Chapter 25: A Private Conversation Between Father and Son

Counting the twenty hours of deep sleep he had just finished, he had been confined to his bedroom for nearly two days. Even though he had informed his parents beforehand, he felt he needed to make an appearance to avoid them worrying or, worse, forcing their way into his room.

In the living room, his parents, Song Chao and Chen Lixia, were both present. As captain-class Starfire ship owners, they had no other professional obligations and usually spent much of their time at home. Seeing Song Chi’s refreshed and clear-eyed appearance, they finally breathed a sigh of relief, while simultaneously feeling a sense of quiet pride in their son.

Entering a "limit-breaking" state was no easy feat. Although it had been a stroke of luck, having experienced it once meant that, provided his future luck wasn't abysmal, his chances of fully mastering the state remained quite high.

After the three of them chatted for a while, Song Chao gave Chen Lixia a meaningful look. She stood up, walked over to the sofa, and knelt to grope beneath it for a moment. Song Chi was confused, but before he could ask, his mother triggered some hidden mechanism. A subtle blue light screen emerged from the floorboards, rapidly spreading to every corner of the house until it formed a completely enclosed space.

Song Chi’s eyes widened. As a man who had lived two lifetimes and was precocious from a young age, he had absolutely no idea that his home harbored such a secret device. Song Chao beckoned him to follow, and father and son stepped into the study.

The moment he entered, Song Chi was stunned again. Compared to the study he remembered, everything had changed. The desk, bookshelves, wooden chairs, and even the windows had vanished. The room now resembled a chaotic expanse similar to the Starfire ancestral aperture, but in the center, instead of a burning Starfire heart, there lay an atlas over ten meters in length and width.

Looking up, he saw a vast starry sky backdrop where the phantom of a dragon-whale roared toward the heavens, and a ten-thousand-meter-tall mechanical giant stood firm, overlooking all living things. The scene was engraved on the atlas with lifelike intensity. At that single glance, the back of the towering mechanical giant seemed to possess an infinite, magnetic power that locked onto Song Chi’s gaze, leaving his body frozen in place, unable to move a muscle.

His vision dimmed rapidly. When the light in his eyes finally faded, he found himself beneath a sky of eternal darkness. Above him loomed the projection of the mechanical giant, with the dragon-whale phantom flickering around it, solemn and imposing. He didn't know how much time had passed, but he noticed the giant's projection becoming increasingly solid and majestic, with even the elusive dragon-whale becoming clearly visible.

Suddenly, he heard his father’s voice.

"Do not panic, do not resist. This is the 'Dragon-Spine Tyrant Whale Mythical Mecha Visualization Chart' passed down by our Dinghai Song Clan. As a secret known only to our bloodline, you must imprint this visualization deep into your mind. By meditating on it constantly and pairing it with the support of your Starfire Seed, you will be able to continuously and steadily strengthen your mental power."

"Do not underestimate this mental power. It may be hard to discern in the early stages, but once your Starfire ship is strengthened to a certain level and you activate its mythical mecha form, the strength of your mind will directly determine the duration of the form and your combat effectiveness. No descendant of the Dinghai Song Clan is permitted to slacken in their practice of this visualization."

Hearing his father's explanation, Song Chi realized this was a high-level inheritance. He shed his resistance and focused his mind, actively observing every minute detail of the giant. To his own surprise, this focused concentration pushed him back into a "limit-breaking" state. With his mind split into three, his imprinting of the giant became incredibly vivid.

He didn't know how long it lasted, but when the projection faded, he returned to reality. The study was back to its chaotic, empty state, and the atlas lay in the center. However, this time, the special feeling was gone; it looked like nothing more than a realistic, ordinary painting. Furthermore, he sensed that the image on the atlas had dimmed significantly; he estimated it could be imprinted only one more time before it blurred into uselessness.

"Each person can only visualize it once. This isn't the original, so there is one more chance for your sister. The effect of the imprint varies by person—the better the imprint, the stronger the boost to one's mind."

"The best result in our clan's history was eighty percent of the essence. My comprehension is mediocre; I only managed forty-five percent."

Song Chao’s voice broke the silence. He stared at his son, clearly awaiting the result. Song Chi closed his eyes, dove into his consciousness, and then looked back at his father.

"Seventy percent!"

He was quite satisfied with this result. By his father’s standards, it was an excellent outcome. He realized that it wasn't just his talent, but the fact that he had hit the limit-breaking state during the imprint. Without it, he would likely have been on par with his father at around forty or fifty percent.

As he expected, a smile he couldn't hide spread across Song Chao's face.

As they stepped out of the study, Song Chi began to press for answers about the "Dinghai Song Clan." "Dad, what is this Dinghai Song Clan you mentioned? Does our family have some sort of unspeakable, glorious past?"

Song Chao was just about to boast to his son to regain some of the prestige he often felt he lost in front of his precocious child, but he caught sight of the blue screen fading and Chen Lixia’s stern glare. He promptly shut his mouth.

"Why ask so much? You'll know when you're supposed to. Go do what you need to do. Your sister is on break tomorrow, remember to pick her up on time."

Song Chi twitched his lips, shrugged, and decided not to push further. He gave a casual response and headed out. He still had a batch of resources from the *Cangqiong* that needed to be sold, and he had to make another trip to the black market.

An hour later, Song Chi returned home. He was left with 400 strands of Rank-0 floating land origin and 40 strands of Rank-1 floating land origin, along with a reserve of ship-strengthening resources like life nuclei, mercury crystals, and adamantine for emergencies.