2 Training

"Tell me what happened?" Joshua urged.

"Someone died at the club last night." He said excitedly.

"What? Is that even considered incredible? That's tragic, man! What's your problem?" Joshua scolded his friend.

"Of course, it's not! I'm not some fucking insensitive guy, damn! What I meant incredible was the murder case!" Joshua was confused; isn't that the same?

"Okay, what about it?"

"Listen carefully, "BJ whispered. "I overheard the investigators, they said that a series of killing has happened in Block 24B. The deaths were gruesome; all of the internal organs of the victims went missing just like the cadaver found at the club."

"Whoah! Really? Is that even a work of a man? More like a beast did the killing!" Joshua reacted.

"I'm not finished yet, don't interrupt!" BJ reprimanded him and continued talking. "It was not done by a beast. They said, the cuts were very clean as if a professional hand made them."

"Damn! That really is incredible!" Joshua finally agreed.

"Told 'ya!" BJ proudly proclaimed.

"So, do they have any leads?" He asked.

"I don't know. I took off after eavesdropping from the officers' talk. What if they caught me then suspected me? I love my freedom, man!" BJ replied then he noticed Joshua's new accessory. "Anyway, what are those bracelets? Are those from a chick? Oy, oy, you didn't tell me you had some fling! I'm disappointed."

"Fling my ass! Hehehe, these? You better just look." Joshua raised his wrist and showed the bracelets. Then he activated them.

"Woah! A gene gear! How much did you buy it? You sure you don't have some sugarmamitas?" BJ excitedly inquired.

"What buy? Sugarmamitas, don't place me in your shoes! I made them!" Joshua claimed. He was a bit proud to show off to his friend. It does not always come a time where he can boast like today. Bj would always brag about his mutation and gene ability of invisibility.

Furthermore, the guy is very attractive to MILFs that he had a weekly maintenance from different sugar moms; he'd show off different gifts including gene gears to Joshua. Sometimes, Joshua thinks it is his friend's true gene ability rather than the invisibility.

"You made them? Don't tell me... you are a Geneticist now?" He blurted in surprise.

Joshua unfurled the hem on his shoulder and showed his gene badge.

"I am happy for you and all, but man, I told you, being a geneticist is not an ideal life, especially for you, yet you still went and become one." Bj grumbled.

"Not everyone has a mind cog like yours. Besides, this is my dream." Joshua justified.

"Tsk, whatever, man. There's nothing I can do. *sigh* So, what is your plan now?" His friend asked.

"I'll just finish this month's job at the factory, then I'll register at the Gene Council to be a formal geneticist." He replied.

"Will you join the army?"

"No, I have learned from my father. I'll become a Gene Collector." Joshua proclaimed.

"Damn, you've got sky-high dreams." Bj tapped Joshua's shoulder while shaking his head.

There are many jobs a geneticist could have; Beast hunter, Gene gourmet, Gene Engineer, Zoologist, Botanist and many more. The job Joshua is seeking for is a job that not many geneticists took; a Gene Collector. It is a very strenuous and dangerous job. A Gene collector must collect different genes from various gene beasts - meaning, they always engage in a life - threatening battles. But as high-risk as it is, the equivalent rewards for the exemplary efforts are very high rated.

A gene collector is also viewed by many as a walking Gene bank. So, they also suffered attacks from bandits and thieves most of the time.

Arriving at the factory, Joshua timed in and took out his robo - suit.

"Oy, kid!" One of the old factory worker approached him.

"Hello, Mr. Booze, good afternoon."

"I heard you went to a Gene bank yesterday. How was it?" He asked.

"Yes, I did and it was great! Successful."

"Oh? Good, that's good. What did you get?" The old man asked as he lifted a 3 - ton box.

"Humph... Herculean Strength." Joshua replied as he lifted a 3 - ton using his robo - suit box like Mr. Booze did.

"That is a good gene, but there are other strength type genes aside from that, much better in fact." He pointed.

"Ah, hehe, it is all I could afford at the moment." He said a bit embarrassed.

At around 9:00 PM in the evening, Joshua finished his work at the factory. He was preparing to go home when he heard his co - workers talking.

"It's scary now - a - days, you heard about the killings?"

"Yeah, I heard. Who could have possibly done such terrible things, no?"

"Some thought that the criminal is not one but an organization that harvests organs."

"What? That's impossible. That kind of things are so primitive. I mean, why do they have to do that when it is very easy and cheap to replace damaged organs through gene engineering?"

"True."

"Hey, my grandmother's ancestors passed down stories about something called "Aswang"; a ghoul. It eats the organs in your belly. Do you think that's it?"

"Pfft! HAHAHAHAHA! Man, you're ridiculous! That kind of stories still exist? Hahaha! Come on, man."

Joshua got interested suddenly when he heard them as he remembered what his friend told him. Although, he did not join the conversation but eavesdropping.

He rode a bus towards his rented room. He did not walk since, he was in a hurry. He ordered a training console and would arrive that day.

When he reached home, he found a small package by his door. "Ah, it already came." He grabbed the package and excitedly went inside.

Swiftly, he opened the wrapper of the package. It was a small box. On it was a label "Virtual Training Console".

He took the manual and read it. The Virtual Training Console or VTC is a game console programmed by the Gene Council. It helps geneticists train in a virtual reality where they can fight all sorts of gene beasts and other geneticists.

The console is made up of a small visor wirelessly connected to a small circuit worn around the wrist.

He wore the visor, tapped a button on the circuit excitedly and started it on.

"Virtual Training initialized... Scanning Gene Code... Complete. Create Username." The machine stated.

"Hercules..." Joshua said. He took the name from the first Gene he got.

"Username Hercules... accepted. Generating stats...

Username: Hercules

Gene Ability: None

Gene Enhancement: Herculean Strength

Strength: 207

Agility: 114

Endurance (HP): 195

Dexterity: 197

Stamina (MP): 147

HP: 2865

MP: 2445

Joshua scanned his stats. He was happy seeing the large numbers. VTC can actually show, in numbers, the true capability of a player.

He concluded that his high stats in strength and endurance is largely because of his gene enhancement. The others are the result of his daily work at the factory while his agility and dexterity should be attributed to his training in boxing.

"Gene gear detected... would you like to generate a virtual replica?"

"Yes." He immediately replied.

"Generating... complete. Would you like to name it?"

"Yes."

"Please input name..."

He thought about the materials he used on the gear and came up with a name, "Rockhorn Gloves."

"Confirmed. Choose an avatar...

Random (Free)

Customized (Strands needed)"

"I choose 'Random'." Since it's free. He thought.

After choosing, an avatar for him was made. The height was 5'2", just a bit shorter than him. The hair was ash-grey and the eyes are black.

Since he is a beginner, he was placed in tutorial mode. After completing the tutorial and familiarizing his consciousness to sync with his virtual avatar, he was transferred to an open field.

Floating around the open field are bubbles with writings inside. The names with 1 star below them are copper level geneticists, 2 stars are bronze level, 3 stars are silver, 4 stars are gold and 5 stars are platinum levels.

On one side of the field are cages of virtual gene monsters. To duel virtual gene monsters, one only needs to open the cage of your choice. There are three choices, bronze cages are low level gene monsters that will reward 1-2 stars. Silver cages are of mid-level gene monsters and will reward 3-4 stars. Lastly, the Gold cages are of high level gene monsters and will reward a guaranteed 5 stars.

In order to issue a fight or request a duel, a player would pay Gene points (GP). Copper level geneticists cost 5 GP, Bronze level geneticists cost 10 GP to battle, Silver level costs 20 GP, Gold level costs 30 GP and Platinum level costs 50 GP. The GP rewards for each level doubles starting from 5 GP reward.

Low level gene monsters are free to challenge anytime but each star reward would only give 1 gene point. Mid-level gene monsters aren't free and cost 5 GP to battle and each star reward is equivalent to 10 GP each. High level gene monsters cost 100 GP to battle. It is a very high price but it is what it worth. High level gene monsters are strong, equivalent of geneticists ranging from 4-5 star Geneticists to Blue Blood Core Master Geneticists. Each star reward of high level monsters will equate to 50 GP each.

Joshua has a beginner GP of 10. He chose to challenge a bronze cage where a mid-level gene monster is stored. As soon as he finished choosing, the field changed into an enclosed arena. Joshua stood across a huge gene monster. Above its head is a name and a red and blue bar, showing its health and mana.

The name shown is "Gilded Ape". "Oh, that's a huge gene monster." The monster roared and ran towards him.

"Okay, let's try how my strength would fair in a head on match." Joshua prepped himself, and dashed to confront the monster. The monster lifted its two huge hands and smashed it down towards Joshua. He raised his both hands and caught the arms of the ape. A boom sounded as they met, causing a small dust wave.

Joshua jumped letting go of the arms and delivered a knee kick to the ape's chin. It connected but did not faze the monster. The Gilded ape swiped its huge arms, flinging Joshua to the side. He grunted as he got hurt a little. Looking at his HP, it was deducted by 5. The monster roared again, this time a gold shimmer shine on the ape's furs then a fast beam was spitted out from its mouth. "Whoa! Gold breath!" Joshua rolled to dodge and ran. He circled the ape and when he found an opening. He activated the Rockhorn gloves and delivered a punch to the ape's body. The monster grunted as it was fairly hurt; 20 points was shaved from its health.

"Shit! Why is it so strong? It's only a mid-level gene monster." Joshua complained.

The ape turned around and smashed its arms towards Joshua. He was a bit slow to react and could not dodge. So he crossed his arms above his head and received the arm blow of the ape. Joshua's foot sank a little and his bones shook by the impact. 100 points was deducted from his HP. He pushed back the arms of the ape but the ape swiftly brought the arms back down. Joshua sank further and this time, 400 points have been directly shaved off from his HP. The ape then picked him up and threw him to the side. Another 100 points was deducted as Joshua rolled on the arena.

"Ah! Damn! I should have just fought a low level gene monster!" He condemned himself. Joshua stood up but as soon as he turned, the ape was already onto him swinging its huge arms, sweeping Joshua away.

The ape chased after him and brought down a flurry of smash downs to Joshua. His HP dropped down speedily and he has nothing he can do to stop it. Joshua was pinned down and all he can do is grunt and shout in pain though it was only a virtual pain for the sake of simulating real life scenario.

Not long after, his HP dropped down to 0 and he was immediately logged out.

"Damn, my 5 GP has been wasted." He grumbled. "Now, I have to wait a day before my HP refreshes back to full bar. Tsk!"

Meanwhile, in a dark alley. Some panting can be heard softly behind the trash bin. It was eerie and creepy. Some guy walked in the alley, puffing some cigarettes when he heard the soft noise.

"Hello?" He called but no one answered. "Is anyone there? Are you okay?" He asked, slowly walking towards the trash bin to see if there is someone there.

'Hey, are you o..." He did not finish his question when he felt something plunged into his chest and he died.

The panting did not stop but it was now accompanied by some flesh tearing noise and some eerie chomping sound.