Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1306: Be Strong. Be All Knowing. [2000 GT Bonus]

Sylas pushed his mind as far and as hard as he could. The world had slowed down around him by a factor of dozens, and his new Rune Spark Mastery made drawing Runes feel as though he was painting onto the world directly with his mind.

It was like the world wasn’t just responding to flashing images in his thoughts, but the intent behind them as well, the underlying intricacies and subtle meanings that every word, emotion, and expression carried.

It felt like he was communicating to the world in a language far more profound than Ancient Ithkuil, a language far more pronounced and perfect than even Gogo’s Ancestors’... and that was because it wasn’t a language at all. It came from the heart, the soul, his own personal Spark Seed.

And yet it still wasn’t enough. Not even remotely.

There wasn’t enough time.

92.5%.

Another person would have already been cursing up a storm. In fact, even Sylas would be if he wasn’t a strictly rational person. He knew that if he spent any time at all on anything other than drawing the next Rune, he would be ruining himself.

He didn’t even make it to 93% this time.

He had already slowed the world down to a crawl. He was drawing every Rune meticulously with that lagging speed. And yet it still wasn’t enough.

Trying to form all three Layers was too difficult. This was also a Rune Armor no one had ever taught or guided him in. He was flying completely blind, and even if Gralith wasn’t so focused on his suicidal task, there was nothing at all he could do to guide him either.

However, he didn’t have the luxury of forming one Layer after the next, and he had already pushed his Temporal Delay Progenitor Flame to the very limit.

Although he could push it further, if he did so he would be taking up the mental space he needed in order to actually draw the Runes.

His Wisdom had been increased by +1000%, but even that was just a finite number powered by an F-tier Foundation. There was only so far that he could take it, and—.

Sylas’ mind flashed.

In a corner of his thoughts, the one place he had left free in case he thought of a better approach, a new idea sprouted.

99% of his mind was entirely focused on pushing Temporal Delay as far as he could and drawing the Scorpion Emperor Armor again and again.

And yet, it took him three attempts before he finally made it to 93%, not from 92%, but from 92.5%.

The progress was actually shockingly fast. The voice had been commenting as though it had well and truly lost its mind from the very start, and it seemed as though there was something particularly... almost feral or off-base about it, as though it had been slowly losing its mind for a long time.

But Sylas wasn’t paying attention to this.

All at once, he abandoned drawing the Scorpion Emperor Armor, turning his attention to a memory instead. His mind mentally replayed his battle with Casteel once, then twice, then thrice.

He had found what he needed after the first time, but he had made doubly sure afterward. He refused to waste time and go back again.

He sensed every little bit of it. The way he moved his Aether, the way he drew his Runes.

And then he began to calculate, restructuring what he saw.

It was difficult. That was because Sylas was first comprehending the Rhino Warlord Armor, and then he was deducing what pieces of it were different from what was part of the original Armor...

And those ”faulty” pieces were exactly the Skill he was looking for. The Skill that allowed Casteel to pause in drawing his Armor, allowing him to draw it piece by perfect piece.

Sylas hadn’t been able to do this before. But at the moment, he felt like all F-tier Runes were at his beck and call, following the cadence of his breath as evenly as the beating of his heart.

Maybe in his entire life, he had well and truly never been so focused, so dead set on a single pursuit.

[Suspended Stroke].

The name of the technique practically roared in Sylas’ mind as he comprehended it, its Runes dancing in his mind as though they had formed their own personal little corner.

’Not good enough.’

He took the technique as a foundation, feeling out the Runes inside of it until he found exactly what he was looking for.

He was right—although a minor part of it, there were some aspects of [Suspended Stroke] that used concepts from Time Runes. However, they weren’t a major part. Though they were key in the foundation, they made up maybe 1 or 2% of the mesh of Runes.

However, Sylas immediately grasped them, drawing them again and again until...

Spark Mastery... 85%.

92%...

97%...

98%...

99%....

100%.

Sylas never thought that the second Rune he would draw to such perfection would be an insignificant corner of a technique practically everyone in the Sanctum could use, but he didn’t care.

As Gralith’s leg began to descend toward the next step, he activated [Suspended Stroke], beginning to draw out his Scorpion Emperor Armor once again.

This time, it was like he could wheel his Armor forward in progress and back as he pleased, erasing, undoing, and then moving forward again.

He seemed to have forgotten the world, forgotten Gralith’s descending foot. He didn’t smell death at all. He would succeed, he would always succeed.

He was Sylas Grimblade. He would always find a path to victory.

Be Strong.

Be All Knowing.

The words reverberated in his mind again and again as he completed the First Layer.

And then the Second Layer.

And then the Third Layer just as Gralith’s foot was about to touch the step.

”Stop!” Sylas snapped out before he saw his completion percentage, roaring to Gralith at the top of his lungs.

Gralith’s foot touched the step.

99% Mastery.

Sylas had sent the Unique Gene to fuse to him if he hit 100%.

Unfortunately, he didn’t.

BOOM!