There was no oxygen there, but it didn't matter, he could survive only with energy now.
He finally returned to tangibility, the direct radiation almost made him fall to the ground, feeling faint.
Taking a deep breath, he grabbed the bars and placed them around himself before closing his eyes and entering a "sleep" state.
His evolutionary energy struggled against the constant damage. He doesn't know how long it took him to wake up, but when he did, he felt a little dizzy.
But the dizziness passed quickly, instead, he looked around, everything was dark.
The radioactive material had stopped glowing, in fact, he couldn't even feel the bars around him anymore.
But soon he realized it wasn't the bar's fault, they were still there. But now, looking inside himself, his cells seemed to have changed dramatically.
When a particle hit his skin, his cells blocked the radiation from passing through!
Ringo was surprised. -What the fuck! My evolution!
Confused, Ringo felt his body and realized the improvement was tremendous, so much so that he was already close to a new round of life enhancement, but he'd expected much more!
Frowning, he slapped his head with an expression of exasperation. He'd forgotten he could remove evolutions through active evolutions.
Sighing, he did just that. His skin let the radiation pass through again, and soon he felt that usual weakness. He nodded in satisfaction and went back to sleep.
Only to wake up some time later and realize that all his cells had now become "impermeable" to radiation.
Ringo sighed and canceled this evolution as well, before going back to sleep again.
Waking up a third time, still no longer feeling the radiation, Ringo groaned in frustration and went to look for the problem.
...
He evolved to harness 100% of radiation, using his energy absorption ability as a starting point. Now, as soon as a particle enters his cell, it dissipates its energy while the cell harnesses the energy. Then, the cells discard all the absorbed material, which is released as waste...
Basically the protons that uranium lost, the amount of matter(Protons) is really negligible, so it doesn't matter much.
Ringo was impressed.
Evolution stopped this time, but the energy didn't. On the contrary, the rate at which his cells are absorbing energy is actually far beyond normal! So much so that he's already past the level at which he could evolve. In fact, just as he was in the germinal stage, his cells have grown to accommodate this energy.
Thoughtful, Ringo picked up a bar and broke off a small piece. The material wasn't particularly hard, so he was able to shape it easily with his current strength.
After that, he placed the material over the heart, which sank into his skin, even the bones came out of place. Finally, the heart opened a cavity and the material was placed inside.
Ringo stopped for a moment and removed his ability, restoring his cells' ability to resist radiation.
But he didn't stop there. Using his ability to accelerate his permanent evolution, he modified only his heart to absorb radiation, while the rest of his body still insulated it.
In this case, even if the radiation were sent through his blood to the rest of his body, it wouldn't be able to pass through, instead, it would be absorbed when it returned to the heart.
Even his bodily fluids would be free of radiation. Meanwhile, his heart itself was now a radioactive engine, the energy it acquired was sent from the heart to the rest of his body's cells.
Ringo was very pleased, at the very least, he could now continue growing indefinitely.
In fact, he could even feel his cells speeding up the reaction, the uranium was increasing in speed. This was due to his blood changing to react better with the material.
Just as the material used in nuclear power plants is uranium dioxide, not only was his blood changing to accelerate radioactive decay, but it was also making him more stable.
Ringo let out a long sigh, but he didn't stop. Instead, he was ready to climb the ladder. He was now level 80 in player terms, he needed to undergo this change before continuing to be enhanced.
Thus, he unleashed the enhancement that had been locked away for some time.
But the next moment, he was shocked, because when the advancement began, he found himself in that empty space filled with stars again!
"This doesn't make sense!" - Ringo thought, confused.
He's not a player, but with his power, his evolutions were almost like those of one. What takes months or years for NPCs takes only a moment for him, but that shouldn't make him evolve further. The only way he remembers an evolution happening outside of the moment was...
Ringo stopped, his eyes widening. He almost wanted to slap himself. The damn evolution cube!
The evolution cube could trigger an evolution at a moment when only a life hierarchy upgrade should happen, but isn't he evolution itself?
Sighing, he wanted to slap himself for being so stupid. That doesn't mean he can evolve at every life hierarchy upgrade!
Ringo's grin spread from ear to ear, but he put it aside for the moment and began selecting.
He didn't think about changing the species now, instead, he continued down the nightmare path.
Scrutinizing the options, knowing he didn't have much time, he quickly made his choice.
The information he received this time was only slightly better before selection, so he still didn't know the powers he would receive, but from the description alone, he selected the new species.
Outside, the dark environment soon lit up with a soft purple light. Ringo's spirit form continued to transition between his hybrid form, going back and forth repeatedly, until it settled on the hybrid form.
At first, his appearance didn't seem to change, but to those familiar with him, his black eyes looked different now.
Abyssal, as if they wanted to swallow everything they saw.
The voice came from Ringo's mouth, shattering the tranquility of the scene. "Hidden Shadow of Nightmare, besides... I've reached Grade B."
Even though he said he reached Grade B, not only did he not seem stronger, he didn't even seem to have any strength at all. If no one looked at him, he wouldn't even seem to exist. A layer of black energy, as thin as skin, around him seemed to be the cause.
Hidden Shadow of Nightmare, this is his new evolution, but in truth, he can't be called a Hidden Shadow of Nightmare, a Devouring Spirit of Nightmare or even human.
Ringo is different from other Supers or the Players.
While Supers in this world take years to evolve, most don't change much unless there are external factors.
To put it more bluntly, evolution for them involves enhancing their own genes. The only way to be like him or Han Xiao is through some sort of genetic alteration.
Han Xiao used high-concentration serum from a void dragon, ten of them, just to obtain the void gene.
A normal Super would have to go through the same process, what's more, it would take months or years to truly become a void creature, it depended on both adaptability and luck.
The players and Han Xiao actually had more advantages.
The biggest advantage was that they could evolve outside of their own genes. Even without the void genes, Han Xiao still had a slim chance of transforming into a void creature or any other, all because they can theoretically receive any random option.
The reason for this is likely tied to the sanctum, as players arrived in this world through the information form, their very existence is tied to the sanctum.
The native beings of this world don't have this, which is why Han Xiao was able to advance so quickly and can also clearly choose his evolutionary path.
Most normal beings will still transform depending on their own species, humans have continually advanced as galactic humans.
Ringo was a different case. His Esper power focused purely on one aspect, to the point that he was even better than the players in this regard. They were given random selections, and he was given a very wide range of choices. Even though most of it was obscured, he still had plenty of options.
But Ringo's true advantage is that, due to his ability, his own gene is unique. He's not afraid of malignant genetic alterations, he's not afraid of swallowing too much. So he doesn't transform into a new species, but rather assimilates it, making it his own. And that's what happened now.
He still has his human gene and he still has his Nightmare Devouring Spirit gene, now augmented by the Hidden Shadow of Nightmare.
What made Ringo choose this option was simple. Besides being clearly one of the strongest options, it focused on concealment. Its description clearly stated that it was extremely difficult to acquire!
For Ringo, who puts survival first, he found this option particularly pleasing to the eye.
.
--x--
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