Genetic Ascension

Chapter 957  Stone

A feeling of euphoria overcame Sylas, but it was almost like he could feel that there was more to gain, more potential to unearth.

But then he felt the pain.

A ripping, tearing feeling came from his throat, or rather their throats. At the same time, Sylasʼs body itself was ravaged by the sound waves.

While it was safest to keep his body within Gogoʼs mouth, what he didnʼt expect was for the call to be so… violent.

Technically speaking, the amplification should have happened after the sound waves passed through the Rune itself. But what he hadnʼt accounted for was something triggering within Gogoʼs body.

There was a snap and one of Gogoʼs Locked Genes was undone, a great wave of power radiating out.

Sylas had been so busy that he hardly looked at Gogoʼs stats after the completion of the Gold Leg of his Quest. But once again, he could feel a great evolution, one maybe even more shocking than after he completed the Gold Leg alone…

—

[Basilisk King (Gold)]

[Level: 30]

[Physical: 29.999]

[Strength: 29.999]

[Constitution: 29.999]

[Dexterity: 29.999]

[Speed: 29.999]

[Mental: 28.663]

[Intelligence: 29.999]

[Wisdom: 25.991]

[Charisma: 29.999]

[Will: 31.113]

—

Sylas checked the stats, doing the math in his own head to remove any additions from his own that might have been triggered from Total Merge.

The result was shocking.

These stats… Sylasʼ own were capped at 19,999 back on Earth. If not for this Quest, didnʼt that mean that Gogoʼs stats would be nearing 30,000? And somehow, Sylas felt that he was still letting Gogo down.

ʼDoes this mean that if I decipher more of Gogoʼs name…ʼ

Sylas had inadvertently stumbled into another path for Gogoʼs progress. But shockingly enough, his Insight Path Talent hadnʼt shown him this path.

ʼVipermancy canʼt see through Gogoʼs Lineage…ʼ

This was the only logical conclusion. The complexities of Gogoʼs name were even beyond his own understanding.

Given his talent, distilling Gogoʼs name into a Rune based on Ancient Ithkuil should have been a matter of a breath. But not only did it take him two hours, but it also wasnʼt even remotely complete.

How much more of Gogoʼs Genes would he be able to unlock if—

Sylas stiffened.

…

There was a flash, an endless sea of memories and knowledge streaming in.

He was soaring through the skies, commanding the clouds. Reaching out with a claw, he stepped onto the puffy whiteness as though it was a stairway to heaven itself, his wings opening wide.

Blotting out the sun, he felt like he could command the sea and the waves. The way the air passed through the crown of bone on his head only made him feel more superior.

All things in this world were his, and his alone.

What couldnʼt he have? Who could even stop him from having what he should have?

…

He crushed the cloud with a claw, rising up and feeling the cool mist streaming through his scales. But then they thundered.

As though being provoked, he raised his head to the skies and roared. His throat expanded, a sonic wave of fueled arrogance and bravado streaming up.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Concentric circles of concentrated air crushed everything in its path, turning it all to stone and then shattering it to pieces.

But after the first strike of lightning crumbled…

There came a second.

And from the second, there came a third…

And then a fourth.

He continued to stand mightily in the skies, uncaring, undaunted. It didnʼt matter how many came, he would crush them all. This was what he deserved… to stand on top of the world.

Who were these laws to tell him how high he could climb and how much he could have?

He wanted it all.

But eventually…

His throat began to grow hoarse, his scales began to crack, his claws began to dull.

And then the first strikes of lightning hit him, crossing his scales and reaching down to the depths of his flesh.

It was a suffocating feeling… the feeling of reaching the end of it all… a feeling that he never thought he would feel in all his life.

Full.

A single strike was all it took for his arrogance to crumble to ash.

He fell from the skies, his claws and wings turning to stone.

When he crashed into the earth below, they shattered on impact, his jaw being smashed against the ground.

He tried to stand, only to realize his arms were gone.

He tried to move the wings to his back, only to realize there was nothing left but nubs of nothingness. Even the muscles that once allowed them to blot out the sun didnʼt seem to be there any longer.

He tried to rise, but he barely lifted his head before his jaw came crashing down to the ground again.

And yet, it wasnʼt over.

Another strike of lightning descended from above, and then another.

It buried him into the dirt, using what once was his mightiest ability against him and petrifying even his pride itself.

The crown of bone on his head crumbled to ash as he lay in a crater, consumed by his own inferiority toward the might far above his head.

There was nothing that he could do to fight back… not even the Will remained.

He wanted so much more for himself, he wanted to swallow the skies themselves, to turn them to stone and add them to his collection, to force them to lay in a pile of nothingness and be present only as a display for others.

But those skies were too high, too powerful…

His eyes closed, a shudder coming from the depths of his body as his Will collapsed.

…

Sylas felt like he was falling, and falling. He had seen something he wasnʼt supposed to see, and now it felt as though his own Will was collapsing along with it.

He tried to reach out a hand toward the light, but he grasped at nothing but air as it grew further and further away.

And then… he couldnʼt see it anymore.