Chapter 21 Alex Starts Gene Cultivation

"...but, you need to understand, my dear..."

Melissa's tone became softer.

"You have to work hard to unlock your genes; otherwise, you'll just die like a normal mortal."

Alex had been focusing on making money and med school ever since his reincarnation. He lost focus on the genes thing he so wanted to cultivate.

It wasn't because he lost interest or forgot, the reason was due to him being busy with things every day. Med school took up most of his time and the little free time he got, he spent it with Melissa, thus putting him back for a bit.

Alex nodded in response to his wife's concerns. "I am hitting the gym regularly and progressing each day. Although, I do agree, I am not working hard enough."

Alex then sighed. "I need to get my degrees quickly."

Melissa kissed his cheek and patted on his chest. "You'll do good, don't worry much. But yes, there needs to be some amount of urgency for your cultivation."

Alex nodded.

The two talked for some time and slept together.

Next day.

Alex's Medical College.

There was an internship opportunity available only for third year med students and above regarding neurology.

It was difficult to get into as it required a test.

However, Alex had passed it and became the first ever freshmen to have ever gotten an opportunity to get the treatment like a third year med student.

Alex got the opportunity to skip normal classes due to this and could do hospital rounds due to this internship, giving him a major boost.

The nurses and everyone else treated him like a third-year student as they didn't know he was a first-year freshman.

Only third-year and above students were allowed in the hospital for rounds and further studies, thus they just considered him one and Alex didn't bother to correct them.

Today, he was tasked in the pathology lab and his full day would be spent just analyzing blood and making reports.

As he went through the fourteenth sample of the day, Alex thought, 'I have enough money to pay the college and get my degree. I even have the skills. But... this isn't the normal world anymore...'

A quick thought flashed in Alex's mind.

'I need to be somewhat extraordinary to actually get my degree. Just having the skills isn't enough it seems.'

Alex then shook his head and continued to make reports.

*

Midnight.

Alex was finally home after a long day of work. As he had known, med school residents were give the same shitty treatment as before.

Hospitals and staff considered them as slaves available for free work and made him work from morning five till ten in the night.

This same thing was happening everyday and Alex knew he would have to get the degrees quickly.

Having a scrumptious dinner with Melissa, Alex sat in the living room of his new house in The Bronx and started meditating to feel the changes within his body.

It was an impossible task for a normal mortal to peer into their own body, let alone genes, and since Alex was one as well right now, he couldn't feel anything despite focusing.

Minutes passed and except for darkness in his vision and his thoughts running wild in his mind, Alex had no progress.

This continued for an hour until he finally had an epiphany and, instead of looking everywhere, focused on a small region within his body -- his digits to be precise.

The digit at the tip of his index finger had one small bone along with some, nerves, blood vessels, and tendons which were the extension of the flexor digitorum profundus -- the extrinsic hand muscles that flexes the metacarpophalangeal and distal interphalangeal joints, making the finger move.

Just by focusing, Alex recalled all the information he had learnt in his undergrad's anatomy classes and could picture the structures of his index finger properly.

The picture in his mind was what was present on the anatomy textbooks and it was so visual, it was as if Alex was staring at the open book.

This wasn't due to any magic, Alex had just studied and crammed a lot to get to this stage. Not to mention there were also many practical lessons and he had seen muscles, tendons, and whatnot live on a cadaver.

The cartoonish picture in his mind that he was looking at started morphing into a more real image and what Alex was trying to do here was feel his own body and via his senses, tried to have a 'look' at the things on his index finger and form an image.

Alex was so focused on his craft that the passage of time felt irrelevant.

Five hours had already passed and Alex was only halfway through the process of forming an image of his index finger in his mind.

At this point, Melissa came to the living room, yawning and in her pajamas.

She looked at her husband cultivating hard and flashed a proud smile.

Without disturbing him, she went to grab a glass of water and sat on a nearby chair, watching him.

After about an hour, Melissa went towards her husband and squatted down to his eye level. She held his face and softly called out his name.

Alex, in the midst of focusing, suddenly felt someone was calling him. It was a very faint voice and he assumed it to be his imagination.

But as he tried to focus, the voice only kept getting louder until he heard:

"Alexander Gray!"

Alex's eyes opened up and he saw his wife's beautiful face just a few inches from his own.

Melissa, looking at her husband, smiled and asked, "babe, how hard were you focusing? I've been calling you for the past ten minutes."

Alex took a deep breath and instead of answering Melissa's question, asked, "what time is it, honey?"

"It's 6 am."

Alex sighed hearing that. "I have to reach the hospital by 7 and here I haven't even had an ounce of sleep. No breakfast either."

Melissa chuckled and hugged her husband. She put his face in between the fleshy softness he loved and caressing his hair, said, "this is just the beginning, honey. There are more tiresome days that are yet to appear. Anyway, you have the system with you, why don't you check the shop in it?"

Alex closed his eyes and opened the shop as per his wife's suggestions.

<Shop>

[Evolution: Unevolved]

[Items available for Unevolved:

#Manuals:

-- Introduction to Gene Cultivation ($50,000)

-- Advanced Human Anatomy ($20,000)

-- Basics of Blesseds ($1,000)

-- Concept of Prayers and Faith ($100,000)

#Equipment:

-- Hundred years old sandalwood dust ($25,000)

-- Peach wood charms ($10,000)

-- Fresh peach tree oil ($1,000)

-- Jasmine incense stick ($10)

#Cheats:

-- Pill to unlock hundred genes ($1,000,000)

-- 30 minutes of 10x strength boost ($1,000)

-- 1 minute of thoughts acceleration ($5,000)

-- Mild recovery potion ($1,000)

-- Strong recovery potion ($10,000)

-- Energy booster pill ($3,000)

(Selection of any shall result in deduction of money from the host's bank account.)]

There were some new things in the shop that Alex took fancy of. However, there was no time to check them as he was running late.

His gaze fell on the recovery and energy things and immediately bought them without thinking twice.

A glass tube containing red liquid and a white pill appeared in his hands.

Alex took them both and was instantly rejuvenated, ready to start the day fresh.

$13,000 had been debited from his account and it was kind of a pity as Alex could have this same strength after a good eight hours of sleep.

Unfortunately, he didn't have the luxury of sleep and could only bleed some money and get things done.

Once Alex was recovered and energized, he had breakfast with Melissa and left for the hospital he had his duty in.