Lin Xiu was the first to speak up. "What's there to apologize for? The most important thing is that you're back. But didn't you head out in order to find a secluded spot to cultivate? What happened for the last three months, and how did you make such a big mess of the Blacksteel settlement?"

Even Lin Xiu was curious about just what Zhang Lie had experienced during this period of time.

"Right, we've gotten reports of indiscriminate black rays of annihilation, followed by the death of all nearby lifeforms, and now, even cracks in the sky! Just what sort of framework do you have, Captain?"

"And where did you ultimately end up hiding? We've searched all over the first realm in an attempt to find you, but to no avail." Fang Yi and Yang Ze continued peppering Zhang Lie with questions.

Given that everyone around was a close confidant, Zhang Lie didn't intend on hiding much from them. "I was in secluded cultivation three months ago. While trying to absorb the energy from a strange treasure, an incident occurred. It was the most dangerous incident of my life, and if I had been any less lucky, I would have perished. Fortunately, the genetic energy running rampant throughout my body was so intense that it alerted the will of the world."

"The... will of the world? Is the will of the world conscious? I thought it was just an artificial intelligence!" Fang Yi interrupted, causing everyone else to ponder the matter.

"Right, it—"

"Everyone, calm down! Let's hear what our captain has to say." Sun Mengmeng broke everyone off.

"To be quite honest, I'm as confused as you are, and even I don't have an answer as to whether or not the will of the world actually possesses consciousness. However, regardless of whether it's just an artificial intelligence or a lifeform in its own right, I'm confident that it obeys a certain set of rules, one of which saved my life. You've all heard about how I accidentally injured and killed several hunters in the Blacksteel Inn, haven't you?"

Everyone nodded seriously.

"To be frank, at that point, I'd already lost control of my body. Those black rays of annihilation were shooting out of my body indiscriminately simply because I had so much excess that my body couldn't handle it anymore."

"Broke through your skin?!" Lin Xiu's brows were furrowed. "Just what sort of treasure did you absorb? If the genetic energy was already seeping through your skin so violently, how did you avoid exploding outright?"

"You're indeed knowledgeable, Master Lin. My body was on the verge of exploding, but just before it did, the will of the world teleported me into an extradimensional space for the transferral procedure into the second realm, warning me that I was brimming with so much energy that I was warping the natural law of the first realm, that I would be forcibly sent to the second.

"However, at that time, my body was wracked by the genetic energy which I had absorbed, and I spent an interminable period of time trying to reconstruct my body from the inside out. I suspect that the will of the world destroyed all lifeforms around the Blacksteel settlement in order to continue suppressing my body, and I barely held onto my consciousness during this period of time. By the time I managed to rein in all the genetic energy that had run rampant throughout my body and pass through the transferral procedure, three months had passed."

Zhang Lie explained what had happened to him, but the more details he divulged, the more shocked the others became. Just what sort of miraculous treasure had Zhang Lie absorbed? It had given off so much energy that even the will of the world had reacted to it!

Could he have developed a new concoction?

Even the imperturbable Lin Xiu seemed shocked by what Zhang Lie had relayed.

"Hold it! Just what sort of treasure did you absorb that would allow you to resist the refinement energy from the transferral procedure?!" Lin Xiu had experienced that procedure for himself, so he was well aware of just how impossible Zhang Lie's actions were.

As a result, he was very curious as to the origin of such a treasure.

"I won't hide this from you, but I can't have any of you spreading word of this. Do you understand?"

The existence of disaster-grade lifeforms was a novelty in this time and age, and the implications were massive. Zhang Lie didn't want anyone to know that he had been at the center of this discovery, given how much he hated being bothered by others.

If any word of these disaster-grade lifeforms were to leak out to the public, those in power would surely be able to trace the origin of the discovery back to Zhang Lie. The present hunters all nodded and swore to absolute secrecy, even Zhang Hanxiang.

"Very well. The miraculous treasure I absorbed was the genetic core of a certain type of lifeform."

 "A... genetic core? Not flesh?" Yang Ze asked.

Everyone else leaned in closer. As far as they knew, extracting gene fragments was a matter of consuming a lifeform's flesh. Where did genetic cores come into play?

"Yes, a genetic core—from a lifeform more advanced than even the most advanced peak-grade lifeforms known. "Their bodies have largely crystallized, and they don't possess any flesh at all. The only parts of their bodies you can consume is their heart. Because their existence caused an unparalleled disaster in the first realm of the dimensional world, I've named these new lifeforms disaster-grade lifeforms."

"Disaster-grade lifeforms!" Lin Xiu gasped.

"Yes, lifeforms whose very existence herald impending disaster. It was because I tried to absorb the genetic energy from a disaster-grade genetic core that I almost self-destructed!"