Chapter 133: Attempting to Create an "AT Field"

"Damn it, how am I supposed to go out like this?"

Standing in front of the mirror, Zhou Shu looked at himself with a troubled expression, watching the faint glow that flickered around him from time to time. He truly never expected that he would one day become physically luminous.

It wasn't just the light; observing through the mirror, he noticed a distortion effect in the air around his body, much like the heat haze seen on a scorching summer day.

"Hunter, what’s going on?"

With the "intelligence" of the Hunter, it knew Zhou Shu was asking about two things, so it spoke first: [The air distortion you see is because your current body temperature is extremely high. It has heated the air around you, causing changes in air density and resulting in the refraction of light.]

If such high temperatures could create "heat waves" like those under a summer sun, just how hot was he? It wasn't winter anymore; if he were to exert himself, the temperature difference between his body and the surrounding air would be massive. In that state, he wouldn't just create heat waves—he could turn into a human "steam engine."

But it was already June; summer had truly arrived.

"My temperature is that high?" Zhou Shu asked, startled. "How high?"

Hunter: [Between 62°C and 67°C.]

Zhou Shu: "..."

"What the...!"

Good grief, a few more degrees and he could practically brew tea. The most important thing was that he could feel the heat radiating from himself. It was a normal phenomenon after upgrading his attributes, and he didn't feel any "abnormal reactions" or discomfort; the temperature was still well within his tolerance.

He had only noticed something was wrong when he caught glimpses of the flickering glow, which led him to stand before the mirror and discover the refractive effect. He just hadn't realized he could withstand such an intense body temperature. The path of genetic ascension was truly terrifying!

"And what about the occasional flickering glow? Is that also an inevitable result of the attribute upgrade?"

[Yes. Once all your attributes surpassed 5, your bio-magnetic field underwent a qualitative change. Because the energy shift from the recent upgrades is so intense, your personal bio-magnetic field is currently rubbing against the Earth's magnetic field, creating an aurora-like phenomenon.]

Once it was explained this way, Zhou Shu understood: he was simply... too strong. Still, the fact that he was strong enough to alter his own magnetic field and create light similar to an aurora when his energy surged was quite shocking.

Previously, this was a patent held by the sun—auroras only occurred when high-energy solar particles bombarded the magnetic fields at the poles.

After hearing the summary and the detailed explanation from the Hunter, Zhou Shu finally grasped the situation. Human biological activity involves constant redox reactions, during which electrons are transferred. The movement of these electrons or ions creates bio-currents, which flow regularly through human organs like the heart, brain, and muscles.

Where there is electricity, there is magnetism. Because the mass of an electron exceeds that of magnetic field particles, the kinetic energy generated by the inertia of electron transitions is greater than the inertia of the magnetic particles, thereby pushing the magnetic field. Furthermore, certain substances in living human tissue, such as the iron stored in the liver and spleen, possess magnetic properties; under the influence of the Earth's magnetic field or other external fields, they generate an induced field.

In this way, the human body forms a complex bio-magnetic field. A human is not an isolated entity; it is in a constant state of energy exchange with the outside world, so its small, personal magnetic field inevitably rubs against the Earth's vast magnetic field.

Usually, the human body is too weak for these magnetic frictions and energy exchanges to be visible to the naked eye. They can only be detected by specialized equipment, which gave rise to the theory of "human aura," a concept later used to verify the strength of super-powered individuals.

The stronger the super-powered individual, the brighter their aura. Conversely, a brighter aura proves greater power, which led to the classification of super-powered levels.

Zhou Shu compared the grading systems of humans and super-soldiers. He found that the human side was very finely divided but based entirely on man-made combat power metrics, whereas the super-soldier side was divided according to natural stages of evolution. Humans had a "transformation" state at Level 4, while super-soldiers showed no such sign. However, super-soldiers developed "superpowers" around 3 points, which humans lacked. The next stage for super-soldiers was the "True Super-Soldier" phase, where attributes reached roughly 5 points.

On Earth, as Zhou Shu’s capabilities grew, his clearance level increased, confirming that there was indeed a rank above Level 4. In the Great Qin Empire, it was simply and crudely called Level 5, internationally known as "War God," representing a strategic-level force. To the monsters, such beings were called "Heavenly Demons" or "Devils."

Entities of this caliber possessed an aura brightness of over 500, corresponding to attributes of 5 points or higher. At this stage, the combat power standards for humans and super-soldiers seemed to unify: beyond meeting the attribute requirements, both exhibited "anomalies."

The personal bio-magnetic field becomes "materialized," capable of providing actual defensive utility. Under the influence of a "materialized" field, incoming bullets are deflected, light-based weaponry is even more easily diverted, and shockwaves are significantly dissipated.

There was also the impact on electronic equipment. Within the range of the bio-magnetic field, the wielder could directly fry less-shielded electronics if they wished, not to mention the general interference caused. Zhou Shu’s current state was uncontrolled, which was why it affected his smartwatch. Once the promotion stabilized, he would be able to control his own magnetic field.

Zhou Shu could understand this situation well. After all, he had seen "precedents" in monster movies. In those films, modern weapons were ineffective against monsters—missiles flew wildly, firepower barrages failed, and in the end, victory relied on superheroes or "special serums." In *Pacific Rim*, they even went as far as creating massive mechs to engage in close-quarters "hand-to-hand combat" with invincible iron fists.

Knowing this, Zhou Shu suddenly thought of a question. His psychokinesis could provide some defense, but it was primarily offensive, whereas the bio-magnetic field was fundamentally defensive—though it might have offensive capabilities he wasn't aware of yet.

Could the two... be combined?

Combined into the "AT Field" of a super-being. This was an influence from specific Earth culture. That thing was both offensive and defensive; not only could it defend, but it could also perform "electromagnetic blasts" and "laser cannons"—it was incredibly cool! It could even grant the user the ability to fly.

For an average person, 79% usable psychokinesis would be enough to make them float, but despite his size, Zhou Shu’s body density was ridiculously high; his 160-jin strength simply couldn't lift him.

Now, he had a new idea. Magnetism has the properties of attraction and repulsion. If he used his own magnetic field to repel the Earth's force and combined it with his psychokinesis, could he fly?

Once this thought emerged, his curiosity became unstoppable. He was leaving for District 11 tomorrow. He didn't have enough energy for another attribute upgrade, but he could enter the virtual battlefield for some practice to see if his theory held up.

Of course, although the Monstrous Queen was no longer the top priority, he had to be careful not to let her escape. Once she slipped out of his control, Zhou Shu would immediately enter the next cycle, which would be a waste of an attempt. He had to keep her on a leash—close enough to track, but far enough to maximize the utility of the current cycle.