The starlight fruit shimmered with dazzling brilliance, just like a star in the sky. William Clark hesitated—could this thing really be eaten? It didn’t look like a fruit at all.

But since the shop called it a fruit, it should be edible, right?

For William Clark, he used to be like a frog at the bottom of a well, but now, at this very moment, he had finally climbed up to the edge. There was no reason not to take the leap.

Eat!

William Clark stuffed the starlight fruit into his mouth, and once again, it melted instantly as soon as it touched his tongue.

In that instant, a vast surge of starlight power rushed down, heading straight for the star map within his chest.

Only at this moment could William Clark clearly see the appearance of this star map: it was composed of seven nebulae of varying sizes, each filled with dim, lightless stars, as if waiting for something.

Within each nebula were seven main stars, and now the starlight power was surging toward one dim star in the smallest nebula.

The moment the starlight power merged, the first star in the smallest nebula was instantly lit up.

William Clark felt the power of this star fill to the brim, and the starlight power surged toward the next one, lighting up the second star completely!

By this time, the starlight power within the fruit was finally exhausted.

William Clark opened his eyes. He could clearly feel the starlight power shining brilliantly within his body, like a different kind of vitality!

This power was something he could use!

William Clark had always been frail since childhood, looking as if a gust of wind could blow him over. Yet now, he felt his body had never been in such good condition, as if it contained immense strength.

Just one starlight fruit had lit up two stars in the smallest nebula. Although the stars that needed to be lit up next were each bigger than the last, William Clark felt that as long as he put in the effort, he would eventually be able to light up the entire nebula.

What kind of change would happen then?

The stars lit up inside him flickered as if they could breathe. With each flicker, William Clark felt every part of his body washed over by a warm current—it was incredibly comfortable.

So this was the power of the stars.

This was supernatural power!

William Clark tried to lift his bed. The bed he couldn’t lift before, he could now. He took a deep breath and swung his fist down at the floor!

Within the nebula in his chest, a burst of starlight power suddenly erupted, rushing toward William Clark’s arm like a surging river. The starlight, like fine dust, filled every vein and muscle, even reaching his very cells.

With a thud, a muffled sound echoed from the floor—a loud noise.

Hiss! Damn, that hurt!

He’d aimed for the floor because William Clark was afraid of breaking the furniture and being asked by the landlord to pay for it. Still, he had overestimated his own strength a bit. It was definitely much greater than before, but the problem was, his fist was still no match for the floor.

William Clark now had a rough idea of his own strength. At this stage, he was just a bit stronger than a normal adult.

Compared to someone like Edward Carter, who could set things on fire after awakening, he was definitely not on that level yet. William Clark could only envy him.

But that didn’t mean his cultivation was useless. On the contrary, William Clark was quite happy. After all, he had only just lit up the two smallest stars.

What the future would be like, no one could say.

William Clark exchanged for two more starlight fruits and ate them. This time, he was much more practiced. He watched as the starlight power once again filled the third star in his body, then was used up.

This surprised William Clark a bit. Lighting up the first two stars had only taken one starlight fruit, but lighting up the third required two.

William Clark felt the power in his body. While it hadn’t quite doubled, it was close.

Yet, from the outside, his body still looked the same—still the pale, sickly youth, just no longer weak.

William Clark figured he probably had the strength of two adults now? No matter what, he was much stronger than before, and it felt like life suddenly had hope again.

What kind of future did the old William Clark look forward to? Whatever a normal person was like, that’s what he wanted to be. After graduation, a nine-to-five job, marriage, kids—that would be it.

Just thinking about it felt a bit bleak...

That’s the life of most ordinary people, but for some, being ordinary itself is a kind of tragedy.

What is the purpose of living? That’s a pseudo-question—no one can give a unified answer, because everyone is different.

For William Clark, it was all about greater freedom.

This freedom didn’t mean lawlessness, but rather more choices: to go wherever he wanted, eat meat whenever he wanted, stay at home without worrying about making a living.

Some people spend their whole lives making money, and it seems to be for this very reason. The higher your status, the more freedom you have. If others can’t afford a luxury car, but you can buy one whenever you want—that’s a kind of freedom too.