Katrin let out a heavy sigh before continuing.
"Adam, you like all Phantoms know the basic rules of absorbing monster genes through Revolve. To do so, you need to participate in killing the monster. This is necessary for your genes to find contact with the monster's genes and be able to consume them."
Adam nodded quietly. Even the Phantoms who had not yet become a Phantom knew about what Katrin was talking about. It was something they learned on the first day at the preparatory academy, it was common knowledge.
"Roughly the same rules work for getting your first Initial Gene, you know about it well. We were helped to kill the first monster by the other Phantoms, seriously weakening it and thus it wasn't a problem for us. It allowed our dormant Spark to wake up and create an Evolution Tree with Initial Gene at its core." Katrin waved a hand.
Adam nodded again. He knew full well what the difference was between an Artificialborn Phantom and a Naturalborn One. Artificialborn Phantoms had Spark due to talent and it allowed them to become Phantoms after killing a monster.
However, because the other Phantoms were helping them, part of the monster's Initial Gene was dispelled by the influence of the other Phantoms' genes. This was the reason for the difference between Artificial and Natural Phantoms.
It was worth realizing that having Spark was crucial. An ordinary person could not kill a monster with the help of other Phantoms and become a Phantom because, without the dormant Spark, a person could not activate the Initial Gene.
The only way this could happen was if a person killed a monster 1 on 1 and got the monster's full Initial Gene. The genes of other creatures did not interfere with this process, so the Initial Gene was not damaged and was strong enough to ignite Spark in the human, causing the Evolution Tree to grow.
'Well, everyone knows about this, however... Besides Nessa, there is someone else unique in this world. Another girl under the power of another scientist.' Adam internally muttered as his gaze unknowingly became darker and gloomier.
While Katrin was trying to figure out what had caused Adam's frown, Adam was thinking about Lana Tiates - this girl was the only one who had Spark in Aiden Henk's experiment. It was a rarity in the slums.
However, that wasn't what made Lana unique. From time to time, Phantoms appeared in the slums, and this wasn't the first one. But... Lana had become a Phantom in a strange way.
'Hmm... She had no help, according to her, she fought the monster 1 on 1. However, the monster was weakened by other methods and it must have affected the genes. Damn, I should go to the Lower Ring to see Black Swan as soon as possible. I'll do it as early as I become a K2-Phantom.' Adam bit his lip.
He had yet to meet Aiden Henk, but his opinion had already changed several times about this extraordinary individual along the way.
At first, as an inexperienced young man who had not yet learned the severity of the world, he had wanted Aiden Henk to be punished for the things he had done to him.
However, soon Adam was determined to kill Aiden, but... an encounter with Magnus and Nessa, as well as Lana's unusual condition, changed his goal.
Now, Adam wanted to understand what was happening.
When he saw the girls in pods in Magnus's lab, he didn't believe there was an explanation, but... soon enough he calmed down.
He realized that every free scientist had a secret that could potentially affect the entire Citadel and humanity.
He didn't know how many credits he had in his account, he didn't worry about it much because his family only spent a few thousand credits a month.
However, in a few months, Trici was going to go to the Blacksmith Academy and for that, he needed 400,000 credits for just one year of study, not including the price of housing near the academy.
"I'm willing to offer you 2,000,000 credits for that. That will be enough to pay for five years of Trici's education at once." Katrin said confidently, crossing her arms over her chest.
Adam nodded, deciding to see how much money he had before doing so. The last time Adam had checked his balance was quite some time ago - when he had completed Eclipse in Bastion Radon.
Since then, many things have happened in Adam's life, but... almost none of them have positively affected his financial status.
His previous balance was 307,787 credits. After Eclipse, he was in Fall Hill Prison, Salt Village, and Miracle Observatory.
Obviously, he didn't earn anything in the Prison and Miracle Observatory, but he must have gotten a large sum from killing Thunder Demon and other monsters in that incident.
[Your balance is 608.444 credits.]
'Well, that's pretty good considering I spent quite a bit of money on the party and the fair. Agh, I should go on missions more often though... Wait, how much did Katrin offer me?!' Adam's eyes went wide when he finally realized how much Katrin's sum was huge.
"How the hell did you get so much money? I killed a Thunder Demon and a bunch of other monsters but I don't even have a million!" Adam waved his hand.
Katrin rolled her eyes.
"Unlike you who goes on a mission once a month, only to heal for weeks and disappear to nowhere, I'm constantly working for the good of the Citadel and my wallet." Katrin smirked.
"I don't disagree, Thunder Demon probably paid a lot, but if you go on missions every day like I do, you can make a good living. Also, hunting for artifacts is really profitable. Well, I still got a little help from my dad, but let's not emphasize that." Katrin looked away with a slightly shy face.
Adam looked at her for a while before nodding.
"And... You can take the full amount for the Scarlet Pyromancer. Surely that will add another hundred or two hundred thousand maybe even more." Katrin waved his hand slowly transferring his gaze to Adam, "So... Do you agree?"
Adam scratched the back of his head with a bitter smile.
"Sure. I hope you'll be happy with your Initial Gene this time."
"Yeah, me too. Next time we're in a squad, you'll be helping me instead. You'll see."