Genetic Engineer in a Tamer's World

The pulsing orb hung in the air like a suspended sun, casting a light so intense it should have blinded Kale instantly. Yet, as the skiff drifted closer to the centre of the gargantuan pit, the expected agony did not come.

Instead, a wave of profound greed washed over his mind, a heavy and intoxicating fog that smoothed over the edges of his logic.

He stared at the remnant core of the Flame Salamander, his pupils dilating as he felt a strange phenomenon. The sundering heat of the subterranean oven seemed to recede, replaced by a sensation of absolute purity.

This was not the chaotic, corrosive fire of the upper furnace; it was the essence of flame in its most distilled form, energy so refined it felt cool against his senses.

Beside him, Neo was vibrating with an unbridled hunger that threatened to snap the soul bond. All three of the hydra’s heads were arched forward, their maws dripping with a mixture of emerald saliva and glowing mana.

The beast was unable to rein in its primal instincts, its draconic pride transformed into a desperate, reaching need to consume the orb.

Just the thought of that power made Kale’s green eyes shimmer with a manic light. He began to run the biological numbers in his head, his analytical mind corrupted by the allure of the prize.

If Neo could absorb all that insurmountable power, if he could integrate the core of a Peak Mythical rank beast, how many ranks would the hydra jump?

It wouldn’t be just a simple breakthrough to the Alpha rank. With such high-density residue, Neo might skip the Ravager rank entirely or even touch the Tyrant rank, or maybe even higher?

The potential for ascension was unfathomable, a shortcut to the heavens that no other tamer in history had ever been offered.

Neo was sharing these exact thoughts of transcendence. Through the bond, Kale felt the beast’s desire to become something that could challenge the World’s Will itself.

It was a hunger for divinity, a pull so strong that any creature with a soul would lose their mind at the mere prospect of such a leap.

Slowly, almost mechanically, Kale gripped the oars. He began to row toward the swirl, his movements rhythmic and heavy. He ignored the toxic bubbles bursting from the lava river, his gaze locked onto the orb that vibrated with a soft, harmonic humming.

The whirlpool was wide, its dark centre a yawning throat that waited for the skiff to descend.

Suddenly, a sharp and jarring noise buzzed in his ears, sounding like a high-frequency screech echoing through a hollow metal tube. The blue windows of the system in his vision began to flicker with a violent, alarming shade of scarlet.

[Warning!!! Warning!!! Warning!!!]

[Host is detected to be under external mental influence.]

[Initiating neural jolt to break psychic tether.]

A sudden jolt of intense electric shock ran through Kale’s veins, starting from the base of his skull and radiating outward to his fingertips. The pain was sharp and cold, a surgical strike against the fog in his mind.

Through the beast bond, the shock hit Neo as well, the hydra letting out a startled hiss from all three maws.

Kale hurriedly shook his head, his vision clearing as the intoxicating greed was forcibly purged from his system. He gasped for air, realising he was mere 30 meters away from the edge of the whirlpool’s inner rim.

The orb’s intoxicating aura had been a lure, a mental trap set by the residue of a fallen Mythic.

The system chimed once more, its voice regaining its clinical stability.

[It is detected that the corroded Remnant Will of the Mythical Flame Salamander is exuding from the pulsing core.]

[Psychic residue is utilising the elemental resonance of the Absolute Affinity trait to bypass standard mental defences.]

[Host must exercise extreme caution. The Will is seeking a biological host to anchor its fading consciousness.]

The boat was already in motion, the momentum of the current pulling it toward the centre where the pit would swallow it. Kale calmed himself forcefully instead of panicking, his eyes narrowing as he evaluated the distance.

He already understood what the key to escape was.

There was no rowing back against a vortex of this magnitude. To turn the boat now would only capsize it and send them both into the molten throat of the pit. The only path to survival was the very thing that had lured them here.

He had to get that core.

The object was situated quite high up from the centre of the whirlpool, floating in a localised gravity well that defied the falling magma. The black centre of the swirl was also quite wide, a dark void of spinning liquid fire that looked like the entrance to a nightmare.

For a brief moment, Kale considered ordering Neo to go and get it. The hydra could fly, and its speed was greater than anything Kale could achieve on foot.

But the thought didn’t feel right. His analytical instincts, now freed from the mental influence, signalled a red alert.

A priceless and absolute material like a Mythical core could not be so easy to retrieve. There had to be some trap or inescapable obstacle that would trigger the moment a lone beast approached.

He could not risk Neo alone, not when their souls were so intertwined.

And again, he had no choice but to go forward despite knowing the danger ahead. If they stayed on the boat, they would be crushed by the centrifugal force of the vortex.

If they jumped now, they would be incinerated. The only path was upward.

”Neo, maximum propulsion!” Kale roared, his voice cutting through the thunderous sound of the lava falls.

He stood up on the skiff, bracing his feet against the Stone Turtle plates of the hull. He gripped the oars and began to row with a frantic, explosive energy, utilising every ounce of his Hexarion strength.

Beside him, Neo flapped its powerful but tiny wings, creating a greater propulsion force that pushed the boat to its limit.

The boat picked up its best speed, skimming across the surface of the magma like a skipping stone. They headed straight toward the centre of the swirl, building a terrifying amount of kinetic energy as they breached the inner rim.

The skiff groaned, the bone frame cracking under the pressure.

As the boat reached the very edge of the dark void at the whirlpool’s centre, Kale launched himself. He jumped high up with all of his might, his legs acting like coiled springs that released a massive burst of mana.

The skiff was kicked away behind him, disappearing into the dark maw of the pit.

While in mid-jump, Kale felt his momentum beginning to flag. He was still several meters away from the orb. Right on cue, Neo used its claws once more to propel him further. The hydra dove beneath him, its four legs kicking against Kale’s boots with a coordinated strike that sent him soaring toward the target.

As Kale’s right hand reached closer toward the orb, a horrifying transformation occurred. He didn’t even realise it at first, his focus entirely on the shimmering sphere. But the air around the core was not cool.

It was a localised pocket of heat so intense that it ignored the Flame Resistance trait.

His skin and flesh and everything on his hand started to burn away with a sound like sizzling parchment. The agony was delayed, his nerves destroyed before they could even signal the brain. He watched with a detached, clinical horror as the muscles of his forearm liquefied and drifted away in the wind.

Until only his bone fingers and skeletal wrists remained on the edge of his right hand, Kale did not slow down. He reached out with the charred remains of his limb, his white bone reflecting the orange glow of the core.

The instant his bone fingers touched the orb, a pulse of boundless, harrowing power unlike anything else overwhelmed every inch of his body. It was as if the history of the world was being forced into his veins.

His blood and mana pathways exploded under the pressure of the Mythical residue. The pain was blinding, a white-hot scream that echoed through his soul tether.

He felt his Hexarion physiology bucking against the invasion, his heart struggling to pump through ruptured vessels.

His entire body was charred once more, his white coat and green hair turning to ash in a heartbeat. He was a falling cinder, clutching a sun in his skeletal hand.

He felt his consciousness slipping, his very life force flickering at the threshold of 1%.

In that exact instant, the whirlpool stirred.

The entire cavity where the lava was pouring down from the various falls suddenly changed. The lava did not merely flow; it rose, the orange liquid forming into massive, crystalline structures that looked like rows of jagged teeth.

Kale was still conscious as he fell, the orb in his bone hand, his eyes tracking the shift in the environment. The sheer scale of the change was beyond anything his system had predicted.

The geometry of the pit was shifting, revealing a biological truth that had been hidden beneath the fire.

Then he saw the most horrifying thing in his entire life.

The whirlpool where the lava was sinking, the entire pit, the very floor of the sanctum was not stone.

It was the mouth of a single, gargantuan, almost sea-type creature that had been sleeping beneath the molten river for centuries.

It was a creature completely unknown to the records of the Greenroot Guild or the Association. The best words his mind could formulate to describe it were a magma-like Leviathan. Its maw was a kilometre wide, lined with ridges of cooling rock and tongues of liquid fire.

The creature had been waiting for the core to be touched, its hibernation ended by the theft of its anchor. In one massive, planet-shaking bite, both Neo and Kale were devoured at once by the creature.

The darkness of the Leviathan’s throat closed over them, and the world of fire vanished.