Synexus set out early in the morning and made it through the bamboo grove by midday. The sun was at its peak and the spring air was the perfect temperature for a walk in the forest. He had only stopped a few times on his morning trek out of the Elder’s domain and that was to test out his Gene Library skill. The only “tool” he had was his sword, if that even counted, but he wanted to see if he could store some information anyways. He had started with a crimson aura herb. It was a common herb that gave off a deep red glow when it was ready to be used. The Branch had shown him how to grind it down into a poultice to bring out its healing properties. It could be also used in a healing salve with the right sap and oils. At first, he just stared at the plant and inspected it. He always loved the red glow it gave off. You could only really see it at night or in the shade, but up close in the daylight it was faint. He then started to think about its properties and how much he worked with the plant to see if prior knowledge made any difference and to his surprise it did.

  Crimson Aura Herb has been added to Gene Library.

  Crimson Aura Herb: 5%

  That surprised him a bit, but it would be extremely helpful since he has worked with most of these plants and herbs before. It shocked him even more that it was only 5% since he had worked with the herb many times before. He then reached out to see if his sensors would help him gain any more insight since the description made it sound like they could. The tip of his fingers touched the herb and instantly the percentage started ticking up. The more he held his fingers to the herb the more information flooded into his brain. Before the System, he would gain information this way, but it was instant and nothing this deep. This was incredible! This herb could be used for so much more than he knew before. It had healing properties of course, but it also built-up resistances to future diseases, helped with digestion and focus if ingested, and if set on fire would produce a stream of red smoke. The sensors were hungry for information and kept feeding on this herb. Synexus didn’t let go until no more information was gathered. He had learned everything about this herb just through his touch. The reality of how powerful his sensors were hit him as he let go and that’s also when he realized how synergetic they worked with his class. He was going to touch everything.

  Crimson Aura Herb: 100%

  Gene Library has leveled up!

  Wow! His first level. That was fast, but then again, his sensors had saved him weeks of detailed research and experiments with the herb. He grabbed a few of the glowing herbs and put them in his nature dimension bag for his journey. Then he stopped and looked into the bag at the seeds inside. That was a goldmine of information to absorb while he walked.

  Proctosis Flower: 100%

  Reborn Root: 100%

  Liing Plant: 100%

  Gene Library has leveled up!

  Yuuggrut Root: 100%

  Spring Moon Flower: 100%

  Calming Sky Herb: 100%

  He had to take a break after gathering so much information. It didn’t cost mana or anything but processing that much information took some getting used to. The knowledge of these plants was incredible. He had prior knowledge of all of them except for the spring moon flower which was quite fascinating. It could lower the temperature of one’s outer layer of skin to make you feel as comfortable as you would on a cool spring night.

  Synexus found a sunny spot and sat down as he went over his gains so far. Gene Library was already level 3. He wasn’t sure how the skill would improve, but he just liked gaining the knowledge. Learning was kind of always his thing and now he had notifications supporting his constant quest for information. It’s such a nice feeling to embrace who you truly are.

  The sun was getting absorbed through his skin while he was lost in thought. His stamina had gone down a few points after hours of walking, but those points were slowly being restored. When he realized, it shook him from his thoughts to a new one; he had other skills.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  He didn’t want to try Gene Editing until he had a few more entries in his Gene Library, but he could try his hand at Accelerated Growth while he relaxed. The grass around him would be great for a test since the mana used was determined by how complex the plant was.

  Resting his hand over the patch of grass next to him, he started focusing on the skill to accelerate the growth of the grass. The mana started moving slowly down his arm and then into the grass. He could feel a connection with the blades of grass like the mana was an extension of himself. He was flowing into the grass. The strain felt minimal, so the mana kept flowing, and then he opened his eyes to see the grass growing before them. It kept getting higher and higher until it hit about six feet. This grass that was maybe 6 inches before was now his height. He was astonished that he was capable of a feat such as this, and this was just grass.

  The grass experiment had cost him 5 points of mana which he felt was pretty good. He pulled a random seed from his bag and put it between his fingers. Knowledge started to flow in from his sensors, but he put it to the side so he could focus on his skill. Mana started flowing once more and surprisingly it was faster this time. He connected with the seed and thought about it growing. This plant was obviously more complex because the drain on his mana was much more intensive. He felt roots start to crawl through his fingers and over his hand. It was slow, but soon enough he had a beautiful flower in his hand. It was a vibrant yellow with a thick green stem. Then the notifications came.

  Star Flower: 100%

  Accelerated Growth has leveled up!

  Yes! Synexus thought as he read the two notifications. That was his first level with Accelerated Growth, but it took a lot out of his mana pool. He was down to only 8 points of mana. He had also learned a lot about this Star Flower. It would give off an extremely bright flash when crushed or burnt. That could be useful when trying to distract an enemy. With that thought, Synexus stood up and resumed his walk East.

  Hybamboodra: 100%

  Locus Root: 100%

  Onyxia Herb: 100%

  Death Song Herb: 100%

  Plipio Flower: 100%

  Gene Library has leveled up!

  It had been another couple of hours since his break and he had absorbed more knowledge for his Gene Library from the seeds. It had gained him another level, and he was more than happy with that. Now that he had a decent number of plants in his library, he decided it was time to try his Gene Editing skill. After much deliberation, he decided to try and edit the extreme propagation aspect of the hybamboodra plant into the Crimson Aura Herb. Healing poultices were sought after by travelers and merchants, so he figured it couldn’t hurt to have a fast-growing healing herb.

  He focused on his Gene Editing skill with one of the fully grown Crimson Aura Herbs in his hand. There was a feeling of pulling the extreme propagation gene from the entry for the hybamboodra and pushing that knowledge into the herb. It was delicate and could fail, but he remained focused. He had to edit the genome of the herb and insert the extreme propagation gene from the hybamboodra. After nearly twenty minutes of intense focus, he could feel that it had succeeded somewhat. Using his sensors he could see the herb had obtained properties that would allow a faster growth rate, but he inherently knew it would be nothing like the original gene. For his first attempt, it wasn’t bad, but it could have been better. He will need to practice the skill some before getting faster, but the benefits were clear.

  Gene Editing Successful!

  Gene Editing has leveled up!

  You have leveled up!

  5 stat points available

  There was a rush of excitement as Synexus read the notifications. He had leveled up his class! He was level two after only 12 hours or so. Now he had stat points to distribute, and he realized that he forgot to ask the Elder about what each stat did specifically. Intelligence and perception would probably benefit his class the best, but with a long journey ahead of him, endurance and agility would be super helpful. With that he decided to put one into each of those four and then one into vitality.

  The stat point in intelligence, vitality, and endurance had raised his mana, health, and stamina pools by 5 points accordingly. The one in perception and agility hadn’t changed much, but he did feel slightly more surefooted on the uneven ground. One point probably wasn’t much in the grand scheme of things, so he wasn’t expecting much.

  As night came upon him, Synexus was setting up a little camp to rest until the first light. The fire was going, and his make-shift shelter was done. There was a bit of a chill in the crisp night air, but Synexus didn’t care. He felt happy, truly happy for the day he had. He had gained levels in his skills and in his class. His stats were starting to get higher, and it was only day one. This was as far as he’d ever travelled before and that felt like such an incredible feat. The stars looked so beautiful to him and the quiet left him to his thoughts as he processed everything, he had finally learned about his people that morning. “This day couldn’t have been any better” Synexus said out aloud to himself. That’s when he heard the monster stalking his campsite let out a terrifying growl from the pitch blackness of the forest.