Just as Xu Tui had speculated, moving past Xi’an Prefecture was merely a smokescreen. The escort fleet passed through Ningyin Prefecture instead.
They did not stop at Ningyin Prefecture. Instead, they continued to journey through the night.
However, they merged with the fleet of vehicles that were heading to the capital from Ningyin Prefecture when they passed through.
There were more than 15 buses in the fleet at one point. However, after the escort vehicles merged with the defense forces stationed in Ningyin Prefecture, the strength of their defenses instantly doubled.
The expressions of both An Xiaoxue and the security guard in Bus 3 became much more relaxed after they grouped up with the defense forces from Ningyin Prefecture.
They continued to travel southeast, and the scenery outside got more and more bustling. More defense forces grouped up with them. The probability of them encountering another accident became smaller.
With a relaxed expression, An Xiaoxue explained many things to Xu Tui and Gong Ling along the way. A few other students came over to listen from time to time.
Only Cheng Mo continued to alternate between eating and sleeping.
They first talked about modified humans.
Modified humans were a banned product.
They were an area of research that was absolutely banned by the Blue Star Alliance Genetic Committee.
There was no such research in the orderly human society.
Despite the ban, some people went against the restrictions.
A small minority of researchers were extremely zealous about the topic.
The most famous of them all was Hicks Hal, a scientist born in the Milian Sector.
He was also called the Modification Madman.
He announced 60 years ago that he successfully managed to modify a cloned body. He managed to achieve a stable state after fusing the selected animal’s genes with human genes.
The clone body that was modified retained its human capabilities and had normal genetic base point abilities. However, it also had the genetic characteristics of a beast.
More importantly, the modified clone body not only had a portion of beast genes, but the genetic base points of these beasts were often dominant.
Most human genetic base points were recessive. Most of their genes were even in a subdued state. These genes were extremely difficult to activate, strengthen, mutate, or evolve.
However, dominant genes were extremely easy to activate, strengthen, or even evolve.
His announcement instantly caused shockwaves in the scientific community, especially since he also published an uncomfortable picture of his successful experiment—what the history books called the “reappearance of the kobolds”.
Three days later, the Blue Star Alliance Genetic Committee gave a rapid response.
They claimed that the research was going against what it meant to be human and banned all projects related to modified humans.
It made the research on modified humans and their production illegal and “anti-human”. Anybody caught breaking the law would be charged with the harshest of punishments.
At the same time, the alliance sent people to search for and destroy data in Hicks Hal’s research center. They also put Hicks Hal into surveillance.
The developments after that were very similar to the plot of a movie.
The Security Department of the Blue Star Alliance Genetic Committee messed up.
Hicks Hal vanished.
He vanished along with his assistant, his research material, and a large number of research samples.
A few years later, powerful modified humans with exceptional abilities appeared in the notorious Dawn Salvation Traitor Organization. They had caused many tragedies. That was how the public came to know about the modified humans.
By this time, the Modification Madman Hicks Hal had already become one of the vice-chairmen of the Dawn Salvation Traitor Organization and received a large amount of financial support.
“Miss An, then why is the earth-element superb individual that powerful? Even Commander Liu didn’t manage to capture him even with those many officers under him?
“Even the experts sent later by the emergency fleet did not manage to capture him… I heard that there are many powerful genetic evolvers in the emergency fleet.
“I also heard from you just now that the earth-element superb individual was only a Level B genetic mutant,” Xu Tui probed further.
“This problem is much more complicated,” An Xiaoxue simply said. “You must have read many fantasy novels or watched epic battle films in the past. Do you remember the magic that appeared in those novels and movies?”
Xu Tui and Gong Ling nodded.
“I do. Also, a classmate told me in the past that superb individuals are basically mages.”
“Yes and no,” An Xiaoxie began to explain. “The fabled spells mentioned in movies before the Great Genetic Age are all extremely mysterious. They need to be complemented by incantations, rituals, hand gestures, and elixirs.
“However, superb individuals in the Great Genetic Age have removed the mysticism behind the spells. It is merely the science of the activation of the human potential.
“There will be a structured theory about this when we get to school. Today, I’ll mainly tell you about the few factors that would affect the abilities of a genetic newcomer.
“The main factors that would affect the abilities of a genetic newcomer are the level, the type, the application, and the makeup of the ability.”
“Genetic newcomer?” Xu Tui and Gong Ling were hearing these words for the first time.
“Actually, you can broadly be called a genetic newcomer after you are administered with the genetic liberation elixir. However, because of many reasons, the government did not announce this to the public.
“However, I am talking about genetic newcomers in a narrower sense. This is what major schools mean when we talk about genetic newcomers.
“Major schools would only call you a genetic newcomer when you advance and become a genetic liberator. However, you guys would become genetic newcomers-to-be after you enter the Huaxia Genetic Evolution College.
“You should be able to understand what is meant by the application of an ability. The terrain today is more suitable for the earth-element superb individual, as well as Gong Ling’s plant affinity and radiation influence-type abilities. You can extrapolate the logic. It’s not difficult.”
The Mystery Branch superb-type abilities of the genetic base points that Gong Ling activated were plant affinity and radiation influence.
Today, Gong Ling caused the vines on the ground to coil around A’Hu’s back legs, and it gave Xu Tui an opportunity to attack.
“Professional teachers will explain the ability makeup and ability type to you when we reach school. I’ll tell you about the ability levels,” An Xiaoxue said.
Xu Tui and Gong Ling had a general understanding of the leveling system of genetic abilities: from the beginning stages of a genetic liberator to the slightly more powerful genetic mutant, to the genetic evolver, then finally the most powerful genetic transmuter.
However, that was merely a larger classification of the various stages.
There were finer distinctions within each stage.
Just like most of the leveling systems in the Great Genetic Age, those stages were further split into seven levels, namely F, E, D, C, B, A, and S. It was said that there was a level SS above level S. However, even An Xiaoxue had never seen a person who was at level SS.
More accurately, a person could be a Level F genetic liberator, Level E genetic liberator, etc.
Taking the genetic liberators as an example, genetic newcomers-to-be who had been administered with the genetic liberation elixir such as Xu Tui would be able to advance and become a genetic liberator after he activated a systematic set of genetic base point abilities. When that time came, he would be a genetic newcomer in the narrower sense of the word.
What constituted a systematic set of genetic base point abilities?
For example, if a person managed to activate speed-related genetic base points in their lower limbs, their speed would increase at an exponential rate compared to someone else.
This was a recognized ability in the Genetic Evolution College called extreme speed.
Of course, that person would only be able to become the lowest Level F genetic liberator.
A person could become a Level E genetic liberator if they managed to form three recognized abilities after their genetic base points were activated.
The number of abilities required for subsequent levels followed an odd number sequence.
A Level D genetic liberator would have five systematic abilities, a Level C genetic liberator would have seven, and a Level B genetic liberator would have nine.
Forming systematic abilities would become harder as an individual progressed.
Most genetic liberators were Level F and Level E.
Not many people were above Level E.
Under normal circumstances, a higher level meant that the genetic liberator was more powerful.
Of course, that was not all.
That was because not all of the systematic abilities that had been discovered and recorded were suited for battle. Many of them were purely supportive abilities.
Other than that, the classification of a genetic liberator’s abilities also represented something of utmost importance to every genetic newcomer—the genetic ability ceiling.
As long as an individual became a genetic liberator, they had to go through genetic mutation and become a genetic mutant to improve their abilities, regardless of the level they were at.
A Level F genetic liberator would naturally become a Level F genetic mutant after the enhancement.
A Level D genetic liberator would also become a Level F genetic mutant after the enhancement.
However, there was a difference in the upper limit of the two.
A Level F genetic mutant who had been a Level F genetic liberator in the past would have an upper limit of being a Level F genetic mutant.
Under normal circumstances, there was no point for a Level F genetic mutant to advance to become a Level F genetic evolver. Even if they managed to evolve, they would forever be stuck as a Level F genetic evolver.
Even though a Level D genetic liberator would also become a Level F genetic mutant after they advanced in level, they could grow to become a Level D genetic mutant.
It was the same if they managed to become a genetic evolver.
The bare minimum the Huaxia Genetic Evolution College required for a student to become a genetic mutant was a Level E.
In reality, not many people from the Huaxia Genetic Evolution College would advance to the next level while being a Level E genetic liberator.
The most common approach for the students in the Huaxia Genetic Evolution College was to move a stage upward after they became a Level D genetic liberator. Only then would it fit their status as a student from the Huaxia Genetic Evolution College and the expectations of the society.
There were not many people who managed to become a Level C genetic liberator before breaking through to the next stage even in the Huaxia Genetic Evolution College.
The people in the Huaxia Genetic Evolution College who became a Level B genetic liberator before breaking through to the next stage were even rarer.
As for Level A, that person would be hailed as a genius among geniuses. A person like that might only appear once every few years.
That was the answer.
The earth-element superb individual that fought against Liu Tianhu and his many generals while managing to retreat to safety even after being pursued by the genetic evolvers in the emergency fleet managed to accomplish the feat because he was a Level B genetic mutant.
The Level B genetic mutant would have most probably advanced while he was a Level B genetic liberator. He might even have been a Level A genetic liberator.
However, no matter if he managed to break through to become a genetic evolver while he was a Level B or a Level A genetic liberator, he was still a person that was rarely seen even in the top university of the Huaya Sector, the Huaxia Genetic Evolution College.
He would obviously be powerful!
An Xiaoxue’s explanation gave Xu Tui and Gong Ling a deeper understanding of genetic newcomers.
They also remembered a key term—the genetic ability ceiling.
That might be something that was deeply related to their futures.
“Oh, yes, Miss An, how powerful are you right now? What level genetic liberator were you back then?” Gong Ling suddenly asked as she opened her eyes wide.