Genetic Ascension

Chapter 476: Spinalcoil [Bonus]

[Brown Snake (?)]

[Cost: 1,200,050 (F) Coins]

Sylas looked at this price for a long time, even wondering if he had seen wrongly. But every time he looked, it was the same.

The question mark didnʼt mean that this snake was some sort of powerhouse, which was likely why there was just one question mark this time instead of three, like he was used to seeing in such a situation. Instead, it was because the egg had yet to be properly appraised, and this ”shop” had a bit of a gacha situation going on.

As for the name ”brown snake,” that was just a casual label meant to be a clue as to its origin. After all, there was some low-level appraising going on just for the sake of categorizing the eggs into their proper categories.

If it was just that, it would be fine. But Sylas had the eyes of a Vipermancer. He knew that this egg was completely worthless, and yet it was set at 1.2 million Coins.

Brown Snake might as well be its actual name. It had, expectedly, brown scales and would only grow to about three feet in length. Other than that, it would be pretty decent at spitting in your face for a distraction. If you expected anything else, well... it was best you not expect anything in the first place, honestly.

The main issue wasnʼt that this snake was so weak; it was that they were all weak. No matter where he looked, Sylas found worthless eggs being put up for upwards of five million.

It was a shameless money grab that existed for just one reason, apparently... the hope of something great.

These eggs, once they hatched, would expectedly become attached. If you played it safe and got a contract Template, you could gain a combat pet. Though this would be inferior to a Combat Mount that could scale with your stats and would naturally understand your commands and orders, for people who just wanted an extra bit of safety and protection in this world, such pets could be worth a lot.

The brown snake was truly pathetic, but there were some eggs here that had the potential to become FF and FF+ threats if raised correctly.

But Sylas had no intention of wasting a slot on a Common Beast.

It seemed like it was a dead end here.

ʼHm?ʼ

Sylas left the region but then found something else interesting.

ʼCity Protectors...ʼ

This was a category of beasts that Sylas had never seen before. They seemed tied to the fate of a city and had ridiculous Constitution as a result. They were a lot like the formation Cassarae bought back then to protect the city from the sudden attack.

But they were even more expensive. Even the weakest was five million, and the strongest present here were easily ten times that. There was even one that was over nine figures.

Sylas wasnʼt anywhere near able to afford such a thing right now. And even if he could, it wouldnʼt help him very much. After all, it wasnʼt like he was a walking city.

A City Protector needed a City Stele to be bound to in order for it to work properly.

ʼIʼll keep this in mind.ʼ

Sylas was about to leave entirely when he paused again. This time, it wasnʼt because he had seen something new or interesting. Instead, he wondered...

Should he have filtered by Serpentes?

His experience with Nosphaleen had taught him that not every Serpentes was an obvious one on the surface.

Considering how poor the identification and appraisal methods used on these eggs were, who was to say that some didnʼt slip through the cracks?

With his Vipermancy Profession, so long as there was something to be found, he would surely sense it.

Sylas went back and opened up the category filters. As expected, there were hundreds of times more beast eggs to analyze like this.

He scanned through them one by one with great speed. He trusted his Profession and his instincts. There was no need to waste time going through every description. He just popped the egg up, sensed for a split moment, and if there was nothing, he continued.

This went on for several minutes, and Sylas had already been through over a thousand by

now.

Most of the time, he felt absolutely nothing. Although he had what was technically a Beast Master Profession, he had no understanding of beasts outside of Serpentes.

But then it happened.

[Bone-tailed Lizard (?)]

[Cost: 2,250,000 (F) Coins]

Sylas hesitated.

This was the first time he had actually sensed something from an egg here, but it felt so vague and fleeting... even more vague than what he had felt from Nosphaleen.

ʼWell, that might not be true. I didnʼt sense anything from Nosphaleen at all until she started using her Beast Totem Comprehension. But here, I can sense something even though the beast has yet to be born. It should be slightly easier... Interesting...ʼ

The beast here wasnʼt a Serpentes, at least not in the normal sense. Instead, it seemed to have undergone an odd mutation that made a series of Genes within it mimic another Serpentes

quite closely.

This Serpentes was known as the Spinalcoil Serpent.

It was Bronze Beast that was quite unique in the Serpentes line because it had the ability to control its bones to attack. Under the right conditions, it could even affect the bones of an

opponent.

The details were a bit fuzzy to Sylas because the Spinalcoil Serpent Genes in this lizard were so faint. However, he believed that this snake had a very special poison that could quickly target and erode bones. Once the poison set in during combat, it was even possible for the serpent to directly control the body of an opponent. Or, rather, their bones.

Then, the serpent could either directly kill the target or even turn them into a lance against others, manipulating them into projectiles or any other form they could think of.