Agony Potion 20

Agony Potion 2.0

Looking at the familiar Awakening Potion in his hand and the mushrooms he had tossed into it, Su Shijie swallowed.

After undergoing the baptism of spiritual energy guidance following the daytime attack, his father had said he was more or less ready for a second injection.

The pain from last time was still fresh in his mind. Compared to that, even the pain of breaking through felt much easier.

Someone pushed into a crocodile pit the first time needed even greater courage to jump in voluntarily the second time.

But when he thought of the mercenaries who had chased him and his father, the power of the Transformation Tier, and his own weakness aside from using external force to control weapons...

Su Shijie began to tremble.

I'm afraid of pain...

But I'm even more afraid of dying...

Closing his eyes, he plunged in the needle and once again fell into a state where even his tongue went numb.

He could not even cry out in pain. He could only endure.

His ever-expanding senses and nerves that did not grow numb but instead became increasingly sensitive left his entire body taut.

The powerful medicinal effects and nutrients ran wild inside him.

Only a dozen or so minutes passed in reality, but Su Shijie felt as if he had been tortured for days.

Only when the sour itch faded and a wave of relief emerged did it signify the end of this advancement.

"Hmm? Why am I only at late Level Two?"

After rolling his eyes in blissful recovery, Su Shijie noticed the oddity.

Su Ren, who had been standing guard beside him, said speechlessly,

"Crossing from early stage to late stage in one go still isn't enough for you to brag about? The effects of the potion diminish."

"But they shouldn't diminish this much. I'd already gained another 2% saturation from those guys before. Hmm, I'm almost at the next step too. I should push through in one go."

Gritting his teeth, Su Shijie closed his eyes again and entered a state of spiritual energy guidance.

He had already gained 2% saturation from the energy leaking out after those powerful enemies died. This time, the potion brought him nearly another 8%. He truly was only a hair away from the next step.

Late Level Two to early Level Three meant a 20% overall increase! The gains were the same as going from early stage to late stage!

Weak as he was, he had to seize every opportunity.

Su Shijie's painstaking efforts were not wasted. Taking advantage of the lingering sensitivity left by his breakthrough and his arduous cultivation before spiritual energy saturation could set in, he finally took that step before dawn.

Having experienced the agony of the Agony Potion, the pain of breaking through likewise did not lessen or become numb. It even grew stronger with each breakthrough. But with his clearly strengthened willpower, he found it far easier to resist.

This was not like the potion, which had left him unable even to make a sound. During his previous normal breakthroughs, he had screamed quite happily.

But this time, he endured it through gritted teeth without rolling around on the ground.

After successfully breaking through to early Level Three, Su Shijie still did not open his eyes. Not wanting to waste the lingering afterglow of the breakthrough, he persisted through another round of guidance.

By the time he finished, the sky was already faintly bright.

Yet despite not sleeping all night, Su Shijie was instead brimming with vitality and energy.

Early Level Three of the Awakened Rank!

His Bloodline Trait had likewise increased proportionally. His Bloodline Trait had already been upgraded several times, and the boost ratio rose each time. The results were outstanding.

The force of his telekinetic object manipulation had now reached fifty-five kilograms, and its range had surpassed fifty meters!

After all, with the potion and the absorption from killing powerful enemies earlier, he had broken through three minor stages in one go.

The improvement was extremely obvious.

In theory, he could now statically control ten Star Crossbow X-6s, along with every gun on his body.

Uh, but after one had been blown apart, he only had six left now.

And because of backpack capacity, he estimated he could only add at most two more. Otherwise, their bulk would affect his movement.

Actually, the six he had now were already enough, because the limits of static control could only be used in ambushes.

If it came to mobile combat, he would have to control them while moving as well. The operational difficulty would be much greater, and the number he could control would drop sharply...

As Su Shijie felt out the improvements from his breakthrough and quickly familiarized himself with his new strength, Su Ren looked at his son with a trace of gratification.

He had not expected that being timid could sometimes develop a new advantage. Perhaps they could try it again next time.

"Alright, it's about dawn. According to that kid, the deer herd will arrive today. Let's get started and try to use this herd to complete another improvement."

Su Ren's words made Su Shijie nod. The two left the tent one after another and packed it away.

At this point, most of the individuals and teams that had stayed overnight in the camp were hurriedly packing up, apparently preparing to set off early.

"Dad, if we're moving, where are we going?"

After packing away the tent, Su Shijie asked somewhat wistfully. His father had roamed plenty of places. Since he had made the decision, he should be able to find somewhere suitable.

"Binhai City."

Su Ren seemed to have decided on the destination long ago.

Su Shijie knew of Binhai City. It was a city roughly seven hundred kilometers northeast of Prosperous City.

Moreover, unlike Prosperous Sky City, Binhai City's main urban area was on the ground, and it was much larger than an ordinary Floating City.

It was a super city jointly controlled by four Floating Cities. Three Floating Cities remained suspended above Binhai City year-round to provide protection, while the remaining one went out to sea to provide protection there.

It had highly developed maritime transport, making it an excellent place to settle whether one wanted to hunt at sea or mine.

After hearing his father choose this place, Su Shijie found it sounded better and better the more he considered it.

After this whole incident, Su Shijie also felt that a city with better public security would be safer. Prosperous City was out of the question. It was close, but this was where they had first run into trouble, so they definitely could not stay there.

There was another, closer Floating City more than a hundred kilometers west of P-314, but the Tianlong Mountain Range lay between them. It was home to many high-level Spirit Beasts. Though the distance was shorter, they still had to take a detour, which was why P-314 fell under Prosperous City's jurisdiction.

The Deer Herd Migration actually came out of the Tianlong Mountain Range, heading east to Chanchun Lake to reproduce. Chanchun Lake had Spirit Grass essential for newborn fawns...

"How is it? Did you see them?"

Using the high branches as springboards and constantly darting through the air, Su Ren asked Su Shijie, who was controlling a drone while four Star Crossbows flew alongside him.

"I see them. They've indeed arrived. We'll encounter the first group about two kilometers to the southwest."

Su Shijie reported through the drone. At the same time, he split his attention between controlling four Star Crossbows and six ordinary Electromagnetic Handguns, having them fly in formation around the edges of their control range from various angles.

This ensured that enemies appearing anywhere could be struck immediately.

As for the M-7 and the other two Star Crossbows, his control strength was insufficient to keep them moving, so they remained on his body.

"Conserve the arrows. They're too easily ruined. Try to use them only when we encounter Transformation Tier targets."

Based on Su Shijie's words, Su Ren slightly adjusted their direction.

"Huh? Dad, you've got some nerve."

Su Shijie was startled. Although they had ambushed a group on the way and caught them off guard, nearly wiping out a team with two Transformation Tier members without losses...

His father casually talking about hunting Transformation Tier Spirit Beasts still made Su Shijie's scalp tingle. Wasn't this too overconfident?

If this were not his biological father, he would have thought the man was trying to get him killed.

How could they have favorable timing, terrain, and manpower all at once every time?

People died when they were killed!

This was way too reckless. Was this why he had become disabled?

"Humans and Spirit Beasts are different. Though Spirit Beasts have awakened intelligence, and if allowed to develop, they could eventually form language, writing, and even civilization, aside from insectoids and a very small number of marine creatures, they will never get that chance."

Su Ren's tone was calm, as if setting Transformation Tier creatures as targets was not a life-threatening matter.

"Since you have Star Crossbows and can control so many at once, it would be a waste not to hunt Transformation Tier creatures. With proper arrangements, you could even save the Scatter Shot."

After hearing his father say that, Su Shijie did not argue. Well, there was nothing he could do if his father was this reckless.

They could only try it first. After all, his father was the professional in this field.

Amateurs were better off not questioning professionals with "I think"...