He picked his gene.
It was a gene that changed one's body into metal. It may sound strong but among the various superpowers, it wasn't so strong. However, the one thing that had caught his attention about it was its flexibility.
While other, more powerful superpowers weren't so flexible and could only follow along a certain spot or command, this metal of this gene could change between locations quickly, enabling him to defend various areas in succession.
For example, considering that a person attacked his heart, he could quickly change his skin to that of metal, blocking the attack. But then, after that, the person could also attack him at his eyes. Reacting to it, he would of course try to block the attack.
Most genes would fail here due to their inflexibility and slow nature.
And without his gene blocking the attack, there was no way his eyelid would be able to block the attack meaning that the enemy would be able to stab into his eyes and blind him.
But, the gene he had chose was flexible and was fast in changing locations. With just a thought, he would be able to defend the area.
With that, he won't be blinded and by even grabbing the chance, he could counter-attack the opponent while they were still open.
This gene was overall useful and just right for him.
Once he had chosen the gene and confirmed it several times, a mini flying robot came to him and delivered the gene.
It was said that genes were like an inheritance.
They would be passed down through generations. Well, only for the monsters. For humans, they wouldn't be passed down. The reason was simple; because humans have acquired that gene from an outer source. So due to that, it can't be passed down.
However, it was said that once humans reached a high realm in strength, they would be able to create their own gene and pass it down to others.
...
His metal gene came in a sphere shaped equipment. It was a storage equipment specially made to store genes without causing any damage or change to it. After all, there were many reactive genes that would change nature once they came into contact with other things.
"Don't absorb it now. Absorb it after you have seen the live example of a gene absorption"
Hearing the dwarf's words, he suddenly stopped his action at clicking on the button of the sphere. He supposed this button would open up the sphere and allow him to absorb the gene.
So even though he wanted to see the gene right now and absorb it, he didn't.
After a while, after the choosing of the genes, the dwarf man came in along with a burly man on his side.
The burly man obviously had more muscles, therefore was stronger than the dwarf. This was how people saw it.
However, Cylius had a feeling that the burly man was ass-licking the dwarf. There were many strange things he didn't understand; one of them being the genes. So, maybe the dwarf was stronger than the burly man.
"Listen trash. Right now, you all are going to become geneticians. Geneticians. Do you know the meaning of these words? If not, I'll tell you. Geneticians are high and mighty beings that lord over this half of the world. They are the main power system of this world and determines your social status." the dwarf spoke suddenly.
He seemed to have expected some sort of incident but after seeing that everyone was silent, he continued on.
"Right now, you all are lowest of the low. You all are leftover trash that society doesn't care about. If you don't improve, you will still be trash and in the end, die to a monster. So right now, I'm saying this. Strive. Strive to become stronger. Strong enough that you can contribute to humanity's wellbeing." with this came the end of his speech.
However, at that moment, another thing also stopped. The life of an orphan, or should I say 'trash'.
It was a boy. A boy that had sneered upon the dwarf's words and showed a contemptuous look at him.
Well, his contempt didn't last long as not long after, he became a statue and fell onto the floor, shattering into pieces.
He was obviously one of the prideful people thinking they were the main protagonists of the world. Well, they weren't. Neither was Cylius.
Perhaps, there really was a protagonist; but it was sure that he didn't know who it was at the moment.
Idiocy was dangerous. Pride was dangerous. In this world, having pride would result in your death. Therefore, it was better to not have it at all or just stay true to it until you die.
It was true that some people gained confidence through pride. They felt themselves as weak if they didn't have that. Sometimes, pride was a solution. He didn't deny this.
Fortunately, he wasn't one of those people. He didn't require pride in order to function properly.
Therefore, he also didn't care about the dwarf's words.
After the live show of the dwarf reminding them of reality had ended, the man next to the dwarf started to absorb a gene.
It was a strange gene that was shaped like a tiny pill with a yellowish-brown color. It looked somehow disgusting but the burly man still ate it happily as if it was the best dish ever.
The process wasn't hard at all. The man just ate the pill and the dwarf showed them what was happening inside his body through a hologram. So, the man didn't actually eat the pill. He was just keeping it inside his mouth.
Then, he closed his eyes and started concentrating. And when his mind had concentrated on the pill, it suddenly started to melt away into a liquid. The liquid then traveled through the entire body before stopping and concentrating inside his chest.
It seemed that the man willed it.
With that, the demonstration ended and the man had acquired the power of a gene.
Right after the process ended, the dwarf told them to start the process of absorbing their gene. When they were standing nonetheless.
Cylius started his absorption. He opened the metal sphere by clicking on a button and it just fell apart into two pieces, showing the gene inside. Unlike the burly man's, his gene had a cubic shape. It was solid and felt chilly to the touch.
There was even cold air coming out of it.
Then, he did as the man had demonstrated and put it into his mouth.
Immediately afterward, he felt the chilly cube touch his tongue. It wasn't comfortable, neither was it uncomfortable.
It just felt a little chilly.
Afterward, he concentrated his mind on the cube and exactly as it was demonstrated, the cube metal melted into a liquid. After it had melted into liquid, it cycled through his body, as he commanded, before going to his chest.
The sensation of the liquid traveling inside his body didn't feel uncomfortable at all. Rather, it felt good as if the cold liquid was traveling through his hot body and cooling it.
And after he had completely absorbed the gene, he felt a mysterious sensation as if he had acquired some kind of new power. He obviously wanted to try out his new power and just as he thought, his hand had turned into metal.
It felt very natural to him as his hand turned to metal. It felt almost felt like second nature to him.
His hand had a dark silver color that didn't shine but still looked alluring as it moved around gracefully.
"Woosh" in a quick motion, he got a sharp knife out of his pocket. The knife had a dark color as its edge shined, contrasting to his dark silver hand.
Not much time after, the knife could be seen clashing against his hand constantly and only after a long time did it actually create a crack in it.
The density and the hardness of the material depended on how much percentage of power the person is able to absorb. Seeing the hardness of his metal, the percentage he's able to absorb must be quite high.
While he checked out his new powers other people also tried their new powers.
But the people who had really tried their numbers were few; including Cylius, only ten people among the half a thousand group activated their power this quickly.
This just showed that he was in the upper half of the people that had been selected. This was good news.
"Except the names of the people who I've called, everyone go back to their rooms" as a farewell gesture, the dwarf pointed at one of the children, which, the child had instantly fell onto the ground and died on the spot.
'How random' seeing this, Cylius couldn't help but feel a shiver run down his back.
It wasn't even about attitude anymore. It was just completely random. He was sure that the kid had been doing nothing but stare at his gene.
"Garen, June, ... , Cylius, Farold, Thea" the dwarf called out. Once the naming finished, the children quickly scurried aside, worried in case someone might die again.
And just as they had worried, a person fell onto the ground. It was the girl who had ran into their group.
"Wait, supervisor I wonder if my name is in that because I activated the second stone."
The dwarf frowned and said "Are you sure. Who's your examiner?"
"Yes I'm sure. My examiner was a skinny man in a black robe" the voice replied back.
"Ok, then I'll test you right now. Bots bring me the inner gene stone. Kid, you're lucky. If you hadn't mention that lazy fucker I would've killed you"
Tracing the voice, he saw a brown haired boy with freckles standing there. He wasn't so noteworthy except his face that seemed handsome yet also innocent and pure. Big eyes, thin lips, a high nose and brows that seemed to lean onto the sides, creating the innocent look.
Practically, he was a cute boy.
Seeing this orphan, something rang inside Cylius' head. Something very mysterious. It felt as if something inside him had reacted to this boy's appearance.
From the moment his eyes met him, that something inside his head was telling him that this boy was special. A very special person.
One that would definitely cross his path in the future.