My Gene Evolves Infinitely

TL: Fiend Star

Editor: Sakifcena

“You… don’t come any closer!!”

The brown-furred Gnoll, eyes wide with terror, turned and ran.

However, he hadn’t taken more than two steps before Lu Yuan caught up with him, a sword stroke ending his life as it sliced across his neck.

Lu Yuan glanced at the body on the ground and took a deep breath.

This was his first time killing an intelligent being.

Having already killed Ash Stone Beetles, though, there wasn’t much discomfort.

In fact, he felt quite satisfied.

After all, these two Gnolls had previously hunted him.

Once the two Gnolls were dead, items slowly materialized from the void.

There were Spirit Crystals and Grey Stone Armour.

These were the spoils from the Gnolls’ foray into the Land of Origin. If they die, their loot cannot be taken out and falls from their Battle Mark Space.

Lu Yuan felt slightly regretful; these two Gnolls’ Genetic Armaments weren’t recently acquired, or else there would have been a substantial gain.

Even the cheapest Genetic Armament costs tens of thousands.

Though slightly disappointed, Lu Yuan quickly cheered up.

He collected the Spirit Crystals and the Grey Stone Armour dropped by the two Gnolls, counting them briefly.

There were 45 Spirit Crystals and an equal number of Grey Stone Armours.

This was more than he had earned from a day’s worth of hunting Ash Stone Beetles.

Lu Yuan stored the items away.

Having gained an unexpected windfall, Lu Yuan was in high spirits.

…

While Lu Yuan was tallying his loot, the group of four Elves hiding in the distance fell into silence.

“Gulp…”

Gnoll A-Huang glanced at the two corpses of his kin on the ground, swallowing nervously.

“Old… boss, should we go up?”

The Elf leader’s mouth twitched, and he couldn’t help but slap A-Huang on the head:

“Go up your head! You wanna die, you go!”

A-Huang, holding his forehead, shook his head repeatedly:

“No, no no no, I don’t wanna die.”

The human man kept watching Lu Yuan, his eyes filled with awe:

“Is this guy really a rookie? Are rookies these days this fierce?!”

The tall, thin Elf glanced at the Human man and commented, “Both human, yet the difference is so big.”

The Human man’s mouth twitched, defensively retorted, “This guy must be from a major family! How else could he be so powerful? He’s definitely encoded some high-level Extraordinary Gene, maybe even Elite level. I’m just an ordinary guy, how can I compare?”

“Being able to encode an Elite Gene even during the practice phase is a skill in itself. If it were you, you couldn’t manage it.”

The tall, thin Elf sneered.

“Could you?”

“…”

The tall, thin Elf fell silent.

“Alright, stop arguing, let’s get moving! He’s probably finished gathering his loot by now. If we don’t leave and he spots us, we could be in danger.”

Hearing the Elf leader’s words, the three quickly snapped back to reality and stealthily moved away from Lu Yuan’s location.

…

After killing the two Gnolls, Lu Yuan continued his hunt for Ash Stone Beetles while simultaneously absorbing Spirit Crystals more rapidly.

Since encoding the Elite Gene, his rate of absorbing Spirit Crystals had increased dramatically.

He could absorb a Spirit Crystal almost in one breath.

The Spirit Crystals provided by the two Gnolls were quickly consumed by Lu Yuan.

This made Lu Yuan realize something.

After encoding the Elite Gene, the amount of spirit power needed for each tempering of his gene chain had increased substantially.

Previously, with so many Spirit Crystals, his tempering might have reached level ten.

Now, it was barely level three.

This means that to fully temper his gene chain, Lu Yuan now needs even more spirit power, necessitating the hunting of even more Ash Stone Beetles. Fortunately, hunting Ash Stone Beetles has become significantly easier for him.

Moreover, with his current strength, he could even venture into other areas to hunt more formidable beasts and collect more Spirit Crystals.

Thinking it wouldn’t be long before he stopped wandering aimlessly, he decided to consider further exploration next time.

As Lu Yuan pondered, he sensed a disturbance in his consciousness.

In the midst of the white mist, a portal of light reappeared.

Lu Yuan felt a pulling force emanating from within the portal, growing stronger and trying to suck him in.

A realization dawned on him; nearly 24 hours had passed.

With his substantial haul from this venture, Lu Yuan didn’t resist the pull.

His consciousness entered the portal, briefly losing focus.

When Lu Yuan regained his senses, he was back in his room.

He glanced outside the window where the night enveloped everything, neon lights still flickering in the distance.

Lu Yuan checked his phone—it was 11 PM. He had entered the Land of Origin at 9 PM; two hours had passed.

The flow of time in the Land of Origin differed from that in the real world, as mentioned in the posts.

With the time confirmed, he pondered no further.

Feeling the surge of power within, Lu Yuan clenched his fist; the strength he had encoded in the Land of Origin had come back with him.

A smile crept over his face.

His initial journey had gone well; despite some risks, he had established a strong foundation and handled it well.

Overall, he felt like he had soared.

Lu Yuan took a bath and then sat cross-legged on his bed, resuming his cultivation with the guidance technique.

Since he had already absorbed all the Spirit Crystals, he now had to rely solely on this method.

Lu Yuan noticed that after encoding the Elite Gene, his absorption rate of spiritual energy had increased significantly.

Of course, it was still no match for the speed at which he had absorbed Spirit Crystals.

But something was better than nothing.

After all, diligent cultivation could never be a mistake.

…

As time passed and it struck midnight, the darkness outside deepened.

In a corner of Lu Yuan’s room, a bizarre, twisted shadow slowly materialized.

This shadow appeared silently in the darkness and crept toward Lu Yuan.

Without a sound, it started to infiltrate his body through his chest.

Lu Yuan, who was deep in cultivation, suddenly felt an intense chill and a suffocating sensation.

He jerked violently, his spirit power surged wildly, and he activated his Body of Black Iron battle skill.

Dark iron-like patterns spread across his body, extending from his neck to the sides of his cheeks, marking them with traces of black iron.

As the Body of Black Iron activated, his physical resilience and defensive capabilities skyrocketed, forcing the shrieking shadow out of his body.

Lu Yuan’s eyes snapped open, and he watched the eerie shadow twist and dissipate into the darkness, his heart racing.

What the hell was that?!

With the last of its piercing screams, the shadow vanished like smoke.

Lu Yuan remained on high alert, stood up, and turned on the light, scanning the room.

Everything seemed normal in the cramped, simple space as if the sinister shadow had never been there.

“What was that thing?!”

Lu Yuan sat back down on the bed, his brow furrowed, still shaken.

‘If it hadn’t been for my recent acquisition of Body of Black Iron, I might not have been able to fend off that ghastly thing. Could it have been dangerous? Wait a second…’

Lu Yuan’s body tensed as he widened his eyes in realization.

“That suffocating, nauseating feeling… where have I felt it before?”

Lu Yuan furrowed his brows, trying to recall, then it suddenly hit him.

When he had first crossed over, the memory of his predecessor’s last moments was of dying suddenly from a feeling of chest tightness.

That sensation was eerily similar to what he just experienced.

Lu Yuan’s scalp tingled with alarm.

Could it really be that thing causing it?

He had always wondered why his predecessor, who was apparently healthy, had died so suddenly.

Could it have been this thing meddling all along?

The predecessor was just an ordinary person, how could he have attracted such a bizarre entity?

Lu Yuan was baffled.

Then, something clicked.

The mutation event!

Could it have been related to the mutation event his predecessor encountered?

It had been many years since that event, yet now it seemed to resurface in his life.

Lu Yuan’s brow creased with worry, feeling uneasy.

Though the shadow had dissipated into smoke, Lu Yuan suspected that it might not be truly gone.

Could it reappear later?

He felt a heavy weight on his heart.

If only he had some understanding of this thing, Lu Yuan might be able to devise some strategies to deal with it.

But the problem was, he knew nothing about that eerie shadow.

The unknown was often the most terrifying.

The only consolation for Lu Yuan was that his Body of Black Iron seemed robust, capable of withstanding the shadow’s assault.

For now, all he could do was continue to strengthen himself and temper his gene chain more rigorously—the stronger the tempering of his gene chain, the more formidable his Body of Black Iron would become, ensuring his safety.

Lu Yuan took a deep breath, steadied his emotions, and sat down cross-legged on the bed to resume his cultivation.

But this time, he didn’t turn off the light.

That spectral entity had truly spooked him; he was slightly afraid to be in the dark.

It reminded him of the fear he felt as a child watching shows about grim reapers, particularly the men in black.

What an ominous shadow!

Damn!

Fortunately, now that he had some money, he wasn’t concerned about the cost of electricity.

Lu Yuan finally found some small comfort.