The Strongest Gene
chapter-439

The other shore.

Buddha once said, "This shore is different than the other shore." This was an extremely unique saying of the Buddhist doctrine. In the Buddhist teachings, the realm of life and death was called "this shore," while the realm of those who had transcended life and death to achieve nirvana was called "the other shore."

Therefore, Chen Feng was sure that the expert who had named this mountain range back then had most definitely been an old bald man. As for whether that someone had dressed in women's clothes, it remained to be seen.

Spirit sighed. "Your thoughts are too disrespectful." But then, she was also aware that this master of hers was merely thinking about this to reduce the tense atmosphere.

Chen Feng curled his lips. "Who told him to name this place 'Othershore'?" Even now, he could feel his hairs standing on end. Although this place looked like some ordinary mountain range and nothing exceptional could be seen, this was, after all, still a place named "Othershore" by an A-class expert. He was truly somewhat lacking in confidence.

In this world, there existed all sorts of vestiges and training camps. However, those places where the danger level could be measured, such as alien bases, peak A-class warriors, some technology vestiges, and so on were instead things Chen Feng did not fear. For those places, as long as one possessed sufficient strength, one would be able to do something about it. Even if one wasn't a match for the danger there, one could at least still flee, right?

What he was most afraid of was instead places such as this Othershore Mountain that were enveloped by a veil of mystery and surrounded by all sorts of unreal legends. These legends were too unreal, too illogical!

Hu—

A cold breeze swept past. Chen Feng felt somewhat cold, and he trembled uncontrollably. Immediately after, he was startled awake. Cold? Why would he even feel cold? With the present strength of his flesh…

Shua!

Suddenly, his luck value dropped rapidly.

What?

Chen Feng's expression changed abruptly. By the time he had noticed it, 10 points of luck value had been lost. That's right. During that single instant earlier, he had lost 10 points of luck value. Instantly, Chen Feng's mood sank. Why would his luck value reduce for no apparent reason?

"Spirit, figure out the cause," Chen Feng stated. This was indeed an unordinary place. What annoyed him the most was such a random reduction of his luck value for no apparent reason. This was exactly the same as those phone bills of his previous life, right? He had to find out exactly what it was that had reduced his luck value.

"Yes." Spirit started tracking. This was one of the benefits gained after Luck Aura had gained sentience. The previous Chen Feng had only been able to activate or deactivate Luck Aura. As for the luck value consumption, process of consumption, usage of luck value, and where had it been used, all this had been unknown. The only thing he had been able to figure out was the final amount of luck value consumed. The rest had remained unknown to him. The appearance of Spirit had changed all this.

"Tracking complete," Spirit stated. "Based on the stored data earlier, we can assume that the reduction of luck value was related to the alarm system. The breakdown of the consumption is as follows:

"Fatal element detected, one luck value consumed to evade.

"Fatal element detected, one luck value consumed to evade.

"..."

In total, 10 of them had been detected! Ten luck value had been consumed and all of them had actually been used to evade these fatal elements! Instantly, Chen Feng's mood sank. The alarm system was a function of the earlier version of this Luck Aura. It would automatically reduce luck value while maintaining the alarm or warning mode. With this, Chen Feng would be able to activate his Luck Aura when required. However, it would normally only consume one luck value to warn him. But these fatal elements detected here…

Before Chen Feng could even ask, Spirit was already ready with the answer. "The detected fatal element is actually part of the particles making up an unknown peculiar ability. It possesses a unique effect where, regardless of who or what, anything that touches it will trigger a probability of bursting apart then and there. The probability is unknown. The way in which someone will burst is also known. However, regardless of what it is, the final result will certainly be death."

Immediately after receiving Spirit's conclusion, Chen Feng was shocked. Fatal element… such a thing… Instantly, Chen Feng understood. "Was it hidden in that cold wind earlier?"

Spirit nodded. "Yes. This should be one of the most dangerous natural dangers of this Othershore Mountain. This is also the reason this place has remained untamed all these years. Probably due to this place being too dangerous and unstable, the Genetic Union is not interested in making a move on this place. As such, this place retains the same style as an unknown region."

And now.

Hu—

Another chilly breeze swept past. As Chen Feng checked his luck value, he noted that this time, 11 luck value was lost.

His expression became somewhat unsightly. "Sh*t." Even if he had nearly 1,000 luck value presently and a reduction of 10 or 11 points was nothing much, he still couldn't afford to keep losing luck value in such a manner. He had only stepped into this place. A single breeze of wind alone contained more than 10 fatal elements? If it was a gale instead of a breeze…

"Spirit, is there a way to optimize the consumption?" Chen Feng asked. The alarm function was something he had created back during the early period. Although it was rather formidable, when compared with Spirit, its usage of luck value was truly too much of a waste.

"Let me give it a try." Spirit activated the optimization mode.

Hum—

Hum—

Luck Aura trembled slightly.

Spirit stopped.

"Optimization complete."

Shua!

Another chilly breeze swept past. With a glance, Chen Feng noted that 12 luck value had been reduced this time.

Chen Feng: "…"

Boss, your optimization function is rather sh*tty, right? What, you think you're Ubisoft? At least they have a two-in-one package of a bug and game together. As for you, there's nothing to see after your optimization!

Chen Feng sighed. "Negative optimization?"

Spirit shook her head. "Nope. When you created this function back then, its usage of luck value was already extremely conservative. Therefore, the luck value consumption is unable to be optimized. However, I am able to conduct an independent optimization for you."

Chen Feng raised his brow. "Oh?"

"First, the pure alarm function. My guess is your initial purpose in creating this function was only to warn you in advance. For this, there is a better alternative: having me on watch. Mhm… this will not require any luck value," Spirit stated confidently. "As long as it's an enemy within the normal range, I will be able to sense them."

Shua!

Chen Feng's eyes shone. He had not expected that Spirit would actually be equipped with this function as well.

But then, it was understandable. Even if she was similarly a sentient being like Xiao Ying, Xiao Ying was, after all, still something with an illusory form. It would be able to attack an enemy, but at the same time, it was also something one could detect. It would be fine to occasionally use Xiao Ying as a scout by having it tunnel underground. However, if this was used too frequently, it would most certainly be discovered.

As for Spirit, she was totally different. She did not have an actual body. She could remain around Chen Feng and use Luck Aura to sense all enemies.

"As long as it's an enemy within range of Luck Aura, I will be able to detect them. Of course, there will still be an extremely small consumption. However, I am able to do it myself without relying on luck value," Spirit stated.

This moved Chen Feng greatly. Zero consumption! A huge amount of luck value would be saved with this.

"Second, the defensive mechanism after a crisis has been detected. This is a function that should have originally been bundled with the alarm function and should be triggered when encountering danger. However, such a usage is too much of a waste. It's better to add a trigger mechanism to it."

Chen Feng felt somewhat doubtful. "Trigger mechanism?"

"That's right. By adding a question using one luck value: Will this thing insta-kill you? If not, it won't trigger. Else, it will trigger the defense mechanism."

Spirit completed her explanation. Instantly, Chen Feng's heart jolted. This could be done? Wasn't this that legendary line of "if { } else { }" all coders were familiar with? He had indeed thought of this before. Unexpectedly, though, Luck Aura could truly be used in such a way. Perhaps this function was only made available by Spirit's existence?

Spirit's existence had seemingly greatly increased the efficiency of Luck Aura. If this logic was added to the defensive mechanism, even if one luck value would be consumed each time…

Chen Feng's eyes shone. "This will enable Luck Aura to truly display its power!" This was an extremely dangerous place. In fact, most of the places Chen Feng went to were extremely dangerous.

At such dangerous places, there would be a lot of odd dangers. Some were fatal, some were not. However, Chen Feng had no means of distinguishing them and could only use luck value to deal with all of them. He had no intention of dying to something with a 0.0001% probability of occurrence. This entire era was like a huge trap. There were too many geniuses that had died due to accidents. As such, Chen Feng had always maintained extreme caution.

Therefore, normally, when he encountered some unexpected danger, he fully activated his Luck Aura. The benefit of doing this was that he would be able to stop all dangers, regardless of how low the probability of those occurrences were. Regardless of how dangerous it was, as long as it did not surpass the limit of his luck value, Chen Feng had no fear.

The disadvantage of using such method were him not having sufficient luck value. Therefore, whenever he lacked luck value, he hid at home, training while waiting for the luck value to regenerate, only daring to leave when he had gathered sufficient luck value.

This was also the reason for the drop in his speed of improvement. Insufficient luck value…

Chen Feng inhaled deeply. "Since when have I started relying so heavily on luck value?" Normally, when he was out exploring, even when he encountered a minor danger, he used his luck value to solve it. This had caused him to not have much of a stockpile of luck value. "Luck value is essentially something that should be a trump card."

Chen Feng was clear that only by solving most of the dangers he encountered personally would he be able to actually accumulate enough amount of luck value. Only by doing this would he truly be fearless. Only by doing this would he be able to use his luck value on what truly mattered.

Soon, Chen Feng decided to implement Spirit's proposal. "Do it."

This single simple function had cleared Chen Feng's future path.

Shua!

The defensive mechanism was altered.

"Done."

Chen Feng's gaze was sharp. Luck value was too powerful, too valuable to be wasted on these minor dangers.

Shua!

A chilly breeze brushed past. Instantly, Chen Feng's hairs stood up.

Hum—

Next, the newly installed logic started operating. Not much luck value was exhausted. This signified that although this chilly breeze was scary, it was not capable of insta-killing Chen Feng.

The energy in Chen Feng's body intensified. "Come!"

Myriad Illusionary Wind Blades, erupt! Energy Equipment, assemble!

Bang! Bang!

As the chilly breeze swept past, the energy surrounding Chen Feng collapsed without stop. The seemingly powerful Energy Equipment was actually dissipated by this seemingly calm breeze.

Ka! Ka!

With two crisp sounds, the Energy Equipment shattered. However, a smile instead appeared on Chen Feng's face. That was because, right at this moment, that alarming breeze had vanished as well. Blocked! The initial luck value consumption of more than 10 points had been reduced to only a mere two points! One point to judge the degree of danger, one point to unleash the Wind Blades as the energy supply for his Energy Equipment.

"Perfect."

Chen Feng's heart jolted. Hold on. If such logic could be added to the trigger mechanism…

Suddenly, Chen Feng had an idea. If it was merely being used to judge if Chen Feng could be insta-killed, it would be too much of a waste for such an excellent function. With this, he could totally use it to judge a wide variety of other matters.

For example:

If {Chen Feng encounters an impasse-level crisis, trigger the unique-grade feedback}

else if {Chen Feng encounters a fatal crisis not yet considered an impasse, trigger the grade 1 feedback}

else if {Chen Feng encounters an emergency not yet considered a fatal crisis, trigger the grade 2 feedback}

else if {…}

…

So on and so forth.

Chen Feng could totally list out countless scenarios yet only one luck value would be required as a trigger by feeding it into the logic. This would be sufficient. With this, he could not only obtain the feedback of any dangers, the degree of the danger could be ascertained as well.

Chen Feng was extremely satisfied. Mhm, very good. Let's do this, then.