Talent Skill 3: Gene Fragment

Black Mist Valley, early morning.

Bai Pu stepped out of the bunker and locked the main door with a clang.

Breathing in the slightly musty air, Bai Pu stretched lazily.

After several hours of rest, his depleted Spirit Energy and exhausted Blood Battle Qi had fully recovered. He could happily resume grinding monsters.

Behind Bai Pu followed two temporary servants, one tall and one short. The tall one was a Skeleton Warrior, while the short one was an Undead Bone Mage.

Bai Pu ordered the two servants to hide nearby. He did not need their help when using Flesh Armor to wipe out mobs in a single wave. They were mainly there to deal with unexpected situations, like that mustached Awakened who had come to steal experience last time.

After clearing another wave of monsters.

You gained 2 Life Source Points. Current Life Source Points: 101/100.

Your talent, Evolution Heart's Talent Skill 3: Gene Fragment, has been unlocked!

Delighted, Bai Pu immediately checked it.

Evolution Heart (Growable Talent, Cannot Be Ranked)

Talent Skill 1: Self-Adaptive Evolution: Stored Forms 3/4 (Keratinous Skin, Fluid Skeleton, Icy Body)

Talent Skill 2: Pure Blood Guard: Pure Blood 0/2, Servants 2/2

Talent Skill 3: Gene Fragment: Killing powerful foes allows you to harvest Life Source Points. You may consume Life Source Points to temporarily fuse with the combat gene fragments of deceased powerful beings! The powerful gene fragments currently stored are as follows...

Below was row upon row and column upon column of phantom figures.

Bai Pu saw Blood Ring Hammer Knights, Skeleton Warriors, Undead Bone Mages, and that Blood Ring Aberrant with an enlarged right arm wielding a bronze pillar. At the very end, he even saw Blood Hand Colen! The lower-right corner of each phantom displayed its corresponding Life Source Point cost. Skeleton Warriors cost the least, requiring 10 to 15 Life Source Points; Blood Hand Colen cost the most, requiring 50 Life Source Points.

"So these are all powerful foes I killed and absorbed Life Source Points from..."

Bai Pu frowned in thought. The description for Talent Skill 3, Gene Fragment, was still rather vague. What did "fuse with the combat gene fragments of deceased powerful beings" mean? What effect would it have after fusion? Life Source Points were extremely precious, but to find out exactly what the talent skill did, Bai Pu still gritted his teeth and spent 15 Life Source Points.

He selected a Skeleton Warrior's Gene Fragment and temporarily fused with it! A stream of information poured into Bai Pu's mind, while a warm current pumped from his heart and flowed throughout his body. His eyes widened instantly, and his face filled with delight.

So... this was what Gene Fragments did!

As expected of a talent produced by Evolution Heart. It was no inferior to the two god-tier talents, Self-Adaptive Evolution and Pure Blood Guard!

Special Military Base, main hall.

Only one day had passed, yet quite a few Awakened had already returned from the Dead Bone Mountain Range Intersection Lands.

These Awakened were mostly wearing grim expressions, gathered in groups of three or five as they discussed matters in low voices.

The Intersection Lands would remain open for a full ten days. Those were incomparably precious ten days—just consider how valuable free exploration time in the Spirit Realm was.

Yet because of unforeseen dangers, they had no choice but to leave early after staying only a day or two. Their losses were simply impossible to measure.

In a corner of the main hall, Qilin was making a call through the virtual display of his personal information terminal. Mad Dog was nowhere to be seen beside him.

The image on the display was Li Ling. Her expression was somewhat grave.

"You're saying someone ambushed you, and they were trying to kill you?"

"Yeah. Thinking back, both of them had disabled the military's Spirit Energy Cameras beforehand. They were obviously targeting us. This definitely wasn't just a simple case of monster stealing."

Gains in the Intersection Lands depended on one's own ability. If someone stole your monsters, you could only blame yourself for being weaker, and the military certainly would not intervene. But disabling Spirit Energy Cameras violated military regulations. Once the Intersection Lands closed, the military would definitely investigate.

After asking a few questions about the details, Li Ling frowned. "Where's Taurus? Is he still inside the Intersection Lands?"

"He didn't leave. Mad Dog and I fled in a sorry state, and we didn't retrieve the military's Spirit Energy Cameras. We can't even send Taurus a message now," Qilin said.

"Taurus is a tank. It's not like he'd be instantly killed before even managing to leave." At first, Li Ling truly had not considered the possibility of bloody items. Mainly because those things were too uncommon, and using them in the Intersection Lands was a serious crime.

"That's good." Qilin thought the same.

"From your description of those two—their clothing, weapons, and fighting style—they sound very similar to that Awakened squad called 'Stinger' that Bai Pu mentioned."

Li Ling pondered for a while, then her expression suddenly turned cold. "Could they be targeting Bai Pu?"

"That has to be it. We were just caught up in it for no reason." Qilin shook his head with a bitter smile. "Looks like Bai Pu will be joining us soon..."

"I'm afraid it won't be that simple..."

A trace of worry appeared between Li Ling's brows. She said in a low voice, "I'm heading to the military base immediately!"

"Ling-jie, isn't that a little too serious...?" Qilin was somewhat surprised. Awakened fighting in the Intersection Lands was commonplace. Under normal circumstances, no one died anyway, and the law would not care who stole whose boss. Did the other side really have the means to kill people in the Intersection Lands? Qilin, Mad Dog, and the others had merely been driven out of the Intersection Lands because they were weaker. If they provoked the God Strategy Army behind them to step in... that would be making a mountain out of a molehill. People would laugh if word got out.

"What do you know? You're just a little brat who's only been Awakened for two years. How much of those ruthless, underhanded methods have you even seen?" Li Ling reprimanded him, then hurriedly said, "I'm not talking to you anymore. I need to go there and apply to retrieve Bai Pu's Spirit Energy Camera number so I can contact him!"

That was the difference between a military captain and an independent Awakened like Qilin. They had access to different things, and their horizons and knowledge were different as well.

Black Mist Valley.

Bai Pu cleared another wave of monsters, then sat cross-legged on the ground and inscribed Flesh Runes.

His face was filled with joy.

After two days of effort, he had finally accumulated enough experience and raised his class level to Level 2.

Bai Pu / Reinforced Elite Level 2

Race: Humanoid Race / Human

Class: Blood Armor Shield Guard

Class Skill: Flesh Armor

Attributes: Strength 7, Agility 7, Endurance 19, Spirit 11

Combat Expertise: Advanced Weaponry (Two-Handed Hammers) Level 1, Basic Weaponry (One-Handed Hammers) Level 4, Basic Weaponry (Shield Mastery) Level 3, Basic Weaponry Level 2, Basic Fighting Level 4.

Combat Skills: Unstable Shield, Whirling Throw, Leaping Strike

Aside from the obvious growth in his basic four attributes, Bai Pu's class skill, Flesh Armor, had also improved. Its group magic damage had increased from 1–3 points per second to 1–5 points per second, and its range had grown slightly as well.

The maximum shield value provided by Flesh Armor had also risen from 30 points to 38 points, equivalent to twice his Endurance attribute.

Shield Mastery was a new Combat Expertise Bai Pu had comprehended after entering the Intersection Lands. Perhaps because his class compatibility was high, Shield Mastery improved very quickly. In just two days, he had trained it to Basic Level 3, and it was not far from becoming Advanced Expertise.

It was worth mentioning that Bai Pu's shield was standard-issue equipment called the City Guard Shield. It had been a reward he received from the God Strategy Army, granting +30 armor to the areas covered by the shield. When blocking succeeded, its damage reduction effect was quite noticeable.

Suddenly, a beeping sound rang out above Bai Pu's head.