Crisis Half a Year Later

Gene modification lasted through the entire night.

The first thing Shen Jun did upon stepping out of the device was rush to check himself in the glass. To his surprise and delight, he wasn't blue-skinned—though he wasn't purely yellow-skinned either. A faint blue tint subtly permeated his yellow skin, giving it a bizarre yellow-blue hue. Strangely enough, it actually looked pretty good.

His pupils, of course, unavoidably emitted a deep blue glow. His facial features hadn't changed much, but they seemed more refined—undeniably handsome and dashing. What comforted Shen Jun most was that his nose and mouth remained the same.

His physique was also that of a normal God River Body; no hooves or anything like that had grown.

The biggest change was his height. Shen Jun shot up from 1.8 meters to 1.9 meters, with an exceptionally well-proportioned build. The lines of his muscles were full of aesthetic appeal, putting to shame the so-called fitness masters he'd seen on TV back in the day.

As for the gene modification itself, Shen Jun couldn't quite describe the sensation. There was no intense pain—it was mostly like sleeping through the night, not much different. But not entirely the same. Especially his psionic energy: when Adun's gene sample was injected into Shen Jun's body, his psionic power began to surge and strengthen wildly.

In the Terran Empire of the StarCraft Universe, human psionic levels were divided into ten grades.

Grades 1-2: Most humans, no notable abilities.

Grades 2-5: Can sense the existence of psionic energy.

Grades 5-8: Can read minds; most Ghost Agents fall between grades 5 and 6.

Grades 8-10: Some can use telekinesis.

Grade 12: Kerrigan—a grade established specifically for her. Her power had already exceeded the scope of human understanding at the time.

The Protoss had no such thing as psionic grades. Their old caste system was already a good enough measure of strength, but compared to the human grading system, it was too vague.

As everyone knew, psionic strength was innate and unchangeable. Protoss psionic power was generally several grades higher than humans. Even most Templars could reach around grade 7, while Khalai engineers were weaker, usually not exceeding grade 5. In fact, every newborn Protoss aspired to become a Templar; only those whose psionic grades fell short ended up as artisans.

But that didn't mean the Zealot Legion was necessarily stronger than a Ghost Agent squad. Human psionic grades were based on both intensity and control. A grade 7 Zealot might have control below grade 5—that was the real measure of strength.

Take Shen Jun, for example. Rohana believed his psionic intensity was no less than Kerrigan's. Perhaps his total psionic reserves were inferior, but his quality and control talent might even surpass hers. Yes, Shen Jun also had grade 12 psionic intensity. After receiving Adun's genes, his intensity might climb even higher.

However, given Shen Jun's current level, before the modification, being able to exert the strength of around grade 5 was already pushing it. Any random Zealot could have trounced him. But now, he could clearly feel his own power. He even sensed that the things around him could change according to his will.

Eager and excited, Shen Jun reached out his hand, pointing at a stone under a nearby tree. With a thought, the stone wobbled and lifted into the air, flying over bit by bit under his control, finally landing in Shen Jun's hand.

Sure enough, Shen Jun had awakened telekinesis. This meant he had at least reached grade 8.

As time passed, he would only grow stronger...

The benefits of gene modification were obvious. Besides the increase in power and the Protoss' natural photosynthesis, the Protoss' attitude toward Shen Jun had also become much more intimate. Although the differences in appearance were still clear, Shen Jun now genuinely possessed many Protoss traits. Under Rohana's examination, his Protoss genes had reached an astonishing over seventy percent, leaving Shen Jun with only thirty percent human genes.

The result shocked Rohana. Normally, at such a ratio, Shen Jun's appearance should have been nearly identical to a Protoss. Yet he still retained his human form—truly bizarre.

Even our most difficult Alarak had stopped clamoring that humans were unfit to lead the Protoss, which said something.

A month later, Protoss society was back on track. The three major mineral veins were completely under Protoss control. Zeratul had already destroyed the Trigonians' City deep beneath the ocean. The Protoss began establishing sub-bases across the planet. Besides Crystal Minerals, basic metal ores like gold, silver, copper, and iron were also indispensable. Hundreds, even thousands, of Protoss Nexuses were built by the engineers.

Fifteen days ago, Rohana could no longer sense the StarCraft Universe. This meant the StarCraft Universe had been annihilated. Shen Jun could no longer warp in Protoss buildings through Rohana.

After a month of selection, the tsundere Gao JianGuo had finally found what he considered the most perfect alien beast species. He named it Dehaka.

"..."

When Shen Jun first heard that name, he almost thought Sister Kerrigan had also transmigrated. But when Alarak dragged one over for him to see, it really was Dehaka.

Overall, it looked like an upright tyrannosaur, with two massive claws, long bone spikes growing from its back, and its entire body covered in hard bone plates...

Fortunately, Shen Jun didn't find any special abilities in this creature. Aside from looking like Dehaka, its strength was far inferior. So what about this super-god version of "Dehaka" had caught the eye of the picky Gao JianGuo?

The reason was simple: Dehaka was the most powerful alien beast on Giant Elephant Star. Its strength exceeded ten tons, stronger than any other alien beast. Its leg muscles were exceptionally developed, allowing it to run as fast as a cheetah and even leap over thirty meters high.

What satisfied Alarak most was that they could evolve by devouring other species. Although this evolution was extremely slow and inefficient, it was still an advanced biological instinct.

In the simple animal world, they could truly be considered at the top of the pyramid. The only pity was their scarcity. Alarak had searched everywhere and only gathered over seven thousand of them, scattered across various places, making it hard to form a large group. This was also why the Elephant Man civilization had managed to stand out.

Oh, right—about the fate of the Elephant Man civilization, the original masters of Giant Elephant Star... let's just skip that question.

"Commander, it seems we have a problem."

One day, Zeratul found Shen Jun, his tone grave.

Shen Jun was puzzled. The Trigonians were destroyed, and Giant Elephant Star was now the Protoss' domain. Where could the trouble be?

"Beneath the Trigonians' City, we discovered a Trigonian several times larger than normal. Its communication frequency was different from other Trigonians, with many layers of encryption. There's a high chance it was a dedicated messenger Trigonian. So we transported it back to Kerasul for decryption."

Shen Jun thought for a moment and did recall that Zeratul had brought back an unusually large Trigonian.

"And the result?"

"Not long ago, Kerasul successfully decrypted it. Unfortunately, Commander, it seems we've gotten involved in a massive interstellar war. The Trigonians were one of the participants. This planet was likely a colony the Trigonians had seized. The information that Trigonian transmitted was the coordinates of this location."

"The Trigonians have dispatched a considerable army heading this way. Their estimated arrival time is about half a year from now."

(Discord group number: 1107655535, friends come on in.)