Chapter 43
A Phoenix Emerging out of the Oven
Xu Zhi was slightly stunned.
A hero of the bugs?
Isn’t that something that would have only a handful emerging after spores were spread all over a huge planet, and evolved into countless species numbering trillions?
I actually have one emerging out of that tiny place of mine already?
Did I just hit a jackpot that had odds of one in a trillion?
Xu Zhi was feeling rather restless.
That was one of the strongest and most uniquely mutated individuals to emerge out of the long history of evolution of the Insecta.
The Insecta Nest mind then added, “Such Insecta Heroes could be extremely different, given that the current situation is unknown.”
The AI then explained that the Insecta was taking the technological route before, and the Insecta Heroes that emerged would naturally be technological heroes. All of them had vastly evolved brains, allowing them to possess calculative abilities rivaling that of all the civilizations of an entire planet. Any one of them could lead fleets of astronomical sizes and rewrite their own genetic code, thus enabling them to modify themselves into terrifying biomechanical weapons.
The Insecta had never taken the supernatural route¬—the route of having supernatural beings evolving out of them.
After all, the speed at which that could be achieved was simply too slow. Xu Zhi, at present, was only able to get to the foundation of evolving beings with supernatural traits. If he were to take the technological route, he would have seen super brains evolving, which would in turn bring about a frenzied evolution of civilizations.
He would have been able to rule over the entire planet Earth in less than half a month if he were to take such a route. He would then be able to organize fleets on an exodus to outer space, instead of messing around like he did at the moment.
He hung his head low. “The technological route relies on external factors. While the initial stages of evolution could be carried out quickly, they would apparently pale in comparison to taking the supernatural route and developing supernatural powers at later stages.”
The previous mother queen proved that long ago. She failed and she regrated. That had been the wrong path of evolution to take.
As the present ruler of the Insecta, he doubtlessly needed to take the most correct path. As the creator, he was compelled to take his Insecta on the path towards prosperity, and eventually bring about countless brilliant civilizations.
The Insecta Nest mind then added, “That being the case, being unable to survive the high temperatures brought its potential to bear at the brink of death, causing mutations to happen, and thus evolving into the first supernatural creature capable of surviving in high temperature flames. It was an evolution never before seen in the database, yet it still paled in comparison to conventional Insecta Heroes as it was unable to modify its own genetic code. It could only be considered a false Insecta Hero.”
Xu Zhi was stunned.
That bird had actually managed to survive.
“Sh**. All of that and he still manage to survive.”
His gaze became rather heated. The chance of having a true Insecta Hero emerge was too low. Having a false one would still be considered better than having nothing after all.
He thought that if he were to compare what was happening to trading card games, Insecta Heroes would be SSS class beings, for they were able to modify their own genetic codes and possessed unlimited potential. In that case, the false Insecta Hero could then be considered an S class being. Not being able to modify their genetic code was considered a non-issue.
That false Insecta Hero was still something far greater than all the other beings around.
“This is really something.”
He had been busy squashing those players and had just taught that Racer of Mount Haruna quite a lesson minutes ago. He was no longer in any mood to play games with those idiots.
His greater sandbox took precedence over everything else at the moment after all, and he was eager to see how that new creature was able to perform.
A prompt came the very next second.
“The game requires emergency maintenance. Going offline in three seconds.”
Chen Wenshan, after being subjected to inhumane burning inside the oven, was surprised he had actually survived. He was just about to take a better look at himself before he blacked out all of a sudden as he was sent offline.
All players in the sandbox was thrown offline as well.
“Not again??”
Countless people were devastated, and they rambled all over the place. The case of a game requiring maintenance on the very first day of second testing was unheard of.
Xu Zhi paid no heed to any of them. He frowned and put on heat-resistant gloves in silence, before opening the oven. There was a fiery bird of vibrant colors lying silently at the very center of the lunchbox.
With the owner’s consciousness kicked out, the body of the evolved creature was left behind, which he naturally took over as his own shamelessly.
“This kind of looks like the Phoenix of legends.”
His expression shifted and brought the genetic traits of that creature from the AI.
Trait: pyrokinesis, fiery poison, immunity to fire, rebirth by fire.
(Genetic strand is unique and unavailable for modification)
He was not surprised by the lack of genetic modification option, which meant that the creature’s growth potential was not unlimited, and it could only become stronger through its current genes. However, he was surprised by something else. “Rebirth by fire? So, that’s to say that this thing is practically undying then? Hell, not even the mother queen had been able to achieve eternal life, yet this thing here manages to do so?”
He took a closer look and found that it was not actually the kind of eternal life people usually talked about, but some other kind of eternal life.
That creature was an entire race on its own.
It would be reduced to an egg every time it was near death, thus letting its descendant take over its body.
The creature itself was not actually an undying one.
It was just that its offspring would take over its original body. That was all.
“All descendants of the being sharing one body.” He was rather impressed by just how quirky that creature actually was. “It’s indeed a pity that such a powerful unique life could not be mass-produced.”
Every single mutated individual among the Insecta Heroes was unique after all.
“I never thought I’d actually be able to make a Phoenix in a lunchbox put in the oven.” Xu Zhi chuckled. “Seems like there would be more to add to the world of sorcerers.”
He picked up the beautiful, vibrant Phoenix the size of a beetle with one hand, He found it increasingly beautiful the more he looked at it and was growing more reluctant to part with it.
It was indeed a crimson, vibrant creature.
The creature possessed a beauty that was unlike anything on the planet.
“This is a supernatural creature that evolved out of the high temperatures in my oven.”
He then researched it for over a dozen minutes before putting it down. He then took a look at the original creature that was, prior to evolving into the Phoenix—the Final Chicken. They were but a bunch of extremely poisonous birds with fiery feathers. Over a dozen of them were thoroughly cooked in the lunchbox.
While there was a unique mutated bird—the Phoenix—emerging out of their midst, he nonetheless needed to proceed with his original plan, which was to test the toxicity of those birds.
He picked up one of those roosters with a pair of chopsticks and ate it.
“Nice.”
The taste was extremely supple, exploding on his tastebuds while the juices flowed over his tongue.
Chen Wenshan had indeed evolved the creature into something extremely tasty just so to make it easy for poisoning. It worked in the same as a pufferfish, being so irresistibly delicious despite being full of very potent poisons.
Xu Zhi was unable to help but chomped down on every single one of the others he was able to find. It did not take him long to finish all of them. “Gosh, this thing is really, really delicious! Looks like I could start making my own meals after Chen Xi is gone. Making a good bunch of these things every day, and man, my days would be heavenly… oh right, Nest Mind, how is the test with toxicity?”
The AI replied, “Extremely potent. Capable of causing instant death to even supernatural beings when consumed.”
“They would die?” His expression brightened right there and then. He deemed himself having hit the jackpot. The day was indeed full of surprises.
The most delicious is indeed the most poisonous!.
He felt that he had grown very rich at that very moment, like he had became flooded with money in an instant. He just got himself a new supernatural poisonous bird species, as well as a false Insecta Hero—the Phoenix.
The Phoenix would become his subordinate, and the very first among the upper echelon of the Insecta.
He considered that superb Insecta Hero, despite being a false one, to be one hell of a hit.
Gilgamesh and the three witches all fell short of reaching such a stage, dying after living out their short lives. He never expected some creature that just emerged out of evolution to actually have achieved transcendence beyond life.
He was actually thinking if that bluff that he put in that world of the greater sandbox would be called out. If the people were to find out that Hermes the God of Wisdom to be the only god, things would have gotten very embarrassing.
At that moment, he finally found the second being for taking over the role of the god of fire.
“Well then, it’s time to put the Phoenix in the sandbox along with those poisonous birds.”
He mumbled as he came to the edge of the greater sandbox.
It had been difficult figuring how to add new creatures to the sandbox in the past.
As a giant, he would have caused mass panic entering the sandbox personally. He had only been able to put in the Evil Eye after the great flood killed almost everything, an opportunity which he used for remodeling the swamps, and there was no one around to catch him in action.
However, with the Kingdom of Babylon being around at present, sneaking into the sandbox was near impossible.
“But then again, the creatures are capable of flight, so that means I have no need to get in there myself. I could throw them in without having to worry that they’d fall to death.”
He took hold of that Phoenix and some of the Final Chickens, flinging them far and high over into the greater sandbox. “Best develop the capacity of intelligence quickly, Phoenix. You’re my first subordinate after all, and you will have a glorious life ahead of you.
Flaapp!
All of them began flapping their wings as they fell from the sky. They glided along in the air before landing in the lush, green forest.
Cawwwww!!!!
The booming cry of the Phoenix was heard all over the blue sky.
The Phoenix fell and the high temperatures of its breath quickly burned the trees and land of the patch of forest it landed in. It was only seconds in Xu Zhi’s world, but it was already days in the world of the greater sandbox.
Millions of huge trees quickly wilted and were reduced to sand as the Phoenix took residence, gradually reducing that place into a desert.
There was actually a huge tree that managed to survive the mass extinction of countless trees around it. Survival of the fittest meant that it managed to develop heat-resistant traits, enabling it to be immune to flames. The Phoenix had no choice but to call that tree its home and fed the tree with its blood. That tree would be named the Parasol in the future.