Cain kept failing the combine step repeatedly, each time he did it the balance was slightly off making the materials go to waste, he used his slow gene again this time, so he could better analyze how he failed. He watched the genes combine slowly and was able to spot the imbalance better now, each time he failed, he would change it slightly to fix the problem, but each solution seemed to create a different problem.

Cain soon realized his problem lied in the sharp ore, he wasn’t centering it properly, so it failed to fulfill its duty as the core ingredient and instead put the other ingredients off balance. This time he fixed the problem and relished in his perfection, the genes were at a perfect balance and now it was time for the fuse step.

He applied heat to the liquid and watched as it boiled, this step was considered the hardest since one had to constantly alter the heat depending on how the genes were reacting. The liquid ingredients were in a sphere like test tube, that was pill like in shape, there was a heating panel around the test tube so you could control the heat at any part of the tube perfectly. If you are successful, the liquid will shrink and form into a small solid pill that can be consumed for its gene, if you fail the ingredients will burn and be wasted completely.

Cain failed this step even more then he failed the previous one, but with his slow gene he could better see his problems and improve them. One should note that the average student can create their first gene after a few weeks of practice, but Cain was heading towards success on his first day. You could say this has to due with the slow gene which helps him better see his faults, and his talent.

Eventually Cain succeeded, on his 100th try. He picked up the small pick and inspected every corner of it, using the inner vision gene he could also inspect this pill.

Sharp Nail Gene

Power - .3

Potential - 1

It was quite an awful gene and didn’t affect speed or defense at all, only giving .3 more strength, but for the average person this was a massive boost, and could save their lives at a critical moment. Cain noticed the pill was quite impure and had black specks over some places, it looked like he had burned some spots but not enough to count as a failure. Gene pills could be split into grades depending on their purity, going from low, mid, peak, supreme, legendary.

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Cain’s current pill was only low grade, the worst of the worst but he was still proud. A mid grade sharp nail gene would have .5 power, peak would have .8 and supreme would have 1 power and 2 potential. Supreme pills are considered perfect, with no flaws whatsoever, meaning the gene was unleashed to its maximum potential.

Legendary was extremely rare, and only the best among the best could ever hope to get lucky enough to create a legendary gene, creating one would be enough to brag about for a lifetime, part was skill and another was luck, making them impossible to replicate. Legendary genes went beyond perfection, having greater power and potential then their supreme counterparts, they may also gain a unique ability. For example if someone managed to make a legendary sharp nail gene, it may become sharp fire nail gene, granting the nails the ability to be lit on fire, further increasing their power.

Most Gene Researchers spent their whole lives hoping to create a legendary gene, but it rarely happened. Quickly a week went by without Cain noticing, both his strength and gene creation skills increased tremendously, while his pills were still low grade, they were far purer than before and closing in on mid grade. However one day as Cain was going on he heard a knock on his door, George was standing there with a red face, shaking with excitement.

“Calm down George, what happened for you to be so riled up?”

Cain was reclusive by nature and was satisfied keeping to himself and improving everyday, hence he still didn’t have any friends other then George.

“Haven’t you heard Cain, it's happening, it's finally happening”

George was dancing around the room making it shake due to his giant size, Cain felt like George might destroy his room if he didnt stop soon, so Cain quickly calmed him down and had him sit down.

“Relax, tell me what happened exactly”

“It's the NSCE, new student combat exam. The students from all the different colleges will gather at one arena at fight to see who’s the most talented of them all.”

“NSCE?”

It wasn’t too surprising Cain didn’t know about this, he spent most of his days holed up in his room, either further sharpening his spear moves and his slow gene usage, or researching.

“Isn’t a week a little to early for this kind of event?”

“Maybe for regular people, but geniuses can improve rapidly in a week, and this is a test meant for geniuses. Common lets go sign up, only the top student of this grade can get a spot”

“Aren’t you worried I’ll beat you?”

“Heh.”