Genetic Engineer in a Tamer's World

The first rays of dawn struggled to pierce the dense, humid canopy of the Tigerwood Forest. Pale, grey light filtered through the morning mist, casting long, dancing shadows across the ancient wooden walkways.

Kale Ardentis stood at the guild gates, his light green hair tied back loosely. He felt the heavy weight of the two artefacts he wore, the Stamina Band and the Blessed Headband, pulsing with a steady rhythm that grounded his enhanced senses.

On his shoulder, Neo remained silent, though all six of its golden eyes tracked every movement of the guild guards.

Lazek Oberon appeared from the morning gloom as if he were a part of the shadows themselves. His pale face was devoid of its usual manic grin, replaced instead by a cold, surgical focus.

\He did not offer a greeting. He simply gestured for Kale to follow.

The air between them was still thick with the residue of their previous night’s conversation. The five drops of dragon blood and the hundreds of rare eggs were now tucked away in Lazek’s spatial storage, yet their presence seemed to vibrate in Kale’s mind.

They stepped off the civilised paths of the Greenroot Guild almost immediately. Lazek did not hesitate.

He summoned his calamitous chimaera, the ape manticore octagon hybrid, with a flick of his wrist. The five-meter-tall monstrosity landed silently on the forest floor, its multifaceted eyes glowing with a toxic green light. It began to lead the way, moving with a grace that belied its massive size.

As they moved deeper into the forest, the environment changed.

The trees grew larger, their bark thick and reinforced with mana. This was the territory of Ravagers.

Every few hundred meters, a low growl or a territorial hiss would echo through the trees. Normally, such sounds would signal an immediate retreat for an Apprentice, but Lazek’s chimaera was a biological deterrent.

A pack of Feral-rank Sabres attempted to ambush them from a high branch, but they were deleted before they could even land.

The chimaera’s tail, a barbed manticore stinger reinforced by octagon regeneration, whipped out like a streak of lightning.

It pierced through the lead Sabre’s skull and sprayed toxic green mana into the others, melting them into sludge before they could scream. Lazek did not even look back.

He moved with a terminal boredom, his eyes scanning the horizon for something far more significant than common pests.

Kale watched the slaughter with an analytical eye. He noted the way Lazek’s creation handled multiple threats at once.

It was not just about strength; it was about the perfect integration of traits. The chimaera used its octagonal skin to absorb minor impacts, while its ape muscles provided the explosive force necessary to shatter Ravager-rank carapaces.

They bypassed several nests of Ravager-rank predators, creatures that would have taken a whole squad of Masters to suppress. Lazek simply steered his creation through their territory with such overbearing presence that the predators chose to hide rather than fight.

The march continued for hours. The air became cooler and more saturated with moisture.

Eventually, the dense foliage opened up to reveal a sight that made even Kale’s breath hitch.

A massive river flowed through the centre of the gargantuan forest. Its waves were violent and white, crashing against the stones with the force of falling mountains. Despite its size, the river was invisible from a distance. The heavy trees on both banks leaned inward, their branches interlocking hundreds of feet above the water to form a majestic, living tunnel.

Sunlight pierced through the gaps in the ceiling of leaves, creating beams of golden starlight that danced on the crystal-clear water. Below the surface, Kale saw the shadows of countless water beasts.

They were sleek, powerful entities that swam against the brutal current with ease.

It was a majestic corridor of nature, a place that felt divine and untouched. Yet, Kale felt the prickling on his skin. He knew nature’s unmatched cruelty was also beautiful. The crystal water likely held enough toxins to kill a human in seconds, and the beauty of the light was a lure for the predators lurking in the deep.

Lazek stopped at the river’s edge. He unsummoned the ground chimaera and tapped an artefact on his wrist. A new entity manifested, a slender, winged chimaera with the head of a hawk and the shimmering skin of a jellyfish. It was a creature built for stealthy aerial transit.

”Get on,” Lazek ordered.

Kale climbed onto the beast’s back, sitting behind his master. Neo hopped onto his shoulder, but the hydra was not relaxed. Its six eyes were pinned on the water below. Kale felt a prickling sensation on his own spine.

Through the bond, he could feel Neo’s annoyance and alertness. It felt as if they were being stared down by thousands of powerful entities hidden within the majestic river tunnel. Neo let out a low hiss, its three necks arching in a defensive posture.

The flying chimaera took off silently, gliding just above the white waves.

They crossed the river with practised ease, the wind from the jellyfish wings cooling Kale’s face. Once they reached the opposite bank, they continued ahead for several miles. The lush greenery of the forest began to thin, giving way to a bizarre geographical anomaly.

Ahead of them lay a massive, darkened crater. It was a jagged hole in the earth, easily a kilometre wide. While everything around it was filled with the vibrant green of the Tigerwood Forest, the crater itself was a pit of absolute blackness.

It looked like a bruise on the face of the world. As they drew closer, Kale realised the blackness was moving. It was a sea of shifting scales and countless, tiny glowing eyes that seemed to absorb the dawn light.

Kale leaned forward, trying to peer through the gloom of the crater with his enhanced senses.

He wanted to understand what could possibly create such a void in a forest so full of life. Just as he was about to ask the system for a scan, he felt a sudden, violent push on his chest.

The world tilted. Kale found himself falling through the air. The flying chimaera and his master were suddenly shrinking above him. He looked up, his eyes widening in shock, only to see Lazek looking down at him with an expressionless face.

”Survive in that spot for ten minutes,” Lazek said, his voice carrying clearly through the rushing wind. ”I will pick you back up.”

Neo let out a monstrous growl of fury that made the flying chimaera tremble for a brief second. The hydra flapped its wings madly, trying to dive after Kale and arrest his fall.

Kale did not panic. His heart rate remained steady, a byproduct of his regression and his evolution into a Hexarion Human. He stared deeply at Lazek as he fell, searching for malice or madness in his master’s eyes.

He could not find any. It was the look of a man tempering a blade. It was cold, calculated, and utterly ruthless.

Kale closed his eyes for a heartbeat, accepting the reality. Neo reached him mid-motion, its claws grabbing onto his coat. The hydra flapped its small green wings with all its might, but it was unable to stop the momentum of a human body falling from such a height. They were still plummeting toward the black pit.

”Neo, stop,” Kale commanded mentally.

Through the bond, he forced the hydra to release its grip and stabilise its own flight.

While falling, Kale abruptly turned his body, facing the ground. His green eyes flashed coldly, gazing deeper into the crater of the abyss. As the mist cleared, the sight that greeted him made even his battle-hardened skin crawl.

The floor of the crater was not earth. It was a teeming, writhing carpet of black. There were thousands upon thousands of arm-sized, lizard-like beasts. They moved in a synchronised, insect-like swarm, their bodies clicking against one another. Their skin was like obsidian, and their eyes were small, needle-like points of white light.

The system suddenly prompted with a sharp, scarlet warning in his vision.

[Nest of Black Chameleons detected]

[Counting... counting... counting...]

[Ding!! The nest has more than 3000 Feral-rank black Chameleons]

[Warning!!! Warning!! Warning!!!]

[Host life in severe danger]

[MUST RUN AWAY AS FAST AS POSSIBLE]

Kale ignored the system’s desperate urge to flee. He looked at the sea of black predators below him.

Three thousand Feral rank beasts. Even as an Apprentice Tamer with a superior beast, the sheer numerical weight was nonsensical. If he hit the ground and was swarmed, he would be picked clean of his flesh in seconds.

”Shut up,” Kale ordered the system coldly.

He didn’t have the time for panic or the luxury of flight. He was mere seconds from impact. He needed to know his enemy.

”Tell me everything about the Black Chameleons instead,” he commanded, his voice a whisper against the roaring wind.

He felt his Beast Force pathways hum as he prepared for the hardest ten minutes of his new life. Above him, the silhouette of his master remained a silent witness to the upcoming carnage.

Below him, three thousand predators opened their maws in anticipation of the meat falling from the sky.