I Spread my Genes to Level Up in the Apocalypse

"Ray, you've finally recovered," Vanessa said with glee.

"Hahaha, did you really think something would happen to me?"

Ray shook his head. "I'm one of the strongest in the world; even my fight with the Sun was easy, if I do say so myself."

"Who are you kidding? You came out looking like a skeleton. How could you be strong?" She pouted.

Ray pinched her cheeks with a smile. "Did you know my eyes could estimate the strength of the Sun?"

"Eh." Vanessa ducked away from his pinch.

"The only thing I didn't account for was that the Sun wasn't affected by my pupils' power. If not for that, his end would have been miserable," he chuckled.

"I see."

"Do you believe me that much?"

"No."

"Then?"

"It has no point," Vanessa replied, shaking her head.

"Whoa." Ray made a shocked face.

"Why are you so shocked?" She tilted her head, looking at him curiously.

"I didn't know you had such a mature outlook now."

"You—you're just pulling my hair for no reason!" She pinched his waist with as much force as she could muster.

"Ouch, ouch, it hurts!" Ray cried out, defending his waist. "Why did you pinch me, woman?"

"Because I felt like it." Vanessa pinched him again with her other hand. "Stop pretending you're in pain."

Then, she bit his hand.

"Ouch, ouch!" Ray cried out again, a mischievous glint in his eyes. Suddenly, he felt another bite, this time on his shoulder. Surprised, he turned to see a red-haired woman grinning at him.

"What are you biting me for, Melissa?"

Melissa stopped biting him and gave him an aggrieved look. "You've been ignoring me for so many days. Don't you love me anymore?"

"Of course I love you." Ray hugged her.

"What about us?"

The other girls chimed in immediately, and soon Ray's arms were full. It was a satisfying feeling to spend time with his women; they were loving, and their little antics brought a smile to his face.

"Master." Just then, Mallory appeared with a smile, but Ray completely ignored her. Natalia joined her shortly, only to suffer the same fate of being unnoticed by Ray.

Ray felt that, since they were the mothers of his children, it would be inappropriate to treat them with outright cruelty. Instead, he simply ignored them. While his treatment of Mallory and Natalia was much kinder than before, granting them complete freedom and the privileges that came with being his women, he withheld his attention and affection.

Violet and the other women, on the other hand, enjoyed even slightly better treatment. He would speak to them if they needed anything, though he kept his words brief and his distance far as for those two women, his lips were always sealed for them.

As the days passed, Mallory and Natalia grew increasingly anxious.

"Sigh, what should we do?" Mallory murmured, glancing at the woman beside her.

"What are you looking at me for? How am I supposed to know?" Natalia frowned. "This is all because of you, you foolish woman. Why did you have to try to kill Ray so blatantly?"

"Oh, so it's my fault now?" Mallory shot back. "If you're so holy, why did you follow my command? You could have disobeyed and escaped with your special S-class skill. It would be nearly impossible for anyone to track you down."

"I… I…" Natalia stammered, struggling to find a comeback but coming up short.

Just then, a little chubby boy came running from the room.

"Mama!" he called out in a sweet, innocent voice as he approached them.

"Yes, my son?" Mallory responded, her tone filled with gentle maternal affection.

"I want to get Dad's signature, so I can brag about it to all my classmates," he said with a big, innocent smile.

"Eh, a signature?" Mallory was stunned. Before she could say anything more, a tall, bulky man materialised right in front of her, leaving her utterly speechless.

The man had a powerful build, with long white hair and pale skin. His eyes were striking, each pupil containing two hues—one a fiery crimson, as intense as a burning inferno, and the other a pure, golden light, almost holy in its radiance.

"Haha, so you need a signature, little brat?" Ray chuckled, having appeared out of thin air.

"Father!" The little boy's face lit up, and he rushed to hug him.

"How did you just appear out of nowhere?"

"Your father can do anything," Ray replied with a grin, gently patting his son's curly, smooth hair. "So, you really want my signature?"

"Of course, I do!" the boy answered eagerly, his eyes shining.

"Good." Ray extended his hand, and as if by magic, a pen and paper appeared. He began to sign with a simple "R," but as he moved the pen, a thought came to him.

"I wonder if I can inscribe the principle of the Lord of the Sky into this and make it something magical," he mused. A plain signature felt too dull, no matter how renowned the person.

So, wanting to make it special, Ray carefully guided the pen, focusing on imprinting the principle of the Lord of the Sky.

It was a laborious task, and by the time he finished the final stroke, cold sweat dripped from his forehead. As he lifted the pen, a subtle gleam shimmered through the "R," leaving a faint, magical glow.

"Whoa, what was that?" the chubby boy asked, his eyes wide with astonishment.

"I added a special touch just for you, little brat. Now go and show off to your friends."

"Yes, Father!" The boy ran off, even faster than he had arrived.

"That should be enough for him to brag about until he's grown," Ray chuckled.

Anyone who looked at the signature would feel as though they were gazing into an infinite, vast space stretching endlessly before them.

"Master Ray…" Mallory called softly, bowing from her place on the bed.

Ray didn't glance at her, and his figure vanished like sand in the wind.

The two women watched this with a sense of bitterness.

"Will he ignore us forever?" they asked, exchanging a look filled with regret. But it was too late. What had happened couldn't be undone, and time could not be rewound to fix their mistakes.

Mallory only regretted one thing that was to target Ray, she didn't feel anything wrong with her plans to dominate the world in the hopes of saving the world.

…

Ray spent half a month visiting his children one by one, spending time with them and his women. He also spread his genes, but his frequency of doing so had decreased significantly—not because his capabilities had diminished, but because beautiful women were becoming increasingly rare. He couldn't just take someone else's woman, could he?

Unless, of course, they were enemies. He might make an exception there. Cough, cough, Anyway, the point was that he was lacking in women.

"Let's just rest," he thought to himself, quickly sinking into his comfortable bed.

After some time, his figure faded from the physical realm, and the next moment, he appeared in his dimension.

There were already multiple planets in his dimension, slowly circulating around a miniature black hole.

Ray arrived at Uranus, the planet he had spared, even from the planetary beings who once inhabited it.

The moment Ray landed, the blue-skinned woman greeted him with a smile on her face.

"I wonder what's happened in the outside world, master."

"I almost got killed, but the Sun retreated to sleep on its core. I could kill him now, but I don't feel like doing it," Ray said nonchalantly as he sat down in his chair.

The Planetary Being of Uranus's expression subtly shifted, though the change was barely noticeable to even the keenest observer.

"So, why has the master come here?" she asked.

"Well..." Ray pointed at the sky. "That big ball of fire up there is going to run out soon, and you don't want your entire planet's species to freeze on the spot, do you?"

Her eyes widened with understanding. "Yes, master."

Ray leaned back thoughtfully. "So, how should I create a copy of the Sun, hmm?" He rubbed his chin. "My fire magic is still pretty weak, and even if it were stronger, it wouldn't last long at all."

Ray needed something that could mimic the Sun's fusion and fission processes—two smaller atoms colliding to form a heavier one. Earth's technology hadn't advanced enough to create a perfect sun larger than Uranus.

While only fusion, atomic fusion to be precise takes place in the sun, the Planetary being of the Sun actually uses both fusion and fission.

"Why don't I take it from the Sun itself?" he thought.

Without hesitation, Ray appeared in the real world and turned his gaze toward the Sun. He opened his mouth, facing the blazing ball of fire in the sky.

Swish!

White rays began to accumulate inside his mouth, gradually filling his stomach. Despite the strange process, everything around him seemed unchanged, except for the intense white strands gathering inside his mouth.

In outer space, the Sun began to lose its atoms, its mass gradually diminishing with every passing second. The loss was so minuscule that it went unnoticed, but it was enough to affect the Sun's temperature. By the time Ray had finished, the Sun's core temperature had dropped by more than a million degrees Fahrenheit.

Ray's belly swelled as it absorbed the energy, and with a simple thought, he reappeared in his inner world. He casually opened his mouth once more.

Swish!

A burst of sheer flame erupted as a white ball slowly materialised before him, gradually growing larger. It continued to expand until it reached about 26 times less the mass of the Sun—a miniature Sun.

"A perfect replica, keke."