Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 96 - 077.Alpha

Chapter 96: 077.Alpha

Huh...

Li Aozi exhaled a turbid breath. "Severing Life" was a form of Arcane Energy he himself possessed, and the burden it placed on his genes could not be transferred.

But what’s lifespan anyway? The one thing "Meteor Fall Master" isn’t short of is lifespan. Trading a mere year of life for such decent Arcane Energy was quite a bargain.

The real cost was merely his pale skin becoming somewhat distorted, nearly devoid of wrinkles, lines, pores, and the veins beneath.

Though he appeared even more handsome and beautiful, an invisible sense of estrangement that differed from ordinary people emerged, as if he wasn’t a human being from reality.

Li Aozi didn’t really mind, after all, with "High Charm," he could smile more genuinely than Ding Zhen.

Nomi was sent off by him to procure some supplies and find Qiu Ran and Dmitry to see if they were willing to leave with him. He was sitting alone in the middle of the battlefield. When the Wanderers saw that the Scavenger showed no interest in the surrounding weapons and bodies, they boldly started to loot the corpses.

Their hatred for the Four Nations had always been buried deep in their hearts. Many stripped the equipment, prosthetics, and chips from the bodies of the Frost Plated Special Police clean, not forgetting to spit on them as a form of petty revenge.

Li Aozi didn’t care about these pieces of equipment. On one hand, as a Mutant, he couldn’t use prosthetics, and his Attributes were too low to wear the equipment, and he was inaccurate with guns.

Everyone has their own weaknesses, and Li Aozi was particularly bad with firearms.

In the early stages, most Occupations rely heavily on firearms, such as "Ranger," "Mechanic," "Doctor," because guns are effective and relatively easy to train with.

Unlike melee combatants and Mages, the former requiring high skill in positioning and charging, and the latter’s Spells involving all sorts of complicated things like projectile calculations, programming, linear sequences, and also having to ensure not to blow themselves up while casting.

But Li Aozi suffered from an extreme imbalance in his skills.

He had an extraordinary Talent for bladed weapons that surpassed ordinary people. Without needing any guidance, the very first time he held a half sword, he beat the Historical Martial Arts instructor of the Youth Training Camp into questioning life, who insisted on taking him for testing.

—If it wasn’t for the ranged weapon testing later, where out of 200 shots at a fixed target he didn’t hit a single one, and in moving target shooting, he only hit once with a shotgun at point-blank range, Li Aozi believed he could have made it into a professional team, become famous, and brought glory to his country.

Professional teams weren’t too friendly towards an Ace Bro like Li Aozi who only excelled in one aspect, but he didn’t blame them.

Behind a professional player was the support of capital, even a nation. In other words, their purpose was to win matches. Li Aozi’s obvious weaknesses made him an unstable factor in a team.

Li Aozi couldn’t understand why, as a modern person, he felt so unfamiliar and clueless about firearms?

He couldn’t help pondering, could it be that he had been a person from ancient times in his previous life?

More than those scattered weapons and equipment, what truly deserved attention was the intense pain that followed closely after.

The rate of cell division accelerated continuously, and dark red splotches spread on his skin like mire at an alarming rate.

The system’s panel quickly turned red and black, covered with cracks resembling DNA double helices.

[Warning: Gene Sequence Unstable!]

[You have experienced a benign Mutation, Gene Fragments integrating...]

[Your superior genetic Traits have emerged, please choose one direction from the following groups of Mutant Traits:]

A——[Gene Editing • Gold Mycelium]: Re-edit your genes to create a massive beneficial mycelium in your body, which will be controlled by your consciousness to block all invasive microbes. Disease resistance +80%.

To retain this trait, your body will emit a significant odor of decay, [Charm] -5.

B——[Gene Integration • Synaptic Node]: Integrate the chaotic gene sequence, adding a neural synaptic node to the spine, which acts as your second brain, specifically controlling and coordinating your motor system, [Strength], [Dexterity], and [Constitution] +2

To retain this trait, will cause a reduction in Gene Fragments, cumulative Mutation failure rate +5%.

C——[Gene Screening • Digestive System]: Screen all genes, eliminating those unsuited for the current environment. Your digestive system is fully optimized, transforming stomach acid into a complex bio-acid capable of greatly corroding metals, microbes, and rotten flesh, extracting energy from food to repair Telomeres—you can use various foods to restore Arcane Energy.

To retain this trait, will result in Gene Fragment loss, but the next Mutation will have a higher probability of producing unprecedented Mutations.

[You can expend 5,000 Experience to reset this Mutation.]

"It’s actually ’Iron Stomach’!"

Li Aozi was astonished; this Mutation Option was quite good, as consuming food could restore Arcane Energy, saving a significant amount on potions.

Food was much cheaper than potions, and Li Aozi remembered, this Mutation Direction had one advantage: Players could use it to gnaw on garbage and teammates’ corpses, the powerful digestive ability granting immunity to all food poisoning.

Even in desperate times, vomiting up one’s stomach acid could be used as a weapon.

At least in battles before level 60, there would be virtually no need to worry about running out of mana.

The negative Effects were also completely acceptable.

This was the exclusive reward for Mutants from the earlier "Infant Eater" task. The System encouraged Mutants to challenge natural predators, thereby creating conflicts and bringing fun to the Players.