57: Chapter 58 Atomic Rebirth
District 13 was once a bustling city.
Now, it has long been abandoned.
Skyscrapers still stand tall and majestic.
But time is ruthless.
Green vines cover every single building.
Branches grow out from shattered windows.
Rusty cars are scattered everywhere across the streets.
This is a post-apocalyptic world.
Humanity has retreated.
Nature quickly reclaimed everything.
As Lu Chen's Spiritual Sense expanded,
countless streams of information flooded into his mind.
There were many monsters here.
The major ones were all above E-rank Level Six.
There was no shortage of D-Class Monsters either.
Some had even reached D-rank Level Ten.
Through his Innate Spiritual Sense,
he could clearly perceive their movements, breathing, and even the rhythm of their heartbeats.
At the center of the city stood a massive standalone building with Roman columns on the exterior—
it might have been the government building here before the Great Cataclysm.
Inside that standalone building,
Lu Chen sensed an extremely powerful aura.
—A C-Class Monster.
It was a Three-Headed Black Python.
Although it was currently sleeping,
the aura on its body
was still like a suppressed volcano,
uncontrollably leaking out.
Judging solely by the aura on its body,
its cultivation was likely at C-rank Level Six.
In reality,
it was probably equivalent to a C-rank Level Ten warrior who didn't use Combat Techniques.
Lu Chen made an assessment.
If he went all out, he might be able to defeat it.
But there was no need—
at least not for now.
He didn't come here to risk his life against it.
Rather, he was here to hone his battle awareness against monsters of D-rank Level Seven and above,
and to practice his Elemental Skills.
—Those monsters were at least two to three times stronger than D-rank Warriors of the same Realm.
Some with exceptionally powerful auras were even incredibly close to his own combat power level.
“These monsters truly are the darlings of the Great Cataclysm,”
Lu Chen couldn't help but marvel once again.
“If they could learn Combat Techniques and Elemental Skills, I'm afraid this planet would have fallen long ago.”
He looked toward a tall building.
There were no monsters there.
The Flying Sword flew inside.
He jumped down from the sword.
The two realms sword floated silently beside him.
Lu Chen began to formulate his next combat strategy.
First,
practicing the Elemental Skills he had learned earlier.
With a thought,
he cast the One Thought Ten Thousand Bodies technique.
As streaks of light flickered,
ten identical Elemental Clones appeared around him.
They looked exactly like him—
the same face, the same build—
except they had no clothes.
Lu Chen rested his chin on one hand,
muttering to himself,
“Hmm... I really am quite handsome. I wonder if my Clones...”
Just as the thought flashed by,
he immediately gave himself a slap.
“What on earth am I thinking?”
He shook his head violently,
shaking off the unhealthy thoughts in his mind.
Afterward,
he cast Thought Armor.
With a flicker of thought,
every Clone was covered from head to toe in a full set of elemental armor.
Now, let alone their builds,
not even their faces could be seen.
At this moment,
they looked like masked warriors wearing clothes of three different colors: white, purple, and yellow.
“Not bad.”
Each Clone could reach 10% of his own strength.
This meant each Clone possessed approximately 9,229 tons of base strength—
even higher than the base strength of a D-rank Level Three warrior.
These Clones would automatically draw energy from his Spiritual Vein to operate,
thereby ensuring that the 10 Clones could function independently.
Once the energy in the Spiritual Vein was exhausted,
the Spiritual Vein would begin to absorb external cosmic energy to replenish itself.
The recovery rate depended on the caliber of the Spiritual Vein.
With Lu Chen's over-the-top Spiritual Vein caliber,
the recovery rate was naturally immense.
Of course,
the reason he dared to maintain 10 Clones at 10% strength,
without fear of draining the energy in his Spiritual Vein,
was still because of the Cultivation Technique he practiced,
the Primal Eternal Origin Art.
Even in the middle of a battle,
with just a single thought,
he could replenish his energy in the blink of an eye.
Then,
he cast the Earth Art.
Streaks of elemental power slowly emerged from the earth.
Among the ten Clones, ten weapons condensed from various metals and minerals suddenly appeared.
Earth Art!
—Everything the earth carries can be turned into a weapon.
Each sword was modeled after iconic weapons from anime and games he had seen in his past life.
There were elegant scimitars, greatswords as large as door panels, death blades like grim reaper scythes, and sharp, slender longswords.
It looked like a chaotic mess,
but Lu Chen didn't care.
As long as they could kill enemies, it was fine.
Ten masked warriors in elemental armor,
wielding these legendary weapons,
surrounded him as he stood in the center.
It was like a grand gathering of superheroes dominating the Universe.
“Hahaha, right now it really does have the visual sense of a multiverse overlord.”
He laughed for his own amusement.
However, to be on the safe side,
he eventually dismissed one masked warrior.
—For his first multi-threaded battle, it was better to have more abundant energy.
Then he took out his own weapon—the dual realm sword.
This weapon was forged using D-rank high-tech alloy,
yet it was already unable to carry his full power.
Next,
Lu Chen selected his prey for this time.
A total of 10 targets.
Nine of them were D-rank Level Three monsters.
The last one was a terrifying D-rank Level Ten monster.
The nine Clones immediately went into action,
flying in ten different directions.
Each Clone was like a silent hunter,
traveling through the air while standing on their respective weapons.
Meanwhile, Lu Chen himself looked toward his target—
a massive reptilian behemoth.
It was likely a mutated lizard.
Bone spikes towered on its back,
and its size was six stories high.
Just by lying there,
the energy of its body created ripples.
Lu Chen stood on the dual realm sword,
hands behind his back,
gradually floating up
to quietly observe the behemoth.
The behemoth looked up and stared at him.
In its eyes, Lu Chen was nothing more than an ant.
Its gaze was calm—
the kind of calmness that comes from not taking something seriously.
Lu Chen's gaze was equally undisturbed.
However,
on the calm and ripple-less lake surface,
Battle Intent gradually rose.
He wanted to fight.
He wanted to fight this monster to test his own strength.
“Roar!”
The monster let out a confused hiss.
Why hasn't this little thing run away yet?
Its body began to glow.
An intense light rose from its tail and was transmitted to its throat—
throughout the entire process, its power increased bit by bit.
Suddenly,
with an earth-shaking roar,
a massive energy beam shot directly out of its mouth.
The energy beam was blinding and swift,
as if it could disintegrate any obstacle it impacted.
Lu Chen didn't move.
He wanted to test his Atomic Rebirth.
The beam hit him squarely.
The monster let out a triumphant roar.
Lu Chen's figure was completely swallowed by the energy pillar.
But after the beam passed—
Lu Chen was still floating there.
The clothes and leather armor on his body were gone.
Even his skin looked charred.
But his body was intact.
Yes.
That powerful energy beam seemed to have only scorched his skin.
And under the Atomic Rebirth Technique,
even that layer of destroyed skin had already begun to heal.
His body's regeneration speed was actually faster than the speed at which it was being destroyed by the energy!
Lu Chen grinned.
“Your breath really stinks.”
The monster's eyes instantly widened.
Its mind was in a mess.
What exactly happened just now?
Why is this little thing okay?
Lu Chen looked down at his naked body.
Frowning, he said,
“That glob of spit burned away my pants too... fine, whatever.”
With a thought,
he was immediately covered in elemental armor.
Then, gripping the dual realm sword with both hands,
he looked at the behemoth.
With eyes shining, he said,
“Now, it's my turn.”