Planet Earth, China.
Amidst corpses that had varying degrees of destruction and several large pools of blood that were slowly beginning to be absorbed by the earth, a huge fleet of several thousand armed humans and several hundred soul evolvers were positioned along a large defensive line composed essentially of war tanks and IFVs as well as several other modified vehicles that resembled metal beasts.
Surprisingly, however, despite the fact that there were so many people gathered in a single place and regardless of how theatrical the bloody scene was, the only sound that could be heard at present apart from the whistling of the wind was the occasional distant roar of some wild beast hidden deep inside one of the many forests relatively closer to Baiquan Camp.
The flow of mana that the Soul Record could not fully control as well as the remaining Soul Power within several dozen Soul Stones danced a couple of meters above the ground at the same time as multicolored flashes of light scattered around creating a simply beautiful sight worthy of a fantasy movie.
The contrast between fantasy beauty and horror tetric was so great that were it not for what was quietly unfolding more and more, everyone might wonder how it was possible for two extreme opposites to coexist in such a way in the same place.
Bai Zemin had practically held his breath for so long that he would have easily broken the previous world record right before dying with his lungs shriveling up like a cartoon. His eyes were fixed intently on the huge ball of light that gleamed like a small artificial sun just above his head, anxiously waiting for the process of evolution of the skill Regeneration to end once and for all.
Beside him, Shangguan Bing Xue was no less nervous than him at all as she watched the definitive development of everything with her beautiful face looking considerably pale.
People like Evangeline, Nangong Yi, Nangong Lingxin, Fu Xuefeng, Cai Jingyi, and even Kang Lan who had stopped evolving her skill after noticing the commotion, as well as many other soul evolvers who were part of the small core of Bai Zemin's faction, watched his and Shangguan Bing Xue's strange behavior with eyes full of questioning signs.
None of them could understand the reason why the two of them, who were the core of the core, were behaving so strangely.
It was as if the wounds on Bai Zemin's body were suddenly no longer so important from a certain point of view even though they all could see two huge holes running through him from side to side! There were even a few burns that were slowly being healed by the high Health stat of him.
But in fact, none of them were aware of the great stake that was taking place a short distance ahead and none of them could ever imagine the huge treasure floating right under their noses that was about to disappear to become something completely unknown.
Bang!
Suddenly and without warning, the bright light hovering three or four meters above the ground contracted before bursting and shattering in a manner similar to a crystal glass. However, unlike the crystal, the magic particles that were charged with mana so everyone could see them were quickly absorbed by a kind of small glowing red pearl that slowly began to descend.
"That's…" Bai Zemin's pupils contracted slightly as he watched the small crimson pearl gently flying towards him.
"… What is that?" Shangguan Bing Xue was dumbfounded as she carefully observed the small object that rather than a small pearl was not very different from a headache pill except that it had a suspicious color.
Wasn't Bai Zemin supposed to be evolving a skill? What was going on then? Why did that little red thing come out as a result of what should have been a process of evolution? Shangguan Bing Xue realized that the skill Bai Zemin wanted to evolve clearly hadn't changed at all yet or else he wouldn't be as "calm" as he was.
Bai Zemin seemed not to hear Shangguan Bing Xue's question and as if he was in a trance he simply extended his hand forward.
The small red pearl fell gently into his right palm and Bai Zemin looked at it confused and nervous at the same time.
He could clearly remember how some time ago, inside his workshop located in the north area and not long after Bai Zemin was forced to fight against the Second Order Archaic Bear which represented another one of his most difficult and fierce battles to date, something similar to what was happening just now took place.
When Bai Zemin tried to evolve his skill Blood Manipulation together with Lilith, he also obtained a small pearl that was exactly the same as the one he was holding now.
Simply out of curiosity, Bai Zemin tried to see the records recorded in the small pearl. However, not to his surprise, all he saw was a series of '?????' and nothing more.
Although Bai Zemin just can not understand how it was possible for something to exist that was literally born using the Soul Record's power as its source that the Soul Record itself could not read, he not only did not have the energy to raise such questions but he knew perfectly well that he would only be wasting his time since the current him was just an insignificant being who would never get any answers.
If he wanted answers, then he first needed to be powerful enough to get them or at the very least to go in search of them.
Bai Zemin took a deep breath and without further ado swallowed the little red thing. After all, this wasn't the first time he had to go through this process for the skill he wanted to evolve to grow.
Maybe he was still too weak or maybe this was how he was supposed to be to begin with, but Bai Zemin felt absolutely nothing strange after swallowing the strange little object.
Then, a message flashed in his retina and with anxiety, as well as nagging fear, he read it to himself.
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[Regeneration (Third Order active skill) level 1: Regenerates 50 Stamina points for every 1 Mana point consumed. No cooldown time].
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The face of Bai Zemin turned as pale as if he had seen a ghost in broad daylight in his childhood years. His legs trembled and strength left his body as he realized that apparently, his judge was wrong.
Even if recovering 50 Stamina points in exchange for a single insignificant Mana point was more than impressive as it was basically turning him into an inexhaustible combat beast, Bai Zemin was far from being satisfied and undoubtedly at this moment, he felt he was suffering a great loss!
If Bai Zemin was in more advanced stages of evolution and his faction was more steadfast, then he would undoubtedly be more than happy with this kind of outcome. However, at present, he did not need to consume Mana to regenerate Stamina! His current combat power should be enough to swiftly wipe out any Earth-born enemy!
"Hey!" Shangguan Bing Xue quickly moved to support him just as he was about to collapse.
She was startled to notice that not only was he tremendously pale with no trace of blood anywhere in his face but even his body felt as cold as a corpse because he was covered in a cold layer of sweat!
Just as everyone became agitated at the sight of Bai Zemin about to collapse, more green letters appeared in his retina as if the Soul Record was toying with him.
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[Regeneration.]
[Second Activation-]
[Overlap Regeneration: Except for the stat 'Health', you can take all the points of one of the other five stats and add them for as long as you wish up to a maximum of 5 seconds to a different stat. This activation depends on the body instead of the soul, so it consumes large amounts of energy to activate. It consumes 50 Stamina points per activation and has no cooldown time.]
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"Big Brother Bai!" Luo Ning, who had recently awakened after having fainted several hours ago from consuming all of her Stamina and most of her Mana, as well as having received a great mental shock, rushed forward when she saw Bai Zemin's miserable condition.
The eyes of the girl were full of tears and the sadness in her stare was so deep that even a demon would be moved by seeing her like this.
She was not worried about the environment at all nor did she seem to care that Bai Zemin did not look anything like the usual Bai Zemin but looked more like a strange monster with all the wounds on his body and an arm of blood. All that Luo Ning's gaze conveyed was concern that came from deep in her heart for the person to whom she owed the most and to whom she was most grateful in this world.
However, no matter how worried the gaze of Shangguan Bing Xue who was holding him as if he was the most delicate thing in the world and regardless of how much Luo Ning sobbed beside him; even if the world collapsed before his eyes it was highly unlikely that Bai Zemin would react.
The state of shock that Bai Zemin was in at this moment was undoubtedly among the greatest and most terrifying he had ever experienced in his 20 years of life.
In fact, up to this day, Bai Zemin could not recall ever being as shocked as he was right now.
"Overlap Regeneration…." He muttered as his eyes stared vacantly ahead.
Overlap Regeneration, the second activation of the skill Regeneration, was still something completely different from what Bai Zemin was expecting to obtain after evolving Regeneration to the Third Order.
What Bai Zemin was expecting was that at some point the skill would transform into something that would allow him to consume Mana to boost his recovery rate to new heights or even a Second Activation that would allow him to recover from fatal wounds once every so often at best.
However, what he had gotten in return was simply insane.
Nonsense.
There was no way to describe it other than with the words batshit insane.
Bai Zemin had some really powerful skills in his arsenal, among them, the skill Gravity Manipulation was arguably the most dangerous and probably the second most versatile skill he possessed but at the same time, it was also the weakest of them all as it depended on other skills to show its true power….. On the other hand, there was also the extremely destructive skill Crimson Blood Judgment which after being enhanced by certain skills had even endangered an entire race.
There was even the most versatile skill with the most possible uses, Blood Manipulation. Not only did it serve to wipe out large armies in a matter of minutes, but it also helped to speed up the body's recovery rate and even suppress the enemies' power to a great extent.
However, if someone were to appear in front of Bai Zemin right now and ask him which skill he believed was the most terrifying of all, he would have no hesitation in answering; not Gravity Manipulation, not Blood Manipulation, not Crimson Blood Judgment, not even the power of the Endless Blue Lotus Flame.
Overlap Regeneration…. This was undoubtedly the skill that currently occupied the highest point in Bai Zemin's heart despite being a mere Second Activation and despite being recently obtained.
The number of thoughts and the number of ideas that surged in Bai Zemin's heart were so many that he could do nothing but store them all to study them later in a manner similar to a supercomputer.
But in fact, Bai Zemin was not wrong.
Because the skill Overlap Regeneration was not only one of his most powerful skills…. It was also one of the most terrifying skills that existed in and out of the firmament.
And, even more terrifying, Overlap Regeneration was far from being in its final stage.
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