"Uh... something seems a little off here."
Qi Suian squeezed out of the Tai Sui Divine Armor like a puddle of Slime, then quickly reformed into his normal human shape.
’Is my normal form some kind of mimicry now???’
He took a closer look at his data and breathed a sigh of relief.
’It’s not mimicry. It’s a reorganization via the Profound Virus, allowing for changes in physical form.’
’Looks like this is the effect of my Virus Control talent.’
[A-Rank Talent: Virus Control · Profound]
Qi Suian now had complete control over the Profound Virus within him, causing it to fully detach from the existing Profound collective and become a part of him.
Thus, even though it was separated, it was no longer compatible with any of the Profound Virus in the outside world.
Of course, they still had things in common. It was just that the wild Profound Virus was a wolf, while the one in Qi Suian’s body was a dog.
There wasn’t exactly reproductive isolation between them, but the two were simply not the same.
’If it weren’t for the Source of Profound Virus and the Profound God’s life force, my virus talent probably would have hit its limit before I became strong enough.’
Trying to upgrade it further from there would have been incredibly difficult.
Even with the help of those two things, Qi Suian wouldn’t be able to continue his research if his own strength was insufficient.
The gap between S-rank and A-rank was like that between a deity and a mortal, to say nothing of the SS and SSS ranks that lay beyond.
’Next up is the second consciousness.’
Qi Suian began to study the Divine Spirit Container Technology further. Originally, he had no intention of researching this technology in depth.
It didn’t align with his path, and the same was true for the Immortal Surgery.
At most, he would only have used them as a reference to draw inferences from.
"I never thought this technology could actually be used to contain a divine spirit one day," Qi Suian said with a self-deprecating chuckle.
The Profound God was incomplete, but the divinity within its life force clearly indicated that the god was being rekindled from its ashes; it merely lacked a catalyst.
’Perhaps Chunyu Hu’s initial plan was to achieve godhood.’
’He just wasn’t blessed by destiny and didn’t have my kind of luck, which is why he failed.’
Qi Suian certainly didn’t believe he could compare to a man who had lived for a thousand years and founded a massive organization.
The man was simply less fortunate than him; otherwise, there was no way he could have won.
It could only be described as a matter of timing and fate.
’The so-called Divine Spirit Container Technology is actually just an alternative form of complete infection.’
’The goal is to preserve one’s self while successfully controlling a second consciousness.’
’Chunyu Hu’s idea was sound, but his technology couldn’t completely control the second consciousness, even with subsequent drug treatments to suppress it.’
’But that only worked on ordinary recipients of the container technology. Chunyu Hu... he couldn’t use it at all.’
Qi Suian knew the drugs meant to suppress the second consciousness were completely ineffective on Chunyu Hu. He was only able to keep it in check through his own willpower.
The reason for this was that Chunyu Hu had transplanted a small, purified and modified piece of the Profound God’s life force into himself.
This was what gave him power far exceeding that of a normal Divine Prayer Association elder, and it was also why his strength increased so dramatically the moment he acquired the Source of Profound Virus.
However, the side effects were severe. He failed to obtain the three unique traits of the Profound God’s life force, and his second consciousness formed an intangible link with it.
It was precisely because he sensed this problem that Chunyu Hu united all the Divine Prayer Association elders to sever the Profound God’s final wisp of life force.
In fact, they succeeded. They just didn’t know that the Profound God’s life force possessed an undying trait, allowing it to recover after being extinguished.
"The good news is that this side effect most likely won’t happen to me," Qi Suian said quietly.
The Divine Spirit Container Technology worked by first inducing zombification to create a second consciousness, and then bringing it under control.
But Qi Suian was different. He had already gained complete control over the Profound Virus in his body. Even if he were to undergo complete infection, he wouldn’t turn into a zombie.
Therefore, no second consciousness would be born.
And that was where the real trouble lay.
’Before I had this talent, if I had completed the infection, there were two possibilities.’
’Either I would have inherited some of the Profound God’s abilities, or I would have become a Profound Virus aggregate, completely changing my own species.’
’However, neither of those was a good option.’
’The best course of action is to maintain my current self. If I’m going to change, it will have to wait until I completely secure the Source of Profound Virus and the Profound God’s life force.’
His reason for doing so was simple: to upgrade his virus talent.
To break through its upper limit, Qi Suian naturally couldn’t do it without higher-level materials to act as a catalyst.
As for the virus talent having SSS-rank potential? That was true, but potential doesn’t always fully materialize.
If everything went that smoothly, wouldn’t the world be full of heaven-blessed prodigies?
Besides, that potential belonged to the Zombie Dominator. Since Qi Suian hadn’t become a zombie, managing to raise the talent to A-rank was already quite impressive.
It wasn’t impossible to get a higher-ranked talent without relying on external forces; he could just become a zombie.
But Qi Suian didn’t need a talent like Devour and Evolve.
He wanted talents that were suited to him.
More talents weren’t necessarily better, as conflicts could arise.
The simplest example was that accumulating multiple enhancement-type talents could lead to conflicts.
After all, these talents were plundered from other life forms, not innate, so some degree of incompatibility was inevitable.
Therefore, no amount of planning could completely avoid it.
For example, even if Steel Body and a rubber body could be made compatible, it would result in a decrease in the effectiveness of both.
"The illness has become a part of me now... *cough*..." Qi Suian coughed up a mouthful of blood.
The sickness wracking his body was growing more severe, but it hardly affected Qi Suian’s performance. In fact, it acted as a buff.
’To fully unleash its potential, I’d need to find an ability similar to Life Link or Heaven and Earth Co-existence.’
He could withstand the pain of his illness, but not everyone could.
For Qi Suian, it was a limit-breaking buff, but for anyone else, it would be an excruciatingly painful disease.
’Actually, the Profound Virus’s strongest ability is infection.’
’Unfortunately, in a world already filled with zombies, it can only be used to infect survivors.’
’There’s no way to unleash its true power.’
As for infecting survivors, it had little value beyond preemptively eliminating hidden threats, and it was a great deal of effort.
’If I can survive until the next Doomsday World, then the Profound Virus might finally have its chance to shine.’
It wasn’t that the Profound Virus wasn’t trying; it was just that the circumstances were such that it simply couldn’t compete.
There were a ton of mutated and evolved strains of the Profound Virus, and not a single one of them was lacking in potency.