Children of the Sea God

As the ship drew closer, the sailors immediately spotted the enormous shadow beneath the water and cried out in panic, "There seems to be a reef ahead!"

The shout startled everyone. They hurried onto the deck and the bow, peering into the distance. Captain Schroeder rushed forward. "How is that possible? This route is perfectly safe. We've taken it many times. How could there be a reef now?"

Despite his words, the shadow beneath the water was drawing closer. They watched as a round, dark shape gradually rose to the surface. Confusion filled their minds. "What is that?"

"BOOM!"

The surface erupted. A huge head burst out of the water, followed by a gigantic ink-black octopus rising from the depths. Its tentacles, each dozens of meters long, immediately wrapped around the ship. The enormous suckers were enough to make anyone's blood run cold!

"Oh my god, what is that thing?"

"Maria above, what kind of monster is that?"

"Help!"

"Mom!"

Everyone gaped as the octopus, as tall as a building, tightly coiled around the ship and dragged it down toward the seabed. The ship lurched, sending people tumbling in every direction like rolling gourds. Screams and wails filled the air.

Schroeder lost his footing and flew over the railing, falling toward the monster. It opened its pitch-black mouth, flames churning within. Schroeder stared blankly, murmuring a single word:

"Monster!"

Flames surged out, setting the entire ship ablaze and burning Schroeder to ash. The other ships tried to flee, but without exception, they were easily overturned and sank beneath the sea!

Over the next while, many people encountered Children of the Sea God in the deep ocean. Some were enormous octopuses, others colossal whales, and still others giant sharks with hard heads that smashed through ships. Each was immense, far beyond anything humans could resist!

The farther out to sea people went, the more likely they were to encounter these creatures. Because of their size, they rarely approached land or coastal waters, but their presence had a massive impact on shipping routes, harming the interests of countless merchants and nobles.

People began sending Blood Knights to fight them. Yet even Blood Knights couldn't kill them. Bloodline abilities could injure them, and giant crossbows could wound them, but these Children of the Sea God could wield supernatural powers.

Like gods, they could unleash flames. Some could freeze the sea, while others made strange sounds that plunged people into sleep. Every one of them possessed tremendous vitality and tough skin; some even had entire clans dwelling in their territories in the depths!

Every fleet and Blood Knight sent to fight them failed to return. Even the mightiest warriors seemed so weak before them. It was as if the entire ocean had fallen into darkness.

People called them the Children of the Sea God!

From then on, alongside all manner of natural disasters, the sea held another force that could not be resisted. The deep ocean became a place humans could neither reach nor dare to enter.

After creating Sakun, Lu Zhiyu wanted to make changes to himself. However, he wasn't going to create a Mythical Creature Template. He could only try giving himself some special genetic abilities, like those possessed by beings who had fused with Blood of Sakun.

Without undergoing full-body deification, he couldn't become a deified creature, and his body would still be riddled with weaknesses. But there was no need to rush. Forcing a Mythical Creature Template onto himself would only cause most of his cells and genes to collapse. Lu Zhiyu had no desire to become a brain monster!

It was only a matter of seventeen years, and one had already passed. He could just wait it out. There was no need to hurry. Besides, this gave him time to carefully consider his own Mythical Creature Template.

The first thing Lu Zhiyu considered was how to kill mythical creatures. Did their forms of life have some kind of weakness?

From what he had seen so far, mythical creatures were highly adaptable, possessed immortal bodies, and could grow stronger without limit. Their potential seemed boundless. But were they really that perfect? Were they truly immortal?

"As long as you can't kill every one of its Deified Cells at once, it's immortal. It can always be reborn!"

Lu Zhiyu shook his head. That might sound easy enough, but mythical creatures were bound to have their own followers. Whether intentionally or not, other living beings would inevitably be assimilated by them or fuse with their Deified Cells.

Those beings would become their followers. Even if a mythical creature's main body died, it could be reborn through one of them. To kill one for good, he would have to destroy not only its main body but all its followers as well. Otherwise, given enough time, it would return!

"Truly worthy of the name mythical creature!"

Lu Zhiyu thought it over for a long time but couldn't find a weakness in these beings. They perfectly matched his idea of what a higher life form should be.

"Then what matters most to a mythical creature? What lies at its very core?"

Lu Zhiyu immediately changed his approach. After studying Sakun, he had gained a deeper understanding of souls, mental power, and Deified Cells.

The soul was the purest form of consciousness and thought. It could merge with Source Substance and evolve into mental power. In a sense, mental power was the product of the soul merging with Source Substance and mutating. Deified Cells, meanwhile, were created when mental power fused with cells!

So the most essential part of a mythical creature was its consciousness and thought. Lu Zhiyu immediately wondered if there was a way to bypass mental power and Deified Cells and attack an opponent's consciousness and thoughts directly.

"Thought itself is a kind of power. Could I develop that power and use it as my Mythical Creature Template, becoming a mythical creature capable of controlling thoughts and consciousness?"

In a sense, thought and consciousness were simply collections of information, while the soul and mind were their vessels. Lu Zhiyu immediately thought of the Thought Space that had evolved after he deified his brain cells. It was a hall that stored his consciousness and the collection of his information!

Lu Zhiyu thought he could modify his Deified Cells to strengthen his Thought Space, turning it into a powerful space of consciousness. Then, even against a mighty mythical creature, he could ignore its formidable mental power, Deified Cells, and genetic abilities, and drag its consciousness and thoughts into his own space.

On his home ground, Lu Zhiyu would have all kinds of ways to erase its consciousness and thoughts. Once they were completely erased, even its powerful mental force and Deified Cells wouldn't let it come back to life. It would be dead in the most fundamental sense, much like a human suffering brain death. Its body would remain, but in every meaningful sense, it would be gone!

This approach was also extremely dangerous. Lu Zhiyu had only come up with a possible direction; he still needed to test it step by step. If it truly worked, then even mythical creatures could be killed for good.

At the same time, Lu Zhiyu could shore up his own weakness and keep others from killing him the same way in the future. As soon as the idea occurred to him, he got started.

"I should make use of my mental talent—the ability to transmit thought. It could be a great help in constructing and guiding the Thought Space!"

Lu Zhiyu believed that human consciousness and thought were information. The Dream Space he wanted to construct would be a world made entirely of information. However, this world would be embedded inside his body, built upon his Deified Cells as an inner space of consciousness!

So, to construct such a world, his Deified Cells had to be capable of manipulating and modifying information. He would use them to control and guide the space of consciousness!

"I'll call it the Dream Space—a space made entirely of consciousness and information!" Lu Zhiyu decided.