlock the relevant content.

After discussing in great detail for two to three hours, regarding his own breakthrough, Tang Yu exerted the same intense effort as when he had prepared for his college entrance exams.

He set a modest goal for himself, to become a Transcendent Strongman within two months!

Upon leaving the library and intending to enter the "Spirit Space" to venture into the "Trial Tower," an important piece of news was reported to him.

— A suspected Fourth Epoch creation's rune Tower Ship was discovered, and the ship likely possessed an Elf Ship Figurehead capable of dispersing Sea Beasts!

As for the actual owners of the Tower Ship, a certain power from Sakura Country, he simply filtered them out.

Tang Yu grew interested, considering whom to assign the task to; "Kong" had just finished his closed cultivation, thus he volunteered enthusiastically, leading two major teams of the Investigation Corps members through the Transmission Array to Luoxia.

Only then did Tang Yu learn that "Kong's" Transcendent bottleneck had been polished off, only needing one last opportunity to break through and transform into a Transcendent.

"…Is it that fast?"