The first stage of [Origin] release, achieved in three days.
If Granny Seal’e knew about this, she would have been so angry that she puked blood.
Supernatural powers within the Flame world had been weakened so much that every person who obtained it must have superior bravery, or a tough will, or happened upon a great opportunity, or had a unique constitution compared to others… in short, they had to be a cut above the rest in one way or another.
As the only remaining Witch in the Flame world, Granny Seal’e began her supernatural journey at the age of 16, when she was still a beautiful aristocratic young lady. From the moment she discovered the notebook of Witchcraft left by her ancestors in their closest, it took her a total of 10 years to achieve the first stage of release and become a qualified Witch.
For the next several dozen years, she continued to be stuck on that first stage. In order to obtain the resources necessary to reach the second stage of release, she basically spent every bit of effort, both physically and mentally, as well as countless years of planning and counter-planning, only to fail at the very end.
Meanwhile, people in the Disaster world only needed to be stimulated by Disasforce for a little bit to achieve the first stage of release within 3 days. Furthermore, if Negary’s calculations were correct, it would only take a month at most for the first person to achieve the second stage of release to appear.
Since the [Spiritual Inception] germ was one of the foundations for their cultivation, as they continued to practice Spiritual Inception, the soul virus hidden within the germs would unknowingly infect their souls, turning them into a part of Negary.
In this way, after the number of people who achieved the second stage of release reached a certain amount, Negary would be able to use them as the foundation to completely renew the quality of his soul, breaking through that seemingly impossible limit.
The first person to achieve the first stage of release wasn’t Chen Di Xi who drew Negary’s attention, but rather someone else. It wasn’t because he was slow or anything, Chen Di Xi was actually trying to suppress his progress of Spiritual Inception right now, otherwise he might not be able to obtain a Disasforce weapon in time.
In order to create Biomass Gear, he had to hunt a certain number of zombies, endure the disgust of having to cut up zombie organs to extract the mutated virus inside, then pour that black virus all over himself.
As he used the derivative breathing method of Spiritual Inception that Negary bestowed him, the layer of liquid slime-like virus started to envelop Chen Di Xi like a living creature, penetrated his body, ate away his flesh, and swiftly assimilated his body. Followed by an intense devouring consciousness that attacked Chen Di Xi’s mind.
Damn it, that person didn’t mention anything about this being so uncomfortable.
Clutching his head, Chen Di Xi collapsed, writhing in pain while enduring the attack of the collective viral consciousness on his mind.
In reality, creating Biomass Gear wasn’t quite as simple as described. If all you needed to do was gather enough mutated germs and use the derivative breathing to mold it into equipment, Biomass Gear would be too inexpensive.
The hardest part about creating Biomass Gear was fighting against the collective consciousness of the viruses, the main function of the derivative breathing method was actually to bridge the consciousness of both parties.
In this situation, there could only be one of three outcomes. First case, the collective viral consciousness would devour the mind of the person, thoroughly consuming them. The mutated zombie virus would mutate once again to manifest stronger monsters.
Second case, the person’s willpower was strong enough to completely overpower and defeat the collective viral consciousness, thus dominating the mass of viruses with their minds. By flexibly gaining control of the mass of the virus, the perfect Biomass Gear would be created.
Third case, the consciousness of both parties would fuse halfway to form a symbiotic relationship where both sides would influence the other. How great this influence was would depend on the individual willpower.
In the end, Chen Di Xi was too impatient, his willpower couldn’t completely destroy the consciousness of the viruses, but as a person judged by Negary to have potential, he wasn’t weak enough to be fully consumed by the viruses either.
Because of this, during their struggle for supremacy, their consciousness began to fuse halfway and formed a symbiotic relationship.
When Chen Di Xi stood back up, he was now wearing a black skin-tight bodysuit. In order to facilitate the use of the Spiritual Inception breathing method, the suit formed a mask on his face that made him look like a demon from afar.
After the symbiotic relationship was established, Chen Di Xi had officially obtained a Biomass Gear, his Biomass Gear had a strong devouring characteristic that could consume other creatures to replenish the host’s vitality. At the same time, it could consume the genes of those creatures in order to evolve and strengthen itself, however in exchange, using this ability would affect the host’s sense of self.
Furthermore, if he was able to thoroughly destroy the viral consciousness in the future, in exchange for losing the devouring ability, his Biomass Gear would essentially become a part of his body, capable of coordinating with the ability he awakened from releasing his [Origin].
The symbiotic form was, in nature, the ‘evil path’ of cultivation: while it can rapidly increase one’s strength, it also carried the side effect of influencing one’s mind. And the complete domination form had greater potential to grow while also being safe. It was hard to say which form was superior.
And it was because he took on the symbiotic form that Chen Di Xi lost so much time. When he finally made it to where Negary told him there would be a Disasforce weapon, he found that someone had already taken it.
Due to his symbiotic relationship with the viral consciousness, Chen Di Xi’s human sympathy became comparatively duller while his aggression got greatly increased.
If it was his previous self, he would most likely accept that he was unlucky and try to search for other Disasforce weapons. After all, even if he knew beforehand that there was a Disasforce weapon here, that didn’t mean that it automatically belonged to him.
However, his current first thought after discovering that someone had arrived before him was to find that person and take his Disasforce weapon back. This was due to the influence of the viral consciousness.
Naturally, Chen Di Xi noticed this influence, but he didn’t care. In this time of chaos, people with this sort of personality might actually be fitter to survive and achieve greater success.
Touching a burned-out campfire on the ground, he discovered that some warmth could still be felt, which meant that the other party hadn’t left this place for long. Most likely, that person immediately tried to achieve the first stage of release right here after he found the Disasforce weapon, which meant that he could still catch up if he hurried.
With his Biomass Gear, Chen Di Xi obtained a greater sense of cognition through using it in combination with Spiritual Inception breathing. He could now perceive the [Spiritual Inception] germs within his respiratory tracts and faintly sense other people who carried the [Spiritual Inception] germs within their bodies.
“You want to run away after stealing my things?” Chen Di Xi kept up his heightened senses through breathing and chased after his target.
…
Around 3 Areas[1] away from that location, a middle-aged man was holding a standard longsword forged from unique materials in one hand, while also holding onto the hand of a 12-year-old girl with his other hand as he cautiously made his way through the city.
Sensing the metallic feel of the longsword on his finger, the connection he felt with it through his soul caused him to feel considerably more assured. His progress with Spiritual Inception cultivation was quicker than average, together with his accidental discovery of this Disasforce weapon just in time for him to achieve the first stage of release, it could be said that he was quite fortunate.
“Lan Shan” the middle-aged man muttered his daughter’s name, his gaze looking at her became firm: “I will definitely protect you”
“Un” the little girl nodded, seemingly a girl of very little words. Ever since her mother’s death a few days ago, she had become like this.
[1] In case someone forgot, this world divides its provincial areas into Domains, which consist of multiple Areas, you can think of an Area as a city district.
