Rebirth: Super gene

Watching the storm of maelstroms approaching, Bian called forth the Emperical Aura. An indigo light erupted and covered the ocean bed, illuminating the ancient ground.

When the light reached a whirlpool, it was sucked into it like the effect of a black hole. To Bian's fright, he found that the maelstroms were rapidly draining the energy needed to maintain the Emperical Aura.

They were like living black holes, but were even more scary as though they had a vague sentience.

Luckily the Emperical Aura also showed him a small rock at the center of the death zone. It had a thousand faced which were constantly changing like liquid mercury.

Bian didn't delay and began swimming towards the thousand face die. Finding it would have been an unsurmountable task for others, but it was a cakewalk for him with the aid of the Emperical Aura.

Maniacal laughter rang in the background as Atla somehow guided the maelstroms using the trident. Even he had not known that the trident could control the maelstroms, once he figured it out, he immediately decided to end Bian once and for all.

Bian had to put in his all to avoid the maelstroms as big as countries. The body pillar and soul pillar were in overdrive pushing him to a level beyond common limits.

With the boost from the life essences he had just gained, his super geno points were almost halfway to completion. He darted though the cold water so fast, it boiled when in contact with his skin.

He used brute force to opposed the force from the maelstroms which were actively moving to consume him.

Slowing down would mean certain death, so Bian gave it his all to reach the die. Hundreds of maelstroms were slowly encroaching, giving him the feeling that the whole world was against him.

"I can't outswim them!" Try as he may, his efforts proved futile as he was pulled towards a maelstrom. All his struggles were useless against such a cataclysmic force of nature.

As Bian felt death approach, his mind calmed down to a frightening degree. He closed his eyes and removed all fear from his thoughts.

"I've already died twice, and I came back twice. Bring it on!"

Swoosh!

The maelstroms suddenly stopped moving as though Bian had turned invisible. When he opened his eyes, he was shocked to see the maelstrom standing still a couple of feet away from him.

Visibly confused, Bian moved away from the maelstrom before it would change its mind and swallow him whole.

The moment he thought of the maelstroms, they started moving towards him again. He steadied his thoughts again and emptied his mind, the maelstroms stopped moving.

'So that's how it is. The maelstroms only target those who have them in mind. The stronger you envision the maelstrom, the faster they approach.'

Bian came to that conclusion, it would explain why the maelstroms moved towards people who had already survived their wrath before.

They would be more frightened and aware of the maelstrom and thus it would target them more easily.

If it was so, couldn't a blind person easily reach the treasure?

No they couldn't! Even if the maelstroms didn't actively chase them, if they entered it they would still be doomed.

Bian was unique in this aspect. With the soul pillar in Hyperdrive currently, he could control his thoughts to a frightening degree. It allowed him to observe but not linger on the terrifying maelstroms.

He inched closer to the thousand face die, less than a kilometer away from it.

"How! How are you still alive? Kill him" Atla shouted in panic. If Bian survived this ordeal, he definately wouldn't.

He used the power of the trident to manually control the water around the maelstroms and thereby control the maelstroms themselves. The static gigantic whirlpools swerved closer to Bian but at a slower pace than before.

Phew!

Like a harpoon, Bian swam through the troubled waters, his mighty physique pushing aside the pressure and pull of the maelstroms.

After two minutes of rapid movements, he finally reached the thousand face die. The faces of turned constantly, preventing any form of prediction with the die.

He saw a thousand fold maze, then a gauntlet filled with hideous, appalling monsters. Different trails were etched upon the die, but Bian had no time to study them all. The maelstroms would soon be upon him.

Not wasting any time, he activated the Emperical Will and threw the thousand face die.

It defied the laws of physics as the die rolled normally as it would have done in air. It landed on a face with two dots and the thousand face die duplicated before returning to his hands.

Holding the two, thousand face dice, Bian threw them again with a sense of urgency. Both dice turned up a different face this time.

One had a yellow paper scroll and the other had a transparent crystal heart.

The yellow scroll and crystal heart turned into beams of light and materialised in Bian's hands.

The yellow scroll was strangely unaffected by the water. It remained dry and undamaged, and while focusing on it Bian felt a subtle connection.

The approaching maelstroms didn't dare to get any closer to him. If he approached them, then they made way for him which made for quite a sight.

"Impossible, that is impossible! The rite of passage and the heart of the ocean. I must be seeing things, I had to endure a cruel trial before getting the trident.

Thousands of us died until I was the only one left, only then could I get the trident. How did you get not one but two artifacts without any hardship!" Atla spoke in a delirious tone of voice. He sounded like he had gone mad.

"I would be surprised as well, if this wasn't the umpteenth time seeing my super body in action. You can only blame fate and ask it, why did it have to be luck based."

The golden vambrace appeared on Bian's right arm. The protective armament and slender gold blade was coated in the frenzied white flames of the Radiant Reaper.

The blue crab moved its pincers to block him, but Bian wasn't the same person as he was some hours ago.

His super gene points had skyrocketed to 47, Jadebody which got stronger with his fitness had also been elevated to a whole new level. The golden blade of the Vermin Devil king was now coated with the weapon add-on from the Radiant Reaper. All this force was on the solid foundation of eight open gene locks.

Swish!

A pure white arc created a void at the bottom of the ocean. The large pincer of the blue crab was cut off cleanly.

"Die!" Bian rotated several times in the span of a single second. A small white tornado made of shining sword lights dismembered the crab into ribbons.

[Super Creature Azure Claw King killed. The beast soul has been acquired. The flesh is inedible. Eat the Azure Claw King to gain 0 to 10 super geno points randomly.]

"Im~impossible!" Atla stuttered, flailing his arm ad he tried to swim away in a panic. All his attacks were not working against Bian. He could still control the water, he just couldn't use any of its forces against Bian.

"And you could have lived. If only you maintained your end of the bargain!" Bian dashed towards Atla, his golden blade made one final white arc towards the spirit.

Atla tried sending him away or restraining him, but the waters refused to obstruct Bian. He raised the trident in defence, but it was futile as his body was spilt into two vertical halves, while the trident was knocked into the ocean ground.

Miles away at a large underwater shelter. In the sprit hall, the spirit stone on a large statue's head reflected a resplendent indigo light before it shattered into particles.

Bian deactivated all his forces save for the soul pillar which he had no control over. A sense of weakness pervaded his body as he moved closer to the spot where the trident was stuck.

Clang!

Bian picked up the golden trident. It began vibrating in his arms, before it eventually settled down as it accepted him as the wielder.

Swoosh!

With a swing, Bian could command a tsunami to form. The versatility and power of the golden trident was unmatched underwater.

He headed back to the mobile fortress, patient enough to secure himself before exploring the other benefits he had gained on this trip.

In his left hand was a transparent heart shaped container, Bian grasped the heart of the sea securely as he swam back.