Super Gene

“Bao’er, help Dad get another one.” Han Sen thought if there was a sacred-blood beast soul up for grabs from the mushrooms, he couldn’t leave satisfied with an ordinary one.

Bao’er went to pick one up, but Han Sen suddenly blurted out, “That one? That’s only like the size of a fist. Surely it can’t have anything good inside it. Instead, grab that big one there.”

Bao’er grabbed it and passed the football-sized mushroom over to Han Sen. It was much heavier than the one he last received.

“It’s obvious this is the sort to hold something good. The bigger it is, the more lifeforce it has absorbed. It must be a few tiers above the rest,” Han Sen said and then squeezed it.

Pop!

The football-sized mushroom was broken. A white light quickly penetrated Han Sen’s Sea of Soul.

“Ordinary Beast Soul Grenade Mushroom obtained.”

“Sh*t! Why is it just an ordinary beast soul again? Are the smaller ones better?” Han Sen wondered.

“Dad! I got another sacred-blood beast soul,” Bao’er happily exclaimed, having squeezed another mushroom.

“I must have done it in an incorrect position. Surely, I cannot be that unlucky.” Han Sen bit down on his own teeth and spoke to Bao’er, then. He told her, “Bao’er, help me collect another one. This time, I would like the smallest one you can find. It seems the big ones aren’t compatible with my horoscope.”

“What is a horoscope?” Bao’er looked at Han Sen with much confusion.

“You don’t need to know. Go get me a small one,” Han Sen said hurriedly.

Bao’er complied and picked up a small mushroom. Then, she tossed it to Han Sen.

Han Sen caught the mushroom. Before he squeezed it, he knelt to pray. He closed his eyes and said, “Buddha, God, Mary, please let me have a sacred-blood beast soul. I will pray to you every day if you give me one.”

After Han Sen said his prayer, he was going to break the mushroom. But before he did, he suddenly turned around and chose what he deemed to be a lucky spot to pop it in.

“Ordinary Beast Soul Grenade Mushroom obtained.”

“F*ck! The RNG of these ‘shrooms must be broken. It’s not that my luck is bad, this cave is just wonky, with skewed probabilities. I just need to break a few more and I’m sure to get what I need.” Han Sen put aside his superstitions and faith, and this time took stock in science.

“Dad, I got a sacred-blood beast soul. What did you get?” Bao’er gleefully said.

“Something similar. Collect me a few more, would you?” Han Sen coughed.

Bao’er did as she was told and picked up a few more for him. He accepted the mushrooms and took a deep breath. “Those gods are useless. Science is where it’s at.”

“Ordinary Beast Soul Grenade Mushroom obtained.”

“Dad, I got another sacred-blood beast soul!”

“Ordinary Beast Soul Grenade Mushroom obtained.”

“Boring. Is sacred-blood the only thing I can get?”

“Ordinary Beast Soul Grenade Mushroom obtained.”

“Dad! I got a super beast soul.”

“Blergh!”

Han Sen almost coughed up blood, and his hands trembled hearing this. Although he had many more mushrooms, he was afraid of wasting them all.

But Han Sen thought to himself, “Bao’er sure is different. She always manages to get high-class beast souls. Maybe my luck is average and these are the common results.”

“What are you guys doing? What are those mushrooms for?” Ling Mei’er had been watching for a while, but she didn’t understand.

Han Sen’s eyes darted her way. He provided her one of his mushrooms and said, “Break this for me.”

In the first three sanctuaries, if spirits did not obey a human, they could not use beast souls. He wasn’t sure if that’s how things worked here or not.

If spirits could not obtain a beast soul, he wondered what she’d get when she broke it.

Han Sen was excited to see the result. Surely she wouldn’t receive absolutely nothing, even if she couldn’t make use of beast souls.

When Ling Mei’er watched Han Sen and Bao’er compete in breaking the mushrooms, she wanted to join in on the fun. Now that she had been given one, she broke it quickly.

Pop!

A white light exited the mushroom and flew into Ling Mei’er’s forehead.

Ling Mei’er looked surprised and said, “I got a primitive beast soul!”

Han Sen felt frightened. Although it was only a primitive beast soul, it was better than what he had managed to get.

Han Sen gave the two he had left to Ling Mei’er, and she managed to obtain another primitive beast soul and a mutant beast soul.

“What a piece of crap! Back in the day, I used to get loads of high-class beast souls, the number of which could circle the Alliance three times. Who cares about these stupid beast souls that you don’t even have to fight to obtain. I don’t need them.” Han Sen’s eyes twitched as he wrought a painful smirk.

Bao’er walked into the mushrooms and picked up more, merry as ever.

“Dad, they are for you,” Bao’er said, trying to hand over a few more mushrooms to him.

“I don’t want them. Squeeze them yourself, if you want.” Han Sen thought it was a waste for him to break them.

There were around a hundred beast souls in that cave, and at least if Bao’er broke them all, they’d each earn a bunch of sacred-blood beast souls.

Still, Han Sen was interested in learning what the Grenade Mushroom beast souls were capable of. They were all the same, just of different levels.

Han Sen had never seen a plant beast soul before, so he summoned one of his ordinary Grenade Mushrooms. A white mushroom appeared in Han Sen’s hand, and he was quite surprised to see that it looked no different than the mushrooms he had broken to obtain it.

“Can I use this like a grenade?” Han Sen threw the grenade out.

Pang!

The Grenade Mushroom hit the floor, and a couple of seconds later, detonated. The explosion was in the shape of a mushroom cloud, and it devastated the rocks around where it blew up.

“Sh*t! I really can use it like a grenade. If the ordinary class grenades are this strong, I wonder how powerful the sacred-blood and super ones are.” Han Sen was rather excited.

“It’s a shame it is a one-time-use-only beast soul, though,” Han Sen thought, eyeing the rest greedily.

Suddenly, a scream echoed through the cave. Something was approaching them.