The Era of Gods

The monster wasn’t very strong, estimated to be no higher than Level 20, making it the most appropriate strength for a first-time fusion. The strange powers contained in the monster flesh and blood of creatures exceeding this level were too strong, not suitable for novices to fuse with for the first time.

This so-called level was a division of strength hierarchies in this world. Every ten levels marked a significant threshold, and surpassing each ten-level mark meant a qualitative improvement in strength, whether it be the monsters of this world or the Children of Nightmare who had descended upon this world, even including the power divisions for Lin Xiao and his kind.

Although this muscular tentacle had been severed, it still retained a hint of vitality. It had shrunk from the thickness of a thigh to that of an arm. The ship’s head chef used a thick metal box filled with ice to pack and seal it. It was originally intended to be transported back to shore and sold.

This thing was ready-made monster flesh and blood, which could be sold to Island Lords and various major trading companies for a good price.

After securing the door and making sure there was no one outside, Lin Xiao used a hook to take out the solid tentacle, then unfolded the Magic Cube and created a Chaos Vortex beneath the tentacle to swallow it.

The tentacle, which was half-dead, swelled up trying to break free the moment it was swallowed, showing considerable strength. However, one end was sucked into the vortex, and the other was hooked and firmly held, unable to break free.

After all, it had been cut from its body and, despite its remaining vitality, its strength was exhausted after struggling for a dozen seconds or so, and it shrank back to its original form and was swallowed by the Magic Cube.

As soon as the Magic Cube swallowed it, the thing lay still in the Magic Cube Space like a dead fish. With a thought from him, the illusory Magic Cube in the Sea of Gods lightly turned, and an invisible force descended, turning the muscular tentacle into a mass of blood and flesh. Instantly, he saw a shrinking grey tentacle shadow fly out from the flesh and blood, ramming around within the Magic Cube Space.

This was the residual power contained within the monster flesh and blood, which normally needed to be suppressed by Magic Potion and could not yet be fully contained.

But at this moment inside the Magic Cube, the residual power frantically fled as if facing some kind of cataclysmic disaster.

After watching for a moment, Lin Xiao smiled slightly and rotated the Magic Cube. The residual grey tentacle shadow was directly ground into specks of grey dust, scattering like ashes. Then, with the second rotation of the Magic Cube, these specks of grey were ground even smaller, yet still existing.

The third rotation.

The fourth rotation.

The fifth rotation. By now, the grey light had been reduced to the size of bacteria, imperceptible if not within the Magic Cube Space.

“How tenacious!”

This was happening within the Magic Cube Space, with the power of the Magic Cube Space, and no matter what it encountered, it was effortlessly ground down. Yet, after five continuous rotations, it had not been completely erased. No wonder the people of this world could only suppress it with Magic Potion and not grind it down; this thing was too tenacious.

However, tenacity was just that, and not immortality. It simply meant a few more attempts were needed.

By the eleventh rotation of the Magic Cube, the grey light, now smaller than bacteria, was finally ground into nothingness, transforming into colorless specks invisible to the naked eye scattered throughout the Magic Cube Space.

By now, these colorless specks were pure, unknown forces. Without paying them further mind, he used the Creation Rubik’s Cube to purify the remaining flesh and blood, and then reintegrated these colorless specks back into the Magic Cube Space, and then…

He expended four units of Creation Energy to infuse it, which was the maximum amount of Creation Energy this piece of monster flesh and blood could fuse with. Any more Creation Energy wouldn’t enhance its power in the slightest.

As the Creation Energy flowed in without stop, the red flesh and blood began to emit a faint light, turning transparent and glossy. A power indescribable began to seep out slowly.

When all four units of Creation Energy were completely merged, the mass of flesh and blood had transformed into a lump of transparent flesh, like clear gelatin. Then…

Lin Xiao opened his mouth, and a mass of transparent liquid gelatin appeared in front of him, flowing into his mouth.

The texture was like sucking on jelly, only flavorless. Within moments, it was all consumed, and Lin Xiao slowly closed his eyes.

About ten seconds later, the muscles in his chest suddenly bulged, forming a lump as big as a fist, which then promptly retracted. Then his shoulder and arm muscles also gave a quick twitch. After that, muscles in many more parts of his body began to thrum, visibly swelling at a speed visible to the naked eye, becoming more defined and his frame robust.

At the same time, Lin Xiao could feel the heat in his muscles, as if they were burning, and a powerful force surged from the depths of his genetic code, coursing throughout his body.

This enhancement lasted for a full hour, and when he opened his eyes again, he found that the entire world seemed smaller.

No, it would be more accurate to say that he had grown larger.

He lifted his head to check himself, only to see that his clothes were torn, revealing bulging muscles. His forearm alone had expanded several times, his hands had become much bigger, feeling as if he could grip a basketball or completely cover an ordinary person’s head with one hand.

Looking over his body, his muscles were prominent and seemed like those of an extremely muscular bodybuilder, defined but not deformed, their lines exceptionally graceful.

Meanwhile, his height had increased from around one meter eighty to approximately two meters and twenty or thirty centimeters, making him much taller.

But these were just superficial changes; there were internal ones as well.

For instance, his muscles became stronger and tighter. He had also inherited all the abilities of the tentacle.

He tried stretching out his hand and pressing forward, his arm muscles rapidly inflated to several times their size, also instantly lengthening several times, causing his arm to swell to over three meters long and press against the door.

With a thought, his arms and body muscles also swelled, transforming him into a muscle-bound little giant over three meters tall, his strength multiplying by several times in an instant.

And that wasn’t even the limit; given enough space, he could grow into a muscle giant five meters tall, with his arms capable of stretching into twenty-meter-long muscle pillars, possessing formidable strength and an extremely high restorative ability.

He tried exerting a little force, and a piece of the hard wooden table was easily broken off and crushed to dust with a gentle pinch.

“Very good!”

The degree of enhancement from his first fusion with monster flesh and blood exceeded expectations, and a future fusion with even more powerful monster flesh and blood would certainly make him stronger.

Most importantly, he felt no abnormalities after fusing with the monster’s flesh and blood—it was as if he had always been this way.

He spent the entire next day getting used to the surge in strength, slowly returning his body to its original size.

The Explorer sailed on the ocean’s surface, heading for the distant Pearl Island, a large inhabited island ruled by a powerful Lord, where they often docked to resupply.

In this world, there was no land, at least in Lin Xiao’s memory, he had never heard the word “continent,” and even the widely-traveled old captain had never mentioned such a word. In their minds, the whole world was a vast and boundless sea filled with islands scattered throughout.

Most islands were fraught with dangers, occupied by strange monsters, indescribable anomalies, or Other Races that were not human.

Humans could only cluster together on islands with sources of water, protected by powerful Lords.

In this world, the only means of transport was by sea, but due to the ubiquitous strange and evil creatures and the terrifying Other Races that lived in the ocean, sea trade was not prosperous, and average ships dared not stray far from the safety of islands into the ocean.

The Explorer was an exploration vessel that, aside from occasionally running some trade to make money, mostly ventured into the depths of the sea to explore the unknown, be it islands or other things.

This time, they were returning from the distant seas, passing by to purchase a batch of supplies to sell at Pearl Island for a tidy profit.

At the moment, they were five to six days away from Pearl Island, which was considered quite near, yet not entirely safe.

In fact, there were no safe places in this world; even the main islands near the territories of the Great Lords were not safe. Strange creatures from the ocean floor often approached the islands, and nearly every few days, there were reports of people dying accidentally.

After eating, Lin Xiao took up his machete and went on deck; it was his turn for duty today.

Although it should have been daytime according to the time, the sky was pitch black as if it were night, and The Explorer cut through the dark waters as it moved forward.

A few sailors stood watch on the deck, not daring to stand up for fear of seeing something they shouldn’t. They crouched in a groove near the deck close to the ship’s superstructure, leaning in to listen to the sounds from outside.

Lin Xiao walked quietly on the deck, where the railing was high, about one and a half meters, serving both to prevent them from inadvertently seeing the sea outside and to prevent whatever was in the sea from seeing them.

After making a round and seeing nothing, he sat down quietly at the back of the deck to lie back and rest.

The ship was dark, with no lights on; they generally did not light lanterns, for fear of attracting the attention of something strange in the sea.

However, Lin Xiao could clearly see his own arm, his muscles bulging as he willed, rippling beneath his skin like little mice moving back and forth—a rather interesting pastime when bored.

Hours passed, and Lin Xiao suddenly opened his eyes half-asleep, listening intently. Other than the sound of the water hitting the hull, there was silence on the ship.

He closed his eyes again but then abruptly opened them, grabbed his machete, and stood up to walk toward the bow.

His footsteps on the deck, light as they were, sounded particularly clear in this silent night. Lin Xiao felt his heartbeat pick up for no apparent reason. As he slowly walked to the bow, he caught a glimpse of something in the dark water from the corner of his eye that seemed to be watching him, but he resisted the urge to look directly at it.

Reaching the bow, he saw three sailors, two of whom had fallen asleep while the other leaned against the wall half-dozing. The sight of him startled the awake sailor into jumping up, while the other two were jolted awake reflexively.

Lin Xiao surveyed the three and asked,

“Any anomalies?”

The sailors shook their heads in unison,

“We’ve been vigilant; nothing unusual has been detected.”

Lin Xiao nodded, turned to inspect the deck, and noticed a faint sticky trace under their feet. He took back his gaze, holding the machete as he walked away.

Turning to the other side, he pushed open the door in front of the pilot house and entered, taking a deep breath before proceeding to knock at the old captain’s door with a light, rhythmic pattern.

Three soft knocks followed by a hard one.

Soon, there were sounds of one soft knock followed by a hard one from inside. Reassured, he continued to other crew members’ rooms, knocking in the same pattern and waiting for a response.