The Gene Gamer

"Wait, I can become your sla-" a voice came out from the ash land, obviously fearful and afraid. However, it didn't last long as the sound of something dropping came out. 

It was the head of a wolf. As the head dropped, blood came out from the neck in large amounts, making the red soil even more red with a scarlet tinge to it.

"And that's 150 grams" after scavenging the whole Lava sea along with the land around it, Cylius had found a total of hundred and fifty Crystalized Fire Essence. He obviously couldn't just search within the lava sea so he changed places after some time. 

He had searched several unique places with fire elements as the main including several major volcanoes and the ash land.

After he found a hundred grams, he thought of gaining a few additional ones and selling them. This way, he would be able to profit more. So, he had gone and earned 50 grams more, finding a total of 150 grams. 

Well, he had only picked from the second-tiers. He hadn't tried stealing from the few third-tiers at all. He would only be seeking death if he did so.

The third-tiers within the lava terrain seemed to hold all of the fire essences, accumulating it like a greedy dragon. The second-tiers could barely be considered to hold some fire essence.

Fortunately, they seemed to have reached an agreement with the academy as it didn't stop him plundering essences at all.

Instead, some of them even sent him a few grams to him as a present. 

Now that he had fulfilled the task of collecting the fire essence, what was left were the water, wind, and earth essences. 

As this planet was an Elemental Spiritual Planet that was rich in the basic elements, it was quite easy finding them. 

At most, he would only need three to four months to find all of them; it took him twenty days to find the 150 grams of crystalized fire essence.

.....

An hour later, Cylius appeared before the blue ocean. Below him, was the ocean that was made out of water. Compared to the fiery hot temperature of the lava ocean, the temperature here was rather cold. 

The ocean looked peaceful and calm on the surface, yet, if any person were to travel deep into it, they would be able to see its terror. 

Monsters the size of mountains and currents that could completely shatter a person's body...

Overall, the danger it meant to mortals was immeasurable and they could die at any given moment. However, to geneticians, it was no problem at all. What mattered was how much cultivation they had.

Even wholly obliterating it would be possible if they had a third-tier cultivation. As this planet was a spiritual planet, the entirety would be stronger than the norm after all.

Closing his eyes, he slowly searched for the traces of the crystalized water essence. 

This time, it wasn't so easy as it took him a few minutes to find a trace. After all, the water essence was precious, making their owners hide its aura. There was no intentional aura leak like the one from before too. 

Besides that, the water essence was more gentle in nature compared to the fire essence. Within its domain, where water was everywhere, it would be able to hide better. 

Well, the main reason was that his perception had been suppressed. Suppressed by the planet's will. 

He had understood his talent of perception. 

It could be said that his perception was a natural one that was born with him. He was blessed with immense perception from birth but due to some reasons, there was a seal within him that was sealing the ability.

The seal could be said to be from two things. One, it was from himself and his ability. The ability was too powerful for him right now. So, it decided to seal itself in order to save him from exploding into oblivion due to the pressure caused by his talent. 

Two, it was due to the planet. For some reason, his perception would be sealed by the planet itself if he was on it. If not for this fact, he would've realized he had this talent and wouldn't have stayed ignorant to it until he became a genetician and he was out of the radius of the planet where the orphanages resided. 

However, he deemed that once he becomes a runic existence where runes strengthened his body and soul, he would be immune to the restriction inflicted on him by the planets. 

He didn't know if the seal caused by his talent would completely unseal once he became a third-tier runic existence though. He had previously assumed it would but now, he was rather hesitant whether it would truly do so and would require him to become a fourth-tier existence. 

Well, putting the matter off for now, he focused on the current task.

This time, he chose to approach gently to the owner of the essence.

Although he appeared to be swimming slowly, the distance he was crossing through was astonishing. After a few minutes, he had appeared a few hundred meters deep into the sea. 

As he had accumulated experience from the lava sea earlier, he didn't bother talking at all as he immediately barged in and went to the location of the essence. 

"Who are you?" a voice resounded within the deep cave. Along with the voice, came a crab that seemed to have just awoken from its slumber.

"Hmm?" hearing this, Cylius said in a surprised tone.

However, the voice ended soon after and the expression on its face seemed as if it had encountered a ghost, terrified. The expression soon became a blank one as it dropped dead, its pupils lifeless. 

Cylius didn't bother talking to it at all as he collected its soul before taking the essence from its body. It was a poor one, with only two essences on itself.

.....

Ten essences later. 

A surprised scream came out of a large clam that glistened with a beautiful white color. It was radiating a strong aura, seeming as if it had existed for hundreds of years and had gone through many generations. 

"You're a madman! Don't you know how to respect a woman?" the voice once again said. 

Surprisingly, this creature knew the society and the morals of people. 

However, Cylius paid no attention to the voice as he continued attacking the clam. Dealing a powerful blow each time. 

While the clam seemed powerful and ancient and had gone through many tribulations and disasters, in front of him, it was like a paper plane in front of the great wind; seemingly as if it would collapse at any time. 

Yet, it was still preserving even now; even Cylius had to acknowledge its durability and defense. 

"Wait- wait- we can negotiate. What do you want? Let's talk peacefully, I could any fulfill any desire you have" saying this, the clam opened up as a person was revealed.

The person was a female, a stunning one. With coral black hair, her ears were delicate with a sharp nose paired with heart-shaped puffy red lips. With fair white skin along with ocean blue eyes that seemed to reflect the entire ocean, she was beautiful. 

Other than her face, she also had a chest that was sticking out, attracting people's attention. But what was the real thing that was surprising was her lower body. It was the tail of a fish. 

A green scaly tail. 

Her voice was also like an angel, striking people defenseless. It would make them want to protect her at all costs, even with their life. 

She was a legendary mermaid. 

She was affiliated with human myths and legends. No wonder she knew of human society. Maybe, she encountered the treasure of a powerful human and became what she was now. 

Hearing her voice, Cylius stopped his attacks. 

The mermaid's voice contained an illusion. Both he and the mermaid knew. But he didn't stop because of the mermaid, it was because of what she had offered and from the fact that he could feel her sincerity. 

There was no hidden intention contained within her, he could see it. It was easy discerning whether she was lying or not as his perception couldn't be underestimated even if it was sealed. 

"You're collecting Condensed Fire Essence? I have heard that those from the lava sea have completely been ransacked by you. All the creatures have gone into hiding now and fled the area... Alas, if not for me just getting out of my seclusion, I would've done that too.

If I had just gone out of seclusion a little bit earlier, my baby wouldn't have been hurt this much " she stopped for a moment to display her sadness before continuing to speak.

"What do you want? You want to collect the water essences now? I could help search for the creatures that have gone back into hiding as I know them personally. You must've also noticed too right? That it's harder to find the aura of water essences" 

Cylius continued looking blankly for a moment before nodding his head. 

"Alright, you may follow me and find those creatures. If you can do that, I can spare your life and if you can't, I will kill you" 

"Alright. But you must provide me with 10 condensed water essences and sign a soul contract with me; otherwise, I will escape. You know that I can by exploding this clam right? Not only can I escape, it will also inflict a heavy damage on you"

Cylius nodded in acknowledgment. 

He also knew of this reason and it was also because of this that he had stopped his attacks. Otherwise, he wouldn't have stopped attacking; he would've directly destroyed it before negotiating with the mermaid.

Saying this, a written contract appeared in front of him as it flew to the mermaid. 

The mermaid, after reading it several times and seeing that there were really no loopholes, a small symbol condensed on her index finger before she placed it on the contract. The symbol depicted a white clan with a woman sitting within it while singing.

The contract flew back to Cylius as a small symbol also condensed on his index finger. The symbol was three black circles within each other that seemed to be rotating and changing places although they weren't. 

He also marked the symbol on the contract. 

Once he marked it, the contract disappeared in place as Cylius felt a shackle placed on his soul. 

This was the soul contract and the soul symbol. 

The soul contract was exactly as it said, it was a contract done by multiple parties and restricted the soul or the consciousness. 

It would depict an agreement that once it was broken, it would immediately attack and injure the soul. Of course, if one of the party's soul was several times more powerful than the other's, the bounding power of the contract wouldn't work at all. 

This was the soul contract while the soul symbol was a unique symbol to oneself. It would form once a person has gotten the cultivation of a second-tier and had comprehended a rune. 

It could serve many different purposes including communication, soul contract binding and information.