GENE DEVOURER

Chapter 38: Chance Stone

Marcus was stunned, it was even ranked, if it was right, did it mean he had just killed a mutant beast with a higher level than him?

And this beast was even a higher level one than the Elder Ants.

He could recall what the system said about the level, it means their level of evolution, while in human's case, the system failed to display their level and info, and unmutated animals were labeled level:—, which means the latter had no mutation potential, this one was five times his level?

"Wait a minute, does that mean these people are still in danger of other newly hatched mutant fire ants?"

Come to think of it, the elder ants didn't seem to display the assassination skill that the Rogue Ant used, as Marcus concentrated, he could see each and every movement of the elder ants, if he were to join the combat, the battle would end quickly. The only advantage the elder ants could boast of was their stinger and overwhelming numbers, and even if the squad were still holding up well, what of their stamina, when facing less powerful but overwhelming target, stamina becomes the decisive factor, If they ran out of stamina, no matter how fast or strong they were, they would eventually become slow and sluggish.

"That explained how I received 150XP, that much is enough for me to jump one level"

Now, to confirm his suspicion, Marcus viewed his stat.

[Name: Zhao Marcus Cheng]

[Species: Hiveman]

[Class: Insecta]

[Rank: 1]

[Level: 2]

[XP: 130/150]

[Gene Tokens: 10]

[Health Recovery Portion: —]

[Titles: Gene Devourer, Hungering Lord ]

[Strength: 2]

[Agility: 6]

[Speed: 2]

[Dexterity: 6]

[Constitution: 4]

[Perception: 4]

[Intelligence: 3]

[Charisma: 1]

[Luck: 2]

[Will: 3]

Well, he didn't jump a level but was just close enough to reach level 3.

"Looks like leveling up increased all my stats by one. Not that I care much about charisma, though.

Still, that doesn't mean my physical abilities will increase exactly by that amount. I'll need to test it out"

After resting for a while, Marcus' gaze wandered to the dead headless mutant baby fire ant.

Come to think of it, why was the baby fire ant called Rogue Ant?

When this thought wandered into Marcus' thought, although he wasn't that interested, the system answered.

[Fire Ants that have just hatched are in their larval stage where they are legless and unmoving with worm-like form, while the next metamorphosis stage is pupal, where they develop all full structures, they also do not move in this stage, however, in mutant beast's case, some of the fire ant in their pupal stage are cunning enough to move after awakening some mutant ability from birth, these are the ones called Rogue Ant]

"I see, huh? More than one gene core!"

Among the messages in the floating purple screen, the message that piqued Marcus' interest the most was the one that seemed to hint about the mutant fire ant having more than one gene core.

At once, Marcus' head turned left and right reflexively to see if any squad member's sight wasn't on him, even if he had killed a mutant fire ant in self-defense, wouldn't he take the spoil?

He then checked the messages floating on the Rogue Ant.

[Consume its gene remains to craft a gear]

[Consume it gene cores to acquire an evolved skill]

[You have found a loot—chance stone, take it?]

"Gene cores? So it has more than one after all, I didn't expect to find a mutant beast with more than one gene core.

Will I get a skill this time around? I think I have a fifty percent chance in the merging of genes in which the system will now synthesize both gene core ability to give a unique and evolved skill"

[Chance has increased due to title, Gene Devourer]

[+10 percent success in the merging of genes!]

Mind wondered, who would have thought he would have more chance in his first merging of genes, in addition to the fifty percent chance, he now had a sixty percent chance in the merging of genes.

"It is thanks to my title"

"Wait a minute, a loot?"

Never would he have thought he would find loot in this raid, after all, the agreement was that he would be paid five million yuan without touching any gene cores, but since he had killed this one in self-defense, Marcus felt he had the right to the gene core, now he also found a loot?

"And this loot is different from what other Awakened know as loot"

Beast loot, as it was commonly called is what people called the gems they found in a mutant beast, but in Marcus' case, apart from the gene cores that people knew as gems, he also found another loot, a chance stone.

Was this the system's way of incorporating in-game elements in its operations?

[You have found a loot—chance stone, take it?]

Anyway, Marcus used his exoskeletal hands to tear the mutant fire ant into two, its abdomen and thorax region were separated immediately. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

[+2 strength effect has activated!]

"As I thought, the effect will even activate if I clad any part of my body in exoskeleton, and even though my total strength stat is now four, I don't feel any stronger than before"

CLANG!!

Sharp crystalline sounds were heard as two ruby-colored gemstones fell from where the mutant fire ant body had been separated.

Marcus took the two gene cores.

"Take Chance stone"

[There is zero chance of gaining a unique skill from two gene cores of the same mutant beast, use chance stone?]

"Oops, I guess I will have to sell these, I need money after all"

But what was troubling Marcus was that the chance stone would just become junk in his inventory for some time if he didn't use it now.

"Wait a minute, it can be used to increase the chance of merging genes right? Irrespective of the type of gene cores"

Marcus inhaled deeply, deep down he wanted to gain at least one evolved skill, so he eventually opted to use it.

Marcus swallowed the two gene cores in one go, given their small sizes, it was quite easy for him.