Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1177: Rewards (14) [Bonus]

[Niceee is the kindest person I know, not an evil bone in his body. Not sure what I was thinking with my last post]

Sylas chose to set his Rune Mastery adventures down for the time being, realizing that the little girl was probably right in this respect. He should try and see what his other rewards were.

Cassarae didn’t look like she was anywhere close to being finished, and if he was going to be here for a while, he should optimize his time. It would be silly if there was something in these two rewards that could help him make that time more efficient, and yet he chose to ignore it.

‘Hm?’

Sylas picked out one of two final remaining rewards and looked at it for a moment. It was a complicated, swirling Rune, covered in so many layers that it would have probably been hard for him to even look at it just moments ago.

‘A Gene Talent? An Elevated Gene Talent,’ Sylas seemed to confirm.

Even now, Sylas’ Gene Talents were a mess. Arcane Storm, his one Elevated Gene Talent, was actually quite good in terms of power output, but he basically never used it. There was Blade Aura, which was ironically lacking despite the fact Sylas had gotten a superior Grimblade Unique Gene to pair with it. And finally—ignoring the most useless of them—there was Aetherflow, which he relied on the heaviest, but also happened to lag behind his needs quite a great deal.

The main issue Sylas faced with Gene Talents, though, was that… he couldn’t increase their Mastery quickly like he could with Skills.

For Skills, he could decipher them, comprehend them, break them down and quickly set himself on a path to success.

A Gene Talent, though, was like a muscle that had to be continuously exercised. As someone jumping from one danger to the next, he couldn’t afford to just casually use abilities that would leave his body gassed, and he was rarely in a training montage sort of situation where he could drill them infinitely.

That left most of the Gene Talents other than Aetherflow in limbo, and yet Aetherflow was too weak to rely on heavily either.

Unfortunately, Gene Crystals were just too rare. Sylas had been through a lot, and he had been getting a ton of rewards these days, but ironically enough, his feats were too great to be rewarded with “mere” Gene Crystals, and yet Gene Crystals were still too rare to just stumble into.

The fact he was just getting a Gene Talent right now was actually quite disappointing. He had no desire for one at all.

But since it was here, it also didn’t really make sense for him to ignore it, so he tried to scan it.

—

[Elevating Gene Source (???) (Gene Talent)]

[???]

—

Sylas’ eyes flashed. ‘Hm?’

After realizing it was a Gene Talent, Sylas actually stopped trying to see much deeper. But when he saw this, he suddenly got interested again and began dissecting things.

The more he looked, the more his eyes glowed.

This so-called Gene Talent wasn’t just any Gene Talent at all. Instead, it existed purely as a parasite of sorts, latching onto an existing Gene Talent and improving it substantially—presumably to the level this Elevating Gene Source was at.

Given the question marks, that level wasn’t actually clear. But whatever it was, Sylas knew for a fact it was far better than his current Aetherflow.

He didn’t even hesitate. This was exactly what he needed, and there was nothing he would rather use it on.

Though it was tempting to use it on Blade Aura because of its synergy with his Will, why bet on something somewhat unsure when he could have easy money?

—

[Aetherborne Will (Common) (Elevated Gene Talent)]

Aether not bound by body or soul, nor by proximity or closeness. Your breath, and that of the world around you, synergize with the pulse of your Will and the sway of your intent. You may be the anchor, the foundation upon which the energy around you flows, but the fluidity belies distance and ignores closeness. Even unattached, your Aether lingers, tracing the bounds of the world and persistent in its pursuit of your focus.

—

Sylas felt a rush in the depths of his body, a churning in the rotating layers of his soul. There was an upsurge within him that felt like so much more than everything, but when he looked to his status page, his eyes couldn’t help but sharpen.

His Gene Talents—they were all gone. Even Arcane Storm was gone. All that was left was Aetherborne Will. It had replaced everything.

It seemed that there were some side effects to this sort of thing, but quite frankly… Sylas didn’t mind it at all.

He took a breath and slowly triggered Aetherborne Will.

The feeling was odd at first, almost like the pool of Aether he could pull on didn’t just come from his body alone anymore, but the world around him as well. Not just the world around him… but the entire range of his Visualization.

That feeling was too difficult to fathom, almost as though the power was too much. But before Sylas could bask in it for too long, trying to comprehend it, his heart stopped beating.

Sylas collapsed to the ground, his eyes wide. He was half-conscious of what happened, but the blood flow to his brain had completely stopped.

Gogo hurriedly hopped out from the Hibernation Realm, slapping a heavy tail against Sylas’ chest to send his heart into a beating cycle again. The crunch of his ribcage and the bruising of his torso was near immediate, but Sylas still gasped for breath, his body soaked through in the depths of his own sweat.

It felt like every muscle was aching, every pore opened wide to pump out large streams of sweat his body couldn’t even seem to keep up with.

It was like he had instantly gone into a state of extreme exhaustion, his body pushed to a brink it couldn’t even begin to recover from… and that was especially so after he had lost his healing factor to a substantial degree once again.

His brain was practically begging for oxygen, and yet, Sylas’ eyes were opened wide, looking at the skies. Two things were still circulating within him.

First, he had overextended himself. There was no way he had trained the Gene Talent enough yet to withstand controlling Aether in such a span—he had to choose a far smaller volume.

And second…

This Gene Talent did as it said. Aether inside of him and outside of him seemed to have become seamless. Meaning…

Could he finally use his 100 Foundation Glassvolt Rune like it was meant to be used now—if the world itself could become his conduit?