White light shined and then, Ren sat up from his desk, groggy and confused.
"What happened? Where am I?"
Ren looked around suspiciously as last thing he remembered was pushing a little girl out of the way of a man about to stab her on the subway. Then, the excruciating headache hit and everything flooded into his head. The mugger, the knife, everything.
"I died."
"But why am I here then….?"
At that moment, another headache hit, he was transmigrated. This body was still named Ren Wolfe, but it was not of a 30-year-old, single corporate drone. It was a body of an 18-year-old at home at his desk.
The other thing that shocked him was that this world was not the same world he left behind. This was a world of combat and evolution. Hundreds of years ago, with no warning. No prophecy. The atmosphere fractured like glass. From the cracks descended colossal obsidian-white pillars — miles tall, perfectly smooth, humming with alien geometry. They embedded themselves across every continent.
They became known as:
The World Towers
Inside each tower is a gateway. Beyond it lies a world humanity named: The Land of Ascension.
A primal, hyper-evolved ecosystem overflowing with apex predators, impossible biomes, and gene-rich lifeforms. But not everyone could enter.
Within 72 hours of the Towers appearing, they discovered a crystal orb in the front of the tower that made certain humans awakened.
Glowing sigils formed on their bodies — intricate, living tattoos of shifting bio-luminescent script.
These are called:
Gene Marks
Only those with Gene Marks can enter the Towers and can survive the portal world's atmospheric pressure and energy density. With those marks, they can absorb Gene Energy from slain creatures and evolve.
Without a Gene Mark?
The portal rejects you. Violently.
The previous owner of this body was well versed in the knowledge of the towers and Gene Fighters it seemed.
Every awakened individual receives an initial genetic framework known as their: The Persona Gene
This is not chosen consciously.
It manifests based on psyche, instinct, and genetic compatibility. It determines your initial evolutionary inclination.
Initial Persona Archetypes seemed to fall under the 5 basic fighting types of:
Fighter – Adaptive combatants, focusing on damage output
Tank – Durability, density, regeneration, damage absorption
Healer – Biological manipulation, restoration, purification
Mage – Energy manipulation, elemental conversion, mental expansion
Rogue – infiltration, stealth, agility sensory enhancement
This is only your starting point — not your limit.
Creatures in the portal world possess highly active genetic matrices.
The Gene Mark absorbs raw Gene Energy from slain beasts. The more Gene energy absorbed, the more of your Gene Evolution Sequence you unlock.
With more sequence, equals higher power and more genes slots. These are for genes from the slain beast that are called gene imprints.
Each gene slot can have a gene imprinted to further evolve the users strength and fighting style.
That was just the basics of power in the world that Ren seemed to pick up.
Tagts when it hit. The sadness in the memories of the previous owner came to the forefront. He had turned 18 as of yesterday and had yet to awaken. Typically, when a person turns 18, with the awakening crystal at the tower, they get 3 chances to awaken, and after each attempt being less likely to awaken. The world had learned that the mortal body can only handle the awakening crystals energy 3 times before it kills them. The former owner of this body had failed his second attempt this morning, and all he ever dreamed about was becoming a Gene Fighter.
He, entrenched in his sadness, swallowed a bunch of random pills to numb the pain of not awakening and not expecting to tomorrow. He passed away from this world in his sleep from the overdose.
The more he remembered of this kid's life, the more sadness in his own memories.
This kid was also an orphan. Never really knowing his parents as they died when he was 5 years old, just as his did. Everything lined up with his childhood, besides the influence of the Towers.
"I will make a great life for the both of us. I promise".