Chapter 1 The Ability – Replication

This was the core ability of the Heterogeneous God, yet it appeared on Evans.

Han Xiao's first reaction was to suspect Evans had some connection to the Heterogeneous God, instantly imagining a two-million-word romance novel. However, after recalling the events of his past life, he dismissed the idea.

The possibility of coincidence was greater. In the universe, there were quite a few ability users who awakened with the same powers. Things like pyrokinesis, hydrokinesis, and force fields were commonplace. It wasn't impossible for another person capable of absorbing abilities to appear.

However, such a coincidence still gave Han Xiao a sense of destiny. It hadn't been many years since he imprisoned the Heterogeneous God in the Amber of Time, yet a new generation of "Heterogeneous God" had appeared. Could this be a cycle, where there must always be a *wu miao* king?

"Never thought I'd encounter a 'Heterogeneous God' in their newbie phase."

Han Xiao was secretly delighted.

With the ability *Replication*, he would inevitably walk the path of absorbing others' abilities. Evans' talent had been suppressed, but now he had no choice but to start taking away others' talents. In Han Xiao's eyes, it was incredibly dramatic.

Clearly, without a firm conviction, the way this ability grew could easily lead the possessor to become depraved.

Evans had lived as a mortal for decades, tasting the hardships of the lowest levels. Perhaps he wouldn't be as sharp and aggressive as the Heterogeneous God... but it was also possible that he harbored resentment, which would explode after being suppressed for so long. It was hard to say.

"He's a double-edged sword. If I can use him, he'll be a battle force with extraordinary potential. I have to try to guide him to stand on my side. Right now, I'm indebted to him, so his loyalty should be high. But if he shows signs of falling, I can only eliminate him to avoid a second Heterogeneous God."

Han Xiao pondered.

*Replication* was strong, but what made people fearful was the Heterogeneous God himself, not the ability.

In the hands of the Heterogeneous God, all the absorbed abilities could unleash Super-A grade power. But without a foundation of strength, absorbing more abilities was futile… a series of impressive actions that resulted in negligible damage. Even with flashy methods, he would still be a weakling.

Absorbing abilities was about increasing one's combat skills; it was considered a skill and wouldn't quickly raise one's level or stats. So, Evans still had no shortcuts to advance his tier. He would have to train slowly like other ability users, even with his *Top-Tier Ability Affinity Physique*. He couldn’t reach the sky in a single bound.

Evans had only just awakened and his ability was still extremely weak, around E-grade. Although his template was the awesome Heterogeneous God, how long had the Heterogeneous God lived? How much combat experience had he accumulated? Evans would probably have to wait until the Year of the Monkey to reach the Super-A grade.

Because this ability was so rare, Han Xiao wanted to help him plan his growth path to avoid wasting it.

The Heterogeneous God's precedent had already shown the limitations of *Replication*: absorbing too many abilities risked collapsing the genetic chain.

This meant the upper limit of the number of abilities Evans could absorb would also change with his tier. Once he exceeded the limit, his genes would collapse and he would die. So, there was naturally no possibility of him having thousands of abilities in his low-level stage.

However, due to Evans' ability affinity physique, his upper limit on the number of abilities he could absorb at the same level should exceed that of the Heterogeneous God.

Furthermore, *Replication* wasn't guaranteed to succeed every time, but had to go through a judgment. The Heterogeneous God mainly absorbed ability users who were of a lower tier than himself, and then used his own strength to unleash the abilities, erupting with Super-A grade power, so it was very smooth.

In Han Xiao's memory, there was a kind man named Jiumozhi, who used Xiaowuxiang Skill to activate the Seventy-Two Supreme Skills of Shaolin, and his fighting style was quite similar to the Heterogeneous God.

However, the success rate of judging and seizing the abilities of stronger experts of the same tier or even higher tiers would become extremely slim.

Therefore, Evans would face very harsh prerequisites if he wanted to absorb the abilities of higher-tier experts, such as the target being on the verge of death with extremely low stamina, strength, and health, or the target being captured. In short, only when the high-tier target was unable to resist would the seizure have a chance of succeeding.

"The Heterogeneous God has collected so many years of abilities, he himself is a high-quality rare material bank. His main combat abilities are very powerful when combined… Unfortunately, Evans can't absorb them through the Amber of Time. If I open the seal, the Heterogeneous God will run away. It's only been a few decades, his consciousness won't extinguish so easily. For safety's sake, I should keep him locked up for at least five hundred years."

The amber isolated all energy. The outside world couldn't observe the Heterogeneous God's physical condition. He couldn't risk letting the Heterogeneous God escape by rashly opening the seal.

Han Xiao put aside the thought and pondered Evans' growth path, and soon had an idea.

"Evans isn't suitable for the Heterogeneous God's path. He should take the path of planned absorption, absorbing fewer but better abilities, for a happy life."

The Heterogeneous God was strong, but he had absorbed too many abilities, to the point where his genetic chain was on the verge of collapse. Ninety-nine percent of his abilities were useless to the Heterogeneous God in battle, and instead suppressed his strength.

… Although the army had Aurora, the super healer, Han Xiao didn't want her to have too much contact with Evans, and would at most give him some life potions.

One reason the Heterogeneous God absorbed so many abilities was because of his obsession with personally fusing ultra-high-risk abilities to transform himself and break through the limit of the peak Super-A grade, becoming a completely new "being."

On the other hand, the Heterogeneous God's obsession probably stemmed from his experiences. Han Xiao had read his biography. In his weak period, the Heterogeneous God had always been alone, relying only on himself, and he only trusted himself. That was why he wanted to become "omnipotent," never needing partners.

Evans didn't need to do that, so there was no need for indiscriminate absorption. Only selecting useful and powerful abilities might be a more correct path.

Evans saw Black Star turn his back to him and remain silent for a long time, growing more puzzled. He couldn't help but ask, "Your Excellency Black Star, what exactly am I..."

Han Xiao snapped back to reality, turned around, and patted Evans on the shoulder. "Your ability is to absorb the abilities of others. This is a very promising ability..."

He explained it once, and Evans finally understood his own ability, but immediately frowned.

"I don't really like this ability..."

Evans looked troubled. His talent had been suppressed for decades, and he deeply empathized with that feeling. From the bottom of his heart, he disliked this ability to take away the talents of others.

Hearing this, Han Xiao couldn't help but roll his eyes.

Did he think he was buying cabbage at the market? Picking and choosing.

After clearing his throat, Grand Technician Han switched to a kind tone and said:

"Don't worry. Since you're one of my people now, I'll naturally guide you in your growth. You don't need to worry. I won't allow you to absorb people casually, so you don't need to feel conflicted. No one is forcing you down a path of crime.

"At the same time, I hope you can resist temptation. Don't see how good someone else's ability is and think about turning it into your own. Being strong yourself is the real strength. Don't be impatient and take the wrong path.

"The Heterogeneous God is a lesson from the past. He went down the path of depravity, committing evil everywhere, making countless enemies. In the end, he was locked up in prison by a bunch of us, losing his freedom. So don't learn from him in this regard. Be low-key like me, understand?"

Listening to Black Star's warning, Evans nodded.

He had also heard of the infamous Heterogeneous God. Although he had the same ability, he wasn't the same type of person. He secretly warned himself to stay true to himself and never become depraved like the Heterogeneous God.

Han Xiao gave some instructions and then had some mechanical soldiers escort Evans away.

Alone in the room, he stroked his chin and muttered to himself:

"This guy's ability is worth cultivating. As long as he doesn't take a narrow path, he'll definitely become a powerhouse in the future. As for how to help him obtain abilities… Heh, that's the easiest part for me."

Han Xiao chuckled.

In his previous life, the Heterogeneous God had already tried absorbing the abilities of players, so Han Xiao knew very well what the result was...

It was actually feasible!

Although players could revive, their bodies were physical. Besides the strange limitations and turning into light after dying, they would also be injured and bleed in normal combat, manifesting as various negative statuses.

In version 1.0, some forces even tried to dissect players. Although, due to the health limit, the players would turn into soup… cough, turn into light as soon as the dissection started, the collected blood was no different from normal species.

If an ability-type player was absorbed by the Heterogeneous God, they would also lose their ability and enter the *Ability Freeze* state, where all ability-related skills would turn gray. This state was permanent, and no skill could clear it, just like normal NPCs who had their abilities taken away…

However!

When this player died and revived, their status would be refreshed, and the ability would be restored!

This involved the mechanism of *Replication*. The process of the ability taking effect could be simply summarized as: Seize - Analyze - Gene Chain Construction - Solidify - Store.

After seizing an ability, *Replication* would decompose and analyze it, and finally store the ability in the form of a gene chain within the possessor's body. The gene chain was constructed from a special substance produced by *Replication*, a substance produced by the possessor himself, which would not disappear with the player.

So, in his previous life, there were cases where players offered themselves as sacrifices to the Heterogeneous God for money, which was unprecedented. This led the three great civilizations to introduce special policies, stating that if an Undying deliberately provided abilities to the Heterogeneous God, they would be regarded as wanted criminals and kicked out of the Orderly camp… Of course, the players' actions were too diverse, and this policy rarely came into play.

However, the Heterogeneous God wasn't a philanthropist. Limited by the gene chain load, he would only act on abilities he was interested in. Otherwise, even if players offered themselves for sacrifice, he wouldn't want them…

The players' actions even caused a funny misunderstanding. The Heterogeneous God initially thought it was a conspiracy by the three great civilizations to send people to their deaths so that his gene chain would collapse. He killed many players before realizing that these people were sincerely offering cannons… cough, offering abilities.

Even the Heterogeneous God was shocked at the time, saying a famous line to the players: "If I had met you earlier, I might have been a good person."

Thinking about it, Han Xiao couldn't help but grin.

"So, I don't even need to do it myself to obtain abilities. As long as I issue missions to ability-type players and give enough rewards, people will take the initiative to come to me..."

In that case, the millions of ability-type players were a vast material bank!!

Moreover, no one would die, it was legal!

Although he had decided on the path of absorbing fewer but better abilities for Evans, having so much material meant he could slowly choose, selectively looking for complementary abilities to form various tactics and achieve the most perfect combination!

With this in mind, Han Xiao was completely excited, and a new plan was born in his mind at this moment.

"Phillip!"

"At your service, buzz."

"Draft a new plan. The content is to record all the abilities of all ability-type Undyings under the legion and simulate various tactical combinations that can be used in conjunction with the ability effects. The minimum for a combination is two abilities, and the maximum is temporarily set at ten abilities. Put this plan into the highest level of confidential files, and don't mention Evans' existence."

"Okay, buzz. This will take up a little bit of my computing power. What should the plan be called?"

"No need for a name, just a number."

Han Xiao really wanted to give it a name like "Heterogeneous God Nurturing Plan," but after thinking about it, he gave up.

Although his database was almost impossible to crack again, Han Xiao still chose the low-key approach that was in line with his personality.

He had already decided to hide Evans before he grew up and treat him as a secret weapon.

"Speaking of which, I have the Evolution Cube, the Amber of Time, and the legion has Hela and Aurora. It's really a bit too eye-catching. If I tell others that I plan to create a second-generation Heterogeneous God… hiss, I'm afraid all the enemies will unite to snatch my things."

Thinking of that scene, Han Xiao couldn't help but shudder. He still knew his limits.

He calmed down for a while, digested his emotions, and then turned back to his previous work, continuing to complete the Emperor's mech he had almost finished building.

He didn't know if it was because of the European aura left by Evans, but just as Han Xiao completed the last step and the Emperor's mech was completely formed, the panel suddenly moved.

[You have crafted a Gold quality equipment (Universal Treasure)]

[You have received feedback from the God's Artifact]

[You have gained 1 point of Divinity Transformation (The same blueprint cannot be obtained repeatedly)]

[Your random attributes have decreased by 200 points… Randomizing, randomization completed, your Luck has decreased by 200 points]

[You have gained 200 Free Attribute Points]

[You have gained the first layer of the God's Artifact bonus: Gold blueprint base crafting success rate +2.5%, Gold blueprint base research success rate +1.2%]

[You have gained the new feat Universal Treasure Crafter!]