"Divine ability. This is a true divine ability." Li Lei's gaze was burning. He grabbed both Chen Feng's hands firmly and didn't let go no matter what. "Chen Feng! You must teach me this ability." Only now had he realized how terrifying this time shroud was. If used in a proper manner, his combat power would increase at least onefold.
Chen Feng smiled bitterly. "I will." Earlier, this guy had still been full of disdain toward this time shroud, yet now he was so desperate for it that he almost prostrated himself to learn it. This was still something Chen Feng had just recently created. Despite the astonishing effect of this ability, the limitations were rather great as well. A single usage would already exhaust the entirety of a beyond A class's energy. With this, this ability would most probably be unusable for normal battles.
Li Lei thought about it. "With my strength, after using this ability once, I should still have some energy remaining."
Chen Feng nodded. "Mhm."
"However, the exhaustion is still too high." Li Lei pondered. "It can only be used as a trump card for now. Naturally, if you can improve and optimize it further and make it something usable casually, it would be even better."
Chen Feng shrugged. "Strength-wise, I think it's sufficient." It was impossible to further improve this. After using 1,000 luck value on it, this version of time shroud was already nearly perfect. If so, the only thing he could do was optimize it. Chen Feng was not sure if this thing could actually be optimized in the first place. He recalled how in his previous life, a certain storage system had in fact lost its popularity after optimization. He definitely did not want that to happen to him.
"Time shroud is only one of the numerous shrouds available. Apart from this, there are also flame shrouds, lightning shrouds, and so on. Naturally, all these will require time and a huge amount of energy spent to create. In the future, perhaps I will truly be able to create even more versions," Chen Feng stated slowly.
This shroud was a legend-like existence. This thing that had been inherited by Gou Li's group was supposed to be something an ordinary person couldn't ever hope to use, let alone improve. If one wanted to improve it, first of all, one needed to have an absolute understanding of the core version of this ability: the spatial shroud. But then, by the time one finally gained sufficient understanding of the spatial shroud, enough time might have passed that this shroud would no longer still be useful for humanity. However, Chen Feng was different. He had not needed to gain absolute understanding of the initial version of the shroud. The only thing he had required to improve it was his luck value. As such, this shroud was simply perfect for him.
The core of this shroud was what he had inherited from Gou Li's group. Using that as the core, he had created a brand-new improved ability. This was a legendary power that belonged to Chen Feng alone.
"Shroud…"
Li Lei was similarly filled with admiration. He was the only one who knew how strong the side effects of using this ability were.
He was somewhat anxious. "Are you truly fine?"
Chen Feng shook his head. "I'm fine."
"That's good, then." Li Lei frowned. "Regardless of how powerful this thing is, it is still not as important as you yourself. Remember to monitor yourself every day. I will get a few beyond A classes to test your life span."
Chen Feng: "…Is there a need for this?"
"This is a need," Li Lei said with a solemn expression. Suddenly, Li Lei stated with a lowered voice, "Do you think you are the only one studying this thing?"
Chen Feng raised his brow. "Mhm?" He recalled that back then, he was the only one who had obtained the complete version of Gou Li's inheritance. Moreover, he had only obtained it after cross-checking it with Spirit's help.
"Hehe, this is the Genetic Era after all." Li lei sneered. "There were several beyond A classes present back then. Do you think that you were able to hide from those people the fact that you obtained the inheritance? They were all able to see it clearly. Moreover, internally, the Genetic Union already has a copy of the improved data of this ability. Those guys already started their research. Naturally, they all wished to be the one to control this powerful ability. And next…" Li Lei's expression became weird. "There was no next."
Chen Feng blanked. "Huh?"
"Dead." Li Lei sighed. "Those guys that personally researched Shroud Art, including one beyond A class, four beyond B classes, and a bunch of beyond C classes, all of them died. By the time we opened the door of their room, we noted that they had all died of old age. This happened in a single night."
Even now, the memory of that still gave Li Lei some lingering fears. That was truly an unforgettable scene.
Chen Feng: "…" The people of this era are truly not afraid of death. Chen Feng shook his head. "Don't worry. I didn't even touch the power of this thing. What I did was deduce and analyze it before attempting to directly improve how it works, working purely on theory rather than directly attempting to use it."
Only after hearing this did Li Lei heave a sigh of relief. "That's good, then."
Next, the two of them started testing and studying this time shroud created by Chen Feng. An improved set of data was submitted officially. However, when trying to think of a name for this shroud, both of them stopped.
"Shall we call it Time Shroud?" Li Lei probed.
"Oh." Chen Feng hesitated as well. "Why not change the name?"
Li Lei slapped his thigh. "Yes, let's change it. I keep feeling that the name 'shroud' feels somewhat freakish, as if it touches upon some sort of taboo. Look at those fellows had died so randomly…"
"Let me think about it." Chen Feng sank into contemplation.
Shroud Art…
This did not seem like a fitting name. More importantly, in the future, he might be able to create even more versions. As such, numerous other new abilities would appear. Could it be that they would have to give those names such as Flame Shroud, Lightning Shroud, and so on? What if the created shroud had no special properties? What should it be named? What about the naming of two different versions of time shroud? Time Shroud 1 and Time Shroud 2? Chen Feng's head ached at the thought of this.
"Mhm…" He sank into a long contemplation. "How about 'spirit arts'?"
Spirit arts, a unique system of abilities that were different from genetic abilities. In essence, this was made up of the core concepts of the Shroud Art and was something created after improvements and modifications by Chen Feng.
"Apart from the initial ability used by Gou Li's group that shall maintain the name Shroud Art, all the newly created abilities shall be called spirit arts!" Chen Feng decided firmly.
"All right." Li Lei approved of it. He knew that from today onward, the name "spirit arts" would be etched into the annals of history. In the future, for the genetic warriors of humanity, apart from possessing genetic abilities, they would have to possess spirit arts as well. Only those who had mastered both systems could be the strongest of all.
"How about this time spirit art, then?" Li Lei coveted this ability.
Chen Feng waved his hand. "Take it." After all, this ability wasn't of much use to him. However, the price of obtaining this thing…
Li Lei chortled happily. "Don't worry. I won't take it for free."
The next day, on the ability exchange page of the Genetic Union, which hadn't changed for several years, a brand-new ability suddenly appeared. This was an ability that was listed together with the likes of those 6-star secret arts.
Name: Time Quicksand.
Classification: Spirit art.
Function: Takes one second.
Exhaustion: All energy a standard beyond A1 would have.
Conversion Rate: …
Right Holder: Chen Feng.
Bang!
This sent the entire Genetic Union into an uproar. Spirit arts? What were those? And then there was the function of this thing…
The list of beyond A abilities hadn't been updated in a very long time. Moreover, those beyond A classes of the old generation had already purchased all the listed abilities, even the ones they didn't require. And now…
"Buy, buy, buy!"
"Since I bought the final ability in the list three years ago, I haven't seen any new abilities."
"I have remained stagnant for four years already."
Naturally, not everyone viewed this new ability positively.
"This guy called Chen Feng stirs up trouble every single day."
"What bullshit ability is this to deserve an entirely different classification?"
"Yeah."
"One second… What's the point? My speed-reduction ability is capable of reducing speed by at least 90% for 10 seconds. Perhaps I should create a brand new classification for my ability as well?"
"True."
"This is too expensive. Even if we were to ignore the function of this ability, the price is truly…"
"What a trash ability. Spatial freeze abilities are sufficient to render this ability useless."