Looking at the two young Awakened observing the display of Genetic Armaments in front of her, Stella was intrigued. ’Explosive and Penetrative types? Looks like you two have found yourselves against quite the tough foe.’

For someone like her, it wasn’t hard to deduce what kind of enemy they’d be facing just from knowing what weapons they planned on facing it with.

And considering that Elane got much of her knowledge from Stella herself, she followed the same train of thought Stella would have taken to deal with the E rank Elite!

But that was the one thing Stella wasn’t able to realise. She thought the enemy they planned on facing was just an Elite F rank beast — a perfectly reasonable thing for two Awakened like them to do, especially by preparing powerful disposable Genetic Armaments.

Not even she could have deduced that their foe was far beyond that — and that they planned to evolve these Normal Genetic Armaments into Elite ones!

Rohan and Elane observed the healthy array of Genetic Armaments, carefully analysing the details of each one.

Considering the foe they were up against, no mistakes could be made in their choices. If they chose an item that was too weak, then they’d quickly find themselves back in the real world, having to wait a month before they could enter the Origin Realm again.

But due to the tricky woman watching their every move from behind, they couldn’t converse with each other to exchange ideas, so they had to do everything in silence.

’Even after this, I need to head back to my old apartment to fetch my Origin Crystals so that I can fill my Evolution Gene back up. After all, this plan is useless if I don’t have enough energy to evolve them!’

Eventually, Rohan found two good candidates for the penetrative Genetic Armaments, and looked over at Elane to see if she was done.

With the knowledge gap between them, she’d finished choosing minutes earlier than him, and stood there next to Stella waiting.

He made his way over, careful not to move too eagerly now that Stella was watching them with that same half-lidded, all-seeing gaze of hers. The closer he got, the more clearly he could feel that dangerous aura rolling off the items resting behind the reinforced crystal glass.

They were all small, red orbs of glowing crystal, like all F rank Genetic Armaments were.

But the power packed inside those small red orbs was amazing. Power condensed into a single use, single purpose weapon.

Rohan pointed at the first pair he’d settled on and asked. "Can we get the details on these?"

Stella’s lips curved faintly.

"Of course."

She stepped forward, her curvaceous body swaying as she did, and tapped a finger lightly against the display area.

On the display lay two identical items, showing what the Genetic Armaments looked like once absorbed. Each was about the length of Rohan’s forearm. The looked somewhere between a short spear and an oversized thorn, thickest at the centre and tapering to a brutally sharp, matte-grey point.

The shaft wasn’t smooth either — it had faint layered rings around it like condensed scales, and near the rear were four hooked protrusions folded flat against the body as though they’d spring open after impact.

Even without being able to view them in person, Rohan could tell these things were built for penetration alone.

"These," Stella started, "are Poison Rocksnake Pikes."

Elane’s brows lifted slightly, while Rohan stayed silent.

"They come from a beast of the same name. They’re particularly nasty creatures. They prefer rocky terrain and elevated positions, where they hide in plain sight among cliffs and broken stone. Their hunting style is... unique. Memorable to say the least."

Stella’s eyes gleamed faintly as she continued. She took a particular interest in the unique and strange, so this was perfectly within her forte.

"Their bodies are naturally flexible, almost springlike. When they attack, they compress themselves first, anchoring against the ground or some vantage point. Then they release all of that stored energy at once and launch themselves like bolts from a ballista."

Rohan’s eyes widened in amazement. He could imagine just how powerful such an attack could be.

’A living projectile...’

If timed and planned perfectly, these little things could take down an Elite beast on their own! Something usually unheard of in the Origin Realm.

Stella nodded toward the pikes as though reading that exact thought from Rohan’s face.

"Just before impact, the Rocksnake hardens its entire body into a single straight line. Bones, scales, muscles, everything — it becomes as dense and rigid as rock. That gives it absurd penetrative power for its tier."

She paused, then smiled thinly.

"And if piercing through flesh and bone somehow wasn’t enough, the poison usually finished the job."

Then, Rohan could swear he saw disappointment flash in Stella’s eyes for a moment.

"Though, only the beast itself gets that privilege. The Genetic Armament they drop only has the properties of its penetrative abilities — no poison included. That’s one of the most unfortunate things about this thing. Though it makes sense in some ways, it could hardly be classed as a Normal tier Genetic Armament if it still retained that ability."

Rohan’s and Elane’s eyes flashed on hearing that last part. Especially Rohan’s.

They didn’t display it outwardly for fear of Stella noticing something off about them, but their emotions were in a turmoil internally.

’It might obtain the snake’s poison abilities once it evolves to Elite tier!’ Rohan thought, excited to already begin experimenting. If this really were the case, then the Poison Rocksnake Pike was the best possible choice by far.

Elane quickly moved on before Stella could notice anything off.

"And these?" She asked, pointing at the two explosive-type items she picked out.

Stella’s expression shifted to where Elane was pointing, her brow lifting.

"Good eye." 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

She moved over to the next display case.

"These are Hollow Tide Burst Genetic Armaments. They’re dropped from a pufferfish-type beast called the Hollow Tide Puffer."

Rohan frowned.

Weren’t pufferfish known more for their poison? Where did the explosive aspect come from?

"A pufferfish?" he asked, sceptical.

"Yes," Stella said. "Though one from the Origin Realm, so naturally that means taking a perfectly normal concept and making it something completely insane."

Now that caught Rohan’s intrigue.