Maxing out ordinary geno points in a single day
Bian looked towards the corpse of the snake. Its once vibrant green scales now appeared dull and lifeless, clinging tightly to the contours of its skeletal frame. Five perfectly round holes, evenly spaced along its length, marred its flesh, each one an eerie, bloodless void.
The serpent's body had shriveled, its skin wrinkling and collapsing inward as if drained of all vitality. The creature's eyes, clouded over like glass marbles, reflecting nothing but emptiness.
"Smoking the snake right now, would probably make for a great snack that would last weeks without the slightest sign of spoiling. I wonder if I could sell this type of carcass to Okka." Bian pondered out loud.
One of his major tasks, creating vitality drain, had been accomplished. It was time to try out the other task. Just like Emperical Will, Emperical Aura was also an active skill, it was time to know the depth of his power.
Bian spotted an ordinary spider weaving a web between two trees. This ordinary spider had white hairs and was as big a a dog, it was also acting alone. Bian pointed his hands towards the spider, unleashing his Emperical Aura.
Like a dam had been opened, a burst of light radiated from him, it was neither blue nor violet but the color indigo. As the indigo light suddenly overshadowed the sun, the forest transformed into a surreal, otherworldly realm.
The once golden rays of sunlight, which bathed the leaves in warmth, were replaced by a deep hue that seemed to seep into every corner of the woods. The vibrant greens of the foliage darkened to almost black, the trees standing like shadowy sentinels against the eerie glow. The forest floor, usually dappled with sunlight, was now awash in a bluish-purple luminescence that made the moss and undergrowth appear as if they were glowing from within.
Leaves shimmered with an iridescent sheen, reflecting the strange light in ghostly patterns, and the normally vibrant flowers appeared muted, their colors drained to shades of deep violet and blue. The spider was frightened by the change happening around it, it scurried into the hole of the tree for protection.
Creatures of the forest reacted in confusion. Birds that had been singing sweetly fell silent. Small animals scurried for cover, their instincts urging them to hide. Even the wind seemed to change, moving sluggishly through the branches, as if weighed down by the oppressive indigo hue.
Then in the next second, it was gone. Bian was left on his knees gasping for air, he took in three deep breaths and felt at ease again. The spider was still alive, everything was. The indigo light didn't seem to affect any of the creatures.
"Twelve seconds and I'm completely out of breath. I could feel the presence of every creature within one thousand two hundred meters, and the light was still expanding" Bian also felt a different kind of life force from a secluded area deep in the forest, he kept the location in mind, and began some light stretches.
Since he could absorb geno points without having to eat, and he could do it indefinitely, he was going to go all out. The alliance was still in danger, and Bian had not checked on his family yet, so the sooner he got stronger, the better.
Bang!
He dashed towards the tree, sticking his hand in the hole. His nails stabbed the abdomen of the spider, draining its blood.
[Flesh of Red-eyed Tarantula eaten. One ordinary geno point gained]
[Flesh of Red-eyed Tarantula eaten. One ordinary geno point gained]
The spider retaliated by clawing at his hands while also spitting venom. Its legs struck the rock hard skin, not even leaving a scratch while the venom was useless against Bian's jadeskin.
[Flesh of Red-eyed Tarantula eaten. One ordinary geno point gained]
[Flesh of Red-eyed Tarantula eaten. One ordinary geno point gained]
Bian left the Emperical Will active, the mystical hum ringing silently in his ears. His skin was more durable than ordinary armor, due to body pillar absorbing jadeskin.
[Flesh of Red-eyed Tarantula eaten. One ordinary geno point gained]
[Flesh of Red-eyed Tarantula eaten. One ordinary geno point gained]
[Ordinary creature Red-eyed Tarantula killed. The beast soul has been acquired. Eat the Red-eyed Tarantula to gain 0 to 4 ordinary geno points randomly]
Bian felt the spider lose strength until it died, his eyesight got better as did his hearing. The intoxicating feeling of growing stronger was not going to fade anytime soon.
He saw a falcon flying by in the sky, chasing after a smaller bird. Bian climbed up the tree, and jumped from its crown catching the falcon and the other bird, he used vitality drain on both of them, killing the smaller bird before he landed.
CAW!
The falcon screeched loudly before passing away, Bian tossed the shriveled corpses on the ground, looking around for his next prey. He saw the pair of vampire rabbits from before.
'Consider your lives spared.' Bian decided to ignore them, they were partially responsible for his awesome new geno art. He saw another white spider, but ignored it. Just like eating, absorbing blood from the same species yielded diminishing return.
Then he heard several screech, three falcons of the same breed as the one from before were fast approaching, with the center bird being twice the size of the other two.
"It has opened its second genelock" Creatures, spirits and humans could open their gene lock to get stronger. The rank of the creature determined the number of gene locks it could open, but all creatures already had one gene lock open.
Golden lightning surged between the three falcons, heading towards Bian. He dodged out of the way while picking up some stones from the floor. Then he threw it at the two lesser minions damaging their wings, before he ducked another lightning shot from the falcon.
Another unknown surprise that came after Bian evolved was the fact that he couldn't use the Yin and Yang energy like he used to. Just like how he could shatter a mountain in the second sanctuary but couldn't destroy a hill after ascending, the constitution of the sanctuary was stronger.
He estimated that he would have to max out his mutant geno points and gene locks or acquired a decent amount of sacred-blood geno points before he could propel yin and yang energy like he used to.
"Wait, why am I dodging" Bian was suddenly hit with the realization, right now only mutant creatures and above could damage his skin and maybe primitive with four gene locks opened.
He stood still as the falcon approached and clawed at his chest, ripping his clothes like paper, while its lightning burnt the rest of his shirt. Sadly no matter how hard it tried, it couldn't get past Bian's smooth skin. He held one of its legs with one arm, and used the other to claw at its chest while using vitality drain.
Once the realization came in, it would be a shame to call the rest of his endeavors a battle. It was a bloody massacre, which only ended once the sun was about setting.
[Geno points acquired: 100 ordinary geno points; 12 primitive geno points]
Bian squeezed his fist getting a feel for the surge in power. In under a day, he had maxed out his ordinary geno points. He would have maxed out his primitive points if he could find more primitive creatures, but the forest was just too safe.
Bian made his way to the strange lifeforce he had felt earlier when he used the Emperical Aura. It didn't feel like a creature, so Bian assumed it was a geno plant. He searched for primitive creatures on the way there, but had no luck in finding any.
"It is a sword tree" Bian said astonished. Unlike the tree Yi Dongmu tended too which was growing daggers, this tree was growing long swords. Bian counted forty-two long swords on the tree.
He placed a palm on the tree and felt a stirring in his sea of soul. The black crystal, which was usually dormant, crazily absorbed the lifeforce of the tree like a black hole. The black swords lost their luster, and the green leaves yellowed. The rusted swords began dropping one after the other until the tree was left bare, it was dead.
Bian looked into his sea of soul, thirteen drops of water floated around the black crystal. The were colorless and odorless, transparent like crystals.
'If I were to give one to the geno tree Yi Dongmu was tending to, it would mature the next day.' Bian pondered, then decided against it. There was no benefit there, he decided to gather more information about the shelter and the shelters around it first.
"But first I need some money." Bian planted the geno seed of the Bone Tamus. Each of these water drops around the black crystal was equivalent to a year of vitality for geno trees.
A single water drop floated away from the black crystal and emerged from his sea of soul before landing on the soil where he planted the geno seed. Immediately, a sprout germinated and grew at a speed visible to the naked eye.