Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1961: Speed [Bonus]

[Bonus chapter thanks to Eeshoo97... is it because I havenʼt been cursing recently that you guys think you can just do whatever now???? I hope your hairline recedes so far they start calling you neckbeard the wrong way around.] 59%.

Sylasʼ first draw was barely shy of Soul Mastery, and likewise barely better than his first draw of the Vulture Emperor Armor.

He could tell that his actual D-tier Rune Mastery wasnʼt improving as speedy as it seemed. But that wouldnʼt last for long. That he was confident in.

ʼSpeed.ʼ

Sylas could feel that that was what the dove was centered around, but he found himself frowning.

The dove wasnʼt a bird that should have been known for its speed. In fact, it was even on the slower side.

Of course, that was just Sylasʼ understanding from Earth. There was no reason why his understanding of birds from Earth should 100% translate to the wider universe.

But when he looked into the Will of the dove itself, it felt empty and hollow.

BANG.

73%.

BANG.

89%.

Sylas leapt upward faster than before, moving with a speed that showed he was getting more and more familiar with D-tier Runes. Every stroke he made was more perfect, and every time he forced the Foundations to freeze in time and then be reconstructed by his own hand, he could spot the flaws with greater ease and reforge more of them in a single go.

BANG.

89%.

Sylas leapt upward faster than before, moving with a speed that showed he was getting more and more familiar with D-tier Runes. Every stroke he made was more perfect, and every time he forced the Foundations to freeze in time and then be reconstructed by his own hand, he could spot the flaws with greater ease and reforge more of them in a single go.

BANG.

94%.

BANG.

99%.

BANG.

99.2%.

Sylas frowned. He should have reached 100% in one go that time. The fact it had taken him two to reach 100% from 94% was already ridiculous, but to take more than two... BANG.

99.4%.

Sylas stopped. ʼIs it really that?ʼ

He had already felt that there was something off about the dove being so focused on speed. The dove was a creature of purity, of light, of rebirth and remembrance. In the opposite way, remembrance could also be about a life once lived, and maybe it could even touch on death.

But speed?

If you focused too much on the light aspect, Sylas could see how you could get there. Light was inherently the fastest element there was in the universe. It quite literally set the peak of the speed threshold.

But building an Armor based on that speed alone, while it would get you quite far, it was like accidentally taking a wrong turn when you thought you were taking a shortcut, only to end up further away from your destination than when you started.

Light was only one aspect of the dove, and the aspect of light that needed to be focused on also wasnʼt the speed aspect. It was the purifying aspect. If one went a step further, it was the purity of light itself.

Sylas had once learned something fascinating in an early physics class he took. It taught him that light and the photons that made them up didnʼt age. They existed the very same way they always had from the very beginning of time. Because of relativity, they couldnʼt experience the flow of time in the first place.

What did this have to do with purity?

Well, how could anything be any more pure than the moment it was born?

Sylas could feel that that was where the Runes were pushing. Light was, indeed, important. Better yet, their speed was actually crucial as well, because it was due to their speed that they didnʼt experience the flow of time and could thus remain pure.

Meaning he was right and yet wrong at the same time.

The Ancestor of the Dove Emperors wasnʼt wrong in making speed a key part of the Dove. They were wrong in what portion of it they were emphasizing.

They drew the armor as though the speed was the most important part, when in reality, it was the purity that resulted from the speed that was.

The speed was somehow both the origin of everything, and yet simultaneously a mere background character.

It was no wonder why the Armor had gone down the wrong path. It was all too easy to do so when there was such

a multi-layered, multi-faceted method of looking at things.

But now that Sylas understood....

BANG.

100%.

Chains suddenly descended from above and Sylasʼ gaze flashed with a cold indifference.

It wasnʼt just that the Dove Ancestor made a mistake. It was also that the Doveʼs true path brushed far too closely to that of the Angels.

Unfortunately for them-the Angels, that is-Sylas didnʼt fear them in the slightest.

Not now. Not ever.

A Life Seal appeared high above Sylas and the chains that descended deflected and then crumbled to ash. At the same time, sparks of violet lightning flashed around Sylas, shattering the Dove Armor into its smallest parts.

First it was stripped down to E-tier, and then down to F-tier.

The Runes reflected in Sylasʼ eyes as his gaze darted back and forth. Every Rune he took in was banked into his mind and it helped him comprehend the next one even faster.

This time, before he even finished scanning the first one, he slapped his palms together and opened to draw.

A radiant white gold exuded from him, halos of light forming rings to his back that hovered almost like halos perpendicular to the ground.

The Armor barely appeared in the world for a split moment before he shattered it, redrawing it to perfection and forming an E-tier Armor at 100% Mastery.

Every Gene that appeared with the Armor was more resplendent than the last, but it was like Sylas didnʼt care about the formation of Legendary Genes at all.

BANG.

Then the E-tier Armor shattered to pieces and Sylas began to form the D-tier one.

Every Stroke, every completed Foundation, every Rune that fit perfectly into the Mesh, layering upon layers and tying into a complex web, caused a wilder and wilder aura to spread out.

This time, before Sylas even finished, the Dove Emperors began to feel the change.

It was deep within this crowd that Deacon felt the changes to his body and roared into the skies.

One pair of angel-like wings burst from his back, and then another.

A golden ring was etched onto his forehead, vertical halos lining out behind his back.

A power the likes of which he had never felt before roared through his veins.