Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1862: Because

Khanʼs laughter came from above. ”I told you what would happen, Gwenu. But you insisted on fighting him.”

”You fight him, then!”

”Absolutely not.” Khan smiled brightly.

”You three stop goofing around. Master is waiting.” Ekearʼs voice came from a distant place.

Gwenu grunted. She could hardly move right now, and she didnʼt know if she wanted to.

Khan hopped down and slung her over a shoulder. ”Off we—”

He looked back to find that Sylas was already gone. Khan could only shake his head. This littlest disciple brother of theirs was truly an anomaly.

”Sylas,” Gralith said calmly. ”Whatʼs your purpose this time?”

Ekearʼs lip twitched.

Honestly, the dynamic between Sylas and Gralith wasnʼt one he liked all that much, especially since Sylas refused to call Gralith Master. It was irritating.

However, Ekear found it hard to say anything because it was thanks to Sylas that Gralith was back. All things considered, Sylas had done more for Gralith than every one of them.

But by the same token, Sylas owed Gralith a lot as well. There was a reason people usually had such strong love for their masters-especially the good ones.

Even so, it was fine if Sylas was a little standoffish, but Gralith himself looked to also play into it. It was like Gralith spoke to Sylas like they were equals rather than what they should be—master and disciple.

”I was curious about my Combat Matrix Index right now,” Sylas said. ”Iʼm not sure of my limits. I would also like to understand the situation of the Emperor and Warlord Sanctums a bit more.”

It was often hard to keep track of what was going on in Sylasʼ life because there was so much, but there was nothing that Sylas himself would ever forget.

Namely, before Sylas stirred the pot of not just one, but two Heavens, and enraged the Thryskai of the Mortal and God Tiers for that matter, he had first pissed off the Emperor Sanctum.

Sylas did this by snatching a ton of their Karma for himself and forcing it into the then 073, now 001 Sanctum. By doing so, he had effectively stunted the Emperor Sanctumʼs growth.

This was currently the 714th Cycle of the Emperor Sanctum. The current acting Warlords were only the 713th.

At the end of every Cycle, there would be a gathering. This gathering occurred much earlier than usual for several reasons, but the main cause of it all was the Thryskai who were racing to gather enough Karma to allow themselves to progress to Demi-Godhood first.

Back then, Sylasʼ actions in the gathering had ended up being the whole reason Rhykanʼs Purvon Clan could position themselves as Demi-God in the first place.

This was all to say that not only did Sylas snatch a majority of the Karma for Rhykan, what remained he directed into the 073 Sanctum to make them the 001 Sanctum.

These two factors together worked in tandem to place the Emperor Sanctum in a remarkably poor position where they had to quickly accumulate more Karma to prevent the decline of their power.

Due to this, they entered a state of what was essentially war, allowing free reign to their Branches and even the Emperor Sanctum Clan Lineages to do whatever they pleased to quickly gather more Karma by accomplishing feats and the like.

This was also quite an important period for another reason. Namely, the fact that the 713th Cycle was technically finished now, it was time to name the 714th Warlords.

This had been ongoing the entire time. But Sylas was distracted by trying to make it to the E-tier and dealing with Earthʼs Summoning.

Now that that was complete, he was back, and Ekear, Khan, and Gwenu had all been expecting to hear him say something to the effect that he was finally ready to help the new 001 Sanctum weather the storm.

After all, they were a prime target now. They were crowned with what many thought was an undeserved 001 ranking. They hadnʼt even had a single B-tier until Gralith, and Gralith wasnʼt even part of one of the strongest four Lineages on top of being a recent progressor.

Most didnʼt even know that Gralith had taken this step either.

Right now, Sylas was quite literally their best asset. But he came back and said...

”Combat... Matrix... Index?” Even Khan was speechless.

Who cared about something like that right now?

They were dealing with a ton of opposition. Aside from the obvious ploys, there were some who were trying to join their branch as new Lineages like the Bat Lineage had done before.

The stronger their pressure grew, the more difficult it would be to say no to all of them.

And because they were under the same umbrella of the Emperor Sanctum, they didnʼt experience the suppression of the Milky Way Sector as heavily as other enemies would.

In fact, because of the Emperor Sanctumʼs new special emergency state they had enacted, so long as these people were within their 001 Sanctumʼs territory, they would have access to their full range of powers and abilities.

This was an existential moment, not the time to be curious about how powerful you had grown.

In fact, if Sylas wanted to test that out so badly, then he should at least do it on a battlefield.

Gralithʼs response, though, left them even more speechless.

”Okay. Then I assume you want to head to the Emperor Sanctum afterward?”

Sylas nodded. ”Iʼll climb the steps.”

”You know what climbing the steps entails?”

”I do.”

”You wonʼt have any protection there. Even if I went with you, they are too far beyond me.”

”I have no need for protection.”

Gralith looked at Sylas deeply for a very long time before he spoke again.

”And youʼre aware that going to the Emperor Sanctum means youʼll be in armʼs reach of the Seeing Eye Guild?”

”I guessed.” Sylas nodded.

”Then why?” Gralith asked.

Normally, Sylas wouldnʼt bother to explain. But for Gralith, he chose to do exactly that.

”Because they wonʼt expect it. Because I know the Emperor Sanctum has plans to change their current situation.

”Because they canʼt touch me even if I was right in front of them.”