Sam and Stone stayed in that room for a whole day and night.

Sam didn't dare open his eyes. Since the start of the operation, he was in the control and now that he is in the final stage of finishing it, he couldn't afford to lose control. Stone could feel the changes in his body.

The meridians are merged with the malleable artificial cores and all his meridian network are changing, the tendrils that emerged from the three major cores are forming a second layered network over the first one.

And these tendrils are connecting with the rest of the body merging with the original circulatory network.

Now Stone understood why Sam spent so much time morphing his body bit by bit using so many different methods. With the connection he had with the cores he could observe every change of his body at a cellular level.

Each cell in his body is now transforming. It is like a metamorphosis. It is almost like they are undergoing a mutation. His original body is designed or made to be only take in the energy that is given out by his own pathetic core.

It was not made to endure higher levels of energy.

If that body was directly introduced to these artificial cores, he would have died without even knowing what had happened to him. His new body can now endure this. However, his current cells are still used to drawing energy from that **ty core.

Sam is now giving them a reboot through the cores so they could get used to this new energy. Both in terms of level, quantity and purity.

After another three hours, Sam finally finished the surgery. There was no divine phenomenon and there was no flashy finish. In fact, the start of the operation looked the flashiest and by the end of it, Stone is actually devoid of any energy. All the energy in the cores is used up to bring the change in Stone's body.

Stone wasn't even able to sense the results of the change when the operation was done.

He fell on the floor as the formation was deactivated.

"Close your eyes and try to cultivate. I think you can sense the proper cultivation network now.

"

Stone did as he was told. He closed his eyes and sat in meditation. As usual, he could sense the vast amount of energy in the surroundings because of his enhanced soul. However, his previous self wouldn't have been able to absorb that energy inside.

But now, as soon as he tried to absorb it, every places inside his body became excited.

The three big cores. In his head, heart and abdomen, all of them started devouring the energy greedily. Apart from that, he could see that all the pores of his body are also absorbing in the energy and they channeled that energy towards the cores.

There are many pathways opened up in his body.

Energy flowed so naturally. It didn't feel like he just experienced this huge change. Instead it felt like he was born this way.

He also noticed that as the cores started filling up, they distributed energy to different meridian networks and instead of just circulating the energy, the networks are consolidating the energy storing it within themselves.

Once that happened, they also started drawing the atmospheric energy.

Sam sensed all of these changes and his face got stuck in a grin. He is sitting on the ground tired and soaked in sweat, but the excitement felt is out of this world.

"FUCKING INCREDIBLE

"

He slapped his thigh in this excited state. He wanted to look at the sky and scream at the gods.

He successfully overturned the verdict of the gods. He has rewritten the fate of a person who was born to be doomed. He made a slave into a genius. He has rewritten the history.

Sam felt this sense of satisfaction and achievement creep up in his body. He forgot about all the fatigue and stood up. He focused his gaze on Stone, who opened his eyes after over an hour.

His eyes are teared up. He is crying like a little baby. He fell on his knees his forehead touched the floor. He hugged Sam's feet as tears streamed down his face.

"Thank you, Sir. Thank you.

"

His voice carried something that Sam had heard many times before. However it was never directed at him. It is pure devoting. In this moment, in Stone's eyes, Sam is the god. Sam made him get up and said.

"Be prepared. I will set the stage for you and you shall reclaim your love. Until then, just stay put and prepare yourselves.

I need to go now.

"

Sam rushed out after leaving those words.

He was dashing towards Nalan's restaurant and he wanted to call his friends to share the news, however on his way, he was blocked by someone. In fact, he wasn't even blocked, Sam halted his steps as soon as he saw that person.

"Long time no see.

" He greeted the young man who was standing across him. Ling Tian grinned widely as he walked towards Sam.

"It has indeed been a long time, Sam. I believe that you are doing well. I was anticipating this meeting for a long time.

"

Sam smiled and Ling Tian and shook his hand.

He shared a weird relationship with Ling Tian, unlike other players Sam didn't get to interact with the god that was sponsoring him. So, he couldn't be in touch with Gambler that much and Ling Tian came to him in his stead.

Every time Sam met him, something major happened.

It was very weird to meet him casually.

"Even I was waiting to meet you. Karthikeya said that you joined here as an instructor. So, I thought you would be here along with the Senior students. However, you were nowhere to be seen.

"

"I accepted a special mission from the Lord. Even though I joined here as an instructor, my situation is very unique as you might have already guessed.

"

"I do believe that you are way past just entering the Consummation of Divine Plane. So, is this instructor post because of me?

"

"It is kind of true. Right now, you are way too close to the gods. With your behavior until now, they might just cross a line or two. So, Lord appointed me here just in case you face any anomalies.

"

"Whatever the reason might be, it is good to finally see you in person.

"

"Well… that might have to wait for a while.

"

Sam was confused.

Ling Tian was about to explain, when his communication token vibrated.

"Anyway, it is not time to talk leisurely. Wharton is looking for you and he is in quite a pickle. So, it is better if we report to the Academy right away.

"

"What for?

"

Sam asked, however, he already started following Ling Tian.

"Well, you might have forgotten with your busy routine, however, whenever a candidate wins the Solo Combat of the Freshman tournament, that region will give out a special felicitation and reward for them.

It was not exactly a rule created by the gods, it was created by the Deans of old times. The felicitation usually happens as soon as the candidates come back. With a huge parade and all the extravagance.

This time though, the MVP has disappeared as soon as he entered the region.

"

He looked at Sam meaningfully.

Sam just shrugged. He was in a hurry to finish off Stone's surgery, so he didn't bother going back to the Academy, Chorus was too lazy to stop him and Dove didn't think that he would actually disappear like that.

She thought he was just handling some minor matters as she assumed he understood the importance of the ceremony.

Contrary to everyone's expectations, Sam just disappeared for the whole day and right now is almost noon of the second day.

When he finally arrived at the Academy, Wharton greeted him. He held Sam by his shoulders and shook him violently. Like a kid shaking a toy.

He didn't show a single sign of frustration from Sam's sudden disappearance. He is just way too ecstatic as he praises Sam. The elders who were originally a bit hostile toward Sam are also a bit favorable toward him.

"Go and Get ready. The ceremony will be this evening. The Deans of all the Academies in the region, and the deans of the affiliate Astral Region Academies will all come today. It will be very lively.

"

Dove grabbed Sam out of all the congratulations and threw him into his dorm. Sam sighed in exasperation. He has way too many things to handle. The plans need to be executed as soon as possible.

He is already feeling a bit late with the surgery going on for so long.

He wanted to sneak out, but he knew this would be inevitable. So, he might as well get this over with. Since this is the ceremony for the winners, that means most of his teammates will be here anyway. As this thought came to his mind, a sudden idea popped into his head. He walked out to find where Ling Tian was. A ceremony like this will be handled on a grand scale. Not as grand as the award ceremony in the tournament venue, but this is a good enough stage.

It would be a waste to not use it.