About Dongfang Jun, Lin Zhen had not seen him in person in his previous life. Lin Zhen only knew that after the Ice City Base City fell, Dongfang Jun left. His achievements afterwards were also extraordinary. He was a top expert who had broken through the War God Realm and reached the Star Realm.
The Star Realm is a legend; after reaching the ninth level of the War God Realm, one absorbs the cosmic energy into their Dantian to form a Star Core, which allows them to enter the Star Realm. At this stage, such individuals are extremely rare.
Even now, the vast majority of people are completely unaware of the existence of the Star Realm. Only after the end of the God Transformation Calendar, when humanity faced its second dramatic transformation, did the Star Realm become widely known.
Arriving at the door of Dongfang Jun's room, Zhao Liang knocked on the redwood door.
"Come in," a deep male voice responded.
Zhao Liang opened the door and brought Lin Zhen and Meng Dong into the room.
Behind a huge desk sat a man in his thirties, wearing traditional Chinese clothing. His face didn't have any remarkable features, but his eyes were incredibly bright. Their divine light flickered as they opened and closed, making people dare not underestimate him.
"Hall Master, I have brought Lin Zhen and Meng Dong," Zhao Liang said before turning to Lin Zhen and Meng Dong. "Come and pay your respects to the Hall Master."
"Student Lin Zhen and Student Meng Dong pay respects to the Hall Master."
"Mm, you may all sit."
Zhao Liang led the two to sit on the couch, sitting up straight, waiting for Dongfang Jun to speak.
"I have just watched the video that Zhao Liang sent over. Both of you have performed very well. Despite being in a disadvantaged position, you remained calm and launched a counterattack, turning defeat into victory. Such qualities are precious among Martial Artists, especially you, Lin Zhen. You have left a deep impression on me."
Lin Zhen smiled as a gesture, neither humble nor arrogant.
"To be honest, our Gale Martial Arts Hall is not at an advantage against Changfeng and Dragon Slayer in Ice City, and is even at a disadvantage. As the Hall Master, I have always wanted to change this situation. Recruiting talents has always been the purpose of our Gale, and we have never been stingy towards talented people."
Dongfang Jun pressed a bell, and soon a young woman entered, pushing two laptops along with computer tables in front of Lin Zhen and Meng Dong.
"Now you can log into our Gale intranet, using your previous account numbers. Your status has already been changed. Meng Dong has earned 700 Points, while Lin Zhen has earned 3300 Points. In addition to the Point rewards, you can choose any item from the Martial Arts Hall's internal network as a reward for your outstanding performance this time. For the price... Meng Dong can choose any item within five million, and Lin Zhen can choose any item within twenty million. These are the rewards from the Martial Arts Hall. You don't need to spend a penny as long as the price doesn't exceed this limit."
Meng Dong's eyes lit up immediately, and he could now choose any item within five million. He now had a lot of choosing to do.
Lin Zhen was also thrilled, as he only had 500,000 on him at the moment, and his home was not yet settled. There were many places where money needed to be spent, so he didn't have money to buy things for himself. With this 20 million free access, many of his plans could be moved forward.
As they logged in, Dongfang Jun spoke, "I will be leaving the Martial Arts Hall and the Base City in half an hour, so if you have any special requirements for your chosen items, it's best to complete them within half an hour. During this time, I can still give you some advice. Of course, if you choose ordinary items, there are no time constraints."
Meng Dong said, "It's easy. Choosing items within half an hour is a piece of cake."
Zhao Liang smiled, "Don't be too confident. It's not easy to choose the most suitable items within half an hour. Be careful not to get lost in the choices."
Meng Dong was somewhat unconvinced, but as soon as he opened the Martial Arts Hall's internal shopping mall, his eyes went a little straight.
"Wow! So many great cars! I love this Sky Horse X9. The price is not too high either, I can get it for 3.3 million. And, there's also the Warhawk Fifth Generation, a sports coupe with front and rear engines. It's so cool to drive, and it's only four million! I can afford it."
"And, this Jade Blood War Blade. It is said to be developed by the Science and Technology Department of the Southern Base City. It's a third-generation product and an essential weapon for fighting monsters. It's 1.5 million. Should I buy it or not?"
"Oh my! They even have Genetic Potions, which are essential choices for Martial Artists. Indeed, the official price is 10 million. What do I do if I don't have enough money?"
Listeining to Meng Dong's constant murmuring next to him, Lin Zhen couldn't help but interject, "Meng Dong, be more focused on what you want when choosing items. Cars and such can be bought later when you have your own money. At this rate, you won't be able to pick a single thing in half an hour. First, set the product price at five million or below, you can't afford anything above that. What's the use of looking at them? Also, the martial arts hall will provide us with that genetic potion for free, right, Hall Master?"
Dongfang Jun nodded, "That's correct. The greatest benefit of joining the martial arts hall is that you can get a free bottle of Universal Gene Potion, which guarantees a 100% success rate in optimizing. This is your greatest advantage compared to the martial artists without a martial arts hall."
There are two kinds of genetic potions. One is the universally used Universal Gene Potion, which can guarantee a martial artist's body optimization success with an improvement range of about 40% to 60%. Occasionally, some talented individuals can achieve an improvement of more than 60%.
The other type of genetic potion is specially formulated by the martial artist according to their own physical condition, making a special request to the base technology department. If this potion matches successfully, the improvement rate will generally exceed 70%. In Ice City Base City, the highest improvement rate recorded is 87%.
As for improvements of 90% or even 100%, there have been no such precedents in Ice City. It is because martial artists will never fully understand their own genetic makeup, making it nearly impossible to accurately formulate the potion.
Instead, a greater possibility is a failure to match, which would result in a complete loss of the chance to advance.
Therefore, few people choose to request customized potions. Instead, most take the safer route and use the Universal Gene Potion to ensure success.
The success rate of using customized potions is even less than 20%.
Furthermore, the cost of customizing potions is not cheap - a bottle of genetic potion costs ten million, with an additional ten million for each customization.
Hearing Lin Zhen's words, Meng Dong realized he was on the wrong track and hurriedly set the product price at five million or below. With much fewer choices, he restrained himself from looking at cars and other consumables, focusing on things that could enhance his abilities.
Lin Zhen's choices were much more focused, as he already had a plan in mind for what to choose.
The first item he chose was the genetic potion.
Others may not know their exact genetic situation, but Lin Zhen did.
In his previous life, he had tested his genes during his later years using high technology from an extraterrestrial civilization. With an accuracy rate of over 90%, he naturally knew which type of genetic potion would be most suitable for him when he was young.
So, his first choice was personal customization.
Personal customization means that as long as you pay the fee, the technology department of the base city will create a unique genetic potion tailored to your needs.
Of course, if your optimization fails, the technology department will not refund your money. A bottle is priced at ten million, with no discounts available.
"Hall Master, if I choose to customize my own genetic potion, the martial arts hall will pay the ten million for the potion itself, right? So I only need to pay the additional ten million for the personal customization fees, correct?"
"You want to choose a customized potion? Lin Zhen, choose carefully. If the potion doesn't match well, not only will you lose twenty million, but it would also be extremely difficult for you to use a genetic potion after failure," reminded Dongfang Jun.
"Don't worry, Hall Master, I have confidence in this."
"Alright then, every martial artist has a dream of reaching the peak. I can't stand in the way of your dream. The martial arts hall will pay the ten million for the potion, but you won't get a free bottle of Universal Gene Potion."
"I understand. I'll choose to customize my potion then."
With that, Lin Zhen entered his demands for the genetic potion on the personal customization page.
"Potion requirements: strength enhancement ratio 42.35%, agility enhancement ratio 33.91%, nerve response enhancement ratio 22.80%, integrated gene fluid..."
He had memorized these numbers; as long as the potion matched these ratios, his overall improvement rate would be at least 90%!
"My natural talent is not bad, but it's not particularly outstanding either. I'm still lacking compared to true geniuses. If I want to achieve something in the future, I need to take each step firmly. This gene optimization is the first step to close the gap between me and those geniuses. I believe that my power will greatly improve after taking the genetic potion!"