The Combat Power of Rare Genes, Annihilating a Shadowwind Wolf Squad
"Awooo!"
One wolf howl after another kicked off the slaughter.
The students inside the instance soon encountered Shadowwind Wolves as well.
Battle after battle unfolded.
But unlike Xalen's clean, efficient kills, most students found themselves in bitter, desperate struggles against the Shadowwind Wolves.
Just like in this moment.
A student, faced with a Shadowwind Wolf's assault, had fallen into complete despair.
"No, stay away!"
"Someone, anyone, save me!!"
The student broke, turned and ran for his life.
But he couldn't outrun the Shadowwind Wolf, and in the blink of an eye, it caught up and threw him to the ground.
With a sickly squelch.
His throat was torn open, eyes still open in a lifeless stare.
Scenes like this were unfolding constantly throughout the instance.
Even when facing a lone Shadowwind Wolf, the students struggled badly.
Although Common Gene Soldiers had strength on par with a Shadowwind Wolf, in a real fight, most of these students, who had never drawn blood before, found themselves on the losing end.
Only a handful managed to steady themselves and display truly formidable power.
Swish.
Rick snapped his head around, frowning at the Shadowwind Wolf flanking him.
"Instructor David was right—these Shadowwind Wolves really are fast. If that's the case, then I won't play its speed game."
The next second, the Shadowwind Wolf lunged again, bringing a gust of foul wind with it.
Rick gritted his teeth and charged in headfirst to meet it.
"Spiked Carapace!"
With a low shout from Rick, a wondrous scene unfolded.
A layer of brown, spike-covered armor appeared across Rick's body.
The Shadowwind Wolf's claws struck the Spiked Carapace and immediately came to an abrupt halt.
Immediately after, the wolf let out a pained yelp and was sent flying backward.
Rick was overjoyed at the sight.
This Spiked Carapace was the ability he'd gained after awakening his alligator snapping turtle gene.
It was a defensive skill.
But the interesting part was that this defensive skill also had a reflective damage effect.
Thus, not only had he blocked the Shadowwind Wolf's attack, he'd even dealt counter-damage to it!
Right after, Rick didn't waste a word, rushed up to the wolf, raised the iron hammer in his hand, and brought it smashing down hard.
Against a Level 1 Aberrant like a Shadowwind Wolf, ordinary weapons could still be effective.
As expected.
One hammer blow sent the wolf into a daze, freezing its struggling once again.
Ricked let out a cold laugh and kept pounding it down, hammer blow after hammer blow.
During this, the Shadowwind Wolf thrashed instinctively, wildly raking with its claws.
Rick turned and used his back to block. His clothes were shredded, but his back was largely unharmed.
Seeing this, Rick smiled, not particularly surprised.
That was his alligator snapping turtle talent: Thick Dorsal Shell.
Awakening the alligator snapping turtle gene had given him two abilities in total.
One was the defensive skill Spiked Carapace, the other was the defensive talent Thick Dorsal Shell.
With these two abilities, Rick realized that taking down a Level 1 Shadowwind Wolf wasn't all that hard.
Soon enough, this Shadowwind Wolf was completely finished.
Rick began harvesting and absorbing its Gene Crystal.
On the other side.
Several other students who had awakened Rare Genes also saw their first victories, each taking down a Shadowwind Wolf.
Athena with the white fox gene.
Orene with the Velociraptor gene.
And David with the Unicorn Bull gene.
Rare Genes generally granted two abilities.
With those two abilities, Athena and the others didn't have much trouble handling Shadowwind Wolves.
But after that.
When the Shadowwind Wolves started appearing in packs, even Rare Gene holders couldn't hold on.
After killing three lone wolves, Rick also ran into a squad of three Shadowwind Wolves.
Faced with such a squad, he had no choice but to tuck tail and flee.
It was only thanks to his excellent defensive capabilities that he managed to break through and escape.
Meanwhile.
Beneath a giant tree, Xalen also came to an abrupt stop, raising an eyebrow as he scanned his surroundings.
Amid the surrounding underbrush, eight points of cyan light appeared.
Those were four pairs of wolf eyes gleaming with cold light!
Four Shadowwind Wolves had suddenly appeared and surrounded Xalen!
Yet Xalen, seeing this, wasn't alarmed but rather delighted.
"Took me long enough to find a group!"
While others desperately tried to avoid Shadowwind Wolf squads, Xalen welcomed them.
Because his fights against Shadowwind Wolves were all instant kills, and sometimes finding even one was a struggle.
Who would've thought there'd be four here at once? To him, this was a pleasant surprise!
Without a word, he charged straight at one of the wolves.
The moment Xalen moved, the standoff shattered.
All four wolves bared their fangs with fierce expressions and pounced at him simultaneously.
Seeing this, Xalen's face showed a smile.
"Trying to gang up on me? Perfect, let me test that ability."
Xalen willed it, and another ability roared to life.
A deep, resonant hum.
An invisible, terrifying aura erupted from within him.
In that instant, it was as if a fierce gale had swept out.
Leaves all around were blasted away.
The four Shadowwind Wolves, caught in the wake of that aura, suddenly stiffened, frozen on the spot.
In that fleeting moment, unmistakable terror filled their usually bloodthirsty, savage eyes.
This was the effect of Xalen's Draconic Sovereignty!
Actively releasing the aura of a supreme dragon, it inflicted heavy intimidation on all ordinary beasts, holders of prehistoric dinosaur genes, and any possessors of dragon-lineage genes!
The Tyrant Dragon's draconic aura was clearly very potent.
Right now, these four Shadowwind Wolves looked as if they had been scared witless.
Xalen smiled and dashed forward, finishing them off—one wolf, one punch.
"Awooo!"
But just as he was killing the third, the last wolf snapped out of its daze. It let out a miserable howl, tucked its tail, and ran!
"Trying to escape?!"
Xalen chuckled lightly. His body shot forward like a cannonball, slamming directly into the last wolf and sending it flying.
The Shadowwind Wolf crashed into a giant tree and fell to the ground with a thud.
Before it could react, a fist filled its vision and ended its life.
The wolf's face was frozen in a snarl, still etched with that lingering fear.
Then Xalen crouched down and got to work, the process now smooth and routine.
"This instance doesn't seem all that challenging," he muttered as he handled the spoils.
With his current abilities, these Shadowwind Wolves were nothing but cannon fodder.
Even a full squad posed no real pressure.
He wondered how the others were doing.
Lost in idle thought, he soon had four more Gene Crystals.
This time, he didn't absorb them right away. Instead, he stored them in his spatial backpack along with the wolf carcasses.
The main reason was that he had absorbed way too many Gene Crystals along the way and couldn't keep up with the absorption.
He needed a certain cooldown period before he could continue absorbing.
After that, Xalen killed two more Shadowwind Wolves. Noticing the sky beginning to darken, he immediately set out to find a cave to spend the night.
Because their fur was dark, these Shadowwind Wolves became elusive and unpredictable in the darkness, making them even more troublesome.
Xalen could still handle them, but there was no need to use his own weakness to challenge their strength.
Besides, he was already backlogged on absorbing Gene Crystals. What he needed more than more kills was a place to hunker down and speed up the absorption.
Once inside the cave, Xalen scouted it thoroughly. After confirming there was no danger, he covered the entrance with leaves and began training.
What he trained were the various body-forging techniques previously taught by the Gene Academy.
Continuous, unceasing practice of these techniques could markedly improve one's physical fitness.
And improving physical fitness allowed a person to bear a stronger gene.
Thus, this was also the way to accelerate Gene Crystal absorption.
Xalen trained tirelessly, repeating the exercises over and over.
An hour later, after sensing his condition in silence, he took out another Gene Crystal and absorbed it.
After absorption, he resumed training, cycling through the process again and again...
Soon, the night receded, and the sky outside the cave gradually brightened.
Xalen, who had trained the entire night inside the cave, suddenly felt a tremor pass through his body.
Without realizing it, he had already absorbed ten Gene Crystals.
Right at that moment, the system's notification chime clearly resounded in his mind.
[Ding! Your level has increased from LV1 to LV2! You have gained +8 to your Four-Dimensional Attributes!]
[Ding! Tyrant Engine activated. The bonus to your Four-Dimensional Attributes has been multiplied tenfold!]
……