I am the Clone of a Death Row Inmate

Su Ze’s attention was immediately drawn to the golden drop of blood, and it wasn’t hard for him to deduce its origin.

The Metalization Belt was a Bloodline Divine Artifact, infused with a drop of blood from the Dou Race’s Daman Ancestral God.

But when Su Ze absorbed the Metalization Belt, he was unable to absorb this drop of Ancestral God blood, so it was left behind.

Sensing the immense Bloodline Power contained within this single drop of Ancestral God blood, Su Ze fell into thought.

‘This blood contains a portion of an Ancestral God’s power. Although Senior Mr. Ao’s Ancestral God body is still on Zexing, it’s nothing more than an empty shell.’

‘All the energy in that body has been depleted, leaving only a pure physical form.’

‘But this drop of Ancestral God blood was left by the Daman Ancestral God at his peak. It’s filled with potent Bloodline Power and has numerous uses.’

This was a pleasant surprise for Su Ze.

He could auction this drop of blood off, and its price would be comparable to the other ninth-rank Divine Artifact, the Dimension Ring.

This was because the drop of Ancestral God blood itself also possessed a tracking effect.

The great clans didn’t want the Dimension Ring for its own sake, but for its ability to track other bloodlines of the Daman Ancestral God.

For Su Ze, this was undoubtedly the best way to maximize the value of the Ancestral God blood.

Su Ze considered keeping the drop of Ancestral God blood, thinking it might be useful someday. However, that day seemed too far in the future, and possessing it came with certain risks. Therefore, he decided to auction it off along with the Dimension Ring.

Just as Su Ze made his decision, his body finally finished absorbing the energy from the Metalization Belt. His “Sponge Body” skill was upgraded again, becoming the first ninth-rank skill Su Ze had mastered!

Sponge Body (Ninth-Rank Divine Skill): Metalizes the body’s surface, rendering it indestructible. In this state, it can absorb all attacks and convert them into energy stored within the body until saturation is reached. This stored energy can be released at once in an indiscriminate area-of-effect attack, after which the skill enters a cooldown. Alternatively, the energy can be extracted to create energy fruits. Condenses a “Regeneration Core” inside the body; if the user enters a near-death state, the core will automatically shatter and release life energy, instantly healing all injuries. The Regeneration Core can also be shattered voluntarily. The user can channel internal energy to be converted into life energy, accelerating the speed at which the Regeneration Core re-forms.

The ninth-rank “Sponge Body” skill had, in fact, become something of a misnomer. Su Ze felt he could rename it “Steel Body.”

Having absorbed the “metalization” ability from the Metalization Belt, he noted a slight incompatibility. The belt’s metalization was a state that could be maintained indefinitely as long as one could sustain the energy cost, which didn’t perfectly align with the “Sponge Body” skill.

In a way, Sponge Body’s “energy saturation” limit restricted the full potential of “metalization.”

‘The “metalization” effect would be a better fit for the “Self-Control” skill.’

Therefore, Su Ze planned to eventually extract the “metalization” ability and integrate it into “Self-Control.”

However, the Metalization Belt’s ability to absorb physical attacks and convert them into stored energy had integrated perfectly with “Sponge Body.”

Now, “Sponge Body” could absorb and convert both physical and energy-based attacks.

After the upgrade, “Sponge Body’s” energy capacity had increased significantly, allowing it to withstand more attacks.

Still, Su Ze felt the skill was too convoluted—like a chaotic stew, a jumble of effects pieced together without true integration or harmony.

Like many of his other skills, it was bloated and in need of a comprehensive refinement.

Su Ze had a faint feeling that thoroughly mastering and integrating these skills was the key to upgrading them to the level of Ancestral Divine Skills.

‘I have a ninth-rank skill, and I’ve gathered enough Power of Origin. Now I just need to upgrade my “Knowledge and Power” skill to the eighth rank, hunt a Sun God expert to plunder a new skill, and I’ll have met all the conditions for promotion to Sun God…’

‘I don’t necessarily have to hunt a Sun God, either. I could just buy a live ninth-rank beast to plunder. That part isn’t too difficult. The real issue is the time it takes to digest the Evolutionary Material in my body.’

Between plundering ninth-rank beasts or Sun God experts and the Origin Genes he had seized from bandits, Su Ze had accumulated far too much Evolutionary Material in his body.

He couldn’t undergo his ninth evolution until he had digested all of it.

Without the help of the Sands of Time, digesting all this Evolutionary Material would take him hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

This made him even more determined to obtain the Super Star.

The Chlorophyll Capsules, combined with the Super Star, would be a substitute for the Sands of Time, saving him an immense amount of time.

Su Ze called for Dou Yi, who was waiting outside. He handed him the drop of Ancestral God blood and instructed him to take it to the Alliance Commerce Association tomorrow to use as an additional bargaining chip in their negotiations.

While these two Bloodline Divine Artifacts were precious and could likely fetch a price several times that of a normal ninth-rank Divine Artifact, they still couldn’t compare to a single Ancestral Divine Artifact.

For a major organization like the Alliance Commerce Association, this was a decent deal, but it probably wouldn’t even rank among the biggest transactions they had ever handled.

Therefore, the chance that the Alliance Commerce Association would abandon its principles for profit and seize the Bloodline Divine Artifacts was practically nonexistent.

However, if he were to approach the Saint Race Commerce Association for this deal, the risk would be much higher. Not because the Saint Race Commerce Association would covet the two Bloodline Divine Artifacts for themselves, but because they wouldn’t want them to fall into the hands of other great clans.