Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1087: Disdain

As though sensing all the Demerits Sylas had on his person all at once, the All-Seeing Eye thrummed with rage. But there was a sharp focus in Sylasʼ eyes this time that hadnʼt been there before.

He could see now.

He could well and truly see.

The strength of his eyes had reached a new tier of existence, and now he could do more than just look to a looming figure high in the skies like an ant looking at the sun from above…

He could feel it, observe it, understand it…

Was it only in small part? Yes.

But was it true nonetheless?

Without a doubt.

Sylas coughed up a mouthful of blood as his body felt like it had been hit with a sledgehammer, but his grip on the Greed Seed didnʼt diminish. In fact, it grew harder.

He could feel that the crimson Eye was struggling behind him. Right now, the priority of the All-Seeing Eye seemed to have taken precedent, but Sylas could sense something…

Weakness.

The All-Seeing Eye was only formed by a temporary treasure. In all likelihood, it wouldnʼt last very long. In fact, Sylas could sense the end date quite clearly now.

There were just shy of three weeks remaining in its time.

This made Sylasʼ heart skip a beat. He had been right. The All-Seeing Eye gave him a Quest and made it feel like he had all the time in the world, when in reality, it was always planning on sending him a failure notification the moment those original 30 days were up.

Sylas sneered in his heart. He felt a sort of disdain for the All-Seeing Eye, the same sort of disdain Arcane Madness ironically had for the so-called impotent system.

The modern system might make mistakes, but it was never purposely malicious. Even when he had his Demerits, it made things harder on him in ways that he could manage. Or, most accurately, it was very straightforward with its challenges.

It never hid its hand unnecessarily like this sniveling, long-gone system had.

Sylas didnʼt understand why his thoughts had suddenly become so abrasive, at least not entirely. Part of him understood that it was probably related to the Greed Seed, and another part realized that he was well and truly angry.

He felt something churning inside of him as the pressure from the All-Seeing Eye increased, and increased further, and then pushed further than that.

It was overextending itself. It wasnʼt because it was struggling against Sylas, but because it was siphoning away a great deal of its energy to keep the crimson Eye at bay for longer so that it could deal with Sylas.

Not only was it whittling itself away as Sylasʼ Demerits only continued to increase, but it was almost suffering.

Just how much did it hate the Greed Seed? No, just how much did it hate Madness Disciples in general?

Veins popped along Sylasʼ body, blood leaking from his lips as his bones crackled. However, his Will remained firm, and his grip on the Greed Seed only tightened as his Will was further compressed.

He knew that what he was doing right now was absolute madness, but he likewise knew that he couldnʼt just continue to allow the Greed Seed to churn around in his body as it pleased.

Every time he thought he was going to reach his limit and fail, he would break past it and push again.

By the third time this happened, he was certain that it was related to his new Royal Hero Potential. It existed deep within him, allowing him to push against his own potential time and time again until the world was forced to acknowledge him.

There was a deeper and deeper Pride manifesting within him every time he did so, and so too came that familiar Wrath. Staring at the All-Seeing Eye struggling like this, he felt a sick and twisted satisfaction, as though it was all because of him it was faltering like this, like he could already imagine the day he would spear it through and knock it down from the skies.

But as he continued to push against his limits, another feeling came.

A heat. A heat from deep within his body, the sort that pulled at his loins.

Flashing images of Cassarae came hot and heavy, his mind faltering as he began to wonder where these thoughts were coming from. He had never felt such an unbridled amount of Lust in his life, and it was like if he didnʼt press something down beneath him right this moment, he would lose his mind.

But then came another feeling. It was a vague feeling he grasped when he saw the likes of Megean, when he observed those high on the Titan Leaderboard or the Combat Matrix elites…

It wasnʼt right. He was better than all of them were. They were just lucky to have been born into families far stronger than himself. Why wasnʼt his talent enough to catch up to them? To suppress them? To crush them?

The Envy pulsed through him in raging waves.

But then came that familiar feeling of disdain, the same one he felt when he looked at the All-Seeing Eye but far stronger than ever before. He felt it to the deepest depths of his soul, a Pride that crushed all others.

He looked up at it with an indifference…

And then…

CRACK.

The Greed Seed shattered, wisps of black flaking out into strings that rushed away from Sylas.

All of a sudden, Sylas felt so much lighter, so much freer.

—

[Title Upgraded]

[An Enlightening Will > An Enlightened Will]

[Your Will is truly one of a kind and has Forged its own Path. Steeped in the scent of Greed and Gluttony, a suffocating and dominating Pride and oppression of absolute Obedience, it steps out into the world. While immature and still growing, it has more than carved out its own place, aiming for a peak that the world has rarely yet seen and may never see again. Forge it well, young man… or die trying.]

[+1000 Will]

[+1000% Will]

[+1000 Charisma]

[+1000% Charisma]

—

Success.

Unfortunately, the Fury of the All-Seeing Eye was still very much there. And more oddly than that, all of the swirling emotions in the depths of Sylas suddenly became several times more potent.

But of them all… Pride and Lust seemed to be waging the bloodiest war.