Super Gene

“A new geno core has immediately reached first place again? Is this world truly changing?” The woman frowned, and then asked the spirit, “Which geno core reached the top?”

The spirit answered, “Master, it was a geno core called Bulwark Umbrella. It even managed to displace Six Paths, which now sits at second place.”

“Bulwark… Umbrella?” A weird look fell across the woman’s face. She retreated into her thoughts. “An umbrella geno core? Is that just a coincidence?”

Bulwark Umbrella reaching the top sent another shockwave across the Fourth God’s Sanctuary. Everyone was talking about it.

The umbrella hadn’t been the sole achiever of this, as a few others had been able to reach first place on their debut. The higher-ups of the Fourth God’s Sanctuary were starting to feel squeezed.

“Does this mean we’re at the dawn of a new era? So many powerful geno cores are coming into existence now. This is a frightful time we live in.” All the spirits felt like this. They were scared.

However, no one except for Six Paths knew that all the geno cores, so terrifying to the spirits and creatures, belonged to Han Sen. And he still had his Coin geno core, which had yet to show up.

Han Sen did not want his Coin geno core up there, as it was recognizable to humans.

He did not worry too much about the umbrella’s presence there, though. And within the next month, he guessed that it might reach the silver level, too. That meant he wouldn’t have to fight with it to keep up appearances and maintain the quota.

Aside from Six Paths, he didn’t think anyone would actually challenge his Bulwark Umbrella, anyway.

And just as Han Sen thought about this, it happened. Six Paths sent Han Sen a challenge request. He ignored it, however. If he leveled up to silver class in the timeframe he expected to, he didn’t need to accept any fights.

With his task done, Han Sen left the geno core storage. Venturing down a street in Elysium Shelter, Han Sen noticed how strong all the spirits and creatures were there.

Han Sen scanned as many as he could with his Dongxuan Aura, and he knew right then and there that he’d have no hope of making an escape if they were to follow on his heels.

He returned to the garden, and he found the woman reclining on a lawn chair.

“I am glad to see your Bulwark Umbrella has reached first place.” She addressed him before Han Sen could even say hello.

Han Sen knew how to hide things well, so his facial expression didn’t even move. He asked, “What umbrella?”

The woman hadn’t expected him to confess. “You are a little different than that old liar Han Jinzhi. I’ll admit I may have underestimated you.”

“What do you mean?” Han Sen blinked.

“That man lies just the same, but at least you are able to teach the holy child. If you can wake her up, the Crocodile Scissors are yours. And your freedom will be returned to you as well.” After saying this, the woman got up and left.

“It sounds like she can watch my every move. She must have seen me entering the geno core storage with my umbrella. But there’s no way she can tell for certain that I was the one who took first place, is there?” Han Sen frowned, and he proceeded to think, “If she saw me enter the geno core storage with the umbrella, she must be able to watch me here in the garden. And if she sees the garden, she must have heard the woman in the painting talk to me. It’s strange how she never said anything about that.”

“Maybe for her to wake up, it will require more than for the lady to just speak.” Han Sen didn’t think she’d expose things freely.

Perhaps this was a way in which the woman was telling Han Sen that the talking bit wasn’t enough, and he’d need to do more.

“In that case, how can I get her to wake up?” Han Sen wondered to himself.

Han Sen went to the stone and spoke to it. Again, there was no reply, and so he just gave up and went back to practicing with Taia.

Han Sen could put his faith into performing the technique, but for him to achieve the proficiency of Six Paths, he had a long way to go. Without the Six Paths Sword geno core, the workload and difficulty were much higher.

But Han Sen was just shooting the breeze, and his practice might prompt the woman on the stone to speak.

Han Sen put his whole focus into the skill. Heart Sword required a lot of faith, and he had to remain as concentrated as possible.

When he finished, he looked at the stone again. She hadn’t shown any response. She was still standing on that bridge, facing away from him.

“Her body is good, but I wonder what her face looks like,” Han Sen said.

Due to there being a heavy rain, her face had still been partially obscured when she performed the technique for him before. He still hadn’t had a chance to see her properly.

After that, the mad voice of a woman rang out from the rock. “How dare you judge a woman like that! You are clearly nothing good.”

Just as Han Sen sought to reply, the umbrella in her hand began to spin like a pinwheel. As it spun, it produced the image of a black hole that seemed to exert a tangible magnetic effect.

Han Sen immediately felt a strange power grab hold of him, summoning him ever closer to that hole in the stone.

Han Sen couldn’t escape it, and he found himself thrown against the rock.

He didn’t feel pain, though. When he was thrown against the stone, it felt as if he had been thrown into water.

More accurately, Han Sen had been drawn into the canvas that was the stone. He was now inside the painting.

Han Sen had touched the rock and the painting before, and it was unmistakably solid. Having now entered it, he felt very strange. He looked around, and just as the image had depicted, it was raining. But he was also able to see many things he couldn’t from the previously 2D representation of the painting.

There was a small river with a stone house nearby. The stone bridge he frequently saw was in front of Han Sen, and there stood the woman, just like she always had.

In that rain, the woman looked towards Han Sen. The rain was heavy, but even though Han Sen could not see her face clearly, he could tell she was mad.

“There’s a world inside the painting? Is the painted rock a geno core?” Han Sen asked the woman.

The green-clothed woman did not speak. She merely clutched the umbrella tightly and began walking towards him.

Han Sen was then able to see her face. She looked very pretty, but at this point in time, she looked very angry as well.

The face also seemed familiar to Han Sen.