Chapter 397: I Am Legend

In the meditation chamber, Lei En sat cross‑legged.

The meditation chamber had existed in the castle for many years; after taking over the castle, he allocated funds to have it renovated, spending over ten thousand Gold Shields, expanding the space, installing a Soundproof Force Field on the walls, and laying rune formations on the floor that performed a calming technique, maximizing meditation efficiency.

Normally, aside from Lei En himself, only Extreme Warriors who have just learned the meditation method are permitted to enter.

Lei En took out a soul‑devouring potion and four or five demonic potions, placing them one by one before him.

These demonic potions include a dragon‑blood soul‑refining elixir that can boost soul power growth and medicines for treating soul wounds and injuries; they may not be useful, but it's better to be prepared.

After sitting quietly for a moment, his soul was in optimal condition, and Lei En opened his eyes.

He opened the phone interface.

Three circles represent the energy level of his soul power; the inner two circles are full, while the outermost third circle is stuck at 99%.

He had tried many times before to absorb souls and convert them into soul power, yet still could not break through.

In fact, that was only a surface phenomenon.

Lei En felt that, although it seemed to be stuck at 99%, it had actually risen slightly.

If he continues cultivating meditation to increase soul power, or wildly absorbs massive amounts of souls, he will eventually break the bottleneck—it just requires the accumulation of time.

This is the safest way to advance, but after the lesson learned from the Black Emperor's threatening incarnation, he now dares not recklessly absorb souls.

Even extracting souls from non‑intelligent beings, such as demonic beasts or insects, does not easily present opportunities.

Perhaps this method could be used for upgrades later, but not now.

Thus he must take another path.

Lei En opened his Element list; dozens of Element icons unfolded before his eyes, and his gaze fell on "Destruction Critical." The progress bar beneath the icon, like the energy, also stopped at 99%; the last segment was already ninety percent filled, just a tiny bit away from upgrading.

Currently, Destruction Critical is a Level‑4 Rare Element; raising it to Level‑5 will inevitably evolve it into a Supreme Element.

That tiny bit of progress requires very little energy.

Lei En took a deep breath, exhaled gently, tilted his head back and drank a bottle of dragon‑blood soul‑refining elixir, then decisively pressed the upgrade button for "Destruction Critical," and the progress bar instantly advanced.

The energy also began to drop, but it stopped in less than a second, consuming only half a segment of energy.

The progress bar reached its end and flashed briefly.

Destruction Critical rose from Level‑4 to Level‑5; the entire icon trembled slightly, undergoing a qualitative change, advancing from a Rare Element to a Supreme Element.

At the same time, Lei En sensed a change.

When an Element advances from Rare to Supreme, it is a huge leap; the leaf on the World Tree that represents Destruction Critical began to shine.

The runes on the leaf slowly twisted, becoming more intricate and profound; an indescribable force radiated from the runes, spreading along the branches and trunk, instantly permeating the whole World Tree, lighting up every leaf.

It was like tossing a stone into a calm sea, or lighting a fuse; a chain reaction erupted, building up pressure and finally raising a towering wave.

The World Tree began to sway violently.

Lei En felt his soul tremble, and his whole being entered a marvelous state.

He had experienced this state many times before and couldn't help but rejoice, thinking silently, "Soul ascent! Element advancement truly guides me, spurring my breakthrough of the bottleneck!"

For human transcendents, a soul ascent means an upgrade.

At Levels 3, 6, and 9, after ascent one must hold a Soul Transformation ceremony to advance to a higher rank; this is a consequence of the Blood Soul Curse.

Non‑human intelligent races need not do so; after ascent they advance directly, skipping the painful soul metamorphosis.

Lei En has already lifted the Blood Soul Curse, so he also does not need a Soul Transformation ceremony.

That is undoubtedly the best consumption; he need not risk forcibly fusing a Legendary Demon Soul during Soul Transformation—he can wait until he becomes a Legend and then safely fuse the Bimon Giant Beast's demon soul.

The soul‑devouring potion he bought earlier can be discarded.

Lei En's expression was relaxed as he observed the phone interface's energy. The consumed soul power was rapidly recovering; the effect of the dragon‑blood soul‑refining elixir was working, and together with the ascent state, it reached 99% in just half a minute, then continued rising, with the final energy segment slowly filling green.

"The bottleneck has been broken!"

He remained calm amid his delight, watching the energy cell fill with green bit by bit.

Three minutes later, a beeping sound rang in his mind.

The energy reached full capacity!

In the next instant, Lei En saw the three circles of energy merge into one, and the World Tree within his soul climbed rung by rung, every branch and leaf flashing with light, even his own eyes emitting a strange glimmer outward.

This is the soul's metamorphosis, and it is higher, greater, and more thorough than the previous three transformations.

Lei En's soul was not torn, felt no pain, but rather comfort, as if soaking in a perfectly warm bathtub, his whole body utterly pleasant. In fact, at this moment he was indeed surrounded by a marvelous energy born from the void, surging into his brain, reaching the deepest part of his soul, and thereby reshaping his soul and body.

Every second, Lei En's soul power rose, his body strengthened, as if the entire person had been sublimated.

The internal changes of the soul were even more spectacular.

Under the infusion of energy, the World Tree grew at a visible speed, its trunk thickened, its tips sharpened, and every leaf received nourishment.

In the phone interface's Element list, many Elements' progress bars were advancing.

Physical Elements and Arcane Elements can be fed soul power for enhancement and can be regularly trained, so Lei En was not especially concerned; his main focus was the abilities that could not be actively upgraded.

Especially "Lightning Affinity."

He had painstakingly fused four Lightning Affinities so that he could advance to a "Lightning Form" in this Soul Transformation; now the four Lightning Affinities on different branches had their leaves vibrating in sync, with flowing light linking them, establishing a connection.

This is a prelude to the fusion advancement.

Lei En was overjoyed; once he advanced to "Lightning Form," he could immediately return to Longshande and take the Thunder God's Hammer in hand.

Time passed slowly, the soul space was stretched outward by the World Tree, the soul's structure grew firmer, faintly emitting a pale gold light.

Lei En had witnessed many Legendary soul states and knew that this golden glow was a hallmark of a Legend.

This Soul Transformation lasted longer than the previous three.

The phone interface displayed a Soul Transformation progress bar inching forward, reminding Lei En of the system update from his past life—it was exactly the same.

Finally, after nearly an hour, the progress bar reached the end; this Soul Transformation was complete!

As expected, at the instant the Soul Transformation ended, the phone shut down.

Without the interface, Lei En could only vaguely sense his soul's state, not as intuitively as before. He did not panic, patiently awaiting a reboot.

In his field of view, a flash—the familiar Little Red Flower returned.

This time the boot was faster than expected, and much faster— the interface opened before his eyes in just a few seconds. He should note that the first three restarts each took about ten minutes.

"That fast?"

Lei En was startled for a moment, then noticed considerable differences in the phone interface from before, and exclaimed, "Is this a brand‑new version?"

The icon layout in the interface hadn't changed; it still resembled a large turntable, with the Little Red Flower at the center, radiating outward in concentric circles.

Since Lei En acquired the MutatedPhone, the Little Red Flower's form had never altered.

It consists of eight red petals surrounding an inner mysterious golden core; today, that core finally revealed its true appearance.

It is a square object, about the size of a phone icon, but far clearer than the abstract icon.

It has two faces that flip over every few seconds; one side is covered by a bright silver metal shell bearing a rune shaped like a brain; the other side is covered with densely arranged sparkling dots, also encircling a brain‑shaped rune.

At first glance, Lei En was instantly astonished.

"CPU chip? Central processor?"

He thought he was seeing things, but after examining it several more times, he confirmed that the object was indeed a CPU chip, surrounded by eight petals, each linked to a petal by a fine thread.

Lei En scratched his head, the number "eight" prompting a cascade of thoughts, and murmured softly, "Could this mean it's an eight‑core processor?"

The phone he used in his previous life indeed employed an eight‑core processor.

But after the mutation, he didn't know what use it served?

He tried tapping the chip icon; the entire icon and the surrounding petals lit up, entering an operational state.

"Sss…"

Lei En involuntarily inhaled a cold breath, realizing his mind was racing at high speed— unlike the calm and resolve brought by the Willpower of Truth, this further accelerated on that foundation. The sensation could be summed up in a single word— fast!

This speed is a mental quickness, truly as fast as lightning.

He could contemplate multiple disparate problems simultaneously without interference; each thought existed independently and operated in parallel. Every notion, every line of reasoning, every soul force in his brain was under his precise control, achieving multitasking.

Lei En tried mentally calculating multiplications and divisions of numbers beyond nine digits, and with almost no deliberation arrived at the correct answers instantly.

Opening the phone's library to search, the result retrieval speed was dozens of times faster than before.

He flipped through a few books at random, reading ten lines at a glance, and memorized every piece of content he saw.

The most terrifying aspect was the assistance to spellcasting.

Lei En discovered that spells below the fourth circle— that is, first to third circle spells— could be cast instantly, and the casting time for spells above the fourth circle was also greatly reduced.

Moreover, he could internally parse the principles of a spell automatically; given enough time, he would surely master the corresponding casting techniques for each spell.

Multiple casting, rapid casting, extreme‑efficiency casting, instant, silent, delayed, timed…

All casting techniques were now trivial.

The magical knowledge he had previously studied, many of its difficulties, became simple with the chip's assistance; in the blink of an eye he could comprehend them thoroughly, as if he saw a road leading to the Truth.

"What the—!"

Lei En couldn't help but shout.

This means he had become a full‑blown humanoid computer, with a chip installed in his brain; or rather, his brain had turned into a chip, so is he still a human?

(End of chapter)