Lynn let his gaze sweep the lush landscape, taking in the verdant scenery. Small creatures were abundant in this untamed wilderness, and he saw them as the perfect subjects to experiment with.

Spotting a rodent scuttling along the forest floor, he swooped in, capturing it before it could flee. The animal thrashed furiously in his hand, but with a subtle hypnosis, it instantly calmed down.

Holding it suspended before his eyes, he delved inward, perceiving the basic genetic code through [Mimicry Heart]. The first step was easy - he could sense the essential building blocks of its biology.

However, when he tried to do something more, to resonate and grasp at the underlying components, he encountered the same struggle as before. They seemed to recoil from his probing like a living being flinching away from an unwanted touch.

In fact, the resistance felt even more intense than when he dealt with the lifeless, extraordinary arachnid. "Is it just a simple illusion, or is there something more?" he silently muttered, frowning in thought.

Determined to get to the bottom of the mystery, he decided to test again with something even less complex. Scanning the immediate area, he located a fruit fly scurrying among the undergrowth. Then thin, translucent threads rapidly and stealthily emerged from his hand, snaring it without a sound.

Bringing the trembling insect closer, he once more focused his perception, attempting to untangle its genetic information, but without success. "Indeed, the difficulty of using this skill on a living being exponentially increases."

Even insects, usually considered genetically simpler organisms, proved to be an immense challenge for the ability. It demanded an unwavering focus to see and grasp just a glimpse of chance.

Gritting his teeth, he poured more spiritual energy into the endeavor. However, the more he struggled and forced, the more the condition of the test subject changed and mutated in unsettling ways.

Patches of the exoskeleton sloughed off, revealing grotesque, pulsating flesh beneath. The wings proliferated and twisted at unnatural angles, their membranous surfaces warping into malformed shapes.

Shocked, Lynn stopped his movements and immediately severed the connection established with his skill. This sudden and decisive action caused the small body between his fingers to explode in a minuscule firework display of gore.

“Rather than disintegration into a chaotic mess like the dead spider, it absorbed my energy in a desperate attempt to resist the fierce intrusion, triggering a severe spiritual pollution that eventually led to a bang,” Lynn calmly deduced.

His plan to derive an attack from [Mimicry Heart] had failed spectacularly. A mere touch from him could trigger the enemy to start dissolving or deforming, but executing such a maneuver amid battle was beyond his current capabilities.

Although with his unique talent, there was still a possibility to overcome these limitations, he doubted that anything capable of forcing him to activate [Gemini Soul] would not resist his intrusion.

Cleaned the mess on his hands and the sweat from the efforts, he sighed in frustration. Mastering this new ability would require more time and practice than anticipated. Still, he did not get discouraged.

All the testing was not without rewards - his class experience was steadily increasing, and he could feel the stable growth of his aptitudes. Activating the [Aura Reading] effect again, he resumed following the tainted path.

The further Lynn went, the more pronounced these corruptions became. The vivid green trees that had previously lined the route now stood gnarled and twisted, their bark blackened as if scorched.

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The leaves had taken on a sickly yellow hue, their edges curled and withered. Some had fallen from the branches, covering the overgrown pathway below in a brittle, crackling carpet.

As for the wildlife that usually inhabited this woodland realm, they were conspicuously absent. An unnatural stillness and silence permeated the air, with not a single birdcall or rustling of undergrowth.

It was as if all life got siphoned away. When he paused to examine several spots more closely, he found the answer in the form of small dried carcasses. Squirrels, birds, and others lay lifeless on the forest floor.

Although the discovery made him uneasy, it also provided an unexpected opportunity. He collected and experimented on these deceased specimens, inching closer to the first breakthrough.

“Unlike the previous living subjects, it is much easier,” Lynn noticed, confirming his previous speculations. He sensed the improvement in wielding [Mimicry Heart] in just a few attempts.

Without hesitation, his hand shot out again, taking hold of a serpent corpse on the ground. Focusing on his perception, he delved into the intricate patterns of the genetic code, probing and unraveling its fundamental structure.

As a deep resonance stirred up in his heart, a sense of understanding bloomed within him. Its physiology, natural abilities, and even the instincts that drove its behavior - all untangled from the strands of information.

"Now... to mimic one of these traits," Lynn murmured, fixing intently the lifeless physique in his grasp. Closing his eyes, he focused his consciousness, letting the new class skill fully activate.

Mysterious runes appeared inside his core, dancing and twisting like a snake tail. They seemed to move and slither as if imbued with an awareness of their own. A torrent of knowledge simultaneously surged into his mind.

[Mimicry Heart]

[Grass Snake Scales: You learn to grow scales like a snake and gain temporary powerful physical protection.]

His eyes snapped open, turning into pale yellow vertical slits, a glint of excitement in them. Immediately, Lynn felt a subtle shift in his body as the symbols were activated and pounded with power.

"Impressive," he mumbled, impressed by the potential. It could grant him access to a vast array of extraordinary capabilities with the correct application, transcending the limitations of his own body.

His entire arm gradually became covered in a layer of gray-green scales, the individual plates overlapping and glimmering ominously in the dusk light. But before the change could spread, he abruptly halted the process.

The snaky runes inside his heart did not disappear. While continuing to coil and undulate, their glow rapidly dimmed before slowly etching on the surface of his organ, causing the scales to recede as if they had never been there.

The abrupt action was triggered by an unexpected discovery—traces of human activity inconsistent with the natural surroundings. Though aged and weathered by time, the signs were unmistakably out of place.

Lifting his head, he looked before him with surprise. He unconsciously exited the secluded valley along the stream without realizing it during the focused experimentation with the new ability.

Now Lynn approached a mountainous area, the terrain sloping upward on either side of him as the small river cut its path between the looming peaks. Moss-covered boulders and outcroppings of stone jutted from the ground.

At that moment, he noticed weathered metal stubs extending incongruously from the stone and earth, their rusted shells pockmarked by time. His mind quickly pieced together what he was seeing.

"This place is..." Lynn pondered, his sharp eyes narrowing as he scanned the surroundings more closely. "A mining site," he realized, his guess confirmed by the worn infrastructure and abandoned machinery a bit farther.

What troubled him more than the ditched structures was the spiritual energy he sensed in the environs. It was incredibly concentrated, almost palpable, as though the air intertwined with extraordinary power.

Exploring further, he noted the site had only been abandoned recently. "Deep in a remote mountain range... near H City." The coincidence suddenly struck him. "Could this be the mine auctioned in the central district?"

The implications weighed heavily on his mind. At the time, he had found the offering perplexing and intriguing, especially the enigmatic circumstances leading to its sales in that shadowy auction.

According to the catalog description, workers here had started getting sick in clusters, though multiple medical checkups and examinations failed to find anything physically wrong with them.

Then, the final straw came when one of the miners suddenly disappeared without a trace. After leaving for their scheduled shift, they were never seen or heard from again, allowing panic and paranoia to set in.

Now, amidst the remnants of the extraction operation, the pieces started to fit together. The monster apparition, the absence of any wildlife, and the overwhelming saturation of spiritual energy - All pointed to a sinister explanation.

His suspicions were confirmed a few moments later when he spotted a large opening in the mountainside serving as a mining tunnel. Giant spider webs sprawled across the entrance and the surroundings, glistening ominously in the fading sun.