247: Talent upgrade

With the continuous replenishment of experimental subjects, Lin Tianwei's experiments with the Alpha Gene were able to resume.

However, he discovered that not all Ninth-Tier Giant Awakened Beasts could withstand the power of the Alpha Gene.

Only less than half of the Ninth-Tier Giant Awakened Beasts were favored by Alpha, showing a tendency to merge.

As for those Ninth-Tier Giant Awakened Beasts not favored by the Alpha Gene?

Regrettably, they would become food for the Alpha Gene.

"Ding, congratulations to the host for killing a new target."

"Ding, Talent extraction failed. The host obtained 330,000 Talent Fragments."

... "Ding, Talent extraction failed. The host obtained 250,000 Talent Fragments."

Talent Fragments: 99.87 million points!

With each experiment, Lin Tianwei's Talent Fragments gradually increased, accumulating to a terrifying number.

It could be said that he was relentlessly exploiting the potential of the Alpha Gene in a peculiar way.

When his Talent Points reached 100 million, Lin Tianwei might be able to choose to upgrade a Transcendent-level Talent.

Indeed, once a Talent reached the Transcendent level, the Talent Fragments required to upgrade it had reached a terrifying 100 million points.

This was also why Lin Tianwei had not yet mastered a second Talent beyond the Transcendent level.

According to Lin Tianwei's speculation, the 100 million Talent Fragments required for an upgrade was not due to an increase in upgrade costs.

Instead, as the Talent level increased, the self-improvement was no longer a simple tenfold increase.

Lin Tianwei had reason to believe that an upgraded Talent would at least give him a hundredfold boost.

As long as it was worth the high cost of upgrading the Talent, Lin Tianwei felt he could accept the hundred-million-level upgrade requirement.

However, Lin Tianwei's joy stopped at the harvesting of Talent Fragments.

The progress of the experiment also halted, with no further advancements.

These insufficiently powerful experimental subjects, after hundreds of experiments, still did not yield a satisfactory test subject for Lin Tianwei.

The Alpha Gene only showed signs of merging with them.

Once true fusion began, their bodies would collapse due to their inability to withstand the Alpha Gene's immense power.

Perhaps he needed even more powerful experimental subjects.

Test subjects strong enough to withstand the terrifying power of the Alpha Gene.

A sudden realization dawned on Lin Tianwei.

However, Ninth-Tier Giant Awakened Beasts were already the limit of experimental subjects that humans could provide.

Stronger experimental subjects could only be obtained through hunting in the wild.

It was very unrealistic to obtain them in large quantities.

Moreover, Blue Star had just undergone a major cleansing by Lin Tianwei, and the remaining powerful Awakened Beasts had already submitted to him.

Lin Tianwei would naturally not harm his subordinates who had submitted, unless absolutely necessary.

A flash of inspiration, Lin Tianwei suddenly realized a problem.

He seemed to have a very high-quality test subject.

Thinking of this, Lin Tianwei looked at Black Fiend beside him.

This terrifying Awakened Beast, created by the Bruno Institute, not only possessed formidable strength.

Its Self-healing Ability was also excellent, and it even had the ability of infinite resurrection, making it incredibly resilient.

If even Black Fiend could not withstand the Alpha Gene's immense power, perhaps only Lin Tianwei himself could attempt to control the Alpha Gene.

But how could Lin Tianwei personally try such a dangerous thing?

The warning from his Talent: Danger Perception (Legendary) was not a joke.

He had a premonition that if he dared to use the Alpha Gene directly on himself, he would definitely be finished.

Thanks to Lin Tianwei's Mental Power being entirely focused on experimenting with the Alpha Gene's characteristics, he hadn't paid attention to Black Fiend, who posed no threat to him, for a long time.

Black Fiend was also happy to enjoy this life where he wouldn't die and revive repeatedly, lying quietly on the ground, playing dead.

It must be said that Black Fiend still possessed some peculiar traits.

Through countless cycles of life and death, it had miraculously regained its sanity.

However, the regained sanity was a disaster for it, making it experience the 'blissful' life of dying and reviving.

At this moment, Black Fiend lay motionless on the ground, trying its best not to make a sound.

As if it were an excellent watchdog.

Escape?

It would never do such a foolish thing.

If it really attracted the attention of this ferocious Siberian Tiger by escaping, then it would truly be seeking its own death.

Wasn't living better?

Although it was terribly hungry, Black Fiend showed no intention of moving.

It would rather starve to death here than attract Lin Tianwei's attention because of food.

All of Black Fiend's sharp edge had long been completely shattered by Lin Tianwei's repeated killings.

Along with it, its dignity was also shattered.

Now it couldn't even commit suicide, only lingering under Lin Tianwei's oppression.

Lin Tianwei's gaze quickly caught Black Fiend's attention.

Its body stiffened immediately, and it kept chanting: "You can't see me, you can't see me,..."

Heaven knows how terrifying the outcome would be if it were truly targeted by this formidable Siberian Tiger.

However, Lin Tianwei's will would not be swayed by Black Fiend's naive thoughts, and he ultimately chose Black Fiend as his final experimental subject.

But before executing this plan, Lin Tianwei still had a very important thing to do.

That was to first 'farm' Black Fiend, thoroughly squeezing out its value.

If Black Fiend, this trash, was not up to par and was also completely devoured by the Alpha Gene.

Then Lin Tianwei would completely lose this useful experience fodder.

In that case, he naturally had to extract its value in advance.

Of course, Lin Tianwei had another purpose in doing so, which was to continue acquiring Talent Fragments.

Once Black Fiend merged with the Alpha Gene, its strength would also advance by leaps and bounds.

Whether he could still control it then would be a huge problem.

So, before using the Alpha Gene on Black Fiend, he had to strengthen himself as much as possible.

The 99 million Talent Fragments might be the key to that Reinforcement.

Upgrading a core Talent to a higher level, this was Lin Tianwei's choice.

Thinking of this, under Black Fiend's terrified gaze, Lin Tianwei unhesitatingly slapped its head.

The immense power instantly flattened Black Fiend's head into a bloody pulp.

Through countless exercises, Lin Tianwei had already mastered the precise force to attack Black Fiend.

He could kill it just right, without making its death too gruesome, which would waste a lot of time and energy for its resurrection.

It must be said that meeting Lin Tianwei was truly the greatest tragedy in Black Fiend's life.

"Ding, congratulations to the host for killing a new target."

"Ding, Talent extraction successful. The host obtained Talent: Blood Infection (Transcendent)."

"Ding, please confirm whether the host wishes to use this Talent."

"Blood Infection (Transcendent): A Transcendent-level Talent. The blood has evolved, possessing the ability to Infect other creatures."

"Note: Cannot Infect creatures stronger than oneself. After successful Infection, the target may inherit some of one's abilities."

Blood Infection?

Lin Tianwei didn't expect Black Fiend to drop a Talent for him this time.

Combining the effect of Blood Infection, Lin Tianwei felt that he seemed to have found the truth behind the world's mutation.

It was this seemingly innocent Black Fiend that caused the death of countless creatures on Blue Star.

Yet, he didn't realize that he also played a significant role in promoting it.

Although the Talent Blood Infection seemed useless, a completely free skill, and might even strengthen his enemies.

But that was only for Black Fiend.

For Lin Tianwei, who possessed Talents like Bloodline, Blood Infection might have a miraculous effect.

Thinking of this, Lin Tianwei directly chose to use this Talent.

Perhaps at some critical moments, this Talent could play a miraculous role.

Looking at Black Fiend's fallen body, Lin Tianwei secretly thought that this body still hid enough potential.

He could try farming it a thousand times to completely squeeze out its potential.

If Black Fiend knew Lin Tianwei's thoughts, it would probably cry until its tears ran dry.

A thousand times, that was a thousand times, a thousand times like hell.

Unfortunately, Lin Tianwei never cared about Black Fiend's thoughts.

For this bastard eunuch who had attacked him multiple times, Lin Tianwei had no pity whatsoever.

Black Fiend's tragic fate was sealed the first time it attacked him.

Lin Tianwei would never let go of any creature that dared to attack him... Talent Fragments: 100 million points!

Thanks to Black Fiend's selfless contribution, Lin Tianwei's Talent Fragments finally broke the 100 million mark.

The most crucial moment had arrived: choosing a core Talent to upgrade, to strengthen Lin Tianwei's own combat power.

Strength Enhancement? Mental Power? Mental Strength Enhancement? Muscle Enhancement? Agility Reinforcement? ... Sonic Wave?

Talents flashed through Lin Tianwei's mind one by one, and his gaze finally focused on Super Multiplication.

This Talent, which could change Lin Tianwei's body shape, was like the strongest foundation of a house.

Or the base number in a mathematical calculation.

Without a sufficiently high base number, even with high bonuses, Lin Tianwei's strength would not undergo a qualitative change.

As for why he didn't choose Mental Power for Reinforcement, it was because Lin Tianwei's current Mental Power had actually reached the body's limit.

His Mental Power, as high as 50,000, stood out so prominently in Lin Tianwei's attributes.

However, this unbalanced development could easily lead to a consequence: the body failing to keep up with the mind's pace, thereby restricting the Play of Mental Power.

In fact, Lin Tianwei felt this way now, feeling that his body was already somewhat unable to keep up with the intensity of his Mental Power.

If he chose to upgrade the Mental Power Talent, Lin Tianwei's body might collapse due to its inability to withstand this terrifying Mental Power.

Or, due to the body's limitations, Lin Tianwei might not be able to fully exert the effects of his powerful Mental Power.

Neither of these situations was acceptable to Lin Tianwei, without a doubt.

So his only choice was to reinforce the Talent: Super Multiplication (Transcendent).

"Ding, the host has chosen to consume 100 million Talent Fragments to upgrade Talent: Super Multiplication (Transcendent)."

"Talent upgrade requires a certain amount of time. Please wait patiently, host."

As the system prompt ended, Lin Tianwei felt a huge power beginning to surge into his body.

It was a strange sensation, like ants gnawing at his body.

Since Lin Tianwei had evolved to be strong enough, it had been a long time since he had felt such a strange sensation.

This feeling of power being infused throughout his body was truly wonderful.

Similarly, this surging and immense power also made Lin Tianwei realize that his idea was indeed correct.

Although it was only a one-level increase, this power was definitely more than just a tenfold increase.

A hundredfold? Or even more.

This was definitely a power that could make Lin Tianwei's body even stronger.

Half a day.

One day.

Three days!

This power was incredibly strong, and even Lin Tianwei took a full three days to completely absorb it.

"Ding, congratulations to the host! Your Talent: Super Multiplication (Transcendent) has been upgraded to Talent: Super Multiplication (King)."

"Ding, congratulations to the host for successfully upgrading the Talent. Your Strength has significantly improved."

"Note: King-level Talents possess even greater power. Please explore them yourself, host."

King?

It was actually King-level?

Upon seeing the system prompt, Lin Tianwei was immediately stunned.

He had thought that the Legendary level of his Danger Perception Talent was the next level after Transcendent.

But he didn't expect that the Transcendent-level Super Multiplication only reached the King-level after upgrading.

Between King and Legendary, there might even be multiple levels.

Only then did Lin Tianwei realize how incredibly lucky he was.

Talent: Danger Perception (Legendary) seemed like a useless auxiliary skill, yet it always showed its power at the most critical moments.

If this Talent's level wasn't high enough, it might not even have allowed Lin Tianwei to break free from the Alpha Gene's temptation, and he would have long since become food for the Alpha Gene.

However, that was not the focus now.

The focus now was to experience his newly acquired power, the power of the King-level Super Multiplication Talent.

Carefully sensing his body's condition, Lin Tianwei quickly grasped the power of the King-level Super Multiplication Talent.

Indeed, as the system prompted, the King-level Talent possessed even greater power, no longer comparable to the previous mere Transcendent-level Super Multiplication Talent.

A thousand times?

Ten thousand times?

One hundred thousand times!

The King-level Super Multiplication Talent could actually allow Lin Tianwei's body to grow up to one hundred thousand times its base size.

Although Lin Tianwei's power was immense, his genes were only those of a basic, ordinary Siberian Tiger.

Growing to a body length of about three meters was already the limit.

This was why Lin Tianwei could only maintain a body length of three hundred meters after acquiring the Transcendent-level Super Multiplication Talent.

Of course, it wasn't that Lin Tianwei couldn't become even larger, but doing so would cause his body to collapse.

Exchanging bodily collapse for immense power was absolutely not worth it, unless it was a critically important moment. (End of Chapter)