Chapter 289 - 253: Absorbing the Tier 5 Extract

"72%!"

Liou Wenxin calculated this success rate after analyzing all the data.

Su Ze had met the minimum threshold Liou Wenxin had set, but just barely.

But Liou Wenxin also understood that for a Butterfly Stage evolver like Su Ze, achieving such a high success rate when absorbing a fifth-rank, B-grade extract was already the absolute limit.

Many Saint-level Overlords had a similar success rate when absorbing fifth-rank extracts. This meant Su Ze’s constitution was effectively on par with a Saint-level Overlord.

However, Liou Wenxin was still a little worried.

"I’ll definitely succeed," Su Ze said reassuringly, confident in his own ability.

’Data isn’t everything,’ Su Ze thought. ’My Transmigrator halo has to give me at least a 20% bonus...’

Liou Wenxin nodded and reminded him, "You’d better find a suitable place to absorb it. When absorbing an extract above your rank, the high-level evolutionary power will affect you."

Su Ze thought about his past experiences absorbing high-rank extracts. He had no desire to tear down Liou Wenxin’s lab or the villa they lived in, so he nodded. "Let’s go to that abandoned factory outside of campus."

Su Ze had originally planned to rest for two days before absorbing the River Dolphin Beast extract. But since the data analysis gave him a 72% chance of success, he decided to go for it right away.

...

「The next day.」

An abandoned factory not far from Dongli University.

Mrs. Yun, Mr. Ya, and Liou Wenxin had all come to watch Su Ze absorb the fifth-rank, B-grade River Dolphin Beast extract.

They were mainly there in case anything went wrong during the process.

Su Ze took out the shimmering, cyan extract, twisted off the cap, and poured the entire contents into his mouth.

This time, Su Ze couldn’t taste anything... because his tongue was already numb.

It wasn’t just his tongue. The moment the extract entered his mouth, his entire oral cavity went numb, losing all sensation.

And wherever the extract passed—his throat, his esophagus, his stomach—everything became paralyzed.

’Is this the effect of the evolutionary power? Is it making me react as if I’ve been poisoned by a pufferfish?’

Su Ze couldn’t think any further. He felt his brain going numb, and his consciousness began to fade.

As his body began to absorb the River Dolphin Beast extract, his entire body gradually became paralyzed, including his organs and his brain.

THUD!

Su Ze fell stiffly to the ground, his legs no longer able to support him.

He wasn’t unconscious, but he couldn’t think. His eyes stared blankly, devoid of life. He was motionless, like a corpse.

Even his heart had stopped beating. His blood ceased to flow, and his entire body entered a state of stasis.

"What do we do? Will the Boss be okay?" Mr. Ya asked Liou Wenxin anxiously.

"It seems the main effect of this extract is a paralytic toxin," Liou Wenxin said, her voice filled with worry. "With his constitution and life level, he can survive without his body functioning—without breathing or blood circulation. But if he can’t wake up on his own, he might remain in this slumber indefinitely."

"So we just stand here and watch?"

"If we use external force to wake him, it will likely cause the absorption to fail. We can’t help him. He has to rely on himself."

Forcibly waking him was a last resort. They would only do it if it became clear that Su Ze was trapped in a permanent sleep. But if that happened, a fifth-rank extract might go to waste.

Su Ze wasn’t dreaming or trying to open his eyes. He was completely unconscious, his mind a total blank.

Right now, his body was fighting a pure battle against the evolutionary power within the River Dolphin Beast extract.

Things like willpower, faith, or perseverance were useless at this stage. It was a pure test of his constitution.

If his constitution wasn’t up to par, it would lead to multiple organ failure, brain death, and atrophy, resulting in his immediate demise.

But Su Ze’s constitution was definitely sufficient. That’s why he was only paralyzed, his body still fighting against the extract’s power.

One minute, two minutes...

One hour, two hours...

Su Ze remained motionless, and the three of them kept a constant vigil by his side.

"Should we carry him back?" Mrs. Yun asked.

"It’s best not to touch him," Liou Wenxin said, shaking her head.

Finally, more than five hours after Su Ze had taken the River Dolphin Beast extract, one of his fingers twitched almost imperceptibly.

Liou Wenxin let out a long sigh of relief. She knew this was a good sign, proof that Su Ze’s body was starting to break free from the extract’s influence and showing signs of waking up.

After that, Su Ze would twitch a hand or a foot every ten minutes or so, with the movements gradually becoming more pronounced.

Another hour passed, and Su Ze suddenly pitched a large tent...

Mrs. Yun clucked her tongue. "This kid. Can’t even behave himself while he’s paralyzed. I wonder what he’s thinking about."

Liou Wenxin chuckled. "It’s just a normal sign of the body recovering from paralysis. All the paralyzed parts are regaining their vitality. Once all his body parts have ’reactivated,’ he’ll wake up soon."

Mr. Ya’s eyes widened. ’As expected of the Boss,’ he thought. ’He’s really built different!’

...

When Su Ze’s brain finally recovered from the paralysis, he shot up, feeling the tingling, itching sensation recede from his body like a tide.

"How long was I out?" he asked, looking at the sky in confusion.

"To be precise, you were in a coma with your eyes open for a whole day and night."

’Has it been that long...?’ Su Ze’s gaze suddenly lost focus as his consciousness entered another world.

Only now that he was awake had he finally, completely absorbed the fifth-rank River Dolphin Beast extract.

And now, it was finally time to choose his skills.

In a world of white nothingness, clumps of mist appeared. They were divided into two colors: three cyan clumps of mist, and a group of green ones.

Su Ze understood this was because he had previously taken a Skill Suppression Potion, which had freed up an extra skill slot.

And now, he could choose two skills at once: one fifth-rank skill and one fourth-rank skill.

After a moment of thought, Su Ze plunged headfirst into the massive cyan mist representing the "Expansion" skill. The cyan mist immediately vanished, seeming to merge with his consciousness.

Then, instead of immediately choosing the green mist for "Impact Cannon," Su Ze approached the cyan mist representing the "Sharp Needle Poison Thorn" skill.

He wanted to see if he could exploit a bug and absorb two fifth-rank skills at once.

As a fifth-rank attack skill, "Sharp Needle Poison Thorn" was perfectly acceptable to Su Ze.

But no matter how many times his consciousness passed through the cyan mist, he couldn’t absorb it.

’Looks like there are no loopholes to exploit.’

’If the last extract I absorbed had also been fifth-rank, I might have been able to get two fifth-rank skills.’

Since the bug exploit had failed, Su Ze wasted no more time. His consciousness entered the green mist for the "Impact Cannon" skill, and in the next instant, it returned to his body.

"What’s wrong?" The three of them had seen Su Ze suddenly go rigid and thought something had happened.

"It’s nothing," Su Ze said with a smile. "I got both skills."

"That’s good." The three of them sighed in relief.

Su Ze, meanwhile, was carefully examining his two new skills.

The fourth-rank skill "Impact Cannon" and the fifth-rank skill "Expansion"!

The skill names were inherited from the skills of the Low-level River Dolphin Beast. Su Ze could totally give them cooler names himself.

’What about "Hundred-Change Cannon" and "Gigantification"?’ he wondered. ’Nah, I’ll just stick with the original names for now...’ Being terrible at naming things, Su Ze couldn’t think of anything better on the spot. He decided to use the old names and change them to something more fitting and badass when the skills leveled up in the future.

Impact Cannon: Absorb surrounding Elemental Energy, liquids, or gases, compress them within the body, and release. The larger the user’s body, the stronger the skill’s power.

The skill was easy to understand. The larger his body, the more energy and matter he could contain, so the "Impact Cannon" he released would naturally be more powerful.

Additionally, the power of the "Impact Cannon" was tied to the energy and matter absorbed. The skill absorbed whatever was around—fire if there was fire, water if there was water. If there was nothing else, it could even absorb air.

And a "Flame Cannon" created by absorbing fire would definitely be stronger than an "Air Cannon."

However, Su Ze had the "Thunder God Body" skill, which gave him "Lightning Cannon" as a baseline option.

This skill also had obvious synergy with "Expansion." Using "Impact Cannon" while in his expanded state would greatly increase its power.

Expansion: Freely control the body’s proportional expansion. The limit depends on the user’s physical constitution and evolution level. In an expanded state, all the user’s physical attributes and abilities will receive a bonus appropriate to their current size.

When Su Ze understood the skill’s effects, his eyes widened in disbelief.

’This is a fifth-rank skill?’

’It’s so strong!’

’It’s absurdly strong!’

This skill was far more than just making his body bigger. Its true power lay in the fact that "all the user’s physical attributes and abilities will receive a bonus appropriate to their current size."

In other words, the larger Su Ze became, the greater the bonus he would receive.

If he expanded into a ten-meter giant, his strength would be boosted by about five times. If he expanded into a twenty-meter giant, he would get a tenfold strength bonus.

The crucial part was that it didn’t just boost basic attributes like strength, speed, and stamina. The total amount of evolutionary power in his body, and even the electricity stored by his "Thunder God Body," would also be increased!

Previously, when Su Ze created ten Liquid Clones, they were powerful, but the drain was also tenfold. He simply couldn’t afford it. His stamina and evolutionary power could only sustain one or two attacks.

Because of this, Su Ze had been worried that the "Expansion" skill would have the same drawback: if his body grew tens of times larger, the drain would also increase by tens of times...

That would make the skill almost meaningless.

Not unless he could later absorb a skill that reduced consumption, or wait for his "Regeneration Body" skill to level up again and significantly boost his energy recovery.

But now he didn’t have to worry about that. Growing larger actually increased his "mana pool" and stamina. This skill was a godsend.

It not only solved the consumption problem of his increased size but also compensated for the massive drain of fighting with multiple Liquid Clones.

From now on, when Su Ze created Liquid Clones in his expanded state, he would no longer have to worry about running out of electricity, evolutionary power, or stamina.