Genetic Ascension

Chapter 771  Millions of Items

Sylas kept waiting for the pressurized wave to come, but it never did.

He found himself walking, and walking, and walking, down an endless corridor that didnʼt seem to have any intention of ending…

Until it abruptly did.

A set of three wide stairs appeared before him. Upon it, there was another glass platform.

Sylas looked back with a questioning gaze to Voxena, but she was looking at him with trembling pupils. It was clear that even she didnʼt understand what was going on. In fact, even the silent TongueʼHead found itself shaking, a light of excitement in its eyes, but for some reason, it still didnʼt dare to speak.

There was a flash and the eyepatch-wearing man appeared again, this time behind this final stage.

”Youʼve received the highest honors. Please place your palm on this platform.”

Everything was happening too fast and Sylas didnʼt like not being able to analyze the situation he was in. It felt like too many outside factors were driving him.

He had come here for the sake of buying and trading for things, but now he felt like there were too many external forces he didnʼt understand at play here.

He almost didnʼt want to put his hand forward at all. But in the end…

He took the three steps and placed his hand down.

It was already too late to take things back now. If he had known that he could freeze time entirely, he would have just taken Szorn with him. Then maybe he could have avoided a lot of these things.

He felt like something had plucked at a layer deep within him.

—

[Sylas Grimblade - Breath Rune Master No.341]

—

The eyes of the man narrowed.

Vonexa also seemed to finally understand. The Rune Master under-50 list… it was probably the hardest of them all to get onto. To be a Rune Master required strong Will, strong Mental stats, and strong comprehension abilities.

While many of the Rune Master lists would tend to be on other lists, especially those on the Flesh Master or higher hierarchies, the reverse wasnʼt true of most.

When Sylas asked to be brought to the Beast Master region in specific, she assumed that he was on that list alone. That was because anyone knew that this entire tower… was known as the Rune Tower.

The glass platform trembled and notifications began to appear for Sylas.

—

[Trial of the Beast Master Tower Cleared]
[Rewards Received]

—

[Rewards]

[Will Blessing of the Beast Master]

OR

[Ticket to enter the Beast Master Garden]

—

Sylas took the second option after a glance. He really hated outside things influencing his Will. It didnʼt feel good and it almost felt… fake, somehow.

He didnʼt know what the Beast Master Garden was, but it was probably better than this.

”What is the Beast Master Garden?” Sylas asked.

”Responding to young elite, the Beast Master Garden is one of the few places where it is possible to progress your beasts easily. By killing the Astral Beasts inside, the Aether can be applied directly to your beastʼs levels.

”The Garden opens once every ten years as it takes a very long time to trigger. The next opening is three years from now and many will be waiting to use this chance as an opportunity to help their beasts to cross into the E-Grade.”

A thought came to Sylasʼ mind. ”How does this compare to the Mancer Scape?”

Astral beasts… that sounded a lot like the situation the Madness Key described for the Mancer Scape, the treasure he was banking on to complete his Legendary Class evolution down the Path of the Mancer.

He wasnʼt thinking of using that space to level up his beasts. But Vonexaʼs words seemed to open up that door.

”Ah, this… Iʼm sorry, young elite. I have never heard of this… Mancer Scape before.”

Sylas nodded and didnʼt ask anything more after realizing that TongueʼHead was confused as well. However, when he turned back to the man with an eyepatch, he seemed to be boring holes through him.

Sylas met his gaze indifferently. As powerful as he was sure this man was… right now it was nothing more than a projection.

It seemed that he knew something about the Mancer Scape.

”The Beast Master Garden was created with the Mancer Scape as a template. It can only capture a small percentage of the latterʼs essence. You must be quite lucky to have heard about it.”

Sylas didnʼt reply, but the man only chuckled.

”Ah, you young geniuses. All quite arrogant. No need to pay this old man for his advice. I would advise you be quite careful, though. There are no small number of people quite curious about who this Sylas Grimblade is.”

After he finished speaking, the man vanished, and in his place, a portal appeared.

”You may enter, young elite.”

Sylas stepped through what felt like the millionth portal he had since coming here. He hadnʼt even been in this world for all of ten minutes or so, but it felt like so much had happened.

”—Get the fuck out of my way!”

”You want to do this here?”

”Do you think Iʼm afraid of you?! Bring out what you have right here and now. Weʼll see if you can last even three strikes against my team.”

”Why would I need to last three when dealing with you in one is more than enough?!”

Sylas entered a filled room with more glass platforms. But this time, there were not only different people behind them, but there were also other Beast Masters—he assumed—also around.

A duo seemed to be fighting over one counter that was still unoccupied.

Sylas looked around and couldnʼt seem to find another.

He frowned, but Vonexa had already walked forward on his behalf.

”Here, young elite.”

”WHO—?!”

The two raging Beast Masters looked over at the same time, only for their voices to be caught in their throats when they saw Vonexa.

Sylas swept a glance over. Seeing that this likely wasnʼt going to be a problem, he followed through.

”You can ask this receptionist here for the things you need. An assorted list will appear before you, and everything will be very discreet.”

”I donʼt have to fight for it?” Sylas asked.

”No, young elite. That is the burden of those that cannot make it here.”

”How specific do I have to be?”

”It will depend on your preferences. This Skullhead here can help dial in the parameters for you.”

”I see.” Sylas nodded and turned toward the receptionist. ”Show me everything you have for the Serpentes and adjacent reptilian Beast Races.”

”Right away, sir,” the man behind the glass platform said respectfully.

Images began to flicker to life in Sylasʼ eyes and he felt overwhelmed by a sea of information.

There was so much, but he had already expected this. He didnʼt want others to know just how special his Profession was, but it would be precisely his Profession that led him to exactly what he needed.

By allowing Insight to guide him, his eyes only needed to scan over the items quickly and feel out what called to his Will.

In not even 15 minutes, he had gone through a list with millions of items on it, dismissing everything he didnʼt need with a push of his intention.

Even if he scanned one item a second, it should have taken him over a month to make it through everything. But he was far more efficient than that.

ʼYes. This is exactly what I need to perfect the Bone Tailed Lizardʼs Path and make it a Bronze Beast along with the others.ʼ

With this, Sylas would have four Bronze Contracts. If he could level them up appropriately quickly enough...

The results woudl speak for themselves. But before he could do this... he would have to be able to actually afford what was before him. 

Unfortunately, these items, if he tallied them up, would leave him with less than a million of his original over 40 million Hero Points. He wouldnʼt even begin to get everything he wanted here. 

Was it worth it?