The lower the level and the lower the Order of the existence, the more benefits one would receive if by chance of destiny, luck, or by real skill, succeeded in defeating and killing a higher level existence of a higher Order.

The clearest example was the effect and the amount of Soul Power absorbed. Back then, when Bai Zemin faced a First Order existence for the first time, he went directly from level 15 to level 20 with a single step. The same thing happened recently when he killed the Second Order Surprisingly Strong Archaic Bear; just one kill sent him from level 40 to level 45, apart from acquiring a lot of additional stats as a reward.

Bai Zemin had made a wild and rough estimate just based on his experience so far and deduced that to rise from level 40 to 45, he would have to have killed hundreds of thousands or even millions of enemies or at least a hundred to two hundred First Order creatures. 

That's how hard it was to accumulate Soul Power and level up by defeating weaker beings.

But, after defeating someone of a higher level and of a higher Order, the amount of Soul Power and its purity was not the only reward one could obtain; the enemy's entire body was a treasure in itself!

Their furs could become tough armor and their bones could become powerful weapons. Bai Zemin's group of survivors used bones as knives, these bones were even sharper than a real knife burning at high temperatures!

In addition to furs, bones, tendons, and more, flesh and blood were another treasure.

As a First Order existence level 45, Bai Zemin would naturally obtain good benefits from drinking the blood of an existence not only 13 levels higher than him, but also a higher Order.

[You have received Health +29]

[Your First Order level 1 Superhuman Health skill has leveled up]

[First Order Superhuman Health level 5: Increases the effects of healing skills on you by 20%. +200 Health points permanently]

The strange feeling of pain and pressure he felt soon disappeared and three messages flashed in Bai Zemin's eyes almost at the same time as everything calmed down.

"Woah! That's a lot of Health!" he exclaimed in shock. He was definitely expecting benefits, but he wasn't expecting that much!

"That's natural." Lilith smiled sweetly as she waved her little feet dangling in the air. "A Second Order existence has a great deal of Health. Why do you think that bear didn't die even after all the blows you gave it, and even survived a heavy bombardment from those machines?"

Bai Zemin was silent and soon realized that Lilith's words were true.

The higher an existence was, the longer its life expectancy was. Therefore, the Health naturally was higher and the higher the Health the harder it was to kill this existence.

Each statistic played an important purpose. Even the most seemingly useless statistic, Health, was incredibly important and it had saved Bai Zemin from many problems.

"I can feel the speed at which my wounds are recovering increase."

"Well, you just gained 109 Health points in total if we add the 80 points you received when your skill leveled up... Before you ask me, the skill leveled up because of the Second Order beast blood. That kind of blood is a treasure for the current you."

"I see..."

Lilith had told him before but, in the world there were many treasure and plants like the one he obtained in the university when he killed the First Order Anti-Magic Zombie was not the only type of treasure. 

This Second Order blood for example, was a treasure for him.

"I'll give some of this blood to Shangguan Bing Xue as well." Bai Zemin reasoned carefully. "She's probably the only one capable of withstanding the effect of Second Order blood right now... I should also give her a Lightning Fruit after Zhong De and Fu Xuefeng obtain a fruit first."

"Mhm. That's good." Lilith nodded. It was undeniable that Shangguan Bing Xue was powerful and important.

Lightning Fruit was the name Bai Zemin had given to the fruits of the mutated plant, a plant that he had conveniently named Thousand Lightning Plant.

At this time, the Thousand Lightning Plant had five fruits. Too bad, these fruits had barely begun to ripen and Bai Zemin estimated that it would take at least seven to fifteen days for them to fully ripen. If it were a normal plant it would probably take more time, but with the evolution of the world, things had changed considerably.

"Now...:" Bai Zemin looked at the remaining half bottle of blood and scrolled through his records for a while before finally stopping when he found what he was looking for.

[Blood Manipulation (First Order active skill) Level 5: This skill can evolve to the next Order if the following requirements are met -

[Collect one hundred liters of blood from fifty enemies level 5 or higher: 100/100]

[Collect ten liters of blood from five First Order enemies: 10/10]

[Collect one liter of blood from one Second Order enemy: 1/1]

[Do you wish to evolve the skill to the next Order?]

Seeing this window, Bai Zemin could not help but secretly sigh. Other than joy, his current emotions were really hard to describe.

Back then, barely a day had passed since the unknown entity called Soul Record arrived on Earth when he along with Lilith saw the evolution requirements of his only skill at that time; Blood Manipulation.

The first time Bai Zemin saw these requirements he didn't have much of a reaction. After all, he had no idea how terrifyingly powerful First Order existences were, let alone Second Order existences. However, he could remember how Lilith smiled bitterly; this alone was enough for him to know that it would not be easy to evolve his main skill.

When he had his battle to the death against the First Order Blazing Beetle, the first First Order existence he had met, Bai Zemin finally came to understand the difficulty of such a task.

Only a First Order beast with remarkable weaknesses had put him in a miserable condition. How could he get the blood of five such enemies and even worse, the blood of one infinitely more powerful?

At that time, for him, evolving Blood Manipulation to Second Order was nothing more than a distant and remote dream; as unreachable as the distant stars were to the humans who were locked inside this world.

For him in those days, it was not even worth thinking about such things.

But now, almost a month later, he had managed to overcome all the obstacles that the new world had put in his path. No matter how hard or how cruel the trials that fate imposed on him, he gritted his teeth and endured.

He never complained to anyone. He just endured and fought hard every day barely having even some time to get a proper night's sleep.

Almost a month ago, he believed that evolving his main skill was an impossibility.

Almost a month later... He had managed to fulfill all the requirements that the Soul Record had set for him to evolve Blood Manipulation.

One moment we might be desperate, but who knows? The next instant we might be at the absolute peak.

Bai Zemin was far from the absolute pinnacle, he wasn't particularly aiming for the peak either. He just wanted to be stronger in order to control his own destiny. He just wanted to be stronger enough, so that tomorrow another mysterious entity wouldn't appear and bring down his day-to-day life as it happened with the Soul Record.

Maybe, sensing the complicated emotions he felt, Lilith said softly:

"Only by experiencing hardship can human beings appreciate the moments of calm. Only by experiencing pain can one appreciate joy. For a star to shine, darkness has to exist... You experienced a lot, but isn't this a good way to be rewarded for your efforts? In your own hands, and with your own body, you are experiencing how little by little, that which you thought was impossible, in reality was not as far away as you believed."

Hearing her words, a smile unconsciously appeared on Bai Zemin's face.

Indeed, with all that had happened in his life, he had changed. He had changed so much that his past self would probably be shocked beyond words if he saw him. But this was natural, it would be impossible for him not to change; life pushed him and forced him to change.

Fortunately, those pushes and those changes also came with rewards.

Evolve!

With a single thought, his first and main skill started the evolution phase.

* * * * * * *

Thanks a lot to all those who use their Golden Tickets to vote for BW <3