Genetic Awakening: My Genes Evolve Infinitely!

Rohan’s grip on the Blacksteel chunk tightened unconsciously. This warm, dense little clump of mineral sat in his palm — looking nothing more than an unassuming piece of charcoal.

But his attention sat far past that.

’The Origin Realm has never been this generous with information. At best, it gives a name, a rank and then leaves us to figures the rest out for ourselves, often having to rely on expensive services like hiring an appraisal expert with an insight gene.’

That was how things worked, it was how the Federation had been doing things for a hundred years, ever since the Origin Realm was first introduced to them.

But this one dungeon had subverted all of that accumulated knowledge as if it were nothing.

This place had already broken enough of the rules Rohan thought he understood about the Origin Realm, but now it had gone a step further.

Although it wasn’t a huge increase in the information he was being given, it was more than he, and probably anyone, ever had before.

That was enough to matter.

’The Dungeon Chest, the Blacksteel Chunk... Even the information of the dungeon itself before entering.’

One by one, little by little, the Origin Realm kept stacking details up, and the more Rohan thought about them, the less he liked it. The unknown was one of the primordial fears of mankind, after all, and this was the epitome of it.

’No, that’s not quite right.’

Rohan frowned harder and slipped the Blacksteel Chunk carefully into his bag.

As for his back, it was quickly starting to bulge and interfere with his fluidity in movement again due to all the Origin Crystals he’d picked up from the countless Rabid Wolves he’d taken down.

’Perhaps I can somehow find a way to twist this logic back on the Origin Realm itself. It’s already being so open with the information it gives, so maybe there’s a way I can get it to reveal more information about itself.’

"Haaa... Whatever, there’s nothing I can do for now but keep advancing and killing every beast on the way." Rohan eventually resigned himself to his situation.

There was no point standing there in the middle of the tunnel, staring in the dark like it was suddenly going to explain itself out of guilt. The Origin Realm never worked like that, and even if this dungeon was already starting to challenge that notion, he seriously doubted it would start now just because he was feeling particularly curious.

So, with the loot secured away and his suspicions filed to the back of his mind for later, he moved on.

***

The next day inside the dungeon passed much like the last one had, which was to say, it was bloody, repetitive, and productive all in all.

Rohan quickly fell back into the same rhythm that had carried him through the earlier stretch of the dungeon. Walk, listen, and watch the shadows for any incoming beasts.

Then wait for the Rabid Wolves to make the first move — which, as a dead giveaway from their name, they almost always did — collect the loot and move on.

At first, the rhythm felt strange, it was hard not to feel at least a little suspicious after finding the chest, as though the whole dungeon had revealed itself as something much more curated than he first thought.

Before finding that treasure chest, he’d just been treating this place as nothing more than a beefed up underground hunting ground.

Even with the dungeon’s and the Origin Realm’s mysteries, wolves were still wolves.

That was more than Rohan could ask for.

Once the first Rabid Wolf of the day emerged from the darkness ahead, its red eyes glinting in the low ambient light of the tunnel, he didn’t waste even a single second thinking about chests, treasures, or any mysteries whatsoever.

His spear flashed forward.

Just like that, the wolf died.

Compared to his first encounter with them, he was much more efficient in his killing. Most of the wolves he took down were dispatched in a single hit.

This set the tone for a long stretch of time.

Another wolf emerged from the front and tried the same leg targeting techniques he’d seen countless times before — these wolves never learned after all.

Rohan side stepped the incoming strike with ease. He drove his spear through its shoulder, and then finished it with a short thrust through the skull before it could even fully realise its mistake.

Another pair came twenty minutes later, working together more cleverly than most beasts at their rank.

One tried to bait him into over committing into his strike, while the other circled wide, looking to take him down from the flank.

Rohan simply let his Molten-stone skin foil that plan, letting the flanking wolf commit to the strike, anw watched in grim satisfaction as the thing howled the moment its body met the burning, sticky molten surface coating its own.

He didn’t bother putting it out of its misery, instead targeting its companion. This wolf visibly started to whimper and act more cautious after seeing what happened to the other one, but that did nothing to stop Rohan’s spear from splitting its skull open.

Rohan took both Origin Crystals from the beasts and kept walking.

’Sadly I haven’t found anything like the treasure chest again, but I still don’t even know when this dungeon is going to end...’

He’d been at it for two days already, and yet he still hadn’t found the end or a change in the forked path he took originally. It was starting to irk him.

’I’ve killed well over a hundred beasts now, and yet there’s still no end in sight. Just what the hell do I have to do to complete this dungeon!??’

Rohan was starting to think that perhaps the Origin Realm wasn’t being so revealing after all...

Although it provided more information about the dungeon than expected when he first entered, he realised now that it failed to tell him anything about the objectives to complete inside this dungeon.

’I hope it’s just killing beasts like most gates are...’

***

"Finally! Fucking. Finally..."

After two whole days of advancing and slaughtering every beast he came across, there was a change in the environment that brought his spirits back up.

The tunnel started to open up into what looked like a large open chamber. When he walked out into the open space, to his right, he spotted another tunnel entrance.

’What the hell was the point in the tunnel forking off if it leads to the same place anyway!??’ He was confused with the choices of the Origin Realm, but that wasn’t any of his concern at the moment.

No, instead his concerns lay in the large pack of Rabid Wolves all huddled together in the centre of the chamber, howling and scratching the ground.

Oddly, Rohan felt anticipation and excitement rather than fear upon seeing this.

’A whole horde of E rank beasts... I could only dream of coming across such a thing previously.’

Despite the danger, if he just managed to keep his molten-stone skin up, then he should be safe against the attack of this horde, even if they all attacked together.

’The molten attribute is overpowered for scenarios like this anyway. Once these beasts witness what happens when they come into contact with my skin, they’ll be a lot more hesitant to attack.’ Rohan planned to use this to his advantage.

With a large number of beasts like this, it was very easy to fall into a herd mentality. One beast attacking was enough to cause a chain reaction where they all rushed in to attack — but it also acted in the opposite.

’If one falters, they all falter.’

But Rohan also felt regretful. ’It’s a scenario like this that I really wish I had a crowd control ability... The carnage I could cause with that would be violent.’

Rohan stepped forward with full confidence.

Or at least, what passed for confidence after spending two days straight inside the dungeon slaughtering wolves until their faces, movements and deaths all started to blur together in his memory.

By now, Rabid Wolves had become less "threatening E rank beasts" and more "annoying obstacles on the road to whatever the hell counted as the end of this place."

So when he saw the pack gathered ahead of him, he was naturally excited.

’Finally, I might be able to uncover more about this place.’ Rohan was confident that the Origin Realm would have more to reveal to him after taking down this horde.

After all, this 100% looked like the end of this place.

He twirled his spear once in his grip and let the shaft settle back comfortably in his grip. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

’This might actually be fun!’

Then he took another step.

And his grin vanished.

His steps slowed considerably and his face paled.

An aura emanated out from the centre of the group, one much more menacing than any of the other wolves could create.

’Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me...’

Rohan’s eyes narrowed.

’A goddam Elite. An E rank Elite...’