Chapter 125: The Mother of All Beings!
As far as he knew, life forms like World Beasts, Zerg Queens, or Jiem Eggs were typically masters of the soul, making it easier for them to control the warriors they spawned.
Now that Orianna was the master of the Netherblood Egg, it stood to reason she would inherit similar traits.
"I still don't have a soul," Orianna shook her head. "Master, any life forms born from the Netherblood Egg in the future will come with a mechanical mind, functioning just like members of the Machine Race."
Jiang Zhe's eyes lit up. "That means the kind of tiered ownership, granting absolute control over subordinates?"
Orianna nodded lightly.
"Anna, what's your current life gene level?"
"At the World Lord stage, the limit is 3,000 times."
Jiang Zhe froze. "Limit? What do you mean by that? And isn't that number a bit too low?"
After all, the Netherblood Egg originated from the Jiem Egg, a special life form from the Origin Continent—it shouldn't even be judged by life gene multiples.
Like when the Beast God once chatted with Sitting Mountain Guest, it became clear that for True Gods, life gene levels or amplitude techniques were meaningless—they had already achieved the most perfect state.
So how could Orianna, who evolved by stepping on the Netherblood Egg, have a mere 3,000-fold life gene level?
Orianna explained, "Master, it's the same as before—every time I advance in realm, my life gene level rises accordingly."
Jiang Zhe nodded. That made sense.
Just like before, Orianna's life genes rose to 81-fold when she advanced to Domain Lord, and then automatically to 100-fold upon becoming a World Lord.
He asked, "So what's the increase this time?"
"At the World Lord stage it's 3,000-fold, Immortal stage is 6,000-fold, Universe Venerable is 9,000-fold, and once I reach Universe Master, it'll automatically rise to a perfect life gene level."
Orianna added, "This is the maximum the Netherblood Egg can provide me, though of course I can still raise my life genes further by other means."
Jiang Zhe glanced at Orianna's graceful figure. "That flesh body of yours… can assimilating living Machine Race immortals still boost your life genes?"
"Yes, but it can't be just any random immortal," Orianna clarified. "It needs to be of very high quality! And because my talent secret technique has changed, I'm no longer limited to metal or mechanical lifeforms. Flesh, energy, or special lifeforms—I can all assimilate them to enhance my life genes."
A devourer of people?
No—this was the orthodox path of devouring.
Next, Orianna demonstrated her ability to shift between life forms, mainly switching between metal and energy life forms.
"Master, honestly… there's no need to go to the trouble of assimilating others just to boost my life gene level. I can slowly accept the gifts from the Netherblood Egg instead."
"Of course, I'll do whatever you command."
Jiang Zhe thought about it—6,000-fold at the Immortal stage was already more than enough.
Orianna was closely tied to the Netherblood Egg. Accepting its nourishment to raise her life genes meant everything would be "factory original," the safest option.
"Do as you wish," Jiang Zhe said. Then he asked curiously, "So what exactly is your relationship with the Netherblood Egg now?"
Orianna pondered, drew on fragments of memory she'd inherited from Jiang Zhe, and tried to explain.
"Master, you understand the concept of companion treasures, don't you?"
Jiang Zhe nodded.
Understand it? He knew it all too well.
He couldn't help recalling the old theories—like the prehistoric treasures.
Donghuang Taiyi's companion treasure was the Chaos Bell, Dijun's was the River Diagram and Luo Book… the former surely at the Hunyuan level, the latter not far behind.
His thoughts shifted, and he mused, Next time I chop down that tree, I'll pray it drops a top-tier innate treasure—what a thrill that would be!
Orianna continued, "The Netherblood Egg is both my body and my companion treasure. But I won't perfectly merge with it until I reach Universe Master level. It's a kind of alternative ownership."
The classic red-dress maid teased, "Master, you can think of me as a hermit crab."
Jiang Zhe let out a small laugh. After the joke, he listened as Orianna continued.
"Even if this main body of mine is destroyed out there, I'll be reborn in the blood sea inside the Thunder Prison World. Only by destroying the Netherblood Egg itself would I truly die."
Jiang Zhe raised an eyebrow.
If your main body's already fallen, I'd probably be in deep trouble myself.
He asked, "The Thunder Prison World's on my chest. What if I die too?"
"If the Thunder Prison World shatters, the blood sea will shrink into a blood-patterned golden egg and be exposed."
"Whoever finds it might try to destroy it—though that would take at least a supreme treasure of destruction.
Or they might think it's a special lifeform and attempt to enslave it.
Or see it as a treasure and try to claim it."
Jiang Zhe nodded. "So even if I die, you can still live. That's good. If you can escape, go find my silver-clad clone. If you're trapped, wait until he grows stronger to come rescue you."
"No, Master, you still have a second life."
Jiang Zhe remembered. "The Executor talent?"
"Yes—and no. That talent evolved into Symbiont after this life transformation."
"But it keeps many of the same effects, like sharing law insights, combat skills, and even rebirth through borrowed bodies…"
"Plus, under this symbiotic talent, if you die, your will, mind, and soul will resurrect inside the Netherblood Egg, taking over its body and living a second life."
"You'd become a lifeform like a World Beast King or Zerg Queen—complete with extraordinary soul talents!"
"Heh. I'd rather not have to test that," Jiang Zhe laughed dryly. "And you? Would you vanish?"
Orianna smiled. "I'd become a secondary consciousness, assisting you in controlling the Netherblood Egg."
Jiang Zhe's face turned serious. He promised solemnly, "I won't let it come to that. I guarantee it!"
Orianna nodded with a soft smile.
Even if Master has a mate in the future, this bond of ours is the most intimate in existence—'Master, you and I are one in mind and spirit. For me, that's not a bad thing at all.'
"Anna, show me your current talent techniques."
"Master, I've shared them with you."
Jiang Zhe received the transmission from Orianna, and after reading through it carefully, found it was still the same three talent techniques, though the first two had changed significantly.
First: [Executor] → [Symbiont]!
Many old effects remained, like sharing law insights and combat methods, or the host reviving through her body.
And the Original Universe's will still imposed the same restriction: he couldn't comprehend origin laws himself unless he died and revived inside her.
Additionally, it now included a new effect perfectly fitting "symbiosis"—
—the symbiont's base power could fully stack onto the host.
Jiang Zhe studied this line closely, eyes sparkling. "Anna, let's try out this new talent effect."
Orianna agreed, then her red-dressed figure faded away, leaving only a golden-red translucent core flying toward him.
It pressed against the dark purple imprint of the Thunder Prison World on his chest, not entering it but merging beneath his skin.
At once, a scorching sensation spread through his chest.
Peeling back his force armor, he saw from that dark purple diamond imprint, blood-red lines spreading out to form intricate runes covering his entire body.
At the same time, viscous blood-colored liquid emerged from his chest, enveloping him and quickly solidifying into a dark red, menacing battle armor.
Jiang Zhe clenched his fists, feeling the surging power coursing across his skin.
He felt like Iron Man, with a reactor in his chest pumping immense energy at his command.
"First—this is the World Lord's World Force!"
With a thought, he drew on the World Force to condense origin energy in his palm, forming a chunk of deep blue universe crystal.
"Next, the World Lord's World Projection!"
Instantly, the ship's cockpit scenery shifted, transforming into endless barren mountains.
Sensing the World Projection's scale, Jiang Zhe couldn't help laughing bitterly. "Anna, your internal world spans a full 300 billion kilometers. Looks like you'll be stuck at World Lord peak for a while, waiting until I can create an ultimate technique for you to advance."
At this, Orianna also seemed a bit helpless, but she could only accept it.
World Force, World Projection—these were all means of a World Lord.
Thanks to their symbiotic link, Jiang Zhe was now, in every sense, a World Lord at peak strength with 3,000-fold life genes!
"When I reach World Lord peak myself and enter this state again, we'll be a pair with nearly 5,000-fold life genes."
"With close to 5,000-fold World Lord power, we'd be equivalent to a high-tier Marquis, roughly on par with that cheap teacher of mine, Huyan Bo."
"…."
After disabling the [Symbiont] talent, Jiang Zhe looked at the remaining two.
Second: [Machine Vanguard] → [Mother of All Beings]!
—Able to combine life genes without being bound to any single life form, creating entirely new beings. By this, she could generate countless races, each absolutely loyal to their creator.
For a life form akin to a Zerg Queen or World Beast King, this was only natural.
Perfectly reasonable.
But… Jiang Zhe narrowed his eyes. Where had he seen this before?
Then he slapped his forehead. Of course—it was like the Nine Nether Sea's talent, [Creation]!
That had been vital to Luo Feng's early and mid-stages after choosing the god-body path.
"Very good. But we'll set this aside for now. When you reach Universe Master, we'll give it a proper look."
Saying this, he turned to the last talent.
Third: [Master of Matter]!
This hadn't changed, though its upper limits had greatly improved thanks to the innate rune diagram inside the Netherblood Egg.
He'd mentioned before: the Netherblood Egg's life embryo contained an innate rune diagram.
Its function was simple—to nurture and create!
To birth life, treasures, anything whose level did not exceed its own. This was the wondrous essence of life granted by that mighty being!
On the Ancient God Continent, things like the ancient god clans, ancient god blood, life puppets, mustard seed divine mountains… all were forged by 'Blood Shadow' using this very rune.
Jiang Zhe knew well—if he observed this rune at the True God or Void True God level, he'd absolutely gain insight into the mysteries of the Law of Life!
It was precisely because of this innate rune that Jiang Zhe dared to have the Netherblood Egg confront a World Beast King!
Destruction and life were of the same tier.
The difference was that the World Beast King embodied the source of destruction—on par with the Original Universe itself, at the God King level.
Jiang Zhe's eyes gleamed, full of longing, then calmed again. Right now, his strength was too low to think about that.
For now, he needed to obediently master his Thunder-Time fusion law.
[Symbiont], [Mother of All Beings], [Master of Matter]—these were Orianna's three great talents after her complete transformation.
Each would play a key role now or in the future.
Jiang Zhe clicked his tongue in delight. Life was getting more and more promising.
Orianna had already retaken control of the ship and the virtual universe communications. She asked,
"Master, shall we leave the Ancient God World and return to the Primal Secret Region?"
"Hold on. Anna, do you have the memories of that 'Blood Shadow'? Did she leave any treasures hidden here in the Ancient God World?" Jiang Zhe asked, rubbing his hands expectantly.
It might be the legacy of a Universe Master—an entire race's trove. Well worth a try.
"Master, I did gain her memories, but all the treasures were long used up. She spent everything to forge those life puppets."
"The most valuable supreme treasures, materials, heavy treasures—all consumed to make Marquis-level or Venerable-level life puppets, stored in temples outside. And then all of them were confiscated by the Virtual Universe Company."
Jiang Zhe: (ー`ー)
"Ugh… damn it!" he cursed inwardly.
Orianna thoughtfully offered him a vent. "Master, if you'd like, she can explain the loss to you herself."
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