Combined Evolution

"Brother Han, you are back! Did you kill the creature?" Wang Yuhang asked Han Sen, with great enthusiasm in his voice.

"I thought you'd be able to tell just by looking at my face. Had I killed it, I would have brought its flesh back, wouldn't I?" Han Sen shrugged.

"That's okay. I'm sure the opportunity to slay it will arise once more." Wang Yuhang didn't sound disappointed at all. He comforted Han Sen with great concern.

This made Han Sen feel slight discomfort instead, as if it were unnatural. He wasn't the sort of person to be intimidated by bad people, but he was the sort to become afraid of nice people.

"Brother Han, I have come to believe you and I are meant to be. I have decided to group up with you, a proposition that was sealed, signed, and delivered by the mistress of destiny herself. With Team WangHan reporting for duty, we are sure to produce a prosperous future for the Second Shelter!" Wang Yuhang put his arm around Han Sen's shoulders, discussing a wild future birthed by his fantasies. In Wang Yuhang's eyes, they would one day become a legendary pair that could amass riches and fortunes with the greatest of ease. These childish dreams made Han Sen shudder.

After a bit of silence, in which Han Sen was given a moment to think, he asked himself, "When did I ever agree to cooperate with him? Having a partnership with this guy might result in a super creature assaulting my shelters every day!"

This entire time Han Sen had not said a word, but as Wang Yuhang went on and on about some glorious future in which they ruled the entirety of the Second Shelter, he felt bad about the idea of immediately shutting down the man's deluded visions.

But reflecting on his battle with the T-rex, he realized that Wang Yuhang had helped a good deal. If it wasn't for his impeccable abilities at gaining aggro, Han Sen would not have been able to fire his crossbow bolts into the monster's eye.

Han Sen needed someone like Wang Yuhang.

But seeing Wang Yuhang wax lyrical about his dreams, he felt as if his input had been wholly ignored, or not even asked for.

"Brother Han, if we partner up, we will be able to achieve many great things in this world!" Wang Yuhang continued to grip Han Sen's shoulders as they walked towards the Mystery Island's metal shelter. On and on, he talked about the amazing future they would have if they teamed up.

But when Han Sen saw what had happened to the shelter, his face turned black. It was little more than a smoldering ruin, most of it having been utterly annihilated by the rampaging T-rex they had fought there. Without technological aid, trying to restore the shelter to its former glory would be a vast undertaking. Even with builders working around the clock, it would take at least half a year for the renovations to be completed.

Han Sen decided to summon Princess Empty, to see if there was anything she could do. Perhaps she had some manner of control over the shelter. The result brought much joy to Han Sen's heart. Princess Empty was able to control the entire metal shelter and even make the Mystery Island stop moving or move to wherever Han Sen wanted it to be.

The only disappointing aspect was the speed at which the Mystery Island moved—it was a bit slow. As a reliable mode of transport, its usage as a convenient airship was out of the question. Still, it was enough to be a space-faring castle.

Han Sen went to look for Yang Manli, Li Xing Lun, and Brother Philip, to get them to invest in the development of the island. Without contributions from the other factions, there wouldn't be enough money or manpower to operate and sustain the Mystery Island.

When the Mystery Island landed, the entirety of the ice fields shook.

Han Sen had managed to take on and gain ownership over the royal shelter pretty much solo. Plus, people had seen him chase off the Fire-Scale T-rex. His reputation across the ice fields increased even more. He had achieved near-legendary status, and people treated him like some sort of god.

A lot of people in the ice fields tried to post the news on the Skynet, which was met with negative criticism and proclamations that such a feat was undoubtedly fake. Most simply didn't pay attention, so it didn't really cause that much of a scene in the grand scheme of things.

A few days later, Han Sen was starting to regret his acceptance of Wang Yuhang's presence. Ever since he had appeared in his life, nothing had gone smoothly.

His favorite chair, which he frequently sat on, suddenly broke. As he was out for a walk one day, a sinkhole suddenly appeared, which he almost fell into. The most far-fetched of accidents imaginable were now affecting Han Sen on a day-to-day basis. For as long as Wang Yuhang was around, the endless misfortune continued.

All Han Sen could take solace in was the fact that the man's presence hadn't attracted any more super creatures.

Finding an excuse, Han Sen was able to leave the Goddess Shelter and get away from Wang Yuhang for some time. Han Sen then went to the Crystal Palace alone. Although nothing truly unfortunate had happened, the constant minor troubles eventually got tiresome and Han Sen couldn't take it anymore.

"Everyone in the Goddess Shelter, I am so sorry. I have no choice." Han Sen was feeling sorry for Yang Manli, Li Xing Lun, and Brother Philip, so he went to the Crystal Palace alone. There, he finally felt great relief at his ability to enjoy some simple peace and quiet away from all the bad luck.

Han Sen had yet to find a way in which he could eat the T-rex's Life Geno essence. Eating it as it was would be no different than taking a suicide pill.

Han Sen kept the essence in the Crystal Palace while he returned to the Alliance to browse for more information in the community.

There was nothing about the Life Geno essence, so he was still unable to find a way to eat it.

But he did find information on gem beast souls. The results surprised Han Sen quite a bit, and almost made him fall out of his chair.

Gem beast souls could be consumed by other beast souls to make the recipient beast souls evolve.

Ordinarily, if a sacred-blood gem beast soul was combined with a mutant-class beast soul, the mutant-class beast soul would evolve into a sacred-blood beast soul.

"Does that mean I can use this gem beast soul to evolve any of my sacred-blood beast souls into a super beast soul?" Han Sen became extremely excited at this prospect.

If this was true, Han Sen could give the gem beast soul to one of his sacred-blood weapons and resolve his current weaponry issues.

Han Sen then took a look at the information of his gem beast soul and discovered that there was a problem.

The gem beast soul could not combine with just any beast soul, and there was a success rate percentage tied to it. If its attempt at being combined with another beast soul was not successful, the gem beast soul would be destroyed.

The rule was that a sacred-blood gem beast soul had to combine with a mutant-class beast soul. If it combined with an ordinary beast soul, it would not be able to handle the increase in power, and would simply break and become useless. This meant the gem beast soul and beast soul used would be gone for good.

Even if it combined with a mutant-class beast soul, it would have to be of a comparable type, as well. Otherwise, it would still break.

From what he could gather, there was no other way to increase his chance of success. But, there were a few posts by experienced beast soul gem infusers that helped to clarify a few things.

If it was a wolf-element gem beast soul, combining it with a wolf beast soul would yield a much higher chance at success.

Of course, this wasn't 100% certified information. And there were still many things humans did not yet know in regards to all this.

As Han Sen browsed, he saw a post containing information that had leaked from the Third Shelter. It said that aside from the type of beast soul, the element mattered as well. If a fire gem beast soul combined with a fire-element beast soul, the chance of success would be much higher.

"If this is how things are, I will need to find a fire-element T-rex beast soul first," Han Sen thought, stroking his jaw.

As Han Sen thought, his eyes suddenly lit up.