“En? These fish can burn their energy in order to flee!”

Just as Chu Xian was reflecting, a carp was struggling crazily and trying to escape. He could see the carp’s energy level gradually lowering as it exhausted its life.

Chu Xian didn’t pay any mind to the escaped carp and instead, focused on another carp right in front of him and activated his reform ability.

“The more I reform, the more energy is lost. I can make the fish’s body longer, but its body will also become slimmer. I can make any fish smaller, but there is a limit. And I can’t make any of them larger,” Chu Xian said as he tested every feature one by one.

“The upgrade was meant to perfect the system. I didn’t know how much I would get from devouring a single fish, but now there’s a specific number. You also can’t measure the energy level of all fish just by their size. Some small fish can have very high energy levels, and some big fish can have comparatively low energy. And energy levels can also explain their combat power and their hidden effects. The energy level is basically its nutrition level or its vitality!”

Chu Xian kept testing, and after half an hour, he came up with some answers and guesses.

But he still knew that his understanding of the system was incomplete. For example, he could use energy to stretch the range of his god’s eye view. Was it possible for him to use energy to do more things?

“Reformation is the most obvious use of energy.”

“The Mo-crocodile’s successful reformation means I can change a fish into another species. This is a very thorough reformation, and there are other reformations like Genetic Reformation or what you could call Genetic Optimization, but that’s too difficult. Even the first kind of reformation is still troublesome for me!”

“Right now is the best time for me to reform a fish into a human, into a fisherman. But there are still preparations I need to make.”

Chu Xian’s eyes shone. After the concept of energy appeared, he thought of another issue. This issue was present in the Mo-crocodile – after he reformed it, he detected a small strand of wisdom.

According to common sense, a fish, no matter how you reformed it, would still have a fish’s intelligence; but the Mo-crocodile was different. The only possible explanation was energy; in the process of reformation, the energy increased its intelligence.

“People use their brains to think, and other creatures also use their brains. The brain is located in the skull, and the reason that mankind has wisdom is because of our complicated brains. Is it possible for me to reform a fish’s brain according to the shape of a human’s, or can I just enlarge their brain?”

But after some thought, Chu Xian gave up on this endeavor. The human brain was the most mysterious of organs. It was impossible to recreate a brain, and it was also impossible to power up the fish’s brain. The Mo-crocodile’s reformation simply involved moving things based on its body structure, not creating something from nothing. There was only one way to explain what happened during the reformation process – Chu Xian accidentally concentrated energy in its head.

Can energy make a creature more intelligent?

Chu Xian thought to himself and looked at the one hundred energy points in the carp’s attributes. “If only I could see the energy distribution!”

At that moment, a picture of a carp appeared in his mind and a red shadow spread throughout its body.

Chu Xian looked at the shadow in stunned amazement and he willed with his mind. To his surprise, he could control the shadow, but a part of it disappeared when Chu Xian moved it.

“Concentrate. Concentrate everything in its head,” Chu Xian thought. The shadow concentrated in the fish’s head.

After it gathered, Chu Xian was stunned by the carp in front of him.

Nothing changed physically, but now the carp’s eyes showed a terrifying, clear color – very human-like. Its body looked like it had lost vitality and was noticeably sagging.

“Energy has such a powerful use! Incredible!” Chu Xian stared at the carp excitedly.

“Looks like energy can diversify. It can increase strength, strengthen intelligence, and boost the effects of any one aspect. This system upgrade is amazing!”

“But it still wastes too much energy to move it all around, and it might not be worth it, but I can turn a fish into a human and this human will have its own wisdom!”

Chu Xian’s eyes shone. “To turn a fish into a human, I need to understand a human’s internal structure. This is much more complicated than a crocodile’s. First comes the problem of the hand and feet then the muscular system, the nervous system, the endocrine system, the circulatory system, the respiratory system, the digestive system, the urinary system, the reproductive systems and also basic bone structure. All these things need to be tested, and most importantly, energy distribution needs to be considered.

“Whatever, I’ll just keep devouring!” Chu Xian’s eyes shone as he flashed towards the one-to-two-meter-long carps, ripping through them.

A thin stream of energy entered his body, and Chu Xian tried to pay some attention to it as he ate. The energy gradually spread to his arms and legs, and after every fish, small bits of energy would stay in his chest.

“All the energy in my chest should be saved up for leveling up. Each time I level up, I can use this energy arbitrarily on a different part of my body and on a different attribute. Increasing strength, speed, hardness, or bite power all involves powering up muscles, bones, and skin. I haven’t been able to power up internal organs or my brain because I don’t have enough energy. After all, I’m a huge fish. Strong on the outside, weak on the inside.”

After his investigation, Chu Xian kept devouring like crazy. Carp entered his stomach one after another, and his energy level was slowly growing. Fifty to sixty of the one-to-two-meter fish brought him thirty energy points. Not too much, but definitely not little either.

The blood in the water around the pipe scared all the carp in the factory and they hid away. Only the catfish stayed near the entrance and glared at Chu Xian coldly from time to time.

Chu Xian looked at the catfish and smiled coldly. “Soon, you’ll become my energy!”

He left the pipe and continued his crazy devouring streak throughout Nakexing Lake. The lake was huge and one-meter-long fish were very common, so Chu Xian’s energy level grew rapidly.

When enough energy was collected in his chest, the system’s voice sounded out again. Chu Xian willed in his mind. The energy gathered in his tail and intensified his speed.

“After every strengthening, it would mean a level up in the past, but now it’s represented by energy!”

After becoming familiar with the system, Chu Xian smiled. In the end, this system upgrade was very useful to him.