It had never occurred to Xu Zhi that something like this would happen.
A mechanical voice came from the hatchery of the Insecta.
"Shall I exterminate them?"
Xu Zhi had absolute control over the spores that he had produced and the ten thousand species of organisms that had evolved from these spores, not to mention these tiny bugapes in front of him.
He thought about it for a moment, then whispered, "Gilgamesh has been incorporated with the genes of the white ants once and is now much more powerful than his peers. His lifespan is also several times that of his peers. Is this counted as transcendence?"
"No, this is not transcendence. He has merely taken the first step towards opening the genetic locks. True transcendence only happens when one breaks away from complete passive evolution and gains total control of one's own genetic strands. He is unable to adjust his gene sequence to sort out the blank genetic fragments, so there is no place to incorporate a third gene."
Xu Zhi sighed. Just as he had expected, it was not that easy.
Even when an entire planet was filled with these spores, only a handful of bugape heroes successfully attaining transcendence could appear. How could there be three here?
These three people could be incorporated with a second set of genes not only because they had extremely strong willpower and great talent, but also because they still had large gaps in their genetic strands.
But the second set of genes was already the limit.
If they were unable to sort out their own genetic strands and adjust blank locations for the gene segments, it would be difficult to incorporate a third set of genes.
Although he was not yet able to do it, Gilgamesh undoubtedly had some potential. But having potential did not mean that he had the right to be so arrogant and tyrannical, as well as to destroy the ecosystem in this sandbox and bring about a barbaric civilization.
"Nest Mind, there's no need for extermination."
Xu Zhi thought for a moment, then calmly said, "Let me see exactly how strong Gilgamesh has grown for him to dare to provoke me."
In fact, Xu Zhi had been strengthened by the two events of mass extinctions. Not only had the side effects of chemotherapy been fully dispelled, but his body was also much stronger. He had even arrived at the level of someone who frequently exercises and work out, albeit barely.
And Gilgamesh's great strength was nothing more than what the genes of the white ants could give. While ants could lift a huge load of weight many times greater than their own, could they be a lethal threat to humans?
Hardly.
The ant-sized Gilgamesh was holding a sword with the strength of an ant. Xu Zhi wanted to see how strong he was so that he could conduct a round of assessment.
Rumble!!
On the ground, countless bows and arrows were firing in unison. This was Sumer's most elite army, yet it was still nothing more than a large swarm of ants.
Their arrows might be sharp, but they were just too weak. They might have the bodies of ants, but they did not possess the huge strength of ants. Sharp swords and long spears were jabbed at Xu Zhi's legs, but they merely got stuck on his thick blue jeans.
It was like going on an outing to the mountains, where tiny thorns from the plants around happened to get stuck onto one's trouser legs. Their attacks were, similarly, equally insignificant.
"Even the most elite army cannot pierce through his clothing?" Gilgamesh thought anxiously, but he soon calmed down, strode forward, and said, "I have already guessed as much. The elite army that conquered the forest and countless huge beasts with me would be useless when pitted against the size of the Great Beast of Wisdom."
Tap!
He took a slight step forward then flew seven to eight meters high up into the air, looking like a white shadow of snow. He leaped onto the heel of Xu Zhi's shoes and moved along the length of Xu Zhi's blue jeans. Both his hands were holding onto his sword as he continuously jumped upwards, and in the blink of an eye, he had charged his way up to Xu Zhi's knees.
"That's so fast. His speed is almost comparable to that of a flea's."
There was a slight change in Xu Zhi's expression.
An ant displaying such a terrifying jumping power that was as explosive as that of a flea was indeed no small feat.
Xu Zhi waved his hand to swat him off.
Tap!
"In your dreams!" With his sword in hand, the old Hero King bent over, assumed a crouching stance, and made a gentle leap forward. He moved so quickly that it was though he was the world's swiftest cheetah.
Xu Zhi stretched out his hand and tried to swat Gilgamesh off again.
Tap!
Gilgamesh continued to jump rapidly, deftly leaping up in a zig-zag path at lightning speed. He climbed upwards along the folds of Xu Zhi's jeans in a matchless dignified manner. "So, this is the Great Beast of Wisdom, is it? Just the wind created by an effortless movement can nearly blow me away."
It was as if he was climbing up an ancient totem Pillar of Heaven that was deep within the clouds.
From a human's perspective, the surface of a pair of jeans would be flat and even, but for ant-sized creatures, it was a fine blue mesh canvas woven of silk threads that made it extremely simple climbing terrain.
"Your Majesty, Ishtar has come to render support!"
At this moment, another figure, the King of the Savanna, Ishtar, also arrived having rushed to the scene.
She was a woman with a voluptuous figure and sleek muscles. Firmly gripping her giant warhammer made of beast's skeletal bones in her hand, she leaped up gently. Xu Zhi was surprised to see that she too jumped as high as seven to eight meters up in the air and easily landed on his trouser leg.
"Here comes another one."
Xu Zhi reached out to grab Ishtar.
Faced with a palm as vast as a mountain, Ishtar made a gentle leap and dodged it and continued to jump upwards along the length of Xu Zhi's huge body.
She also possessed very strong fighting skills and had fought against huge beasts for countless years. Having been through numerous battles, her strong, muscular female body was covered with scars. She certainly brought no shame to the great name of King of the Savanna.
"Her movements are also very fast, but I'm almost done with the test."
Xu Zhi thought for a moment, then suddenly stretched his hand out with greater speed and slapped it at Ishtar.
"For your size, you're very fast. But because of our sizes, I'm much faster."
Bam!
The expression on her face changed dramatically. She did not even have the time to react. It was like she was a black mosquito swatted by a human's palm and was instantly sent flying backward, coughing out mouthfuls of blood.
The next second, Xu Zhi stretched out his hand again. With a mighty wind following in its wake, his palm struck Gilgamesh with a smashing blow, as effortlessly as crushing dry weeds and smashing rotten wood.
"NO! He actually…" There was great shock on Gilgamesh's face and though he only had a split second to react, he wielded his sword with such incomparably incredible skill and brought it up just in time to shield his body...
The palm struck the blade of the sword.
WHAM!!
Gilgamesh was sent flying backward, rapidly descending from a high altitude.
The two of them had climbed up to Xu Zhi's waist, about a meter or so above the ground. For their size, this was the equivalent of falling from a thousand meters high.
Tiny ants could fall from a place that was a meter or two high and be fine because of their body structure, which was not comprised of a skeleton. But these mini bugapes in front of him had a human's skeletal structure, so falling from a high altitude of a thousand meters basically spelled death.
However, after falling from a height of a thousand meters or so, they coughed out mouthfuls of blood. Although the bones in their bodies were all completely shattered, they did not die instantly. They were extremely tenacious when it came to vitality.
Xu Zhi was surprised to see that wound that Gilgamesh managed to leave on his hand, where blood was starting to ooze out, "He actually cut me! What superb sword technique. For their size, they indeed possess a terrifying strength."
"If they were enlarged to a size that was proportional to that of a human, they would have been like superhumans, leaping onto roofs and vaulting over walls, or even be able to dodge bullets and possess a terrifying vitality that allows them to fall from a helicopter thousand meters in the air without dying. That's similar to the frightening Hulk or Spiderman!"
This was already the first stage of gaining the powerful abilities of a super species!
Just as expected, Xu Zhi's speculation had not been wrong. The smaller the body size, the easier it was to accumulate energy, and the easier to was to evoke qualitative changes.
But even so, an ant-sized Hulk or Spiderman was only a miniature creature that was slightly thicker than a strand of hair. Such a small creature could not pose a fatal threat to Xu Zhi.
"One move."
"I actually lost. I only managed to leave a cut on his skin…"
At that moment, Gilgamesh laughed miserably. He was lying in a pool of blood with a body of shattered bones as he looked up at Xu Zhi, the giant surrounded by clouds, who was radiating a faint white glow from head to toe.