In the freshly ruined main hall of the Spirit Shelter, an absolute ass-kicking was happening.
Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang!
Countless jabs were thrown from multiple angles as Max flashed back and forth around the freshly respawned spirit.
He had changed his mind about punching her in the boob, and was thus currently treating both of this spirit's like speedbags.
As she nearly passed out and fell backwards, Max caught and then held the bruised, blushing spirit muttering weak curses in one of his hands by her throat, letting her toes brush the ground in front of the statue where her spirit stone used to reside. After fully gaining consciousness, she started flailing about with her legs and free hand.
She was now trying her best to shake off the vice-like, yet gentle grip he had on her. Max was restraining the thrashing spirit without choking her while toying with a small blue gem the size and shape of a robin's egg.
He rolled the slightly translucent spirit stone back and forth between his index finger and thumb thoughtfully, while asking mockingly, "Are you sure? You don't wanna roll with me and become a hero of justice? You can be my sexy sidekick. Come on, don't make that face—this is a chance to make up for all the humans you've hunted down and murdered; they were only guilty of sailing near the island your shelter happens to be on... How many years have you been at this for now? You do look kinda older than I thought, now that I'm getting a good look at ya."
The Royal spirit, which was at the level of a Sacred-Blood creature, did her best to try and kick Max between the legs.
Clang!
A shield formed from the God Dust materialized out of nothing in front of his crotch, causing a loud metal-on-metal sound when the spirit's armored foot got close to his family jewels.
Max raised an eyebrow.
"That. Wasn't. Very. Nice... Last chance."
Instead of giving in, a long, smooth leg partially covered in armor was swung up towards Max's un-armored head.
"Humph."
Max snorted in a mixture of amusement and disappointment while he allowed the powerful kick to land.
Blue hair was the only thing that moved at all when the strike connected, and the look on the spirit's face changed several times— from defiance to anger, hope when she realized Max wasn't blocking or dodging, and then finally despair.
Based on the Alliance's research in the Second God's Sanctuary, ordinary class creatures typically had a fitness rating from 10 to 20.
Primitive creatures ranged from 20 to 50, while mutants fell between 50 and 80 or so. Sacred-blood creatures exceeded 80, often far surpassing 100.
Spirits generally had a similar range of physique as creatures. This implied that a Royal-level spirit, like the one Max was currently dealing with, would likely have a fitness falling somewhere between 80 and 100.
While these figures might not be exact, they were close enough to provide a reliable estimate. The most unpredictable were the Sacred-Blood beings, however, as many of them were so powerful that their strength seemed to defy normal measurement.
Max knew from reading the Super God Gene book that some of these 'op Sacred-Blood monsters' were in fact Super creatures simply being mistaken for over-powered Sacred-Blood creatures, most of the Super creatures in the Second God's Sanctuary would possess a fitness of over 200, with some capable of reaching over 400 fitness in rare instances if they became Berserk Super creatures.
This Royal class female spirit sure as hell wasn't a Berserk Super Creature, so the mighty kick she threw out had not fazed Max in the slightest.
She had only managed to open one 'Gene Lock' as well, which didn't amount to much of a boost to her fitness, maybe placing her at around 10% stronger than she would have been without one, which was still less than nothing to Max, who had 10 gene locks opened for each of his 3 mutant abilities already, thanks to how the Sanctuaries themselves functioned, and his ability, [Instinct].
In the First Sanctuary, survival was a matter of raw stats and beast souls. But here, the rules started to change. The atmosphere itself felt heavy, thick with a crushing universal pressure that actively suppressed the human genetic code. To survive, an Evolver had to break their biological chains.
They had to make their bodies stronger and prepare to open their gene locks.
In layman's terms, Gene Locks are the invisible evolutionary chains holding back the true potential of human DNA in the Super God Gene universe.
Unlocking them allows human Evolvers and Surpassers to break past mortal physical limits and command cosmic or elemental forces.
Think of a human body like a machine. Your muscles, bones, and organs can only handle a certain amount of electricity before they burn out.
Opening a gene lock removes those safety limiters. Every time someone opens a lock, their body is permanently reinforced, and their baseline physical fitness (strength, speed, durability) receives a massive percentage-based multiplier. It also allows their body to channel elemental energies—like fire, ice, or lightning—depending on the specific martial art (Hyper Geno Art) they're practicing.
For the vast majority of humanity, breaking even a single Gene Lock in the Second God's Sanctuary was a monumental achievement requiring years of grueling cultivation and a mountain of rare resources.
An average Evolver walked this realm with maybe one lock open. Even the elite geniuses—the prized scions of the military factions and the ancient corporate families—could only boast of opening two, or on rare, legendary occasions, three.
Each open lock granted a burst of elemental control, a brief surge of heightened physical fitness, a temporary state of ascension before the body grew exhausted, based on natural affinity or mutated genes, but mostly focused around Hyper Geno arts and Qi Gongs.
But Max wasn't an ordinary Evolver.
Back when his body fully materialized inside the Second God's Sanctuary for the first time, the realm's oppressive atmosphere slammed into him. It was designed to force a human's genetic potential to slowly awaken. Instead, it collided with Max's pre-existing, fully realized mutant powers.
Max had always possessed total, flawless control over his three mutations—the absolute command of electromagnetism, the subconscious bending of quantum probability, and the crystalline sight of timelines yet to pass. In the First Sanctuary, these powers had operated entirely on his own willpower, and at max power.
But the Second Sanctuary didn't understand external mutant physiology. It only understood its own system. It saw three distinct, fully realized cosmic authorities humming within Max's DNA, and the normal restrictions and rules of the Sanctuaries accommodated Max's outsider biology.
...
The 'God Seed' inside of you is reacting to a nearby power, allow genetic changes and spiritual upgrades to occur? Y/N?
...
"Hell yea!"
Thump. Thump. Thump.
A series of invisible, cataclysmic tremors echoed through Max's body, loud and frequent as a drum set being thrashed at a rock and roll concert. To the Sanctuary's logic, a fully realized power meant all boundaries on his gene locks were shattered.
Max could instantly feel the change deep inside his cells. His mutant powers weren't becoming any more powerful, but the effects those abilities had on his body were being changed to suit the lore of the Jump he was in.
For his Magnetism mutation: Lock one, two, five... ten. Maxed out.
For his Probability manipulation: Lock ten. Maxed out.
For his Precognition: Lock ten. Maxed out.
Thirty gene locks shattered simultaneously in a fraction of a second.
Max gasped as a torrent of pure, unadulterated physical power flooded his veins. Because his mutant abilities were already fully mastered, this sudden awakening didn't give him new techniques—instead, the Sanctuary rewarded him with the raw, physical upgrade that naturally came along with opening a gene lock.
It was a staggering buff to his physical stats when the gene locks were open. He could close them back down if he chose to, which he did. Keeping them open did cost his body some energy and a strain, instantly making Max compare the gene lock mode to the 'Kaioken' technique used by Goku in Dragon Ball Z.
Normally one open gene lock would bolster ones base fitness by 10%, two gene locks would give 20% and so on, meaning that if you had all 10 gene locks open you would double your power.
Max was now able to increase his fitness level by 300% for a time period, before using his [Electromagnetism] to dope his blood or fortify his body, Max could reach a fitness level of around 312 on his first day in the Second God's Sanctuary.
With his current base fitness of 360, the number came out to a gob-smacking 1080 fitness!
Max luckily had not been transported to the ice lands like Han Sen had been when he arrived in the Second God's Sanctuary. Instead, he gazed out towards a chain of tropical islands. He summoned his Reed Specials to shade his eyes from the bright sunlight and started floating towards the nearby beach.
He could see many soccer ball-sized crabs scuttling about and was already planning a beach surf and turf event for himself and his Beast-Soul pet, Zephyr.
In a world where the greatest geniuses fought tooth and nail just to glimpse the power of a third Gene Lock, Max had just stepped through the front door with thirty of them thrown wide open. He wasn't just an Evolver anymore.
He was a force of nature...
Back to the present moment.
Max toyed with the crystalline jewel in between his fingers and posed a question to the stunned spirit, who still had an outstretched leg and foot resting on the side of Max's head.
"You want to do it? Or me?"
Moments later, both the spirit stone and the gorgeous spirit it had belonged to were no longer part of this world.
The human murdering spirit had decided to commit suicide. She started dissolving into the air, this time for good, destroying her own spirit stone in the process, choosing to neither become owned by Max and to go down by her own hand, which was the norm with most of these prideful spirits.
When he walked out of the hall, a large, magnificent looking beast chewing on the tail of a dead creature looked over at him and started walking over. As it walked it quickly threw back its handsome yet fierce gold, white and jade colored head, swallowing the large chunk of meat as it went.
It was his Beast-Soul pet Zephyr, in its battle form.
The mighty Kirin was also as strong as any top tier Super Creature that could be found in the Second God's Sanctuary at this point, firstly in part due to the black crystal replica residing inside Max's sea of soul helping to evolve it.
Secondly, this thing loved to eat anything left over on the battlefield.
"Another fail Zeph... good work cleaning up out here... Find anything interesting buddy?"
Max rolled his eyes as Zephyr ignored his question, assumed it small and cute normal form and leapt onto his shoulder. It started wiping its bloodied mouth off, right onto the sleeve of his track suit before falling asleep comfortably.