# Chapter 17: Gene Inscription — Battle of Wills

Lu Yuan stared at the Transcendent Gene in his hand, eyes flickering. He was conflicted.

He'd honestly have preferred an attack-type gene. Petrified Skin leaned squarely toward the Guardian type, and his intended path was Assault type. But realistically, obtaining other Transcendent Genes at his current strength would be extremely difficult. And the next opportunity — who knew when that would be?

His original plan had always included picking up a Guardian type gene at some point. Keep evolving it, and even a common-rank Guardian type could eventually reach its supreme form. Besides, the position he'd settled into on the gobi plateau was about as safe as anywhere in this place — practically no chance of anyone wandering up here.

After a moment, he made up his mind.

*Forget it. Encode it first. Strength now, details later.*

He'd read everything about gene inscription on the beginner forums. Common rank Transcendent Genes were easy to encode — even a Trainee Rank Gene Warrior could manage one without much trouble. Unlike higher-quality genes, where insufficient strength meant your body might simply explode from the inside out. If gene inscription killed you, even inside the Land of Origin, you died in the real world too. Not a trace left. A different kind of death from all the others.

The reason common rank was so forgiving: the gene's original life will hadn't fully dissipated, but it was weak. A common rank Transcendent Gene corresponded to the will of a common rank beast. Those Gene Warriors who failed to fully encode a Transcendent Gene did so because they couldn't extinguish that creature's will entirely. If the creature's will gained the upper hand — if it actually erased the Gene Warrior's consciousness — the warrior would suffer horrific mutation. Death would be the kindest outcome. Even without dying outright, an incomplete inscription left biological contamination in its wake: growing a tail, developing strange instincts, all manner of unpleasant surprises.

For a Gene Warrior, the road to strength was paved with thorns. You could only walk it by wading through blood.

*So this is what those forum posts meant by "common rank Transcendent Genes are easy to encode."*

His current strength was more than sufficient against a common rank beast. He had every reason to be confident.

*Just use this one.*

He took a deep breath, gripped the white orb tight, and squeezed with all his strength.

The orb shattered. Strange lines dissolved into streams of light and flowed into his body.

After Awakening, the Gene Chain had a blank section. Those white lines kept shifting and reforming, flowing into that blank region and filling it in.

As the blank section filled, Lu Yuan's body crackled — a series of rapid pops and snaps, bones and muscle and sinew all shifting at once. His flesh felt denser. His muscles, more compact.

Then the pain hit.

Violent, searing, slamming into him all at once. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead.

*What the — this is going to kill someone!*

He cursed inwardly. The process of filling the blank section dragged on for what felt like an eternity — he had no way to measure the actual time. Strange lines threaded through the white mist and entered the Gene Chain. Then, once the blank section was complete, the remaining lines began flowing into the other Gene Chain regions, making fine adjustments throughout.

Mercifully, this time the pain was slightly less than the last ordeal. He'd been through enough by now that his nerves were starting to go numb. He might have imagined it, but at some point it almost started to feel... pleasant? He was fairly sure something was wrong with him.

After a while, the fine-tuning across the other regions finished as well.

But this wasn't over.

There was one final step.

The most critical moment.

The familiar shriek of a Gray Rock Beetle rang out in Lu Yuan's mind — and in the same instant, his consciousness lurched. When it steadied, he found himself standing in white mist.

Behind him: the Gene Chain, stretching from earth to sky, vast and boundless.

Before him: the white mist churned. A Gray Rock Beetle roughly half a meter tall took shape within it.

The beetle's eyes were wild. It shrieked.

*A battle of wills — only one of us walks away.*

Its instinct told it the truth: failure meant complete annihilation. The moment its will-body coalesced, it lunged straight at Lu Yuan's.

Lu Yuan's expression was blank.

His will-body carried the power of his encoded Transcendent Gene. And Gene Armaments could be used here too, even in this form. He opened his right hand. The phantom longsword of Beetle Claw, which had been hovering alongside his Gene Chain, materialized in his grip.

Even with the inscription not yet complete — even with his strength somewhat diminished — he could kill a common rank Gray Rock Beetle in his sleep. How much less of a problem was it now?

As the beetle hurtled toward him, Lu Yuan raised the sword with both hands and swung.

A dark streak of light. The Gray Rock Beetle's will-body was cut clean in two.

He didn't stop. He struck again and again, shredding the will-body until nothing remained. Even a cornered rabbit will bite — but this was barely more than a rabbit.

The shattered beetle dissolved into motes of light. A ball of white light drifted back and merged into the Gene Chain behind him.

His will-body grew noticeably stronger.

Lu Yuan's consciousness returned to his body. He closed his eyes, letting the sensation of this elevation wash through him. A small smile crossed his lips.

*This is the sublimation from mortal to transcendent being.*

*This is the sublimation of biological essence itself.*

Gene inscription: Complete.

A warmth — deep and comfortable — spread through every corner of his body.

*Here we go.*

He clenched both fists and knocked his knuckles together. A dull, heavy thud, like stone on stone.

He punched the rock pillar behind him. Spider-web cracks radiated across its surface. He felt nothing whatsoever.

He pulled out his black-light alloy sword and ran a finger lightly along the blade. Not a mark on his skin. He pressed a little harder — still not a scratch. Only when he applied truly significant force did his finger skin finally give, leaving a hairline cut.

He stared at that tiny wound with quiet delight.

Then he picked up the black-light alloy sword again and swung it at his own forearm.

*Clang. Clang. Clang.*

The grayish-white skin showed only faint white traces where the blade struck. He felt absolutely nothing.

He raised an eyebrow.

*This defense is insane.*

Not that a common rank Transcendent Gene was anything to write home about. Primary enhancement: defense. Secondary: a meaningful strength increase. His defense now surpassed that of an ordinary Gray Rock Beetle — not bad for something this easy to encode. And beyond defense, he could feel his raw strength had climbed by a significant margin as well.

He raised an eyebrow again.

This boost was roughly on par with equipping Beetle Claw. But consider: the Transcendent Gene was only common rank, while Beetle Claw was an elite-rank Gene Armament. Two very different tiers, producing comparable gains. The gap implied was staggering.

And there was a meaningful difference in kind. Encoding a Transcendent Gene was an intrinsic enhancement — a change to Lu Yuan himself, woven into his body. A Gene Armament was external force. Moreover, Gene Armaments required his will-body to use, while this improvement was always present.

He'd scored big today.

He did feel a slight twinge of disappointment — he'd have preferred an attack-type gene; Petrified Skin was firmly in Guardian territory, and Assault type was the path he'd chosen. But his original plan had always called for a Guardian gene at some point. As long as he kept evolving it, even common rank could eventually reach its supreme form. And right now, obtaining other Transcendent Genes would be extremely difficult.

He could already farm Spirit Crystals easily enough to keep tempering the Gene Chain. The growth rate alone was absurd.

*Damn.* He really had hit the jackpot. Good thing he hadn't walked away from that chest — he'd risked everything for it, and without that gamble, who knew when he'd have reached this point.

The real reward for this whole adventure would come after evolution.

He looked at the deep blue cubes orbiting his Gene Chain. The corners of his mouth lifted.

He was going to evolve this Petrified Skin gene.

**Evolution!**

Only after encoding a Transcendent Gene could a Gene Warrior truly call themselves a Gene Warrior.