I Spread my Genes to Level Up in the Apocalypse

Ray walked out of the room and headed to the underground parking lot. As he descended the stairs, the rubble increased and the cracks in the walls spread as far as his eyes could see.

It was a wonder how this building was still holding together.

"It should crumble any second," Ray muttered to himself as he reached the underground floor.

The destruction was, of course, the result of the battle between Ray and the spider.

Just as Ray was about to be fully engulfed in darkness, he suddenly heard a loud shout.

"Wait for me!"

"Hmm?" Ray's ears twitched as he turned to look at Elsha, who was hurriedly running toward him.

"What is it?"

"I—I would like to work for you," Elsha said with a determined expression on her face.

"Work for me?" Ray's expression became amused as he slowly walked toward her, his footsteps echoing in her head and making her very nervous.

An audible gulp sounded from Elsha as Ray reached her and gently pinched her cheek.

"Are you even worthy as someone who is not awakened?" Ray spoke in a low whisper right in her ears.

"Awakened?" Elsha gritted her teeth.

Although they had never ventured outside since the apocalypse began, the internet still existed, even in this new world.

She was well aware of what Awakened individuals were from what she had read online.

People liked to brag about their powers even in the midst of humanity's collapse and it's end.

While Ray had checked and found no such information early on, the military later released rankings for Awakened individuals.

People began to show off their power, and very quickly the list of Awakeners started appearing on websites, with the information becoming clearer to the public than ever before.

One of the popular sites was called Berry-Site, which recorded the strongest Awakeners in the world.

Ray was at the top of the list, with video of him fighting King constantly shown, not only in that website but in almost every website that there was human activity the same thing was talked about again and again.

It was as if it was deliberately there to find his weaknesses.

That's why Elsha followed Ray the moment she recognized his face in the apocalypse.

She had lost everything and felt it was her duty to protect the people so she became the leader but after her revenge, she felt a little empty in her heart.

Although the revenge had already been taken, not by her hand but by another, it was still a form of revenge.

Elsha still wanted to live her life, and for support, she needed a chance at survival.

Following Ray was an optimal choice.

Not to mention, he was her saviour and, most importantly, she wanted a purpose in her life.

"I will give you my body," she said in a deep tone.

Ray stopped pinching her cheeks and raised her chin to look at him. His deep black eyes seemed to contain an endless abyss that threatened to devour anyone who looked too closely.

"Do you think I need your body?" he spoke in a condescending tone.

"I will become your bodyguard then," Elsha said, a bit flustered. On the internet, Ray was known as a playboy because he had built the most luxurious building just for his women's stay.

With more than a hundred women residing in the building, it was definitely spacious.

For a moment, she doubted her own beauty—was she simply not attractive to the other gender?

"You are not strong enough to become my bodyguard," Ray said, shaking his head. He freed her chin and left decisively, roaming in the darkness.

"Wait, what?" Elsha's face was one of utter confusion as she watched Ray disappear into the darkness.

"Wait for me!" she shouted, her face filled with panic as she hurriedly followed him.

As she ventured further, she was enveloped in darkness as far as she could see, and the darkness seemed to stretch endlessly.

Suddenly, Elsha felt a strange chill creeping up her spine, making her shiver.

In a moment of panic, she stumbled upon a tool and fell to the ground.

Squish!

"Hmm? Did I crush something?" Elsha became more flustered as she looked at her hand, now covered in a thick, slimy substance. She strained her eyes to make out the sticky green liquid.

At this, she felt something crawling up her skin, causing her to shudder in fright.

The feeling was eerie and made her back shiver uncontrollably.

"What is this?" Elsha shouted in panic and hurriedly tried to catch the creature crawling in her hand.

Cree!

A screeching sound erupted as a bloodthirsty spider bit her, and numerous strong strings grew from it, binding her entire body in place.

Suddenly, the entire place lit up as a huge globe of fire manifested, completely illuminating the surroundings.

Elsha was finally able to see, and her terror was palpable. Her eyes widened in sheer horror.

The spider—or should we say "creature"?—was palm-sized, its skin entirely red with numerous patterns imprinted on it.

Elsha looked around, her body trembling even more as she saw various spiders like this surrounding her.

Her fear was overwhelming.

"What are these things?" she shouted loudly with anxiousness.

Before she could get an answer, Elsha felt the temperature around her rise to an incredible degree. She heard a shout.

"Fire Magic advanced to Awakening II."

Then her entire world was engulfed in searing heat. Pain, endless pain, filled her mind even before the fire reached her.

Everything burned, especially the spider's strings, which were highly flammable.

"Ahhh—"

Elsha cried out loudly as the surrounding mutation energy engulfed her entire body. The fire transformed her surroundings into a fiery hell and lay in the ground writing with pain from the high heat as well as her head.

Her screams grew louder and more desperate as the pain in her head intensified.

Ray was unaware of her, smiling as he felt the rapidly rising mutation energy. With just a single advancement in his C-class skill, Fire Magic, he had ignited the entire area, incinerating thousands of undead spiders.

"Status."

—-

-Mutation energy: 3489

—-

It had already increased by almost a thousand, and it wasn't stopping there, rapidly increasing every moment.

Ray naturally felt thrilled; the opportunity to break through his body's limits could potentially lie within this skill.

If he could find an S-class skill, increasing it to its full potential would likely guarantee a breakthrough.

However, he only had barely two A-class skills, and he would have to take a blind guess if he truly wanted to break his body's limits with them.

Ray's plan was to accumulate more and more mutation energy until he could forcefully break through his body's limits.

This was the only strategy he could think of.

As for training his body, if there were any shortcuts, they might offer a solution, but normal training wouldn't affect him at all.

The fire grew more intense, and the surrounding heat increased rapidly. Even Ray's clothes caught fire, burning away to reveal his chiselled physique.

But Ray was completely unfazed, unaffected by the surrounding temperature and flames. They couldn't even burn his skin.

Some of the level-one undead spiders managed to survive a bit longer, so Ray walked through the flames, naked, swiftly destroying them with his curved knife, which was heated by the fire.

"Hmm, maybe I need a real weapon that can withstand my strength." Ray frowned at the nearly blunt weapon after several slashes.

He had to change weapons frequently because they went blunt after just a few uses.

"Maybe I could get something from the system store if I could open it," Ray murmured with frustration.

His ears twitched as he heard a loud scream from a woman amidst the burning flames.

"Did that girl really follow me?"

Ray shook his head with a sigh and hurried through the fire to reach her.

"Wait, she's Awakening?" His eyes widened in surprise.

Previously, when he had checked her, the chance of Awakening was only 22.45%, which was why he had ignored her. An unawakened mother wouldn't be able to give him an Awakenable baby, but if she was Awakening, it would change everything.

With that thought, he immediately moved forward, covering her body with his own as he carried her in a princess carry out of the fire.

Elsha's body writhed in pain, but she felt a warm embrace, which offered her some comfort. She instinctively snuggled closer to Ray.

"This girl," Ray muttered, feeling a bit speechless. He gently set her down on the ground and then returned to the flames, systematically picking off the level one spiders one by one.

It was easy—really too easy.

—-

-Mutation energy: 5006

—-

In the end, he had increased his mutation energy by more than five thousand—an insane number.

"Not bad, really not bad," Ray muttered, nodding to himself.

He walked out to check on Elsha, who seemed to be in a slightly better condition.