Heart to Heart

The Forest Patrol Leader had seven abilities, which was hardly surprising.

He had originally been a fourth-stage Forest Patrol Warrior, equivalent to a Super Esper.

Each life evolution allowed one Ability Seed to be fused, giving him four abilities. Adding his innate abilities, having seven was perfectly normal.

All Astral Alien Races possessed innate abilities.

Most Extraterrestrial Races had no innate abilities, however. Humans, for instance, could only gain power by fusing Ability Seeds.

Some powerful Astral Alien Races possessed extremely rare and unique innate abilities. During life evolution, they had a chance to awaken even more abilities. This made them targets for Extraterrestrial Races, sparking countless conflicts and wars of extermination.

However, an Ability Seed could only be fused once! Ji Xinghuo saw that four abilities on the interface had asterisks beside them and immediately guessed that these were the Ability Seeds fused by the Forest Patrol Leader. They could no longer produce Ability Seeds.

There were only three Ability Seed slots in the virtual image on the right.

These three were the Forest Patrol Leader's innate abilities: Forest Whisper, Spirit Sniff, and Bloody Rampage.

Forest Whisper was an innate ability possessed by every member of the Forest Patrol Clan. It was a high-quality ability, though inferior to Azure Vine Heart Root, so its market value was not high. Spirit Sniff was what the Forest Patrol Clan relied on to track prey, and most of them awakened it during their first life evolution.

Spirit Sniff was also a high-quality ability, one of the template abilities for a Tracker.

The last one was Bloody Rampage...

Ji Xinghuo nearly jumped up when he saw it. Bloody Rampage was a Super-Limit ability!

It was a comprehensive enhanced version of the high-quality ability "Berserk." By burning one's own blood, it instantly increased strength by more than double, entering a frenzied and fearless state that negated most mental attacks, increased running speed, and greatly improved reaction speed.

Moreover, Bloody Rampage lasted longer and did not leave the user weakened afterward like "Berserk."

As long as the blood burned had not reached the point where life could no longer be sustained, the rampage could continue indefinitely! If combined with abilities such as Rapid Self-Healing, "Carnivore," or "Blood Devour," which could rapidly replenish blood, it could unleash tremendous power at a small cost, making Bloody Rampage a conventional combat method.

For strength-type Aberrants, Bloody Rampage was an ability that could truly cause their power to soar!

Its value...

Ji Xinghuo seemed to see piles of cash stacked into a small mountain.

Generally speaking, the Forest Patrol Clan rarely awakened Bloody Rampage. At least, he had never heard of it before. However, this Forest Patrol Leader was a Bloody Warrior and possessed Blood-Drinking Wrathful Flame. It was understandable that he had awakened Bloody Rampage during life evolution.

"Ren-jie."

Ji Xinghuo immediately turned back. "I think he may have a Bloody Rampage Ability Seed on him."

"Bloody Rampage!" Chi Zhonglin cried out in surprise. He abandoned the other Forest Patrol Clan corpse he had been harvesting and hurried over. "Where is it?"

Ren Mian also stepped forward and examined the body for a moment. "It's indeed possible. He's a Bloody Warrior. I once..." She suddenly paused, then continued, "I heard that Bloody Warriors have a fifty percent chance of awakening Bloody Rampage. The Ability Seed should be in the heart."

Chi Zhonglin's eyes lit up.

"Xinghuo, lend me your knife." He took Ji Xinghuo's Thunder Gallop and sliced open the Forest Patrol Leader's chest.

A few minutes later, Chi Zhonglin pulled out a beating heart valve, dripping with blood as a surging vitality spread from it.

A heartbeat could still be heard from within, as though it were alive.

"Found it!" Chi Zhonglin was ecstatic. "Super-Limit ability, Bloody Rampage! We're rich, hahaha..."

"Let me see." Ji Xinghuo said.

Chi Zhonglin handed over the bloodstained Ability Seed. The moment Ji Xinghuo took it, an information interface popped up before his eyes.

Ability Seed: Bloody Rampage

Grade: Super-Limit

Fusion Success Rate: 80%

Upgradeable: No

After reading the information, Ji Xinghuo froze for a moment. His gaze settled on the final line. This was the first ability he had ever seen that could not be upgraded.

He had wondered about this before. Every Ability Seed he encountered displayed "Yes" for whether it could be upgraded.

If they could all be upgraded, why bother displaying that information?

Only now did he realize that some abilities really could not be upgraded.

Ji Xinghuo had been somewhat tempted by Bloody Rampage, but once he saw that it could not be upgraded, he immediately lost most of his interest.

His greatest advantage was being able to rapidly raise ability levels with Spirit Source Energy and uncover their potential. An ability that could not be upgraded was of little use to him.

Even though Bloody Rampage was a Super-Limit ability, its value was greatly diminished.

Besides, its fusion success rate was only eighty percent, indicating that it was not particularly compatible with him. If it had been above ninety percent, he might have given it a try. At least in the early stages, it would have been a great boost to his strength.

After reading the information, Ji Xinghuo passed the Ability Seed to Ren Mian.

She clearly was not very interested either and passed it to Jiangnan Caiyi. In the end, it returned to Chi Zhonglin's hands.

"I want to fuse this Ability Seed!"

Chi Zhonglin's expression was serious. "If I'd had Bloody Rampage just now, I could have fought him head-on." He pointed at the corpse on the ground. "And I have Fungus Giant, which can rapidly produce blood. It's an excellent match for Bloody Rampage and could more than double my strength!"

After saying that, he looked at Ren Mian, hoping for her support.

However, Ren Mian gently shook her head. "Bloody Rampage is good, but it may become somewhat lacking after reaching Legend. Its potential isn't as great as you think. The stronger you become, the more mediocre this ability will seem, unless... you intend to receive Scarlet Emperor's blessing and master Blood-Drinking Wrathful Flame."

Ji Xinghuo was somewhat surprised.

It seemed that the drawback of Bloody Rampage being impossible to upgrade had long been studied by others.

From Ren Mian's words, Bloody Rampage seemed to be a byproduct of Blood-Drinking Wrathful Flame. Only by possessing Blood Flame could one truly bring out its effects.

Chi Zhonglin was startled and repeatedly shook his head. "I don't want to become a madman." Still, he was somewhat reluctant. "I'll think about it some more. There's no rush."

The four of them finished harvesting all the Ability Seeds from the Forest Patrol Clan corpses.

The Forest Patrol Clan members who had died here were at least second-stage. In total, they harvested ten Forest Whispers, eight Spirit Sniffs, three Dim Visions, and two each of "Precision" and "Balance." These were all abilities that the Forest Patrol Clan could awaken.

The abilities were not particularly high-quality, but there were many of them, and together they were worth quite a bit.

Once they had collected the Ability Seeds, the team immediately withdrew.

Ren Mian changed direction and led everyone dozens of kilometers through the night. They found a concealed place to camp, washed up, changed into clean clothes, ate something, and quickly fell asleep in their tents.

A few hours later.

By the time Ji Xinghuo woke up, it was already daytime. The rain outside had not stopped, though it had grown much lighter and continued to patter down.

He turned to look. Chi Zhonglin and Jiangnan Caiyi, who had both suffered severe injuries, were still asleep.

Ren Mian sat at the entrance of the tent, gazing at the curtain of rain outside.

"You're awake?"

"How do you feel?"

Her voice sounded in Ji Xinghuo's mind. Afraid of waking their teammates, she had activated the Thinking Necklace. He carefully sat up and replied, "I'm fine. I wasn't hurt badly, and I've fully recovered now." As he spoke, he walked over and sat beside her.

"That's good." Ren Mian nodded slightly.

"Ren-jie, aren't you sleeping?" Ji Xinghuo looked at her profile. Her conical hat and scarf had been destroyed in battle, and her face was uncovered now. The flawless lines of her side profile were a feast for the eyes, far more beautiful than the scenery outside.

"I'm not sleepy." She spoke calmly. "I need very little sleep. Two or three hours a week is enough."

Ji Xinghuo suddenly understood, though he was also a little envious.

No wonder that when they had been pursued by the Forest Patrol Clan before, everyone else had been exhausted while she had remained alert and energetic. Her stamina recovered astonishingly fast, as though she would never tire, always keeping herself in peak condition.

If he did not need sleep either, he could spend an extra seven or eight hours cultivating every day.

"That must be a very powerful ability, right?" Ji Xinghuo asked curiously.

Ren Mian turned and smiled brilliantly. Though she did not open her mouth, her voice entered his mind. "Prying into other people's secrets isn't a good habit."

Ji Xinghuo could not help being stunned for two or three seconds.

He finally understood what it meant for one glance to topple a city, and another to topple a kingdom. As a perfectly healthy young man in both body and mind, and one with little romantic experience, he found it truly difficult to resist a woman so gentle, intelligent, and breathtakingly beautiful. She possessed a fatal allure.

In that instant, a seed sprouted in Ji Xinghuo's heart.

He pursued power and climbed the path of life evolution, but he did not care only about the destination. The splendor of the journey was important too, and he should not miss the scenery along the way.

Perhaps he would suffer setbacks and hit walls, but how would he know the result if he never tried? What if it worked out? Life was short, so why not give it a try? Ren Mian saw that he had drifted off and felt slightly annoyed, but also helpless. She had long grown used to it.

"Does Ren-jie have many secrets?" Ji Xinghuo finally picked up the conversation.

In his eyes, Ren Mian had far too many secrets. She seemed shrouded in layers upon layers of mystery, making it impossible to see her true self.

"Everyone has secrets. The only difference is how many they have and whether they are valuable." Ren Mian asked in return, "You have secrets too, and not small ones."

"Yes."

Ji Xinghuo nodded frankly, then added in his mind, Mine is very big.

He did not say the latter half aloud, but they were currently linked through Mind Link. The slightest lapse in mental control could expose one's thoughts.

Ren Mian's body stiffened slightly, and her beautiful eyes shot Ji Xinghuo a sidelong glare.

"Uh..." Ji Xinghuo was instantly mortified. "Ren-jie, I meant my secret is very big." The Thinking Necklace really was not a good thing. A moment of carelessness could expose one's thoughts.

"You need to know how to keep secrets. You're still not cautious enough, and you made it too obvious." Ren Mian resumed her serious expression and warned him, "Sometimes, you should let go of what needs to be let go. For example, last night, you should have taken Xiao Chi and Cai Yi and retreated instead of exposing your trump card. Luckily, it was me. If it had been someone else, you'd already be in serious trouble. Understand?"

"I understand, but I can't abandon my teammates."

Ji Xinghuo looked directly into her eyes. "Besides, it was to save you. And precisely because it was you, I was willing to take the risk."

Nine parts of his words were true, and one part was false.

Even if Myriad Stellar Eye could not help him kill the Forest Patrol Leader, it would not have been difficult to preserve his life in battle. Last night had not truly reached the point where he had to risk everything.

As for his secret, he did not believe anyone could guess the truth. They would most likely assume that he possessed a powerful ability.

Ren Mian met his gaze for several seconds, her eyes filled with complicated emotions.

Then she suddenly smiled. "Maybe one day in the future, I'll need you to save me. But it's still too early for that. Xinghuo, work hard!"

"I'll rest for two hours. You stand watch."

With that, Ren Mian cut off the Mind Link, walked to the depths of the tent, lay down, and closed her eyes.

Ji Xinghuo pulled his gaze away from her lovely figure and looked toward the rain-soaked forest outside, pondering her words. Will she need me in the future?

He gave a self-mocking smile and cast aside his chaotic thoughts.

Then he opened the Myriad Stellar Eye interface and looked at the final line of text: Spirit Source Energy: 313