The Path of the Gene Warrior

Three days later. Daming Martial Arts Gym.

A ring of burly men stood with arms crossed, watching as Lu Yuan and a bald, thickset fighter squared off in the center—both in protective gear, both gripping oversized wooden training swords.

The blades clashed with a series of heavy, muffled cracks.

Their figures blurred. A heartbeat later, Lu Yuan's wrist snapped—his sword swept through a clean arc, knocking the other man's hilt aside—and he was already inside his guard. One knee drove hard into the big man's stomach. The fighter crumpled to the ground.

"Hell yeah! Brother Yuan did it again!"

"Tietou used to work as a mercenary—he trained his sword technique through years of real fieldwork! Nobody expected him to go down in two days!"

"Damn, he does *not* hold back!"

Tietou pressed a hand to his stomach and hauled himself upright. He shook his head and cracked a grin.

"You good?" someone called.

Lu Yuan stood over him and exhaled slowly. His sword-hand was still trembling faintly from the strain.

After beating Xiaohu, Lu Yuan had moved on the very next day to sword sparring, working through opponents until he finally ended up matched against this one: a former mercenary who had hunted magical beasts in the field and sharpened his blade through years of real combat. The man's technique was formidable.

Worth noting: Tietou wasn't a Gene Warrior. Just an ordinary person—which made what he'd built with himself all the more impressive.

Two days. That's what it had taken.

Franming stepped over from the sideline.

"Not bad," he said. "You've made serious progress. With your current level, entering the Land of Origin for the first time won't be a problem."

Lu Yuan's eyes brightened. He smiled.

He'd been thinking the same thing.

*The first run matters. Fall behind at the start and you're always playing catch-up.*

"Brother Ming," Lu Yuan said, "thank you for looking after me these past few days. Without you, I wouldn't have come this far this fast."

Franming chuckled, waved it off—then: "Follow me."

In the office, Franming gestured to the sofa. "Sit."

Lu Yuan sat. Franming studied him for a moment, then began.

"Entering the Land of Origin means going after your first Transcendent Gene. That choice sets the direction of your entire future. Do you know the Gene Warrior types?"

"I've read about them on Battle Net." Lu Yuan nodded. "Guardian type—defense and protection. Assault type—strength and combat power. Assassin type—infiltration and elimination..."

Franming nodded slowly and continued.

"Good. Since you've done your reading, you'll understand what I'm about to say. When you engrave a Transcendent Gene, your body's strengths tilt toward that gene's direction. You *can* engrave genes from multiple directions to raise all your attributes—but the research is clear: specializing in one direction allows the enhancements to stack. That's where the highest returns come from."

Every Transcendent Gene carried a defining boost—greater strength, reinforced bones, sharper reflexes and explosive power, stronger mental fortitude, even elemental attunement. Other attributes would rise too, but the primary always rose highest. And the ceilings were equal across every path: the hardest defense, the most devastating offense, the fastest speed, the firmest mind, the deepest elemental mastery—all peaks, just different mountains.

In practical terms, assault type was the most adaptable. It covered the widest range of situations.

"Have you thought about it?" Franming asked. "Which path are you walking?"

Lu Yuan had made up his mind long before this conversation.

"Assault type," he said. "All the way."

Franming blinked. *This guy literally just broke through to First-Rank Warrior. He's engraved exactly one gene. What exactly is there to go all-in on?* He held his tongue and smiled instead.

"Strong choice. Assault type is versatile—more situations you can handle as you climb."

Lu Yuan grinned back. "That's what I figured."

*Not that the direction matters much for me,* he thought privately.

Because he had the Evolution Cube.

Every gene—regardless of specialization, regardless of type—could be evolved to its absolute maximum form. The hardest defense. The strongest offense. The fastest speed. The sharpest mind. The deepest elemental mastery. All of it, simultaneously. Flawless. Unmatched.

What Franming was describing was gospel truth for ordinary Gene Warriors. Specialize, stack, compound the returns. Sound logic, well-established wisdom.

It just didn't apply to Lu Yuan. He could develop across every axis at once. The "direction" he declared to the world was nothing more than a surface label—a face to wear in public. Assault type was the most versatile, so assault type it would be.

After all, those genes were the most powerful kind there were. And with the Evolution Cube, every single one of them could reach that peak.

*Come on. I have a cheat. My potential has no ceiling.*

He had full confidence in that.

*Best to get something out of the first run. First time in is critical—fall behind now and you're always behind.*

He felt ready.

After leaving the gym, Lu Yuan headed home.

*It's already this late—Qinghe must have left for work.*

He glanced at Li Qinghe's closed door, then stepped into his own room. He'd thank her properly once he had money—take her out for a decent meal somewhere.

He shook his head, went inside, and showered.

When he was done, the full weight of the day finally hit him. His increasingly solid body was covered in bruises—mottled marks left over from Xiaohu's hits during their sparring sessions. He pressed a finger against a purple-black patch on his stomach and winced.

*What time even is it?*

He sat down cross-legged to meditate.

From just outside his door came a shout: "Rent's due!"

He cracked his eyes open, irritated, and yelled back: "Get lost!"

Instant silence.

The world went completely quiet.

He settled back, closed his eyes again, and tried to refocus—

Then, from the other side of the wall, a strange sound drifted in.

He froze.

*That couple—are they seriously—?!*

*Right now?!*

His expression cycled through several phases. He nearly choked.

The sounds kept getting louder.

*How are they not exhausted...!*

He gritted his teeth. Despite the fatigue, he forced himself back into a cross-legged position and activated the Spiritual Energy Guidance Technique. Slowly, deliberately, he pushed the noise to the back of his mind.

Meanwhile, in the simple room next door—nothing in it but a bed and a desk—Li Qinghe sat cross-legged on the mattress, deep in meditation.

Suddenly, she frowned slightly.

Her right hand turned over, and a small black cube dropped into her palm. She tapped it. A soft light screen bloomed in the air, displaying a contact: Franming.

She answered. Her voice came out perfectly flat.

"You have five seconds to explain."

On the other end, cold sweat broke out across Franming's forehead.

"My Lord—it's about Lu Yuan!"

Li Qinghe raised an eyebrow. "What happened to him? What did I tell you?"

"No—no no, My Lord, Lu Yuan isn't in trouble! His talent—his talent is extraordinary. *Extremely* extraordinary!"

"How so?"

Franming gathered himself and spoke:

"You said he only Awakened the day before yesterday. But he's already tempered his Gene Chain with Spiritual Energy. Today I was teaching him combat technique—and his physical strength was already close to that of one of my strongest fighters. I think he must have put in serious tempering time on his own. I asked him directly. He said he completed his initial Spiritual Energy absorption in half a day."

A beat of silence.

"Half a day to absorb Spiritual Energy?" Li Qinghe's voice didn't change—but the question itself carried weight. "You're certain?"

"I don't think he was exaggerating. His strength is far above an ordinary person's. The numbers add up."

A flicker crossed Li Qinghe's eyes—something brief, something that might have been surprise.

Franming pressed on carefully:

"My Lord... *ahem*... your insight has never been wrong. To get to the point: I'd like to bring him into my team."

"Lu Yuan?"

"Yes, My Lord." Franming organized his words. He spoke about what he'd observed—the talent, the growth speed, how rare it all was, how the first entry into the Land of Origin would shape everything to come—

Li Qinghe cut him off. "Understood. So you're calling to tell me his talent is exceptional, and you want to recruit him into your group."

"...Yes, My Lord."

Li Qinghe replied coldly and hung up.

On the other end, Franming stood there listening to the dead tone, blinking.

He hadn't quite processed what had just happened.

In her room, Li Qinghe set the communicator down and lay back on the bed. The graceful lines of her figure settled clearly against the sheets. She stared up at the ceiling, eyes half-closed.

A faint smile curved her lips.

*Didn't expect the little brother to have talent like this. Half a day? He's almost catching up to me. Interesting.*

*Am I really that lucky? Just stumble across some poor kid in the slums, and he turns out to have this kind of gift?*

Her eyes shifted slowly, thoughts moving behind them.

She didn't answer her own question.

Back in his room, Lu Yuan sat quietly in the dark, the Spiritual Energy Guidance Technique flowing through him like a slow, steady current.

The bruises still ached. His muscles were still heavy. The sounds from next door had—eventually—gone quiet.

Eyes closed, he let the Spiritual Energy work through him, and gradually everything else faded away.

*Land of Origin. Soon.*

*Make the first run count.*

Satisfied, he closed his eyes and continued cultivating through the night.