This is really not mechanical ascension

Metal energy began to envelop him, and soon, the pneumatic hammer disappeared from his hands.

In an instant, he felt a tingling sensation in his bones, the sense of strength increasing was extremely clear, giving him an indescribably comforting and intoxicating feeling.

"Let's try pneumatic pressurization." Li Ming took a piece of iron, thought for a moment... then switched to a wooden board.

[Pneumatic Pressurization] activated!

Quickly, a heat flow surged through his body, rapidly converging; he felt as though he had overeaten, full to the point of needing to vent, and the three seconds passed swiftly.

With a slight intention, the heat flow rushed to his right arm, and he punched out!

Crack!

The one-centimeter-thick wooden board was directly punctured, with most of his arm submerged in it, sawdust flying everywhere.

Meanwhile, Li Ming's face contorted, his fingers trembling, blood vessels visible at the joints, and traces of abrasions from wood splinters on his arm.

"It hurts... Fortunately, I thought of switching to a wooden board. If it had been an iron board..." Li Ming breathed a sigh of relief, slowly withdrawing his arm as a sense of hunger quickly swept over him.

After treating the wound a bit and drinking some nutritional fluid, his condition finally improved substantially.

He realized that this "enhancement" was extra and overall computed.

Essentially, Li Ming couldn't exert 100% of his strength, especially since he hadn't trained, and the force of a normal punch was even lower.

But this ability was calculated from his full strength, the power far surpassing his estimations.

Following that, the pneumatic hammer reappeared in his hand. He looked at the round connector at the end, a junction for connecting the air pressure tube, which would increase the force of the hammer as it struck by applying pressure.

However... His eyes flickering, he raised the hammer with both hands, the strength that had just started to recover again drained by a mysterious force, the hammerhead beginning to vibrate.

Boom!

The hammer smashed into the ground, numbing Li Ming's palms so much that he couldn't help but release his grip, though the astonishment in his eyes hadn't faded, "After accommodating it, can my physical strength act as an operating energy source?"

He immediately associated it with many possibilities, especially firearms. Would he not need to change the ammunition afterward?

At the same time, his body felt even weaker, his legs wobbly.

"My body is too frail..." His desire for physical enhancement grew stronger; such an add-on required a robust body to fully utilize its potential.

"To raise this hammer to the lowest F grade requires 40 points of metal energy and also needs time to accumulate," Li Ming calculated. The metal energy needed for evolution could be reduced or increased due to various factors, with quality likely being a significant one.

The chip only needed 10 points of metal energy to evolve, whereas this hammer needed 40 points. However, that seemed reasonable, given the significant difference in their sizes.

"However, if my physical condition can't keep up, it's also problematic, but I really don't have any money. Even the cheapest gene seed costs tens of thousands of Star Coins." Li Ming sighed, "The nutritional fluid is almost used up as well. I can't just starve, that would be too miserable."

The interstellar space is vast, with Blue Star Civilization being just a small part, having connected to the Interstellar Alliance for less than a century.

The mainstream way to elevate life levels within the interstellar is through gene seeds.

The genes of various powerful life forms, through special methods, are made into seeds. Once integrated into a Life Form, by increasing integration, one can enhance themselves and even gain a variety of unique abilities.

He decided to focus on the present for now. His thoughts settled, he returned to the second floor, and continued to absorb the metal door, hoping Li Changhai's room would bring him some good news.

For the entire following day, Li Ming did not leave the house. Aside from sleeping and using the bathroom, he squatted in front of that door, drinking nutritional fluid.

Mr. Yang looked for him again, and fearing that Mr. Yang might call the police, Li Ming could only spare a few minutes to meet.

Finally, watching the nearly depleted metal energy reach 26, with a thunderous noise, the metal door corroded to form an opening, the central alloy plate fell on the floor, raising dust.

Stretching his slightly numb limbs, Li Ming crawled through the opening, having calculated that it was just large enough to accommodate his passing, albeit in an ungraceful manner.

"Hmm... It's not like there's porn plastered all over the walls." Li Ming climbed up from the ground, casually dusting himself off, and looked around the room. The bedding was neatly folded and the room was so clean and tidy that it hardly seemed like a repairman's quarters.

There was a large desk against the wall with a few things on it, the most eye-catching of which was the gray-black metal briefcase.

His eyes lit up as he quickly approached it; there was a hexagonal prism logo on it, and beneath that, a few words -- Prism Biotech.

"This..." Li Ming felt the name was somewhat familiar. His predecessor seemed to have heard of it, but he couldn't remember.

He wanted to open it, but his face darkened, "There's even a password."

However, this was no longer a challenge for him. It only took two to three hours before the edges were corroded through, while he gained 1 point of metal energy.

He lifted the lid directly, and strands of shimmering blue gas escaped, cool to the touch. Placed in the center was a transparent test tube containing a black liquid.

Next to it was a blue button-sized object about the size of a palm.

He pinched it out and placed it on the desk. Accompanied by a clicking sound, the blue button split open from the center, projecting a virtual screen filled with dense data, and a soft voice followed --

"Prism Biotech at your service. What you are seeing now is the third-generation Tenglong Reagent from Prism Biotech, formulated with the latest recipe, passing through 1,844 inspection procedures..."

"After use, it can help you meet the minimum requirements for fusing a gene seed within seven days. If the user has heart disease or a history of allergies..."

Li Ming attentively listened to the precautionary details as well and then looked at the Tenglong Reagent with burning eyes.

He remembered that Prism Biotech was a company in the Blue Star Civilization that produced gene seeds and related items.

Harboring a gene seed wasn't without its requirements; if the life form itself was too weak, it could easily lead to mutations.

The so-called minimum requirements for harboring a gene seed were roughly the limits of humanity, still not reaching the lowest standard of an F-grade lifeform.

"All I have to do is drink it." Li Ming carefully recalled to make sure his predecessor didn't have any of the issues mentioned in the precautions. Without hesitation, he twisted off the cap and gulped it down in one go.

The reaction came quicker than he had anticipated; it was as if scalding water was flowing through his entire body. Soon, his skin turned a reddish color, even emitting white smoke.

"Huff, huff, huff..." Li Ming panted heavily, resembling a cooked lobster. His muscles felt as if they were being torn apart, his tendons stretched, and his whole body ached as though it was being rolled and pressed by a fascia knife.

Li Ming clenched his teeth, "It's normal... a sign. For those with weaker physical constitutions, it might initially be too intense."

Half an hour later, the redness on his skin gradually faded, and he felt much lighter. He acutely felt his physical condition had improved, far stronger than before.

There was also a warm sensation in his body, as if soaking in warm water, continuously strengthening his body.

This process was gentler and was expected to last about ten days. There was no need for additional nutritional support since the Tenglong Reagent had it included.

Although the process was painful, this type of enhancement was extremely exhilarating. He even found that the recent scrape on his arm had already disappeared.

If he used "Aerodynamic Compression" on top of this, the power would probably increase significantly. He was eager to try, but he ultimately restrained the urge to unleash it.

Li Ming was in a good mood. He collected his thoughts and focused on the metal briefcase in front of him, absorbing metal energy while muttering to himself,

"I didn't expect to find something this good in Li Changhai's room. The official retail price for this must be at least fifty thousand Star Coins, saving at least several years of hard work. How did he think of..."

Hmm? Suddenly, Li Ming was struck by a realization. One of the entry requirements for the University of Science and Technology in the capital was that one had to have a certain level of physical fitness.

The predecessor wasn't interested in most things, and he only knew about it because Li Changhai mentioned securing a quota for him.

"Li Changhai was so well-prepared, he even bought the Tenglong Reagent. Could he really be duped?" Li Ming frowned with many doubts emerging, but they all dispersed eventually, and he couldn't help but shake his head,

"No matter what, it's nice to have some benefits from my identity."

He then shifted his gaze to the other side of the briefcase, where there was a palm-sized smart terminal, silver-white, with a small display screen.