Chapter 37 Super Base Change
"Wei, I'll carry you on my back; let's find a hidden place first," Lin Shen said as he approached Wei Wufu and extended his hand.
"I have hands." Wei Wufu supported his body with both hands and crawled forward, still moving very quickly. Lin Shen almost couldn't keep up with him, even while walking on two legs.
The two made their way to the reef area and eventually hid behind a relatively concealed rock.
As they were traveling, the semi-transparent armor on Lin Shen's body gradually became cloudy and was no longer transparent at all. After sitting down for a short while, it returned to looking like the previous mirror-like steel armor.
Of course, Lin Shen could not possibly be at the Crystal Base Level; it had just seemed very similar.
Leaning against the rock, Lin Shen checked the information displayed on his wristwatch.
User: Super-Base Steel Creature (Evolvable).
Strength: 11.
Speed: 11.
Hardness: 11.
Toughness: 11.
Base Mutation Rate: one percent.
Life-form Theoretical Vitality Limit: 200 years.
Base Change Talent: Super Base Change."
Super-Base Steel Creature" was another term Lin Shen hadn't heard of, which he surmised could correspond with mutation, or perhaps a grade higher than mutation.
"Could this 'Super-Base' be related to those Fire Seeds of the failed Super-Base Evolutions?" Lin Shen speculated.
All around were 11s, which was a bit higher than what Lin Shen heard the full values at the Steel Level were. With the previous case of Death Powder as an example, Lin Shen was not surprised.
The term "Base Mutation Rate" was something Lin Shen had heard of before, just not with such detailed data.
To advance from Steel Level to Alloy Level, one needed to absorb Base Mutation Fluid. The more Base Mutation Fluid absorbed and the better its quality, the higher the success rate of advancing to Alloy Level would be.
It seemed that this Base Mutation Rate was a direct representation of the probability of successful Base Mutation after absorbing Base Mutation Fluid.
The Life-form Theoretical Vitality Limit refers to the theoretical maximum lifespan; before Base Mutation, it was one hundred years, now it was two hundred years, doubled.
The Base Change Talent "Super Base Change" was what made Lin Shen's Steel Body appear to be at the Crystal Base Level.
Without detailed information, based on his own understanding of Super Base Change, Lin Shen thought this talent was somewhat similar to the tempering process used on glass or the heat treatment commonly applied during steel forging.
Both glass tempering and steel heat treatment are, in essence, techniques where glass or steel is heated to a near-melting point without actually melting, followed by rapid cooling to enhance the strength of the glass or steel.
The benefits Super Base Change offered to the Steel Body were very similar, but there were also differences.
After heating, the hardness of glass or steel would decrease, with the hardness dropping during this period. It is only after the rapid cooling that the hardness rises.
With Super Base Change, during the heating process, not only did the hardness not decrease, it continued to increase. After rapid cooling, the hardness significantly increased even more.
It wasn't just the hardness that improved; all statistics significantly increased during this process, with even speed and strength enhancing simultaneously.
Super Base Change also had its drawbacks: glass and steel, once heat-treated, would normally retain the enhanced effects permanently.
However, Super Base Change could not maintain its effect indefinitely and would gradually revert to its previous state.
Moreover, using Super Base Change consumed a lot of energy. Just like now, Lin Shen felt as though his body was hollowed out and extremely hungry, struggling to even maintain the Steel Body state.
After deactivating his Steel Body, Lin Shen took out some Base Mutation Fluid from the Steel Thorn Turtle he had collected earlier and gulped it down.
If given the choice, Lin Shen would not want to drink this unprocessed Base Mutation Fluid directly, but right now he had no choice, he could only replenish his energy.
After gulping down several mouthfuls, the Base Mutation Fluid entered his stomach and made Lin Shen feel like a dry sponge that had met water, rapidly absorbing the fluid.
Continuously drinking more Base Mutation Fluid, Lin Shen felt his condition improve significantly. Not long after he drank the Base Mutation Fluid, his wristwatch started to vibrate again.
"Absorbing Steel Base Mutation Fluid… Base Mutation Rate +0… Absorbing Steel Base Mutation Fluid… Base Mutation Rate +0…"
Lin Shen had consumed so much Base Mutation Fluid, yet his Base Mutation Rate hadn't increased at all.
"Do you want some?" Lin Shen passed the water bag filled with Base Mutation Fluid to Wei Wufu.
Wei Wufu didn't stand on ceremony, took the water bag, drank a lot, wiped his mouth, and returned it to Lin Shen.
"Mutation?" Wei Wufu asked Lin Shen.
"The Base Mutation Egg you gave me, is it a Mutant Base Mutation Egg?" Lin Shen pondered and counterasked, seeming as though Wei Wufu didn't know the true quality of that Base Mutation Egg.
"No, Primeval Eggs, number fourteen," Wei Wufu replied.
Lin Shen said with some frustration, "Old Wei, I'm not well-educated, and I have difficulty understanding complicated things. Can you please speak in simpler terms?"
"Social anxiety, hard to speak," Wei Wufu replied.
"You… social anxiety…" Lin Shen looked at Wei Wufu with a strange expression.
Who would have thought that this towering, robust man, always with a cool and icy expression, making people with weak mental fortitude become socially anxious, would himself have social anxiety.
"Then let's just chat slowly." Lin Shen had no choice but to patiently continue the conversation with Wei Wufu.
During his Base Mutation, he had already realized there was something wrong with the Base Mutation Egg; the entire Base Mutation process vastly differed from what he had heard before.
During the Base Mutation, he truly felt as if his body was melting and being reconstructed, a thought that still made Lin Shen shiver in retrospect.
After a lengthy chat with Wei Wufu, Lin Shen finally roughly understood what was going on.
"Six have died before me?" Lin Shen suddenly felt a chill.
According to Wei Wufu, Base Mutators who used Primeval Eggs could be strong or weak.
But even the weakest among them was a Mutant Base Mutator, considerably stronger than regular Base Mutators.
Wei Wufu didn't know much himself because most Base Mutators who used Primeval Eggs wouldn't easily disclose their Base Mutation information. Most of the data about them was inferred from their performance in actual combat.
One thing was certain though, Wei Wufu was a Base Mutator who had used a Primeval Egg, starting as a Mutant Steel Creature and after advancing to Alloy Level, he became a Mutant Alloy Creature.
From Wei Wufu, Lin Shen also learned a very crucial piece of information.
Mutant Base Mutators could only increase their Base Mutation Rate by absorbing the Base Mutation Fluid from mutant creatures; regular Base Mutation Fluid was ineffective for them.
"Where am I supposed to find a Super-Base Creature?" Lin Shen wryly smiled to himself, unsure whether his current situation was a blessing or a curse.
If he couldn't find a Super-Base Creature, would he be stuck at Steel Level forever, likely unable to make further breakthroughs in his lifetime?
"Old Wei, is your leg okay?" Lin Shen asked, looking at Wei Wufu, but Wei Wufu made a gesture to be silent.
Lin Shen immediately shut his mouth and followed Wei Wufu's gaze, peeking through the gaps between the rocks. What he saw made him gape in astonishment.
"What am I seeing? Is that an Angel? I couldn't possibly be dead, right? Is this world the legendary heaven?" Lin Shen saw a beautiful creature with a white robe and pristine white wings on its back, golden curly hair, flying above the sea.
That was clearly not a Base Variant Creature, even less likely to be human. Lin Shen could only surmise it was a being from mythological tales.