Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1963: Big Cats [Bonus]

[Bonus chapter thanks to Eeshoo97... wishing for a cobra to call your toilet home]

Sylas had never given Yamero a quantity at a time to give him. And given the fact that Yamero was only taking advantage of brief instances in time he had to snatch the Lineages Sylas needed, the fact he could do this at all was already a shock.

Plus... if Sylas wanted to accomplish what he wanted, he was going to have to speed this up. There were dozens of Lineages. He couldnʼt just take his time on every one of them.

But he had already factored that into his process. Because he knew with absolute certainty that with every Armor he completed, he would improve by leaps and bounds.

Sylasʼ eyes narrowed when he saw the two Lineage Orbs in his palms, though. One was the Cheetah and the other was the Tiger. Two Big Cat Lineages. One of them was ironically also all about speed, and the other was one of fierce attacks.

The foundation of the two was still the same, though. Power and physical prowess. That was what most of the Cat Lineages were built on, the Lion Lineage being the only slight exception.

ʼOpportunity.ʼ

Sylas still hadnʼt grasped Legendary E-tier Physical Genes. While he had all his Mental Genes completed, his body had still not perfected this.

Chi. Chi.

He shattered both orbs at the same time without the slightest bit of hesitation, his eyes darting around.

What he was doing was a baffling matter to the Emperor Sanctum. It had been said millions of times before, but The Sanctum wasnʼt an organization of Rune Masters. They were an organization of Will Masters.

To comprehend a Rune Armor was to grasp the very essence and Will underlying the creature it represented. You couldnʼt just randomly decide you wanted to comprehend another. Even the Spirit Beasts themselves had a lot of trouble doing exactly that.

Every Spirit Beast was born with multiple Spirits. It was just that one of them was dominant. What made God Beasts so powerful was precisely the ability to tap into more than just one of those Spirits at the same time, and have them be of opposing types and kinds.

Sylas didnʼt seem to struggle with it at all. He grasped the kernel of truth hidden within the Cheetah and the Tiger instantaneously.

Not every Lineage would have some magical hidden secret in them like the Vulture and the Dove. Some of them would be on the right track already... and just not be nearly good enough.

Sylas felt that there was absolutely no need for so many Cat Lineages to exist. And he certainly didnʼt believe the Lion Lineage deserved to exist as it did.

There would already be a Pride Lineage in existence. There didnʼt need to be a second one.

Instead, he would take the Cat Lineages another path.

He reached out at the air as Yamero brought another, and then another. The next was a Jaguar Lineage, but the fourth of them was the Lizard Lineage. Sylas let that one vanish into his Madness Key.

Yamero understood what was happening without direct communication and the next several Lineages that were brought forth were all Cat Lineages.

Sylas shattered them one after another, his eyes still darting about as his mind split into several streams, memorizing each and every one of them.

He was beginning to find more and more contradictory things, things that overlapped but other things that cancelled one another out.

But there was one that stood out to Sylas the most.

Almost all of the cat species were solitary. The only exception was the Lion Lineage. Cheetahs were barely an exception to even that rule.

It was a difference that left the disgust in Sylasʼ heart churning all the more. However, it wasnʼt contradictory.

Lions on Earth were exactly like this as well. If anything, the Lion Lineage was just following their Will perfectly.

It made Sylas wonder if he should really go about stripping the Lion of what it represented so much, or if he should honor its Will the proper way.

There was no real decision to be made. Sylas knew that if he broke free of what the Lionʼs Will dictated, he would only be harming the Lineage. At that point, he wouldnʼt be allowing it to flourish to its true height.

The only other possible choice was eliminating it entirely, and that was unacceptable.

Instead, Sylas had another plan.

At that moment, Yamero finally returned with the last of the Big Cat Lineage Orbs.

The Lion.

Sylas didnʼt even catch it, directly striking out a palm and shattering it to pieces along with all the others.

High above in the skies, the 713th Lion Emperor felt his heart clench as though he could feel the tides in the air changing.

Sylas didnʼt spare him a glance, just like he hadnʼt spared any of the others.

Since the Lions wanted a pack, since they wanted to lead, since they wanted a pride, Sylas would give them exactly that.

He would allow them to be King of the Big Cats.

Sylasʼ palms slammed together in an echoing boom, the roar of a lion forming from his Will alone. It was so powerful and filled with such a true Pride that the Spirit attached to the 713th Lion Emperor ripped almost entirely out of his body. It was so fast that despite being an A-tier the Lion Emperor almost failed to reel it in.

The Tiger would be the pillar of Strength.

The Cheetah would be the pillar of Speed.

The Leopard would be the pillar of Dexterity.

And the Lion... it would become the pillar of Constitution.

The other Big Cats would fill in the gaps, shoring up weaknesses, layering on the strengths of every individual big cat into the crevices that might have formed larger cracks otherwise.

And then he would bring it all together.

33%.

BANG.

37%.

BANG.

41%.

BANG.

Sylas didnʼt slow, he didnʼt relent. The complexity of the task didnʼt leave him shaken in the slightest. He only pressed forward faster and faster than before.

47%.

BANG.

59%.

BANG.

64%.

BANG.

A roar layered into the skies, the combined howls of Big Cats forming into a unified sonorous call that almost echoed like the roar of a mythical creature.

And the closer he got to perfection, the better the secrets of the Physical Stats reflected in his mind.