Chapter 116: Assessing Their Strength, Setting Out for the Fringe Zone

[Name: Zhang Ran]
[Age: 8]
[Strength: Level 4 Evolver]
[Evolution Points: 0/3]
[Current Evolution Point Condensation Progress: 0.07%]
[Abilities: Transcendent Evolution, Blood Plunder, Spatial Box, Blood Boil, Blood Rush]
[Strength: 11.639 (9.208 + 2.431)]
[Physique: 10.917 (8.573 + 2.344)]
[Agility: 10.488 (8.297 + 2.191)]
[Spirit: 10.245 (8.010 + 2.235)]
[Cellular Activity: ......]

To the left of the status panel was a three-dimensional model of Zhang Ran’s body, clearly displaying his physical condition. To the right was an attribute panel listing one statistic after another, providing a detailed description of his condition from every angle.

“After advancing to Level 4, my attributes are already approaching those of a Level 5 Evolver! Combined with the attribute enhancement from Blood Boil, along with Blood Plunder and Blood Rush, my actual combat strength has definitely reached the Level 5 range. Once I become fully accustomed to my evolved body, my strength should reach the pinnacle of Level 5!”

“However, compared with Level 5 Evolvers or mutant creatures, Level 6 Evolvers and mutant creatures are still vastly stronger. With my current strength, I still can’t defeat a Level 6 Evolver or mutant creature!”

“Of course, if I really encountered a Level 6 mutant creature, escaping would still be easy. Not only that, but once I successfully condensed my first Evolution Point, my strength should reach the level of the weakest Level 6 creature. And after fully condensing my second Evolution Point, my strength should reach that of an ordinary Level 6 creature!”

Based on the strength of his attributes and abilities, Zhang Ran carefully assessed and analyzed his combat power.

Because of Transcendent Evolution, Zhang Ran required one and a half times as much evolutionary energy as other Evolvers each time he advanced. In return, however, his attributes were also essentially one and a half times those of Evolvers at the same level. Moreover, he possessed more abilities than other Evolvers of the same level, and those abilities were more powerful. As a result, his combat strength far surpassed that of ordinary Evolvers at the same level.

After successfully evolving into a Level 4 Evolver, Zhang Ran’s Spirit attribute had increased, and so had his mental power. His comprehension, intelligence, powers of observation, and other qualities had all improved further.

Moreover, since the chip was powered by Zhang Ran’s mental strength, its computational capabilities continued to improve as his mental power increased. It had also absorbed a certain amount of evolutionary source energy and undergone a mysterious evolution. It had quietly transcended its original limits and begun to develop all kinds of mysterious properties.

The most direct result of the chip’s upgrade was the improvement of its simulated battle-space function. The simulated battle space could now replicate Level 6 enemies. Its simulated area had expanded to ten thousand square meters, and its operating time had reached ten hours—more than enough to allow Zhang Ran to conduct simulated battles and improve his attributes.

“Chip, begin optimizing my combat style so that it matches my physical abilities after advancement!”

After briefly reviewing all the changes brought about by the upgrade, Zhang Ran nodded in satisfaction. With a thought, the status panel before him instantly transformed into countless silver particles and dispersed. He then issued an order to the chip.

“Ding! Task established. Estimated calculation time: two days and seventeen hours.”

Accompanied by the chime, the chip’s notification sounded beside Zhang Ran’s ear.

“Two days and seventeen hours? That really is quite a long time. In that case, I’ll conduct simulated battles for a while first and adapt to my evolved physical abilities!”

Hearing the chip’s notification, Zhang Ran was not surprised in the slightest. The human body was an extraordinarily complex system. Optimizing a combat style specifically for the human body was by no means a simple task.

What was more, Zhang Ran’s physical abilities far surpassed those of ordinary people. As an Evolver, the mysteries and intricacies of his body were beyond comparison with an ordinary human, and no universal model existed for it. Completing the combat-style calculations therefore required an incalculable number of computations. For the chip to finish its analysis within three days was already an astonishing achievement.

After returning to the bathroom and washing away the filth and genetic impurities expelled from his body during evolution, Zhang Ran closed his eyes once more and entered the simulated battle space. There, he began a series of simulated battles to hone his strength.

The following morning.

After undergoing simulated training the previous day, Zhang Ran had already begun to adapt to his advanced body. He therefore returned to the wilderness, tempering his combat techniques through battle while acquiring evolutionary energy to continue advancing.

After becoming a Level 4 Evolver, killing a Level 4 mutant creature increased Zhang Ran’s Evolution Point condensation progress by an average of one percent. Killing a Level 3 mutant creature, however, increased it by only 0.1 percent.

As for Level 2 mutant creatures, killing one could provide merely around 0.01 percent of Evolution Point condensation progress—an utterly negligible amount. If Zhang Ran killed mutant creatures of even lower levels, he would gain virtually no evolutionary energy at all.

Not only that, but if Zhang Ran slaughtered large numbers of low-level mutant creatures, he would not increase his Evolution Point condensation progress. Instead, he would accumulate a large amount of genetic impurities within his body, diminishing his potential for future evolution.

For this reason, high-level Evolvers rarely slaughtered large numbers of low-level mutant creatures. Instead, they hunted mutant creatures only one or two levels below their own. Of course, low-level mutant creatures could generally sense the aura of high-level Evolvers, so they rarely took the initiative to attack them.

For Zhang Ran, after advancing to Level 4, killing Level 4 or Level 5 mutant creatures was essential if he wanted to evolve quickly.

Unfortunately, his weapon, Warbreaker, had still not been upgraded. Forged from Level 2 alloy, it was already somewhat inadequate in battles against Level 4 mutant creatures, let alone in combat against Level 5 mutant creatures.

Thus, Zhang Ran made Level 4 mutant creatures his hunting targets. Now that his strength had improved, he could also venture deeper into the wilderness, where Level 4 mutant creatures were more plentiful and could be hunted more efficiently.

At present, Zhang Ran was heading toward the wilderness one hundred and forty kilometers from Black Hawk City. This area already lay at the edge of Black Hawk Corporation’s sphere of influence and was known as the “Edge Zone.” Far fewer Evolvers came here to hunt, while the number of high-level mutant creatures was correspondingly greater.

Ordinarily, Level 4 Evolvers operated within a radius of one hundred and twenty kilometers of Black Hawk Corporation’s territory. The Edge Zone was a place where only Level 5 Evolvers would remain for extended hunting expeditions. But Zhang Ran’s strength had long since reached the level of a top-tier Level 5 Evolver, so he came here without hesitation.