"As I'm now, I can't even come near common beasts in deadly-tier planets, that is why I'm still stuck at level 10 of the awakened phase."
Wyn held a black dagger tightly and stepped into the Milky Way teleportation station. His destination was Planet Medusa, a rocky planet.
Beast planets were ranked from deadly, disaster, calamity to catastrophe tier.
And in each tier of planets were four ranks of mutated beasts: common, mutant, epic, and divine.
However, a disaster-tier common beast could easily tear a deadly-tier common beast to shreds.
As for Planet Medusa, it was a deadly-tier planet, filled with many precious stones. There were even companies built there by big families and powerful clans.
Wyn typed his usual location on the holographic screen. Pressing the enter key, he gently dissolved into a molt of light and vanished.
Wyn arrived at a location filled with green hills and rocky terrain.
Seeing that no humans were there, Wyn was reminded that this region was the habitat of plant monsters.
Compared to beasts, plant monsters were the weakest mutated life form which weren't even counted as beasts.
"Ok, I know, I know that I'm just scouring up what is at the bottom of the food chain." He gritted his teeth frustratedly.
Suppressing his miserable feelings, Wyn walked to a group of plants whose large leaves swayed freely in the wind.
From about five meters away, Wyn could spot the sharp leaf blades.
Although they looked like harmless leaves swaying in the wind, their leaf blades were so sharp that they could slice through bones.
There were also the green veins on the demonic leaves that stood out evidently, making them look rather fierce. They reminded Wyn of their ability to strike at any moment once he stepped into their attack range.
Wyn regarded the plants with a feeling of dread, only on beast planets could one find these types of abominations.
Wyn's eyes landed on the bulging organ at their stems, beating frantically like a monster heart. The core of the plant monsters which contained their gene fragments, the main resources of human evolution.
Without wasting any moment, Wyn rushed to business, aside from the fact that he wanted to evolve, he also needed to earn money.
The genes of mutated life forms like the plant monsters could easily fetch him a few thousand dollars, not to mention the carcass.
Although plant monsters' carcasses weren't of any use, the carcasses of beasts were exceedingly useful.
Using the technological knowledge gotten from different races in the vast universe, humans were able to craft beast weapons from beast carcasses.
These beasts were immune to conventional weapons, and even the weakest one could tank bullets. By using beast weapons, humans were able to hunt the beasts efficiently.
Wyn turned to his black dagger, which was a beast weapon. The cost had almost broken his back when he got it.
"Have I even been able to earn the money back?"
Wyn's face wrinkled bitterly and he threw himself at the plant monsters.
Although he had been killing plant monsters for two months since he started exploring the beast planet, he hadn't been able to level up with their gene fragments. That was just how useless they were.
"I know I'm weak, if not, I should have gotten my ass to beasts and hunted them down."
Wyn's dagger clashed with a leaf blade, causing metallic sparks to fly around. Two more leaves immediately came from the two opposite directions and lashed at him.
SWOOSH!
Twisting quickly out of the way, he avoided the deadly slashes.
Wyn gritted his teeth. As a beast weapon, the moment his dagger clashed with the leaves, they should have been sliced in half. But because it was the weakest common grade, it wasn't enough to cut through the leaves.
Since beast weapons were forged from beasts, they were also ranked according to the beasts they were crafted from.
"That is not an excuse, my poorness is not. If I were stronger, I would have sliced them into pieces."
Wyn leapt up as a leaf swept under his legs. He turned to the plant monsters and realized something.
Even though he had a beast weapon, he was being pushed into defense. With welling anger, Wyn lashed at them aggressively while preventing the leaf-like tentacles from hijacking his black weapon.
"Shit, you don't have good gene fragments in your core, yet you're giving me this much trouble. Die! Die!!"
Another thing was that if it weren't for the fact that these plants were immobile, Wyn knew he would have struggled to take them on.
It was like he was fighting a heavily handicapped opponent. All these made him more frustrated.
SHHHIIIINNN!!!
A leaf parried Wyn's black dagger.
The force was so strong that his weapon almost got knocked out of his hands.
"How can a flexible leaf be this strong!"
At the same time, the green veins of the demonic leaves pulsed fiercely, and they lashed at Wyn with great power as if obsessed with taking his life.
SWOOSH!
Wyn dodged a deadly slash by a hair. If he had been a split second later, the leaf blade would have sliced down his arm.
"It is strong."
Wyn stared his sea-blue eyes wide. He gritted his teeth once again, slithering through the grips of the leaf-like tentacles and hacking the branches down.
"I will cut off those wriggling arms of yours, you monster of a plant!"
Neglecting any risk, Wyn pounced on the plant monsters with great fury. They were supposed to be the weakest mutated life forms on every beast planet. Why did he have so much trouble dealing with them?
After a moment of slashing around, he finally cut off all the leaves and branches.
Cutting out the core, which was the bulging organ at the stem, the plant shook and shriveled as if it had lost its life force.
After harvesting the cores of the other plant monsters, Wyn sliced them open and brought out five tiny crystals that shone with a magnificent green brilliance.
As Wyn consumed the gene fragments, a voice sounded in his mind.
[Thunderswift blade grass genes consumed]
[Thunderswift blade grass genes obtained]
[+2 HP]
[Black venom lily genes consumed]
[Black venom lily genes obtained]
[+2 HP]
Wyn wasn't especially happy with this development, after all, there was no voice telling him he had leveled up.
He felt he shouldn't be surprised, because he had been consuming the genes of plant monsters for the past two months with no traces of advancement.
With a rueful expression, Wyn summoned his status window.
[Name: Wyn Teilong]
[Race: Human]
[Phase: Awakened]
[Level: 10
[HP : 202]
[Life Span: 300]
[Common Genes: Thunderswift blade grass genes, Black venom lily genes, Bewitching heart flower genes, Bloodsucking vines genes, Horrifying golden thorn genes...]
[Mutant Genes: —]
[Epic Genes: —]
[Divine Genes: —]
[Beast Spawns: —]
"Won't my lifespan run out before I evolve?"
Wyn knew time waited for no one. In this age, before one knew it, a decade had passed. And only by reaching a particular threshold of HP could humans' receive a significant increase in lifespan.
Seeing the trashy genes he had accumulated, frustration built up in Wyn.
When one evolved, like a caterpillar pupating, they would undergo metamorphosis and their body would be broken down.
After a metamorphosis was completed successfully, the accumulated genes would be used to reconstruct a stronger body with improved functions.
Wyn felt frustrated. Even if he managed to evolve, wouldn't he end up as the weakest ascendant human?
The thought of that made fear sprout in his mind. In that case, survival on any beast planet would be zero. He would even become weaker than an awakened human.
"That is unheard of!" Wyn's eyes looked red and desperate as his gaze landed on the beast spawn section.
"If only I had a beast spawn… If only..."
As for beast spawns, they had nothing to do with him. Every beast was oviparous, they gave birth only by laying what humans called beast eggs.
Humans discovered that by cracking the eggs before they hatched, they could tame and contract with the young ones. They were pet versions of beasts called beast spawns, as long as they hadn't hatched themselves.
Beast spawns could fight alongside humans or combine with them, giving them features of terrifying beasts.
Wyn stared at the section in his status panel. How many times had he risked his life in the past two months to steal one from a beast nest?
Every plan he concocted had ended up fruitless. In some instances, he had almost lost his life.
Wyn's face turned bitter as he thought of the previous week when he had almost been killed while stealing a beast egg from a nest.
And these pets cost a fortune, so he couldn't even afford any.
He turned to his black dagger. Being a common grade, the beast weapon had already chipped at some noticeable spots just by fighting plant monsters for two months.
In exasperation, Wyn lifted his gaze, thinking about his life.
At a distance of about twenty kilometers from him, Wyn spotted some figures dashing forth from the top of a massive green hill.