She gestured and a series of holographic displays bloomed to life overhead, showing the twelve levels of gene advancement — from the basic Ember tier to the near-mythic World tier.
"You will begin by mastering the fundamentals of your genes. You will learn how to combine them efficiently. And if you are lucky enough — or cursed enough — to possess a rare gene, you will learn to hide it before you learn to wield it."
Nico felt Lex's eyes flick toward him briefly.
The words struck too close to home. T
he next days blurred into an unrelenting cycle of assessment drills, physical conditioning, and gene synchronisation exercises.
Nico kept his head down, but it was impossible to stay invisible. On the second day, during a precision strength trial, his Aquila Strength gene accidentally kicked beyond its safe threshold.
The target dummy's reinforced torso shattered like brittle ice, sending fragments across the training bay.
The instructor's eyes narrowed, but she said nothing — for now. Lex cornered him later in the mess hall.
"You're leaking," she murmured. "Dial it back. People are already talking."
He wanted to argue, but she was right.
He could feel it — the pull of the genes was addictive, like having an extra set of muscles under his skin that begged to be used.
That night, as he lay in the narrow dorm bed staring at the ceiling, he thought about the quiet hum of Thanatos Regeneration waiting under the surface. It wasn't just a healing factor. It was more… absolute.
He hadn't tested it, but he could sense it in the way his body didn't fatigue, in the way even the smallest bruise from training vanished within minutes.
On the fourth day, their first real assignment arrived.
The recruits were herded into the mission briefing dome, its walls alive with tactical projections.
A grizzled man in an officer's coat stood at the centre. "This is a tier-two field deployment.
A Class C gene beast was spotted breaching the outer forest perimeter. Normally, senior cadets handle these, but the Academy has decided to… accelerate your training." A ripple went through the room.
Class C beasts weren't the deadliest, but they weren't practice targets either. They were unpredictable, fast, and often mutated. The officer's gaze swept over the assembled recruits like a searchlight.
"You will deploy in five-man squads. Squad cohesion will be your lifeline. Fail that, and the beast won't be your only problem." Nico's squad was formed quickly — Lex, a broad-shouldered heavy striker named Rafe, a quiet but sharp-eyed medic called Elara, and a wiry speedster with restless hands named Jin.
As they prepped gear in the armory, Rafe gave Nico a long, measuring look.
"You're the guy who broke the dummy." "It was an accident," Nico said. "Better hope you can break more than dummies," Rafe muttered.
The transport ride to the forest perimeter was short but tense. Through the slits in the armored hull, Nico caught glimpses of towering trees swaying in the wind, their trunks scarred by claw marks.
The moment they disembarked, the air shifted. The forest was quiet — too quiet. Lex took point, her voice low but steady. "Eyes open. Gene sync to seventy percent unless we call for full output. We find it, we isolate it, we take it down fast."
They hadn't gone two hundred meters before the beast found them. It burst from the undergrowth in a blur of muscle and bone plating, eyes like molten gold. Its roar hit them like a physical blow.
Rafe slammed forward to intercept, his shockwave punch denting the beast's armored shoulder.
Elara's gene-enhanced sensors lit up with rapid diagnostics.
"It's mutating — picking up foreign traits. Something's off." Lex barked orders, weaving in to strike at its flanks. Nico held back, trying to calculate the perfect angle — until the beast's claw caught Rafe and sent him flying into a tree with a sickening crack.
Something in Nico snapped. He moved without thinking, his Aquila Strength and Helios Adaptation flaring to full output.
His fist connected with the beast's skull in a bone-crushing blow, but even as it staggered, its tail whipped around and slammed into his chest, driving him into the dirt. For a moment, everything went black. And then… breath. His body was whole again. Thanatos Regeneration had triggered, dragging him back from the edge with terrifying efficiency.
He rolled to his feet, eyes locking on the beast with a new clarity. "Lex," he called, "on my mark."
She didn't ask questions. Together, they moved — Lex feinting to draw the beast's attention, Nico closing in from behind. His strike wasn't elegant, but it was decisive, driving through the creature's reinforced skull and ending the fight.
The squad stood in silence for a moment, the forest still around them. Elara broke it with a quiet, "That wasn't normal regeneration, Nico." He didn't answer.
Because somewhere deeper in the trees, a pair of eyes watched from behind a matte-black visor, a comm-link whispering in his ear: "Phase one failed. Proceed to phase two."