I am the Clone of a Death Row Inmate

Chapter 179: Chapter 163: A Method to Absorb a Tier-4 Extract Beyond One’s Level (Part 2)

Liou Wenxin nodded slightly. ”As far as I know, there really isn’t a fourth method. But you can’t just collect materials blindly. You need to analyze them first to make sure they’re compatible with your skills. Even then, what you think is compatible might not actually be. It’s very possible to gather a material and have it fail to trigger a skill upgrade, so luck is also a key factor.”

Su Ze knew what she meant. It was just like how the Coral Worm Tentacles had triggered the upgrade for his ”Needle Strike” skill; even now, he didn’t feel the two were all that compatible.

He said, ”My main focus should be finding materials that can trigger an upgrade for ’Knowledge is Power.’ Do you have any thoughts on that?”

”Any material that can strengthen your constitution, or materials from exotic beasts with incredibly powerful physiques, could potentially trigger an upgrade for ’Knowledge is Power,’” Liou Wenxin said, indicating she couldn’t give a definitive answer. ”However, you could reference the methods Saint-level experts use to enhance their skills.”

”How do Saint-level experts enhance their skills?” Su Ze had never heard about this and wasn’t clear on the details.

”The simplest and most reliable method is to find a corresponding superior skill to overwrite the old one,” Liou Wenxin said, pausing for a moment. ”Take an Overlord who has evolved four times as an example. While they can only absorb one vial of a Tier Five extract, during their Overlord stage, they actually absorb many vials of Tier Four and lower extracts.

”These absorbed extracts don’t grant them new skills, but they can overwrite and upgrade the lower-tier skills they’ve already mastered.”

Su Ze focused, trying to grasp what Liou Wenxin was saying. He offered an example: ”Take one of my skills, say, ’Ant Power.’ It comes from the Tier One S-class exotic beast, the Giant Power Ant. After the Giant Power Ant’s second evolution, it becomes a Tier Two exotic beast, the Mountain-moving Ant, and its ’Ant Power’ skill is also upgraded. So, if I were a Saint-level Overlord, I could absorb a Mountain-moving Ant extract to enhance my ’Ant Power’ skill. Is that what you mean?”

”Something like that,” Liou Wenxin nodded. ”Directly absorbing the extract of a corresponding exotic beast’s more advanced evolutionary form is the most reliable option. But not all exotic beasts can evolve to high tiers. Take the Mountain-moving Ant you mentioned—it’s already extremely rare for one to evolve into a Tier Two beast. Finding a Tier Three would be incredibly difficult, and a Tier Four probably doesn’t exist anywhere on Blue Star. If that’s the case, how would you upgrade ’Ant Power’ to a Tier Four skill in the future?”

It clicked for Su Ze instantly. ”So, a superior skill doesn’t have to come from the same evolutionary line,” he said. ”Other high-level exotic beasts might also possess a superior version of ’Ant Power’!”

”Exactly,” Liou Wenxin said approvingly. ”But you aren’t a Saint-level expert, so it’s still an unknown whether directly consuming an extract will actually upgrade your skill. Still, it’s worth a try. At your current evolutionary level, consuming an extract from a tier lower than your own poses no danger.”

’I get it now.’ Su Ze had two paths to upgrade his skills at this stage. The first was to collect Saint-level materials compatible with his skills, such as Tree Marrow and Tier Four Coral Worm Tentacles.

The second was to try absorbing extracts from beasts that possessed superior versions of his own skills, like the Mountain-moving Ant extract.

’But I have to be careful about the extract’s tier. If I take a Tier Three extract, my body might absorb it directly as the fourth extract for my Cocoon Stage.’

That meant he couldn’t use this method to upgrade the ”Knowledge is Power” skill.

’Knowledge is Power’ was a Tier Two skill, so its superior version would be found in Tier Three extracts at the earliest.

In other words, he could only absorb up to Tier Two extracts, which meant he could only enhance his two Tier One skills: ’Ant Power’ and ’Rhino Charge’.

And he could only enhance them to the Tier Two level, at most.

To upgrade them to an even higher tier, he would have to wait until after his third evolution, or find compatible high-level materials.

Still, every little bit helped. Su Ze wasn’t about to pass up even a small improvement like this.

Having determined his next course of action, Su Ze left Liou Wenxin’s laboratory and returned to the villa.

The first thing he did was go to Evolutionary Technology’s website and order a vial of extract from the Tier Two Mountain-moving Ant.

As for his ’Rhino Charge’ skill, it came from the Tier One S-class exotic beast, the Unihorn Rhinoceros. This beast’s second evolutionary form was called the Mountain-Piercing Rhinoceros. Su Ze found its extract as well but just added it to his cart for now, not in a hurry to purchase it.

He planned to test the Mountain-moving Ant extract first. If it worked, he would then order the one for the Mountain-Piercing Rhinoceros.

He also looked into the other option: Saint-level materials that might be compatible with his skills. Su Ze checked both the Evolutionary Technology website and the Dongli National Treasury, but the prices were shockingly high!

Tier Four materials, even the less useful ones, were listed for hundreds of millions, some even over a billion.

It wasn’t that Su Ze couldn’t afford it, but the real issue was that there was no guarantee they would work.

’If only I could inspect the goods in person...’ Su Ze thought, reminded of protagonists in novels who could always find treasures by sifting through piles of junk at street stalls.

’If I could just inspect them on-site, I could use my own senses to determine which materials are useful to me.’

’I should probably put material gathering on hold for now. Maybe I can find a chance to browse the Dongli National Treasury in person later...’ Su Ze thought he’d talk to Mr. Gu about it. Perhaps he could pull some strings.

...

While Su Ze was waiting for his Mountain-moving Ant extract to be delivered, he suddenly received a message from Ye Jin.

With the ”Crab Slave” murder case concluded, she had finally handed off all her work and was able to come to Dongli University.

Furthermore, she had already completed the paperwork with Dongli University and would be returning as a graduate student to continue her studies in the field of evolution.

Speaking of the paperwork, Ye Jin herself had applied a long time ago, but it kept getting held up, and she had no idea what the bottleneck was.

In the end, she had to ask her grandmother, Ning Yushen, to handle it. Only when Ning Yushen personally intervened was the paperwork smoothly approved.

What she didn’t know was what Ning Yushen had posted in the ”Dongli Guardian Gods” group chat:

[Ning Yushen: @Zhou Wenshan, what’s so wrong with my granddaughter wanting to continue her education? If you dare reject her application, I’ll tear that school of yours to the ground!]

Su Ze, ever the pot-stirrer, was thrilled to hear Ye Jin was coming and gave her a warm welcome.

[Su Ze: Ye Jin, when do you get in?]

[Ye Jin: My flight is this afternoon, so I won’t get in until tonight.]

[Su Ze: Tonight? Perfect. I’ll come pick you up at the airport.]

[Ye Jin: Okay. Sorry, I have to board in a minute and turn off my phone, so I can’t chat anymore.]

[Su Ze: No problem. We’ll talk when you get here.]

Not long after their chat ended, the doorbell rang. It was a delivery from Evolutionary Technology.

Su Ze opened the door and signed for the package. Evolutionary Technology’s delivery service was impressively fast. A Tier Two extract like this was always in stock, especially in the capital, Dongping City.

He’d ordered it at noon, and it had arrived by the afternoon.

With the Tier Two Mountain-moving Ant extract in hand, Su Ze reflected on an interesting detail. The Giant Power Ant was an S-class beast at Tier One, but its evolution, the Mountain-moving Ant, was only A-class at Tier Two. This proved that an S-class beast wasn’t guaranteed to remain at the top of its tier after evolving.

This didn’t matter to Su Ze, though. He was only absorbing the Mountain-moving Ant extract to enhance his ’Ant Power’ skill.

Normally, a person had to fully digest one extract before taking another. But since Su Ze was consuming a lower-tier extract purely to enhance an existing skill, that rule didn’t apply. He had already confirmed this with Liou Wenxin.

So, after making a few brief preparations, he tilted his head back and downed the Mountain-moving Ant extract.

Consuming a lower-tier extract seemed to dilute its flavor; it was as tasteless as plain water.

The extract dissolved the moment it entered his mouth. There was virtually no digestive process; it was absorbed completely and instantaneously.