The discussion in the chat group was still ongoing, but Fang Qingze had zoned out.
Mutated... humans?
So, am I still human now? He suddenly felt a sense of unease.
The body-tempering effect of the mysterious flame had massively enhanced his physical fitness. Did this mean that Fang Qingze's own genetic sequence had been altered?
Would there be reproductive isolation between him and ordinary people?
The future he used to dream of—getting a decent, stable job after graduating from university, marrying a gentle and beautiful wife, having a chubby little boy and a cute daughter, occasionally visiting the orphanage, and living out a peaceful and ordinary life.
Would all of this, with the emergence of Transcendence in the world and within himself, turn into dew and illusions?
The figure of the girl who sat at the front desk suddenly flashed through his mind. In Fang Qingze's view, she was undoubtedly a super pretty girl, fair-skinned, beautiful, tall, and long-legged—at least very much to his aesthetic taste.
It wasn't that he was being a creep; with a deskmember who was drop-dead gorgeous and had a great figure, surely nobody wouldn't like her, right?
It was just that she was far too silent, practically a mirror image of himself: equally cold in personality, taciturn, and with virtually no social life in class.
What on earth am I thinking? Shaking his head slightly, Fang Qingze banished his deskmember from his mind.
Everything in the chat group was just speculation anyway. Whether he was still human or not, Fang Qingze had no way to verify. Perhaps the Transcendence ability had only brought an increase in his physical fitness's quantity, rather than a qualitative change.
Fang Qingze clenched his right fist and extended his index finger, leveling it with his eyes. With a soft hiss, a wisp of flame condensed at his fingertip. The flame was only the size of a bean, but its temperature was extremely high, and the temperature in the entire living room seemed to rise significantly.
Xiaoliu, who had just finished its canned food and was comfortably licking its paws, let out an "Awor!" and leaped far away, hiding behind the coffee table with only half its head exposed, its eyes full of terror.
Fang Qingze stared at the flame on his fingertip, pondering why he possessed the power of Transcendence.
The effect of pollen? Many biological research institutes in the Federation had studied the pollen, and the final results were all the same: pollen had no effect on humans. It shouldn't be the pollen.
Genetic mutation? Probably not that either. Genetic mutations were usually accompanied by abnormal appearances and deformities in body tissues and organs, whereas he?
He was just a tall, handsome, and academically gifted ordinary high school student, so it definitely wasn't a genetic mutation either.
The flame and the black saber had both appeared suddenly after his fifteenth birthday, their origins inexplicable.
Closing his eyes, his consciousness entered the mysterious crimson space within his lower abdomen.
The firebrand remained unchanged, sending out a wisp of flame at regular intervals to temper the blade.
The appearance of the black saber had already changed somewhat. The straight blade now bore several markings, two of which had already turned red.
He could now command the power of the flame as naturally as his own arm, condensing and dispersing it at will. Over the past six months or so, he had figured out many wondrous ways to use it.
Yet he had no idea what that black saber was good for. It couldn't be summoned outside his body, and of the seven markings, only two and a half were lit up—the third one was only half-lit, while the other four remained unchanged.
At his current progress, getting them all lit up would take until this time next year.
He wondered what kind of changes there would be by then. Once all seven markings were fully lit, would he be able to wield the black saber?
Would he also be able to summon a divine dragon and make it grant him wishes?
If there really were a divine dragon, I wonder how strong it is?
With my physical constitution, combined with the flame and the black saber, could I beat it up, catch it, and make it grant me wishes forever?
...
Fang Qingze's thoughts drifted further and further, growing bolder and bolder.
"Meow—" A slightly frightened cat meow interrupted Fang Qingze's train of thought.
Fang Qingze looked down toward the source of the sound, only to see Xiaoliu hiding behind the coffee table, watching the flame at his fingertip with terror in its eyes.
He was slightly startled, and with a soft *poof*, the flame dissipated, the temperature in the living room slowly dropping.
"Liu... Liuzi?" Fang Qingze called out softly, feeling somewhat apologetic. He had momentarily forgotten that Xiaoliu was terrified of fire; he must have frightened the little fellow.
Xiaoliu was rather strange. Other cats loved warm things like fire—even if their tails got burned by fire in winter or their fur was scorched black by a heater, they wouldn't react. Xiaoliu, on the other hand, while similarly hating the cold and loving warmth, would bolt at the mere sight of fire.
Moreover, Xiaoliu was already a nearly two-year-old female cat, unsterilized, yet she had never gone into heat.The vet had said that female cats usually go into heat at seven to eight months old, or at the latest around a year and a half. Yet Xiaoliu was coming up on two years old and had shown no signs of it at all—after Fang Qingze had gone and bought a pile of treats and toys just to be ready for it.
As it turned out, Xiaoliu’s temperament remained completely stable. Every day consisted of nothing more than eating and sleeping. It was well-behaved and adorable, yet not overly clingy.
Bah, what kind of vet was that? A total quack, zero stars!
Just kidding. Although Fang Qingze found it strange that Xiaoliu had never gone through this phase, he was actually quite glad. After all, having raised a female cat for over a year, the thought of some stray tomcat coming along to get fresh with her felt rather grating.
If Xiaoliu had been a male cat, it would have been a different story—Fang Qingze firmly believed in being lenient with himself and strict with everyone else.
Hearing the sound, Xiaoliu slowly poked her head out, taking three pauses for every single step as she crept closer. Fang Qingze was in no rush, quietly waiting for her to approach.
Seeming to realize that her owner was no longer summoning flames, Xiaoliu grew bolder and leaped lightly onto Fang Qingze's lap.
Fang Qingze let out a breath, reached out to scoop Xiaoliu up in his arms, and stroked her head to soothe her.Xiaoliu stretched out its tongue and licked the fingers of Fang Qingze's right hand, where the flames had just condensed. Then it looked up at Fang Qingze, its pitch-black pupils full of a pathetic expression, as if it were saying, "Big brother～ please don't make fire anymore, kitty is scared～"
Fang Qingze smiled, finally at ease.
After quite a while, Fang Qingze put Xiaoliu aside—the kitten was squinting its eyes in pure enjoyment—and casually pulled open the coffee table drawer, took out a fuzzy ball, and tossed it to Xiaoliu.
"Go play by yourself, your dad has to go take a bath." Fang Qingze stood up and left those words behind for Xiaoliu, not caring whether the cat understood him or not.
Having got its toy, Xiaoliu gently batted the fuzzy ball with its paw. The ball rolled back and forth across the sofa as Xiaoliu darted and leaped about, its eyes sparkling with joy.
Fang Qingze piled all his underwear and trousers onto the stool by the bathroom door and stepped inside.
There was no help for it; the space inside the bathroom was too small, and there wasn't even a rack to hang clothes on, so this was the only way.Cold water beat against Fang Qingze's bare body, droplets obeying gravity as they trickled down the contours of his muscles.
For Fang Qingze, no matter how icy the water was, it never brought a sensation of chill to his skin. That was why he didn't use his water heater; whether in the dead of winter or the scorching heat of summer, cold water felt entirely the same to him.
Finishing his shower in a mere seven or eight minutes, Fang Qingze turned off the showerhead.
The fire within his body began to surge, and his skin temperature rapidly climbed. The water droplets on his skin evaporated under the intense heat, hissing softly.
Fang Qingze was enveloped in white mist, his pitch-black hair stirred by the billowing steam.
The whole process lasted only a dozen seconds or so before the mist dissipated, leaving Fang Qingze's body completely dry.
This was a practical application of his flames that Fang Qingze had figured out on his own—the most troublesome part of taking a shower was drying the water off oneself.
Now, he only needed to use his internal fire to raise his body temperature, wait a dozen seconds, and the moisture on his skin would be instantly evaporated. It was truly... way too cool!
He opened the bathroom door, put on the short-sleeved undershirt and shorts placed on the stool by the entrance.
Returning to the sofa, he looked at Xiaoliu, who had tired herself out playing and fallen asleep there.
Fang Qingze had thought about a lot while taking his shower. There was really no need to agonize over whether the power of Transcendence had altered his humanity.
At the very least, Fang Qingze remained that same model youth who loved to learn.
His transcendent abilities hadn't inflated his ego, causing him to abuse his power to do whatever he pleased; he remained as law-abiding and appreciative of life as ever.
Although Fang Qingze looked cold on the outside, he considered himself kind-hearted at his core and would never blindly retaliate against society or harm others.
He had always adhered to the philosophy: "If others don't cross me, I won't cross them; if anyone dares to cross me, I will turn them to dust and ashes!"
In the past, turning someone to dust and ashes might have been an exaggeration, but now, he could genuinely snap his fingers, conjure a flame, and reduce a person to ashes...
Yet, after gaining his transcendent abilities, some of Fang Qingze's plans had indeed been affected. He had always harbored a deep curiosity about the world beyond the high walls.