by Rosiac
Some creatures are born with golden crests and DNA that makes them destined for greatness. Lemony was only worth a box of lemons. For ten years he was a servant at the Pamon mansion, raised as a punching bag, a slave, and eventually a creature so beaten down he forgot how to feel anything at all. Then they blamed him for a murder he didn't commit and threw him through a portal. The portal led to the Peak of the First Rib, a frozen wasteland built inside the skeleton of a god that died millions of years ago. It's where the kingdom sends its trash to be eaten by an ancient beast named Malphas. But at the absolute bottom of his life, when he was literally freezing to death in the snow, someone asked him a question: "Have you ever truly lived?" Lemony didn't have an answer. He was no one. He'd never been anyone. So he decided to change. What followed was a process the old texts call Metanoia. --- A great quote from the novel: "I'm a Lemon. An insult to my identity. But I'll take it. Even if I'll be the sourest thing this kingdom has ever tasted." — Lemony, Chapter 10 --- What to expect: · A creature-only world where power comes from stealing DNA strands and evolving into something new. · Real biology, zoology, and anatomy twisted into a magic system that actually makes sense. · No harem. · Huge worldbuilding with secret groups, ancient beasts, and kingdoms that aren't what they seem. --- A Message from the Author: Look, I’ll be honest with you. This novel starts off pretty slow. It’s a bit of a crawl at the beginning, but if you’re looking for something that isn't just another copy-paste cultivation/system/academy story, stick around. --- Why I actually wrote this: It started with ants. I was just sitting there, staring at a line of them on the dirt, and it hit me. If those tiny things decided to undergo a massive evolutionary jump—if they just got bigger—we’d be dead. Totally wiped out! They’d kill us whenever they felt like it. Then I started looking at flies, spiders, everything. What happens when nature decides it’s done being small? At first, I was binging Detective Conan, so I thought, "Hey, let's make a murder mystery with evolving monsters." Then I realized that was a lot of work, so I stopped thinking about this whole thing for months. When I finally came back to it, I had to figure out the MC. I almost made him a transmigrated spy, but that felt like a cheap deus ex machina move. It was too easy. If I took away the spy stuff, he was just some generic guy. So, I took a risk. I decided to make him a complete blank slate... someone totally emotionless who has to learn how to feel during the first arc. I gave him a history so miserable that his only real personality is his survival instinct. Which is why his trauma isn't just a backstory, it's his biological advantage to basically survive in near-death experience. So, why is he a cat creature? I don’t know, man. It just felt right. Why is his name Lemony? Because I was literally holding a lemon when I typed the first page. Anyway, I’m done rambling. Go read the first few chapters and see the mess I’ve created. ---
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