The Ceiling of Gene Abilities

As Xu Tui had realized, passing through Xi'an Prefecture had only been a decoy. The convoy had actually come through Ningyin Prefecture.

They hadn't stopped in Ningyin Prefecture, but had pressed on through the night.

The convoy from Ningyin Prefecture had then joined the one heading to Kyoto Prefecture.

The number of buses had briefly exceeded fifteen, but once the escort vehicles joined up with the security forces from Ningyin Prefecture, their protective strength had doubled.

It was obvious that after the Ningyin Prefecture security forces joined them, both An Xiaoxue and the security guard accompanying Bus Three seemed much more relaxed.

From then on, they traveled southeast. The farther they went, the more prosperous the region became, and the security forces would continue to grow stronger. The chances of anything going wrong would keep shrinking.

With her nerves eased, An Xiaoxue told Xu Tui and Gong Ling a great deal along the way. Now and then, other students came over to listen, too.

As for Cheng Mo, that guy kept switching between eating and sleeping.

First, the Cyborgs.

Cyborgs were, in fact, a forbidden creation.

They were one of the research projects explicitly banned by the Blue Star Alliance Gene Committee.

In an orderly human society, there was no such research.

The reason it had to be banned was that some people would break the rules.

A small number of gene researchers were fanatical.

The most famous was the scientist Hicks Hal, who came from the United Federation Zone.

He was also known as the Mad Cyborg Scientist.

More than sixty years ago, he announced that he had successfully modified a clone, fusing it with the genome of a chosen animal and keeping the result stable.

The modified clone still functioned as a human, and its Gene Point abilities were normal, but it had acquired animal traits.

More importantly, the modified clone not only possessed some animal genes, but those genes' Gene Points were in a dominant state.

Most human Gene Points, however, were recessive, and a great many were even dormant. That made them extremely difficult to activate, enhance, mutate, or evolve.

Genes in a dominant state, on the other hand, were very easy to activate, enhance, mutate, and even evolve.

The announcement caused an immediate uproar.

Especially the deeply unsettling image of his successful experiment—an incident later known as the Dog-Headed Man Reappears.

Three days later, the Blue Star Alliance Gene Committee responded with astonishing speed.

Citing the research as anti-human, it banned the Cyborg project.

Any research into Cyborgs or attempts to create them were illegal and anti-human, and would be met with the harshest punishments.

At the same time, it sent people to search Hicks Hal's research center and destroy all related research materials. Hicks Hal himself was placed under residential surveillance.

But what happened next was like something out of a movie.

The Blue Star Alliance Committee's security forces found nothing.

Hicks Hal had vanished.

His assistants, research materials, and a large number of specimens had disappeared with him.

A few years later, powerful Cyborgs with formidable abilities appeared in the notorious Dawn Redemption Traitor Organization. They caused several massacres, and that was when the world learned of them.

By then, the Mad Cyborg Scientist Hicks Hal was said to have become one of the Dawn Redemption Traitor Organization's vice-chairmen, receiving substantial financial support.

"Teacher An, why was that Earth Element Extraordinary User so strong? General Liu brought so many officers, but they still couldn't hold him.

"And the experts from the emergency fighter squadron that chased after him later couldn't catch him either. I heard there were some very powerful Gene Evolvers in that squadron.

"But from what you said earlier, that Earth Element Extraordinary User was only a B-grade Gene Mutant." Xu Tui asked.

"That's a complicated question."

"You've read fantasy novels or watched epic war movies, right? Do you remember the magic in some of them?" An Xiaoxue asked.

Xu Tui and Gong Ling nodded.

"We do. Our classmates said earlier that Extraordinary Users are basically mages."

"That's both right and wrong!"

"The magic in movies and legends from before the Gene Great Era was shrouded in mystery. It required spells, rituals, gestures, and potions.

"But the Extraordinary Users of the Gene Great Era have shed that veil of mystery. They're simply the result of scientific development of the human body's potential.

"Once you get to school, you'll learn all this through a series of courses. Today, I'll mainly tell you about the factors that affect the strength of New Gene Humans.

"The main factors are ability rating, ability type, the situations in which an ability can be used, and how the ability is composed."

"New Gene Humans?" Xu Tui and Gong Ling had picked up on the unfamiliar term.

"Actually, after receiving the Gene Liberation Potion, you can be called a New Gene Human in the broad sense. For various reasons, the government hasn't publicized the term.

"But I'm using it in the narrower sense, as we do within the universities.

"Only those who advance to become Gene Liberators are called New Gene Humans. Still, once you enter Huaxia Gene Evolution University, you'll basically all be prospective New Gene Humans," An Xiaoxue explained.

"You should be able to understand what I mean by the situations in which an ability can be used. The terrain today was more suitable for the Earth Element Extraordinary User. It also suited Gong Ling's Plant Affinity and Radiation Influence abilities. The same principle applies to other abilities."

The Gene Points Gong Ling had activated belonged to the Mysterious System's Extraordinary category: Plant Affinity and Radiation Influence.

The vines on the ground that had wrapped around the Cyborg Ahu's hind legs, creating an opening for Xu Tui to attack, had been Gong Ling's doing.

"Once you're at school, specialized teachers will explain ability types and how abilities are composed. I'll tell you about ability ratings," An Xiaoxue said.

Xu Tui and Gong Ling had only learned the basics about Gene Ability ratings.

For instance, there were Gene Liberators at the lowest level, powerful Gene Mutants, even more powerful Gene Evolvers, and the more formidable Gene Transmuters.

But these were only broad stages.

Each stage was further divided into finer grades.

Like many other ratings and evaluation systems in the Gene Great Era, the scale ran from F to E, D, C, B, A, and S. There was supposedly an SS grade above S, though even An Xiaoxue had never seen anyone with that rating.

To be specific, there were F-grade Gene Liberators, E-grade Gene Liberators, and so on.

Take Gene Liberators, for example.

Once people like Xu Tui, prospective New Gene Humans who had received the Gene Liberation Potion, activated a series of Gene Point abilities, they could advance to become Gene Liberators—and true New Gene Humans in the narrower sense.

What did it mean to have a series of abilities?

For example, if someone successfully activated Gene Points related to speed in the lower body, their speed would multiply compared to other people.

At the School of Gene Evolution, that counted as a series of abilities called "Rapid Movement."

Of course, it only qualified them to become an F-grade Gene Liberator, the lowest grade.

If they activated Gene Points that formed three or more series of abilities, they would be an E-grade Gene Liberator.

After that, the number increased by two each grade.

Five series of abilities made a D-grade Gene Liberator, seven made a C-grade Gene Liberator, and nine made a B-grade Gene Liberator.

The more series of abilities one needed, the harder it became to activate them.

Most Gene Liberators were F-grade or E-grade.

There were far fewer above E-grade.

Generally speaking, the higher the rating, the stronger the abilities.

Of course, that wasn't the whole story.

Not all of the discovered and fully explored series of abilities were combat-oriented. Many were support abilities, or even purely supportive ones.

Beyond that, the grading of Gene Liberators represented something else that mattered enormously to every New Gene Human.

The ceiling of their Gene abilities!

Once someone became a Gene Liberator, regardless of their grade, they could improve their strength by undergoing targeted genetic mutation and becoming a Gene Mutant.

An F-grade Gene Liberator who advanced would naturally become an F-grade Gene Mutant.

A D-grade Gene Liberator who advanced would still become an F-grade Gene Mutant.

But their limits were different.

An F-grade Gene Mutant who had advanced from an F-grade Gene Liberator had already reached the ceiling. They could go no further than F-grade.

Generally, there was little point in an F-grade Gene Mutant evolving into a Gene Evolver. Even if they did, they could only ever be an F-grade Gene Evolver.

A D-grade Gene Liberator who advanced would still become an F-grade Gene Mutant, but could grow into a D-grade Gene Mutant.

The same applied after becoming a Gene Evolver.

At Huaxia Gene Evolution University, the minimum grade for students advancing to become Gene Mutants was E-grade Gene Liberator.

In fact, at Huaxia Gene Evolution University, not many students advanced from E-grade Gene Liberators.

The usual path there was to advance from D-grade Gene Liberator. That was what befitted Huaxia Gene Evolution University students and society's expectations of them.

Even at Huaxia Gene Evolution University, not many students advanced from C-grade Gene Liberator.

As for advancing from B-grade Gene Liberator, that was practically unheard of, even at Huaxia Gene Evolution University.

And A-grade? A genius among geniuses, one might not appear for years.

So the answer was clear.

That Earth Element Extraordinary User, who had fought Liu Tianhu and so many officers and still escaped unscathed while being pursued by Gene Evolvers from an emergency fighter squadron, was a B-grade Gene Mutant.

A B-grade Gene Mutant had most likely advanced from B-grade Gene Liberator, and might even have advanced from A-grade.

But either way, those who had advanced from B-grade or A-grade Gene Liberators were rare even at Huaxia Gene Evolution University, the top university in the Huaya Zone.

No wonder he was so strong!

An Xiaoxue's explanation gave Xu Tui and Gong Ling a deeper understanding of New Gene Humans.

They also remembered one important term: the ceiling of Gene abilities.

It was something that would have a major impact on their futures.

"By the way, Teacher An, what level are you at now? What grade were you when you were a Gene Liberator?" Gong Ling asked, her big eyes blinking.

Well, as promised, in the bonus chapter coming up, Zhu San will show off his status as the king of the household!

Zhu San is taking a huge risk by posting this.

This is the first update. The second should come out around midnight. It'd be best for you guys and girls to read it tomorrow; family matters held me up today.