Genetic Ascension

Chapter 2126: Criteria

Why would the Angels be interfering in something like this? Even if this was the case, whatever changes occurred would be happening at the Mortal and Demi-God levels at most.

They clearly knew this as well, otherwise they wouldnʼt be trying to play politics and decide who progressed to Demi-Godhood and who didnʼt.

Sylas hadnʼt known that he was playing into their hands when he stiffed the Purvon out of their promotion. But it was also quite clear that he had almost helped the Angels too much with his actions.

They had been planning all of this over the course of millennia, and if Salivar was supposed to be their true spearhead… well, the man had only just entered the E-tier. Even if you factored in his talent, it would take until he reached the B-tier at least before he was truly worthy of heading this sort of operation.

That was to say that the Angels certainly expected this would take a lot longer.

Even the fastest at reaching the B-tier in the Mortal Realm needed centuries. For Sylas to reach his current level of strength as fast as he did was a complete anomaly—though that much was obvious. Yet, even Sylas was a long way away from the B-tier.

The more talented you were, the more of your potential you needed to excavate. There was a reason why despite his age, Salivar had only just entered the E-tier.

This was all well and good, but it did nothing to address the elephant in the room. Why were the angels so interested in something occurring on the Mortal Plane?

Unless… it was something that affected them.

Two had mentioned True Merger, but this felt off to Sylas. If this sort of thing would have benefitted the Angels, then they should have found a way to come personally even if it was at a heavy cost.

They had plenty of descendants and pawns here, so why were they using proxies and fighting battles with two, three, even four degrees of separation?

And more importantly, why were the Thryskai so passive?

No, that was wrong. The Thryskai were being far more aggressive considering their current position.

As a group of people who were secretly Demons, the last thing they would ever want would be to be exposed. At that point, the entire Real Plane could come down on their heads.

That, then, led to another question.

Why were the Thryskai here to play ”humanoid” in the first place? Could it be they were attracted by the same thing the Angels were?

ʼTrue Merger…ʼ

Back when Sylas deduced the Thryskai had to be Demons, he had done so because the Skai Heaven was far too weak. He concluded that the Thryskai must be confusing the system about how to go forward.

Part of it was definitely because Will was too difficult to craft a path for, but another part was certainly because the Demonic Will the Thryskai had access to was only muddying the water further.

This would also explain why the Thryskai were so invested in the Madness Disciples.

Sure, it made sense for the Madness Disciples—Disciples who focused on Will—to be concentrated in the Heaven that specialized in Will. But for them to practically have no presence in the other Heavens other than at the highest levels, and yet for there to be so many stragglers here at the lower levels of the Skai Heaven… Clearly, the Thryskai wanted their existence to proliferate. After all, the Madness Disciples were the perfect example of Will and Demonic Will co-existing.

If ever such oddities were detected, they could probably blame it on the Madness Disciples and wash their hands of it.

Still, all this explained why the Thryskai were able to continue hiding, but not why they were actually here in the first place.

ʼRhykan.ʼ

There was another flicker in Sylasʼ eyes.

He had noticed Rhykan that day, he had noted that the latter was just a clone, he just hadnʼt cared. But why would Rhykan not be present for such a thing? Unless he had already left.

If Rhykan didnʼt care about that event, he wouldnʼt have even sent a clone. But if he cared enough, why send a clone and not come with his real body?

ʼHeʼs already on the Demi-God Plane, preparing.ʼ

Preparing for what?

The question kept coming back, over and over again. The same question, repeated time and time again.

That was when Sylas remembered something.

The situation in the Mancer Scape was very off. It was like it was both the Demi-God Plane and not. There were aspects of it, but it was technically still the Mortal Plane, almost like it was being combined into one, and yet somehow also kept separate.

It felt like the answer was on the tip of Sylasʼ tongue.

And then, like a flash, he had one more image make its presence known so furiously it was almost like a flashbang in his skull.

The slow descent of Nosphaleenʼs feather, the Crowʼs feather.

He had been so focused on the aura that it was giving off, the aura that confirmed that Nosphaleen was alive, that he had neglected something extremely important… Why revive Nosphaleen? To deal with him? To keep him out of the way?

No, that wasnʼt what he had neglected. He had already thought of those questions.

What he had really neglected was the question of how.

First he randomly gained the Virtue Lust Seed.

Then Keyesen of all people formed the Virtue Greed Seed.

Then Nosphaleen formed the Virtue Envy Seed.

But what was the problem with this?

Sylasʼ own Virtue Lust Seed could make sense, he really had comprehended the Virtue of Lust through evolution itself. But still, he hadnʼt even really been thinking about Lust at the time. It just… appeared.

Then Keyesen… sure, he had awakened a God Spirit very close to the true Ancient Scorpion, its origin ancestor, but did he really deserve to awaken the Virtue Greed Seed? Really?

Then Nosphaleen… had she really understood the Virtue of Envy? If she understood the Virtue, then why had her aura felt so angry and vindictive?

It was almost like the threshold you needed to meet was forcefully lowered, almost like the criteria was changing, like the laws that once dictated things were twisting on a scale so large even the Virtues were being affected.

Maybe something on a scale so large that…

ʼThe Skai and Cryst Heavens are fusing together.ʼ