The life tier that had been locked away since activating the Collector finally completed the monumental breakthrough from 0 to 1.
Just as the evaluation stated, this was an incredibly important step, the chasm that lay between ordinary people and transcendents, yet now he had crossed it in a single stride.
Accompanying this achievement was the fourth skill slot that Cheng Ye had been dreaming about day and night.
This meant that even if he equipped both 'Heart-Protecting Fire' and 'Wild Grass Physique', he would still have two permanent slots available for learning skills, completely eliminating the need to slow down his mastery of basic abilities for the sake of transcendent power.
But what was even more surprising was that besides the skill slot expansion, an entirely new category had appeared out of nowhere on the panel.
"Ability?"
Cheng Ye was startled, having never imagined that obtaining a transcendent skill could accidentally unlock a new function.
The fire-red 'Flame Eagle Symbiotic State' flickered slightly, like an animated image, sometimes taking the form of text, sometimes condensing into a virtual shadow of a Flame Eagle flapping its wings.
If he hadn't found the Tears of the Horned Starfish, if he hadn't had a large number of search samples as reference.
Cheng Ye might not have been able to fully understand the weight of these words but now, a clear thought crashed into his mind.The symbiotic state was probably the correct way to unlock transcendent abilities in the transitional version when the S4 virus rampage had ended but S5 had not yet begun.
"Could it be that in this state, humans can absorb the power of transcendent creatures and transform themselves?"
Cheng Ye sat quietly in contemplation, the scene he had witnessed from the eagle's perspective once again surfacing in his mind.
The magnificent eruption of a volcano, lava pouring down like a celestial river, yet all of this was caused by just a casual strike from a human figure.
That kind of power that could reshape heaven and earth at will was simply beyond imagination. Even in a primordial world, it would count as the divine abilities of immortals who could summon wind and rain.
If such transcendents were not uncommon at that time, it would hardly be surprising that Earth had become the wasteland it is today.
Ten to twenty years would have been enough time for these "immortals" to turn the entire planet into a meat grinder.
You destroy one of my cities, I overturn one of your continents. The foundation of human civilization would be as fragile as a french fry under this level of power collision.
It might have been better if all the immortals were enemies of humanity, as perhaps human technological weapons would still have had a fighting chance but the problem was that behind each transcendent, they weren't fighting alone, they had backing from factions, support from corporations, and even formed transcendent alliances.
The so-called conflicts had long ceased to be personal grudges, but had dragged the fate of countless ordinary people along, pulling the entire world into the abyss.
If not for the S4 virus appearing out of nowhere, eliminating all transcendents in an almost unreasonable manner, Earth today might have taken a different form.
Perhaps it would be an oligarchic era ruled by a few transcendents, or perhaps a deformed civilization where transcendent power coexisted with technology. But one thing was certain: during this painful transformation, the casualties among ordinary people would have been far greater than in the current wasteland era.
So when later humanity wanted to touch transcendent power again, they certainly wouldn't dare to follow the methods of previous generations.
Even if someone still preserved transcendent artifacts from those days, they absolutely wouldn't dare to use these things to step into transcendence.
After all, following the development pattern of previous virus generations, the S4 virus surely still had factions preserving samples, and might not even have finished spreading yet, just not affecting ordinary people.
As long as they were discovered, a virus sample thrown their way, and ordinary people could still kill transcendents.
"Symbiosis with transcendent creatures"
"Could this be a clever method that lets transcendent creatures bear the risk while one safely obtains transcendent power?"
Cheng Ye could only speculate, but regardless of whether this was the case, he had finally touched the threshold of utilizing transcendent abilities and gained the qualification to continue investigating the truth.
Suppressing the excitement in his heart, Cheng Ye turned his gaze back to the skill slots and gently clicked the expand button behind Heart-Protecting Fire.
This detailed explanation function didn't exist for ordinary skills, but the special nature of transcendent skills had long made him accustomed to such surprises.
The text on the panel shifted accordingly, and a detailed explanation expanded below Heart-Protecting Fire:
[Heart-Protecting Fire (lv1; Transcendent Talent)]
[Description]: Legend tells of a Crimson Jade Fire Lotus that took root and grew in lava, giving birth to three clusters of origin fire.
The Body-Consuming Fire turns all forms to ash upon contact, the Heart-Protecting Fire protects against myriad calamities without harming oneself, and the Soul-Extinguishing Fire can annihilate any spiritual entity.
Obtaining any one of these three fires grants transcendence.
[Growth Value]: Lv1 (0.0001%)
[Growth Method]:
1. Heart-Protecting Fire has been bound to a transcendent seed (Flame Eagle juvenile). The Collector must raise this juvenile, and its growth will synchronously improve the Heart-Protecting Fire's level.
2. Detected that the Collector has chosen the joint route and possesses the function 'Information Fusion', unlocking:
Fusion with special skills marked with * can provide additional growth value
Note: Fusion has a certain probability of causing skill mutation, leading to irreversible consequences. Please attempt with caution.
[Current Efficacy]:
1. When equipped, automatically immune to ranged mental interference effects (levels below Lv6)
2. When equipped, can activate special ability: Flame Eagle Symbiotic State
"It's actually a growth-type skill?"
After reading all the information, Cheng Ye was somewhat surprised.
Among the skills he had found so far, there were active skills like Iron Body, passive skills like Wild Grass Physique, and a large number of ordinary skills that could be learned through training.
But this kind of skill that could continuously grow according to certain conditions, Heart-Protecting Fire was the first.
"The description says Heart-Protecting Fire is one of the three origin fires from the Crimson Jade Fire Lotus. Hmm, it should be the fire lotus I saw when I switched to the eagle's perspective."
Thinking of this, Cheng Ye suddenly felt a trace of doubt.
If the Flame Eagle on Director Liu's shoulder was the eagle that originally fused with the lotus's power.
Then why would the skill level of the three fires be the lowest Lv1?
Or was it that Director Liu's Flame Eagle was only a descendant of the original transcendent Flame Eagle, just like his current chick, inheriting only a trace of weak transcendent power?
Perhaps that eagle soaring through the heavens had long since perished, and today's Flame Eagles had no direct bloodline connection to it, but later another eagle inherited this power, allowing the transcendent legacy to continue?
If this were truly the case, what kind of terrifying power would the original transcendent Flame Eagle have possessed?
"Hmm, this might be correct, because Director Liu is also trying to find ways to enhance his own power. He chose to fuse with the Corrupt Vine, which has striking similarities to my current use of charge values for information fusion."
Cheng Ye suddenly recalled the scene of Director Liu injecting Corrupt Vine into his own body.
Without the intuitive panel display of status, Director Liu had relied purely on his own exploration to forge a path of improvement.
Taking on the enormous risk of infection source backlash, using his own body as a medium, attempting to obtain additional growth value.
How similar this was to the panel's hint about "fusing with skills marked with *"?
It's just that Director Liu's method was more primitive and more dangerous.
Thinking of this, Cheng Ye turned his attention to the ability category and clicked on the detailed description of Flame Eagle Symbiotic State.
[Flame Eagle Symbiotic State (Rudimentary Form)]
[Description]: When activated, will complete transcendent symbiosis with the Flame Eagle juvenile, gaining skill sharing, attribute sharing, and ability sharing
[Current Status]: Rudimentary Form
[Currently Shareable Skills]:
Flame Eagle Fire Devouring (Lv0, None, can devour small amounts of flame to recover from injuries)
Air Suspension (Lv0, None, gains brief air suspension ability when falling from heights)
[Currently Shareable Attributes]: None (Due to the Collector's current attributes far exceeding those of the Flame Eagle juvenile, will be unable to provide any effective attribute sharing)
[Currently Shareable Abilities]: Kindling Power (Lv0, None, slightly increased resistance to high temperatures)
Sure enough, after entering symbiotic state, all abilities of the transcendent creature could be fully shared.
"Hey, Flame Eagle Fire Devouring?!"
Cheng Ye's gaze swept across and fixed on the shareable skills category, couldn't help but be overjoyed.
When searching Director Liu during the day, he had envied this skill. Being able to recover from injuries by devouring fire, combined with Wild Grass Physique and Iron Body, could further strengthen his envisioned monster route.
He hadn't expected to acquire it in this manner now.
Of course, the Fire Devouring of Director Liu's Flame Eagle was Lv1 perfect level, while his was only Lv0, without even a rating, completely blank in every sense.
But was this really a problem?
"Raising this little fellow well, the stronger it becomes, won't I also become stronger?"
Cheng Ye immediately felt somewhat excited.
This was much more satisfying than a dry transcendent skill.
As long as the Flame Eagle juvenile continued to grow, in the future he could directly inherit a large number of high-level skills and unlock various abilities he couldn't even imagine.
Even more so...
Just thinking about the attribute bonuses brought by the Tears of the Horned Starfish made Cheng Ye's heartbeat quicken.
Compared to the frail human body, transcendent creatures clearly had much higher growth potential.
Just like Director Liu's Flame Eagle, he couldn't even get close to it, couldn't even take a close look without being suppressed by life tier. He truly didn't know what kind of strength Director Liu himself would possess after symbiosis.
"Hmm, the current question is, I don't know what this chick's growth rate is like..."
Cheng Ye looked down at the chick that had just finished eating on the bed. The little fellow was lying on its back napping, its pink beak slightly opening and closing, looking adorably naive.
The fire basin he had found, with its three flame pillars inside, could solve the short-term food problem.
Especially after the chick ate the Dry Wood Fire, it actually gained Kindling Power.
Although it was a weakened version, after symbiosis, it could still bring him increased high-temperature resistance.
In the future, after devouring sufficient quantities, perhaps after symbiosis he could directly become immune to high temperatures.
As for when the three flame pillars were finished, the pedestrian street factory should be built by then.
At that time, purchasing dry wood and coal wouldn't be difficult. As long as the chick's appetite wasn't too outrageous, supply shouldn't be a problem.
"This again shows the benefits of staying in a large sanctuary city. As long as you have money, these materials can be bought easily, no need to go out and collect everything yourself."
"However... there will be another expense to add."
Cheng Ye smiled, his thoughts suddenly taking a turn. Would charcoal also be graded differently?
Just like milk powder, which also came in different grades, with domestic and imported varieties.
Thinking deeper, if this were Earth without transcendent power, finding natural flames would still be quite difficult, limited to just those few types but in the current environment, who knew if there were naturally born "strange fires"?
Lost in these thoughts, Cheng Ye couldn't help but laugh, quickly shaking his head to dismiss these wild fantasies.
After a while, he remembered he hadn't yet tried what the symbiotic state actually felt like.
"Little fellow, this is our first symbiosis together. If you feel uncomfortable, make sure to speak up."
Cheng Ye gently poked the chick's wing with his fingertip, his tone carrying a hint of curiosity.
Unexpectedly, the chick actually chirped "yi yi ya ya" twice, as if responding to him.
"Hey, worthy of being a transcendent creature, already this clever right after being born."
Thinking of the little black creature in Quarantine Zone C, Cheng Ye took a deep breath and followed the information transmitted by the Collector to focus his mind and calm his spirit.
Entering symbiotic state was very simple, just like operating the panel, requiring only mental intention to complete.
Previously when he controlled the chick's body, the chick was the main subject but now, he needed to let the chick attach to himself.
A barely perceptible suction force rose from within his body, and the chick on the bed instantly disappeared, returning to the spiritual space.
The next moment, Cheng Ye felt warmth spread across his forehead. He instinctively turned to look in the mirror.
He saw a flame-shaped pale mark appear on his forehead, with several delicate patterns extending from the corners of his left and right eyes. Looking closely, they resembled the spread wings of a Flame Eagle.
Unfortunately, the chick was too weak, making these marks extremely faint, nearly invisible unless examined carefully.
He took out his lighter and pressed it. The moment the blue flame rose, almost without thinking, his body instinctively took a deep breath.
A miraculous scene occurred.
Just like the chick devouring flames, the lighter's flame was actually inhaled through his mouth and nose.
There was no expected burning pain, not even any choking sensation. Instead, it felt like swallowing some kind of mild nutritional paste, with an indescribably wonderful taste.
"Nutritional paste, flame?"
Cheng Ye was somewhat stunned but the perception in symbiotic state seemed to naturally match the two, everything happening as a matter of course.
As for the taste, it was bland with a hint of extremely light fishy sweetness, like the aroma of egg yolk drifting from afar.
"Well, I'm actually tasting a lighter... hmm, should I say the taste of butane?"
Cheng Ye laughed despite himself. This "inhuman" experience was truly peculiar.
If this were in modern times, just these two moves would have earned him the title of a person with extraordinary abilities.
After inhaling for about a minute, Cheng Ye felt a sense of fullness, as if he had eaten enough.
This should be the so-called micro-limitation. It was pitifully small, his body felt absolutely nothing, not even as strong as the recovery power brought by the Wild Grass Totem.
However, considering it was a Lv0 blank skill, being able to achieve this much was already surprising enough.
As for Air Suspension...
Cheng Ye didn't dare to actually jump down from the fifth floor to test it. He just tried lightly jumping from the bed toward the ground.
Just as his feet were about to touch the ground, he suddenly stomped down hard with his left foot.
A wonderful sensation came through, as if he had stepped on an invisible air brick. His body bizarrely suspended in mid-air for half a second, even lifting slightly upward.
However, the next second, the flame mark on his forehead and the wing patterns at the corners of his eyes suddenly faded.
The first symbiotic state had ended!
In the spiritual space, the chick was clearly much more listless, its little head drooping as it lay motionlessly on the ground.
He crouched by the bed and poked the chick's bare back, "Always calling you 'chick' or 'Flame Eagle chick' doesn't seem right."
Cheng Ye thought for a moment, suddenly recalling the pale flame mark that had appeared on his forehead after entering symbiotic state.
"How about I call you Fire Sprout? We'll use this as your nickname for now. We'll think of a proper name when you grow magnificent feathers!"
"Yi ya!"
Fire Sprout lifted its head and called weakly once, as if responding.
"Mm, I'll take that as agreement."
Cheng Ye smiled and rubbed its little head.
Looking at the little fellow's listless appearance, he felt inexplicably distressed.
Fortunately, this state didn't last too long. After about half an hour, Fire Sprout recovered its vitality and began flapping around on the bedsheet looking for things to peck.
When the symbiotic state's cooldown time completely ended, it was even more energetic, pecking and nuzzling at Cheng Ye's fingers, showing no trace of its previous fatigue.
This confirmed Cheng Ye's speculation: the symbiotic fusion state consumed the transcendent creature's energy and had no direct connection to him as the host.
New era humans, in order to touch the transcendent, really had found an alternative path, transferring risk to transcendent creatures while reaping the benefits of power themselves.
However, this method...
Thinking of what Downs had said earlier about needing sufficient obsession to resist the pollution of transcendent creatures, this meant risk had never disappeared, only that the threshold for obtaining transcendent power had been dramatically raised.
Now it was no longer an era where any ordinary person who obtained transcendent artifacts could freely control power.
This "obsession screening" mechanism greatly reduced the probability of transcendents losing control, while obsession itself would constrain transcendent behavior, preventing them from causing further damage to the wasteland. This maintained the delicate balance between ordinary people and transcendents.
However, thinking of this, Cheng Ye suddenly realized a very important question.
Did he have obsession?
He couldn't say he had none at all. If he had to name one, returning to the modern world might barely count but during his fusion process with Fire Sprout, he hadn't used any obsession at all, nor experienced any pollution.
Fire Sprout's birth and the intimacy between them felt like family, without any barriers.
This meant he had likely found a third path, a safer shortcut to obtaining transcendent power.
"No faith, yet achieved transcendent creature symbiosis."
Cheng Ye murmured in a low voice, his expression gradually becoming serious.
"This means my path is completely different from current transcendents. My strength probably hasn't reached the minimum level of transcendents yet, and might even be weaker than the weakest transcendents because Fire Sprout is just a chick."
"But the improvement in life tier has made me more likely to attract the attention of special creatures. Going forward, I must be more cautious."
Even so, Cheng Ye had no intention of giving up equipping the transcendent talent.
Raising birds required starting early.
Other people's transcendent creatures were probably finished products that needed to be forcibly constrained by faith, with the risk of backlash if not careful, and no clear path for improvement but his Fire Sprout had been in the spiritual space since birth, connected to his essence, with absolutely no pollution conflict.
This meant that as development continued, his foundation would only become more stable, and there might even be possibilities...
"If I find transcendent creatures from other transcendents, what would happen?"
"Could I simultaneously enter symbiotic states with two transcendent creatures, stacking their power?"
Cheng Ye's thoughts suddenly opened up, his heartbeat involuntarily accelerating.
This might be his unique, irreplicable massive advantage.
Other transcendents might only be able to bind with one transcendent creature for their entire lives, struggling to maintain balance through faith but he could use the Collector to search, forging an unprecedented path of "multiple companion symbiosis."
Of course, not just pets, but also transcendent plants and various types of transcendent creatures.
In the old era's transcendent system, the S3 virus had created many biological miracles.
And all of these, he had the chance to search for, all had the potential for symbiosis!
With this thought, Cheng Ye let out a long breath, and the various emotions churning in his chest gradually settled.
This new path was destined to be walked by no one before him, with no precedent to follow and no experience to learn from. But precisely because of the Collector's existence, his path didn't need to follow the established trajectory of obsession-based transcendence.
Moreover, all current facts pointed to one thing:
The path he had chosen would only become more solid in its foundation. Whether in terms of prospects or potential, it far exceeded the paths of ordinary transcendents.
The room was somewhat stuffy again. Cheng Ye walked to the window and pushed open half a window to look toward the Happiness Defense Line.
The cool breeze that blew in brushed across his face, dispersing the last trace of restlessness that had risen due to the approaching migrants, allowing his thoughts to completely settle.
Everything seemed unchanged, yet everything seemed to have changed.
The anxiety, fear, and confusion from transmigrating to this world had disappeared without a trace now that he had officially embarked on the transcendent path.
He was no longer that confused ordinary person who didn't know where to go or how to proceed.
Even if circumstances became impossible and he had to immediately leave Happiness City, he now had the confidence to survive in the wilderness.
"Damn wasteland, here I come!"
Cheng Ye's throat moved slightly, but no sound emerged. Though it was a silent roar, the light in his eyes was frighteningly bright, like two clusters of ignited starfire.
Those remnants of civilization buried beneath ruins, those transcendent artifacts hidden in uninhabited depths.
Those mutated beasts that viewed humans as prey, those infection tides that formed disasters as they roamed.
That world beyond the sanctuary cities, fraught with crisis yet filled with opportunity.
At this moment, without needing to rely on anyone or bow to anyone's arrangements.
He finally had the qualifications and confidence to step into it!