As I climbed down, I was shaking, knowing I would change my fate forever. But I remembered my fate had already changed after I got this system. Why did I get this system in the first place? Who and why was I chosen? No matter what, I have to pay a price for this power. But I am ready to pay for it. So what if it takes my soul? My life is so immeasurable, and I don’t know what I did in the past yet I suffer for it now. Humiliation and being a lab rat—all the days new serums were tested on me, bringing pain that I always fainted from and having mental traumas, relying on drugs to surpass some of the effects. You might think this is now better. No, it is not better—I always have nightmares, but I got accustomed to them so they no longer do anything to me.

I went through so much pain yet I am scared of everything around me. I do remember how the cat attacked me, and I was frozen to death. Knowing that it would kill me and experiencing it firsthand is different. People say you can get accustomed to the pain, but I have a different opinion. No matter how much you suffer, you will never get used to it.

Sometimes I try to remember things, but I always get this twisted memory as if my memory was tampered with for some reason. I remember how I was treated as a lab rat, but never the experiments, only to later wake up to extreme pain all over my body.

Soon I reached the cave and I crawled into it. I opened the system and bought the Mortal Gene Cap Potion. In a glass bottle, a rainbow-colored liquid. What was more shocking was that I could buy more of it. Didn’t the system say I could only buy one? What is happening to the system? Does the system mean I could only buy one when my body was weak back then?

I did not try to buy another one instantly but looked at this one. I calmed myself down and prepared some food from the system in case of necessary.

As I gulped down the liquid, I felt like throwing up. It had the most horrible taste imaginable. Even dog shit had a better taste than this! I wanted to puke it out, but soon, as if ants were crawling inside my body, I started scratching myself.

The sensation soon passed, and a new system message appeared

[Confirmed Gene Cap Potion consumed.]

[Gene cap has been raised by 29 points. All genes have been consumed.]

That's it? No pain that I must endure? But soon, how wrong I was. The pain was a stomach ache. As if my body was about to explode, I had to dash out of the cave and let it out far away from my place. I felt like a rocket about to take off, my body had so much to give out.

After this great fight, I went back into the cave and ate some food before looking at the other gene cap potions. I bought another one. Should I give it a try? Before doing that, I started eating food to max out my gene cap.

As I drank this one, the taste became much sweeter. I did not feel like puking anymore.

[Confirmed Gene cap potion consumed.]

[Gene cap has been raised by 10 points. All genes have been consumed.]

With a rumbling, my stomach began to prepare for the rematch as a stomach ache assaulted me again. The first one raised it by 29 points, the second one by 10. What about the others? I bought another.

[Confirmed Gene cap potion consumed.]

[Gene cap has been raised by 10 points. All genes have been consumed.]

Again 10, and again the great battle. I did not dare to consume any more as I had to rest for some time. I felt my ass about to explode, and I was out of leaves to clean myself. So I had to prepare for more natural toilet paper.

After a few hours of resting and a bit of sleeping, I consumed the last one, but this time, it gave me a different message

[Confirmed Gene cap potion consumed.]

[Gene cap has been raised to the maximum. All genes have been consumed.]

Does that mean it has no more possibility to raise it? So the maximum is 150, or could the potions of higher order change this? Likely, but what disappointed me was I did not get stronger than I imagined.

Most of the genes were consumed, unlocking my full potential. I felt stronger, but not much bigger. Giving up these thoughts, I started eating. For the last time, there was no great battle. Forty silver went just like that, plus the ones I spent on food, another three silver, and my remaining money was one silver and twenty-nine copper. Farming begins once more.

But this put a smile on my face, knowing I am even better than that person 200 years ago. He was one of the strongest humans known, with 144 genes, and mine is 150. With these potions, I will become even stronger. Imagining the potential left me in my fantasy for a few seconds when I realized the sun was already high up in the sky. I should go and start collecting some herbs and, if possible, hunt down a few monsters. I will visit the field the next day when I have more time. Who knows how much time I have to spend in the field, and if I have to spend the night there, it’s almost a death sentence.

As I gave up on going today to the field, I went down the mountain. Descending is even more dangerous than climbing as a wrong misstep could send you rolling down the mountain without a stop. Once I descended the mountain, a big roar sounded behind me.

“ROOOOAR!”

A big lion appeared from one of the caves that I found empty. Because it was close to the ground, I gave up inhabiting it, and my god, how lucky was I. As the lion roared, it slowly descended, and behind it, a female lion appeared. A pair—fucking hell, and cats too. I liked cats, but not anymore. Why do all the cats target me?

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

I prepared myself for a big battle as the male came from the front while the female went behind me. I had to focus on two enemies at the same time, and where had these lions been in the past? I only found rock turtles, but those turtles were gone, and now these lions appeared out of nowhere.

Soon, I felt a gush of wind behind me, and I dodged to the side, swinging my short sword at the female lion. The male jumped at me, so I was forced to halt my attack and block its paw. The female, as soon as it landed, tried to go for my throat in a swift movement, while the lion tried to overpower me. I was barely holding against the lion, yet the female did not give me time and launched itself.

Stepping back, suddenly the male lion lost its balance, and the female collided with the male. I swung down, but as I hit the lion’s mane, it was like encountering solid rocks. The blow bounced back, and the shock almost made me lose my grip on the sword and drop it on the ground. Seeing my sudden weakness, the lioness tried to bite my ankles, but instead, I kicked its head, which caused great pain to it as it rolled away.

The lion was shocked by my attack and it also prepared itself to receive an injury, but nothing happened. Seeing that I posed no threat to it, it became much bolder and tried to hit my arm with its paw. Its big body made it useless in trying to bite me, as the lioness was already having a hard time, and it would be much more impossible as the mane obstructed its head movement. With no choice, I tried to stab the lion’s paw, but I failed as it could not penetrate its skin. What the hell is this lion made out of?! I roared to myself as I was hit back from receiving the lion’s attack.

The first attack was much weaker. The cunning lion made me misjudge its strength. As I fought with the lion, the lioness circled me and attacked me from behind. This time the lion did not attack, but waited where I would dodge so it could react instantly. If I did not dodge, I would meet the lioness head-on and it could pin me down.

Seeing the situation, I rolled towards the lioness, and using my legs, I pushed her into the lion. Sadly, I misjudged the lioness’s weight as I could not launch it as far away as I wanted, and it only landed itself in front of the lion. Grasping for air and feeling the strain in my legs, I looked at the lion and lioness with fear. My sword can’t pierce its skin, so I can only attack its weaknesses, but that won’t be so easy to target. I need to create a situation for myself.

But it’s not only me who is planning on taking down the other side. While I was thinking of a way to defeat these two lions, the female started going around me again, and the male went directly to me. This time it did not avoid me but met my attacks head-on. It was not scared of my attacks at all.

Seeing this, I knew my chance was close. This time the lioness did not attack but waited for an opportunity. As the lion’s attack missed me and landed on the ground, I stabbed its ears. With a painful roar, I tried to stab deeper, but the female lion was jumping at me. I could only stop my attack and dodge to the side. Feeling something tearing my back, I looked at my back where clear scratch marks appeared. Even the armor did not protect my back. Cold sweat dropped from my head of what would happen if I did not have any armor.

Backing off to gain more space, the male lion was in pain as one of its ears was stabbed while the lioness was checking what happened to its pair. Seeing blood gushing out of its pair’s head, its eyes went red with anger and it started attacking me crazily. The lion, half-deaf and with a blood-stained face, looked around dazedly and took only two shaky steps before collapsing on the ground.

Seeing this, I knew my attack had hit an extremely important part of its body. As if its balance was totally off the stake, and seeing how hard it could walk, I decided to focus entirely on the lioness that was crazily attacking me.

It jumped and tried to bite me or maul me at all costs. Seeing that it no longer seemed to think about its actions, I knew my chance had come. As it jumped towards me, seeing my chance, I stabbed toward its head. However, as I aimed for its head, I hit its side due to a miscalculation in my attack. I needed to aim not for her head but slightly before it. I needed to predict where it would move.

I could not afford to attack blindly, as I was already exhausted, and who knew how long it would be before the lion regained its balance. I could already see it walking slowly towards me, but its movements were still sluggish, and the female only had me in its sights, intent on killing me at all costs now.

Soon, another back-and-forth game began between me and the lioness as I dodged and it attacked me crazily. But I could see it was already taking big breaths, its movements getting slower and slower, and not carrying much strength behind them.

Soon, it tried to jump at me again with the last bit of its strength, and I could already see the bloodlust fading away and clarity returning to its eyes. I needed to kill it before it regrouped with the lion and took me down. As it jumped, I predicted its movement and thrust forward with all my strength. I felt resistance as I landed the hit on its neck.

With strength, I thrust the sword even deeper as blood gushed out. It landed on its side and started squirming on the ground, but I did not release my grip the slightest bit. Soon, it stopped moving, and I did not have the time to check if it was playing dead or truly dead as I turned my attention toward the lion, who was slowly regaining its balance.

Still sluggish, it could stand on its legs and walk, but running was too much for it. I saw it try to run to its mate, only for it to stumble on a rock and fall to the ground. Seeing this, I ran up to it and stabbed its eye socket. It tried to hit me with its paw, but I jumped on its back and moved the sword back and forth in its wound so more blood could flow out.

This game lasted a few minutes until the lion stopped moving entirely. Soon, I felt my strength leave me entirely, and I realized where I was lacking in weaponry and skills. I needed a stronger weapon to pierce the monster's skin and more refined skills so my attacks weren’t so clumsy. Just remembering all the chances I had, I could only bitterly smile to myself, realizing I had gotten lucky.

Soon, I cashed out the two lions the female sold for 1 silver and 33 copper, while the male was sold for a whopping 2 silver and 70 copper. I don’t know why they were sold for so much, as the beast I killed before did not sell for so much. The lions were both mortal, but at their peak, only a step away from being extraordinary. The cat I fought back then was weaker, yet extraordinary. Just what was the difference? Was the cat back then just a juvenile and not fully grown?

I could only massage my temples in frustration. Even if it was juvenile, why was it sold for such a low price? This system will one day lead to my death or drive me crazy. Getting up and seeing the cave where they came out, I went forward to check if there was anything inside.

As I walked in, I saw several cubs. Thinking about killing them, I hesitated, but I slowly realized something they were malnourished and had passed away not long ago. Now I remembered that both lions were a bit skinny. So they had no food, and that’s why they were so desperate. The lioness wasn’t desperate about its pair, but rather about not being able to feed its cubs.

As I touched them, all of them were cold. What a sad fate—unable to grow up. But it was probably for the best, otherwise, I would have had to kill them. I cannot afford to feed them until they grow up, and then I would have to be wary of them. This isn’t a game where I can tame them and have no worries about them backfiring on me, as many rich people have tried to tame these beasts only for them to grow up and maul them in their own homes one day.

Shaking my head, I left the cave as there was nothing for me. I soon made my way back to my cave, as I was exhausted from this big fight. Soon, I lay on my ‘bed’ and started to sleep as I could barely stay awake. Thankfully, my armor protected me, otherwise, I would have received serious injuries. Now that I think back, these potions did not disappoint me. Even though they didn’t give me great strength, they helped to boost my stamina much better.

I didn’t think anymore as everything went dark as I descended into another nightmare.