Lightning and Divinity

Ada watched Yinsen and Loki trade bone-shaking blows in the center of the room, then turned to glance at Logan beside her.

"Those two are both mages?"

Logan stood with his arms folded, quietly watching Yinsen and Loki in the ring. Both were highly capable fighters. There was no need to mention Loki—his fifteen hundred years of life had seen him through countless battles, giving him an abundance of combat experience. Although he could not use the spells he was best at right now, his physical strength alone made him far from an easy opponent.

Logan estimated that even if he stepped into the ring himself, he would not be able to defeat Asgard’s second prince. Even with his Undying Body, he could at most force a stalemate and keep the guy occupied.

"Loki may be a mage, but he’s also one of Asgard’s Aesir—the gods from Norse Mythology."

Loki certainly had reason to be proud. His strength, agility, and other physical attributes far surpassed Logan’s, while his experience was no less impressive. Besides, magic—not close combat—was what he truly excelled at.

"A god?"

Ada had never believed in things like gods and demons before. After all, she had lived and grown up in a world of science. Yinsen’s identity as a mage had already shaken her worldview once, but hearing that the man was actually a god finally made her truly feel that she had left her original world.

Looking again at the two sparring in the ring, she realized that although her body had been steadily growing stronger, a heavy punch from either one could still seriously injure her. That was only because the virus had enhanced her formidable Life Force. If it had been someone like Annette, an ordinary person through and through, she would have been killed outright.

Annette, who could not withstand even a single punch from either of them, was also there. She stared at the two fighters in shock. When they attacked at full speed, she could not even see what was happening in the ring. That made her understand just how terrifyingly fast they were. Even the force generated by their speed alone was not something an ordinary person could endure.

Yet the two men in the ring had each taken at least a dozen punches from the other and continued fighting as if nothing had happened.

"Is the G-Virus really that powerful?"

Annette knew that Yinsen had been improving the G-Virus. She had assumed that after only a few months, even with magical methods at his disposal, Yinsen could at best make its uncontrollable mutations somewhat manageable. She had never imagined that he would transform it into an entirely new Enhancement Potion.

There were no physical deformities at all. If anything, he had become taller and more handsome. The increase in strength and speed was equally obvious. The current Yinsen reminded her of "Superman."

Of course, she was not referring to the one from the DC Universe, but to an evolved being who had surpassed humanity as it existed today. How many researchers in biotechnology did not dream of creating a drug that could truly evolve humanity? Annette had held similar thoughts. She had always believed that the G-Virus would be humanity’s starting point toward a Higher Level. Now, Yinsen seemed to have proven her right.

"Too bad I wasn’t the one who created this potion."

Ada considered Yinsen and Loki’s Combat Power, wondering whether she could ever catch up to them. Logan, meanwhile, began wondering if it was time to improve his own abilities as well. If things continued like this, he would only be able to run errands for Yinsen.

He could not continue down the druid path of specializing in Force of Nature. His talent in that area was not even comparable to Laura’s. He had previously been troubled over how to become stronger, but Yinsen had reminded him: he could continue enhancing his physical abilities. Close combat was what he knew best and excelled at most.

More importantly, Yinsen had already mastered the right method for improving physical attributes. It was safe and had no side effects. The only question was whether it would affect his Mutant Gene.

"I should find a time to ask."

Everyone had their own thoughts. The only ones who did not think too deeply were the two little girls, Sherry and Laura. They watched like they were attending a fighting show, shouting excitedly from the side. Laura even served as a commentator, explaining to Sherry why that punch had been thrown that way, why Yinsen had suddenly launched a sneaky kick, why Loki looked so displeased, and why the two had abruptly stopped fighting and started bickering instead…

Aside from Selene, who was steering the ship, every member of the Goddess of Dawn had gathered in the Training Room built specifically for exercise.

Similar scenes had been happening for the past few days. After Ada and the others gained a basic understanding of the ship, Yinsen followed his usual practice and taught them how to use the Learning Device he had created.

After countless improvements, the latest Learning Device no longer had any side effects. It could also automatically adjust the "transfer speed" according to the user’s condition, so there was no risk of someone accidentally selecting the wrong "setting" and suffering mental damage.

These three women, even Sherry, the youngest among them, could absorb the basic knowledge of this world and its local language at a relatively fast pace. After several days of learning, all of them, including Sherry, could already communicate in the local language to a basic degree.

Yinsen, meanwhile, had continued sparring one-on-one with Loki so that he could adapt to his own power as quickly as possible.

With Loki as an opponent, Yinsen had indeed mastered his newly acquired power at an astonishing rate. At first, Loki had beaten him down with ease, but now they could fight to a draw. That proved Yinsen’s control over his own strength was steadily improving.

"Let’s call it here for today."

Yinsen touched the split corner of his mouth. Loki had not held back at all these past few days. His punches showed no mercy, and after every sparring match, Yinsen was often left bruised and swollen. A split lip barely counted as anything.

Sometimes, when Loki got carried away, he would casually draw a dagger and stab Yinsen. Seeing Loki’s smug grin from so close, Yinsen would suddenly feel the urge to blast the bastard away with a full-force burst of magic.

Naturally, he had not actually done that. He had merely condensed a heavy hammer from Holy Light Energy and given Loki a good hit. Fortunately, both of them knew their limits and had not broken into a full-scale battle.

Otherwise, it was hard to say whether they could determine a winner, but the ship would certainly have been scrapped in their fight.

Neither Yinsen nor Loki was the type to get carried away and lose all sense of restraint. Thus, after "playing a little joke" on each other, they decisively stopped.

Their most recent battles had not been so "intense." They had simply been normal close-combat sparring matches, with both of them bringing out everything they had. Recalling his fights with Loki over the past few days, Yinsen estimated that his current strength was roughly on par with Thor’s. His magical abilities, in particular, had improved tremendously as well.

He had now completely broken free of his reliance on equipment. Spells that he had previously needed equipment to cast could now be released with a casual gesture.

Water Walking, Underwater Breathing, Feather Fall, controlling Water Element, controlling Fire Element, and even Flame Wings, developed by drawing inspiration from jet engines—none of these were difficult for him anymore.

As the depth of his magic increased, the greatest weakness of Flame Wings—its inadequate endurance—had been greatly alleviated. He could now use the wings as freely as he had once used the Flame Cloak.

Furthermore, Flame Wings no longer had the unbreakable limit they once possessed. As his strength increased, the wings’ power would continue to rise, and his flight speed could increase as well.

Of course, those were not the only spells Yinsen knew. Kamar-Taj’s Mirror Dimension, Teleportation Spell, and Energy Weapon, as well as Asgardian teleportation and illusions, were all part of his magical repertoire.

Then there was the vast number of spells recorded in the Book of Inheritance Merlin had given him. That was currently his primary source of magical knowledge. It contained a great many spells, and as his strength grew, their details were gradually being unlocked for him. He had already mastered all the low-level spells within it, was learning the intermediate ones, and some advanced spells had begun to lift their mysterious veil.

Beyond magical knowledge, Yinsen unexpectedly discovered that he seemed to have gained an additional new attribute.

After completely mastering water and fire, giving his magic both attributes, he had originally planned to master either Holy Light Energy or Arcane Energy next.

Since Holy Light Energy was more difficult to obtain, he chose to pursue a deeper understanding of Arcane Energy. Arcane Energy possessed extremely strong plasticity. If his magic gained the properties of Arcane Energy, then he could more easily use certain attributes he had not originally mastered.

To put it metaphorically, magic that had completely understood and fused the characteristics of water and fire could become water when needed or fire when needed. Arcane Energy, on the other hand, could imitate water when needed or imitate fire when needed.

After fusing the properties of Arcane Energy, if he wanted to use lightning or another attribute he had not mastered, he could use the traits granted by Arcane Energy to simulate that energy attribute. Though it would not be as powerful or convenient as fully mastering the attribute itself, this trait of Arcane Energy would provide considerable convenience while he still lacked sufficient attributes.

Then an unexpected development occurred. After Yinsen digested the sudden increase in his magic, he discovered that his magic had gained a trace of lightning’s characteristics.

This attribute had appeared strangely, because he had never researched lightning at all. So he carefully examined himself and eventually discovered that the source of this lightning attribute was the Divine Blood Potion he had used before, while the G-Virus Enhancement Potion had acted as a catalyst and trigger.

"The Power of Thunder that Ares possessed?"

Before Ares was killed by Diana, he had indeed wielded Zeus’s Power of Thunder. Had Yinsen acquired it through the divine blood?

After checking repeatedly, Yinsen finally confirmed that this was not Zeus’s Power of Thunder. His body had merely become somewhat attuned to lightning. Once his magic grew stronger, that slight affinity had been amplified, then triggered by the G-Virus potion, allowing Yinsen to gain a preliminary grasp of the lightning attribute.

Divine blood was divine blood, after all. He also discovered that he had gained a trace of divinity. He could now be considered a demigod.