Chapter 00042: Spells and Genetic Skills
# Spells and Genetic Skills
Chapter 42
Novel: After the Myth
Chapter 42: Spells and Genetic Skills
With the experience of extracting the genes of the Golden-Faced Coarse-Tailed Ape, Ding Huan didn’t encounter many obstacles when refining the recovery genes of the Two-Horned Fire Lizard.
However, this Two-Horned Fire Lizard might contain a trace of divine beast bloodline, making it much more difficult to fully integrate its genetic skills into his own attribute genes compared to the Golden-Faced Coarse-Tailed Ape’s poison resistance genes.
It took Ding Huan three days just to identify the complete injury recovery gene chain.
He barely left the lab during this time, but fortunately, the lab was well-equipped.
To regain his energy, Ding Huan spent another day cultivating.
After that, things became simpler.
By the fifth day, he successfully refined the true injury recovery gene.
He even prepared two doses of this gene potion, one for Qu Yi and one for himself.
He also had a dose of injury recovery gene potion extracted from the Six-Horned Fire Lizard in his bag, but compared to the two he just refined, it was like comparing heaven and earth—completely different in quality.
Indeed, hard work pays off.
If he hadn’t risked his life to find the Fire Lizard with a trace of divine beast bloodline in Penglu Mountain, how could he have obtained such a treasure? After packing up, Ding Huan quickly checked out of the lab.
The person in charge of lab rentals wasn’t surprised by Ding Huan’s disheveled appearance.
Many genetic scholars who used this lab ended up looking just as messy.
Lab rentals weren’t cheap, and it would be a waste to use it for just a few days and then leave to rest.
After leaving the lab, Ding Huan’s first priority was to find a hotel.
Puhai was a massive city, and even though people from all over the world had flocked there for the Blue Star Top Ten Academies’ assessment, most of them were concentrated around the Puhai Martial Arts Square.
Ding Huan’s location was on the opposite side of the city, so he easily found a place to stay.
After resting for a night, Ding Huan took the injury recovery gene potion he had refined.
Despite being at room temperature, the potion immediately turned into a cool, refreshing stream that spread throughout his body.
Ding Huan began circulating his internal energy according to the *Luo Shi Scripture*, and within just two cycles, he entered a deep meditative state.
He only woke up when someone knocked on his door.
Opening his eyes, Ding Huan felt an indescribable sense of comfort and relaxation throughout his body.
The knocking came again.
Reluctantly, he opened the door to find a hotel staff member standing there.
The staff member apologized, “I’m sorry to disturb you, but since you haven’t opened your door for three days, we were a bit worried.”
Ding Huan waved his hand dismissively, “It’s fine. In the future, if I don’t come out, don’t knock on my door, okay? Don’t worry about the room fee—I’ve already deposited 50,000 yuan.”
The staff member nodded, “Understood. If you need anything, feel free to call us anytime.” After apologizing again, the staff member left.
Ding Huan realized he needed a quieter place to cultivate.
Being interrupted every few days wasn’t ideal.
After closing the door, he looked at his arm.
Should he cut it with a knife to test the recovery effect of his injury recovery gene? But as a second-level genetic cultivator, he didn’t need a knife.
He could use his internal energy to create a blade and cut his arm.
He just needed to control the force carefully to avoid severing his arm.
Suddenly, a strange piece of information appeared in his mind—*Wind Blade Technique*.
Ding Huan stood up abruptly.
Why did this information suddenly appear in his mind? But in the next moment, the method to execute the Wind Blade Technique was etched into his memory, clear and precise.
“Incredible!” Ding Huan wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
It wasn’t just the Wind Blade Technique that was amazing—it was the person who created the parchment that was truly remarkable.
How much more information was hidden in that parchment that he hadn’t uncovered yet?
“I believe that even if humanity advances to the genetic era and gains genetic spiritual roots, it will still be difficult to return to the pure spiritual root cultivation era of the past. The reason is that during the cultivation era, there were too many powerful individuals with spiritual roots. Through countless years of refinement and generations of trial and error, they developed various simple and complex spells… I couldn’t pass down all those spells, but I managed to inscribe simple ones like the Wind Blade Technique, Wind Riding Technique, Fireball Technique, Dust Removal Technique, and Qi Concealment Technique onto this parchment…”
The information that appeared in Ding Huan’s mind left him stunned.
Techniques like Wind Blade, Fireball, and Wind Riding existed in Changyi Continent as well, but they were achieved through genetic potions.
For example, the Wind Blade Technique required fusing the genes of a Blade-Spitting Toad to create a genetic potion, which would then grant the user the ability to use wind blades.
Similarly, the Fireball Technique required extracting fire-breathing genes from a Fire Qilin to create a genetic potion for human fusion.
Other mutated creatures were one thing, but the Fire Qilin wasn’t a mutated species.
To obtain a Fire Qilin with fire-breathing genes, it had to have a trace of divine beast bloodline.
In Changyi Continent, a Fire Qilin with fire-breathing genes was priceless—no, even a single drop of its blood was priceless.
Yet, according to the memories in his mind, these abilities could be achieved through spells, not genetic skill potions.
Ding Huan fell silent.
He had always thought that genetic spiritual roots were no different from traditional spiritual roots.
According to the knowledge he gained from the parchment, ancient immortals and gods went extinct because spiritual roots disappeared.
Therefore, to cultivate, one had to fuse with genetic spiritual roots.
Now that he had fused with genetic spiritual roots, he believed he had the foundation to become an immortal and approach the power of ancient cultivators.
But was that really the case? Here, a divergence appeared.
Traditional spiritual root cultivation eventually led to the development of spells, while genetic spiritual root cultivation led to the fusion of genetic skills.
As Ding Huan pondered this, he suddenly circulated his internal energy, quickly forming hand seals, and a blade of wind shot out from his hand.
“Crack!” The bedside table nearby was nearly split in half by the wind blade.
Seeing the deep mark left on the table, Ding Huan gasped.
The Wind Blade Technique was incredibly powerful.
If it had hit a person, they would have been cut in half.
This was his first time using the technique—what would happen if he mastered it? It was far stronger than fusing genetic skills.
In his previous life on Changyi Continent, he had dreamed of obtaining a Blade-Spitting Toad to create a genetic potion for the Wind Blade Technique.
Unfortunately, he never succeeded before his death.
Now, he had achieved it so easily, and the effect was far superior to the genetic skill obtained from fusing with the Blade-Spitting Toad’s genes.
Ding Huan immediately went to the bathroom and began forming hand seals.
Half a minute later, a faint wisp of smoke dissipated in his palm, but no fireball appeared.
He didn’t try again.
The reason he couldn’t produce a fireball was due to his lack of familiarity, not any issue with the technique itself.
He was almost certain that with practice, he could indeed produce a fireball using this method.
Calming down, Ding Huan realized that genetic spiritual roots weren’t inferior to traditional spiritual roots.
The mistake was in thinking that all abilities had to be achieved through genetic skill fusion.
Instead, some abilities should be developed through spells, while others could be achieved through genetic fusion.
The reason Changyi Continent hadn’t developed in the direction of spells was due to the lack of powerful cultivators who could explore that path.
Now, with the parchment’s guidance, Ding Huan could easily perform the Wind Blade Technique.
Currently, he was the only one cultivating with genetic spiritual roots.
Without the parchment, it might have taken him years to develop techniques like the Wind Blade and Fireball.
Ding Huan began to understand that in genetic cultivation, genetic abilities and genetic skills couldn’t be treated as the same.
Genetic skills, like the Fireball Technique and Wind Blade Technique, fell into this category.
These skills could be obtained by fusing with the genes of creatures that possessed such abilities.
The downside was that once fused, these skills couldn’t be improved.
For example, in Changyi Continent, the Wind Blade Technique obtained from fusing with a Blade-Spitting Toad or the Fireball Technique from a Fire Qilin couldn’t be advanced.
Ding Huan had already noticed this issue, which was why he modified the gene fusion method when refining the Golden-Faced Coarse-Tailed Ape’s poison resistance gene.
He integrated the poison resistance gene into his own, allowing it to grow with his cultivation level.
Other genetic cultivators didn’t have this ability.
Now, he knew that spells could solve this problem.
Spells were more powerful than genetic skill fusion.
For the same ability, like the Wind Blade Technique, spells were not only stronger but could also improve with the cultivator’s level.
This didn’t mean spells were universally superior to genetic fusion.
For example, abilities like poison resistance and injury recovery were difficult to achieve through spells, and even if possible, the effects wouldn’t match the innate abilities he now possessed.
Ding Huan’s path of genetic cultivation became clearer.
Genetic spiritual root cultivators could achieve the same level of power as traditional spiritual root cultivators.
The key was how the cultivator utilized their abilities.
For attributes like poison resistance, injury recovery, and physical enhancement, genetic fusion was the way to go, as ordinary spells couldn’t achieve these effects.
However, for skills like fireballs, wind blades, and wind riding, it was better to avoid fusing with genetic potions.
These could be achieved through spells, using techniques and energy circulation methods.
In the future, if he wanted to develop stronger offensive spells, the same principle applied.
If he absolutely had to fuse these genetic skills into his body, he should do it in a way that allowed the skills to grow with his cultivation level, just like he did with the poison resistance gene.
Simply fusing them without thought would only limit his growth.
With this realization, Ding Huan felt a great sense of relief.
He had been worried about how to find powerful mutated beasts to extract their attack genes and turn them into his own offensive abilities.
Now, he didn’t need to do that anymore, and he would avoid it as much as possible in the future.
For now, he needed to find a place to practice and master his Wind Blade Technique, Fireball Technique, and Wind Riding Technique.
Once he had these abilities down, even if he encountered a Heaven-level martial artist, he would at least be able to protect himself.
(End of Chapter)