465: Chapter 465: You’re Back So Soon (Large Chapter, Asking for Monthly Votes) 465: Chapter 465: You’re Back So Soon (Large Chapter, Asking for Monthly Votes) The piercing alarm echoed throughout the entire Research Institute as one after another, doctors in surgical attire began hurrying towards the first floor.
Teams of fully ard rcenaries were advancing orderly towards the underground.
A black jeep approached from the distance and, in the mont it was about to reach the entrance of the Research Institute, the vehicle swerved suddenly, slamming on the brakes, and the pitch-black tires screeched against the ground.
A dense cloud of dust spread over the stairs in front of the entrance of the Research Institute.
A man dressed in a rcenary uniform jumped down from the vehicle.
Following closely, a fully ard rcenary ca to et him.
“What happened?”
This man was none other than Zadi, an officer among the rcenaries.
He had just departed from the Research Institute when the alarm called him back.
“Enemy attack.
The alarm was triggered by Lord Reid, but we can’t get in touch with him now,” the rcenary replied quickly.
“Where was Mr.
Reid last seen?” Zadi asked swiftly.
“According to the surveillance, it looks like he went down to sublevel six,” the rcenary answered promptly.
Sublevel six was where the vault was located.
Zadi pondered for a mont as he walked briskly into the Research Institute, and spoke quickly, “Arrange for the ‘doctors’ and ‘patients’ to evacuate; they are all important assets of the Research Institute and cannot be lost.
Then, completely seal off the Institute and don’t let anyone in.”
“Yes!”
The rcenary responded imdiately, then asked quietly, “And…
Lord Reid?”
These rcenaries did not have the clearance to go down to the sixth floor, and the only one who had, Kors, had already been taken into custody.
“I’ll go take a look myself,” Zadi said at a very fast pace, striding towards the interior of the Research Institute.
—-
In the vault
In the extrely brief mont after He Ao ‘disappeared,’ one of Reid’s sharp claws viciously jabbed towards where He Ao had concealed his form, having made so approximation of He Ao’s hiding place.
But his attack hit nothing, as He Ao’s figure suddenly appeared in front of him.
This was the ‘Night Walk’ ability to teleport.
Reid’s face showed surprise.
The ability to teleport over such a significant distance clearly exceeded his expectations; he had never seen this ability manifested so strongly in ‘Shadow’ before.
However, he did not retreat but instead raised his bone-armored hands to block the sword light from He Ao.
The sword in He Ao’s hand was one he had previously obtained for a C-level that He Ao had killed, so he was naturally very aware of the power of this sword.
The blade could not breach his defenses.
Nonetheless, the force of He Ao’s strike was sowhat surprising to him.
He was very aware of his own strength—Doctor had said that even among C-levels, his physical fitness was among the very top, and with his hard skeletal armor, there would be no match for him among C-levels.
Killing a C-level for him was as simple as killing a mouse.
If not for the Doctor’s strict orders against revealing this state, he would have personally gone to kill He Ao long ago.
He had originally thought that, at most, He Ao was a sowhat stronger C-level, and that after he released his own form, killing He Ao would be a piece of cake.
But the strength He Ao was displaying now made him feel threatened.
In the several clashes they had, the strength He Ao showed was even stronger than his.
In addition to He Ao’s intricate footwork and that bizarre “instantaneous movent” ability, he could clearly feel that if it weren’t for He Ao’s inability to penetrate his bone armor defense, his body would likely have been pierced countless tis by now.
Compared to Reid’s surprise, He Ao’s state was much more stable.
He’d encountered too many enemies, faced all sorts of troubles, and while the issues presented by Reid’s lack of energy gathering points and his hard bone armor were tricky, they were not enough to surprise or even montarily unsettle him.
He could distinctly feel that Reid had little combat experience, and although his fighting thod was systematic, it leaned more towards overpowering opponents with sheer force.
However, Reid was smart, and He Ao could distinctly feel him learning and growing continuously during the battle.
If he could have a series of stepping stones to help him grow step by step, he might well beco a fearso killer in the future.
But not everyone is lucky enough to encounter newbie monsters in the newbie village and have the opportunity to grow.
He Ao’s short sword trailed a mark through the air as it slashed at Reid, then his figure vanished in an instant, and Reid’s hand reached out to catch the short sword swept through empty air.
His movents didn’t stop though; the two sharp claws on his waist suddenly reached behind him.
The He Ao that appeared behind him disappeared once again.
Reid’s mindset gradually stabilized; He Ao’s combat strength was strong, but it couldn’t breach his defense.
If his claws hit He Ao, he could completely impale him, while He Ao’s short sword could only leave a small mark on his body.
He could make countless mistakes, but He Ao could only make one.
The battle still had him at an absolute advantage.
After analyzing the current situation, he began to rapidly reduce his movent range, conserving his energy.
He was growing fast.
At the sa ti, the claws beneath his ribs struck out to the right.
The He Ao that appeared to the right disappeared once again.
This ti he had guessed correctly again.
Left side.
Imdiately after, his last two claws struck out to the left.
The figure of He Ao vanished from the left side.
The next second, He Ao appeared in front of Reid.
Reid was not the least bit flustered; the front was where his bone armor was thickest.
He reached out his hand to block He Ao’s attack.
However, this ti He Ao didn’t swing his sword to stab, but grabbed Reid’s arm.
After activating Super mory, He Ao was stronger than Reid, and with this grab, Reid was immobilized, unable to move.
Reid hadn’t even reacted before he felt a gentle and warm current effortlessly penetrate his hard bone armor and enter his body.
This was precisely the Divine Sense that He Ao had mobilized.
Moving Divine Sense within Reid’s body was much harder than within Ennie’s, but the amount of Divine Sense He Ao mobilized was also much greater than when he helped Ennie with her “Soul Cleansing.”
The substantial Divine Sense split into countless fine threads in an instant, like tiny fish, seeping into every inch of Reid’s muscles.
Reid also realized sothing was wrong; he fiercely tried to grab He Ao and then ordered his other claws to attack from that direction.
He didn’t know what He Ao had done, but he was ready to turn the tables and kill He Ao right here.
But because he had just attacked He Ao, the three sets of claws had been drawn to a farther place and couldn’t return imdiately.
And in that instant, He Ao finally figured out the pattern of energy flow inside Reid’s body and found that focal point of power.
At the sa ti, Reid, who was gripping He Ao tightly, had a ferocious smile on his face covered with bone armor.
“Die!”
The sharp claws fiercely stabbed towards He Ao’s bleeding body.
Bang—
That was the sound of claws clashing against the tal floor.
Right in front of Reid, right in his hands, He Ao’s figure turned into an illusion and disappeared from the spot.
His flesh and body slipped away from Reid’s fingertips like flowing water.
“Damn it,”
Reid knew he had been tricked, and he let out an angry roar as all his claws thrashed about.
At this mont, He Ao was quietly watching Reid’s movents from the shadows.
The Divine Sense in his hand was nearly exhausted.
Imrsing the Divine Sense into a living being consud far more than normal usage.
After his promotion, he had a total of six Divine Senses, of which more than one was used during the Super mory ceremony on the Velora, and many more were used in various battles since entering the Copy World, as well as cleansing Ennie’s marrow, and including the recent consumption, he was left with just over three Divine Senses.
However, the results could match the consumption, He Ao had figured out the structure of Reid’s body.
Unlike a regular human, in Reid’s chest cavity, between the two lungs, there was an ellipsoid organ containing intense energy, which was both the energy source for Reid’s entire body and the control center.
And this organ had so kind of mysterious property that could conceal the energy within.
Although Transcendents in so sense were advancing on the path to becoming non-human, it was clear that Reid had gone much further down this non-human path than others.
Once the energy convergence point was found, everything else would be easy.
He Ao clenched tightly to his short sword, as a faint Divine Sense spread along the blade.
His figure vanished instantly.
Here!
Claws from the sky plunged down fiercely toward the spot in front of Reid, near the refrigerator.
The terrifying force struck the solid tal floor, smashing a crater into the durable tal and sending countless shards flying.
Dead?
Just as Reid was about to lift his claws, a sharp pain ca from his back.
A sharp sword tip pierced through the center of his chest, and a pale white liquid flowed down the silver blade.
“How could this be?”
Reid’s voice was hoarse; in that instant, his body lost support, and the uncontrolled, violent energy wreaked havoc within him.
“When did you create the illusion that you could predict my position?”
He Ao slowly withdrew the short sword.
Divine Sense could enhance the performance of an object to so extent, increasing the sharpness of a weapon; the extra bit of Divine Sense he had was now finally exhausted.
Only three complete Divine Senses remained within the depths of his consciousness.
“You did this on purpose…”
Reid’s pale blood spilled from the corner of his mouth; his voice was hoarse, and he toppled forward, crashing heavily onto the tal floor.
He had been in the trap all along.
He Ao put away the short sword and felt the mark return to his soul.
At this mont, he sensed a total of three marks, two bright and one dim.
The two bright ones included the mark he had just made on Reid and another that still remained on Kors.
As for the dim one, it was the mark he had modified for choosing a C-level exotic beast.
According to the skill information after the Super mory promotion, “Ease Thought” could modify the choices marked with C-level three tis within a week, and once with B-level within a month.
Here lay a question: did this frequency limitation within a set ti apply to the individual marked or the skill itself?
Because the marks from Super mory could be retracted and given to others at any ti, if the restriction only applied to an individual, then He Ao could exploit a bug by continuously switching targets to use this power indefinitely.
If used correctly, this ability was almost invincible.
However, after practical tests, this ability wasn’t as overpowered as it seed, there is no sourceless Transcendent power in this world.
The limitation on the number of uses applies to the ability itself, “Ease Thought” precisely allows for the alteration of up to three C-level decisions within a week, or one B-level decision, regardless of how many people the mark was transferred to in the process.
Of course, the best combination is not three C-level or one B-level, but two C-levels, followed by one B-level decision modification before the skill enters cooldown.
The dim mark on He Ao was operated in this manner; he used the mark three tis.
The first ti was to modify Shadow’s choice, preventing him from attacking Ennie, and the second ti was to alter the leader of the cha Squad’s decision, resulting in the annihilation of that squad.
And the third ti was to change the decision of that powerful B-level exotic beast.
The final cooldown ti for the mark was determined by that last modification of a B-level decision.
It’s worth ntioning that during He Ao’s advancent in the main world, he modified the B-level decision of the “Boss” behind the scenes, and that use of the ability did not have a cooldown period.
At that ti, He Ao was in the process of advancing, his soul was growing rapidly to so extent, and he had not obtained the complete ability of “Ease Thought,” instead using it based on feeling.
Does this an that when the soul is repaired or grows, the cooldown ti for “Ease Thought” becos shorter or even refreshes completely?
Or, is this “cooldown” itself a process of soul recovery?
After all, it seems to be ntioned in the ability information that a “mark” destroyed would need three months to recover—could this be the longest ti for soul restoration?
If this speculation holds true, He Ao might be able to leverage certain props to reduce the cooldown ti of “Ease Thought.”
I wonder if Corpse Flower Solution could be of any use.
As a seasoned Life Consuming veteran, He Ao still had so ans to restore his soul, after all, long illness makes the patient a doctor.
But looking at it this way, the ability information that cos with the promotion is actually incomplete and flawed.
If the information is ant to introduce the Talent Sequences, it shouldn’t have such obvious flaws.
There are two possibilities here.
Either the information from the Talent Sequences is inherently incomplete, or the information isn’t “built-in” to the Talent Sequences but was “implanted” by soone later, resulting in omissions.
If it’s the latter, what kind of entity has the power to implant information into the Talent Sequences?
This question was clearly beyond He Ao’s current capabilities.
He withdrew his thoughts and focused on Reid’s corpse in front of him.
Knowing the cooldown limitations of “Ease Thought,” He Ao tried not to use its decision-changing ability, instead employing deeper strategic layouts to achieve his goals, since the brain has no cooldown.
Fortunately, Reid hadn’t pushed He Ao to the point where he had to use “Ease Thought.”
As Reid died, the sharp bone armor on his body began to fall off gradually, revealing the blurred flesh beneath.
He looked like a person, but not entirely.
He Ao didn’t know what greatness Reid was pursuing; perhaps before he was utterly corrupted, he did indeed have noble ideals.
He crouched down, wiped Reid’s swollen eyes shut, and then looked down at Reid’s wounds.
In the wound made by the sharp short sword, there flowed an almost pure white blood with only a trace of red mixed in.
The organ He Ao had pierced might have been Reid’s new heart.
Is this what happens to a person who drinks from the Fountain of Youth?
He Ao examined Reid’s body more carefully, then turned off his Super mory and stood up.
As his field of vision elevated, he felt an intense dizziness assault him, nearly causing him to collapse to the ground.
…
After ascending to C-level, the impact of Super mory on the body had decreased.
But the physical strain of Night Walk was even more considerable than that of Super mory, particularly after using it frequently and many tis in a row, He Ao felt as though his body was hollowed out.
He steadied himself until the dizzy sensation faded, then slowly walked towards the supercomputer beside him.
At that mont, the sound of the tal door opening slowly ca from behind him.
He Ao lifted his wrist and glanced at the ti.
You’re back quickly.
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