Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1918: Finished

The most shocking part about this poison was that it technically wasnʼt poison in the normal sense. It was, strictly speaking, acid. And it wasnʼt part of the abilities of the World Serpent at all, at least not directly.

The World Serpent never used this ability in battle. It simply ate and the generations upon generations of evolution it had experienced thanks to its ancestors did the rest.

Maybe the World Serpent had a Gene Talent related to it. But it was clear that while it was in a deep sleep, it wasnʼt actively using anything. If it was, once again... Sylas would be dead.

However, much like Sylas had every intention of turning the Hydra into a Serpentes, he likewise could take aspects of an acid and turn it into that of a poison.

Not only could he do that, but he just might have a way of incorporating it into the Grimblade Bloodline as well.

Sylasʼ eyes flashed and he suddenly took a tough step back. He breathed heavily, his heart beating out of his chest.

Images of something he hadnʼt thought of in a long time filled his mind, that of a child playing with intestines and inner organs as though play dough.

He slowly regained his calm, the emerald and violet lightning flashing out of existence. They receded back into the corner of his eyes and vanished into his irises.

ʼWas that the final ploy of the Rat?ʼ

Sylas didnʼt expect that there would still be such a shadow on his heart.

He crushed it.

If the Rat thought it was possible to make him feel bad or fall into Greed just because he gained pleasure from learning from corpses, he certainly had another thing coming.

There was nothing that his Pride couldnʼt overcome.

What chance did a fake Beast of Greed stand against his True Pride?

Sylasʼ gaze flickered. ʼWhat if...ʼ

In that moment, Sylas reaffirmed his decision to complete at least the Scorpion Lineage of the Emperor Sanctum.

He was right. The methods of the Rat shouldnʼt have been so effective on him at all. The only reason they had a chance was because Sylas was in the process of comprehending True Greed by proxy of the Scorpion.

He wasnʼt actively doing it, but he had perfected the F-tier Emperor Armor. Ironically, maybe if he had absorbed the Gene, the roots of the Rat would have sunk deeper into him.

ʼNot if Iʼm aware of it.ʼ

Sylas waved a hand and controlled chaos seemed to form. Sweeping emerald and amethyst bolts of lightning danced around a mirrored crystal of the green and violet gems. It was a sight beyond what words alone could describe.

This wasnʼt just any 100 Foundation F-tier Aether, it was a 100 Foundation F-tier Aether that could completely crush even his 10,000 Foundation Glassvolt Aether, and it wouldnʼt even be particularly close.

Sylas waved his hand and it vanished, the same image appearing again. But this time, it was larger, more imposing, grandiose and all-encompassing in an almost suffocating sort of way.

It was a 10,000 Foundation E-tier Aether, but much like the 100 Foundation F-tier Aether that came before it, it was on a level all to itself.

There would be very few Mortal D-tiers who didnʼt automatically die if he slipped this poison into them. In fact, with the principles it was built on, even C-tiers would have to put some effort into fighting it off.

Of course, it would be negligible to a C-tier unless Sylas could continuously apply it.

ʼIf I modify [Glassvolt Throne] in the same way, comprehending Worlds will also be far easier. In fact...ʼ

Sylas began to rearrange his Gene Class Skills one after another, zipping through them as though it wasnʼt difficult at all.

The beauty of Seeing Weaver-the third ability of his Runeweaver Eyes-was that he could see everything in terms of their Runes. He could break down even his own Gene Class Skills.

While it was ”just” a Silver Profession, the gap it was missing Sylas could more than make up with his own understanding and mastery of Runes.

By the time Sylas was finished, he had somehow both fundamentally changed, and yet looked like he hadnʼt changed at all.

Sylas wondered if this would fundamentally change his Gene Class or not. It didnʼt look like it, but would the system feel the changes when he triggered his Gene Class advancement? Or would nothing happen.

Sylas tossed this to the back of his mind. He didnʼt plan on being here when the World Serpent woke up, so the rest of what he needed to do was comprehend the Hydraʼs Genes. He needed enough to be able to reconstruct its entire body at the F-tier level.

Without pause, Sylas stood and stared. Every bubble pop came with another cascading change to the diagrams he was building in his own mind.

Step by step, the picture became clearer and clearer, and whenever he was confused, he reverse engineered the decomposition that must have been caused by the acid.

Three hours later, Sylas closed his eyes and exhaled slowly.

He was finished.

If others knew that he had successfully reconstructed the body of an F-tier God Beast from bits and pieces of decomposed flesh in such a short period of time... The result could have been imagined.

It wasnʼt just about Genes, he needed to reconstruct Gene Talents, Blood Essence, Bone Essence, even going as far as Potential and beyond.

This wasnʼt as simple as drawing Genes. It was practically playing God.

But Sylas knew that this was the simplest part. All of this would be worthless unless he could find a Will or combination of Wills that would work as a fill-in for the Hydra. And using a substitute like this would almost guarantee that the creature would never grow as powerful as a true Hydra.

However, it didnʼt matter in the slightest. A God Beast was a God Beast. Being weaker than one wasnʼt an insult. On the stage Sylas was on now, it would be more than adequate.

It was time to go.

”Have you finished?”

A voice echoed in Sylasʼ skull, shattering his eardrums and causing them to bleed black.

No, it wasnʼt a voice. It sounded like an infinite number of them, all layered in countless tones and inflections that came together to shatter his Will.

Sylasʼ vision proceeded black.