Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1188: Sacred (1)

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[Hollow Wing (???) (Sacred Mount)]

[Level: 1]

[Attribute: Hollow]

[+100% ALL Stats]

[Limit: XXX]

[Talents: LOCKED]

...

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The roar that filled the skies was hard to describe. It felt like it was echoing from another dimension, so layered and complex that it wasn’t just the wind whistling by, but space trembling and time bending around it.

It felt like a cross between the bellow of a dragon and the cry of a phoenix, carrying undertones that thrummed like the currents of a storm, and the high-pitched whistle of slicing blades of wind.

Streaks of silvery black and transparent greys filled the skies as a long body flashed into existence for just the briefest of moments.

And then Sylas finally saw its body.

Given its presence, the creature almost seemed small. Its body was ten meters from the tip of its snout to its snaking tail. There were four limbs on its long body, and there was no easy transition between where its body ended and where its tail began, as though it was an eastern dragon of myths and legends.

And yet completely unlike that.

It had four pairs of wings, their skeletal structures outlined in bones as black as night, while the mesh that connected them was so transparent it looked as though a dragonfly had been expanded hundreds of times over.

Their silky beauty twinkled beneath rays of light, the clouds of grey that surrounded the ankles of its limbs only adding to its mystery.

The tip of its tail fanned out in the gorgeous plumes of a peacock, but they carried none of the majestic colors. Maintaining the same echoes of black, grey, and white, they were only accented by eyes so crimson they looked as though they were dripping with blood.

And then there was its head. There was a slight curve to its snout that made it look somewhat like a beak, and yet the rest of its head made it look like the most gorgeous of snakes... or was it also a dragon?

Everything about the creature felt like it came not from reality, but from some mythical tale of a world long since forgotten. Even its scales—sometimes a luminescent white, and at other times an almost ghostly cream color—didn’t quite feel real at all.

This was the creature Sylas was looking for all the while. But at that moment, as it turned its ruby eyes to him, its maw opening to release that hollow cry once again, it looked as though it wanted to shred him to pieces.

”Silence.”

Sylas didn’t speak very loudly, but at that moment, the accumulating momentum of the creature’s cry shattered. The framework of space crumbled and shards of Glass seemed to fall from the air...

And then the Hollow Wing crumbled, falling from above as though a palm had slapped down onto it.

The Beast Totem rumbled to Sylas’ back, crushing the Will of the creature until it couldn’t even raise its head.

BOOM!

It slammed into the ground, its snout landing barely half a meter from Sylas’ feet.

What rags remained of Sylas’ clothing were almost blown off his body, the heft of the creature far greater than its size seemed to suggest.

And then there was its breath. It felt like a ghostly energy was eating into Sylas, the scent of death coming so fiercely from the Sacred Beast that it felt as though its exhale alone could burn someone to ash—not with flames, but with Laws of death and rot alone.

Sylas looked at the creature silently. He knew from the start that it would likely be unruly and hard to command. A Mount, especially a Combat Mount, had to be subdued and forced into obedience.

It couldn’t just be casually snatched.

But its body was built on the foundation of the Bone-Tailed Lizard and the Glasirith. It stood no chance before Sylas. It was far too Serpentes.

In fact, it was a Serpentes.

Sylas, though, didn’t subdue it immediately, looking down at the creature before him. It was actually still so defiant.

He could see the fury in its eyes, as though its pride was too great to fully submit to Sylas’ Beast Totem. In fact, if not for the fact Sylas’ Vipermancy Profession was now Common and had progressed to E-Grade, it was hard to tell if it alone would be able to suppress this creature.

’How fascinating.’

Somewhere deep inside, Sylas knew that his Vipermancy couldn’t be completely infallible, but he didn’t expect to accidentally stumble into such a thing here and now.

’Hollow affinity...’

”What’s a Sacred Beast?” Sylas asked.

He didn’t receive a response immediately. He turned his intent toward the Madness Key, only to find that the little girl wasn’t there.

He frowned and pulled his consciousness out, only to find her hovering there above his shoulder.

She stood like a little fairy, her golden body radiating as she looked down at the creature before Sylas.

”...Ridiculous...” she said after a long while. ”...You can’t afford that.”

Sylas stood there and didn’t say anything for a long while. After some thought, he knew that he didn’t really need the little girl to give him the answers he needed.

He had his Vipermancy Profession for that.

The question was whether binding the Hollow Wing as a Combat Mount would give him the same benefits as binding it as a Contract.

’I can.’

Sylas looked down at where the Scorned Wraps had just been. Before, the answer would be no. But now?

Sylas reached a hand forward, his True Pride Seed stirring as he pressed down on the Hollow Wing.

—

[You have bound a Sacred Mount]

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[Title Upgraded]

[Legendary Tamer → Sacred Tamer]

[You have subdued the pride of a Sacred Beast; your horizons are broader than the skies and deeper than the earth.]

[+200% Wisdom]

[+200% Will]

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Sylas ignored the change entirely, pressing a palm down on the Hollow Wing, which was suddenly several times more obedient. At that moment, he suppressed the system just the slightest bit until he felt it...

’So that’s what you are....’