Chapter 1860 - Two Peaceful Years and the Family’s Most Pampered Kid

After teasing his youngest sister, Luke handed her to Claire, then started to flip the meat on the grill on the side.

It was two years after he secured the Cobra base.

The days were long and peaceful.

Luke had gotten his hands on more and more good stuff over the last few years, and he had no choice but to focus on research in the last two years.

First of all, the nanomite technology could boost and fuse with the original nanosuit technology.

In this regard, the Doctor and the inventor of the nanotoxin, Ophelia, were far more suitable than Luke at making it work.

But it wasn’t like Luke didn’t have to do anything.

In the end, he was the one who would be using the thing. He had to determine bit by bit what functions and characteristics it should have and what effects it needed to achieve.

In two years, a trial battle-type nanosuit had already been created.

After that, he spent time perfecting it.

Second was research on Life 1 and the Blood Orchid.

After years of a steady stream of ‘volunteer’ test subjects in Space 2, the basic effects of the Blood Orchid were clear.

The ability to heal injuries and slow down aging were the unimportant parts; the truly important effect of the Blood Orchid was that it could stimulate the human body to evolve.

However, it was unclear how a person would evolve. Furthermore, the smaller the dose, the lower the chances of evolving.

Of the more than 2,000 ‘volunteer’ test subjects, only two clearly evolved.

One had significantly increased strength and reflexes, while the other grew scales and looked like a snake.

Although scales were more like a regression for humans, it could be seen as evolving for the sake of survival. Hence, there were plenty of risks in using the Blood Orchid to evolve.

As for the ‘water of life’ sold by the bigshot, it was simply a ten-fold dilution of the ‘monkey version’ of Life 1.

At most, it only slowed down the aging process for the people who had taken it, but for not more than a decade; it didn’t give any of them superpowers.

This also meant that in an emergency, Luke’s family and friends could rely on a small dose of Life 1 to prolong their lives, and didn’t have to worry about unknown risks.

Then, Luke devoted a lot of time to the tech for manufacturing regular armor, the androids, and the mental control system.

More time was still required in order to perfect the nanosuit; Luke couldn’t toss out his fully developed and reliable collapsible armor.

Lastly was research on boosting Luke and the Bat Squad’s abilities.

1

The team members’ superpowers were only boosted slightly, and there was basically no qualitative change.

Luke’s abilities, on the other hand, were boosted significantly. It was like his mind and body were in almost perfect alignment with each other.

In terms of physique, Elementary Imitation + Muscle Control were the best ‘cornerstones.’

Most of his physical abilities were easily integrated into Elementary Combat Proficiency and Elementary Firearms Proficiency.

As for Physical Outburst, Quick Reflex, Sharp Nose and Elementary Sound Wave, they could be used as support abilities in battle.

Of course, that didn’t mean that his initial abilities disappeared; Luke could use them however he wanted and without any pre-set conditions.

He could put together any combo of skills; it wouldn’t be bragging to say that he was a master of physical techniques.

As for his Mental Strength, his main gain was that he could combine Mental Hypnosis and Illusion to create an advanced ability which he called Real Dream.

This advanced version was different from the Annihilation energy, which was an advanced version of Penetration.

Annihilation energy was an utterly pure transformation of Elementary Penetration and nothing else.

Real Dream, on the other hand, was a blend of Hypnosis and Illusion to create a ‘fixed’ skill combo – what Luke pursued here was the ‘best formula.’

In short, Elementary Penetration was a single ability, and Hypnosis + Illusion was a combination of multiple abilities to begin with, so the advanced versions were created in different ways.

Not only was Real Dream more complicated, Luke also used it in tandem with Mental Communication as a way to detect and analyze mental fluctuations.

These two abilities could be likened to the GPS and rear camera of a car, and could be used as convenient support tools.

Real Dream was a huge upgrade on what Hypnosis + Illusion could do.

In comparison, Elementary Annihilation increased in power and measure to some extent, but didn’t break through to a new level.

Luke wasn’t too surprised.

There was no reference point for the Annihilation energy at all. Even Old Mephisto and the Enchantress didn’t have any information on this energy.

At most, Luke could confirm that an increase in Mental Strength would raise the limit on it.

But as for how to unleash the Annihilation energy beyond this unfathomable limit, he only had a faint idea. He still had to continue studying it.

As for Elementary Concealment, Elementary Telekinesis, Mental Interference, and Mental Resistance, they were all boosted within a normal range, and weren’t as exaggerated as Real Dream.

Without one or two suitable mental abilities to use as a foundation, it would be very hard for him to control the mind at the very root; he was still far from being a master.

He had to continue working hard to obtain a mental ability that could be used as a stable foundation.

…

As he deftly flipped the meat, Luke’s mind wandered.

Then, Cindy ran out of the house and climbed onto his back. “Brother, Brother, are you done? Can we eat now?”

“Hm, let me take a sniff – smelly kids won’t be allowed to eat.” Luke pulled the kid closer to him.

He pressed his nose to her neck and bussed, making Cindy laugh out loud. “No, no, you turned into Dollar again.”

Gold Nugget, who was lying lazily on the porch and enjoying the sun, glanced at her disdainfully. Little fat fish-lipped girl, your brother has a much keener nose than a dog!

A moment later, the whole family came out.

Selina’s family also came over, and the ranch hands arrived one after another for a Texan BBQ.

A few years ago, Luke had bought several small ranches around them. After adding Selina’s family’s ranch into the mix, what resulted was a medium-sized ranch.

There were a lot of workers on the ranch, and it was very troublesome to organize a gathering like this.

It was only when Luke’s family came back to celebrate Cindy’s fifth birthday that Grandpa Drax decided to hold a party.

Grandpa doted on this precious granddaughter the most.

Cindy’s looks had always been outstanding. She was also robust and energetic, and was especially mischievous, even more so than Claire.

This was very much to the old man’s liking.

In his own words, Cindy was the most like him when he was young.

Luke had been too level-headed when he was young, Claire wasn’t naughty enough, and Joseph was too weak. Only Cindy, this precious granddaughter, had perfectly inherited the Coulson family’s glorious genes.

Hearing that, a certain father could only sulk on the side: My daughter’s surname is Greyson, alright?! Shouldn’t she have inherited the smarts and super actions of the Greyson family?

Robert’s cousin, Gil Greyson, had three doctorates and was one of the best forensic scientists in the country. Robert himself had been an elite member of the special force.

Cindy should have half of these Greyson genes, right?