Chapter 19 - Evolution Path

Han Wu sold his Divine Essence to Qin Shuang and received a staggering 150 million Divine Points.

Now, he was truly rich. He felt the delight and elation of a regular person who had won 5 million RMB in the lottery, suddenly becoming rich overnight.

Even though other students would’ve considered him an idiot for trading away the Essence, he still didn't regret his decision. With the Divine Points he had received, he could vastly improve his divine realm and raise his core race. He could then Sacrifice them and earn and accumulate enough Divine Points to condense a Divine Essence.

Once school was over, Han Wu quickly headed home and returned excitedly to his divine realm. He had decided to use all the rewards he had obtained from school that day to improve his divine realm and his races.

He quickly placed the 20 sq km forest he had been awarded next to the remaining forest in his divine realm.

He proceeded to erect the Rank 1 temple close to the Scorching Dwarves’ stronghold. As for the Fountain of Life, he found a fairly isolated area in his realm and placed it there. Over time, the poor soil would be improved by the water and become a lush grassfield.

He also used the Increased Growth card on the locusts to hasten their reproduction.

Once he was done, Han Wu took the Divine weapon Hellforge and the Unique Seed to the Scorching Dwarves’ stronghold. After having time to rest, their numbers had increased to 59. During times of peace, they dug out ores and crafted different equipment. Their lives were simple yet fulfilling.

The Scorching Dwarves kneeled and worshipped Han Wu as their God the very instant he appeared before them.

Han Wu sighed at the sight.

If only they were my core race

, he thought helplessly.

Han Wu gave a simple speech before entrusting them with Hellforge. Afterwards, he selected the strongest Scorching Dwarf to bestow the Unique Seed upon and gave the Dwarf the name Divine Hammer as a form of encouragement. He hoped that Divine Hammer would one day become a Heroic life form and become the wielder of Hellforge.

The Scorching Dwarves were absolutely delighted by and grateful for the gifts their God had so graciously given them, which caused their faith in him to deepen further. With an increase in their faith levels, all the Scorching Dwarves ranked up into Devotees while Divine Hammer became a Zealot. Han Wu nodded with pleasure before leaving.

The final reward was the Rank 1 Sacred Object, the Poison Orb. Han Wu had heeded Tian Wen’s advice and had chosen the Sacred Object, but he had no idea how to use it.

Fortunately, a call from Tian Wen popped up just as Han Wu was trying to figure out how to use the Poison Orb.

After he quickly connected the call, Tian Wen appeared on his interface.

“Teacher, what could be so urgent that you're contacting me at this hour? Is everything alright?” Han Wu asked worriedly.

Despite finding his student’s concern somewhat amusing, Tian Wen didn't beat around the bush. “Regarding today’s test, Liu Letian and I made a wager on who would come out stronger—you or Liu Mo. Thanks to your victory over Liu Mo, I won the bet, and Liu Letian gave me five Divine Essence.”

Han Wu congratulated him but was confused.

What does that have to do with me?

Was Tian Wen calling him to brag?

Tian Wen smiled and said, “Your contribution was crucial to my winning the bet. Wouldn't it be incredibly selfish of me to keep everything for myself? It's only right that I share, isn't it?”

Tian Wen proceeded to send two supplementary rewards to Han Wu to choose from—a Divine Points card containing 150 million Divine Points and a mysterious black egg shrouded in demonic energy which pulsated from time to time.

“I don’t need to explain the Divine Points card to you, but I do need to do so with the Demon Egg. This egg was something I once obtained after battling with the Demon Civilization. It was laid by the Heavenly Demon Insect King, but I’ve used a secret technique to sterilize it.

“Even though it’s been sterilized and nothing would hatch out of it, it still produces about ten liters of Demon Embryonic Fluid a day. Consumption of this Fluid can cause mutation of lower ranked insects into the weakest demon insectoid, the Heavenly Demon Insect.

“If you can recall, I once told you that I could help you complete an Evolution Path for your locusts, and this is one of the Paths I have discovered regarding locusts.”

A deep sense of gratitude towards his teacher rose up in Han Wu’s chest. His attention, however, was quickly drawn towards the Demonic Egg in his hands.

The reason why the other homeroom teachers didn't particularly like Han Wu despite his performance so far was his core race, the locusts—they were pathetically weak.

If Han Wu could really transform his locusts into Heavenly Demon Insects, they could at least reach the strength of Common Goblins and Dwarves. They would still be way weaker than Qin Shuang’s Elite Thunder Sparrows, though.

“Pick one of them. Consider it a gift from me for helping me win the bet,” Tian Wen urged.

Han Wu unhesitatingly chose the Demonic Egg.

I have to create an Evolution Path for my locusts!

Tian Wen nodded in satisfaction. “Heavenly Demon Insects are very compatible with poisons. If you add the Rank 1 Sacred Object Poison Orb to your Core, you have my assurance that the results will prove to be more than satisfactory.”

Han Wu’s eyes grew wide with anticipation. “Thank you, Teacher! I’ll do my best—I won’t disappoint you!”

Tian Wen chuckled and was just about hanging up when Han Wu interrupted with a question. “Teacher, please wait. I wanted to ask if you know of any trade channels that could secure me a lot of meat—it doesn’t even matter if the quality is bad. The meat sold in the market is too expensive.”

Han Wu had no choice but to ask for help. The Rank 2 Sacred Object Law of Gluttony was too strong. The locusts were ravenous due to the effects and consumed more than what his divine realm could produce. He needed to quickly find a way to obtain a lot of food for them.

Though he was initially confused, Tian Wen quickly understood Han Wu’s reasoning. He had seen Han Wu commanding his locusts to consume the Flesh Golem corpses during the exam, after all.

“I wouldn’t recommend buying meat from the market to feed your locusts either. Like you said, it's too expensive, and the prospective returns are way too little.

Hmm

...” Tian Wen pondered.

“You know what? I think the principal is currently fighting against the Demonic Civilization. I’m sure that there are a lot of Flesh Golem corpses piled around the area. Let me confirm with him.”

“Thank you very much, Teacher!”

Tian Wen finally hung up after promising to help Han Wu.

Han Wu searched for a relatively safe place to put the Demonic Egg. Soon the egg produced its first drop of Demon Embryonic Fluid.

He swiftly caught a locust and fed it the Demon Embryonic Fluid. Soon, wafts of demonic energy exuded from the locust, and it proceeded to envelop itself in a cocoon. He remained stationed near the cocoon for two realm days until it cracked open.

The new insect was no longer a locust—only a few vestiges of its former self remained. The 10 cm long insect had sharper mandibles and a horn of about 5 cm in length protruding from its head.

Han Wu hurriedly inspected the new insect’s data.

[Race: Heavenly Demon Insect.]

[Rank: Common.]

[Talent: Sadist.]

[Faith: Zealot.]

[Faith Points: 1/day.]

[Lifespan: 200 days. (Larva: 30 days. Adult: 150 days. Old age: 20 days.)]

Even though the Heavenly Demon Insect was also a Common life form, it was at least a hundred times more powerful than his regular locusts. This was clearly evident in the amount of Faith Points it could generate each day.

Han Wu had also noticed that the Heavenly Demon Insect had no data regarding its reproduction, which meant that locusts which mutated into Heavenly Demon Insects could not reproduce—a Heavenly Demon Insect could only be produced by feeding a locust with the Demon Embryonic Fluid.

Just a single drop was enough to produce a Heavenly Demon Insect. A single milliliter contained 20 drops of Demon Embryonic Fluid, so ten liters a day meant that Han Wu would obtain 200,000 drops of Demon Embryonic Fluid each day.

If the mutation was successful each time, he would be able to get at least 200,000 Heavenly Demon Insects each day, and with sufficient time, he could raise a significant army of them.

More importantly, they would inevitably experience the effects of the Law of Gluttony and would emerge ravenous from their cocoons. Additionally, they could also gain the ability to evolve into Elite life forms after consuming a quantity of food equivalent to a thousand times their metabolic rate.

After Han Wu added the Rank 1 Sacred Object Poison Orb to his Core, a thousandth of his locusts were affected, subsequently mutating into the Common Poison Locust which could only release a small amount of poison gas—they weren't particularly useful.

The newly hatched Heavenly Demon Insects, however, were different. About 90% of them had been influenced by the Poison Orb and had mutated into Elite Heavenly Poison Insects.

Han Wu admitted to himself that Tian Wen had been right—Heavenly Demon Insects were very compatible with poisons.