Chapter 56: The 1% Mutation

"Yes, Host!"

<Ding!>

[Energy value insufficient!]

[Please continue supplying energy, Host!]

Ryan’s eyes immediately lit up.

"This is great!"

"It can ignore the beast pouch, and it can even transmute living creatures!"

He quickly continued feeding Low-Grade Origin Stones into the Boundless Creation Furnace.

He had expected the furnace to be able to ignore the beast pouch itself.

After all, temporarily placing an object inside the furnace without transmuting it wasn’t fundamentally different from storing something in a spatial ring.

What truly surprised him was the second discovery.

The Boundless Creation Furnace could transmute living creatures.

All things could truly be created.

He had just discovered another incredible application of the furnace.

Having already experienced Advanced Creation with Bloodline Essence, Ryan knew that Origin Stones served as the furnace’s primary energy source.

To avoid wasting time, he still inserted the Low-Grade Origin Stones one at a time, but his movements were now much faster.

Then—

After the forty-second Low-Grade Origin Stone entered the furnace, the long-awaited notification finally sounded.

<Ding!>

[Energy requirement met!]

[Advanced Creation: Transforming Waste into Treasure, randomly generating...]

[Output Probability: Original Hatching 99%, Mutated Hatching 1%]

"It’s done!"

Ryan’s expression brightened.

He immediately stared at the Boundless Creation Furnace with nervous anticipation.

"There really is a chance for mutated hatching..."

He was extremely curious about what these three dying beast eggs would become.

Judging from the notification, Mutated Hatching meant that after successful creation, there was a one-percent chance of the eggs undergoing a mutation and producing a species different from their original form.

The miraculous power of the Boundless Creation Furnace never ceased to amaze him.

Yet every time he faced its random generation function, Ryan experienced the same strange mixture of emotions.

Excitement.

Anticipation.

Nervousness.

And just a little anxiety.

After all, no matter how much he wanted a particular result, the final outcome was completely beyond his control.

Time slowly passed.

Just as Ryan’s nerves were beginning to tighten—

<Ding!>

The Boundless Creation Furnace finally produced another notification.

[Congratulations, Host!]

[Excellent luck! The 1% Mutated Hatching has been triggered!]

[Obtained: First-Order Zerg—Ghost Bee ×3]

[Type: Mutated Insect]

[Possesses Double Bloodline: D-Rank Top-Tier Fierce Ghost Bloodline, D-Rank Top-Tier Killer Bee Bloodline]

[Active Abilities: Ghost Fang Devour, Ghost Poison Sting, Ghost Insect Mist]

[Passive Abilities: Physical Damage Reduction, Silent Swiftness]

[Ghost Bee Detailed Information:]

[At the initial stage, the Ghost Bee is a First-Order Mutated Insect of the bee species. Its body is roughly the size of a broad bean and is grayish-white in color.]

[It is an extremely rare and dangerous small, gregarious Zerg. Its reproduction rate and egg viability are both extremely low, making it exceptionally difficult to cultivate.]

[Ghost Bees generally originate in areas containing large numbers of corpses, particularly damp and cold environments.]

[Their bodies are surrounded by grayish-white Ghost Origin Energy, causing their figures to appear and disappear unpredictably. They possess the passive abilities Physical Damage Reduction and Silent Swiftness.]

[Their temperament is sinister and bloodthirsty. They enjoy consuming meat, particularly raw and decaying flesh.]

[They are naturally aggressive and highly murderous.]

[Their ghost fangs and poison stingers are exceptionally sharp. Their flight is nearly completely silent, and their speed is comparable to a flash of cold light.]

[They generally do not attack without reason. However, once they strike, they fight until either the enemy is injured or killed, making them extremely dangerous.]

[Ghost Bees possess two Bloodlines simultaneously: D-Rank Top-Tier Fierce Ghost Bloodline and D-Rank Top-Tier Killer Bee Bloodline.]

[However, because they are small, gregarious Zerg, they require sufficient numbers—at least hundreds or even thousands—to truly display their terrifying combat potential.]

BUZZ—BUZZ—!

A faint buzzing suddenly echoed from within the Boundless Creation Furnace.

The next moment, the furnace trembled slightly and spat out the beast pouch.

Ryan immediately caught it.

"Physical Damage Reduction..."

"Silent Swiftness..."

"Ghost Bee?"

His eyes sharpened.

A look of pleasant surprise appeared on his face.

He hadn’t expected this.

Not only had the Boundless Creation Furnace completely revived the three dying beast eggs—

It had actually hatched them directly.

And somehow, it had even triggered the extremely rare one-percent Mutated Hatching.

The result was three Ghost Bees possessing two D-Rank Top-Tier Bloodlines.

Ryan’s heart couldn’t help but race.

This Advanced Creation function was truly heaven-defying.

Moreover, the Ghost Bee was a creature he couldn’t find any information about within the knowledge stored in his mind.

It was clearly an extremely rare species.

Fortunately, his knowledge did contain some information regarding Ghost-type Bloodlines.

Ghost-type Bloodlines were relatively rare Lifeform-Type Bloodlines.

Because they possessed certain characteristics of ghosts, their bodies were exceptionally light and ethereal, granting them the passive ability Silent Swiftness.

When combined with the Killer Bee Bloodline, that natural agility transformed into terrifying aerial speed.

The grayish-white Ghost Origin Energy surrounding their bodies also provided considerable protection.

The Physical Damage Reduction ability was precisely one of the characteristics granted by this Ghost Origin Energy.

This combination was extremely practical.

Silent movement.

Exceptional speed.

Physical damage reduction.

Deadly fangs and poison stingers.

Together, these abilities made Ghost Bees almost perfectly suited for harassment, close-range entanglement, and assassination.

Of course, they had a clear weakness.

Their Physical Damage Reduction only applied to physical attacks.

It could not reduce elemental damage.

In other words, abilities belonging to Transformation-Type Bloodlines that dealt elemental damage could bypass this defensive advantage.

Even so, their flaws were hardly enough to overshadow their strengths.

They were unquestionably powerful Mutated Insects.

Without the Boundless Creation Furnace’s detailed explanation, even combined with the knowledge in his mind, Ryan might never have discovered how terrifying these tiny creatures could become.

Originally, Ryan had only planned to revive the three dying beast eggs and sell them at Winters Tower.

That was why he hadn’t bothered to perform the Blood Recognition Ritual beforehand.

But now—

He had completely changed his mind.

He wasn’t selling them.

He was keeping them.

Although the information clearly stated that Ghost Bees were extremely difficult to cultivate, Ryan wasn’t worried.

As long as he possessed the Boundless Creation Furnace—

There would always be a way.

Everything could be done gradually.

"HISS!"

Ryan injected a wisp of Origin Energy into the beast pouch.

The pouch immediately became transparent.

The interior became clearly visible.

BUZZ! BUZZ!

The three tiny Ghost Bees were frantically buzzing around inside.

They were bursting with vitality.

There was no trace of their previous dying state.

Ryan smiled.

He bit his index finger and squeezed several drops of fresh blood into the beast pouch.

The Blood Recognition Ritual began.

The moment the blood entered the pouch, it instantly transformed into a thin blood mist that spread throughout the entire space.

The three Ghost Bees quickly absorbed the blood mist.

A faint white light flickered around their bodies.

Soon, all three became completely still.

The recognition ritual was complete.

A Mental Awareness imprint had been established.

At that moment, Ryan could faintly sense a mysterious connection between himself and the three Ghost Bees.

After performing the Blood Recognition Ritual, a cultivator could imprint their Mental Awareness onto Strange Beasts and Mutated Insects.

This allowed them to issue commands and greatly reduced the possibility of their bonded creatures attacking their master.

Of course, there were limits.

If the Strange Beast or Mutated Insect’s strength increased too rapidly and eventually surpassed its master’s Mental Awareness by too great a margin, the bond could become unstable.

For Ryan, there was another problem.

His current cultivation was only at the Origin energy Convergence Realm.

His Mental Awareness was still confined within his body.

He couldn’t detach it externally.

To command Strange Beasts and Mutated Insects in battle, a cultivator needed to continuously expend detached Mental Awareness.

With Ryan’s current Mental Awareness, he couldn’t control the Ghost Bees as effortlessly as his own limbs.

If he released them now, controlling them over a distance would be extremely difficult.

Releasing them was easy.

Calling them back was another matter.

If they suddenly escaped, all his effort would be wasted.

Even with the Blood Recognition Ritual and Mental Awareness imprint, his control would remain limited if his Mental Awareness couldn’t keep pace with their growth.

Wild Strange Beasts and Mutated Insects were still creatures with instincts.

If their strength eventually surpassed their master’s by too great a margin, there was always a possibility that they could break free of his control.

Therefore—

Ryan decided to nurture them first.

Once he broke through to the Origin Spirit Realm, he would be able to detach his Mental Awareness.

At that point, commanding the Ghost Bees would become much easier.

And if their numbers could eventually grow into the hundreds or even thousands...

Ryan’s eyes gleamed.

They would become a terrifying force.

"Now..."

"It’s time for the waste pills."

Ryan tied the beast pouch securely around his waist.

His mood was considerably better than before.

He then took out all forty-three Waste Pills from his spatial ring and poured them into the Boundless Creation Furnace at once.

Ryan was already familiar with the furnace’s process for Waste Pills.

Items of the same type could be processed in batches.

There was no reason to feed them one by one and waste time.

<Ding!>

[Energy requirement met!]

[Advanced Creation: Batch Transforming Waste into Treasure, randomly generating...]

[Output Probability: Pills 99%, Mutated Unknown Type 1%]

The notification sounded leisurely.

Ryan stared intently at the Boundless Creation Furnace.

"Hopefully, something good comes out."

By now, he had already become accustomed to the strange 1% Mutated Unknown Type probability.

Perhaps that was the greatest source of randomness within the Boundless Creation Furnace.

Ryan’s eyes remained fixed on the furnace.

Soon—

A long series of clear notifications began ringing out one after another.