Chapter 38: Intermediate Race

Day 102

Today, I finally reached the absolute pinnacle of qi accumulation. No matter what I do, I can't store more qi in my dantian.

Dad told me it was normal. Now, I have to reach the body forging realm. Even though it seems simple, it's harder than it looks. I have to succeed in circulating my own qi in my main meridians and make it form a cycle.

I've tried several times already, but I can't do it.

Guiding the qi is quite easy at first, but I have to maintain the cycle long enough for it to resonate with the spiritual energy of the world.

At the same time, I must maintain only minimal control over it, otherwise, it won't resonate.

I still have a lot of work to do!

...

Back in the void, Liam watched the original seed spin as about a dozen corpses decomposed inside.

Since his teacher's validation, he had returned to the spatial rift of his realm and modified about a hundred corpses.

Of course, he didn't kill his own people, but after some time, a few nagas died of old age or during the planar wars, and after the ceremonies, he managed to retrieve their bodies.

Nevertheless, out of over a hundred experiments, only eleven had been successful, bringing the total number to twelve.

A success rate of 10% was... really low, but every one was different, and nagas were no exception, so he often encountered problems in modifying the bodies.

What he was doing was much more complicated than grafting body parts onto a corpse.

It was more akin to genetically enhancing the race.

The lack of organs to store and make circulate spiritual energy in their bodies had been blocking the nagas for hundreds of years, and artificially grafting such a system onto their bodies would almost certainly result in rejection.

He had continuously researched different types of spiritual roots (it combine storage organ and circulation organ) of all serpent species he could find and even drew inspiration from several other naga species.

In fact, he could have finished earlier, but he wanted the best for his believers: something that wouldn't hold them back on the path of culture.

For this, there was no other solution: he had to create a supreme spiritual root suitable for the red-moon Nagas.

Spiritual roots were divided into five ranks: nonexistent, like the nagas nowadays, mortal: allowing to reach rank 3, earth: allowing to reach rank 4, heaven: allowing to reach rank 5, and supreme: allowing to reach rank 6.

After that, it depended on each one's talent to become a superior existence.

Even if spiritual roots weren't absolute, they determined the speed at which someone cultivated. The width and solidity of the meridians, the amount of energy that could be accumulated in the dantian... all depended on the spiritual root.

Even if someone with a mortal root could actually reach the gold core realm (rank 4), their chances would be much lower than those with a celestial spiritual root. Even then, it would take much longer and be much less powerful than others.

Similarly, a supreme spiritual root didn't guarantee becoming a rank 6 existence, only that one had the potential to.

After that, everything would be anchored in the nagas' genetic code, and their spiritual root would improve with their bloodline. In other words, they would have no real limits up to rank 6, only bottlenecks.

To put it simply, not everyone would have a supreme spiritual root, and most might only have a mortal spiritual root, but it would be encoded in their genes.

As long as they elevated their bloodline to a higher rank, they could improve their spiritual root.

Cultivation and bloodline would then form a virtuous cycle: a high level of cultivation would foster a breakthrough in the bloodline, and a breakthrough in the bloodline would increase the speed of cultivation and the potential.

The only problem was that the rejection rate from the bodies was huge and hovered around 90%.

Even then, it was because they were dead; otherwise, it would be closer to 99.9999999%.

If he directly implanted the genetic code into the nagas, it was more than likely that he would directly annihilate the entire race.

This is also what prevented many students from creating their own race.

For the most part, they had to wait to become demigods to directly create a high-level intermediate race (rank 6) in one go.

People like Liam, who created a race from the beginning, were very rare because improving a race by even one rank was much more complicated than directly creating a powerful race.

Liam couldn't help but sigh, thanking his luck for giving him such a powerful artifact that could easily circumvent the problem.

As the original seed stopped spinning, he sent a prophecy to Sylvera and asked him to gather all the nagas.

The nagas were scattered between the capital, the three other cities that were almost finished with their construction, and the dozens of villages, so it took nearly a week for everyone to gather.

He couldn't help it, even if all those who had left to relay the message were great warriors, they also had to bring back the children, still mortal, while ensuring their protection.

After all, there were now many beasts in the divine realm, and even war beasts (rank 2) could be found from time to time.

On top of that, they was no such thing as public transports, so everything took quite a while.

Nevertheless, everyone was eventually gathered in the central square of the capital, looking up at the leaders on the altar.

...

"So, what's all this for?"

Sylvera turned around and faced a curious Ruvia.

Although she was several hundred years old, her appearance hadn't changed, and she still seemed to be 20 years old, and even her playful spirit remained.

A tall naga appeared behind her and pulled her tail, making her step aside from the passage.

"Stop bothering Sylv like that. It's obviously the lord who asked him to gather us," said Nevra.

She was about seven meters long and stood nearly 1.80 meters tall. Even so, she was significantly different from the other nagas, with a less wide and muscular body, but more defined "curves" and smaller, finer scales, reflecting a beautiful light green shine.

"You! How dare you touch my tail?!"

Ruvia exclaimed and pounced on her to rummage through her snake scales, and the two began to roll around on top of the altar.

"Haaa, it's always like this," Sylvera sighed.

No matter whether they were on the battlefield or in the holiest place in this world, they always ended up squabbling, even though he knew they were best friends.

He had already tried to stop them many times, but he almost never succeeded.

Fortunately, their God didn't take offense at so little.

"Don't worry, I cast an illusion spell, and no one can see what's happening here," Ilbert said, who remained silent until then.

Sylvera was about to thank him when he heard a new message in his mind, making his look to sharpen.

"You two, stop your playing around, it's time."

The two "fighters" quickly separated, one fixing her hair while the other adjusted her ornaments and grabbed her magic staff.

Ilbert dispelled his spell, and they appeared in front of the huge crowd containing over 1200 nagas.

…

The noise ceased as they saw them emerge, and the nagas looked at them curiously.

"My Children, the Lord of the Four Elements, the supreme god of the red-moon Nagas, and our creator, wishes to convey a message to us,"

Liam had since long changed his title to something more fitting and suited to him.

The school had provided him with a diamond pearl to "alter" the memories of his believers, and he probably wouldn't be able to do it again anytime soon, not that he wanted to, anyway.

"You have all noticed that in the worlds we have invaded, many of our enemies can master the same energy as the one in the sanctuary, but apart from mages, we are unable to do so," he continued.

In the crowd, some nodded and some gave him doubtful looks, wondering where he was going with this.

"Our lord is merciful and great. In his kindness, he has decided to give us an opportunity to master this energy," Liam explained.

The nagas immediately stirred, and Nevra slammed his scepter to the ground, triggering a wave of mental pressure that immediately calmed the crowd, letting the saint continue.

"However, this opportunity also comes with danger. Know that there will be no failure. Either you succeed, or you die in the process. However the advantage is that afterward, your descendants will also have this ability," he warned.

"Therefore, our Lord gives you the opportunity to choose whether to participate or not, but there will be only one chance for all of you," Sylvera paused briefly to let them digest the information.

"Now, those who want to flee like cowards, get out of here!" He yelled.

The nagas roared back to the sky and wave their weapons as none backed down.

At that time, the clouds dispersed and a huge column of light fell from the sky, engulfing the entire square.

As the ground became visible again, only the two Valyr magus remained atop the altar.

...

Bright runes illuminated the void, and the original seed began to spin.

Inside, over a thousand serpentine bodies floated quietly, unconscious.

Liam used his consciousness to guide a fraction of the genetic code he had created to each naga.

He didn't need to put in much, and he even had some left over.

When the new DNA made contact with the nagas, it directly melded into their bodies and began to mutate them.

Scales cracked, and a flow of blood escaped, while numerous cracking sounds echoed inside the original seed as the nagas' skeletal structure was modified to adapt to the spiritual root.

The mortals fared relatively well, with just a few major injuries, but the great warriors were in a pitiful state.

When they had evolved to rank 3, their bodies had continuously strengthened in a different and opposed direction to the mutation they were undergoing.

As a result, the mutation deconstructed and remodeled everything from scratch, making them look like balls of flesh, bone, and scales in a bloody motion.

It was even worse for Sylvera, but Nevra wasn't too affected. After all, his physique was only at the warrior level.

BOOM

Liam saw one of the great warriors explode into a bloody mist and immediately redirected his essence to the bodies of the other great warriors in mutation, relieving the pressure.

He had already used as much creation energy and faith energy as he could to maximize their adaptability.

Now, he could only watch the scene unfold and leave the rest to fate.

BOOM

BOOM

BOOM

A warriors and two other great warrior exploded, and Liam felt a blade tear through his heart.

Even after all these years, there were no more than about thirty great warrior nagas, and each one of them has of huge importance.

…

Time passed quickly, and the number of explosions continued to increase.

At some point, the mortals stopped convulsing and healed at a rapid rate.

BOOM

Another warrior suddenly exploded, and Liam immediately redirected his essence to the rank 3 nagas in mutation.

Shortly after, the apprentice warriors also finished their mutation and then it was the warriors' and great warriors' turn.

Now, only Sylvera remained, whose body kept opening and closing, but Liam wasn't too worried.

As a saint, Liam could guide the mutation and make it more efficient while reducing the risks.

It would be a huge joke if he lost his only saint like this.

As time passed, his wounds opened less frequently, and his condition seemed to stabilize, putting an end to the race's mutation.

Out of more than 1500 nagas, there were now only about 800 left, with only seven great warriors.

Liam looked at his watch and displayed the data of the new nagas.

…

[Race: Unknown] (Because he created it and didn't census it to the human federation)

[Race category: half-serpentine half-humanoid, amphibious]

[Race level: High-tier intermediate race]

[Racial talents: Underwater breathing | retractable scales, fangs, and claws]

[Physical attributes:

[Rank 0: constitution: 1.1 || strength: 1.2 || Agility: 1/1.2 (earth/water) || Spirit: 0.8 || lifespan: 80 years]

[Rank 1: constitution: 3 || strength: 3.2 || Agility: 2.6/3.2 (earth/water) || Spirit: 2.2 || lifespan: 110 years]

[Rank 2: constitution: 7.5 || strength: 8 || Agility: 6.5/8 (earth/water) || Spirit: 5.5 || lifespan: 160 years]

[Rank 3: constitution: 30 || strength: 32 || Agility: 29/32 (earth/water) || Spirit: 22 || lifespan: 320 years]

[Rank 4: constitution: 150 || strength: 160 || Agility: 155/160 (earth/water) || Spirit: 110 || lifespan: 800 years]

[Rank 5: constitution: 750 || strength: 800 || Agility: 800 || Spirit: 550 || lifespan: 3500 years]

[Rank 6: constitution: 3750 || strength: 4000 || Agility: 4000 || Spirit: 2750 || lifespan: 10 000 years]

(Theoretical max attribute: rank 0 : 1,5 | rank 1 : 4 | rank 2 : 10 | rank 3 : 40 | rank 4 : 200 | rank 5 : 1000 | rank 6 : 5000)

…

Liam couldn't help but smile as he looked at this.

Now, his race would have no more problems and even without practicing, they reached 80% of the maximum values ​​of the ranks. With meditation or cultivation techniques, they could get closer to 100%.

In the divine realm, the era of glory of the red moon Nagas was about to begin.

...

In the divine realm, Ruvia and Ilbert were anxiously waiting at the top of the altar for nearly a week.

Suddenly, a huge column of light fell from the sky and engulfed the entire square, revealing 812 sleeping bodies.

...

Time passed and the nagas gradually adapted to their new bodies.

They had spent almost all the time in the sanctuary cultivating, and most had already entered the realm of qi accumulation.

Liam had long asked them to build a large building in the capital to serve as a library, including books looted in various worlds and thousands of meditation techniques for mages and different cultivation arts, as well as combat techniques or instructions for tens of thousands of spells, formations, and arrays.

After all, each individual had their preferences and specialties, and it was better that each had techniques adapted to their abilities and affinities.

However, all meditation and cultivation techniques were of the same quality and allowed reaching the realm of the heavenly sea or high mages (rank 6) with a perfect foundation.

However, Liam had imposed restrictions on these techniques and had created two derivatives of lower quality.

The first one allowed to reach rank 3 and was accessible to everyone while the other one allowed to reach rank 4 and was accessible to true believers.

Even then, they would be weaker than those who practiced with the original technique, only accessible to fervent believers.

However, as they had the same basis, it was possible to switch from a lower version to a higher version of the technique without difficulty as long as one took some time to reinforce their foundations.

A year later, Liam thought it was time and asked Sylvera to send the nagas back to their posts. It was high time to upgrade his divine realm.

...

In the void, Liam stretched out his hands and recklessly spent his spiritual energy, slowly undoing the sealing formation around his divine realm.

He had noticed some time ago that his divine realm had been "recognized" by the universe and was about to move on to the next level.

At that time the nagas were not ready yet, so he had to delay the breakthrough by severing the connection of his demi-plane to the universe through a huge formation of rank 8.

Now, it was no longer necessary.

As the formation broke, chaotic energy surged onto the demi-plane, causing the spatial wall to vibrate.

At the same time, the entire demi-plane began to shake, uprooting trees and causing everyone to fall down.

Somewhere, a huge crack appeared on the ground. Under the astonished gaze of the animals and inhabitants, the two walls began to move apart as earth spewed from the subsoil and slowly filled the crack.

Everywhere in the realm, and even on the floating islands, cracks opened and closed, rapidly enlarging the size of the realm.