"How in the hell did the P car get here?!"
Max couldn't figure this one out at all. As far as he understood, he would need to turn certain items into Beast Souls via his new ability [Beastsoulification], and he most certainly had not had a chance to do that with anything yet.
His sharp eyes scanned the beloved car he had missed so much over the past couple of years, and through the windshield, he spotted a small white rectangle resting on the dash. Max focused and willed the small white rectangle—which turned out to be a piece of folded up paper—to float through the open window of the car and come toward his inner point of view, which had taken on some sort of hazy astral copy of his physical appearance.
As soon as it came close enough to potentially read, Max willed it to unfold and zeroed in on the scribbled message scrawled across it in glowing black ink.
—Maxie, or should I call you Flux? How am I paying better attention to the details than you? It would be a little problematic if this little toy showed up inside the shelter of First God's sanctuary when you showed up there, don't you think? Pay attention, cutie! You're welcome! Happy hunting!
xoxoxo — Vespera.
P.S. — Keep up the hard work and don't become ugly again!--
'I shoulda known... Well, she has a point, I guess. Gotta pay more attention to detail in the future. Ah! I still shouldn't show anyone the car while I'm in First God's Sanctuary anyway, Super Gene is set in the far-flung future, and I'm sure that showing up with the 993 would raise some eyebrows...'
He surveyed the rest of his sea of soul, looking to see if one of the most important items he had picked would be starting off inside the sea of soul, and—to his joy—it was! This meant he wouldn't need to swallow it to land it there, like Han San once did.
There, floating in the air of his sea of soul, was a Black Crystal. As soon as Max looked at it, it seemed to notice, racing over to his avatar—which still looked like how he had before taking on Toriko's physical form.
It whizzed around and nudged his cheek before floating beside him. Max thought for a moment, then looked at the Fairy Queen Beast Soul, willing her to come toward him. She obeyed and floated over, stopping three feet in front of him.
Max reached out and lightly grabbed the black crystal, which didn't resist at all, and offered it to the Fairy Queen.
The Beast Soul stayed emotionless, reached out, seized the black crystal, and placed it into her mouth, swallowing without hesitation.
In the original novel, the black crystal had the ability to either evolve creatures or Beast Souls inside the sea of soul—and that was just the tip of the iceberg concerning all of its abilities.
Her eyes lit up, and then a black and golden cocoon formed around her, hiding her and her bright red armor from view.
'Ah, nice. Hopefully it evolves fast, like in the book...'
Max was satisfied with the results and allowed himself to return to his regular view outside his sea of soul.
He looked down at the pile of gear he had been wearing before his newest transformation.
"Well, I guess I should get all my stuff back on. Ah, actually, ya know what? Let's test some shit out for a second..."
Max paused and decided he should test [Beastsoulification] for himself before heading into the next Jump. Not that the weight of his gear bothered him or anything, but why carry stuff around when you could just summon it later?
In fact, he had big plans for turning certain items into Beast Souls and treating them like modular accessories for his Flux suit. Speaking of which, the two marble-sized orbs—Max wanted to turn the helmet and suit, not to mention his handguns into Beast Souls too!
He glanced down at his things and his eyes rested on the the black and silver, foldable device he had been carrying around last.
"I should hide this little beauty right off the bat… No one needs to see it at all, actually. Ha, let's test this out with something a little more simple..."
Max had always planned to turn his tracksuit into a Beast Soul, but now he figured he might as well transform all his gear as soon as possible, especially if the black crystal could help evolve them once they became Beast Souls. Besides, the tracksuit wouldn't fit his extra-large body anymore without looking like it was made for a child—and there was no way he was stepping into this Jump naked.
One of the nice things about Beast Souls that could be worn is that, when summoned, they would accommodate the body size and shape of their master. So turning the tracksuit into a Beast Soul was just a good idea.
He knelt down and touched the folded tracksuit, underwear, socks, and shoes, then concentrated. If Max had been staring at the ability section of his interface, he would have seen [Beastsoulification] lighting up.
A golden light surrounded the outfit and saturated it before it all vanished, leaving small sparks and specks of golden light bursting where it had just been.
—'Sacred-blood Beast Soul: Godly Sweats gained.'
After a few more uses of the ability, Max was only left with the backpack, the heavy bag that used to be inside the backpack, and the foldable contraption he had been carrying around.
Beneath the regular status section of his interface, a sub-section for the sanctuary system had appeared.
Maximillian Nakamura: Not evolved.
Status: None
Lifespan: ?
Requirements for evolution: 100 geno points
Geno points gained: None
Beast Souls gained: Ordinary Super Gene Novel, Ordinary Map of First God's Sanctuary...
Type of ordinary Super Gene Novel Beast Soul: Book...
All of the information on the Beast Souls he had received and created was available to view there.
In total, including the Porsche—which had been converted by Vespera—there were six original Beast Souls: the Porsche, Ghost Wolf Dagger, Super Pet Armor, Fairy Queen Shape Shifter, Sanctuary Map, and the Novel.
The rest, bringing the count up to twelve, were created through his new ability.
Max reached out and summoned the foldable contraption that had been mentioned so many times. It was quite heavy, nearly entirely made of adamantium and vibranium, weighing around fifty pounds.
He unclipped the device from its holster, which had been designed to cover part of the weapon and attach it to the back of his hip. With a movement of his hand, the holster also transformed into a Beast Soul and disappeared from view.
Max now focused on the floating weapon in front of him and grinned like a drunk hyena.
Hovering in front of his face was a dense, two-foot-long piece of Stark engineering—excluding the foot-long handle jutting from the center of one end—a hefty, industrial block of black-and-silver alloys, etched with slender lines hinting at where it could split apart and unfold.
Max let it drift just inches from his face while preparing to turn it into a Beast Soul, easily supporting the weight with his [Electromagnetic] ability.
Since nobody in the Marvel universe knew a thing about the "Golden Age" or the Guardians, Max felt zero guilt about plagiarizing the Leviathan's Breath at all.
This was an exotic bow, classified as a step above 'legendary', from the video game 'Destiny'—which Max had played quite a bit before starting his Jump Chain.
Leviathan's Breath was unique because its bowstring was actually a chain—the kind you'd see on a motorcycle. In the game, this weapon could fire bolts with thousands of pounds of draw force, making it far beyond what most creatures in Max's future destination could handle—and that was before any electromagnetic tricks came into play!
"Showtime," Max commanded, disengaging the magnetic locks. The vibranium limbs snapped outward with a hydraulic hiss. Then came the "Stark Touch." From microscopic emitters along the tips of the limbs, a stream of nanoparticles—made with a special adamantium/vibranium blend—surged forth.
They braided themselves in mid-air, clicking together like tiny, interlocking teeth to form the heavy-gauge chain-string. When unfolded into ranged form, it looked less like a bow and more like a piece of siege equipment meant to be mounted on a tank.
Remaining particles positioned themselves to become rollers and pivot points, allowing the movement of the heavy chain string and the flexing of the boxy-styled arms of the folded-out compound bow.
It also disappeared with a blinding flash and was safely converted into a Beast Soul at the Super level.
A bit of Super Gene lore: Beast Souls are the spiritual imprints or essences of powerful creatures, each embodying a unique set of abilities, traits, and potential. They're ranked according to their power, rarity, and significance, aka an ordinary beast would grant and ordinary beast soul, whereas killing a Super Creature is the only way to get a Beast Soul of that level. When a creature is slain, there's a chance—depending on luck—that an item inspired by it will be awarded to its killer.
The lowest is the Ordinary rank, derived from common or low-level creatures, offering limited abilities and serving as the foundation for cultivation and power development in the sanctuaries.
Above that are the Primitive Beast Souls, originating from stronger or more advanced beasts, which possess greater power and a broader range of abilities, often acting as crucial stepping stones for those seeking to advance further.
The Mutant rank signifies a substantial leap in strength, coming from powerful mutated primitive creatures with specialized traits that can dramatically influence a cultivator's combat style and strength.
At a higher tier are the Sacred Blood Beast Souls, originating from rare, 'divine' creatures—hence the name—that grant potent and often unique abilities via weaponry, armor, and more. These are highly prized and considered a mark of exceptional talent, at the start of Super Gene, these were thought to be at the top by the vast majority.
The pinnacle of Beast Souls however is the Super rank, associated with legendary or mythic creatures and truly divine beings. These possess incomprehensible power, often with multiple layers of abilities and an almost-immortal aura. Cultivators who harness such Beast Souls are among the most formidable in their sanctuaries, standing at the very apex of strength and influence; at this point in Max's story, no one even really knew about these, as mentioned above.
Most of his gear had already reached the Sacred Blood stage, with a few at the Super level—like his helmet and armor.
With another wave of his hand, the backpack also disappeared, leaving only one item in front of him.
Max reached for the huge bag of exotic, metallic dust it contained. Through some serious effort—and a bit of sneakiness—Max had managed to acquire some of the most potent materials in the Marvel universe. Inside the full bag was a collection of sparkly, metallic dust composed of 50% Adamantium, 30% Vibranium, 15% Carbondanium, and 5% Mysterium.
He hadn't been able to acquire a single piece of Uru metal from Thor, no matter how much he asked. For some reason, the God of Thunder had been adamant about not giving him any.
'Asgardians are all cheapskates... Ah well, this is honestly more than enough for what I have in mind, especially the Mysterium... Dr. Strange, you're a beauty buddy!'
With a golden flash, it was also converted into a Beast Soul and placed in his sea of soul, earning a 'Super' designation as well.
Beneath the Beast Soul section in his interface, there was now also: Godly Sweats, Leviathan's Breath, Leviathan's Sheath, God Dust, Ghost Wolf Dagger, Super Pet Armor, Super God Gene Novel, Sanctuary Map, Reed Specials, Twin Talons (his desert eagle handguns), Flux Armor and Flux Helmet, Image Inducer, Godling's Backpack, Porsche 993, and the Fairy Queen.
With a satisfied smile, the now-massive Max summoned his tracksuit and sneakers, which appeared with another golden light, fitting his new size perfectly.
It finished materializing on his body just as he crossed the threshold of the dark doorframe.