Chapter 118: Evolution, Dragon's Roar

Of course, before heading there, he still needed to make final preparations, because once he stepped foot in that place, he would be like an arrow drawn from a bow—there would be no turning back.

Either he would be taken down, or he would take down the entire Great Zhou.

He needed to digest his last resources—namely, the ability models of the tiger, that red-robed old man, and the blue whale—and evolve out the useful abilities.

Because he was about to face a dynasty that had stood for a thousand years; the number of enemies on the other side was bound to be no small matter, so he had to consider a useful area-of-effect attack ability.

Thinking of this, Baichuan began searching within the boundless dense forest for a concealed spot suited to his current size.

……

A day later, Baichuan—well-fed, well-hydrated, and having even stored some jerky in the cave—was ready.

He had to admit that with the power to control flames, he now possessed a truly flawless method of preserving food, because he could completely dry flesh and blood into jerky using scorching hot air, achieving long-term preservation.

Unlike before, when using Ice Frost to preserve things, the frozen ice would often have already completely melted by the time he woke up, and the meat would even be somewhat rotten and foul-smelling.

If it weren't for the fact that he was always ravenously hungry after every evolution and could eat rotten flesh like a scavenger without issue, he truly wouldn't want to touch that stinking rotten meat.

Although air-drying like this made the flesh taste unpleasant, it was still far better than the rotten meat of the past.

Lost in thought, Baichuan once again opened the panel, and the familiar panel information once again evolved before his eyes:

【Name: Baichuan.】

【Species: Flood Serpent.】

【Length: 18 meters.】

【Lifespan: 91 years, 9 months.】

【Points: 312 (16%)】

【Abilities: LV3 Ability (expand), LV2 Ability (expand), LV1 Ability (expand).】

【Ability Structure Library: (expand)】

【Kedianji……】

Looking at this familiar panel, especially the points column.

Even Baichuan was overcome by an intense sense of pride—he was no longer that pitiful creature of the past who had to carefully budget every single point for his abilities.

Now, please call him the King of Points!

All of this had been accumulated bit by bit over those years—a large stockpile that even his current self, indulging freely, might not be able to use up.

Without much hesitation, he directly opened the ability models he had long wanted to use for evolution; of course, before taking them out, he had already saved them completely.

As for why he saved them, he could only say there wasn't much "why"—he had plenty of points, so he was being willful!

As the familiar ability models rose up, the ability information of the red-robed old man on the panel was the first to catch Baichuan's eye:

"Species: Human (Hong Pao Lao Guai)."

"Abilities: Intelligent Brain LV3 (King), Endurance LV2, Strong LV2, Symbiosis LV1 (Fire Bat Transformation), Zeng Bo LV1, Dexterity LV1, Information Communication LV1, Will LV1……"

Among these abilities, many were ones he had seen on Zhang Dadan before, which didn't surprise Baichuan, because he had already checked them.

This time, his target was only one ability—Zeng Bo LV1.

Normally speaking, for him now, LV1-level abilities had long become dispensable.

But this ability was an exception, because its effect was too powerful!

A single ability on its own might not do much, but if combined with other abilities, it would be an absolute kill!

The ability that had once caused Baichuan to suddenly feel nauseous and dizzy was precisely this effect, combined with ultrasonic waves.

Ultrasonic waves weren't a lethal sound wave to begin with, but even so, under the boost of this ability, that group of humans had still easily made Baichuan nauseous and dizzy.

The effect was imaginable—if it were combined with a powerful ability, then this effect……

Thinking of this, he once again opened the tiger's model:

"Species: Tiger."

"Abilities: Strong LV3 (King), Sharp Claw LV3 (Banzhu), Leap LV3 (Banzhu), Intimidation LV2, Ken Yao LV2, High-speed Neural Reaction LV2, Minjie LV2, Muscle Electric Discharge LV2, Current Protection LV2, Stealth LV1."

And this time, the tiger's abilities showed many that were considered powerful for his current self.

However, based on priority, he first placed "Zeng Bo LV1" and "Intimidation LV2" into his own ability model.

This was the most important goal of this trip—a large-scale sonic attack, just like that, was complete.

Intimidation LV2: The roar of the king of the jungle, allowing the ability host to carry infrasound within the roar, intimidating the target.

What he valued about this entire ability wasn't the roar, but three words: infrasound!

Although he didn't value the roar, from today onward, having evolved this ability, he would also be able to truly produce sound, no longer just the "hissing" of a snake.

As these two abilities merged in, the interior of Baichuan's throat immediately began to undergo subtle changes.

After selecting the most important goal of this trip, Baichuan next looked at the remaining abilities.

First was Strong LV3 (King)—his current version of this ability was only at the Banzhu level, and now he could replace it once more.

Next was Sharp Claw LV3—he was still using the LV2-level eagle claw from back then.

He just didn't know what would happen after swapping this one in this time.

With this thought, Baichuan slowly pulled out this ability and placed it into his own ability model.

As the ability merged in, the claws on Baichuan's ability model visibly and slowly transformed from eagle claws into the front and rear paws of a tiger.

"Hmm?"

However, at this sight, Baichuan's eyes widened—changed?

Wasn't it just enhancing the hardness and strength of the claws?

Looking at the now rather inflexible tiger claws, Baichuan was momentarily a bit headache-stricken.

Of course he wanted tiger claws, but what he wanted was a combination of the tiger's thick forelimbs and the eagle's flexible, graspable claws.

Not directly canceling the eagle claws and replacing them with inflexible tiger claws.

He let out a slow sigh—it seemed for now he could only give up on the tiger claws.

There was nothing for it; he had already grown used to the more dexterous front talons of the eagle class, but perhaps in the future he could take the initiative to improve and mutate a pair that combined the tiger's forelimbs with the eagle's four-talons ability.

Clearly, having given that up, he had only one ability left to choose: the tiger class's powerful leaping strength.

Speaking of tigers, most people only think of their terrifying forelimbs and their dashing appearance, forgetting that the tiger class's leaping ability is by no means weak.

To leap lightly up a tree with such a heavy body is no easy feat.

At this point, he had decided on all the abilities he wanted to evolve this time; after some deliberation at the end,

he ultimately still chose the blue whale's "Judahua LV3 (Banzhu)" ability.

Perhaps this ability would weaken his reaction speed, but in this ordinary world where destructive power was not overly outrageous, mass and tonnage could sometimes truly represent everything.

And that was precisely what he, who was about to face the Great Zhou, lacked most.

Eighteen meters — one could say it was large, and one could say it was not large.

If he could reach a body close to thirty meters, even without any extraordinary power, relying on those incomparably hard scales and his body weight alone, he could crush everything to a certain extent.

Not to mention that an increase in body size also drove, to a certain extent, an increase in the reserves of all kinds of strength.

Although he might lose part of his high-speed reaction ability, for him, whose neural reactions had already been reinforced several times,

at worst it would be a return to his original state — back then, his reactions facing humans were also a kind of crushing advantage.

Added to that, within a certain range, his "omniscience" perspective — all in all, he had not been weakened by much.

This was Baichuan's choice after careful deliberation; the reaction speed he would lose was far smaller than the power gains brought by that body size.

At this point, Baichuan gave it one final confirmation; finding no problems, he tapped the confirm-payment message.

As the 9 points vanished, Baichuan once again fell into slumber.

The familiar viscous liquid slowly wrapped Baichuan's eighteen-meter-tall body completely.

Evolution had begun.

(End of this chapter)