Ultragenic Warlord

Chapter 325: Superior Limit Fragments

Zhang Lie soothed her gently. "Don't worry, Sun Mengmeng. After consuming the potion, begin to meditate and guide the energy throughout your body. I'll handle the rest."

Sun Mengmeng did seem more relaxed, but her face turned even redder. Because of her fire-attuned framework, her genetic energy tended to be particularly explosive. When she consumed Potion #2 and her genetic energy had flared up, all her clothing had been incinerated and she had been naked in front of Zhang Lie. The residual embarrassment from that event continued to challenge her.

Nevertheless, when Zhang Lie handed her a vial of sapphire liquid, she reached out for it almost immediately—Potion #3! This was the potion that she had dreamt of for so long. She took a deep breath, steeled herself against the possibility that the exact same scenario as last time would happen again, and downed the potion in one gulp.

"Thank you, Captain!" As the potion entered her body, Sun Mengmeng sat down on the floor cross-legged. Her fire-attuned genetic energy, like an erupting volcano, began to spew out of her body. Her skin began to steam, and she felt as though she were burning up in a pyre of flame.

A pair of large hands pressed down on her shoulders, sending jets of cooling genetic energy into her body, providing her with such relief that she barely avoided moaning. If her body were an active volcano, then these two palms were like an arctic geyser, able to counteract any heat that her body was able to produce.

No accident occurred; the entire process went surprisingly smoothly, so much so that Sun Mengmeng herself could barely believe it. She didn't even experience any discomfort at all—in fact, it felt as though she had had a refreshing cold shower on a hot, sticky day. She felt soothed and rejuvenated all over, and the feeling was so amazing that she wished she could go through it all over again.

Unfortunately, the energy from the potion wasn't boundless. As it was fully absorbed by her body, the two palms left her shoulders. Zhang Lie's assistance had been perfect. As he released her, he said gently, "Alright, try to sense how your body is feeling."

Potion #3 would significantly increase the strength of a hunter's body as a side effect—what determined how many gene fragments hunters could absorb were the strength of their bodies and their status as a lifeform. The second factor was immaterial to Sun Mengmeng and the others, who were still mortal lifeforms of the first realm.

The first factor, the strength of their bodies, referred not to their muscular strength, but rather their genetic structure. Potion #3 worked by expanding the strength of their bodies to increase the number of gene fragments they would be able to absorb. Because Potion #3 dealt with superior limit fragments, the increase in strength would naturally also be scaled up.

At that moment, Sun Mengmeng felt as though her base strength had increased tenfold. This sort of dramatic increase disoriented her; she felt as though she were in a dream. After all, each superior limit fragment was more impactful than even a corresponding peak gene fragment, and Sun Mengmeng's body had just been primed to accept fifty such fragments.

No wonder Zhang Lie had taken down his opponents in the Void Cup so easily—he had had such a tremendous boost! Surely he had obtained superior limit fragments by that point.

Sun Mengmeng gave Zhang Lie a deep bow. "Captain, thank you!"

Zhang Lie only smiled. "There's no need to be so formal with me. Send the next member in, will you?"

Team Zenith's loyalty and hard work had won Zhang Lie's absolute trust, and he intended to sponsor and cultivate their development as much as he could.

Sun Mengmeng nodded, but as she walked out of the room, she couldn't help but feel a pang of loss, one that even her joy at growing stronger couldn't overcome. She had been harboring feelings for Zhang Lie for quite a while, though she only gradually grew to recognize exactly what she was doing.

After the incident with Potion #2, she found herself less and less able to hide these feelings, but from her recent encounter with him, she could clearly sense that he treated her just as he would any other member of Team Zenith. This was normal, of course, but she couldn't help feeling a sharp stab of abject refusal.

It was true that Zhang Lie was a young man in his twenties, prone to hormonal urges—but he was also a reincarnator. Of the regrets in his past life, a particularly significant one was a romantic relationship that had gone awry. It wasn't that Zhang Lie looked down on Sun Mengmeng, but he felt as though he had to process his feelings over that relationship before starting a new one, so he could only pretend to turn a blind eye to Sun Mengmeng's feelings.

After Sun Mengmeng left the chamber, she called for Zhou Ying to enter.

"Captain, I'm here. What would you like me to do?" Zhou Ying spoke up. Her voice was mellifluous and rarely heard; she tended to be quiet, but her scant remarks were always insightful.

Zhou Ying looked as though she was in a particularly good mood, and Zhang Lie was rather surprised by how lively she had become. He still thought of her as a quiet, bookish young woman, but it was evident that she had grown since then.

Much of her reticent nature stemmed from a lack of self-confidence, but ever since joining Team Zenith, she had slowly grown more comfortable with who she was. Although she was still rather quiet, she had certainly developed by leaps and bounds.