The Gene Gamer

Looking at the place he was thrown into, Cylius looked upwards before spitting out blood. The blood had a blue tint with cold air coming out from it making the soil it had landed to freeze. But just after it had frozen, the surrounding soil produced some kind of energy that melted it.

As Cylius watched this in shock, a tiny seed of fear sprouted in his heart. But before it had even formed, a tentacle struck it and pulled it back into a tiny core that was residing within his consciousness.

'If the soil alone could neglect the ice that was produced from the life-saving move of Jamundar, how strange and powerful would the creatures living here be?' even though the ice was just a side effect that had been nullified in his body, it still had a formidable power left that could freeze any person to death.

Him chancing upon this place was due to a spatial rift interrupting his teleportation, if not for it he wouldn't have ended up in such a place.

Although he didn't know whether it was his fortune or misfortune to have chanced upon this secret dimension, he had to find a way out of this or he would miss out on the cultivation school. And that was a result he didn't want to see. But one thing that surprised him was the amount of rune strings that were in here.

Just by lying here, he could sense the abundant amount of rune strings floating within this place. It even contained some rare runes that were hard to find. So even if chancing upon this place was his misfortune he would try his best to improve his cultivation. 

He didn't know why it was like this but he knew for sure that he knew nothing about this place. But he could guess some things about it.

First, since this place had an abundant amount of runes the creatures living here is destined to have monstrous strength and strange powers. He had to be careful around these beasts. 

The amount and the strange intrinsic quality of runes would change the environment drastically and he didn't know what kind of strange lifeforms have been created in this place. Not to mention the lifeforms, he has to be cautious of the environment in this place.

Since he could feel the ancient aura around here that didn't exist in the outside world he didn't know how the natural resources have evolved over time.

For example, the soil here made him feel as if it was quietly absorbing the lifeforce of this place converting them to an unknown type of energy. He wouldn't even be surprised if the water here had a function that regenerated an arm upon use or toxicity that damaged the core of the person.

Second, due to the density of runes, his perception was intercepted by them making him receive information that was completely irrelevant to the place. The place was shrouded in mist before him making him cautious about the unknown.

Just one reason alone made the difficulty of this place skyrocket, and there being two of them made the difficulty go up to the nightmare mode.

However, it also had benefits which were his cultivation soaring within a short time and the comprehension of precious runes.

Thinking about these things, he knew just how dangerous it was to lie down at such a place without any protection. Even now, he could feel the grass producing a substance that corroded his soul, making him slowly lose sanity. 

Hmphing, a squirming black tentacle came out from his back and with a swooping motion, it cut all the surrounding grass before retracting into his body. He was injured and he was weaker than his peak state but not at a level where even a tiny grass could bully him. 

Eight bulges suddenly appeared on his back as they grew until they became eight long black tentacles with gray lines showing on their surface. In a moment, they came out from the ground as they firmly inserted themselves into the tree that was ten meters away before supporting himself up in the air.

Stranded in the air, he turned his head to look around but only found mist everywhere blocking the sight. He could only depend on his innate lifeforce detecting skill to find creatures. 

But even though he didn't find a single creature didn't mean that it was safe to stay here, lying on the ground. His detecting skill wasn't omnipotent and had flaws. Moreover, the monsters here were abnormal and he didn't what ways they had to hide themselves. 

With the tentacles as a support, he kept walking for hours and hours until he seemed to come out of the dense misty area. The mist had lessened and now it was much easier to look at the road in front. 

After walking for an hour, he was completely out of the misty area and no mist was seen now with the surroundings as clear as a sheet of paper in front of him. Fortunately, he hadn't encountered any monsters or else he wouldn't know what to do with monsters that had evolved to stay in an environment like that. 

The tentacles might be able to hold it up for a moment but then he wouldn't have any means for transportation. His body was unresponsive and seemed to have lost function or even been disabled. But he knew that it had just been shocked by the amount of information and damage it had received due to the sudden space rift.

It could be said it was sleeping for a while and would wake up refreshed with more powerful and intricate functions. 

The cells he had created could learn by themself. That meant that they could constantly absorb data from the outside world and then change itself to adapt. In the process, it would only become better, not worse. 

...

A whole new vision awaited Cylius, making him feel refreshed. 

With greenery and air that refreshed his senses, it was the perfect description of a paradise. Just by seeing the grass and vegetation alone, he felt refreshed. Lush green grass spread out as trees surrounded the river that was just a bit away from here.

The trees, tall and mighty, looked ancient with vines hanging down from them. With pears on its branches, it seemed to be enticing people to come and take a bite out of it. The temptation was alluring.

This temptation was its natural allure not due to using an illusion or seducing technique. This point alone revealed how rare it was, yet these pears were common around here and with a pluck any man would be able to get it.

Not mentioning the pears and fruits, even the air alone was a cultivation resource! With the diluted amount of runic energy contained within them, they were much better than the fruits in the outside world.

So within his meantime, he would obviously try his best to improve his cultivation and at least take a step closer to the goal he had set for himself. 

Not wasting any more time, he inhaled a breath full of air. Passing through his nostrils, it stopped in his chest for some time before cycling through the whole body. 

Once it had fully completed a cycle, it went out through his mouth which turned into gray colored steam. Once this steam was released, the surrounding plants seemed to be agitated as an attraction force constantly formed within each of them, pulling the diluted air to themself.

Once it got closer, the pulling force would strengthen as it would completely absorb it into themself. Then after some time, it would once again turn into what it was previously, the air containing diluted runic energy while the plant would seem more vibrant and healthy.

Looking at this process, Cylius was very interested in it. 

Why would the plants not absorb the runic energy themself rather than absorbing the diluted air and turning it into runic energy? Was there anything he wasn't aware of or was it some kind of rule of this place?

Thinking for some time, he found the answer.

There were several possibilities but the most plausible one he could think of was that the structure of the plant couldn't bear the power contained. Runes were an advanced form of energy that needed the person to comprehend and no lifeform or creature should be able to be blessed with it from birth.

Just that their comprehension, synchronicity and adaptability would be different. Some might be able to control the runes from birth but it couldn't be said the same to the 'rune' path.

Comprehension of a rune would mean creating a rune within yourself and controlling others based upon that rune. In the later stages. its even possible to create runes so it could be summarised as creating a source through comprehension. 

While innate control of runes wouldn't mean that you had the 'source' it just meant that you would be able to control them. It could be described as someone owning the energy and the other controlling the energy without owning it.

For example, someone could be sitting at a chair where you could control runes while sitting on it. Comprehension of rune would mean that you sat on the chair and controlled the runes, this was the same as owning and mastering the rune. Now the rune had an owner. While the innate control of runes would mean that you were controlling the runes that were loose, and you wouldn't be the owner of it. 

If they clashed with each other, the one that comprehended the rune would win as the 'owned' energy would be more powerful than 'loose' energy.

The plants couldn't bear the pressure so they could only settle on ones that had already been diluted multiple times. Still, it was of a great boon to them. Being able to access the runic energy, even if it had been diluted several times, they had a much higher chance of becoming a rune existence and having a mind of its own.

...

As he continued inhaling and letting out, he could feel the continuous strengthening his mind and physical body went through. Compared to before, it was now stronger and also more flexible. 

Containing runic energy, it wasn't needed for him to personally purify each of them to absorb. His body had already evolved enough to purify it itself unconsciously and then absorb the nutrients. He could just divide his mind into two, one would be checking the surroundings for any danger or sudden change while the other would be comprehending his rune deeper.

Taking the good from the dense runes that were surrounding him and then integrating them into his own runes to make them better. That was what he was doing right now.