Chapter 12: Hundredfold Power
Along with the evolution of the avatar, Chen Chu's body had also changed. All four attributes gained a 3-point improvement; the three lower ones now reached the average level, and the Spirit attribute surpassed that of an ordinary person by a significant margin. This was a pleasant surprise.
The change in the salamander avatar was even more dramatic. It had evolved directly from a weak creature into a low-level transcendent creature, gaining an ability called "Strength." Although the notes indicated that the avatar could currently unleash force only up to ten times its body weight, its potential had reached a hundredfold, as long as its strength kept up.
This ability didn't seem very powerful at the moment. A hundredfold increase with this body size wasn’t impressive. However, what about when the avatar grows to dozens or even hundreds of meters in the future?
At that point, an eruption of force a hundred times greater than its weight would be enough to shake the heavens and move the earth.
Suppressing his excitement, Chen Chu checked the weight of the avatar again. Before evolution, the thirty-centimeter salamander weighed only seven taels. After evolution, with the same volume, it reached over three catties in weight, a density increase of about five times.
After weighing, there were other tests, such as crawling. The robust limbs allowed the avatar to move rapidly on the ground, much more agile than before, resembling a small lizard.
With the reinforcement of the skeleton, the claws and teeth had become much sharper. The claws tore paper to shreds like sharp little knives, and the avatar’s increased bite force allowed it to easily crush fish skulls.
Chen Chu was very satisfied with the results of this evolution. His avatar had finally transformed from a weakling into a carnivorous beast, even if it was currently only the size of a small puppy. He used his consciousness to control the avatar as it crawled around inside the house, adapting to the changes and only stopping when he felt reasonably accustomed to the new body.
"Next is today's cultivation." Chen Chu opened his eyes. After the overall improvement in physique, he wondered how the cultivation process would change.
With anticipation, he sat cross-legged on the bed, closed his eyes, and focused his mind, entering a meditative state.
In the darkness of his consciousness, a lotus flower composed of dashed lines slowly rotated. Three distinct petals represented Chen Chu's progress.
His spiritual force, now stronger than before, enveloped the lotus flower. As he meditated, a transparent petal slowly became clear and solid from the bottom to the tip; even the patterns on it became distinctly visible.
"Phew! One petal." Chen Chu exhaled a breath, a smile appearing on his face.
This time, the cultivation progress had increased by 9, the Spirit attribute by 0.2, and the cultivation speed was doubled compared to before. His mental fatigue was also not as intense.
Now, he could manifest one petal of the lotus flower in a single meditation session. With two cultivation sessions per day, under normal circumstances, it would take six days to master the Lotus Platform Meditation Art. His spiritual talent now belonged to the superior category.
However, a thoughtful look crossed his eyes as he started to think about the person who was ranked first in the freshmen rankings. That girl named An Fuqing had completed her Foundation Building in just two days. Even if she had used resources to nurture her spiritual force, her base Spirit attribute must be at least 20 points or above.
Her base Physique attribute must also be 20 points or above; even with vitality supplements, it would otherwise be impossible to complete Foundation Building in just two days.
And then there were talents like Lin Xue among the top hundred rankings, who were expected to complete Foundation Building within four or five days.
Chen Chu slowly exhaled a breath, suppressing the faint sense of superiority brought about by the attributes page as he reminded himself not to underestimate others.
After a short rest, Chen Chu moved on to the Body Refining Art, quickly discovering that his cultivation speed had indeed improved. Even the flow of vitality in his body had become much denser, lasting longer and resulting in greater body refinement.
In just forty minutes, Chen Chu circulated his vitality three consecutive times, spending thirteen minutes for each repetition. Satisfaction appeared on his fatigued face. "Not bad, both the speed of circulation and endurance have improved by half."
This time, the cultivation progress increased by 3, and Physique by 0.1. The basic cultivation art's effectiveness in enhancing Physique had decreased, much like the Spirit attribute. Chen Chu anticipated that once he reached the tenth repetition, he would be able to strengthen his physique by at most 2 to 3 points.
Nevertheless, the gains today were substantial. Especially the evolved avatar; Chen Chu now realized its potential and importance to him.
Soon, however, he developed a headache.
The evolved six-horned salamander now had an enormous appetite. Despite being only thirty centimeters long, its food consumption was several times greater than before, requiring several catties of fish meat in a single meal.
"Feels like it won't be long before my family goes bankrupt..." Chen Chu looked at the avatar on the table, now one centimeter longer.
Every time the avatar consumed food equivalent to its body weight, it would experience a slight growth. It required two consecutive instances of this growth to obtain 1 evolution point. In short, the six-horned avatar would need to devour three catties of fish meat in a single meal, totaling twelve catties in four meals a day.
And that was just for now. When it grows to sixty or seventy centimeters, or even evolves to one or two meters in length, it might need to consume one or two hundred catties of meat per day.
Thinking about this, Chen Chu sighed. "I'll probably release it after one more evolution."
The six-horned salamander was an amphibian. If it evolved once more, Chen Chu planned to throw it into a nearby river so it could find its own food.
Fortunately, there was a small river not far from his home, which extended along the edge of the city and headed east for dozens of miles until it joined a larger river. In its waters, there was an abundance of fish, providing enough food for the avatar's future growth.
The reason he didn't release it now was because the outside world was dangerous. With the advent of the new era, not only could humans cultivate and become stronger, but many wild animals had also undergone mutations, giving rise to numerous mutant beasts.
However, unlike humans, who could become stronger through cultivation, the evolutionary speed of those mutant beasts was very slow. Most of them were not very powerful, and there were none that could ignore the existence of human firearms.
Even so, the wilderness was not as safe for ordinary people anymore. It was still manageable around the city outskirts, since the authorities conducted regular patrols. Whenever there were reports of mutant beasts appearing near villages or towns, official personnel would be dispatched to handle the situation.
However, in the remote deep mountains and ancient forests, where people rarely set foot, it was a different story. Many powerful and continuously evolving exotic beasts lurked there, and it would be suicidal for ordinary people to venture into those areas.
The most dangerous of these wild places was the ocean. It covered an area several times larger than the continents, and its deepest parts exceeded ten thousand meters. With the incredibly vast number of species living within, it was natural for a higher occurrence of mutant creatures to appear.
Especially the already large-sized whales and some enormous, bizarre creatures from the deep sea. After the beginning of the new era, they were among the first batch to undergo evolution, and their strength became extremely formidable.
Fortunately, these creatures still preferred to inhabit the depths of the ocean. While the deep areas, where mutated beasts roamed, had been designated as restricted zones, the shallow seas remained under human control, allowing ships to sail and engage in fishing activities.
Similarly, most of the inland rivers were safe, since their shallow waters couldn’t nurture something like a giant tortoise.
Although some fish species had become more aggressive, and giant fish weighing over a few hundred catties could be seen sometimes, at least in the country Chen Chu lived in, there had been no incidents of humans getting attacked yet. He couldn’t say about other members of the Federation, though.
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