Chapter Eighteen: A Surge in Power!

The sudden surge in his physical attributes brought Yu Fei a pleasant surprise, but at the same time, the improvement in his mental attributes was equally unexpected and even more gratifying.

His combat skill had advanced from Level 2 to Level 3, which not only raised his physique attribute from 1.2 to 1.5 but also boosted his mental attribute from 1.0 to 1.1. While the increase was not massive, it was certainly a welcome gain.

"It must be the long period of tempering I underwent in the mysterious space that enhanced my relevant mental attributes," Yu Fei mused. He sensed that his cognitive speed was noticeably faster than before. As for other aspects, without sufficient reference points or testing, he remained unsure for the time being.

After reviewing his mental attributes, he moved on to his skills.

"Is Level 3 the limit?" Yu Fei looked at the 'MAX' label next to his combat skill, feeling both surprised and unsurprised. In terms of pure combat technique, he was now undoubtedly at the pinnacle of human capability. Any further progression would likely require the infusion of internal energy, qi, blood, or mental power. However, that would transform the combat skill from an ordinary one into a supernatural one. As far as ordinary skills were concerned, Level 3 was indeed the ceiling—there was nowhere left to go.

"Wait!"

"It can still be upgraded if I consume five wisps of merit points?"

Yu Fei accidentally touched the combat skill and discovered that even this skill, which had reached its maximum level, still had room for growth. It only required the consumption of five wisps of merit points to elevate the Level 3 combat skill further.

"But after such an upgrade, I suppose it would become a supernatural skill, wouldn't it?" Yu Fei thought to himself. Since the merit cost was measured in 'wisps,' it would be strange if it weren't a supernatural ability.

Unfortunately, "I don't have that many merit points!"

Five wisps of merit points, if converted into 'points,' equaled a staggering 50,000 points. Not only did Yu Fei lack such a sum, but even if he did, wouldn't it be better to put that effort into finding a way to integrate the T-virus?

Based on the performance of the T-virus, Yu Fei believed it could at least grant him two supernatural abilities: telekinesis and super regeneration. Telekinesis went without saying—it was Alice's signature power. As for super regeneration, one only had to look at the zombies to understand; apart from the brain and spinal nerves, they had virtually no weaknesses. And that was just the baseline. Creatures like the Tyrant and the Licker could recover rapidly even after being bombarded by missiles or riddled with bullets.

Once he acquired these two supernatural abilities, Yu Fei would truly be able to join the ranks of first-tier heroes, even in the Marvel Universe. While evolving his combat skill into a supernatural ability was tempting, if he had to choose, he preferred to obtain those two innate supernatural powers.

"Come to think of it, could I fuse just one of the supernatural abilities from the T-virus?" Yu Fei suddenly had a creative thought.

"I can give it a try!" He took out the T-virus again. "System! I want to fuse only the telekinesis ability from the T-virus!"

Another ten merit points were consumed. Tiny specks of golden light merged into the T-virus serum, and before long, information flooded Yu Fei's mind.

"Fusing the supernatural skill—Telekinesis—requires the consumption of three wisps of merit points. Do you confirm?"

"It only requires three wisps? That's manageable!" Yu Fei nodded slightly. It was at least much better than ten wisps. Even compared to the five wisps required to force an upgrade to his combat skill, this cost was nearly half as much.

"This must be the benefit of having a foundation." Injecting the T-virus naturally carried a certain probability of granting supernatural telekinesis. Upgrading a combat skill into a supernatural one might also seem to have a Level 3 foundation, but the skill itself lacked any supernatural elements. For Yu Fei to elevate it to a supernatural level was equivalent to starting from scratch and carving out an entirely new path to transcendence. Could that ever be a simple task? If not for his ability to cheat using merit points, it would be unthinkable! Even with the merit system, the transformation of his combat skill was no trivial matter, and it was only logical that it would demand more merit points.

"Fusing telekinesis costs three wisps, but what if I wanted to fuse the super regeneration ability from the T-virus?" While supernatural telekinesis was one of his most desired abilities, the corresponding regeneration power was equally impressive. If he could acquire it, he wouldn't necessarily be on par with Wolverine, but his survivability would jump up several notches! And if he were to eventually upgrade that ability to Level 3, he might truly be comparable to Wolverine.

"Forget it for now." Yu Fei looked at his remaining fifty-five merit points and shook his head slightly. To get the answer, he would need to invest another ten points. For someone who was accustomed to costs in the thousands or tens of thousands, these ten points were trivial, but for him right now, they were still a bit too expensive.

Besides... "Since they are both supernatural abilities, they should be roughly the same." Even if there were a discrepancy, it would likely be a difference of at most one wisp of merit; it wasn't worth wasting ten points just to find out.

"Though, if I encounter things I don't understand in the future, I might be able to use these merit points as a 'detection' skill!"

Judging from this experiment, the merit system clearly had much more to offer, and Yu Fei had only grasped the tip of the iceberg. This was largely because he had possessed the merit system for less than three hours. In that short time, he had experienced a series of events, leaving him no time or energy to properly study the system.

"The research into the system will have to wait for later!"

"For now..." Yu Fei shifted his gaze. He looked directly at the zombies that were slowly beginning to stand up.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Ding!"

"Host is acting with benevolence, merit is immeasurable!"

"Merit points +1!"

...

"Merit points +1!"

...

"Merit points +1!"

...

At the entrance to the Hive, at the first platform, several Umbrella Corporation members in full tactical gear and protective masks were hiding behind supply crates, waiting silently.

One of them glanced at his watch. "Captain, it's been nearly three hours. They haven't come out yet; they couldn't all be dead, could they?"

"Don't be impatient. There's still a little time left. If no one shows up after this period, we'll proceed to detonate... Hmm? Someone's coming!"