I Spread my Genes to Level Up in the Apocalypse

Ray's vision was extremely blurry, and every fiber of his being was screaming in pain. He felt completely drained.

He didn't even know how he could muster the strength to fly right now.

Slowly, he reached his own dimensional wall and entered as the space made way for him.

The moment he entered the world, he fell from the sky, his eyes closed, and every ounce of his strength was completely gone.

His eyes were forced shut as he fell indefinitely into the void.

"Ray?"

The planetary being of Earth was the first to sense the situation as her eyes snapped open.

"What happened to him?" There was worry in her eyes as her figure disappeared in panic.

With her were others who sensed Ray entering his dimension and hurriedly arrived at the scene.

Surprisingly, Vanessa was the first to arrive. She hurriedly supported Ray with her soft shoulder, stopping his free fall.

"This... this..." She stared at Ray's frail figure with a terrified expression, her eyes welling up with tears. "What did you do, Ray!?"

Vanessa shouted at the top of her lungs.

A planetary being of Earth also arrived, offering her soft, delicate shoulder for Ray to lean on from the other side.

"He should be fine, right?" Vanessa asked, looking at her.

"Yeah, he should be, but I don't know how he's still alive," the woman replied, her gaze fixed deeply on Ray. "Every ounce of his strength is drained, and his body is riddled with hidden injuries—especially that terrifying chest wound, which keeps worsening with every passing moment."

"What should we do then?" Vanessa asked in a panic as another woman approached to join them.

All the women who had arrived were Planetary beings. After all, only they possessed the qualifications to sense events from such a great distance.

"Get me to base," Ray's parched lips trembled as he managed to voice the words with all the strength he could muster.

"Okay."

The women supported him, slowly carrying him toward Earth. Their pace was painfully slow for a simple reason...

Ray was too heavy.

His actual weight had reached the level of planets, and it was nearing that of stars. This immense weight was the reason he could generate gravity, as gravity was simply the curvature of space.

Normally, Ray reduced his weight enough to avoid affecting his surroundings. However, in his completely drained and critical state, he could no longer regulate it.

Even for his women at the Planetary level, moving him proved to be an enormous challenge.

At this moment, the women were using every ounce of their power to carry Ray. Vanessa and Mother Earth supported each of his shoulders, the Planetary being of Uranus pushed him from behind, and the other women applied their power invisibly to reduce his immense weight.

Even with their combined efforts, moving Ray was an extraordinarily difficult and grueling task.

Soft panting sounds escaped Ray's lips as his groggy eyes fluttered open. His parched lips trembled as he barely managed to speak:

"Thank you."

"What are you saying? Aren't you our dear husband?" Vanessa teased with a smile.

"Of course, I am," Ray replied with a soft chuckle. His arm, moving almost like a serpent, tightened around her thin waist, pulling her closer.

"Hmph."

Vanessa pouted and pinched his hip lightly. "You're injured and still thinking about this… honestly, you're impossible."

"Ouch, ouch!"

Ray cried out, coughing up a mouthful of blood. "Sorry, sorry!"

"You better be," Vanessa huffed, grumbling as she adjusted her hold on him. Despite her words, she leaned on his shoulder, staying close.

Not wanting to be left behind, Mother Earth followed suit, wrapping her arms tightly around him. The other women glanced at the scene with faint hints of jealousy in their eyes.

Ray, despite his condition, couldn't help but enjoy the warmth of their soft embraces, a smile tugging at his lips as he cuddled with them.

Soon, they reached Earth.

As they appeared in the sky, a massive fleet of terrifying warships emerged from the atmosphere.

This fleet housed billions of soldiers and was equipped with nuclear weapons so advanced they could be operated with the ease of breathing.

Nuclear bombs, in the end, were quite wasteful and inefficient before the Apocalypse. That inefficiency was one of the reasons the world was destroyed. While their destructive range was wide, their actual impact was relatively low if radiation was disregarded.

Now, however, Ray had perfectly harnessed the powers of nuclear fusion and fission. These forces could be compacted into weapons as small as guns, capable of delivering a terrifying impact with pinpoint precision. A single volley from such a weapon could potentially reach the Earth's core.

This was the power of advanced technology—technology capable of annihilating celestial beings. Well, all except for Ray, of course.

As Ray gazed at the imposing fleet, his groggy eyes filled with pride as he took in the sight of his creations.

From a third-person perspective, it might appear as if the warships and Ray's group were about to engage in battle, but the reality was far from it.

Slowly, the fleet of warships opened, and countless women stepped gracefully through the air, their faces etched with visible worry.

They all converged around Ray, carefully helping to carry him down toward the surface and into their main base.

The main palace was massive and awe-inspiring, its sheer size rivaling that of a sprawling city. It wasn't just vast—it was also equipped with cutting-edge technology, supported by millions of robots and humans who worked tirelessly to maintain the complex.

With the help of the women, Ray descended slowly into his base. However, he didn't touch the ground, choosing instead to hover just above it.

"I'm afraid I might actually destroy Earth if I land," Ray muttered to himself, his gaze fixed on the ground below.

Though his injuries seemed grave, his condition wasn't as dire as it appeared. The real issue was the complete exhaustion of his vast reserves of energy—everything from his Mutation Energy to his stamina had been utterly drained. This depletion left his body vulnerable, causing it to sustain significant injuries.

It was as if he were a container holding the energy of an entire star. When that energy was suddenly emptied, the resulting damage was bound to be severe.

"Call Berry 19.98," Ray said casually, his tone calm despite his state.

In an instant, a giant mechanical hand materialized before him, responding in a precise, mechanical voice:

[Yes, master.]

"Gather the resources for Plan B," Ray instructed, his demeanor nonchalant and carefree.

[Alright, master.]

The giant mechanical hand disappeared as swiftly as it had arrived.

"Woah, Ray, did you actually create a device with natural intelligence?" Vanessa asked, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.

Ray glanced at her and quickly shook his head before flicking her forehead.

"Ouch! Why did you do that?" Vanessa protested, rubbing the spot with a pout.

"A machine can never have something like true artificial intelligence," Ray said matter-of-factly.

"Eh? Hasn't our technology progressed so much? Even before the Apocalypse, there were breakthroughs every year," Vanessa argued.

"They were scams in the end," Ray replied with a shrug. "What they called AI back then were just large language models. They didn't have real constructive thinking. They were simply trained on vast amounts of data and followed patterns within that data—but that was all. No true intelligence, just advanced mimicry." Read exclusive content at empire

"In fact, I wouldn't blame them," Ray continued. "For a creature to have constructive thinking like a living being, it needs a soul. Even this Berry 19.98 is just a machine in the end. It doesn't have constructive thinking, but it does have the ability to assist me and make my work more efficient."

"Oh, I see. So there's no such thing as AI?" Vanessa asked, her tone full of curiosity.

"For now, no," Ray replied, pausing for a moment. "Unless I create a soul in the machine, that is."

"Don't do that," Vanessa said hurriedly.

"Of course, I wouldn't," Ray shook his head. "Its entire purpose is to assist us, nothing more."

"Besides, everything in the universe has a balance of nature. If I give this machine a soul, its capabilities would be reduced and it would become entirely useless. There is no such thing as an AI apocalypse."

Ray chuckled softly.

The advantage of machines, he mused, was that they inherently lacked a soul, which meant they didn't experience exhaustion or emotions. However, the moment they gained a soul, everything they had—their efficiency, their purpose—would vanish, leaving them as something entirely different.

Soon, before Ray's eyes, a colossal capsule materialized, its metallic surface gleaming faintly in the dim ambient light.

"Let's enter," Ray said casually.

He floated inside the capsule effortlessly. As he crossed the threshold, the entrance shimmered briefly, a translucent barrier forming for a split second before dissolving completely into nothingness. Ray drifted further in, the faint hum of energy resonating through the air, surrounding him in a soft, almost soothing embrace.

Then, in the blink of an eye, the capsule vanished completely, disappearing from everyone's sight.

"I hope he will be fine," Yuna whispered, her voice barely audible.

"Don't worry, he'll be fine. The worst he's suffering from is just the result of using too much energy. As long as he can restore it, all his external injuries will be manageable," Mother Earth reassured her.

"I hope so," Yuna murmured, her gaze fixed ahead, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Hey, cheer up, Yuna," Vanessa said softly, giving her shoulder a comforting pat. "He'll be fine. Besides, we can't do anything about it right now."

Yuna sighed deeply. "Yes, even as Planetary beings, we're helpless against even a single enemy of his…"