Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1323: Infuriated

”... Maybe I shouldn’t answer at all since you don’t even plan on listening to me. You know, you’re real selfish. This is just—.” The little girl blinked. ”—ah, you’re back to reality. Anyway, your eyes are going to burst if you don’t improve them to Tier 3, potentially Tier 4. And you have about, um... seven hours.”

Sylas’ eyes flashed. Unfortunately, that came with even more pain.

He had all the ingredients he needed to complete Tier 3 except for the actual eyes. And as for Tier 4... well, he had none of those ingredients at all. If he needed to go as far as Tier 4, then he would basically be giving up his eyes.

Either that, or he’d have to give up this Profession.

As good as his visualization was, it was too prone to errors to possibly give up his eyes entirely, especially since his eyes were so powerful to begin with. The idea that he would just casually give them up was ridiculous.

However, he also didn’t want to give up his Runeweaver Profession either. It was too important, and he had a feeling that he had only touched the tip of the iceberg of what it was actually capable of.

The strongest aspects of his Runeweaver Eyes were both the ability to Unravel and Weave. He had made use of Unravel a lot, but he hadn’t used Weave nearly enough.

Who knew whether, when he finally started mastering those techniques properly, his Rune casting speed would become even faster than it already was. It was a scary thought to consider that he wasn’t anywhere near his full potential even with a so-called Perfect Spark Seed, because he had no one at all to guide him down this path.

”I swear you can’t possibly be as smart as you pretend to be. I guarantee it, there’s just no way. The solution is obvious, dingus. Ask for help.”

Sylas didn’t reply when he heard these words.

The little girl was right. He had been trying to think of a million solutions, and that was the one even his mind hadn’t come across. He didn’t even consider it.

But when he thought about it, it did really seem like the only solution. It was just that... everything came at a price.

If he did nothing, he would lose his Profession and maybe even his eyes as well. But if he asked for help...

Could he even still leave?

Sylas hadn’t made a decision just yet, but he was well and truly considering leaving the Sanctum entirely. Maybe it was just overblown Pride, and fair enough. But he didn’t want to be in a place like this. He would much rather leave and forge his own way at this point.

He had been here all of... three days at most? And yet he had already lost something so valuable, all because of his weakness.

Being under the umbrella of someone else was just asking for this to happen again.

But if he asked for help, his Pride also wouldn’t allow him to leave without repaying them first.

To his mind, the situation with Nyssa was a lot different. She was there to take advantage of him. She helped him for the sake of herself, to pigeonhole him into a state he couldn’t escape from when he had never asked for her help in the first place.

Maybe had things gone differently, he would have had the intention to repay her properly.

But this was different. This was Sylas doing something he was very much not used to...

Asking for the help of someone else.

A pulse of pain radiated through his eyes, and the range seemed to be growing. Suddenly, it felt as though a jackhammer was pressed into the folds of his brain, jamming away.

”Oh... I forgot to mention that your Runeweaver Eyes are pretty well tied to your brain right now. So, unless you want to lose a few dozen IQ points, I would suggest you get that handled. The longer you let it go on, the worse it’ll be.

”It’ll be fine if you eventually get the upgrade to your Eyes, but if your ultimate choice is to abandon them, the sooner you do that, the better.”

”... None of this information is worth a Gold Gene.” Sylas spoke, his words far steadier than they should have been given the state of his body.

The little girl rolled her eyes. Only Sylas would pick up on something like that while he was practically on his deathbed. But he was right.

The most valuable information that she had given him was that he needed Tier 3 Eyes for the smallest chance at survival. But this was something that Sylas could have guessed on his own, especially after he deduced the rest, which would have been even more straightforward.

If not for the fact his head was practically splitting in pain—or more accurately, that his Will was in a particularly volatile state right now, making it hard for him to focus—he would have already grasped the things she told him on his own.

”Uh, well,” the little girl cleared her throat as though feeling awkward before laughing, ”I’m kidding, I’m kidding, I wouldn’t steal from you at such a vulnerable time. The real reason this cost a Gold Gene was to tell you there might be a path where Tier 3 is all you need if you use the two Raw Templates properly. It’s just that I can’t tell you how unless you have 10 Legendary Genes, so at best I can give you some clues. Or, once again...

”You can ask for help.”

”... And what if I don’t manage to use them properly?”

”Well, then you’ll almost certainly need to reach Tier 4, and sorry to inform you of this, but your King Slayer Title will only help you to reach Tier 3 unless you break into E-tier right now. But even more unfortunately for you, if you break into E-tier, your Will will evolve again, and you’ll end up in the same situation. In fact, it’ll be even worse because you’ll need Tier 5 Eyes.

”In that situation, you’re what Alex would call ’shit out of luck’. There’s already almost zero chance your master could get you C-tier Eyes, let alone B-tier ones—not to mention all the resources you need to gather on top of that.

”So, how about lowering that pride a little bit, hm? I’ll give you some hints, you use that juicy brain of yours to puzzle piece them together, then ask the Scorpion Warlord for help like a good little boy.

”How about it?”

Sylas didn’t reply immediately. Instead, the words of the middle-aged man were replaying in his mind again and again.

He bet that if he was born of a higher Race, this would have never been an issue. All of this was ultimately because even a D-Grade Race was too weak.

And why wouldn’t it be? Even the Milky Way had C-Grade Races. He had already almost died at the hands of a B-Grade creature. What worth did a D-Grade have?

This was the plight of those born of the weak. Even when his talent was exceptional enough to tilt the balance, he still had to bow and scrape.

It infuriated him.