[[Cooking Skill]] (black circled)

[Levels]: 10

[Description]: Teaches the skill of cooking every food according to the level.

[Price]: 100 Coins

'Cooking is a skill here? What else? Cleaning? Gardening?'

In my bad mood, my gaze went to the top of the screen and I saw a filter option.

[Magic]

[Fighting]

[Gene]

[Others]

'What is Gene? I have an idea for Magic Skills, Fighting Skills, and Other Skills. But what does Gene do?' I questioned myself and curiously selected it.

Uncountable number of cards spread out over the screen. I looked at the first card and scrolled through the list, glancing at some cards.

...

[[Skills of the Cockroach]] (black circled)

[Levels]: 10

[Description]: Gives the user the ability to alter his gene at any moment to grant specific body parts the abilities of a cockroach.

[Price]: 15 000 Coins

…

[[Skills of the Bunny]] (black circled)

[Levels]: 10

[Description]: Gives the user the ability to alter his gene at any moment to grant specific body parts the abilities of a bunny.

[Price]: 15 000 Coins

…

[[Skills of the Eagle]] (purple circled)

[Levels]: 15

[Description]: Gives the user the ability to alter his gene at any moment to grant specific body parts the abilities of an eagle.

[Price]: 20 000 Coins

...

'This is simply overpowered! If I can have the shell of a cockroach, I won't be injured that easily. If I can fly like an eagle or have the vision of an eagle… But those prices are just too much…'

I looked at my amount of coins and sighed heavily. With all my money, I could only buy a black circled card.

'I wonder what a golden circled Gene Card looks like…'

I was too curious and scrolled downwards for a long time. I scrolled so fast that I couldn't read a single name of a card in the meantime. Cards flashed over the screen and left it as soon as they entered it.

Suddenly I couldn't scroll any longer. I hit the end.

[[Skills of the Vampire]] (red circled)

[Levels]: 15

[Description]: Gives the user the ability to alter his gene at any moment to grant specific body parts the abilities of a vampire.

[Price]: 150 000 Coins

'WHAT?! This is the skill from the guy from the arena, right?! He bought this skill for 150 000 Coins? How can he have so much money and still end up here?!'

'And why is the skill only red circled? Where are the bronze, silver, and golden ones?'

I scrolled downwards again, hoping to see more powerful skills. But I couldn't scroll any further.

Disheartened, I scrolled back up and looked at all the black-circled skills which I can afford. There were really a lot of black-circled skills, but most of them seemed useless to me.

After long consideration I decided for a card. I clicked on the 'Skills of the Cockroach'-Card and made the payment.

[Message]: You received (1) Skills of the Cockroach Gene from the system.

Swiftly I navigated to my inventory and clicked on the card. Slowly it was printed out from the phone while I patiently waited for it to finish.

Even though the card wasn't completely printed out, I already clutched the card with my greedy fingers and pulled a little, checking if it was finished.

As soon as the resistance went away and I could pull it out, I broke it in two halves and with a white light it disappeared.

'Where is it?! Is it gone?!'

Desperation showed on my face. My pupils contracted and nervously swiped the gaze over the ground, looking for the Gene thing.

My hands wiped over the cold and dirty ground, staining my hands with some muddy texture. I searched the entire ground in my cell, but there was nothing.

'Maybe it is already used? Yes, that has to be it!' I comforted myself and checked my skills page on the phone.

[[Skills]]:

[Skills of the Cockroach] (black circled):

[Level]: 1/10

[Description]: Gives the user the ability to alter his gene at any moment to grant specific body parts the abilities of a cockroach.

[Upgrade]: 1000 Coins

'So I do already have it.'

A heavy weight fell from my heart and I felt relieved. I closed my eyes and concentrated on my torso. I pictured myself with the armour of a cockroach.

Slowly I opened my eyes again, but there was nothing different on me. I pinched the skin on my belly and it still hurt. I didn't gain the abilities of a cockroach at all.

'What did I do wrong? Why is there no manual for this?!'

I felt utterly wronged. I bought a very expensive skill and couldn't use it at all. I could have bought a very powerful weapon or armour instead. But what do I do? I bought something useless instead.

I gazed at the ceiling and thought about the card. I pictured myself with awesome-looking armour which cannot be penetrated.

My thoughts started to drift further and I ended up thinking about genes; those spiralling things which look like noodles.

*cling*

A sudden noise startled me and I shot my eyes open, expecting someone near me.

A floating, illusory gene was before me. It looked surreal and slowly spun around its axis. The gene was really big, looking like a really big toy.

I reached my hand out and tried to touch the floating projection. My finger went straight through it as if it was a ghost.

A small emblem picturing a cockroach was next to the spinning gene. Curiously I clicked on the emblem and it floated into the gene.

*cling*

The same noise from before sounded out again and the gene disappeared into uncountable dots of light, melting into the air.

A warm and comfortable feeling spread through my torso and illusory armour of blue light expanded out from my body, covering my torso like a second skin.

The glowing armour didn't look in the least like a cockroach. It had no resemblances with it whatsoever.

The illusory armour looked like any normal leather armour with thickness. The only difference was that it looked surreal and had the emblem of a cockroach on the chest.

I lifted my arm up and patted at my chest, checking if my hand would go through the illusory armour like it did with the gene.

*pat*

A warm feeling stopped my hand and I couldn't move my hand further. The surreal armour stopped my hand completely.

'Now, this looks really cool,' I thought and glided my hands over the entire armour, feeling its warmness and checking its hardness.

*BAM!*

A door shot open, hitting the wall behind it with a banging noise, and a black clad figure stepped in, startling me awake from my daydream.