Stone Scythe Giant Mandrill

Stone Scythe Giant Mandrill: 100% Fusion Success Rate?

Ji Xinghuo was surprised. Based on the pattern he had worked out, the higher the fusion success rate, the better suited the Ability Seed was to him. It could be understood as the Myriad Stellar Eye's recommendation rating.

So far, the highest had been 99% for Rotating Magnetic Field!

After fusing with it, he had discovered that Rotating Magnetic Field truly suited him perfectly.

Then what would a 100% fusion success rate be like? Could Aether Sensitivity be even more powerful than Rotating Magnetic Field? It was only a high-quality ability.

Ji Xinghuo could not quite make sense of it.

Then it occurred to him—could this Aether Sensitivity in his hand have something special about it? Its most notable trait was that it had formed naturally. However, countries, organizations, and ability research institutes across Earth had conducted countless studies on abilities. He had never heard that abilities from different sources had any differences.

Ji Xinghuo noticed the last line of text in the interface.

Can be upgraded: Yes

He suddenly understood a little. This Aether Sensitivity could actually be upgraded!

As far as he knew, the effects of Aether Sensitivity had always been fixed. No one had yet discovered how to train it. The only method was for it to mutate under stimulation during life evolution, with an extremely small chance of advancing into a higher-grade ability.

It was not just Aether Sensitivity. Many abilities could potentially advance during life evolution.

But they were all low-probability events.

One grade above Aether Sensitivity was "Aether Affinity," a Super-Limit ability.

Above Aether Affinity was "Aether Resonance," a Starfall-Grade ability! Maybe I should fuse with this Aether Sensitivity and give it a try?

Ji Xinghuo's thoughts raced, but his expression remained calm. He handed the Ability Seed to Jiangnan Caiyi to store in a specially made Ability Seed container and said, "I'm somewhat interested in Aether Sensitivity. Don't sell it when we get back. It might be the next Ability Seed I fuse with."

Ren Mian found this strange. "Why do you want to fuse with Aether Sensitivity?"

She remembered that neither the Ranger nor the Magnetic Field Maniac Class Template included Aether Sensitivity.

"Just an idea," Ji Xinghuo explained casually. "I want to improve my strength faster. If I can get an Expansion Oddities, then fusing with Aether Sensitivity while I'm still at the beginner stage would be a pretty good choice."

Chi Zhonglin suddenly laughed. "Then you'll be an Unclassed Esper like me."

Ji Xinghuo froze. "Seems like it."

If he really fused with Aether Sensitivity, then his three abilities would each come from different Class Templates, making him a standard Unclassed Esper.

"Being an Unclassed Esper is great!"

Chi Zhonglin warmly slung an arm around Ji Xinghuo's shoulders. "You aren't bound by a Class Template. You're free to fuse with whatever abilities you want. The two of us can explore the path of life evolution together. Maybe someday, we'll even create entirely new Class Templates."

Ji Xinghuo had no response. He had no such ambitions.

The four of them carefully searched the cave twice, confirming that they had not missed anything.

Ren Mian walked to the cave entrance and looked outside a few times before turning back. "Star night is coming soon. We'll camp here tonight and return to Olympia tomorrow."

The cave floor was very dry. Aside from dirt and weeds, there was nothing filthy inside. Compared to the conditions on the ground in Absolute Peak Valley, it was far better, sufficiently concealed, and safe as well.

The team readily agreed.

While the others pitched their tents and arranged plant defenses, Ji Xinghuo climbed back to the mountaintop, shot several large birds perched in the trees, swiftly removed their feathers and innards, gathered a few bundles of firewood, and returned to the cave to give them to Jiangnan Caiyi for cooking.

By the time they finished their grilled bird dinner, it was already dark outside.

There was still a while before nightfall. Ji Xinghuo went to the mountaintop to admire the star night and enjoy the cool air.

The glow of Silver Luminary poured down.

As far as the eye could see, beneath the Milky Way Reflection, majestic and beautiful mountain peaks were shrouded in a faint silver glow tinged with hints of deep blue. It felt as though he stood within a river of stars, with every star in the heavens seeming to blink at him. Such a dreamlike experience would be impossible to forget for the rest of his life.

Ji Xinghuo reclined on a patch of grass, hands tucked behind his head and one leg crossed over the other, softly humming, "Twinkle, twinkle, little star, the sky is full of pulsars..."

Chi Zhonglin, who had just climbed up, was instantly speechless when he heard the lyrics.

He had come up to take pictures.

But after taking two, he realized they would not do. Film cameras had extremely demanding exposure requirements, and visibility during star night was inferior to daytime. He could not capture the effect he wanted.

If he used a disposable flashbulb, it would be like shouting to every monster within several kilometers, I'm over here!

"Forget it."

Chi Zhonglin circled the mountaintop once but found nothing.

In the end, he returned to Ji Xinghuo's side and lay down as well. Looking at the stars and Milky Way filling the sky, he suddenly sighed. "If the Star Realm were a safe place, how wonderful would that be?"

Ji Xinghuo did not turn his head. After a long while, he replied, "There'd be a lot less fun in it."

"True..." Chi Zhonglin nodded. "Without the Star Realm, this miraculous place of birth, we couldn't possibly possess supernatural powers."

Then the two fell silent for a while.

"Xinghuo, how many siblings do you have?" Chi Zhonglin asked again.

"Four."

"That's one fewer than me," Chi Zhonglin said. "There are six siblings in my family, three boys and three girls. We were very happy growing up, but now that we're all adults, we're no longer as simple as we were as children. We all have our own jobs and lives, and our bond has gradually faded."

Ji Xinghuo turned to look at him. "You can stay in touch with your family more often."

"It's no use." Chi Zhonglin sighed. "Actually, aside from me, my other siblings all get along quite well."

"Because you're an Aberrant?" Ji Xinghuo guessed.

"Yes."

Helplessness filled Chi Zhonglin's eyes. "At first, they were all happy that I had become an Aberrant. But as I grew stronger and stronger, they gradually became distant."

"Our social circles are different. The people and things we come into contact with are different. The things we experience are different. Even when I'm with them, I have to be extremely careful, afraid that I might accidentally hurt them. When they face me, they don't say it, but I can still feel that fear and pressure..."

He lightly clenched his fist, crushing the air in his palm with a dull pop.

"It's like the difference between a hunter and its prey."

"The greater the gap in strength between Aberrants and ordinary people, the harder it is to maintain an equal relationship."

"After all, with just one finger—or even a single thought—we can take their lives."

"The stark contrast between the strong and the weak overwhelms every other social relationship. It even surpasses the gulf between species."

"Even if we try our best to restrain our strength, that psychological pressure alone makes ordinary people instinctively avoid Aberrants."

Chi Zhonglin looked at Ji Xinghuo. "You'll understand this feeling soon enough."

Ji Xinghuo fell into thought.

Those words had indeed given him some insight. His second brother, Zhong Ming, had been the first to become an Aberrant. After joining a league club, he had indeed grown somewhat distant from his siblings. Ji Xinghuo had assumed it was because Zhong Ming was too busy, training and competing every day, but now it seemed that was not the whole reason.

Everyone was still young now, freshly graduated or not even graduated yet, with roughly similar social standings, so there would not be any problems for the moment.

But in a few years, they might face the same issues as Chi Zhonglin.

"Is there a solution?" Ji Xinghuo asked.

"No."

Chi Zhonglin spread his hands. "You can only let nature take its course, unless you can find a way to make your whole family into Aberrants. Otherwise, people climb upward. Make new friends and enter new circles. It may be hard at first because people are nostalgic, but time will wash everything away."

Ji Xinghuo nodded and stopped dwelling on the matter.

"Woooo..."

A long howl suddenly came from the distance.

"What was that?" Ji Xinghuo sat upright and looked toward the source of the howl.

"Sounds like a Stone Scythe Goblin," Chi Zhonglin said, gazing into the distance. "That cry is a little strange. It carried so far."

They had often heard Stone Scythe Goblins over the past few days. They were also active during star night, calling out from time to time as if declaring their territory.

But this cry was clearly different.

The two exchanged a glance, sharing the same guess.

Ren Mian and Jiangnan Caiyi climbed up from the cave. They had heard the howl as well and asked what was happening.

Ji Xinghuo walked to the edge of Hanging Mountain. The view was broad here. Although visibility during star night was inferior to daytime, the Myriad Stellar Eye could still see clearly up to five kilometers away.

His gaze swept back and forth.

At last, he spotted something unusual around four kilometers away to the front left.

It was a huge pack of Stone Scythe Goblins. There were so many that he could not count them at once. They raced through the mountains, covering the slopes and valleys as though chasing prey. Amid the chaos, they remained orderly, forming an enormous encirclement.

Boom, boom, boom...

The ground below began to tremble as the Stone Scythe Goblin pack drew nearer and nearer.

"Woo woo woo!"

The cries of the Stone Scythe Goblins rose and fell one after another.

Moments later, hundreds of different beasts were driven into a valley—Horned Horses, Fierce Boars, Dire Wolves, Big Rock Sheep, Steelmane Beasts, and more. All were relatively large beasts, now packed together as they fled desperately.

But the other end of the valley was a cliff more than a hundred meters high.

The Stone Scythe Goblins blocked the valley exit, while more of them on the cliffs to either side continuously hurled rocks downward.

"Woooo..."

A resounding cry rang out from behind them, sounding like an order.

Immediately, dozens of ordinary monster-grade Stone Scythe Goblins formed ranks and charged into the valley from its entrance. Waving their four scythe-like claws, they began slaughtering the beasts. The beasts in the rear pressed against those in front, leaving less and less room until they were finally shoved over the cliff and fell to their deaths.

In less than two minutes, hundreds of beasts had been slaughtered. Most had died in the fall.

Yet after killing the beasts, not a single Stone Scythe Goblin began feeding.

They seemed to be waiting for something.

The valley was about three kilometers from Hanging Mountain, and Ji Xinghuo had seen the entire process clearly.

Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly saw a massive figure leap into the sky, rising over a hundred meters from the ground before tracing an arc and crashing heavily into the valley.

Bang! The ground trembled. Even from this distance, they could hear it.

"Stone Scythe Giant Mandrill," Ji Xinghuo said quietly. "It's appeared."

"There really is a Stone Scythe Giant Mandrill, and we actually ran into it!" Chi Zhonglin was overjoyed.

But there was not the slightest hint of happiness on Ren Mian's face. She shook her head with a grave expression and slowly said, "I'm afraid this isn't a good thing. This Stone Scythe Giant Mandrill isn't just an elite monster. It has evolved again. It should be a Flood-level monster now."

"What?" Chi Zhonglin's face changed dramatically.

"Ren-jie is right." Ji Xinghuo nodded as well. "It has evolved."

He saw it very clearly.

The Stone Scythe Giant Mandrill in the valley was over five meters tall, enormous yet agile. A casual jump could carry it a hundred meters into the air. Its body was covered in thick rock armor, and each of its four arms was so thick that it would take two people to wrap their arms around it. The stone claws on its hands were nearly a meter long, like terrifying sickles.

Its tail resembled a giant python, and its pointed tip was comparable to a drilling bit.

The Stone Scythe Giant Mandrill merely sat down in the valley, and the thousand or so Stone Scythe Goblins around it all prostrated themselves on the ground, not daring to make a sound.

Even from so far away, Ji Xinghuo felt his heart tremble.

This was absolutely not an elite monster.

It was a Calamity Monster, a full tier above elite monsters and more than ten times stronger!

In the Star Realm, a beast became a monster after evolving once. As their strength increased, elites would emerge among ordinary monsters, usually as leaders of their species.

When elite monsters evolved again, they became elite monsters and awakened more abilities.

They could also fuse with or consume Ability Seeds.

And after an elite monster gained other abilities and successfully evolved a third time, it had a certain chance of becoming a "Calamity"-level monster!

Because of differences in species and abilities, Calamity Monsters at the same level could vary greatly in strength.

Thus, the various peoples established more detailed grades based on their level of danger.

Calamity Monsters were measured against four types of natural disasters: floods, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and meteor impacts. Within the Asia-Pacific Community, they were referred to simply as "Flood, Radiant, Quake, and Meteor."

The harm caused by a Flood-level monster was roughly equivalent to a flood disaster affecting a county or town.

Radiant-level monsters were another grade more dangerous; Quake-level monsters could threaten a medium-sized city; Meteor-level monsters could completely destroy a major city and its surrounding areas, killing everyone within their range!

Even more terrifying than Calamity Monsters were Star Slayer monsters.

In the era when the Star Gates had first opened, a Star Slayer monster had entered Earth. Fortunately, the nations reacted quickly and destroyed it with dozens of intercontinental ballistic missiles carrying nuclear warheads.

Ji Xinghuo was too far away to accurately determine this Stone Scythe Giant Mandrill's level.

As Ren-jie had said, it was most likely Flood-level! A monster of this level required at least a Legendary Esper to kill. If it were Radiant-level, even Legendary Espers would find it troublesome and would not dare fight it lightly.

"Woo roar!"

The Stone Scythe Giant Mandrill let out two roars, and only then did the Stone Scythe Goblins in the valley begin tearing at the beast carcasses. They sliced off chunks of flesh with their stone claws and stuffed them into their mouths. The scene was extremely bloody.

It chose two of the fattest Fierce Boars for itself and began enjoying its meal.

Ren Mian withdrew her gaze. "The plan remains unchanged. We return to Olympia City tomorrow."

The other three had no objections.

If it had merely been an elite monster, they would not have feared it and certainly would have tried to hunt it.

But before a Flood-level monster, they would become the prey.

"Damn it!"

Chi Zhonglin began cursing. "Whoever spread the news in Olympia is damned. They must have known this Stone Scythe Giant Mandrill was Flood-level. They didn't dare make a move themselves, so they deliberately spread the news and sent others here to die. They might even be hiding somewhere nearby right now, waiting to reap a huge reward."

"They'd better pray I don't find out who they are, or I'll make them regret it!"

He kept cursing for a long time, deeply irritated.

If the Stone Scythe Giant Mandrill had been an elite monster, killing it might have yielded Earth Pulse. He had been looking forward to that Ability Seed for a long time.

Before they set out, Ren Mian had also agreed that if they got Earth Pulse, he would have priority.

Now it had all come to nothing!

More than two hours later, the Stone Scythe Goblin pack had gnawed through most of the beast carcasses. Then they followed their Flood-level leader out of the valley and vanished amid the boundless mountain peaks.

Ji Xinghuo and the other three returned to the cave to rest. The night passed without incident.

The next morning, they packed their things. The team left Absolute Peak Valley and set out on the road back to Olympia.