Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1307: Gene Detected

The world rocked, and Sylas felt as though his entire body had been thrown into chaos.

’Not good...’

It was the one thought he seemed capable of having at all. In this sort of situation, pain wasn’t something to avoid. In fact, it was something he hoped to feel. If he could feel pain, it meant his body was still there, it was still intact—he could still feel and experience what it meant to be alive.

If all he could feel was chaos... was there even a body of his own remaining at all? Was he still alive?

He couldn’t see, he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t even feel. It was like he had already been blasted to smithereens, nothing remaining of himself outside of the Will he was so proud of—a Will that was so powerful that he would get the privilege of experiencing the last moments of his life.

’I failed.’

The realization slammed into him and seemed to come with the wave of pain he had been hoping for. But it wasn’t the pain of his body—it was the pain of inadequacy, that feeling of helplessness that he tried to avoid so much, to grow beyond.

It was like he was standing in that damned volcano again, the one memory that refused to stop haunting him. Every time he thought he got rid of it, it came back stronger and faster, more vicious and cancerous than before.

He had been so confident. He was right there. Even until the last moment, he didn’t waver. And yet, when he thought he was going to reach the 100% Mastery he was chasing after, he failed.

The irony? He knew exactly why that was.

What was even more ironic than that? It wasn’t something that he could have understood before he finished the last Stroke.

The essence of the Scorpion was sacrifice.

Could there be happiness without sadness? Hatred without love?

Bravery without fear?

Did he really understand the essence of sacrifice if he never thought he would fail in the first place? If he was so confident in his win every time, how could he perfectly mesh with the Scorpion?

Fury began to build up within Sylas’ chest, overwhelming the pain that was aching in his very Will.

Why should he have to die if he was strong enough? Why should he have to give up anything he desired or deserved? If he was perfect, there was no need to have such a sacrificial, suicidal approach to life.

Change it.

A growl came from the depths of his body and soul, a vicious momentum defiant to the very end—the sort that didn’t want to accept that he no longer had a body at all.

He didn’t need a body to draw Runes in the first place. All he needed was his Will and his Spark Seed—a Spark Seed that was moments from blooming.

ROAR.

The world around Sylas seemed to freeze for a moment, and an Armor began to snap and shingle itself into place. One illusory metallic layer after another, layering in gorgeous dark violets, deep blacks, touches of mahogany, and accents of gold coming together.

He didn’t have to sacrifice a thing if he was just better.

And he was better.

A pulse of crimson radiated out from what remained of Sylas, his True Pride Seed taking root even deeper into his body—so deep that it seemed to have become an inextricable part of him, something that he had been born with rather than something that chose him after birth itself.

The last piece of the Scorpion Emperor Armor slid into place. It was all so perfect, so grand.

Pillars of light pulsed into the air, a radiant aura spreading out across the Sanctum’s planet in waves of gorgeous gold. It well and truly seemed like a God was being born.

100% Mastery.

The realization chimed like bells in Sylas’ mind. He was better. He was right about himself. So long as he was Strong, so long as he was All Knowing, he would be untouchable. There wouldn’t be anything he couldn’t do.

He had done even this—something Gralith had probably spent his entire life chasing after, hoping after—only to try and steer him away from this path because he knew well that it was a dead end.

Maybe that was because he thought that Sylas couldn’t do it and would only harm himself, or maybe it was because he felt that succeeding would only bring down even more trouble than that.

Sylas was fairly sure that he was right about the state of things. This Warlord Sanctum... maybe it was just one of many of the like. While their Armors were the inferior sort, there was a higher, more perfect order out there using Armors countless times more powerful.

How would they react if someone below them suddenly formed this perfected Armor? Maybe with rage, or maybe with acceptance—the latter of which Sylas felt that he would be naive to believe.

But what could he do? Purposely weaken himself for the sake of an organization he hadn’t even confirmed the existence of?

And in this case, he hadn’t had a choice. The reason he was chasing perfection was because he had felt the control he could have over Gralith. The only way to stop the man from charging up was to form the Scorpion Emperor Armor and then command him to stop. Due to the synergy between the two Armors, and how perfectly Sylas had drawn his, he was fairly certain that he could command Gralith to do as he pleased.

That was the solution he had found.

In the end, he was a step late. But he still found peace...

He had done it. He had succeeded. And now this Unique Gene was his. He now just had to find a way to survive... just like he always did.

His Will reached out.

—

[F-Grade Legendary Gene Detected]

[Unable to Absorb]

—

Sylas froze. He froze so completely and wholly that he almost didn’t notice the golden temple doors slowly opening.