CHAPTER 84: The Optimization Module

But what about my aunt and uncle? Ethan thought, his mind reeling. They had a grand ambition, left home for a big city, encountered mortal danger, and then their luck completely exploded, granting them a heaven-defying opportunity. Finally, they carved out a niche for themselves, becoming rich and powerful. This… this was the treatment of a protagonist with plot armor thicker than a Rank Four's psionic shield!

His heart felt extremely unbalanced. He was the one who had transmigrated, the one with the Omnitrix. He was supposed to be the main character!

His uncle noticed the strange, dazed look on his face. "What's wrong, Ethan?"

Ethan sighed dramatically. "Nothing, Uncle. Please continue. Let my poor heart die a more thorough and complete death from sheer envy."

Steven just chuckled. He knew the boy must have been hit hard by their story, but that didn't stop him from recounting his glorious, and admittedly very lucky, footsteps.

"The Fountain of Youth also replenishes physical energy and Aura," he continued. "We stayed in that blessed land for seventy days before the military rescue team arrived. We packed the remaining twenty liters into a container, saving six liters for your grandparents, as the marrow-cleansing effect only works once per person. The lifespan extension also only works three times, for a total of fifteen years. After arriving in Pinnacle City, we sold the remaining fourteen liters to the government at what seemed to be the lowest price."

"You sold it at the lowest price?" Ethan asked, incredulous. "Weren't you getting ripped off?"

"On the surface, it was a big loss," Steven explained with a shrewd smile. "But credits were secondary. What we gained was the direct attention of the government and the official background of being important resource providers. It laid a solid foundation for us."

"And even at the lowest price," Clara added, picking up the story, "the life-extending properties of that water are priceless. Those ten liters alone brought us two hundred million credits. Then, we used the single drop of the concentrated Fountain that I could condense each month as the show-stopping item at our own private auctions. We built our business step by step, using the remaining four liters to build relationships with the powerful middle-to-upper-class families in the capital. They can't access treasures like this, so to them, we became incredibly important. Their collective support was far more valuable than trying to curry favor with the top-tier families. Gradually, our business grew bigger and bigger."

Clap! Clap! Clap! Ethan couldn't help but applaud. Their experience was too brilliant, their strategy too clever. It could be written into a novel.

"Then Uncle, Aunt, how does your business rank in Pinnacle City now?"

"A while ago, we managed to squeeze into the top one hundred ranked family businesses," Steven replied. "We sell psionic gear, Aura Pills, all kinds of resources. But the main event is still that one drop of the Fountain of Youth your aunt condenses. It alone can top my business turnover for a whole month. If you get into a university in the capital, I'll get you a good, custom piece of psionic gear to use."

"Thank you, Uncle," Ethan said sincerely.

"Alright, we've talked enough," Steven said, his tone shifting. "It's time to talk about you. I heard your psionic foundation was damaged. I saved a drop of the Fountain of Youth for you. It can help you reconstruct it." He took out a beautiful white jade porcelain bottle from his storage ring and handed it to Ethan.

Ethan's first reaction wasn't to look at the priceless treasure, but to feel a pang of regret. Why didn't I have the presence of mind to loot the storage ring of that Rank Four Tiger Deacon? He'd been so busy since he got back that he hadn't even checked his own new ring.

He took the bottle and gently opened the lid. A rich, vibrant aura of life emanated from it. Just taking a breath made him feel refreshed.

"Go on, absorb it right here," Steven urged. "Originally, I planned to use it to improve your talent rank, but since your talent has already been raised, this can be used to perfectly repair your foundation."

"I understand," Ethan said. Although the Omnitrix was already helping him, the process was incredibly slow. Why wait half a year when he had this?

He swallowed the single drop. In an instant, a huge, potent amount of psionic energy and life force diffused throughout his entire body. Just as he was about to transform to aid the absorption, the Omnitrix on his wrist pulsed, and directly sucked the Fountain of Youth water in.

Ethan froze. ???

Holy crap! Do you know how important that thing is?! Spit it out!

He wanted to somehow snatch the spring water back, but it was already gone. There was nothing he could do but hope the unpredictable watch would give him a pleasant surprise.

The Omnitrix did not disappoint. After absorbing the water, a vast and warm psionic energy emanated from the watch, enveloping his entire psionic foundation. Slowly, his foundation was not only completely repaired but also became much more solid and resilient than before. Yet even after that, the incredibly potent energy from the Fountain of Youth was not completely used up.

A new message flowed into Ethan's mind from the Omnitrix.

[Standardized Life-Origin Energy Detected... Unlocking Optimization Module.]

[Module can optimize recorded DNA to perfect species-ideal state. Current optimizable DNA count: 1.]

[Displaying optimizable sample... Do you wish to optimize?]

Optimize DNA? Ethan focused on the mental display. There was indeed one sample available for optimization: the Wind Spirit. It was the only form he had gotten by actively scanning another living being. He recalled that the Omnitrix was supposed to record the DNA of a species in its prime, yet when he had transformed, his appearance, except for gender, was identical to Sylph's small, bird-like form.

Could it be, he thought, a jolt of excitement running through him, that the DNA I scanned wasn't the perfected version? And the Fountain of Youth has just unlocked the feature to fix that!