Genetic Awakening: My Genes Evolve Infinitely!

"Are you crazy!?" Elane barked at Rohan. "You nearly just got us killed and sent out of the Origin Realm over 5 Origin Crystals!?"

Okay, she did have a point this time.

"...Maybe I did get a little bit ahead of myself back there."

Rohan had a slight problem, that he was sure of now. ’I need to tone down my ego.’

Ever since he first looked at his status and saw the Evolution Gene sitting there as his talent, his mind had already begun to change. The uncertainty of its actual uses made it so that he wasn’t actually too different from before when he was an ordinary person, but now that he had actually taken the time to test it — against an Elite beast at that — it got to his head.

’Thank god I realised this mistake early on though...’

The Old man did scare the living shit out of him, but deep down Rohan was actually grateful for the advice he gave at the end. It put things into perspective for him.

So what if he had an Evolution Gene? So what if he owned an Elite Genetic Armament and had just taken down an Elite Firestone Soldier Ant?

There were still countless Awakened out there who could squish him into the ground like any other bug even at a hundred times his current strength.

’I can’t let a momentary bout of strength cloud my mind and judgement so easily like that. Lest one day I end up viewing normal humans the same way I viewed those Firestone Ants earlier...’

Rohan dusted off his equipment and followed Elane out of Red Fang Materials Exchange, neither willing to mention anything further about what just happened.

"Here." He suddenly spoke up, tossing a bag over to Elane.

"What’s this?"

"It’s your cut of the Origin Crystals we earned today, remember? Don’t tell me you forgot about that."

"Oh yeah!" Elane ecstatically checked the contents of the bag.

"I threw in an extra three on top of what we already earned. After all, even though I did all the heavy lifting, I wouldn’t have been able to take that Elite down without your help."

Elane lifted her gaze to level with Rohan’s, completely surprised and deeply grateful. She wasn’t even going to take the initiative to ask for anything in return for the minute amount of help she provided during the battle — but she definitely wouldn’t turn it down if he was offering.

"I don’t know how to thank you..."

"Then don’t. You earned them. You shouldn’t have to thank me for giving you what is rightfully yours."

To be truthful, Elane did momentarily forget about them. But only because of the events that had taken place over the last few hours. Seeing Rohan face down an Elite beast and kill it, then proceeding to offend an E rank senior due to his ignorance, was more than enough shocks for a normal person to experience in a year.

And that was just on her first day meeting Rohan.

’It all started the moment I encountered him... Maybe its fate, or maybe its something else.’ No stories her father ever told her in her youth could match up to the things she’d experienced after entering the Origin Realm, and she suspected that not many other people could relate to her.

’He has the makings of a future big shot. If that senior back there found out that this was Rohan’s first day in the Origin Realm after Awakening, then things would have gone very differently. He might’ve even taken the 50 Origin Crystal deal to establish a good relationship with him early on!’

Perhaps it was some strange instinct, or maybe just blind faith — but something deep within Elane told her that if she continued to follow Rohan, then her own future would bloom as a result.

’I can only take things slow for now.’

***

Rohan and Elane made their way over to an inn/hotel after departing from the Red Fang Materials Exchange. Rohan had to embarrassingly borrow some cash from Elane to pay for his room, since he had none on him and he most definitely wasn’t going to pay via Origin Crystals.

Before they split off to their own independent rooms, they laid out a plan for the following days until eventually their week in the Origin Realm ran out and they were forcefully sent back to the outside universe.

The plan wasn’t anything too special — as they planned to spend the daylight hours hunting more Firestone Ants in the north and then spent the nights back in their hotel rooms cultivating using the resources they’d earned during the day. This was their idea for the whole 7 days.

However, they did plan to change the distribution of loot from then on — only after Elane begrudgingly agreed, though.

She was fine with the original distribution, where it was essentially ’if you killed it, you keep it.’ But Rohan was insistent on changing it to a 50/50, even split, instead.

From how he explained it to her, his reasoning was that in the old method, it didn’t take into account the effectiveness and usefulness of their cooperation. Even though he was obviously stronger than Elane since he was the only one with a Genetic Armament, he was nowhere near as efficient at killing beasts alone as with her at his side.

They needed to be at their peak, performing their best when in battle. That required having no conflicts of interest — and what better way to eliminate those and make things as fair as possible between them?

At least that’s how Rohan viewed it. Elane eventually caved in as well once he explained that he’d still be earning more Origin Crystals by splitting his gains with her than if he simply went at it alone.

Her knowledge, ability to track beasts, and notice any discrepancies down to the smaller details were incalculable when taken into account. Rohan, meanwhile, could benefit a lot learning from her example.

***

"Time to test some things."

Alone in his hotel room, Rohan emptied the contents of his bag and lay them flat out on his bed. In total, he had earned a hefty sum of 1 Elite Origin Crystal and 14 normal Origin Crystals. He did have more, but obviously he had to pay Elane her share of the spoils. The F rank Elite Gene remained in his pocket.

That thing was too precious to even leave out in the open in his hotel room. For the remainder of his time in the Origin Realm, that gene would not leave his side even once. The safest place it could be was on his person at all times.

’First let’s check what type of Gene it even is.’

He placed his hand on the Gene sitting tightly in his pocket. Rohan knew what type of Gene the Worker Ants dropped was — it gave the ability to produce hot stone balls in the palm of one’s hand using Origin Energy as a fuel source that could then be launched at speed towards a target.

They weren’t very strong when it came to Genes, but they did pack a decent punch if hit. Enough to stun an enemy for a second or two if hit directly on the head. However, their biggest drawback was the amount of Origin Energy they consumed per shot.

All Genetic Armaments and Genes consumed Origin Energy when used, but the amount varied quite drastically depending on the type.

For ones like Rohan’s Horned Rabbit Spear, he only consumed a tiny amount of Origin Energy each time he summoned and unsummoned it. The energy lost was so small that it could be gained back after a few minutes of cultivating the basic training method.

As for what type of Gene the Elite Firestone Ants dropped? Rohan was just as clueless as anyone else in Erenhot. Those Elite Soldier Ants were only hunted down once in a blue moon, and the chances of them dropping an Elite Gene or Genetic Armament was even lower.

There was never any news of someone obtaining either of them from killing an Elite Soldier Ant, but that was likely by design. Anyone who did would definitely be like Rohan, concealing that fact until they were able to leave the Origin Realm safely and absorb it themselves.

’Or probably sell it, actually. All the people who are able to hunt Elites down will have absorbed a gene long before that already.’

Without further ado, he checked his status screen.

[F rank (Elite) Gene: Firestone Skin]