Genesis Code: The Genetic Awakening-Chapter 55: Reward

"She’s good," Jess thought, her gaze locked on the elf with a serious expression. "Taking her down would be impossible for me right now. I have to face reality... I’m not strong enough."

Her fists clenched at the admission, but she refused to let despair take hold. "Still, I’ll make it onto that list."

The king was offering invaluable resources to those selected, granting them the chance to grow before the real mission began. Making it onto that list was the key—her one shot at changing her fate.

That strength would fuel her revenge. She wasn’t enough. Not yet. But she would be.

"It’ll be my turn soon. Win or lose, I have to be selected."

.......

Back in the dungeon...

Caleb was still going strong, now pushing through the 18th floor. As he had predicted, the dungeon followed a repeating pattern—every ten floors cycled through monsters with similar traits, growing stronger the deeper he went.

Naturally, he was growing just as powerful. After figuring out how to handle the Serpents, Wraiths, and Treants, he had gained a second ability.

His Light Stunting ability was now accompanied by a new one: Spatial Displacement.

[Spatial Displacement: Creates a temporary space within the existing one. Grants the user the ability to switch between spaces, nullifying physical attacks.]

While it made him faintly visible, any attack that came his way would simply phase through him. However, the ability had a drawback—it worked both ways.

Caleb couldn’t launch attacks while inside the displaced space, and it consumed a fair amount of mana.

Still, it was an ability he could afford to use freely, especially in a dungeon where mana replenishment wasn’t an issue.

BOOM...!!!

Caleb slammed the Golem Treant into the ground, shattering the wooden frame that made up its body.

Since he didn’t rely on mana for his attacks, the Treant couldn’t reflect the damage back at him, making them nothing more than sitting ducks.

Without wasting time, he harvested their cores, bringing his total count to 123—well above what his system required.

"Time for rewards," Caleb muttered, transferring the cores into his system storage.

He found a suitable spot at the base of a tree, refreshing himself and snacking on some rations.

’I should be expecting another floor boss on the 20th floor. Shouldn’t be too much trouble.’

For now, Spatial Displacement remained his strongest defensive ability. But he wondered if he could acquire something better—a higher-tier spatial ability like teleportation.

That would make him even more overpowered, not to mention his already monstrous physical stats.

’With a repeating dungeon like this, the abilities I can gain are limited. But there are plenty of dungeons in this world. I just have to be patient—I’m on my own timetable here.’

Ding!

A system notification popped up before him, displaying a list of skills.

[Reward: One system skill can be permanently upgraded. Choose wisely.]

"That’s it?" Caleb muttered, raising a brow. But then, he reconsidered. "No... That may not be the case."

The system skills allowed him to do a lot. Dismissing an upgrade as insignificant would be shortsighted—a mistake he wouldn’t make.

"Can I get a glimpse of what the upgrades would look like?" he asked.

[Affirmative.]

A list of system skills appeared before him, most of them non-combat related. But then, his eyes landed on [Bio-Interface], and his heart skipped a beat.

’Don’t tell me...’

A surge of excitement bubbled in his chest as he tapped on the skill.

[Bio-Interface: ...]

His gaze dropped to the upgrade description.

[Upgrade: Interact with the genome of other organisms from a distance equal to the range of your domain sense.]

"!"

Caleb’s heart pounded. His excitement surged so intensely that he nearly roared in triumph.

Still...

"Yes...!" His voice came out muffled, but the sheer exhilaration was undeniable.

This was broken!

The system had just handed him god-like power. Yes, it was already god-like, but this... this was madness.

With this upgrade, he could manipulate another’s genetic structure from a distance—without even touching them, without them ever realizing.

With a mere thought, he could tear their DNA apart, killing them in seconds.

That was how overpowered the skill was.

Sure, there was a minor limitation—one Caleb conveniently ignored—but it hardly diminished the absurdity of his newfound ability.

[Interfacing with the genome depends on the strength of the target and the user. The stronger the target, the harder it is to interface.]

But really, how many beings out there were stronger than him?

"Hehehe..." A sinister smile crept onto his face. "With this, clearing the dungeon just got much easier."

Without hesitation, Caleb gave the system the go-ahead to upgrade the skill. In just half an hour, he would become a walking disaster to any living creature.

’This might as well be the greatest card in my arsenal. They’ll fall without even knowing what’s happening.’

As the system worked, Caleb casually pulled out extra cores, using them to replenish his mana.

Time passed and the upgrade was completed. Caleb stood up, feeling a strange surge of power course through him.

’Probably just a psychological boost,’ he reasoned, before shifting his focus to his surroundings.

"A test run should do wonders."

He extended his domain sense, quickly locking onto a Mist Lynx roughly 300 meters away.

His upgraded ability activated instantly, pulling up the creature’s genetic blueprint with eerie precision. ƒrēenovelkiss.com

’Now, let’s have some fun.’

With the ease of a child playing with building blocks, Caleb rewired the lynx’s genome.

"Done."

Grinning, he turned his attention to the creature, waiting for the show to begin.

Right on cue, the Mist Lynx froze, then it twitched. Its sleek body convulsed, muscles spasming uncontrollably. Inside, chaos erupted.

Dormant genes flared to life, unleashing biochemical mayhem at record speed.

Cells lost their identity.

A neuron, meant to transmit signals in the brain, suddenly produced muscle proteins. A liver cell began functioning like skin. The body, once an intricate symphony of precise functions, collapsed into a cacophony of biological confusion.

The heart stuttered. The lungs failed. The brain dissolved into madness.

Within moments, organs failed, systems collapsed—life extinguished.

Caleb couldn’t help but swallow hard. Even he was horrified by what he had just witnessed.