Super Gene

Zhu Donglai regretted giving up on taking Han Sen as a disciple before. He had found someone else to practice the Purple Manor Sutra with, following Han Sen’s injury in the Third God’s Sanctuary. He hadn’t expected that a person whose body was believed to be destroyed, even by the likes of Luo Haitang, could recover and go on to achieve such greatness.

Now that Han Sen had become a demi-god so swiftly, Zhu Donglai was feeling profound remorse. He wished he had listened to his gut instinct and not given up on Han Sen so quickly.

Because Han Sen had already become a demi-god now, there was no real opportunity for him to take the young man as a student. And it wasn’t as if the student he currently had was a poor performer.

“A demi-god who has maxed out their super genes won’t be much stronger from the get-go. Success in the Fourth God’s Sanctuary is, more than anything, reliant on the geno cores you collect. This will be no different for him,” Jia Shidao spoke to no one in particular, addressing his peers as if he was a teacher.

Green smiled and responded, “Han Sen must be much stronger than we were. I am interested to see what powers his geno cores possess.”

“It will be difficult to tell, indeed. And I don’t think Han Sen practiced the technique of the Luo family, either,” Zhu Donglai said.

The woman did not say a word or interest herself in the conversation. With silent eagerness, she watched the video feed intently, awaiting what she could learn. And as she did, the others occasionally glanced her way, seeing if she had any input to provide. She acknowledged this, but it did not prompt anything.

Han Sen entered the testing chamber. There was a large pool before him, holding a liquid of an unknown substance.

Old Man Ji had already told him what to expect. It most certainly wasn’t water; it wasn’t even liquid. It was a swarm of nanomachines, and if he used his talents on them, they could calculate and more accurately gauge the power he possessed.

Tests like this were far more accurate than what he was used to, and in a real battle, you usually punched below the fitness level you might be given. By fighting these nanomachines, you could learn about your own strength in much greater detail.

When Han Sen entered the pool, he felt strange. It really did feel like water, but it wasn’t wet.

The nanomachines were all around him, lapping like gentle waves against him, brushing against every pore across his skin. It was a strange sensation. Suddenly, the nanomachines began to tighten around him. He felt as if he was under pressure.

Han Sen knew now was the time to begin the test, so, with his power, he began fighting back against the pressure that wanted to squeeze him.

Everyone watched Han Sen and the feedback of numbers that were relayed on-screen, reflecting the power he possessed. No one wished to speak now, and even Green kept his mouth closed and his eyes fixed to the video.

Han Sen was the very first demi-god to max out their genes before entering the Fourth God’s Sanctuary, so they were incredibly keen to learn if this had benefitted him a lot.

“Five thousand! That’s very powerful. He really must have maxed out, to reach this figure so soon.” Zhu Donglai was ecstatic.

Five thousand was the bare minimum required for a person to join the Demi-God Association. Very few demi-gods were capable of doing what Han Sen had just displayed.

Demi-gods that had only maxed out their sacred-blood geno points before ascending started at a fitness level that was far below five thousand. They’d have to spend much time hunting to reach this.

Doing so required maxing out their ordinary geno points, at least, and that was no small feat when a person started with such a low fitness. There was every chance the smallest ordinary creature could kill them.

Surviving entry to the Fourth God’s Sanctuary and returning to tell the tale, that was attributed more to luck than it was to skill. Old Man Ji had spawned in a geno fruit forest. There, he was able to immediately scoff them down and max out his geno points relatively quickly.

Han Sen’s first display had shown them a figure of five thousand, but they were keen to see if he could unleash even more power. But what they saw next was so spectacular, the muscles on each of their faces went slack, allowing their jaws to hang agape.

The five thousand did not change, and on the graph that was like an electrocardiogram that tracked the output of power, it flatlined.

“What? That is… scary. How can he perfectly control such power?” Green said.

Green was amazed at Han Sen’s ability to dictate the power output. It was like he had dialed himself to deliver a power of five thousand and leave it like that, without the slightest wavering.

Zhu Donglai said, “This is excellent. This is control beyond what anyone else has accomplished. Might this have something to do with his geno core?”

Jia Shidao frowned and said, “Young people love to show off as soon as they’ve received a slight modicum of power. This is nothing more than a fancy trick.”

He believed Han Sen was showing off, but the truth was, Han Sen was afraid of frightening them all with a true display of his power. It’d be too much of a shock for them if he was to instantly double his output and show them a power of ten thousand.

Furthermore, he didn’t want to expose what he was capable of, and he preferred having targets who underestimated him. He didn’t want any potential enemies to know what to expect if they ever fought him. He did this so the others would acknowledge he wasn’t weak, but also to hide his true ability. Unfortunately, he didn’t know this was upsetting Jia Shidao.

“I’ll do the combat test,” Jia Shidao said.

The others weren’t going to stop him, and so they just nodded.

They knew why he did not like Han Sen, and that was because the Iron-Fist Martial Hall had always been in competition with the Huangfu Martial Hall.

Han Sen had chosen to co-operate with the Huangfu family and not him, which felt like a slight. Ever since, he had nothing nice to say when others spoke of Han Sen. Everyone thought Han Sen made a good choice, though, much to Jia Shidao’s irritation.

The missed opportunity of training someone who went on to become a great hero had plagued his mind ever since.