An Unexpected Mutation!

Jin City.

Chen Feng was crafting genes in his rented apartment.

Over the past two days, he had been frantically producing Max Stats Gene Reagents. The Luck Value he had accumulated over the previous days was nearly exhausted. He had made quite a bit of money, but it was still nowhere near enough to buy a second formula.

"A work-type gene formula starts at one hundred thousand."

"A combat-type gene formula starts at one million."

Chen Feng's heart ached.

The money he had saved over the past two days was not even enough for a single formula! Even a Max Stats Wood Bear Gene only brought a net profit of 5,500 yuan. He had sold twenty of them and made only 110,000 yuan. A million for a combat formula was still a distant dream!

"I need to find a way to raise some money."

"Should I go hunt another Mutated Shark?"

Chen Feng thought it over, then abandoned that suicidal idea.

Killing that Mutated Shark had been pure coincidence. That thing had been terrifyingly powerful, and the only reason he had managed to hunt it was because he had been inside the Mutated Black Sea Shark's body!

If he wanted to hunt another monster like that...

He would first have to let it swallow him.

Well...

That thing had been a psychic Mutated Beast. The moment it swallowed you, it would directly destroy all your consciousness and soul! The original owner of this body seemed to have died that way, which was why Chen Feng had transmigrated here, right?

Chen Feng had no doubt that if he encountered that kind of thing again, he would certainly die.

"My combat strength is still too weak. It's not reliable."

Chen Feng shook his head and ultimately decided to continue crafting Wood Bear Genes.

However...

After finishing this batch of genes, Chen Feng discovered while selling Wood Bear Genes that one displayed in the nearby Glass Cabinet had suddenly risen in price to twenty thousand!

"Has this guy gone crazy? Selling it for that much?"

Chen Feng walked over curiously to take a look, only to be stunned.

Name: Wood Bear Gene - Augment

Attributes: 3 Strength, 3 Physique.

Ability: Wood Bear's Fury. Increases Strength by 10 points for 20 seconds. Cooldown: 60 seconds.

Type: Mutant

Price: 20,000 yuan

"Mutant?"

Chen Feng was shocked. What was this?

After looking it up online, he finally understood.

Mutant Genes were special products that had a small chance of appearing during gene crafting.

During the gene reaction, the catalytic reactions of several genes could cause the recessive genes within a Wood Bear Gene to mutate, producing a Mutant Wood Bear Gene!

That was the basis of mutation.

Excellent Genes referred to genes with somewhat higher attributes than ordinary genes, while Mutant Genes represented a transformation in Gene Ability.

For example—

The Mutant Wood Bear Gene.

The ordinary Wood Bear Gene's ability was Wood Bear's Fury, which increased Strength by 10 points for 10 seconds, with a 60-second cooldown.

Wood Bear Gene - Augment had an increased ability duration, extending it from 10 seconds to 20 seconds! Wood Bear Gene - Reduce reduced the cooldown of Wood Bear's Fury from 60 seconds to 30 seconds! No matter which type of Mutant Gene it was, its value far exceeded that of ordinary genes!

That was the power of Mutant Genes.

"Mutation..."

Chen Feng's heart stirred.

He was desperately short on money right now, but if he could craft a Mutant Gene...

"Does mutation occur during the gene reaction stage?"

Chen Feng suddenly understood. He finally knew why gene crafting was divided into three stages.

The first stage, gene searching—affected gene attributes!

The second stage, gene reaction—affected gene mutation!

The third stage, gene fusion—affected the gene's success rate!

As for Chen Feng, he had already tried the first and third stages. He only needed 1 point of Luck Value to make them perfect. But what about the second stage?

"How would I know if I didn't try?"

Chen Feng licked his dry lips and began crafting the gene once more.

The first stage was complete.

The second stage...

Luck Aura activated!

When the gene reaction was complete, the gene that appeared before Chen Feng was slightly different from before. More precisely, its color was darker than usual.

The third stage: gene fusion.

Whoosh!

The Gene Reagent turned dark blue.

Crafting successful.

Chen Feng instinctively checked inside his body first. His Luck Value had consumed 2 points!

"It really consumed 2 points."

Rather than being alarmed, Chen Feng was delighted. Did that mean...

Whoosh.

The gene scan swept over it.

Mutant Wood Bear Gene.

Base Attributes: 3 Strength, 3 Constitution.

Gene Ability: Wood Bear's Fury. Increases Strength by 10% for 10 seconds. Cooldown: 60 seconds.

Mutant?

It had really mutated!

He had spent 2 points of Luck Value—1 point to give the Wood Bear Gene high attributes, and 1 point to mutate the Wood Bear Gene, creating the most perfect gene!

Only...

Something seemed off?

Chen Feng carefully examined the mutant gene he had crafted and suddenly felt a little dumbfounded.

Wait.

What the hell was this 10%?

Chen Feng failed to recover his senses for a long while.

That wasn't right. Even if it mutated, shouldn't the change be to the duration or cooldown time? He had never heard of the Wood Bear Gene having a third type of mutation attribute!

What the hell was this?

Chen Feng was completely baffled.

He quickly entered the Virtual Community.

Chen Feng opened the virtual Light Screen and searched for Wood Bear Gene, mutant.

Whoosh!

A new page of data appeared.

Wood Bear Gene - Augment, 20,000 yuan, sold out.

Wood Bear Gene - Reduce, 20,000 yuan, sold out.

With a mutation, the selling price of the Wood Bear Gene had doubled again! The Wood Bear Gene, originally priced at 5,000 yuan, had actually sold for the astronomical price of 20,000 yuan! But what made Chen Feng feel miserable was that even in the Virtual Community, there was no record of a third mutant form of the Wood Bear Gene!

Gene Abilities could be improved through training, and the Wood Bear Gene's ability cap should be Level 10.

Level 1 Wood Bear's Fury increased Strength by 10 points.

Level 2 Wood Bear's Fury increased Strength by 20 points.

Level 10 Wood Bear's Fury increased Strength by 100 points.

Then what about his percentage?

Level 1 Wood Bear's Fury increased Strength by 10%, so at Level 10 it would increase Strength by 100%!

That sounded powerful, right? It doubled his strength outright! However, percentage-based boosts would certainly be precious in Combat Genes, but this was a work gene. For an ordinary laborer with only 20 Strength to begin with, a 10% increase only meant 2 additional points of Strength!

Even at max level, how much could it amount to?

100% was far less worthwhile than 100 points!

Since it was meant for labor, their base Strength would definitely be low, so...

Could this thing really sell?

Chen Feng was deeply suspicious.

After searching online for a long time, he found no relevant data whatsoever. Chen Feng guessed that the one-in-ten-million hidden probability within the Wood Bear Gene had been forcibly triggered by the Luck Aura. Whether that was good or bad, even he did not know. However, he quickly found a solution.

The Virtual Community was so popular because it offered far more than just a Trading Department.

Entertainment...

Performances...

Classes...

Anything you could think of, the Virtual Community had it.

Chen Feng directly purchased consultation services from several Producers. To his surprise, even Advanced Producers knew very little about this subject.

"Wood Bear Gene? I haven't researched it in a long time."

"A third possible mutation? It should... maybe... perhaps not exist? I'm not too sure either."

"If you're really interested, there may be one person who knows."

Gene Producers were generally meticulous and would not make guarantees about things they did not understand. Still, they recommended someone to Chen Feng.

Advanced Gene Producer Tao Hongkai!

This Master had become known for writing the "Complete Guide to Producing the Wood Bear Gene." He was the first Producer to lay out every knowledge point regarding the Wood Bear Gene, and he was immensely popular among lower-level Producers. His name could be found in the introductory textbooks of countless novice Producers.

"Professor Tao?"

Chen Feng fell into thought.

The Wood Bear production guide he had first seen also bore this Master's name. As it happened, the Master had a virtual class that evening. Perhaps he could clear up Chen Feng's doubts.

Tomorrow, the novel would be pushing for the New Book Rankings. There would be an extra chapter at midnight.