196: Targeted transformation

A faint, ethereal thread connected Barioss to him.

Then, it continuously supplied him with what was called mysterious energy.

Little by little, it made him stronger.

Power of Faith?

Lin Tianwei immediately dismissed this guess.

If it were Power of Faith, it wouldn't be possible for mysterious energy to only be generated from Barioss.

Among the farm residents, if not a hundred percent, at least twenty percent could generate mysterious energy.

Therefore, the only explanation was Barioss's miraculous Esper ability.

It was this Esper ability that granted him such incredible power.

It allowed him to continuously provide mysterious energy to Lin Tianwei, similar to Talent: Mental Infusion.

However, this mysterious energy was far, far stronger than Talent: Mental Infusion.

It could directly increase Lin Tianwei's Mental Power attribute.

This was equivalent to a perpetual motion machine that could infinitely increase his Mental Power.

For a moment, Lin Tianwei hesitated.

Should he directly eliminate Barioss and the Brain-Eating Worm in his head, and acquire a potentially very powerful Talent?

Or should he let it be, stick to the original plan, and harvest it after the Brain-Eating Worm completely eliminated him?

Or should he eliminate the Brain-Eating Worm, free Barioss, and let him become a perpetual motion machine that could infinitely increase his Mental Power?

Each of the three options had its advantages, but also its limitations.

The key was what exactly Barioss's miraculous Esper ability was, which left Lin Tianwei completely clueless.

All clues pointed towards Mental Power, some profound and mysterious concept.

After a moment of hesitation, Lin Tianwei finally chose the third option.

Some Talents, once acquired, might have a real effect far less powerful than when used by others.

For example, Talent: Mental Infusion.

On a teammate, it was a very practical support skill.

But if Lin Tianwei possessed it himself, it would be completely useless.

Because he had never encountered an opponent worth his serious effort.

With his combat power overwhelming, there was naturally no need for flashy skills.

Moreover, he already possessed a Talent similar to Teleportation… Teleportation.

Regardless, Barioss was sacrificing himself to him in a way he didn't understand.

To enhance his strength.

This was entirely beneficial to him, with no harm.

Because Lin Tianwei discovered that he could easily break free from this connection.

That is to say, the moment this connection turned negative, he could break free from Barioss's influence on him.

Barioss's ability was a pure buff for him.

Coupled with the fact that he hadn't encountered an opponent that Lin Tianwei considered serious until now.

In his invincible state of combat power, he was not in a hurry to do such a short-sighted thing.

Rather than eliminating him, it was better to let it be and allow Barioss to further enhance his Mental Power attribute.

Of course.

This choice was only based on the present.

If Barioss could not provide enough value, Lin Tianwei might change his mind.

As for directly eliminating the Brain-Eating Worm?

For Lin Tianwei, whose Mental Power attribute was not high enough before, this might have been a somewhat difficult idea.

After all, he also had to ensure that Barioss would not be injured.

But after his Mental Power attribute soared, Lin Tianwei could easily achieve this.

Thinking of this, Lin Tianwei no longer hesitated and directly performed a precise remote surgery on Barioss.

Barioss was completely unaware of this surgery.

After all, the Brain-Eating Worm resided in his brain.

Essentially sharing his memories.

Letting Barioss know?

This would not only be of no help to Lin Tianwei, but would also alert the Brain-Eating Worm.

Thinking of this, Lin Tianwei directly launched a Mental attack on the Brain-Eating Worm.

A full-scale Mental attack!

A Mental attack capable of instantly eliminating all Brain-Eating Worms!

“Ding, congratulations to the host for successfully killing a new target.”

“Ding, Talent extraction successful. The host has acquired Talent: Mental Food (Extraordinary).”

“Ding, please confirm whether the host wants to use this Talent.”

“Mental Food (Extraordinary): An extraordinary-level Talent that enhances one's Mental Power attribute through eating.”

“Note: When consuming certain special foods, Mental Power will be increased even more.”

Mental Food?

It was Mental Food?

A Talent that could increase Mental attributes through eating, without a doubt, was incredibly powerful.

Without hesitation, Lin Tianwei immediately used this Talent.

As for the actual effect, he would have to wait until he ate tonight to see.

As the Brain-Eating Worm was killed, Barioss instantly felt a surge of energy.

It was as if some gloom that had enveloped him had vanished with the wind.

This situation immediately stunned him.

He knew his own body best.

Recently, for some unknown reason, he always felt very fatigued.

Falling into long periods of sleep.

However, after communicating with others, he learned that this might be a sign of overuse of Esper abilities.

That's right.

To demonstrate the usefulness of him, a support Esper, and to avoid dragging everyone down as much as possible.

Barioss had used his Teleportation Esper ability quite a lot.

So when he got this answer, he wasn't surprised at all.

But he didn't know.

This was a sign that his brain was about to be hollowed out by the Brain-Eating Worm.

Fortunately, at the last moment, he demonstrated his proper value and was saved by Lin Tianwei.

However, he, unaware of the truth, obviously didn't think that way.

After a moment of thought, he eventually linked the changes in his body to his faith.

This change was undoubtedly a result of his faith in Lin Tianwei.

In other words, firm faith could make his Mental Power recover faster?

Connecting this to some stories and Legends in books, Barioss suddenly realized, and his faith in Lin Tianwei became even more steadfast.

Faith that brought benefits, and great benefits at that, could always make people more resolute than mere fantasy.

As Barioss's faith became more resolute, Lin Tianwei also received a system prompt:

“Ding, congratulations to the host for successfully absorbing mysterious energy, Mental Power +2 (1).”

This result made Lin Tianwei very satisfied.

Coupled with the effect of Talent: Mental Food (Extraordinary).

Perhaps his Mental Power attribute could rise unexpectedly, becoming the strongest among all attributes.

Transforming from a warrior to a mage.

Wrong.

It should be transforming from a warrior to an all-rounder!

However, this was also a matter for the future.

Currently, Lin Tianwei was more concerned about the blood-colored ant egg he brought back from Hellfire Forest.

That's right.

Hellfire Ants probably never imagined, even in death, that Lin Tianwei would not only completely wipe them out.

But also directly cut off their lineage by kidnapping the ant egg it had expended a lot of energy to produce.

Lin Tianwei would never allow his opponent to infinitely revive and exploit his system's loopholes.

Of course, the most important thing was that the Hellfire Ants really didn't have much potential.

The Talents that could be obtained from them had already been fully acquired by Lin Tianwei.

Otherwise, Lin Tianwei wouldn't mind if the opponent revived a few more times.

Just like the Black Fiend who could revive infinitely back then, providing him with more powerful Talents.

However, Lin Tianwei did not choose to completely eradicate them at that time, but brought this ant egg back.

He wanted to see if it would have other uses.

Now Lin Tianwei had two ideas.

One was to directly eat this ant egg and test the effect of Talent: Mental Food (Extraordinary).

The second was to hatch this ant egg and test the effect of Talent: Directed Modification (Extraordinary).

Obviously, the second option was slightly better than the first.

After all, this ant egg could be considered quite promising.

Eating it directly as food would be a bit of a waste.

It would be better to hatch it, control it, and let it become a guardian of the farm, just like the Awakened Bee.

In that case, this farm could be considered impregnable.

Otherwise, with only resources and no strength, it would just be a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.

Lin Tianwei couldn't possibly intervene himself every time something happened.

That would be a bit too demeaning.

Thinking of this, Lin Tianwei took out the ant egg.

The blood-red ant egg was naturally formed, looking more like a work of art than an ant egg nurturing life.

Under Lin Tianwei's Mental Power perception, he could clearly feel the immense life force hidden within it.

This was definitely a potential ant egg.

Allowing it to develop and grow freely.

Even in this world full of Awakened Beasts, there was a high probability that the Hellfire Ants species would be re-bred.

It was just a pity that such a tenacious species encountered Lin Tianwei twice.

This was destined to be their calamity; they would never be able to develop in this lifetime.

Thinking of this, Lin Tianwei no longer hesitated, and with a burst of life force, he directly infused it into the ant egg.

There were many ways to hatch ant eggs, but infusing life force was undoubtedly the best way.

Sure enough, with the infusion of life force, this ant egg underwent dramatic changes.

Its already blood-red color became even more vibrant.

It seemed to gradually ignite, like a ball of flame.

Clearly, this ant egg had a strong reaction to Lin Tianwei's energy.

After a moment, as Lin Tianwei infused more and more life force, the ant egg finally reached the point of hatching.

It began to vibrate rapidly.

As if some terrifying creature was about to break out of the egg.

Crack, crack, crack... That was the sound of the ant egg breaking.

Calling it an ant egg, it was actually more like a giant egg.

After all, with the size of Hellfire Ants, the eggs they produced couldn't be too small.

Soon, a blood-red ant crawled out of the crack in the ant egg.

Its body was covered in unknown mucus, which quickly dried in the wind.

This little ant was indeed exceptionally gifted.

Even though the entire farm was enveloped in Lin Tianwei's Tigers Might.

It seemed completely unaffected.

It began to gnaw on its own eggshell.

Before long, it had devoured the entire ant egg, and its body had grown slightly.

As for why it ate its own ant egg.

It was simply because the ant egg, soaked in Lin Tianwei's rich life force, had undergone an anomaly.

It became more nutritious and had a fatal allure to this little ant.

After finishing the ant egg, the little ant seemed full and just lay on the ground, sleeping soundly.

Although this behavior seemed soft and cute, Lin Tianwei never kept useless things here.

He immediately used Talent: Directed Modification (Transcendent) on the little ant.

An invisible force emanated from Lin Tianwei, immediately invading the little ant's body.

With its tiny frame, it couldn't withstand Lin Tianwei's incredibly powerful force.

It immediately opened its eyes, nervously wiggling its antennae.

It wanted to escape, but found that it had completely lost control of its body.

It could only stand there helplessly, allowing Lin Tianwei's vast, ocean-like power to begin invading its body.

Gradually, the little ant's body underwent a transformation.

With a crisp 'click,' its body, which originally had only three segments, mutated.

It completely split into two, becoming an ant with six body segments.

Not only that, but corresponding legs grew on the three additional body segments.

Such a bizarre change directly made the little ant's expression turn to terror.

It looked in Lin Tianwei's direction as if begging for mercy.

However, Lin Tianwei was not going to let it go that easily.

As Lin Tianwei willed it, the little ant's body gradually underwent even more terrifying changes.

Its foremost pair of legs began to swell, gradually growing into large pincers similar to crab claws.

Its mouth also underwent a significant change.

The original scythe-like pincer mouth did not mutate.

It was just that a longer slit appeared at the base of its mouth.

This was the little ant's new mouth, densely packed with Sharp Teeth.

One bite would be enough to tear through the bodies of most Awakened Beasts.

At the joint connections, a pair of wings as thin as cicada wings rapidly grew out, granting the little ant the ability to fly.

In just a few minutes, the little ant was transformed by Lin Tianwei into a bizarre, four-unlikes creature.

Looking at the little ant's terrified expression, it was clear that it couldn't quite accept its new appearance.

Under Lin Tianwei's control, the little ant began to move using its new body.

However, it was clear that it was very unaccustomed to its new body.

Its five pairs of legs, when walking, not only didn't make it faster but instead created a hindrance, reducing its movement speed.

The pair of huge pincers, being too heavy, greatly affected the little ant's body balance.

As for those beautiful wings?

They looked pretty, but they were completely useless.

The little ant desperately flapped its wings, but found that it couldn't fly at all.

They were merely decorative.

This situation made Lin Tianwei quite disheartened.

Not being a biologist, he naturally had no research on biological modification.

He had merely wanted to implement some of his strange ideas on the little ant.

To perform reasonable modifications, in-depth research would be necessary.

It's useless.

This Talent is useless.

It looks useful, but in reality, he doesn't need it at all; it's a Talent suitable for a mad scientist.

Thinking this, Lin Tianwei used the skill again, restoring the little ant to its original form.

Now, he began to consider how to control this little ant.

Use Bloodline Talent?

This was not a good idea.

After all, the little ant was destined to become the Ant Queen, and Lin Tianwei didn't want her to be Infected with his genes.

If she gave birth to a whole bunch of ants related to him, just looking at them would be disgusting.

Moreover, Lin Tianwei's own genes had not undergone any mutation.

Even if he gave them to the little ant, it wouldn't make her any stronger.

So, eating it directly was the best option?

Although the little ant wasn't large, it was barely enough for Lin Tianwei to fill a gap in his teeth.

Perhaps it was also quite nutritious.

Perhaps sensing Lin Tianwei's change in attitude, the little ant finally panicked.

Don't let its docile and cute appearance fool you.

But if you truly believed in its innocence, then you would be truly innocent.

This was the hope of the Hellfire Ants colony, so how could it be simple?

The harmless appearance it had before was just the little ant's disguise.

Once its life was threatened, the little ant could no longer bother with its disguise, emitting pheromones and beginning to communicate with Lin Tianwei.

"Surrender!"

"I am willing to surrender to your mighty self!"

The little ant's pheromones were simple, yet they could express very complex meanings.

Clearly, it had acquired a more powerful ability through iteration.

This pheromone was like an instinct; it could use it as soon as it was born.

It was also fortunate that it encountered Lin Tianwei, otherwise, other creatures might not have been able to understand its meaning.

Looking at the little ant expressing its surrender to him.

Lin Tianwei had no intention of letting it go that easily.

Promises were merely extremely cheap things.

Especially for these Awakened Beasts.

Whether they could keep their promises depended only on their integrity.

And Lin Tianwei felt he wasn't that foolish to trust the integrity of a beast.

Thinking this, Lin Tianwei's thought moved.

Mental Power materialized.

An invisible, yet perceptible, invisible sword condensed into form in the void.

It instantly pierced into the little ant's brain, hanging in the most vital spot.

With just one thought from Lin Tianwei, he could instantly kill this little ant.

Although directly attacking with Mental Power could accomplish this more easily.

It wasn't as deterrent as this sword made of Mental Power.

After all, a newborn calf fears no tiger.

If this little ant was stubborn, it could easily do something irrational.

The little ant's Self-healing Ability was very strong, and the wound left by the invisible sword instantly healed.

Only a conspicuous diamond-shaped mark was left on its forehead.

However, it trembled, not daring to move an inch.

The sword hanging in its brain made it feel a threat to its life.

At any moment, it could be slain by this invisible sword.

Although this invisible sword had not yet been swung, it directly cut off some inappropriate thoughts in the little ant's mind.

Making it only able to obediently work for Lin Tianwei.

Immediately after, a terrifying invisible force pushed the little ant directly out.

Lin Tianwei didn't have time to be a babysitter.

The little ant was naturally handed over to Ouro and the others to deal with.

He believed they would handle this matter very well.

The little ant, pushed out by Lin Tianwei, originally thought it had escaped the tiger's den and arrived in a free and easy paradise.

But unexpectedly, it actually sensed the breath of countless companions.

However, upon careful sensing, its body instantly stiffened.

There were indeed many of its companions here.

But they were all dead companions.

The pheromones remaining on them told the little ant that they had encountered an insurmountable terror before they died.

This discovery made the little ant tremble.

Where is this?

Why does it feel so much like hell?

It felt its entire ant body go numb! —

After sending the little ant away, Lin Tianwei continued to tally his gains.

However, just as he was about to set aside the Talent: Directed Modification, he had a flash of inspiration.

He suddenly thought of the best use for this Talent.

That was to use himself as a template to modify the Clone Tigers born from his genes.

To allow them to also gain incredibly powerful strength.

These Clone Tigers, though seemingly powerful, were actually similar to mechs, completely lacking self-awareness.

They were completely unable to act independently.

Their only instincts were also restricted by Lin Tianwei, leaving only the simplest abilities of eating, drinking, and excreting.

However, as Lin Tianwei's clones, they were completely controlled by Lin Tianwei's Bloodline Talent.

They only needed Lin Tianwei's Mental Power attached to them, and they could be manipulated like avatars.

It was just a pity that their combat power was a bit too weak.

They could barely be used by Lin Tianwei as tools for Teleportation.

After all, in the battles Lin Tianwei could participate in, they were merely cannon fodder.

But now there was another possibility.

That was to use Directed Modification to transform them into avatars similar to his main body, also possessing powerful strength.

In that case, their role would also be slightly stronger.

They could solve some matters that the main body was too lazy to deal with for Lin Tianwei.

Thinking this, Lin Tianwei no longer hesitated and directly summoned a Clone Tiger.

For ease of distinction, Lin Tianwei called this Clone Tiger "Number One."

Under Lin Tianwei's command, Number One quickly arrived before Lin Tianwei.

Its eyes were vacant, staring straight ahead.

As products of genetic experiments, they could be considered incredibly tragic.

Even their self-awareness was completely annihilated, becoming Awakened Beast mechs in the eyes of humans.

However, with Lin Tianwei, they finally had some value.

Thinking this, Lin Tianwei unhesitatingly used Directed Modification on Number One.

Although it was Lin Tianwei's clone, Number One and Lin Tianwei still had significant differences.

Especially the patterns; upon closer inspection, there was still a big difference from Lin Tianwei.

Not to mention the terrifying disparity in size.

After all, Number One had very few Talents and could not grow to the same size as Lin Tianwei.

This was its own inherent limitation.

But it didn't matter.

The Talent: Directed Modification was the bridge that could allow it to cross this chasm.

Under the modification of the invisible energy released by Lin Tianwei, Number One's body gradually began to change.

From its appearance to its internal structure, it underwent a complete transformation.

Finally, it transformed into a tiger identical to Lin Tianwei.

However, its size was only about one-third of Lin Tianwei's.

In front of the enormous Lin Tianwei, it appeared quite miniature.

Thinking this, Lin Tianwei no longer hesitated.

His Mental Power began to link to Number One's brain.

Just like the tiger pilots of the past, he projected his consciousness onto Number One using a more special method.

As Lin Tianwei's consciousness was continuously infused, Number One's eyes gradually became more vibrant.

Finally, they grew brighter and brighter, returning to the lively state of a normal creature. (End of Chapter)