I Spread my Genes to Level Up in the Apocalypse

"So, do you all surrender, or will I have to destroy your entire race?" Ray asked, his gaze fixed on the millions of red-skinned figures who watched him tentatively.

He was seated on his throne, as lazily as ever, with a hint of indifference shimmering in his eyes.

In unison, the red-skinned people immediately bowed their heads and fell to the ground.

"My lord, please spare us! We were not loyal to our Reverend."

"Reverend?" Ray murmured. This wasn't a word he encountered often. Despite the fact that they spoke in a different language, and his own language was unlike theirs, Ray was, after all, a Celestial Being and could understand their voices.

Additionally, he possessed the Animal Communication skill from long ago, gained from one of his women. While Animal Communication might seem vague, it at least allowed Ray to communicate with the beings of Mars effortlessly. Even though he could understand their words, the same couldn't be guaranteed for them without the aid of this skill.

"Please, spare our lives," pleaded the old man at the forefront, bowing his head with horror evident in his eyes.

"I see," Ray said, tilting his head slightly. "If you are not loyal to your own Planetary Being, how could I trust you to be loyal to me?"

"This…"

A cold chill ran down their backs, and for a moment, the entire area fell into a tense, silent stillness, with a thick atmosphere of dread lingering in the air.

"Hahaha." Ray burst into loud laughter, instantly lightening the tense atmosphere around him. "I don't really care about your loyalty. What I want to know is what value you could offer me if I were to spare you."

"We… we have…" the old man stammered, his gaze drifting nervously around the massive warships, a hint of hesitation in his eyes.

"They are already far beyond our technological limits… what could we possibly offer him?" he thought, feeling his heart race. Summoning his courage, he respectfully addressed Ray, "My Lord, could you grant us a moment to think it over?"

"Sure."

Ray chuckled, nodding his head with amusement. "Take your time," he said, waving his hand dismissively.

After all, he had plenty of time. Aside from spending moments with his women, there was little else for Ray to do; his life was almost the same every day, making it inevitable that he'd feel a little bored.

The thrill from defeating the Planetary Being of Mars still lingered, yet it was fleeting—Ray had known all along that he would win.

With his True Eyes, almost nothing in this galaxy could escape his gaze. Of course, anything beyond this was currently out of his scope.

The universe appeared to be in constant expansion, with time flowing differently across distant regions, influenced by the speed of light itself. Gazing at this vastness gave Ray a strange, even slightly disorienting feeling.

The Space Mastery skill had proven invaluable in this area, but Ray still hadn't fully grasped the intricacies of Time or its principles to begin manipulating them.

"Maybe I should seek out a skill related to Time to comprehend its laws?" he pondered, his gaze growing deeper.

Once one could understand a law, they could then manipulate the elements present in the universe through it. Ray had already comprehended the laws of numerous elements, such as Sky, Sword, Water, Space, and several others.

His skills were like towering structures, each forming a base from which Ray could establish a thin line of connection with his surroundings, deepening his understanding. This feat had once been impossible for him when he was weaker; however, now that his Mental Strength had soared to unimaginable heights, it was achievable.

In his spare moments, Ray had gradually begun to comprehend the principles of his skills' elements, exploring them one by one.

This newfound understanding allowed Ray to push his skills far beyond their original limits. For instance, his Fire Magic skill, which once barely enabled him to form a human-sized fireball, now allowed him to conjure a fireball the size of an elephant, with temperatures soaring beyond what he'd ever achieved before.

He could even manipulate his Fire Magic skill to create a suit of fire armour that completely enveloped him, controlling it with intricate precision.

This was just one example of what he could achieve by comprehending the elements tied to his skills; each new insight unlocked potential he hadn't previously imagined.

As Ray was mulling over this, the old man returned, his lips quivering slightly as he spoke.

"We can offer you our ancient method to inscribe Totems."

"Oh?" Ray raised an eyebrow in curiosity. Before he could respond, the old man bowed and handed him a strange piece of red-skinned parchment. He took it casually and unfolded it.

"Interesting, Totems?" Ray examined the red-skinned parchment carefully, reaching a quick conclusion. Although he already possessed the Totem Master skill, which made him doubt how useful this knowledge could be, his interest grew as he continued reading, and his eyes gradually widened in realisation.

"Can these totems actually possess the power to manipulate genes?"

Ray's gaze turned profoundly contemplative. Genes were an area he hadn't fully unlocked, even with all his advanced technology. Whenever he delved deeper into the human genes, he encountered a sense of mystery—a dense fog obscuring secrets he couldn't exactly pinpoint.

For other species, genes were far simpler in his eyes, distinguishable without issue. Yet, the human race defied this pattern, and not even his True Eyes could see through the Human Eyes.

"My lord, we also possess a unique metal that may be of great interest to you," the old man added, presenting a red ore.

Ray accepted it and examined the ore with his eyes.

[Stellarium Ore]

[Grade: Cosmic-grade

Quality: Top

Weight: Several tons

Remark: Contains a sliver of power from a long-dead star, forged and refined from Martian stardust.]

"Good stuff." Ray's eyes immediately lit up; this was indeed exceptional. It was also available in his system's shop, but the price was around ten shop points for each individual ore.

This could prove useful for many of his operations, and the resources could facilitate rapid advancements in technology.

In fact, he was somewhat reluctant to spend on materials like this in his system shop. It was simply Ray being stingy, but that stinginess had paid off—perhaps too well, to be honest.

He then walked away, taking the scroll made of red skin and the Stellarium Ore with him, while the Mars people began to cheer and jump around in joy.

As Ray occupied himself with researching the Totems and the Ore, loud, strange crackles and vibrations echoed through the space far away from them, separated by several light-years.

The loud rumbling sound persisted for an extended period before some gas began to gather. The shattered fragments of space in the null void slowly melded together as a voice resounded throughout the area:

"Halt." The place oozed terrifying gases that burned the void, causing the very essence of reality to distort.

A faint outline of a chaotic figure, distorting in shape by the second, could be vaguely discerned.

"What is it?"

Two voices echoed simultaneously. At that moment, two additional figures emerged, faintly resembling humans in this dark expanse where even the sun's light could barely penetrate, making it exceedingly difficult to see.

"We need to stop before we end up taking each other out, and our brother Neptune could reap the benefits from the sidelines."

"Hehe, big brother, are you truly trying to buy time with such lame excuses?"

"Have you sensed the changes happening on Mars? He is dead, and the one who killed him is our younger sister. I—"

Before he could continue, the two opposing figures had already moved, causing space to distort once more, filled with terrifying booms.

"You guys really are impossible!" Jupiter roared in rage.

…

"Haha." Ray chuckled suddenly in his warship. "You guys want to unite against me, Jupiter? I'll take extra payment from you when I reach that place."

He snickered and then turned his attention back to the Totems, flickers of flames rising from his hand and instantly destroying the red skin.

As he gazed at the burning cinders, a hint of excitement flickered across Ray's face that he simply couldn't contain.

He immediately set to work by pressing the red button.

A capsule rose from the ground, and inside it was a human doll that looked eerily similar to a real person.

Looking at the human doll, Ray's eyes glimmered with satisfaction.

"I have preserved the gene of a deceased human and implanted it into this doll, perfectly replicating the human body in every detail."

Ray grabbed the computer at his side and began typing at a terrifying speed, exceeding well over a thousand words per second.

The only reason he couldn't type any faster was that the keyboard would likely burn from the sheer acceleration of his fingers due to the force of gravity.

Ray remained seated in his experiment for an extended period, until their fleet finally reached Jupiter. Only then did he emerge with a calm expression on his face, sitting atop the warship in a tall throne, gazing at the massive gaseous planet.