Super Gene

In the pool, in the direction the silver fox was looking, swam a fish.

The fish wasn’t very large. In fact, it was only about ten centimeters long, and it was semi-transparent. The bones were transparent, as well, and the only way you could properly catch sight of it was by spotting its blood vessels. If you didn’t peer at the water carefully and look for it that way, you wouldn’t notice it existed at all.

Because of the water, Han Sen was unable to sense its lifeforce.

Instead, he summoned his devil-eye mask and managed to espy the presence of a flame on the fish. It was its lifeforce, and it burned as hot as any other super creature’s did.

"That little thing is a super creature?!" Han Sen felt a mixture of shock and confusion.

The energy inside the little fish was blurry, so it was only a first-generation super creature. And since the fish did not appear to possess the elemental properties of thunder, Han Sen wondered why the silver fox seemed to show so much interest.

The silver fox lay down near the pool and did not move. After a while, it began circling the pool as it had when it first arrived. The little blighter almost seemed to be lost in thought.

"What does he want?" Han Sen said to himself, as he observed the silver fox.

If the silver fox wanted to kill the fish, then it could have very well done so. The pool wasn’t very deep, only about three feet deep at the very most. He could even effortlessly electrify the water with lightning, without a single worry about aquatic retaliation.

Plus, Han Sen was there. If the silver fox wanted to attack and felt that it needed backup, surely it knew its master wouldn’t sit idly by watching it tussle with the fishy wretch all by itself.

But, all the silver fox did was lie down near the pool again. It watched the little transparent fish swimming around and did nothing at all.

Han Sen was very curious what was going on, but there was nothing he could do. He could only wait. If he got close to the pool, the silver fox would approach Han Sen and make a fearsome face. Understanding how powerful his pet had gotten, Han Sen wasn’t willing to take any chances with somehow invoking the ire of the silver fox.

Not long after, a sheep entered the cave the silver fox had dug. It didn’t seem to be afraid of people, and it strutted right over beside Han Sen.

When the sheep saw the pool, it baa’ed. It walked towards the pool as if it were thirsty and fancied a drink.

Han Sen thought the silver fox was going to stop it, but it didn’t. It continued to lie where it was, watching the sheep quench its thirst at the pool.

Han Sen thought the fish might have been angry at this intrusion, but it didn’t have any negative reaction. In fact, it didn’t look as if the fish cared at all. It continued to swim as mellowly as it had the entire time.

The sheep drank quite a bit, and once it was done, it turned around and prepared to leave.

But what Han Sen saw next was a most terrifying scene. The sheep’s mouth began to rot, and bits of sizzling flesh fell to the ground below.

To make it all the more unnerving, the sheep acted as if it had not noticed a thing. It wasn’t in pain or anything, and it merely continued to trot back towards the outside as casually as it had entered.

While it walked, more of its flesh fizzled away from its face, coating the cavern floor in blood. It began to happen elsewhere on its body, as goopy chunks of its flesh slid free from the bones of the sheep they once composed. It wasn’t long until parts of its skeleton were exposed.

The sheep continued walking to the exit, and by the time it left the cave, it was nothing but a skeleton. In a grizzly, horrific mess, its organs lay scattered and strewn all about.

Seeing the sheep walk outside alive, with only its bones to indicate what it was, Han Sen could hardly believe his eyes.

Han Sen was given a cold sweat, seeing this. And now, he quickly understood why the silver fox did not want him to approach. The liquid in that pool was by no means a consumable refreshment.

For the fish itself to survive inside there, it had to be a miracle.

Then, from outside the cave, a chorus of baaing could be heard. Han Sen quickly ran out and saw that all the other sheep were frightened and trying to avoid the sheep that was now just a skeleton. But it really did seem as if the skellysheep hadn’t noticed anything amiss, and it continued to believe it was the same as the rest of its fluffy companions. It tried following the other sheep around, unaware of why it was being avoided.

As the skellysheep followed them around, however, it wasn’t long before Han Sen heard something snap. Several of its bones broke, and it collapsed on the ground.

"What the h*ll is the water in that pool?" Han Sen thought to himself, in utter disbelief at the ghastly sight he had just witnessed. When he returned to look at the creepy pool, his heart pounded with fear.

Han Sen sniffed the air and did not notice anything that smelled amiss, so at the very least it wasn’t a natural acid.

It seemed as if the water came from the stalactites above. A pool had formed from the constant dripping.

Han Sen looked up and noticed a number of cracks inside the stalactites, indicating the water must have leaked out from inside them. But the amount of water coming from them was very little. There were ten stalactites, and there was only one drop every few minutes. God only knew how many years it would have taken for the pool to be created.

"Little Silver, if you keep waiting here, it’ll all be for nothing. If you want this fish out of the pool, don’t expect it to do so by itself. Perhaps we should bang our heads together and think of a way in which we can get it out ourselves, eh?" Han Sen spoke to Little Silver as he continued to lie prone, watching the fish.

The silver fox then turned around and looked at Han Sen, as if he was expecting Han Sen to suggest a plan.

"Use your thunder. Electrify the water, spook it out, and then grab it." Han Sen suggested after a short period of thought.

The silver fox looked at Han Sen with disdain. It cast lightning out onto the surface of the water, but it didn’t seem to do anything. It appeared as if it dissolved when it came into contact with the curious liquid of the pool.

Now Han Sen understood the look he had been given, realizing the lightning could not penetrate the surface of the water.

"What is this water, then? What makes it behave like that?" Han Sen was shocked. "Well, that’s okay. If the thunder is absorbed by the water, I’d like to see it absorb this."

As Han Sen’s dialogue came to a close, he quickly summoned his peacock crossbow, loaded it with raw Z-steel bolts, and took aim at the fish in the pool.

The silver fox’s eyes opened wide and it retreated a few steps, expecting Han Sen to kill the fish.

Approaching the pool a little closer, Han Sen corrected his aim to obtain perfect accuracy on the fish. He predicted its movement and then pulled the trigger.

But when the bolt pierced the water, he somehow missed. The surface of the pool was mirror-like, giving a reflection far clearer than average water would. Therefore, the fish’s position in the water was different than it appeared. The bolt missed and lodged itself inside the rocky bottom of the pool. This made Han Sen feel pretty bad.

The water was terrifying, and Han Sen didn’t think he could retrieve the Z-steel raw bolt with any modicum of ease.

But he didn’t dwell on it too much, but instead retrieved another Z-steel bolt and took aim at the fish once more. Han Sen calculated its path and took into account the refraction of the water.

Pat!

The bolt pierced the water and the fish’s body. Its body did not resist the flight of the bolt in the slightest, and all it did was twitch a little before flipping over dead. It died, as simple as that.

Han Sen froze. He did not expect the creepy fish to die so easily. There was no struggle, and it was killed with a single shot.