Ultragene Warlord

Yang Ze frowned. "But aren't we just lab rats, then?"

The Yeluo chieftain scoffed, "What do you mean, lab rats? You're making a noble sacrifice in the name of biological research!"

"So we are lab rats," Yang Ze surmised.

Everyone turned to Zhang Lie, who replied, "We've relied on the Yeluo clan to make our potions for years now, and we know that they're reliable and ingenious potionmakers. Zhou Ying had an accident when she ingested the first test run of the potion, but she's standing right there now, hale and hearty."

The Yeluo chieftain continued, "I've prepared safety contingencies. All of you can count on me."

The members of Team Zenith considered the Yeluo chieftain's words somewhat skeptically.

"Even if you don't trust my skills, surely you'll at least trust his majesty. If anything goes wrong during the absorption process—for example, if your brain turns to mush, your cells explode, your body becomes paralyzed—as long as those things don't happen instantaneously, his majesty will surely be able to revert those effects. Of course, if he can't do so, then I simply have to wish you luck..."

The members of Team Zenith grew even more wary upon hearing the Yeluo chieftain's words.

"Ah, I don't care anymore! I trust the captain—the road to strength is always fraught with danger, and if we're unwilling to take even a bit of risk, we'll never grow stronger! We're fortunate enough to have our captain paving the way for us!" Sun Mengmeng downed the potion in one gulp.

She felt as though she was experiencing the blood ants' genetic technique, [Bloodbath]. As the potent effects of the potion surged through her body, she felt as though she were exuding heat from every pore on her skin.

Sweat poured down her back. Sun Mengmeng was drenched within moments. Her crystalline body began to glow before turning black; black flames had erupted all over her body.

Sun Mengmeng's face took on the color of a boiled prawn.

Considering her framework was fire-attuned, Sun Mengmeng was able to bear the extreme heat—but then, energy frothed and roiled from within her body.

Energy rushed out of her body and formed a hurricane around her. The black glass beneath her cracked, and the entire draconian world began to shudder.

The members of Team Zenith, alarmed, all stepped back. Sun Xiaowu asked in concern, "Captain, my sister will be alright, won't she?"

Zhou Ying replied, "Sun Mengmeng's current condition is much like mine was when I consumed the potion, but her effects seem milder than mine."

Crystalline powder spread through the air. Huge amounts of energy gathered by Sun Mengmeng's heart, and she couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of blood. The blood that left her body evaporated instantly, revealing just how hot her body had become.

The fire-attuned genetic in her body rampaged, wrapping her body up in purplish-black flame. As the potion's energy combined with that in her body, the flames grew ever stronger.

"Consume the restorative!" the Yeluo chieftain shouted.

Sun Mengmeng could feel her body's condition deteriorating by the minute. She immediately consumed the restorative, as the Yeluo chieftain had urged.

The moment she did so, a huge wave of vitality flooded her body from the inside, regenerating her cells swiftly. Fortunately, the Yeluo chieftain had significantly reduced the potency of the limit-breaking potion, or Sun Mengmeng's body would have been unable to overcome the strain.

The consumption of the restorative bypassed the immediate danger that Sun Mengmeng had been facing. Subsequently, golden and black threads accumulated around her, forming a cocoon that trapped the purplish-black flame within.

The flames glowed so brightly that Sun Mengmeng's figure could be seen within the cocoon. It was like a heart, one which beat to the rhythm of her breaths. As the flames within the cocoon grew brighter and brighter, they finally burned the cocoon away.

The purplish-black flames turned completely dark as the cocoon was burnt to a crisp. They turned on themselves, eventually forming a thick layer of what seemed like an eggshell.

As the eggshell cracked, a phoenix wreathed in gold and black flame emerged and soared through the air, lighting up the sky and casting reflections over each shard of glass.

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The phoenix slowly descended from the heavens and landed by Zhang Lie's side, morphing back into the form of the young woman Sun Mengmeng. Sun Mengmeng's purplish-black hair fluttered in the wind like flames. Her eyes burned with inner light.

Sun Xiaowu asked, "Sister, are you alright?"

Sun Mengmeng reined in her aura. "I feel far better than I expected. The benefit of these peak limit fragments is immense."

Yang Ze asked, "Did you sense this supposed karmic power?"

Sun Mengmeng nodded. "I was able to witness a few golden and black threads. If I'm not mistaken, these are lines of fate and karma, the likes of which our captain and Zhou Ying have discussed. As to how to control them, well, that's something I still have to study."

With Sun Mengmeng as the first lab rat, the other members of Team Zenith were emboldened to down their own potions.

They each formed cocoons around their body. Yang Ze's glowed with resplendent, ethereal blue light, as though he were not of the physical world. Within the cocoon, one could see an entire ocean, the tides rising and falling as they caused the world to quake. 

Pale blue genetic energy wrapped around the cocoon, which formed a crystalline bud. The space surrounding the cocoon calmed down, but the interior of the cocoon grew even more charged. The ocean within the cocoon began to froth—clearly, after absorbing the potion's energy, Yang Ze's evolution was starting in earnest.

Sun Xiaowu's cocoon glowed with golden light reminiscent of a sun. Runes emerged over its surface, and golden scales seemed to be coalescing into existence within the cocoon. However, the specifics of what was going on couldn't be identified due to the brightness of the light.

Li Feng's cocoon was much like Sun Xiaowu's, covered with a thick silvery-white layer of light, as though silver were woven through the black and gold threads. Dragon howls could be heard from within the cocoon, as though a whole world of dragons had formed within it. However, the light prevented one from looking inward.

Fang Yi's cocoon was interwoven with silver and gray threads, and its interior was warped by wind and storm. The cocoon shook perceptibly. Within it, a dragon and a tiger were battling with each other, or perhaps merging together. The two discordant forces circled each other time and again as Fang Yi's mastery over time bloomed. The hands of a clock grew out of the karmic threads. With each revolution of those hands, a loop of time wrapped around Fang Yi.

Fang Yi's cocoon was clearly the most advanced among the members of Team Zenith. The power of time and karma were interacting with each other and evolving into something novel, which even Zhang Lie hadn't seen before. He was very curious as to just how much Fang Yi would grow...