097 Mutation Pathway (4000)

[Name: Otherworldly Incubator]
[Type: Special Item]
[Level: None]
[Description: Beyond the mysterious ring world, in an unknown alternate dimension, legend speaks of a ruler deep beneath the earth called the Thorn Mother, who forms the cornerstone of this world. Accompanying the Thorn Mother is the Black Smoke King, a being of immense and eerie power. It devours its prey whole—even an entire small mountain can vanish instantly, swallowed into its unique black smoke realm.]
[Feature: Perpetually shrouded in black smoke]
[Effect 1: Lingering Black Smoke: The Otherworldly Incubator has a defined boundary, beyond which black smoke swirls. As long as you stay within the safe zone, the incubator remains absolutely secure.]
[Effect 2: Independent Space: The system allocates a twenty-square-meter rectangular space for you. You can upload crafted tools into the incubator and gradually build your own laboratory.]
[Effect 3: Mutation: The Black Smoke King has existed here for countless ages, leaving imprints on the extraordinary creatures it consumes. Creating runes here has a chance to yield traits linked to these imprints.]
[Note: You may dare to step beyond the incubator’s boundaries—unexpected rewards might await you.]

“Tang, get up!”
“Tang, get up!”
“Tang…”
That voice, familiar to the point of being unforgettable.

Xiu Nan awoke and turned his gaze.
Sunlight streamed straight through the window, casting a soft golden glow over the entire bedroom. A shaft of light hung in the air, within which suspended dust particles danced like tiny insects, spinning and swirling in delightful circles.

He quickly sat up, shoving breakfast into the mouth of his owl companion, silencing the nagging alarm.

Wearing lightweight clothes, Xiu Nan stood bathed in sunlight.
His right hand moved swiftly, and his eyes gradually shifted to a bronze hue. A delicate, exquisite thorn flower blossomed petal by petal, unfolding from a tight bud into full bloom.

The amplification effect rose from 0.5 to 0.8 times, meaning Xiu Nan could now learn far more.

The initial badge carried significant risks—he seemed to have entered an abnormal dimension at that very moment and was targeted by a strange entity known as the Black Smoke King. Fortunately, the system intervened at the critical moment.

It eradicated the entity at its root.

Thinking of following Xiu Nan’s consciousness back to the first day of his forty-day disciplined life? Dream on! Players can exploit loopholes; NPCs trying to abuse bugs? Forget it.

Time to rest…

Clang, clang—the Day One prompt reappeared.

Xiu Nan naturally chose the Saint Omega path again.

After a quick wash and a breakfast, with a little free time left, he decided to enter the Otherworldly Incubator.

Standing still, after a short while, his form began to blur and quietly vanish into thin air.

When he opened his eyes once more, Xiu Nan found himself in an alternate space. His gaze immediately fell upon a massive golden pentagram etched on the ground.

Looking around, he saw a flat expanse of grayish-white soil arranged in a four-by-five rectangular grid. The air within was crystal clear, but beyond the boundary, a thick black mist enveloped everything, obscuring vision.

Breathing deeply, the black fog twisted and churned like waves, crashing relentlessly against the incubator’s surface. Boom... boom... boom... distant tremors shook the earth, and a colossal pillar-like leg slammed down heavily—the coarse hair upon it thicker than Xiu Nan’s arm!

Rumble… the fog compressed and filled the space again. The giant figure retreated, leaving behind a massive footprint.

“...”

Though Xiu Nan trusted the system, a flicker of fear crept in. What if that enormous creature stepped on the incubator? Would it crush him into a pulp?

Oh, right—he might die, but revival was always possible. It would just waste one precious life.

After a brief inspection of the incubator’s environment, Xiu Nan returned to reality. Twenty square meters was still too small; a proper research lab would need at least one hundred square meters.

But he could keep grinding. Using himself as bait to lure the Black Smoke King repeatedly—at least three more times—to patch together eighty square meters. That would be somewhat workable.

Minutes later, draped in his apprentice cloak, Xiu Nan boarded a burrowing bug vehicle and headed to the core of the academy for the third time.

The same dialogues, the same procedures.

---

He quickly gained the trust of senior brother Iceberg.

At dusk, during his third display of bravado, he demonstrated the thorn flower rune he had just mastered, deliberately keeping his proficiency at the lowest level.

“Good! Excellent! Just as expected of my disciple!”

Omega beamed with joy, pacing the study room, clenching his fists in excitement. Xiu Nan matched the mood perfectly, wearing a mix of confusion and delight—he was quite the actor.

The study’s overhead lights seemed to brighten further.

“Come now, make your choice: the legacy crystal or the initial badge? You can only pick one…”

“I choose the legacy crystal.”

“So decisive? No more consideration?”

“No, master. Compared to enhancing the thorn flower rune, I value the knowledge of the Milodaren school more…”

Thirty-five minutes later, in the gray-white corridor,

Xiu Nan rubbed his slightly swollen head as he walked towards his dormitory. The legacy crystal showed no anomalies.

It was just an ordinary heirloom item—unlike the initial badge, which held a great pitfall.

Two days later, in Core Area B-2 Laboratory.

Dingling, dingling, dingling…

A series of crisp wind chimes rang as brass bells swayed gently under the eaves in the breeze.

On the second floor, a medium-sized lab.

“The Thunder Frog, Rank One: composed of the Rank One Water-Spraying Frog and the Rank One Lightning Cicada. The Water-Spraying Frog’s combat ability is weak; its sole skill is shooting high-pressure water jets. This is effective against normal humans but practically useless against beings empowered by the ring’s force. The Lightning Cicada faces the same issue—its lightning is weak, primarily used to paralyze enemies during escape. Originally, these were the lowest-tier extraordinary creatures of Rank One, but their combination yields a different effect…”

“Firstly, I modified the Water-Spraying Frog’s runes to some extent. Regarding the high-pressure water jet circuitry, I duplicated and connected three circuits. It was a massive project that took me half a month. However, its power increased—the redundant and repeated circuits removed, the water jet’s strength doubled…”

Iceberg, dressed in a white lab coat, his smooth long hair braided and resting lightly on his left shoulder, held a chalk-like white tool in his right hand, sketching models on the smooth wall. The wall was covered with hand-drawn diagrams and numerous formulas.

Xiu Nan, like a diligent student, dragged a stool and sat in front, listening attentively.

Usually, Iceberg would explain five Rank One mutated runes, detailing ideas, operations, and principles. Then, Xiu Nan would personally verify each mutation path.

“Secondly…” Iceberg resumed his explanation.

“I carefully studied the Lightning Cicada’s power generation circuit; it does not conflict significantly with the Water-Spraying Frog’s circuit. Tang, look here—this particular part…”

Iceberg raised his hand, pointing to a circular area.

Xiu Nan immediately looked at the rune workshop beside him, switching and zooming in until he found the exact circuit.

“Notice its characteristics?”

Iceberg’s gaze met his.

After a moment, Xiu Nan answered, “It exhibits clear hydrophilicity, with a simple circuit structure, and can be connected…”

Here, “clear hydrophilicity” is a concept in mutated rune research, meaning the Lightning Cicada’s power circuit resonates with water-based circuits, unleashing stronger power.

According to Iceberg’s studies, he had identified various circuit combinations and features, all generously shared with Xiu Nan, who was practically half an apprentice to Iceberg.

“Exactly. This combination was valuable from the start—even failures are instructive. Our research isn’t aimless; we follow a standard. We don’t waste time on meaningless attempts…”

“Understood.” Xiu Nan nodded promptly.

Iceberg continued his lecture.

Half an hour later, he tapped the wall lightly.

In a flash, all writing disappeared.

Iceberg arranged tools while Xiu Nan began experiments. The most crucial equipment for testing mutation paths was the counter platform—or more precisely, the metal weaver. It was complex to operate, but Xiu Nan had mastered it in his previous life.

He skillfully sat before the counter platform, with the Water-Spraying Frog rune workshop floating to his left and the Lightning Cicada’s to his right. Leaning forward, Xiu Nan watched the glass surface of the platform.

---

This device resembled a microscope, capable of adjusting magnification for precise weaving.

Its maximum magnification was a thousand times, but Xiu Nan only needed about a dozen times.

He manipulated the metal weaver; its spider-like legs extended into metal tubes, stripping circuits like a giant spider weaving its web.

First, he located the designated circuit, then identified the cutting point. Operating the metal weaver, he cut the circuit, adding stabilizing gases if necessary. After cutting, he translated the piece, processing the circuit. The first major step—circuit stripping—was complete. Next came the second major step: circuit splicing, which was more challenging.

This process greatly tested a runesmith’s fundamental skills.

Fortunately, Xiu Nan grew more adept, usually succeeding after three to five tries. Once splicing succeeded, the mutation path was verified.

Mastering mutated runes required a step beyond:

First, the runesmith must understand the basic runes composing the mutation and successfully verify the mutation path.

Next, optimize the circuits to increase rune stability.

Stability must reach at least fifty percent to ensure the rune won’t fail in battle.

Then, using a blank rune workshop, the modified mutation rune model is carefully inscribed step by step.

Modeling, compressing, igniting. Success.

The hardest part was increasing rune stability—something Iceberg couldn’t teach Xiu Nan. It had to be honed through repeated modifications and deletions.

Where did Xiu Nan spend his evolution points?

On the final success rate.

For instance:

“Death-Eye Vulture: Rank One Extreme”
“Cannot evolve further, success rate: 0”
“Cannot fuse further, success rate: 0”
“Extraordinary ability: Explosion, Death Eye”

This clearly indicated the success rate, allowing Xiu Nan to adjust runes accordingly. Evolution points also enabled forced fusion mutation. If rune stability was below fifty percent, normally the rune couldn’t materialize.

But evolution points offered a chance of success. If the success rate was thirty percent, trying three times would almost guarantee one success!

Even with low stability, mutated runes could still manifest reliably.

Xiu Nan could then reverse-engineer, using successful stable products to understand the earlier process.

Over the years, Iceberg had accumulated hundreds of Rank One mutation paths. Xiu Nan planned to verify them all, aiming to master at least double-digit mutated runes. He even hoped to attempt Rank Two mutation paths…

So far, Xiu Nan had only met one of the Milodaren school’s certified standard runesmith criteria:

Third, a broad knowledge base forming a complete system without obvious logical flaws.

This was achieved through the legacy crystal.

As for the second criterion—basic runesmith abilities meeting the standard line—Xiu Nan was about two-thirds done, expecting to die a few more times before completion.

First, possessing his own laboratory. Xiu Nan was already planning this, intending to set up a simple but practical lab inside the Otherworldly Incubator.

The only untouched criterion was the fourth: creating a rune independently. These three lives spent researching mutated runes were laying the groundwork, focusing mainly on mutations.

Now, Xiu Nan had a faint clue.

Keywords: Pale-Eyed Vulture Rune, White Bone Statue Rune, Bloodsucking Rune, and Rank Two Dark Guardian!

He had detected during experiments that the Black Wood suffered severe damage in the last explosion. It was basically irreparable, with its stable structure on the verge of collapse.

Xiu Nan planned to modify Black Wood as the core of a mutated rune, incorporating fragments of the Dark Guardian rune, adorned with the White Bone Statue and Bloodsucking runes.

He chose these three deliberately; their circuits shared a common trait—dark corruption…

Trait resonance could increase rune stability.

He hoped to realize this design within the remaining five lives, at which point his overall combat strength would skyrocket…