Talent Potential

Chapter 18: Talent Potential

Twice in a row, strange energy substances had appeared in his sea of consciousness. Mu Xiao vaguely felt that this was not some illusion created by himself.

"Could it be that my soul fused with my future soul and produced an unknown energy that only appears when I improve my strength?" With an experimental mindset, Mu Xiao familiarly sank into the calm state of cultivation. His faint, untrained thoughts reached into his sea of consciousness, searching for the strange substances that had vanished.

The moment his thoughts entered his sea of consciousness, an exceptionally clear response swiftly came back to him.

"No way?" Mu Xiao froze for a moment, then his heart stirred. "It's actually an even purer source of primal energy. This is a source that can strengthen talent and potential!"

The evolution of New Humans relied on the PB Virus—or rather, the primal energy within PB serums. This was the catalyst behind the greatest genetic changes in New Humans. In other words, there was a kind of "energy substance" in the air that altered New Human genes, much like the "spiritual energy" in cultivation novels.

However, primal energy, also known as the primal source, was extremely difficult to refine from the "primal" substances in the air. After all, the entire world had undergone viral mutation, and substances such as the primal source had all changed. Only those people on the moon had preserved a portion of the primal source. That was why, in the days to come, the moon would still have countless New Human warriors with exceptionally high talent. That was precisely the reason.

Now that Mu Xiao could independently absorb this type of primal source, he could naturally optimize his own potential even further, with a high chance of accelerating his future cultivation.

"Perhaps after my rebirth, my soul, which had already cultivated to a profound realm, released immense energy that affected my sea of consciousness and caused a mysterious transformation. Maybe the Miracle Bloodline Formula also had something to do with it, triggering all these changes and merging some refined essence of the source into my sea of consciousness. If primal energy substances were useless, why would those fake gods in Divine Oracle, who called themselves 'gods,' go to such lengths to conduct genetic research..."

After thinking it over, Mu Xiao believed this was the most likely mutation caused by the rebirth of his soul. But it was a good thing, another foundation that could increase his potential.

His thoughts returned to his sea of consciousness. He guided part of the scattered primal source into his soul and another part into his body. This way, both Source Force Martial Arts and Soul Secret Arts could attain extraordinarily powerful talent potential.

He already possessed Mind Source Force and mental power, allowing him to cultivate the Mind Force method, which combined martial arts and secret arts. Now, with an additional primal source capable of strengthening both soul and body, there would be no issue with whatever he cultivated in the future. He could fully unleash the greatest power of Source Force Martial Arts and Soul Secret Arts, without suffering diminished strength due to insufficient talent.

"Perhaps my soul has changed, but the absorption doesn't seem very obvious there. It's more apparent in my physique. This isn't the time to cultivate my soul anyway. Improving my physique would be far more useful in battle right now." After carefully considering his condition, Mu Xiao decided that the next time, he would mainly use the primal source to strengthen his physique.

In any case, a little more strength was still strength. He reined in his emotions and dug out another nine of the lowest-quality brown blood pearls from the four zombies he had just killed.

"Although these blood pearls are a bit low-quality, even a mosquito has meat on it. Besides, some serums require a large number of blood pearls as materials." Mu Xiao placed the blood pearls into the same small cloth pouch, picked up the metal stun baton, and headed down the stairs.

The fifth floor had only one hidden room. Basically, each floor had one such room. Mu Xiao walked down the neither narrow nor wide stairway. This was an internal passage hidden within the law firm. It could lead directly underground or connect to the hidden rooms on other floors.

The foul stench released by the four zombies dead upstairs quickly spread throughout the stairwell. Suddenly, the creak of a sliding door sounded, followed by footsteps heavier and stronger than those of an ordinary person. In the deathly silent, dim stairwell devoid of any living people, they echoed with chilling clarity, filled with a grim terror.

"I wonder how many zombies are hidden in this law firm, and whether there are any mutants still here." Mu Xiao frowned. He wanted to eliminate every unstable factor in the building at once and take over the law firm smoothly, but that was clearly no easy task.

If he had firearms, Mu Xiao would not be in such a difficult position. Although his SSS-grade physique meant he basically did not fear zombies, killing them was undoubtedly much slower this way. Of course, he could use grenades, but that could easily damage the building's structure. He did not want his future base to be left in ruins.

"I can only wait for the rabbits by the tree stump." Mu Xiao stopped at the fourth-floor stairwell, intending to use the zombies' desire to consume the corpses of their companions to draw every zombie in the building over. After all, mutants had no interest in rotten zombie flesh, so they were unlikely to be attracted—unless a mutant craved Mu Xiao's fresh flesh and blood.

Mu Xiao set down the backpack on his body, held a military knife in his left hand and the metal stun baton in his right, guarding the fourth-floor passage. His mental power extended seven or eight meters. Any creature entering that range could be roughly assessed for its strength, and he could also sense the level of danger it posed.

Actually, he had another excellent method: using telekinesis to kill the monsters. But he did not want to exhaust himself too much. He had personally witnessed the birth of a mutant, so he was naturally extremely wary. If he really encountered a mutant after overexerting himself, he would be thrown into danger. Besides, his current strength was more than enough to deal with zombies. He would use his trump cards only when necessary. In this world full of monsters, not a shred of strength could be wasted, and leaving no reserve was extremely dangerous.

Hoarse, dry, ragged breathing and solid footsteps entered Mu Xiao's mental detection.

"One, two, three... Back then, I could kill hundreds of these little things with one palm strike. But now I'm re-leveling like I'm playing a game, completely without any technical difficulty. This is boring as hell!"

Mu Xiao muttered to himself, but he understood very clearly that even "re-leveling" gave him only one chance. Once he died, he would truly be dead. So no matter how boring things were now, he remained vigilant against every danger.

At this moment, among the horde of zombies rushing over, one had muscles far more developed than the others. It possessed ten levels of genetic resonance, and its physical strength was extremely close to an S-grade physique. It was the strongest among the dozen or so zombies. Given time, it had a high chance of regaining its sanity and evolving into a mutant.

Mu Xiao exhaled slowly, his entire demeanor entering a battle-ready state.

The first zombie entered his attack range. The military knife in his hand swept out like lightning, carving a dark streak through the air as it viciously slashed across the zombie's neck. Its entire head was severed in an instant. Then wind seemed to rise beneath Mu Xiao's feet as he unleashed a powerful kick, sending the head flying like a ball. It burst like a rotten watermelon, exploding into a spray of tiny black rain.

Roar!

The instant Mu Xiao made his move, the scent concealment lost its effect. The dozen or so zombies caught the scent of fresh flesh and blood. Like starving wolves and tigers, they let out chilling low growls, erupting with five or six times their usual strength as they lunged forward, clawing and biting with bloodthirsty eyes.

Fortunately, the stairwell could only fit three zombies abreast. The zombies in front blocked most of those behind them, so Mu Xiao did not have to face the frenzied assault of more than ten zombies at once.

The metal stun baton came down like a dense rainstorm. The heads of the three zombies in front burst one after another. Whenever a zombie in front fell, the ones behind would recklessly surge forward. Taking full advantage of his SSS-grade physique, Mu Xiao used the simplest and most brutal methods possible to smash zombie heads into pulp.

A zombie's savage, twisted face burst apart with a soft pop, reduced to a bloody mess. Mu Xiao drove the entire blade into another zombie's brow, then cleanly twisted it with force. At the same time, he kicked the zombie in the chest. With a crack of breaking bones, its body was kicked back like a sandbag, slamming into the zombie behind it and slowing the momentum of the vicious charge.

Mu Xiao used both hands and feet, meeting the zombies' attacks with broad, unrestrained movements.

Not a single zombie could withstand one of Mu Xiao's strikes. After all, an SSS-grade physique was far beyond the comparison of dozens of A-grade physiques. Moreover, zombies only attacked on instinct. They had no tactics, no coordination, and knew neither defense nor evasion. They were nothing more than targets.

Suddenly, the sound of a fist tearing through the air came hurtling viciously toward Mu Xiao's head.

Mu Xiao had long noticed the muscular zombie with ten levels of evolution. He slightly adjusted the angle of his military knife, its sharp point like an awl as he viciously and maliciously thrust it toward the hammer-like fist.

How could flesh and blood withstand the sharpness of a blade? Combined with the force of that incoming punch, the knife sank straight into the zombie's fist. Yet, as if it could not feel pain, the zombie's fist merely slowed, still seemingly crashing toward Mu Xiao with undiminished momentum. In truth, however, the force of the punch had weakened considerably.

The moment Mu Xiao drove in the military knife, he immediately withdrew his hand and retreated, unwilling to take the muscular zombie's heavy punch head-on.

He knew that zombies had no pain nerves, but that did not mean stabbing a blade into the zombie's fist would have no effect on its condition. The blade had pierced into the fist's muscles, greatly hindering the output of its strength. The human body was like a machine: if something jammed a machine, its output would definitely not be as smooth as before.

Seizing the opportunity, Mu Xiao swung the baton at the muscular zombie's head. There was a resounding impact, but instead of the expected explosion, the metal baton bent slightly. Still, Mu Xiao held it firmly, sidestepped the muscular zombie's heavy punch, and smashed the head of another zombie lunging in from the side.

The muscular zombie swung both fists, whipping up a bloody gale. Mu Xiao suddenly exerted force through his arm and slashed horizontally with the metal baton as if wielding a blade. Carrying a burst of wind-splitting force, it slammed into the zombie's fist. With a heavy collision of hard objects, the metal baton bent completely and was ruined, but the muscular zombie's fist was also mangled into a bloody pulp, black blood streaming out like a small creek.

Cold light flashed in Mu Xiao's eyes. He retreated several steps in succession, dodging the muscular zombie's punches. At the same time, he hurled the ruined metal baton at the head of a zombie behind him. When the muscular zombie's fist finally lost its follow-through force, Mu Xiao stepped forward, lightning-fast, grabbed the blade embedded in the muscular zombie's fist, and pulled it free. He advanced another step, gripped the military knife in reverse, and cleanly, sharply stabbed into the muscular zombie's temple before twisting it.

Its physique was powerful, but certain parts of its body were still fatal weaknesses.

The same was true for New Humans, and the same was true for zombies.

The muscular zombie's head had already suffered severe damage, and its strength had greatly diminished. After Mu Xiao followed up with several more slashes, the muscular zombie with ten genetic resonances also collapsed in the stairwell. The remaining two or three zombies soon had their heads cut off by Mu Xiao as well, each one kicked apart.