?The darkness of the mine wasn't empty; it was heavy. It pressed against Jiang Chen's eardrums, a silent pressure that promised crushing depths.

  ?He sat cross-legged on the edge of the descent—a jagged hole in the floor that breathed cold, stale air.

  He had 541 Evolution Points.

  In the hands of a gamer, this was a high score.

  In the hands of Jiang Chen, it was a biological budget.

  ?"System," he whispered. "Open the slaughterhouse."

  ?[Evolution Tree Accessed]

  [Current EV: 541]

  ?The holographic menu flickered in the gloom, listing the potential mutations for his "Furnace Body."

  ?1. Skin Evolution: Bronze Skin (Tier 2) ?Cost: 150 EV. ?Effect: Molecular density increases by 300%. Immunity to standard steel weapons. Minor resistance to heat and pressure. ?Drawback: Weight increases significantly. Swimming becomes difficult.

  ?2. Claw Evolution: Void Claw (Tier 2) ?Cost: 120 EV. ?Effect: Claws gain a "spatial phase" property. Attacks ignore 40% of physical armor. ?Visual: Claws become semi-transparent.

  ?3. Organ Evolution: Venom Core (Tier 3) ?Cost: 300 EV. ?Effect: The Venom Heart expands into a secondary energy source. Allows for "Poison Qi" cultivation.

  ?Jiang Chen stared at the options.

  The Venom Core was tempting. It would let him cultivate faster.

  But cultivation took time. Survival happened in seconds.

  He looked down into the black shaft. He didn't know what was down there, but he knew it would be hard, heavy, and angry.

  ?"Defense and Penetration," Jiang Chen decided. "I need to be able to take a hit, and I need to be able to cut through rock."

  ?[Select: Bronze Skin.]

  [Select: Void Claw.]

  [Total Cost: 270 EV.]

  [Confirm?]

  ?"Do it."

  ?[Initiating Genetic Rewrite...]

  ?Pain didn't come in a wave. It came as a crush.

  It felt like the air pressure in the room had suddenly increased to deep-sea levels.

  Jiang Chen gasped, his ribs creaking audibly.

  ?His skin began to ripple. The greyish tint of the Iron Skin darkened, taking on the deep, brownish-gold luster of aged bronze. The pores tightened, sealing shut. The flesh beneath hardened, the muscle fibers weaving themselves into a mesh stronger than Kevlar.

  ?Then, his hands burned.

  He looked down. His fingernails—already blackened claws—began to vibrate. They didn't grow longer; they grew wrong.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  The tips faded from view, not because they were gone, but because they were slipping in and out of the material plane.

  They looked like jagged shards of smoke.

  ?[Evolution Complete.]

  [Status Updated.]

  [Remaining EV: 271.]

  ?Jiang Chen stood up.

  Clang.

  His boots hit the stone with a heavier sound. He felt dense. Solid. A living statue.

  ?He walked to the edge of the shaft.

  He dropped a stone.

  He counted.

  One... two... three... four...

  Click.

  ?Four seconds. Roughly eighty meters deep.

  ?He didn't look for a ladder.

  He stepped off.

  ?[Skill: Iron Skin (Passive) - Bronze Skin (Active).]

  ?The wind rushed past him.

  He plummeted into the dark.

  He didn't flail. He kept his body straight, a bronze spear falling through the void.

  ?CRASH.

  ?He hit the bottom.

  He didn't roll. He bent his knees, the impact shockwave blowing dust and gravel away from his landing zone. The stone floor beneath him cracked, a spiderweb of fractures spreading out for three meters.

  His legs groaned, but his bones—tempered by the pill and protected by the bronze flesh—held firm.

  ?Jiang Chen stood up slowly, dusting off his shoulders.

  "Durable," he noted.

  ?He looked around.

  He wasn't in a mine tunnel anymore.

  He was in a cavern so vast the ceiling was lost in the gloom.

  And it wasn't dead.

  ?Giant, pale mushrooms—some as tall as trees—filled the cavern. They glowed with a faint, sickly blue light. Spores drifted in the air like snow, glowing as they touched the ground.

  ?[Location Discovery: The Mycelium Depths.]

  [Hazard: Toxic Spores.]

  [Venom Heart: Filtering...]

  ?Something moved in the fungal forest.

  A silhouette, hulking and misshapen, shuffled between the mushroom stalks. It dragged a massive stone club.

  ?Jiang Chen's eyes adjusted.

  It was a humanoid figure, but its skin looked like rock. Moss grew on its shoulders. Its eyes were hollow sockets glowing with blue fungal light.

  ?[Target Detected: Deep-Earth Thrall.]

  [Level: 10 (Qi Condensation Layer 4).]

  [Type: Reanimated Miner/Golem Hybrid.]

  ?Layer 4.

  A full stage above the disciples he had just killed.

  And there wasn't just one.

  Dozens of blue lights flickered in the distance.

  ?Jiang Chen flexed his hands. The ghostly tips of his Void Claws shimmered.

  "Finally," he smiled, his bronze face cracking into a predatory grin. "Something that won't die in one hit."

  ?He stepped into the glowing forest.

  ?The nearest Thrall sensed the vibration. It turned, letting out a groan that sounded like grinding tectonic plates. It raised its club.

  ?Jiang Chen didn't use Thunder-Blood Burst. He wanted to test the armor.

  He walked straight at it.

  ?The Thrall swung. The stone club, weighing at least two hundred pounds, came down in a crushing arc.

  Jiang Chen raised his left arm. He didn't block; he braced.

  ?BONG.

  ?The sound was like a church bell ringing underwater.

  The club hit his forearm.

  The stone shattered.

  Dust and gravel sprayed Jiang Chen's face.

  ?His arm didn't break. He barely felt the bruise forming beneath the bronze dermis.

  [Damage Mitigated: 95%.]

  ?The Thrall stared at its broken weapon, its primitive mind unable to process the physics.

  Jiang Chen dusted off his arm.

  "My turn."

  ?He lashed out with his right hand.

  [Void Claw.]

  ?He didn't aim for the head. He aimed for the chest—the thickest part of the rock-skin.

  His hand met the stone torso.

  There was no resistance.

  The Void Claw phased through the outer layer of rock and materialized inside the chest cavity.

  ?Jiang Chen clenched his fist and ripped outward.

  ?CRUNCH.

  ?He tore a chunk of rock and fungal matter out of the Thrall's chest. The blue light in its eyes flickered and died. The golem crumbled into a pile of loose stones.

  ?[Target Neutralized: Deep-Earth Thrall.]

  [EV +50]

  ?Jiang Chen looked at the glowing blue core in his hand—the fungal heart of the creature.

  He tossed it into his mouth.

  It tasted like dirt and electricity.

  ?[EV +10]

  ?"Sixty points," Jiang Chen calculated.

  He looked at the forest of glowing mushrooms. He saw at least fifty more lights.

  50 \times 60 = 3000 EV.

  ?His eyes began to glow with a hunger that matched the blue spores.

  "System," he said, his voice low and jagged. "Start the music."

  ?He broke into a run, a bronze juggernaut tearing through the silent, ancient dark.

  Character Status (Jiang Chen):

  Cultivation: Qi Condensation Layer 2 (Peak).

  ?Body State: Furnace Body (Bronze Skin - Active).

  ?Key Skills: Venom Heart (Lvl 2), Void Claw (New), Thunder-Blood Burst, Bronze Skin (New). ?C

  urrent EV: 331.

  ?4. Character Status (Apeiron):

  ?Sync Rate: 0.30%. ?

  Relationship: Symbiotic.

  ?5. Inventory:

  ?2x Steel Swords. ?Damaged Spatial Ring. ?Mask of the Faceless.