Chapter 30: Reaching the Limits of the Human Body, a Quasi-Evolver

With a sharp crack, the Level 2 alloy combat knife in Zhang Ran’s hand sliced through the air, coming down hard upon the rock scorpion’s head. Accompanied by the sound of a neck snapping, the scorpion’s head was severed in one clean stroke, and a torrent of green blood gushed out, soaking the wild grass and earth beneath it.

As Zhang Ran’s blade fell, the headless rock scorpion lost all signs of life. A surge of evolutionary energy erupted from its body, flooding into Zhang Ran’s own, instantly transforming into a warm current that flowed throughout him, constantly strengthening his physical attributes.

"Rock scorpion slain. Evolutionary energy absorbed. Strength +0.001, Constitution +0.002, Agility +0.001."

As the evolutionary energy poured in, the familiar voice of the chip sounded in Zhang Ran’s ear. He crouched down, beginning to harvest materials from the rock scorpion’s remains.

There were two main materials to be collected from a rock scorpion. First, its poisonous stinger and venom gland, which could be used to craft specialized toxins highly effective against lower-tier mutant beasts. Second, its carapace, renowned for its coagulating properties and a key ingredient in many basic healing salves.

After carefully harvesting the scorpion’s stinger and carapace, Zhang Ran stowed them in his backpack and continued toward Forward Base. Upon arrival, he made his way straight to the mission zone, where he sold off all the materials he had gathered that day.

Twelve sets of elite berserk rat claws, a rock scorpion stinger, and a rock scorpion carapace—after selling them, Zhang Ran found himself nearly three hundred Black Hawk coins richer. He promptly reserved a room at the base and settled in for some much-needed rest.

...

The next day, 11 a.m.

With a flash of his Level 2 alloy combat knife, Zhang Ran decapitated another elite berserk rat in a single, practiced motion. The familiar evolutionary energy surged through him, further enhancing his body.

However, unlike before, this burst of energy brought his strength attribute to its limit—it would increase no further. The surplus energy was instead funneled into his constitution, agility, and spirit.

"Elite berserk rat den eradicated. Evolutionary energy absorbed. Strength +0.001, Constitution +0.002, Agility +0.002, Spirit +0.001."

"Notification: Your strength has reached 2 points—the human maximum."

As the energy coursed through him, the chip’s notification echoed in Zhang Ran’s mind. Hearing this, a faint smile played at the corner of his lips.

"Excellent. My strength has reached the human limit! Once I bring my constitution, agility, and spirit to their limits as well, I can advance to Proto-Evolver, begin condensing an evolution point, and attempt to break through to Level 1 Evolver!"

With this thought, Zhang Ran pressed onward, resuming his relentless hunt for berserk rats.

...

Three days later—

"It’s nearly done! Just one more berserk rat den and I’ll reach Proto-Evolver!"

Zhang Ran nodded with satisfaction at his spirit attribute, now at 1.999. He moved forward, searching for another small berserk rat den.

"Notification: Small berserk rat den detected. Location marked."

Luck was on his side; less than five minutes later, the chip’s prompt appeared in his mind, accompanied by a red marker in his field of vision, indicating the location of a newly discovered den.

"Perfect!"

A burning determination in his eyes, Zhang Ran strode to the marked location. Using his usual method, he cut away the wild grass, lit a fire, and used thick smoke to drive the berserk rats from their lair, then dispatched them one after another with his blade.

With his nearly maxed-out physical attributes and the aid of his Level 2 alloy knife, the berserk rats fell before him like wheat before the scythe, each vanquished foe dissolving into evolutionary energy that rushed into his body, fueling his ongoing transformation.

Once Zhang Ran’s strength, constitution, and agility had each reached the human limit, all further evolutionary energy was channeled into enhancing his spirit. With this influx, his spirit attribute quickly soared, soon attaining its maximum.

As all four attributes reached the human limit, Zhang Ran felt an extraordinary transformation sweep through him; his body became suddenly more harmonious and coordinated. At the same time, the remaining evolutionary energy ceased to flow to his mind and instead converged at the base of his spine, condensing there into a small sphere of energy that radiated a gentle warmth.

"Success!"

Feeling the energy sphere forming at his spine, Zhang Ran’s eyes shone with joy. According to what he’d learned at the training camp, this was the embryonic evolution point—the key to advancing as an Evolver.

Once an ordinary person’s four attributes reached their maximum, any further evolutionary energy would no longer enhance the body, but would instead be stored at the base of the spine, forming the embryonic evolution point.

The emergence of this energy sphere marked the moment one began to transcend the ordinary and step onto the path of evolution, earning the title of "Proto-Evolver." At this stage, with the body perfected, combat prowess would increase significantly.

After becoming a Proto-Evolver, any additional evolutionary energy would be stored in the spine, where it would continually condense until a qualitative transformation occurred, turning the energy sphere into a true evolution point.

At that stage, one could distinctly sense the heat source at the base of the spine—the evolution point itself. By guiding this point, the Proto-Evolver could initiate further evolution, shatter human limitations, advance to Evolver, awaken unique abilities, and take the first step on the path of evolution.

"Chip, initiate a comprehensive rescan of my body. Reconstruct my model according to Proto-Evolver standards, analyze the condensation level of my evolution point, and update my profile!"

Recalling the details about Proto-Evolvers, Zhang Ran issued his command silently.

"Task initiated. Scanning..."

As the chip’s voice sounded, Zhang Ran felt his body stiffen slightly. He was unconcerned; this was merely the chip conducting a deep internal scan. Should any danger arise, he could break free from this state at any moment.

"Task complete. Displaying your updated physical data."

This examination took longer than the previous ones—fully half a minute passed before the stiffness faded and the chip’s voice returned. A flash of silver crossed Zhang Ran’s vision as a detailed anatomical model and updated data chart appeared before him.