125 "Going Home." (Part 1)

The professor's head was indistinguishable from a human, resembling a Gorgon with disgusting tentacles covering its head. Its left eye, a dark red- Dark Crystal Blade, was pierced through its socket, giving it an indescribable dark humor.

Her vitality was tenacious. Even after her head was removed, her face, covered with hair-like muscle fibers, continued to twitch. Her eyes were deeply imprinted with resentment, but without a trace of regret. This made Li Aoz believe that even if they could start over, the professor would not choose to give up creating the Nethermark Humanity.

Li Aoz had heard a joke: if a biochemist looks old, it means that his/her technical career has reached its limit, and the upper limit of himself and the era is limited to this.

He vaguely remembered that the professor's corpse had wrinkles around its eyes before it shed its skin.

That's probably about the best she can do.

Clearly, while Azure Planet is not without Gamma-rank powerhouses, their existence is an extremely rare and exceptional case, achieved through a confluence of favorable circumstances—a situation that only a handful of people out of the planet's nearly 10 billion inhabitants could possibly emerge.

In this environment, attempting to artificially create power above the Beta-rank is as absurd as inventing a "perpetual motion machine."

Was the professor wrong? From an absolute materialist standpoint, it seems the professor wasn't wrong at all.

After all, her contributions to science are indeed significant.

Even if a lot of lives are lost, these people will die sooner or later anyway. They will either die from overwork due to capitalist exploitation or die in a hospital bed. It's better for them to die on the right path and make some contribution to science.

Conversely, since everyone is going to die sooner or later, why not just use presidents, businessmen, workers, soldiers—including scientists—as experimental subjects for science?

What then is the meaning of a person?

If things continue like this, will humanity be studying science or becoming slaves to technology and knowledge? Li Aoz didn't bother to think about these things.

The higher one's intelligence, the more suffering one experiences.

So he drew his long sword and placed his palm on the other man's face.

"Professor, I'm going to extract your soul and enchant the toilet."

[Sever Life] is activated, and nerve tentacles pierce into the professor's skull, extracting her remaining life and soul.

You have extracted the life of a target; you can choose to refine their abilities and personality.

[Refinement complete]

You have obtained [Human Amber] (Small) – which can be used to craft equipment of "Exquisite Craftsmanship" quality or higher.

[You have obtained [Unresigned Soul] (Large) - which can be used to heal soul damage, craft equipment of "Exquisite Craftsmanship" quality or higher, or as a material for Anomaly Class spellcasting.]

[Special Note: This soul retains a trace of consciousness; you can use Anomaly Class methods to interrogate or torture it.]

[Through refinement, you have acquired the personality and abilities of ' Nethermark Professor - Yelena Haston '. Please select two from the following options]: A. Professor Level: Pharmacokinetics - Any potion you create will have an instant effect.

B. [Persona Deduction: Nethermark Professor] - You can transform Nethermark Professor's profession [Biochemist] into your secondary profession.

Special Note: Choosing this option will completely replace Nethermark Professor's personality and deny the meaning of his past existence. You cannot resurrect Nethermark Professor.

C. "Professor Level: Virology" - Under the premise of ensuring that the mortality rate does not decrease, it can enable the biochemical viruses you research and create to achieve a transmission effect of up to 200%.

Note: Requires prerequisite skills: Viral Lethality and Gene Encoding.

D. Pioneer Level: Biochemical Materials – You are an undisputed pioneer in the industry, and the entire sector has entered a red ocean market due to your research achievements. You can now create and synthesize biochemical materials of "Exquisite Craftsmanship" level and above.

E. Professor Level: Human Engineering - The equipment you create is more in line with the human body structure, can be worn by more people, and the attribute requirements of the equipment you create are reduced by 50% to 100%.

Li Aoz chose B and D without hesitation.

His luck turned around; Pioneer level is a higher level of knowledge mastery than Professor level, and he was quite lucky to obtain knowledge related to materials.

"Pioneer Level: Biochemical Materials" has four future paths: creating biochemical mechs, bio-engineering suits, bio-nests, and composite materials.

[Persona Deduction] is an interesting ability option. Normally, ordinary people cannot have two systems and can only have one Main Class. However, through Persona Deduction, one can add a secondary profession of another system without changing one's Main Class.

[Persona Deduction] Only by obtaining 'Soul Essence' from the BOSS and then refining it through the [Spirit Medium] can there be a certain probability of obtaining the three types: [Persona Deduction], [Persona Reappearance], and [Persona Override].

The best approach is to perform, which directly grants a secondary profession; to reproduce, it enhances attributes; and to cover, it grants the disguised appearance of the soul in its previous life.

"I never expected to roll this ability... What's the drop rate again? 0.32% or 0.36%?"

After some thought, Li Aoz decided to pursue the path of [Starcaller]. The best secondary profession for this profession is [Architect], followed by [Biochemist] and [Mage].

Since Azure Planet lacks the legacy of [Architect] and [Mage], [Biochemist] becomes the most suitable choice.

Although cases like "Persona Deduction" exist, in reality, the "Mastery" class, often referred to as "magic mastery," is usually not the most suitable as a secondary profession.

The primary reason is that the "Fine Arts" program is particularly expensive.

On the other hand, the [Intelligence] attribute is too costly to develop if it is not used as the Main Class of the [Craftsmanship] system.

The [Redemption] and [Destruction] tree types have the best compatibility, resulting in high constitution, fast health regeneration, and the ability to withstand damage while restoring health to nearby teammates.

The [Biochemist] class can compensate for some problems before advancing to [Echo], such as being too fragile and easily killed.

rustle...

The shriveled head turned to dust and slipped from his fingertips. Li Aoz collapsed wearily to the ground, deactivating his Overlord Form.

Du Zexin could no longer hold on and collapsed completely.

As Li Aoz watched the professor's headless corpse fall heavily to the ground, a mocking smile appeared on his aged face.

This woman, who spent her entire life studying "Malefic Calamity," who longed to ascend to godhood through "Malefic Calamity," abandoned her humanity and even destroyed the students she had trained. This woman, who was entangled with "Malefic Calamity" all her life, was ultimately killed by the Aoneng awakened by "Malefic Calamity."

The body of the Bio-Kongou burned in the raging flames, Li Aoz coldly watched as its flesh scorched but could never be completely carbonized.

Even at this level, they still couldn't eliminate the remains of Bio-Kongou.

However—at least after being burned and destroyed by the flames, most of the cells have died, so the Frostplate cannot recover any benefits from them.

That's enough. Let the Rose Army and Frostplate argue about the rest.

Li Aoz shook his head. His body, due to the overuse of Aoneng and the fading effects of the drug, had become too much for his Gene Load to handle. His hair was falling out strand by strand, only to grow back quickly thanks to Nomi's Aoneng.