Chapter 76: Summer Days

Once he had the ability 'Magnetic Field Perception,' the most basic benefit was that he might never again be directionally challenged.

At the same time, he might also be able to see the electromagnetic field when he discharged electricity.

As for other applications, Baichuan figured he would only know once he had actually evolved this ability.

After all, there was still a difference between being able to sense a magnetic field and being able to control one.

Otherwise, the shark species would not have used it solely to determine their own position.

At this point, Baichuan had stripped every single ability off that shark completely clean.

He did the math and found that the total payment had actually reached a whopping 9 points!

He only had 13 points at the moment, which meant after paying all of that, he would be left with just 4.

Fortunately, he had had the foresight from the very start to save up points for a whole month; otherwise, this round might not have been enough.

It seemed he could not evolve the bat's abilities all at once.

Baichuan sighed. The panel's function was this: as long as it was not a saved ability template, once an ability was drawn out and evolved, that ability template would disappear.

Yet there were many abilities he wanted, all on the bat template.

As for which ones, he could tell just by looking at the panel.

'Species: Bat'

'Abilities: Wing Hand LV2, Ultrasonic LV2, Ultrasonic Positioning LV2, Immunity LV2, DNA Damage Repair LV1, Symbiosis LV1.'

Of all the bat's abilities above, Baichuan could say that aside from that last ordinary Symbiosis ability, he wanted every single one of the others — or rather, he could not afford to take only some of them, because they all came as a set.

Take the bat's most classic ultrasonic positioning sense: it was divided into Ultrasonic and Ultrasonic Positioning.

Ultrasonic was the sound-producing organ, and Ultrasonic Positioning was the receiving organ; without either one, he could not obtain the bat's ultrasonic positioning sensory system.

Another example was Immunity and DNA Damage Repair.

Immunity LV2 worked by boosting the body's own metabolism, thereby raising its normal body temperature to kill off those pathogens.

But in doing so, because the body's temperature remained at a relatively high level, much like when a human body was in a state of inflammation.

That would inevitably cause damage to the body's various tissues and organs, thereby leading to a shortened lifespan.

In that case, DNA Damage Repair was absolutely necessary. Only a being that possessed this ability could repair the bodily damage caused by Immunity raising the body temperature, and thus avoid a shortened lifespan.

Baichuan even suspected that once this ability was evolved, it would probably increase his lifespan as well.

Because in a certain sense, this ability was restoring all the hidden injuries present in the body.

The recovery of hidden injuries — did that not precisely represent the body becoming healthier, presenting a truly flawless, perfect state?

And as the body grew healthier and became flawless, did that not precisely mean that the length of life was returning to its original measure?

Therefore, if he were asked to pick only a few abilities from among them and give up the rest, Baichuan would absolutely refuse.

After all, a bat ability template was very hard to come by in his current environment.

If he did not select all the abilities he wanted in one go, or save the ability template, then once the ability template was damaged, it would be very difficult for him to obtain it again in the short term.

It seemed this time he could only give up on the bat's abilities and wait for the next time.

Baichuan sighed and closed the bat's ability panel.

After examining his own ability template once more, he confirmed there were no errors.

He then immediately chose to pay for all the abilities selected on the shark's ability panel.

Accompanied by the disappearance of 9 points.

The familiar drowsiness surged over Baichuan once more like an ocean tide.

He did not resist; he let nature take its course and closed his eyes, slowly falling into a deep sleep under the pull of that drowsiness.

Then that familiar, viscous unknown liquid was secreted once again, slowly enveloping his entire body and transforming into an egg-shaped object.

Strangely, throughout the entire process, this layer of viscous unknown liquid did not come into any contact with the seawater — it neither evaporated the seawater nor annihilated it.

Instead, it was as if the two had nothing to do with each other, neither affecting the other, not existing in the same space-time, with a clear boundary between them.

At this moment, evolution began once again.

And in terms of time, this would probably be the longest evolution in Baichuan's history so far.

……

Time slowly slipped away; in the blink of an eye, three months had already passed.

By now, spring had completely passed, and the turn had come for the hottest season of summer to take the stage.

At noon, the blazing sun hung high in the sky.

That dazzling sun freely poured down boundless light and heat, bestowing equal love upon this stretch of heaven and earth.

Below.

Seagulls skimmed the water, the sea breeze blew. White waves kept rolling up and crashing down, a stretch of surging billows.

Yet beneath the water, all was quiet and peaceful; countless fish of every color darted back and forth among the coral reefs where countless seaweeds swayed.

Wits and courage against the predators that occasionally poked out from the crevices.

At this moment, in a patch of coral reef not far away, the roots of a cluster of seaweeds twitched for no apparent reason… no, it wasn't the seaweed that moved! It was the boulder beneath them that was somehow trembling slightly!

The boulder's trembling immediately stirred up a string of small bubbles, which slowly rose toward the surface.

And this peculiar scene also piqued the curiosity of a pale-red fish not far away.

It left the school of fish and, swishing its tail, swam toward the boulder.

In a little while, it arrived beside the boulder and curiously circled around the seaweed on the boulder, swimming back and forth.

Every now and then it would curiously dart forward and take a few little sips, as if tasting the seaweed.

At this moment, the boulder trembled slightly once again.

Perhaps because of the boulder's earlier shaking, a crack had somehow appeared beneath the boulder at some unknown point.

The little pale-red fish opened and closed its small mouth, then swished its tail and slipped through the crack.

Once it entered, what came into its fish-eyes in this space was a strange eggshell-shaped giant object.

Driven by curiosity, it came to the side of the giant egg and once again gave it an inquisitive little suck with its small mouth.

However, before it could react further, the spot on the giant egg it had just sucked on suddenly burst open with a huge hole.

Instantly, a violent surge of water swept toward it, flipping its entire small body over and sending it tumbling several times in the water.

Right after, from the great hole, a massive dragon head poked out, and before long a pair of fierce, thick, powerful claws reached out as well.

As its dragon head swung, it sent the bright-red mane behind its head flying, looking tremendously majestic.

In just a few moves, it completely tore apart the entire eggshell-shaped giant object.

Only then did the little pale-red fish recover and regain its body's balance.

Yet the moment it recovered, it was utterly stunned by the scene before its eyes.

What came into its view was a monster with a sleek, powerful build!

(End of this chapter)