Breakthrough

Breakthrough

"Though it felt kind of perverse, I never expected blood to taste so delicious..." A faintly intoxicated look appeared on Mu Xiao's face, but he quickly came to his senses. "This strange change in my mindset isn't a good sign. And this bloody fragrance is far too addictive. It might be my body's genetic bloodline acting up."

The crimson heart gradually shriveled. The deep wounds across Mu Xiao's body healed at a visible rate, his skin regained its healthy color, and his slightly sunken cheeks slowly became rosy again. His spirits rose, and much of his hunger faded. Yet with his mouth full of bright red blood, he looked utterly eerie.

The blood throughout Mu Xiao's body boiled like scalding water. He felt as though he were soaking in a hot spring, with every current of heat circulating within him and nourishing each tendon, bone, muscle, and nerve. It felt so good that he nearly groaned.

"My physical strength is growing, my hidden injuries are healing, and my genes are actively optimizing my bodily functions. Is this kind of devouring sinful and evil, or is it instinctive evolution?"

Mu Xiao enjoyed the comfort his body brought him while closely monitoring his condition. Recalling certain things, he could not help but wonder, "As far as I know, the blood of mutated monsters generally carries extreme properties. If someone devours it recklessly, there is only one outcome: they are assimilated by the mutant's 'extreme' attributes and turn into another mutated monster. If they are unlucky, they may even explode and die. But why can I devour blood directly without being assimilated by those 'extreme' attributes? Is this the unknown nature of the true Miracle Bloodline Formula?"

Mutated monsters and zombies had blood pearls and blood crystals in their hearts, which were also forms of blood energy. However, this blood energy was safe. It could also be said that the primal blood energy of zombies and mutated monsters—even any evolved species, whether failed products or incomplete ones—contained worthwhile elements within their bloodline genes. Blood pearls and blood crystals were those worthwhile elements: the purest blood energy.

However, only a small portion of the blood energy throughout a mutant's body was usable. Most of it contained genes with vile traits such as "extremity" and "negativity."

An ordinary person who absorbed it would either become a madman or a mutant, or simply die outright.

If Mu Xiao had not felt the intense craving in his bloodline and realized that this blood energy was not harmful but beneficial, he would never have devoured such "unprocessed" blood energy.

But at this moment, he could not clearly understand his own condition. He could only attribute everything to the unknown traits brought by the Miracle Bloodline Formula.

When Mu Xiao's body had recovered to its peak, the heart that had lost its blood energy was like a deflated ball. All that remained inside were the few blood pearls that had just formed.

However, Mu Xiao did not rise, because the blood he had absorbed was still improving and optimizing his muscles, bones, skin...

It was Mu Xiao's first time absorbing special blood energy, so his body needed time to accept it. That was why the process was a little slow.

The mutant's bloodline genes gradually fused with Mu Xiao's unknown bloodline genes, and he sensed his physique breaking through at its peak...

His physique rapidly grew stronger...

His blood energy boiled, giving rise to a spring of life that circulated through every part of his body. The power within his muscles was climbing at a terrifying rate, his vitality constantly swelling and radiating vigorous life force. The bones throughout his body were also strengthening, emitting faint metallic clinks as they approached the hardness and density of ordinary metal.

Like a butterfly breaking from its cocoon, Mu Xiao's physique completely broke through the limits of old humanity and attained the "peak" beginner physique of a new human.

"This long-lost new human physique... Though it's only at the first level of the peak rank, it's already far beyond any SSS-grade physique." Mu Xiao stood up and clenched his fists, feeling as though he possessed inexhaustible strength. It seemed that one punch could create an air blast. Even his Mind Force had improved dramatically, greatly boosting the power of both his mental strength and telekinesis.

The sturdier the vessel, the more powerful energy it could contain, and the more fully it could unleash its might.

Mu Xiao's body was the vessel. Mind Force was an ability formed by the union of source power and the soul. The stronger his body became, the more tyrannical even a mere wisp of Mind Force would be, even without genuine cultivation, simply by combining telekinesis and mental strength. Now that his physique had strengthened, the power he unleashed would no longer overwhelm his own body and cause it to collapse.

"If I faced that mutant woman again now, I definitely wouldn't be as miserable as before." Mu Xiao quickly adapted to the sensation of power brought by his evolved physique. After all, he had once been a veteran new human powerhouse with advanced evolution. Control over bodily functions was instinctive to him, sparing him the process of familiarizing himself with his strength and allowing him to immediately unleash his combat power beyond its usual limits.

After the breakthrough and the series of physical enhancements, all the wounds on his body had healed completely, leaving behind not even the slightest scar.

In truth, after eighteen genetic resonances, Mu Xiao's physique had already reached the first level of the peak rank. His progress could be called astonishingly fast. He himself understood that without the "strange sea of consciousness" refining a primal source, with part of it used to strengthen his physique, along with his bizarre ability to devour mutant blood energy, he could never have broken through to the first level of the peak rank with so few genetic resonances.

"The bloodline genes of mutants are actually this effective for me." Mu Xiao pondered to himself. Should I get rid of this psychological resistance, hunt more mutants, and turn them into the source of my evolution?

People would stop at nothing for evolution. Forget devouring blood—even eating living humans raw was something some twisted evolvers would do.

However, as far as Mu Xiao knew, he was not the only one with the ability to strengthen himself through blood energy.

In the future great age of evolution, there was a supreme powerhouse who commanded an enormous force—Blood Queen!

She was a queen who drank blood energy, controlled blood energy, and could even refine blood energy into a source of evolutionary power exclusive to herself.

"As long as I maintain my principles, stand firm in my true heart, and do not let negative emotions affect me, there's nothing wrong with devouring blood to strengthen myself." Mu Xiao felt perfectly at ease. The paths of evolution differed for everyone; there was no righteous path or evil path... only the strong were supreme!

Mu Xiao picked up the mutant woman's shriveled heart and found ten violet-red premium blood pearls inside.

"Looks like this mutant hadn't evolved for long. She didn't even condense the lowest-quality blood crystals." Mu Xiao examined his first harvest of premium-grade blood pearls.

Generally speaking, the highest-grade blood energy zombies could condense was only premium blood pearls. Once a zombie transformed into a mutant, the blood throughout its body would reorganize into blood crystals. However, there was also a possibility that it would form a large number of premium blood pearls instead.

If a mutant condensed beginner blood crystals, even if they were merely "inferior blood crystals," it would still be much stronger than a mutant that formed premium blood pearls. Moreover, as the mutant grew stronger, the quality of its blood crystals would rise to vermilion, deep red, and premium grade.

Of course, a zombie that condensed blood crystals from the start, even inferior blood crystals, would possess enormous potential upon evolving into a mutant. At the very least, in terms of blood energy, it would be stronger than other mutants that had only blood pearls.

Simply put, blood crystals and blood pearls were blood energy suppliers. Blood pearls supplied energy at a low frequency, while blood crystals supplied it at a high frequency. The strength of one's abilities and the output of physical power naturally depended on the power of these suppliers.

However, like new humans, mutants also differed in potential.

Just as Mu Xiao was about to retrieve his severed backpack and put away the blood pearls, he noticed a mass of material on the mutant woman's corpse that flickered in and out of sight and constantly shifted into different shapes.

"This is the source of the Mechanical Mastery ability!" Mu Xiao was delighted. The mechanical ability he had planned to acquire as his first step had appeared before him. This would save him quite a bit of trouble.

He grabbed the mass of white vapor-like material in one hand. A cool, refreshing aura surged straight into his mind, as though a mechanical master were imparting every bit of knowledge without reservation. Things he had once failed to understand, comprehend, or even notice instantly gave rise to a force of enlightenment, allowing him to see the essence of all machinery.

The next moment, Mu Xiao's sea of consciousness intercepted the source of Mechanical Mastery. His thoughts informed him that it could be transformed into talent potential. If he chose to absorb it, it would become a new ability. Furthermore, once it became a new ability, the primal sources he absorbed in the future could be used to enhance Mechanical Mastery, rather than being limited to improving his overall talent potential. He could focus entirely on strengthening a single ability's traits. Such targeted enhancement was far more effective than dispersing the source to strengthen all his talent potential.

How could Mu Xiao possibly waste such an important ability? Naturally, he chose to continue mastering this new ability. Thus, in addition to Mind Force, he now possessed Mechanical Mastery. In the future, purified sources could be allocated to it, accelerating his comprehension of mechanical knowledge.

However, Mu Xiao had once mastered some mechanical knowledge during the great age of evolution. Otherwise, he could not have modified the Overclocked Microwave Blade and '*' into those two overclocked weapons before. Therefore, his progress in comprehending Mechanical Mastery would be much faster than that of ordinary people.

Mechanical Mastery was an ability of the intelligence system. It granted exceptional comprehension of mechanical knowledge, along with abilities such as repairing machinery, modifying overclocked values, and controlling the characteristics of any machine. Generally speaking, intelligence-system abilities were difficult to level up and depended entirely on comprehension. But Mu Xiao possessed primal sources that could strengthen his soul's understanding of "machinery," giving him an incomparably advantageous foundation.

The intelligence system was a form of wisdom within the soul. When an intelligence-system ability reached its limit, one had to comprehend their own secret mechanical soul art in order to break through and undergo the final evolution of power. If one cultivated a mechanical-type secret soul art, mechanical abilities would become even more powerful. One could merge with machines, form ideal weapons with a single thought, and even turn machinery into one's incarnation.

Moreover, some "secret soul arts" could command vast numbers of machines as puppets. Mu Xiao did not know much about their cultivation methods, since this had not been his path in the past. But he could raise his talent potential, giving him some ability to cultivate mechanical-type secret soul arts. And with Mind Force, which held the potential to cultivate both "source power martial arts" and "secret soul arts," he felt that he could comprehend every method of cultivation.

"No wonder that mutant woman didn't use any special abilities in battle. Her ability source turned out to be 'mechanical knowledge'..." Mu Xiao examined the mutant woman's corpse and noticed an employee badge on her work uniform. Her position was listed as mechanical engineer.

There was a mechanical laboratory beneath the law firm. Mu Xiao guessed that this mutant woman had been one of its technicians. When the mutation occurred, she might have eaten the brains of several other technicians, allowing her to fully evolve into a mutant and acquire vast mechanical knowledge, thereby producing a source from the intelligence system.

This also demonstrated the power of mutants. That mutant woman was not combat-oriented; if she had been a combat-type mutant, the ability source that emerged likely would not have been from the intelligence system.

"It's time to go back and prepare to move supplies... But first, I need to return to the underground level and change into a set of inner armor, as well as get some weapons." Mu Xiao stood and stretched lazily. His entire body crackled like popping beans. He retrieved the backpack that had fallen near the stairway and stored away the ten highest-value premium blood pearls.

Mu Xiao had mastered the "mechanical" ability and could remove the ion virus attached to machine components. Although his mechanical ability was not particularly high yet, it was enough to activate a small portion of his weapons' and equipment's functions. It would help him on the way there and back; even if he encountered powerful mutated creatures, he would have stronger means to respond.