Chapter 40: Assimilation
The first time he controlled Origin Energy, the feeling had been chaotic and overwhelming, like a flood suddenly bursting through a dam.
This time, he had to be more delicate.
He couldn’t just devour the Firestone Skin Gene and be done with it. He had to guide it, assimilate it to make it a part of himself.
Rohan used his will to stir the dormant Origin Energy inside his body.
At first, nothing happened. Then he gradually felt it respond. It flowed through his body like an invisible stream hidden beneath his flesh and bone, gathering where his attention rested.
Compared to the monstrous energy he felt from the molten flower or the terrifying aura of the E rank Elite, this energy was tiny.
But it was his; completely unique to him alone.
He guided that current down his arm and into the hand holding the Gene.
The moment his Origin Energy touched it, the Firestone Skin Gene reacted violently. The crystal flared with a sudden burst of light.
"Ah—!"
Rohan’s eyes snapped open for a second in shock, barely able to control himself, but he forced his mind to stay focused, to not break the process. The glow intensified rapidly, bathing his dim apartment in a fiery red-orange hue that made the whole room look as if it had been dragged into the Origin Realm with him, back into that hellish chamber where the E rank Elite Ant presided, protecting the Molten flower.
Heat spread across his palm, but it wasn’t painful.
Only intense. Very intense...
The Firestone Skin Gene started to soften.
It melted away like a block of ice might lose its shape under the gaze of a blazing sun. The hard crystal shell blurred at the edges, its whole structure collapsing inward while molten-looking strands of light peeled away from it and seeped directly into Rohan’s skin.
His whole body tensed.
’It’s starting!’
The sensation was unlike anything he’d experienced before.
When he absorbed the Origin Crystals to feed the Evolution Gene, the power had rushed through him with greedy speed, disappearing into that strange talent like water into hot summer sand.
This was the opposite. It was a methodical seeping of the Elite Gene’s unique structure into his entire body.
The fiery energy entered through his palm and then crawled through his arm in branching lines, mimicking the eerie image of the molten flower back in the Origin Realm. Rohan could actually feel it mapping pathways through him, like roots extending through soil in search of somewhere to settle.
He gritted his teeth.
"Damn..."
That painfully slow process repeated itself for the next thirty minutes, until the Elite Gene finally found where it wanted to settle.
’My skin!’
His muscles spasmed, low groans forcing their way out of his throat.
At some point, the fiery sensation started to cool. Rohan could immediately feel his whole body wrapped in a tighter, stronger layer of skin that wasn’t present before.
His breathing gradually steadied, and the sweat pooling across his body cooled him down, making him shiver.
And then, the final confirmation arrived.
[Elite Firestone Skin Gene successfully absorbed.]
Rohan’s eyes snapped open to inspect his status.
[Name: Rohan Roy]
[Rank: F]
[Talent: Evolution Gene (Normal(F) - 100%, Elite(F) - 14%)]
[Genes: F rank Firestone Skin (Elite)]
[Genetic Armaments: F rank Horned Rabbit Spear (Elite)]
Rohan let off an ugly grin.
His worth as an Awakened could no longer place himself in the bottom rungs of society. He could proudly call himself an Elite Awakened from that day forth.
He smoothly activated his new gene, and watched in the mirror as his skin completely transformed from pale white, taking on an ash grey texture as his skin became flakey. ’It doesn’t have the best aesthetics, but who cares about that anyway! All I care about is its practicality.’
Theoretically, he should now have a defence comparable to 100% of the Soldier Ant’s defence. Rohan was eager to test that theory out.
He headed over to his kitchen and grabbed the sharpest looking knife he could find, driving it down into the palm of his other hand without hesitation!
Snap!
Like a scene straight out of a fantasy movie, the knife snapped in half upon making contact with his skin.
That was a fully fledged stainless steel knife!
Although admittedly it must have become brittle over the years since it snapped instead of bent...
But buying a fresh set of kitchenware was the last thing on his mind at that moment.
All Rohan wanted to do was test out his new defence, but a reminder from his status put a halt to those plans the instant he formed them.
[Cannot enter Origin Realm for 22:55:29]
"Huh? Those guys lied."
Rohan explicitly remembered reading all those forum posts, with most of them only mentioning a cooldown to enter the Origin Realm if you died during your last entry.
Though, he brushed it off pretty quickly. 1 day of not being able to enter was nothing compared to a whole month. Most people preferred to take a short break between entries anyway, so they probably felt that mentioning this wouldn’t make that big of a difference.
’Statistically, most newbies return from their first time in the Origin Realm by dying so their situation would be far worse than this.’
Rohan turned his attention instead to methods of testing himself in the real world. He’d heard from other people that the Association had long developed extremely sophisticated and accurate methods of testing Awakened’s strength. Perhaps he should give them another visit.
’Though I will likely be avoiding the Beast Trials for now. All I want to do is test myself without drawing too much attention on me.’
That reminded him.
’I should stop by the market and buy a mask before heading over to the Association.’
Rohan deactivated his Firestone Skin and stepped out of his apartment a moment later after hiding his Origin Crystals away under the floorboards.
He doubted anybody would choose his impoverished looking apartment to break into, but he did live in a shady area.
Anything could happen in that place.
’That reminds me, I should save up some money to move out to a better neighbourhood now that I’m an Awakened.’
Rohan bled his way into the crowded streets.