Nurturing Humanity

Chapter 35

Death as the End of Life

After waiting for so long, it was only now that Xu Zhi was ready to incorporate the first gene.

He had skipped Gilgamesh’s genes because he did not want that kind of mere brute force. It was powerful, far more powerful than the power of the witches at their current stage, but it was relatively monotonous and not very practical.

Sorcery, on the other hand, was different. He was really looking forward to possessing such a bizarre spiritual power.

In particular, the unique ability of the Evil Eye to charm others would be of great use in modern society.

He clearly understood that the current power of the witches was far inferior to Gilgamesh’s, but its diversified potential for future development was far greater than his.

A mechanical voice came from the Insecta Nest mind.

“Do you want to incorporate the Evil Eye genes?”

“Yes!”

Xu Zhi took a deep breath and looked grave.

A mechanical voice came from the Insecta Nest mind.

“Incorporation in progress. Please get ready!”

Xu Zhi did not hesitate and returned to his bed, only to feel an excruciating pain starting to work its way through him.

What was unmentionable though, was how the player, Racer of Mount Haruna, whom he had scoffed at, really made a great contribution.

He had evolved this creature, the Evil Eye, in the sandbox, which in turn became a cornerstone of the civilization of transcendent witches. With the genes of the Evil Eye, the witches created all kinds of witchcraft and spiritual meditation methods.

It could even become a useful tentacle for Circe, the witch in charge of chaos and curses, for self-consolation when she had to satisfy her lustful desires. It was multi-functional and extremely useful.

And now, Xu Zhi had incorporated the genes of this Evil Eye species into his body.

“The Racer of Mount Haruna” had indeed pathed the way for a whole new era of civilization. Xu Zhi was already considering striking out the past records of events where that player had offended him from his little notebook.

It was a success.

It was a full half hour before Xu Zhi silently stood up. He was feeling exceptionally powerful, and even somewhat violent.

The adjustments that were made to his genetic strand were as follows:

1. Human genes (cancer cells)

2. Evil Eye genes

3. Empty

4. Empty

5. Empty

…

“So this is the side effect of the Evil Eye genes? Where one can’t help but feel the emergence of a dark emotional side.”

Xu Zhi silently steadied his mind, feeling that the situation was getting somewhat problematic. He could not help but feel all kinds of dark thoughts appearing in his mind: killing, doing evil, indulging his desires, pouring everything out were what he was thinking of.

He somewhat understood what Circe was feeling.

There was an intense fire rising from his lower body now, and every time he saw a female, he would find it a struggle to keep his desires under control.

Then Xu Zhi forced himself to settle down and began to practice the meditation method created by the Three Witches.

“Beginning Level of Meditation and Rudiments of Sorcery.”

He crossed his legs and sat still on the bed. Then he took a deep breath and began to enter a meditative state so as to feel his psychic power. He fumbled around for a while but the few attempts he made were to no avail. None of them were successful.

He simply did not understand the reason for his failures, so he could only lament in silence!

What should he do?

Without the guidance of a witch, there was no way he could master this.

The new-born witches who survived the initiation ritual for witches had received guidance from the three witches themselves. But he could only fumble and experiment about by himself. He did not dare to enter the sandbox to ask the three witches, so he could only feel somewhat helpless as he laughed bitterly.

“I will have to master it secretly.”

And then, he gritted his teeth and went on studying the meditation method. And after half a day, he had barely managed to succeed in achieving the beginner level.

After cultivating, he noticed that the psychic power that he received from the three mass extinctions and the deaths of countless creatures, had boosted his psychic power to such an extreme level that it was frightening. With such an amazing foundation, he felt as though he was progressing very quickly, like he could traverse a thousand miles a day.

“At this rate, in less than three days, I’ll almost be at the level of an apprentice sorcerer according to their way of classification. I can start learning the simplest kinds of magic spells.”

He could sense this in silence and finally breathed a sigh of relief. In his mind, he was silently rejoicing as he told himself, “It won’t be long before I truly become a wizard, the first wizard in the real world!”

In reality, ordinary people couldn’t cultivate themselves to gain powers.

After all, they did not have the corresponding genes. It was probably only because Xu Zhi had incorporated the specially evolved Evil Eye genes that he could embark on this path.

Now, he, a farmer in his orchard, was exploring the path of cultivating himself to something extraordinary… The sandbox world was a great testing ground. The players would be his guinea pigs and open up some paths for him to experiment with. When they achieved success, he would just follow in their footsteps and cultivate himself.

How powerful he would become was really yet to be seen or known. But the future was destined to be glorious.

“On Earth, there has never been a cultivation system or transcendent power. I’ll just have to evolve them in the sandbox world that I have created in this orchard of my yard, step by step.”

He organized his thoughts and reviewed the plans he made for development. “Next, I will take the opportunity to introduce some transcendent species and completely perfect the sorcerer civilization in this sandbox world.”

Now, just one Evil Eye creature that a single player named “Racer of Mount Haruna” evolved could develop into so many surprises. What would happen if more transcendent species appeared?

What was going to appear? He was really looking forward to it!

The next morning, at six o’clock, Xu Zhi took a look at the large sandbox. More than another fifty years had passed, and there had been an outburst of events in the sandbox, evoking a somewhat complicated expression on Xu Zhi’s face. He felt that something was not quite right.

Babylon Kingdom, year 146.

The two great guardian goddesses of Babylon found traces of Circe’s evil cult in the depths of the Balchik Mountains. They mobilized the entire nation in an attack against Circe and attempted to eradicate her cult. However, both sides were greatly weakened after the war.

Babylon Kingdom, year 154.

Cassandra’s ecstatic voice was first heard coming from the Palace of Babylon and it drifted out to the mountains and rivers.

“So that’s it! So that’s what it is!! This is the amazing reaction and equal displacement process when fusion has occurred. This is the Truth! One quality satisfies another, one quality is the bane of another, and one element dominates another!”

Cassandra, the Witch of Spring, was in charge of the development of occult medicine and herding practices. Together with the Babylonian court witches, she had led the group in developing many medicinal theories and finally, she found the initial prototype of alchemy.

She developed a kind of “Witch Compatibility Elixir”, which significantly reduced the repulsion between the Evil Eye genes and that of the humans, lowering mortality rates, and thus, more witches appeared. This led to a period where there was a complete outbreak of witches in the Babylon Kingdom, and this period was known as the “Prime of the Witches” throughout history.

Babylon Kingdom, year 167.

The two witches learned of Circe’s whereabouts and headed out to kill her. But it was a wild goose chase, and they returned without accomplishing anything.

In the same year, the two witches began to show symptoms of aging. They were greatly shocked.

Babylon Kingdom, year 171.

Cassandra followed what was recorded in the ancient epic “The Genesis” and successfully recreated the potion of longevity that was developed by Gilgamesh’s order, thus prolonging their lives.

Babylon Kingdom, year 198.

The youth of the two great witches had eroded over time. At this point in time, they were two hundred and forty-three years old, and their end drew near.

In the grand and magnificent palace of Babylon.

A black carriage drawn by two ferocious and majestic Alla beasts came to a stop on a huge flat stone plaza. Dim golden sunlight fell upon two beautiful women who were descending from the carriage. They held staffs made of ancient wood in their hands and still looked as young and beautiful as ever.

This was youth that was preserved by sorcery, but it was not enough to save them from the fate of decline and fall.

On the grand, majestic flat stone plaza, there was a temple built by the Babylon Kingdom to commemorate and honor the God of Wisdom, Hermes. The statue of Hermes depicted a magnificent and perfect man without a face, and on the statue’s shoulder, there was a black, three-eyed crow that was looking into the distance.

Next to it were ancient stone walls that bore records of history.

The great Mercury, a god from heaven incarnated as a black, bizarre crow with three eyes. He had a conversation with the people on Earth and conferred the Babylonian people with wisdom in the form of the triple knowledge of meditation, alchemy and sorcery. The God of Wisdom was later known as Hermes Trismegistos and Thoth the God, otherwise known as Mercury.

“Oh, great God of Wisdom, Mercury, we have come to see you again.”

The two legendary witches who had opened up a new era stopped before the temple. They were about to meet their end soon, and their eyes were filled with tears.