Ultragene Warlord

Chapter 1: White Grubs

“1023, no, 1025—!”

Light flashed within the damp cave, and a silvery arc parted the jelly-like flesh of a white grub in half.
The flesh evaporated into the air in a white mist.

The youth picked up the white half-orb that remained, wiped it off on his grubby hemp tunic, popped it straight into his mouth, chewed slightly, then swallowed woodenly.

[You successfully killed a white grub, but did not obtain a soulshard.
For consuming the flesh of a white grub, you received no basic gene fragments.]

Zhang Lie: a mortal lifeform

Framework: Foundation, Lv.
10

Genes: Basic, 20

Soulshards: None

Have I consumed too much white-grub flesh? Zhang Lie wondered to himself.

In truth, it had been three months since Zhang Lie was last able to obtain gene fragments from white-grub flesh.
Considering his current growth, white-grub flesh was nothing more than ordinary food, providing only basic energy and nutrients.

White grubs were the most basic of bug-type lifeforms.
In fact, they were much like what the online games of the past would call 'slimes'.
A single grub consisted of a soft core the color and consistency of white jade, surrounded by a layer of jelly-like flesh.

After three months of relentless slaughter, Zhang Lie was so familiar with their body structure that he could kill them with a careless wave of his sword.

As he glanced at the white grubs that filled the entire cave, Zhang Lie let out a huge sigh.
“It's been three months since I reincarnated, but I still haven't managed a breakthrough with my foundation.
And where am I supposed to find the superior-grade white grub that's rumored to be around here somewhere?”

Zhang Lie couldn't help but feel a little deflated as he inspected the warped blade of his sword.
It was little more than a piece of scrap metal now.
He'd swung it around thousands of times a day, so it was natural that it would warp—but, more importantly, the sword had been the cheapest one he could afford at the time.

It was nearing nighttime, and Zhang Lie had no choice but to return to the nearby settlement.
The dimensional world was particularly dangerous at night.

At the start of the last century, the Milky Way had been beset by war and strife.
Alien races had forced mankind into more and more hostile locales, but, just as all hope was lost, a series of mysterious portals was discovered within ancient ruins.
Humans who passed through these portals would be transported into what would become known as the dimensional world.

Curiously, no electronics were usable in the dimensional world.
Firearms, missiles, and even nuclear weapons simply stopped functioning.
Amidst a bevy of lifeforms that had reached the peak of evolution and genetic enhancement, mankind became the lowest level on the food chain.

It was only when a lone hunter fortuitously slew a relatively weak beast that the secret of the dimensional world was revealed: as the will of the world was transmitted into his mind, his body underwent an earth-shattering change.

Humans quickly realized that, as they gathered more genetic fragments, their lifespan would increase.
Thus began a new era, one dominated by genetic enhancement.

The Blacksteel settlement was a small-scale human settlement within the dimensional world, only a ten-minute walk from the white-grub cave.
The imposing steel gates were criss-crossed with scars, a reminder of the strife and struggle that had been overcome since the settlement's founding.

As Zhang Lie stepped through the gates, he was immediately recognized by one of the teams of hunters resting near it and quickly welcomed with a bout of mocking laughter.

“Look who's here, the king of the dumps!”

“When I first entered the dimensional world, he was already at the bottom of the gene leaderboard—and he's been there all this time!”

“If I were him, I wouldn't be so thick-skinned as to remain here.”

“There's trash everywhere you go, isn't there? Maybe he'll still be at the bottom even when I'm fifty!”

“Fifty? Even if you lived to two hundred, nothing would change about this fellow's ranking!”

A skinny hunter turned to an attractive girl beside him.
“Wang Xiaohua, I heard that you were childhood friends with this guy?” [1]

Wang Xiaohua had lowered her head upon seeing him, her face flushed red with shame.
Her teammate's callous remark instantly caused her to yell out, “Childhood friends? How could someone like me, Wang Xiaohua, ever favor such a trashy fellow?! It was just that my dad pitied them and was generous enough to let them stay in one of our lodgings—nothing to do with me, you hear?”

Zhang Lie scoffed to himself as he passed by, not saying a word in retaliation.
There was no need for him to interact with fools.
If a dog were to bite him, was he to bite back? Zhang Lie would probably work himself to death if he actually followed such a policy—after all, there were too many wild dogs roaming around the dimensional world.

He raised his head to the electronic screen set up in the middle of the settlement, the so-called “gene leaderboard” that the hunters had been discussing.

#1: Yun Bing, 12000 strength

#2: Chu Feng, 11950 strength

#3: Qin Xiao, 11900 strength

Hunters were ranked on the gene leaderboard based on the number of gene fragments and soulshards they possessed, which were directly correlated with their attack power.

At present, Zhang Lie might be the lowest of the low, but an ugly duckling would eventually undergo a metamorphosis.
He didn't care about idle gossip; after all, as a reincarnator, he had a decisive advantage over any other hunter.
His genetic enhancement plan had been perfectly optimized, and he was now only waiting for the chance opportunity that would be his first step to advancement.

He approached the point-conversion counter situated near the middle of the settlement and placed half the white-grub cores that he had gathered over the last three months within the metal box displayed prominently on it.

As the lid shut automatically, words appeared on the electronic screen before him.
[For donating a thousand basic gene fragments, you received a thousand points.]

The settlement was constructed of a unique material that restored electronic functionality within the settlement, but fighting was strictly prohibited.
Any offenders would be swiftly punished by the robotic guards hosted within the settlement.