Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1936: Wasting Time (6)

Gogo realized at that moment he didnʼt want as much as Sylas did.

When he looked at Sylas, he saw a figure that was larger than life, a person who claimed all he wanted to do was control his life, when in reality he wanted to control everything else.

The reason Sylas had hated being controlled by the Grimblades so much wasnʼt actually because their control was the problem, it was the fact they were controlling him without his expressed consent.

Sylas never felt a need to prove himself to others. The only time looking down on him bothered him was when he knew they were right to do so, when he knew that he couldnʼt easily prove them wrong if he so felt like it.

When he did have that power, when he was sure he could prove it with just a little bit of effort, that was when he didnʼt care what anyone said.

Sylasʼ real Pride was layered beneath all of that, a man of contradiction who wanted to both sit atop the world and yet wanted to avoid doing so at the same time so that he wouldnʼt be without purpose or discipline.

A man who didnʼt want to live a life without at least some sort of pushback, some sort of strife.

But Gogo didnʼt want any of that. He simply wanted to be free... that was the true kernel of his Pride.

To do as he pleased without being struck down from the skies, to have freedom even if he chose not to exercise it himself.

That was what he wanted more than anything else.

There was a flash in Gogoʼs eyes and his blood sparked with fire. Grey flames danced around him and he suddenly sensed like his eyelids were becoming exceptionally heavy.

Slowly, he fell forward, collapsing to the ground with a boom that shook the earth.

And then he began to sleep, his crown of golden horns sparkling to the rhythm of his breath.

”Thatʼs what I want...” Gogo grumbled in a voice that came out like roaring dragons and crashing waves. They werenʼt syllables and words in the normal sense.

An ancient language not spoken in years shattered the space around him, forming a cocoon of grey flames and crackling space.

Sylas was in too much of a daze to feel what was happening to Gogo right now. All he could feel were the emotions of the Ruby Finger Serpent as its Will grew.

The lightning seemed to realize that it was up against something with seemingly endless regeneration, and it reacted in kind because of it.

It was too bad that it didnʼt seem to matter, and with every strike, Sylas was gaining a boon he hadnʼt accounted for.

The lightning was more effective in refining the Ruby Finger Serpentʼs Will than he could have ever hoped for. Every time the Serpentesʼ Pride was shattered, it reformed even stronger, and then even stronger than that.

In response, the call of Gluttony around it became purer, sturdier, and there was even a moment where Sylas wondered if it just might be possible for it to reach the level of a Virtue.

It didnʼt. But Sylasʼ grasp of Gluttony became sharper than ever before.

So as the last of the bolts descended from the skies above, he was already primed and ready, so very prepared.

BOOM.

The finger-sized serpent launched itself into the skies and Sylas was practically a passenger in its Will as it charged upward without the slightest fear, striking right through the waves of lightning.

The crashing waves of the final strokes of lightning were directly swallowed right afterward.

And then the world fell into complete silence.

Space undulated in waves and for a moment, Sylas was trapped in the lull of the Ruby Finger Serpentʼs emotions.

ʼIf he doesnʼt wake up heʼs going to die,ʼ the Hydra thought.

This wasnʼt actually true. Technically, Sylas would live as a fused part of the Ruby Finger Serpent and the latter would fully integrate him. This was the danger of using something like Total Merge, especially in such a niche situation.

But that was as good as death regardless. In fact, it might be a different sort of death for both of them.

However, Sylas didnʼt seem to be fighting back against it, or maybe he truly couldnʼt.

The feelings of the Ruby Finger Serpent were overwhelming, and Sylas had amplified its Will beyond reason for what an F-tier should have had-even in comparison to him.

Right when the Hydra felt that it was over, there was a sudden change.

Runes began to spark into existence. It didnʼt even feel like Sylas was consciously drawing them; it was like they were spontaneously forming.

It was declared that this was the level of a Spark Master, but this still felt impossibly far beyond that. Sure, Spark Masters could trigger Rune activation and formation with a thought, but they had their own limits.

The weakest of Spark Masters could only do this for Runes far beneath the highest levels they could draw. The strongest of them, however, were on another level entirely.

And Sylas was far beyond even them.

Sylas wasnʼt losing himself by accident, he was doing it on purpose. The more he allowed the Ruby Finger Serpent to take over, the more in tune he felt with Gluttony, the clearer he could sense True Gluttony, and the more powerful the Runes of the Demi-God Serpent Armor became.

Fear losing himself? How could he, Sylas Grimblade, ever lose himself to the Pride of something else? He had faced Legends, he had stared the Monkey King in the eyes, he had grinned at the very ceiling of the universe itself.

This was entirely incapable of moving him.

And when he was finished, a Rune Armor of potential beyond reason manifested into the world.

Without hesitation, Sylas triggered communication with the system, initiating a fusion with the Legendary Gene it would produce.

At the same time, he communicated with the bridge to the God Realm on the other side of his Hibernation Realm just the slightest bit.

If he was going to do this...

He was going to go all out.

Just having Demi-God level Will wasnʼt enough to draw Demi-God Runes. One needed the world around them to have Demi-God Runes available, and the Mancy Scape was still a half-step from true Demi-God status.

However... this was something the God Realm had an endless supply of.

He would give his new Contract a Demi-God Legendary Gene.