Panel Enhancement Requires Rationality?

The next day, Bai Chuan, having slept through the night, woke up and couldn't wait to open his panel.

This day—he had been waiting far too long for it.

As the familiar panel unfolded, Bai Chuan's eyes immediately locked onto the newly added model: the eagle.

"Race: Kite."

"Ability Structure: Flight LV2, Claws LV2, Clairvoyance LV2, Digestion LV1, Strength LV1 (Chest Mutation), Avian Bone LV1 (Flight Mutation), Airflow Perception LV1..."

"Hm? So the bird he always called an 'eagle' in his past life was actually called a 'kite'?"

Bai Chuan muttered in slight surprise as he studied the eagle model.

He didn't dwell on this minor detail and instead continued examining the kite's—well, now it should be called a kite—ability structure.

Clearly, the kite's abilities were almost identical to those of the Goshawk he had preyed on last time.

That made sense. Both were types of hawks, and their body sizes were roughly similar, with the Goshawk maybe being a bit larger. So having similar abilities was normal.

Just like the snakes he had eaten before—many snake species shared the same set of abilities.

If these abilities were described in terms of cultivation or mythological worlds, Bai Chuan thought: perhaps these were their bloodline abilities or bloodline talents.

Looking at the abilities listed, he had always wanted the eagle's vision—after all, eagle vision was the best he knew of, and it could see the world in rich color just like humans.

But now, staring at the Flight ability, he suddenly felt an impulse. Could he, a snake, evolve the ability to fly?

Having been human in his past life, he understood the importance of air superiority. If he could fly, wouldn't he be able to both attack and escape at will?

Then it would truly be "the sky's the limit" for a snake, greatly increasing his safety. No longer would he have to worry about being outnumbered by other creatures.

The more he thought about it, the stronger the urge grew. The next moment, trembling, he tapped the kite's model, extracted the Flight ability, and placed it into his own snake body model, nervously watching the changes.

"Please select a placement location."

A panel prompt popped up.

Bai Chuan was already used to this. He examined his long, thick snake body, thought it over, and decided to place it just below the neck.

As soon as he placed it, he immediately saw on the model that a pair of feathered wings had grown from the back of his snake body.

For a moment, a pair of extremely incongruous feathered wings sprouted from his long snake body—no matter how you looked at it, it was bizarre, giving off a mismatched, awkward vibe.

It was as if the wings had been forcibly jammed into the snake's body.

Anyone who saw it wouldn't need to try to know those wings couldn't flap—there was no room for movement; the wings were dragging on the ground.

Bai Chuan glanced at the compatibility: 20%...

Without a doubt, this compatibility was basically hopeless.

Though if he forced the evolution, it might succeed, but what would happen afterward, he had no idea.

An instinctive premonition deep within told him: absolutely not!

So the question was—could this situation be improved? Could compatibility be raised?

Bai Chuan had wondered before: since the panel required a high compatibility—at least 50—for him to evolve an ability, could that compatibility be increased?

If not, then what was the point of having compatibility at all?

Wouldn't it be simpler to just show that certain abilities couldn't be extracted or enhanced?

Instead of letting him pull out abilities and place them on his own model to see what the evolved form would look like.

What exists must be reasonable. So was there a way to increase compatibility?

Bai Chuan carefully examined the kite's various abilities. He believed that birds could fly not just because of their wings alone.

Combined with his earlier speculation, these abilities were probably their racial abilities, meaning they should form a complete set that made up their bloodline.

Thinking this, he finally fixed his gaze on Strength LV1 (Chest Mutation).

He vaguely remembered someone in his past life saying that birds could fly not only because they had wings, but also because of their incredibly strong chest muscles.

If you viewed the kite as a whole—a flying machine—then the Flight ability would be the wings, and Strength LV1 (Chest Mutation) would be the engine.

He thought it over, removed the Flight ability, and placed Strength LV1 (Chest Mutation) instead. Instantly, he saw a large bulge appear on his snake body where the wings had been.

It was like a tumor growing on an otherwise smooth snake body. At the same time, he noticed that his Agility LV2 had dropped to LV1.

"Sss—abilities can actually decrease?" Frowning, Bai Chuan carefully examined the snake body, thought about it, and found it reasonable.

A smooth snake body growing a big bulging muscle mass would inevitably affect its crawling speed.

He seemed to have discovered another rule of the panel: if an ability evolution was unreasonable, it would inevitably affect other existing abilities, just like now, reducing agility.

Suddenly, another thought struck him: what if he added a pair of claws on top of this?

On the basis of the snake body having a muscle mass?

Or what if he added a pair of wings on top of that?

For a moment, all kinds of ideas flooded his mind.

He wanted to try combining two or more abilities to see what changes would occur, but he didn't have enough points, so he had no choice but to give up.

He stared at the kite's model for a while and realized that this panel's evolution system was just like the character creation systems from his past life—except it required plausibility.

If, he said if.

If that day ever came, when he had gathered the finest abilities from all kinds of animals, could he truly evolve into the legendary dragon?

On this point, no one was certain.

But this thought, like a seed, took root deep in Bai Chuan's heart.

It only awaited the day it would sprout, take root, and grow into a towering tree.

He set aside these questions for now and turned his gaze to Clairvoyance LV2.

You're the one!

As the Clairvoyance ability was extracted and confirmed for evolution, the lifelike eagle model before Bai Chuan dissolved into specks of light and vanished.

What a shame—next time he wanted an eagle's ability, he'd have to catch one all over again.

That was the last thought lingering in Bai Chuan's mind before he sank into slumber.

The familiar secretion appeared once more, slowly enveloping Bai Chuan.

Time thus passed, unhurried.

"What a... what a beautiful world!"

The next day, waking from sleep.

As he slowly crawled out of the cave, Bai Chuan discovered that the world in his eyes had changed. No longer was it the lifeless, colorless, monotonous world of before.

It was as if the entire world had come alive, every thing brimming with vibrant, lively colors.

If his former vision was like a low-resolution black-and-white TV from the early eighties, then his current vision was a 4K, high-color-gamut computer screen.

And it was the kind where no matter how far the distance, everything was as clear and distinct as if it were right before his eyes.

He could even make out every scale and segment on the tiny insects hopping on the ground in the distance, the wings of mosquitoes buzzing in the air, and the deformation of each wing with every beat.

At this moment, he could see all of it, whenever he wished.

No wonder these lords of the sky could spot a tiny rabbit hopping on the ground from thousands of meters up.

"This... this is Eagle Vision? So, so beautiful!"

At this moment, Bai Chuan could only offer praise. Without having experienced the blur of poor eyesight, one could never grasp how astonishing such overwhelming vision truly was.

What he saw now was even more than what he had seen as a human.

Beyond the colors and images visible to humans, he could now perceive special light rays like ultraviolet light drifting through the air.

Truly mysterious beyond words.

That day, Bai Chuan immersed himself in the beautiful world of images. In high spirits, he slowly crawled and looked around, touring his territory once more.

No wonder there was that saying: The world never lacks beauty, only eyes that fail to see it.

He thought he probably understood the meaning of those words.