Chapter 115: Advancement, Bloodied Sprint

"Excellent! I have finally succeeded in condensing three evolution points; now I can advance to a Level 4 Evolver!"

Listening to the chip’s notification and sensing his physical state, Zhang Ran’s lips curled upward. A look of overwhelming joy spread across his face, his mood reaching a state of euphoria that was impossible to put into words.

With a mere thought, Zhang Ran deactivated his Boiling Blood state. He then controlled the three Blood Spikes to withdraw from the body of the Petrified Serpent, absorbing the blood energy within them to restore his physical stamina to its peak.

Immediately following this, Zhang Ran leaped off the carcass of the Petrified Serpent. Clutching his heavy sword, the "Breaker of Armies," he thrust it into the serpent’s eyes. With a sharp twist of his wrist, he gouged out both eyeballs and carefully placed them into a metal storage box.

Having completed the harvesting of materials from the Petrified Serpent, Zhang Ran did not linger. He set off at a brisk pace, making his way back to Black Hawk City.

About an hour and forty minutes later, Zhang Ran returned to Black Hawk City and headed straight for his apartment.

Upon arriving home, he went into the bathroom for a quick shower to wash away the sweat and filth of battle before returning to his room.

Striving to calm his mind, Zhang Ran sat down on the floor. He closed his eyes, gathered his mental energy, and focused his attention on his spine.

As he concentrated, the three evolution points appeared before his mind's eye. They spun incessantly around his vertebrae, vibrant and active, constantly radiating an incredibly mysterious evolutionary power.

With a focused intent, Zhang Ran linked his mental energy to the first evolution point and drew it upward.

Roughly ten minutes later, guided by his will, the evolution point detached from his spine and entered his body, releasing waves of evolutionary energy that continuously enhanced his physical constitution.

After successfully guiding the first, Zhang Ran repeated the process for the second, and then the third.

Like the first, the second evolution point integrated into his body. The third, however, behaved differently; it moved upward and entered his sea of consciousness.

Upon entering his sea of consciousness, the evolution point was drawn as if by a magnet toward the Tree of Evolution. It rapidly dissolved into a pool of concentrated golden liquid, merging into the tree.

As the point was absorbed, the Tree of Evolution began to glow with a faint, iridescent light. It grew at a speed visible to the naked eye, sprouting new branches and leaves, pulsing with vitality, while the surrounding seven-colored mist grew even thicker.

As the tree grew, it emitted waves of high-level evolutionary source power, which flowed continuously into Zhang Ran’s body.

Under the influence of this source power, genetic impurities within him were purged. The genetic sequences of countless cells were optimized, undergoing a miraculous transformation and shattering the genetic shackles that had restricted his growth.

Furthermore, a large amount of source power converged to form a circular rune. Various symbols flickered in and out of existence upon it, exuding a profound and mysterious aura—this was the prototype of Zhang Ran’s new ability rune.

Ten minutes later, the flow of evolutionary energy from the tree ceased, and the ability rune was fully formed.

It was another blood-colored rune, bearing the image of a blood shadow. Once solidified, it drifted toward the Tree of Evolution at the center of his consciousness, finally settling beside the [Boiling Blood] rune.

"This is incredible! I’ve become even stronger! Let me see what my new ability is!"

Feeling the powerful energy surging through his body, Zhang Ran thought to himself with intense excitement. Filled with anticipation, he focused his mind and touched the fourth red rune etched with the blood shadow.

"[Ability Name: Blood Dash]
[Ability Effect: Upon activation, you may launch a short-range, high-speed dash in a designated direction. The distance of the dash is related to your Agility attribute; the higher the agility, the further the dash, though it consumes more stamina. If you encounter an enemy mid-dash, the dash will be obstructed, but you will deal a powerful strike to the enemy.]"

As Zhang Ran focused, the red rune flashed, and a stream of information flowed into his sea of consciousness.

"Another combat-domain ability, and a dash-evasion type that I really needed. Excellent!"

Looking at the description of his new ability, a satisfied smile appeared on Zhang Ran’s face.

Compared to many combat-domain abilities that deal direct damage, a dash-type ability, while incapable of direct harm, allows for surprise attacks that can catch an enemy off guard.

Moreover, when facing spell-domain ability users, a dash-type ability provides powerful evasion. Most spell-domain abilities are non-directional; by utilizing Blood Dash, Zhang Ran could easily dodge these attacks and avoid being hit.

Beyond that, Blood Dash is also highly effective when pursuing enemies. It can be considered a very well-rounded ability, perfectly suited for Zhang Ran’s current needs.

"Chip, perform a comprehensive scan of my body!"

After moving around briefly to adapt to his new physical state, Zhang Ran sat on his bed, closed his eyes, and issued the command to the chip to begin a precise, full-body assessment.

"Command accepted. Detection process commencing. Please remain still during the scan to ensure measurements and data parameters are not affected, allowing for the most accurate modeling."

As the command was issued, the chip’s notification echoed in his mind. Simultaneously, Zhang Ran felt his body stiffen slightly as massive amounts of physical data and neural signals were intercepted by the chip.

After acquiring this raw data, the chip began to analyze it, construct models, and conduct further research and interpretation, performing a meticulously precise probe of Zhang Ran’s physical state.

"Ding! Detection complete. Detection report generated. Please review."

A few minutes later, the chip’s notification sounded once more in Zhang Ran’s sea of consciousness. A silver light flashed before him, rapidly coalescing into a large data window.