10 Alex’s Genes
As Melissa asked this question, Alex laidback on the sofa and said leisurely, "I'll get my doctorate first. Everything else should fall in place while I am doing that."
"Alright, I'll be rooting for you then." Melissa replied with a cheerful smile.
Having a degree was really important. By becoming a registered medical practitioner, not only would Alex get a lot of respect in the US, he would be allowed to practice in almost any part of the world.
The US had a major breakthrough in the healthcare sector with the rising startups. Despite being one of the world's worst healthcare systems, they rose beyond everyone else and were now leading the world in this aspect as well.
Many countries signed an agreement with the US and as this was 2030, out of the 196 countries, a total of a whopping 142 countries accepted the US medical degree.
However, this would soon change with the incoming attack on the White House and there would be many clauses present.
The attack would take place in the year 2031 and doctors who have graduated after 2032 weren't allowed to practice in any country other than the US.
Alex wasn't lucky enough due to this and his degrees were invalid outside US in his past life. He thus couldn't practice anywhere else other than his own country.
Alex now had a choice to either become a neurosurgeon by 2031 or stop the attack by El Vizan.
There was no hint of worries on Alex's face as he was left with these two choices. Reason being… both were easy.
This was the US and believe it or not, there actually was a lot of freedom here.
'I should get on the grind now. There's not a lot of time left before Samuel's graduation and the attack.' Alex thought to himself.
He finished breakfast with Melissa and went to his bedroom, leaving her alone in the living room.
Alex shifted the bed and the study table to one side to make space in the middle of his room. He then laid a carpet and sat on it in a meditative position.
He closed his eyes and called out, "Open system panel."
[Opening…]
<Home>
[Status]
[Skills]
[Shop]
[Inventory(locked)]
"Status."
<Status>
[Name: Alexander Gray]
[Titles: None]
[Level of Existence: Human]
[Evolution: Unevolved]
[Gene value: 50,000
Active Genes: 5,000
Protein-Coding Genes: 23,500]
Looking at the information on the system screen, Alex thought to himself, 'all the stats mentioned here are what a normal human being possesses.'
Alex was a neurosurgeon so he naturally knew what everything on the screen meant.
A human had 50,000 genes, within the nucleus of each cell of the body, except for the ones lacking it like red blood cells and platelets.
Each cell, out of the 50,000 genes, had only one-tenth genes actively working and forming proteins.
Within each gene there were protein-coding parts and non protein-coding parts called exons and introns.
One could imagine a gene as a zebra crossing on the road which has black and white stripes.
If the black stripes are taken as introns and white ones are taken as exons, then during transcription(starting step of protein formation), the introns are all removed and only the exons are left, meaning no more black and white stripes but a single white strip.
The part that was removed was the non-coding part that was deemed useless by most a few decades ago, until further research was done and it was said that they weren't really useless but had some function.
As for the part that stayed, the exons, they were the protein-coding parts and the stuff responsible for the existence of an organism.
All these proteins were present in almost everyone with humans sharing 99.9% of the same genome within their species.
With just point-one percent of variation, the seven billion humans on earth differed from each other and had their own individual identity.
In any case, the mysteries of the human body lay within the non protein-coding and dormant part.
Even by 2040, scientists weren't able to discover just how many non-protein coding genes there were or how many genes we actually had.
In the 1990s it was thought that the human genome had 100,000 genes but as research went on, the number was slightly lowered and estimated to be between 50,000 to 100,000.
As per the protein-coding genes, it had lots of inconsistencies as scientists still weren't able to develop proper technology to assess this.
At the molecular level, everything was too difficult to observe and interpret. Still… Being able to come to some conclusions was a massive breakthrough in itself.
The numbers the system was showing was the world's average for a human.
There was no way a human would have genes in a round figure like 50,000. The 0.1% variation caused many to have a different number like 49,999 or 49,234 etc.
This felt slightly weird to know he had a round figure in everything. To not keep the curiosity suppressed, Alex asked, "are the gene numbers correct according to my body or have they been rounded off?"
[Answering host…]
An emotionless mechanical voice rang in Alex's ears while the letters on the screen he was looking at changed.
[The values are correct with 100% accuracy and zero error.]
'Really weird.' Such a round figure amazed Alex. But then shaking his head, he thought, 'never mind, there's more things to worry about.'
'I need to have active genes that would form proteins. My body can currently do what every other human can at this point of time. I need to do things to activate these things. But the question is… what are those things I must do?'
Not knowing the answer to his questions, he asked the system for help.
The system answered:
[The body needs to be under great stress for long periods of time to have genes evolve.]
[Another method is that the host can purchase manuals from the shop and have an easier time.]
"…" Alex was dumbfounded with the latter half of the statement. But then he realized it was his wife that gave him this system and he was having an easy time due to her.
Being grateful for having her help him, Alex didn't shy away from going through the shop to check the manuals.
<Shop>
[Evolution: Unevolved]
[Items available for Unevolved:
#Manuals:
– Progressive overloading manual ($10,000)
– Guide to put yourself under stress ($15,000)
– Ten things to do on a date with your wife (Free)
– Five steps to unlock the first gene ($30,000)
#Equipment:
– Full body workout home gym equipment ($100)
– Neck stressor band ($1,000)
– Blessing infused resistance bands ($10,000)
#Cheats:
– Pill to unlock hundred genes ($1,000,000)
– 30 minutes of 10x strength boost ($1,000)
– 1 minute of thoughts acceleration ($5,000)
(Selection of any shall result in deduction of money from the host's bank account.)]
Looking at everything on the screen, Alex was dumbfounded once again.
'The prices are astronomical…' Alex thought to himself as analyzed the things.
Since all things were expensive, his gaze naturally fell on the item that was free and he could only click his tongue as he saw that.
'Why would I even want that?'
A second later, 'System, give me the free manual so that I can throw it in trash and not have a look at it again.'
The system did as asked and soon, a small pink colored book appeared out of thin air in front of Alex.
Alex opened his eyes and taking the book, said, "I'll check if there's anything useful in this book. Who knows maybe I get lucky and see some techniques?"
Thinking so, Alex read through each line carefully and once he came to the end, he threw the book away and said, "Tsk, there was nothing."
Alex was a smart man and he was trying to lie to himself that he didn't care about the date. But it was all fake and eventually he was surprised to know that there were pretty good date ideas in the book.
Keeping the date aside, Alex checked the shop again and looking at the prices, realized he needed to make money to buy any of this thing.
'The price of the cheat is so high, I am sure whoever put it here doesn't want me to use the cheat and do things on my own.'
Alex's analysis was spot on. Melissa didn't want him to cheat and wanted him to work hard to achieve great things. Hence, the astronomical price.
A few minutes of going through the shop later, Alex sighed and got out of his bedroom, realizing he really needed to make money to buy anything in this shop.
His bank account currently only had two hundred dollars and he was too broke to even afford a fancy dinner with Melissa.
With ambition lit inside his heart to work hard and make money, Alex went to the living room to snatch his laptop from Melissa who was supposedly surfing the internet on it.
Not even a step in there and Melissa immediately sensed him coming.
She turned to look at him and said with a cheerful smile, "Husband! Come here quick, look at this! It's super important!"
