At four o'clock in the afternoon, in the reading room, Chen Chu was quietly flipping through the fifth volume of the Encyclopedia of Mutant Beasts in his hand.
In recent years, there have been too many mutated creatures appearing around the world, with varying strengths. Some can even be domesticated and reproduced, just like pigs and sheep in the past.
One of the largest types of mutant animals currently being raised is the mountain woolly pig, which is a mutation of the previous mountain black pig.
After mutation, this creature has become several times larger than before. An adult can basically grow to weigh two tons, has a high meat yield, and can be fed by eating only fodder and plants.
Of course, even if a creature of this size is not so bloodthirsty and violent, it can still burst out with terrible power if it gets a little angry, and it is not something that ordinary people can raise.
Therefore, those large-scale breeding groups basically rent more than ten mountains and hire cultivators with the second or third level of cultivation to manage them.
This is also one of the places for ordinary practitioners who have no courage to fight, have average talent for cultivation, and are only at the second level when they graduate from high school.
Of course, Chen Chu would definitely not become a breeder.
When he looked at the information of these ordinary mutant beasts, he was naturally looking for a target to devour for his clone's fourth evolution.
Although the Sword-Armored Flame Beast already possessed the 'energy' talent, its flame ability was of average power in the sea, and its burst lethality was not very strong.
Besides, who would complain about having too many abilities?
Chen Chu is very cautious about the absorption ability of his clone's fourth evolution, because it is related to the combat effectiveness of the Sword-Armored Flame Beast among mutant beasts of the same level in the future.
Each mutant beast that can evolve to level seven or above is very powerful and has at least two talents.
While Chen Chu was reading quietly, a warm current appeared out of nowhere in his body, constantly merging into his body and strengthening his flesh.
The Sword-Armored Flame Beast in front practiced for a long time, and went hunting after gaining some results. The warm current flowing out of his body at this time was the feedback of the mutant beast's growth.
Chen Chu felt that this connection should be related to his "it" soul.
As "souls" from the same source, no matter how far apart Chen Chu and his clone are, their consciousness and perspective are synchronized, and there will be no delay.
It was like there was a turning point between the two of them that distorted time and space.
And the 'evolutionary' energy that appeared out of thin air in his body flowed over through the 'channel' and 'inflection point' of the soul connection between the two.
This also explains why it can be strengthened "synchronously".
It is also the cultivation method of the original body and the reason why the talents of the clones cannot be shared by both parties, because that channel can only pass through the evolutionary energy.
Of course, these are all Chen Chu’s own guesses. Even the attribute page does not have any detailed notes about his soul talent.
Suddenly Chen Chu's eyes paused and fell on the page of the book in his hand.
[Electric Thunder Eel, a common first or second level mutant beast. The currently known maximum body length is seven meters and half a meter thick. It is suspected to be a mutation of the Thunder Pattern Electric Eel of the old era.
At present, some mountain streams and rivers in Changbai Mountain have been found to have the ability to release powerful lightning instantly, and the threat level in the water is no less than that of ordinary third-level mutant beasts.
"Changbai Mountains?"
Chen Chu seemed to be thinking about something and wrote down the location where the mutant beast appeared. He remembered that one of the points for the post-New Year sweep mission was Changbai Mountain Range.
Now with the addition of the electric eel, Chen Chu currently has four targets identified.
The other three targets are the third-level mutant beast, the two-headed mutant ice python, which has the ability to master ice, and the third-level mutant beast, the phantom white fox, which has the ability to virtualize its tail.
In addition, there is a third-level mutant beast, the Earth Black Bear, which has the talent to distort the gravity of several meters around it to form a force field.
They represent ice, void, lightning, and gravity respectively.
Of course, due to their levels, the abilities of these mutant beasts are not very strong, but this is not important to Chen Chu.
It is these abilities and traits that he values.
As long as the Sword-Armored Flame Beast swallows these abilities and transforms them into talents, he can later enhance them to a terrifying level through attribute strengthening.
Busy times always pass quickly. Although the school is on winter vacation, Chen Chu lives a fulfilling life every day.
Every day he either practices or looks up information. At the same time, he divides his attention to control the Sword-Armored Flame Beast to hunt mutant creatures. Both his original strength and his clone's strength are growing steadily.
In this situation, a few days passed by in the blink of an eye.
At five o'clock in the afternoon, accompanied by the melodious sound of the bell, Luo Fei, who was immersed in the sutras, looked up and said with emotion: "Another day has passed."
"Yes." Chen Chu nodded.
The girl tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and whispered, "I feel like my mind has become much lazier since I came back."
"That's normal. After all, this isn't the chaotic Koroya. We don't need to be so tense every day."
As they spoke, the two of them stood up together, put the borrowed books back to their original places, and took the elevator out of the teaching building with a few other classmates who were also reading books.
Walking on the campus, Chen Chu discovered that the roadside branches and street lamps were hung with red lanterns and colorful lights, creating an entire festive atmosphere.
Luo Fei said with some anticipation: "The New Year is only seven days away. I heard that there will be a lantern exhibition at Wujiang River from New Year's Eve to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month this year."
"In addition, there will be a grand fireworks show on the night of the 28th day of the lunar year. Fireworks manufacturers from many surrounding cities will participate. It will be very beautiful."
After saying that, the girl turned to look at Chen Chu, her bright eyes flickering slightly.
Chen Chu understood what she meant and couldn't help but chuckled, "I wonder if this year's lantern festival will be good, shall we go together then?"
The girl smiled and nodded gently: "Okay, I'll call the monitor and the others when the time comes."
Chen Chu paused for a moment: "... Well, it will be more lively with more people."
As they were talking, the two of them walked out of the campus.
She walked towards home along the familiar road, and only when she reached the intersection where they parted ways every day did Luo Fei wave her hand slightly and turn to walk towards another street.
Standing at the red light intersection, Chen Chu watched the girl's back as she walked away. For some reason, he felt a sense of youth and daily campus life. The mutant beast clone was just an illusion.
Chatting with pretty female classmates every day, and making plans to go to the lantern festival and watch the fireworks together... Suddenly Chen Chu's eyes froze.
More than three hundred meters deep in the pitch-black sea, the Sword-Armored Flame Beast, which was originally lying on the seabed practicing the mysterious secret technique, suddenly raised its head, with surprise revealed in its cold vertical pupils.
Suddenly, endless energy from heaven and earth gushed out a hundred meters in front of it. The surrounding sea water began to boil under the pure energy from heaven and earth.
Under the flushing of rich energy, the sea water within hundreds of meters around became pure and clear, just like the sweetest spring water in the world.
The Sword-Armored Flame Beast, which was a hundred meters away, took a breath and felt full of strength and energy.
At this time, the gap that was gushing out energy from heaven and earth continued to expand, and gradually a blue light appeared on the dark seabed, and a crack like a portal slowly opened up.
The crack was more than three meters long and half a meter wide, as if it connected to another world, except that the other side was not the ocean, but a snowy plain that froze everything.
Boom! At this moment, the sea area within a radius of ten kilometers suddenly rioted, and countless fish and creatures swarmed towards this side.
These marine creatures ranged from large mutant sharks and sea pythons to small, palm-sized ordinary fish and shrimps, all of which rushed frantically towards the crack.
But not everyone can go down to the sea that is more than 300 meters deep.
Countless small fish and shrimps were crushed by the water pressure along the way, and only those mutant creatures that were more than several meters in size could swim down.
Among them, the one rushing in the front was an eight-meter-long greatmouth shark with black scales growing all over its body. Its tail was swimming wildly as it rushed towards the crack.
In just a few breaths, it rushed down from above, and then...
Bang! The sea water exploded, and the mutant black shark that rushed into the crack was hit and bleeding. The sword-armored flame beast even heard the sound of bones breaking in the water.
The crack seemed to be right opposite, but it seemed to be separated from this world by some kind of barrier, and only the invisible energy of heaven and earth could pass through.
This can be seen from the sea water rolling around the crack, but not a single drop is able to penetrate through.
Unfortunately, only the Sword-Armored Flame Beast noticed this. Those mutant creatures with no intelligence rushed forward madly like crazy.
BANG BANG BANG BANG!!
Suddenly, the seabed was filled with the sound of collisions, and many mutant fish that were fast but not strong enough were even killed by the recoil force.
And those mutant fish that did not rush forward were unwilling to give up.
After these ordinary mutant creatures that were stunned by the collision recovered, they began to crowd together frantically. In the blink of an eye, a fish ball with a diameter of hundreds of meters appeared on the seabed.
In the frenzy, many weaker mutant fish were directly squeezed to death, their bodies bursting. For a moment, rich blood filled the air, mixed with many corpses and sank.
This madness lasted for about ten minutes, and then the Sword-Armored Flame Beast felt that the amount of energy from heaven and earth that was constantly surging in front of it was getting weaker and weaker.
Finally, the crack disappeared just as suddenly as it appeared.
This scene made the Sword-Armored Flame Beast thoughtful. It probably understood why the deeper the ocean, the thicker the energy of heaven and earth contained.
Compared with the controllable land, the ocean occupies a wider area, so naturally there are more cracks in the mythological world in this case.
There might even be a stable passage connecting to the mythical world ten thousand meters under the sea.
The Sword-Armored Flame Beast subconsciously thought of the deep-sea restricted area, those giant beasts that were as big as mountains and had terrifying strength that made humans feel helpless.
Given their size and strength, the normal ocean world simply cannot support them, unless...
At this time, as the world cracks in front disappeared, the crazy mutant fish gradually calmed down.
Then some ferocious creatures such as mutant sharks and squids, which were eight or ten meters long and stood higher in the food chain, looked at the crowded food around them with ferocious light in their eyes.
But what they didn't see was that in the distance a black and red mutant beast that looked like a deep-sea dragon slowly stood up, and in an instant a ferocious aura burst out.
Roar! The sea water exploded with a violent roar, and in an instant the Sword Armor Flame Beast crashed into the sea water, like a black light rushing into the mutant fish school.
Every time the claws fell, the head of a mutant beast over five meters long would explode, and every time the long black tail swung, it would pierce a mutant fish.
In the blink of an eye, more than a dozen huge mutant fish were killed.
The crack that suddenly appeared was of no use to the Sword-Armored Flame Beast, but the mutant fish that gathered around the crack were like food delivered to its mouth.
Faced with this gift from nature, it will naturally not be polite.
In just a few minutes, the sea water was dyed red with scarlet blood, and dozens of mutant fish corpses over five meters in length were floating on the seabed.
Among the corpses of these mutant fish, the hideous black and red mutant beast grabbed a mutant fish in each of its claws and devoured them happily.