The next day, Hikaru attempted various methods to increase the success rate of the DNA integration procedure. Despite his best efforts, he could only achieve a success rate of around 10% after about a month. Hikaru expended a lot of blood samples, which depleted a big portion of General Fujimoto’s blood stock.
After more than six months, General Fujimoto returned to the base and replenished the stock of all the research materials. The General also finally visited Hikaru and gave him a set of blood samples from mythical-grade orbies of each sovereign lineage. The General read Hikaru’s latest research reports and was pleased with his progress.
The following week, General Fujimoto once again departed from the secret base. Meanwhile, Hikaru examined the mythical-grade orbies blood samples provided by the General. As suspected, these samples revealed that mythical-grade orbies have more than 90% of their bloodline DNA sequence activated.
After examining the blood samples from mythical-grade orbies, Hikaru refocused his efforts on trying various other methods to improve the success rate of the DNA integration procedure. He didn’t dare to use the mythical-grade blood samples because each of them was only enough for one DNA integration procedure.
Three months have passed in the blink of an eye.
During this period, Hikaru's research kept dragging on without any noticeable improvement.
Today, Hikaru witnessed a fierce clash between General Fujimoto's elite forces and dozens of unidentified adversaries near the secret base. Amidst the battle, the General's subordinates successfully vanquished their adversaries, but at the cost of losing dozens of their comrades. Hikaru had a bad feeling about this clash, as even though the enemies didn't carry any insignia, they were using Bailey's military tactics and fighting stance.
In his mind, Hikaru pondered: ‘If these fallen soldiers are part of a kingdom's military, they might return with reinforcements. With General Fujimoto absent, the situation grows increasingly precarious! In the worst-case scenario, if the enemy is from the Bailey kingdom, General Fujimoto’s subordinates will be branded as traitors, and I will be implicated even though I am unrelated to any of it. This can't be happening! I need to understand the situation more, or I will die without knowing why!’
After the battle event, every time there was any opportunity Hikaru always tried to probe General Fujimoto subordinates to no avail. His research was going nowhere, while the research materials keep depleting at faster rate.
One month has passed since the battle event. Hikaru hasn't discovered any information about the enemies or the reason why the base was attacked. His research has stalled as the lord-grade blood samples have been completely depleted, all while General Fujimoto was still absent.
While Hikaru was wandering around the secret base, contemplating what to do, he overheard a conversation in the dining room area.
Anonymous Person A: "When do you think the General will be back?”
Anonymous Person B: "Let's hope the General returns soon and sort things out, or Bailey Army might raid this secret base!”
While walking down the corridor, one of General Fujimoto’s subordinates suddenly called out to Hikaru, who had been standing still, eavesdropping on the conversation.
Anonymous Person C: “Hey you, what are you doing?”
Hikaru then replied: “I want to complain about the food to the cook! It was incredibly spicy today, and it's giving me a terrible stomachache. Because of that dish, I'm finding it impossible to focus on my research now.”
Anonymous Person C: "Return to your station. I'll inform the cook about your complaint!”
Hikaru didn’t want to get into trouble, so he just nodded and walked back to his personal research room.
Upon arriving in his lab, Hikaru pondered deeply: 'As I suspected, the soldiers killed were from the Bailey Army, but they weren’t from the Red Dagger Battalion or the Ironclad Brigade under Colonel Kemal. The slain soldiers didn’t carry any insignia, which suggests they didn’t want their identities to be known. This implies that someone is secretly investigating this area or the General.'
Hikaru continued to ponder deeply: ‘Is General Fujimoto's absence due to being detained? The slain soldiers died about one month ago, so their commander has probably already noticed their disappearance by now. There is a high possibility that the higher-ups are investigating this matter and have contacted Colonel Kemal. Although Colonel Kemal is just as guilty as General Fujimoto, he could distort the entire situation and potentially betray the General depending on who is conducting the investigation.'
Hikaru scratched his head in frustration as he continued to ponder deeply: 'There are just too many possibilities, but what I am sure of is that staying here is no longer safe. Sooner or later, someone will raid this place! General Fujimoto's subordinates in this base won’t be enough to face a battalion of soldiers.'
Hikaru calmed himself down and thought of a plan: 'Forget it, let's focus on what I can currently do! First, let's use the mythical-grade blood samples to create a serum so it's not wasted.'
Hikaru successfully extracted all the mythical-grade sovereign lineage DNA sequences. He then attempted to integrate these sequences simultaneously into a bag containing his blood using a medical device available in this world. With anticipation building, he waited for about an hour, hopeful for a breakthrough. However, despite his best efforts, the integration process was as expected a failure as each attempt had only a 10% success rate per DNA sequence, resulting in a dismal overall success rate of 0.01%.
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Although he failed in his attempt, Hikaru decided to keep the serum for further study, unlike all the previous failed attempts which he discarded.
After completing the experiment, Hikaru went to his room, put on a pair of worn-out gloves inherited from his late father, and headed to his training spot near the secret base.
As Hikaru pondered, a determination surged within him: 'I must unravel the mystery of these gloves; they may hold the key to overcome my current predicament. Why is it that only Hikaru could sense the soul core and sacred essence within the gloves? The previous Hikaru was too afraid to tinker with them, but this time, it's an emergency. If not now, he feared he wouldn't have another chance. Let's use the left glove and activate it.’
Hikaru activated the left glove with an open palm, adopting a firing spell stance, fearing that the spell within the glove might shoot projectiles. He instinctively controlled the sacred essence within the glove by channeling it into the glove’s soul core. However, after waiting for a minute, nothing happened. He could feel his left glove had turned into an ordinary glove.
Hikaru sighed in disappointment, thinking to himself: 'What a letdown... I was expecting something grand would happen.'
The next day, Hikaru intended to inspect the serum from his previous failed attempt. However, upon removing it from the preservation box, he was astonished to discover that the once black-colored serum had turned blood red, resembling successfully integrated serum. After a full inspection, Hikaru was even more shocked as he discovered that the serum had successfully integrated.
Hikaru was filled with glee as he tried to comprehend what had just happened: ‘Ha... ha... ha, how on earth? ’
Hikaru calmed himself down and analyzed the situation: ‘Yesterday, nothing out of the ordinary happened... Well, except for the failed activation of the glove!? Or is it... no... no... no... it can't be? Well, it doesn't matter. Let's load the serum into the DNA Transformation device. Based on what I heard from the General, the success rate of DNA transformation depends on the magnitude of the change in the DNA.’
Hikaru loaded the serum into the DNA Transformation device, but before he proceeded with the procedure on himself, he paused and thought to himself: ‘Well, if what happened to the serum was due to the spell on the left glove, then maybe I should wear those gloves and prepare to activate the spell on the right glove just to be safe.’
Hikaru went to his room, put on the gloves, and proceeded to perform the procedure on himself.
Hikaru's body trembled as his mind raced with anticipation: 'Well, here goes nothing!' he thought, steeling himself for what was to come.
During the procedure, Hikaru's heart raced as he felt he was being burnt alive. This sensation caused him to scream with a muffled voice. After about ten minutes, he noticed signs of decay beginning to manifest. In response, he immediately activated the right glove, which reverted his decayed flesh back to normal.
After about an hour, the grueling procedure finally concluded. Hikaru glanced down and noticed a grim sight. A pool of sweat tinged with blood had formed on the floor, evidence of the intense ordeal he had just endured.
Hikaru slumped to the ground, intending to rest momentarily, but ended up sleeping for eight straight hours. After Hikaru was awakened, he meditated to check his body's condition.
Name : Kaya Hikaru Cell Regen Rate : Moderate Age : 18 years Lifespan : 95 / 100 years Race : Human Sub-race : Bamborean Soul Space : 20 Vose Sacred Essence : 10.2 / 10.2 Vose Chi : 34k / 34k Chi Regen : 5.67 chi / minute Mana : 39k / 47k Mana Regen : 1.31 mana / second
Attributes:
Str: 28 (8); Def: 19 (8); Int: 56 (12); Wits: 37 (12)
Affinities:
Fire: 38 (10); Water: 10 (10); Earth: 10 (10); Wind: 10 (10)
Resistances:
Heat: 1%; Cold: 1%; Electricity: 1%; Poison: 3%.
Traits & Talents & Imprints:
* Amun-Ra Elemental Sovereign Bloodline (trait): The user's body constitution is derived from the Amun-Ra, resulting in the user possessing primordial variant base attributes and affinities. This bloodline incorporates all the bloodlines associated with fire, water, wind, and earth sovereign lineages, allowing the user to access all of their innate skills. Additionally, thanks to the elemental sovereign lineage, the user has the potential to use Ancestral-grade divinity from all four basic elements.
Existential Essence composition: 9.8 Vose (0.8 Vose of Incomplete Skill Anima)
Fire Sovereign (Innate Skill/L1):
* Phoenix Spiritual Booster (passive/L1): This technique allows the user's soul to automatically absorb sacred essences from the spiritual dimension within one kilometer radius, granting them the ability to replenish their soul to its maximum capacity (Sacred Essences regen: 1 Vose / day).
* Phoenix Wings (active/L1): This innate ability allows the user to conjure a pair of feathery crimson wings (Cost: 100 mana /minute).
Fire Sovereign (Innate Skill/L2-L4/locked): Requires at least 60 points in mental attributes.
Neutral Magic (Solo Skill/L1-L2): Mana Control (active/L1), Magnifying Glass (active/L1), Mana Modulation (active/L2), Kudu Shrimp's Vision Mimicry (active/L2)
Body Arts (Solo Skill/L1): Body Fortification (active/L1)
Leg Arts (Solo Skill/L1): Leg Chi (active/L1)
Fire Magic (Solo Skill/L1): Fireball (active/L1)
Status Effects: Irregular Soul
* Catastrophic Bloodline Regression: User experiences a catastrophic reduction in their body’s base attributes, elemental affinities, and bloodline power. User needs to inject Sacred Essences into their soul core to cure this ailment (Cost: 10 Vose of Sacred Essence).
Hikaru grinned as he meditated, thoughts swirling in his mind: ‘Amun-Ra? Never heard of him. Regardless, its strength is undeniable. Ha… ha… ha… now, with this Fire Sovereign innate skill, I can escape to the sky. But darn it, I'll need to use 10 Vose of Sacred Essence for another transformation! Hmmm, maybe I'll deal with it later; today's transformation was just too brutal.’
Thanks to Hikaru's unique bloodline, he can now wield all four sovereign lineage innate skills. Additionally, he also awakened a higher level fire sovereign innate skill than those of other Kaya clan members. However his attributes haven't been upgraded due to catastrophic regression of his current bloodline.