Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1182: The True Scorned Wraps (1)

Sylas stood in silence for a very long while before he spoke.

"Are these how we hide our Seeds from the system?"

The little girl fell into silence for a long while.

"Did anyone ever tell you that you’re too smart for your own good?"

Sylas didn’t reply, his mind churning at the obvious affirmative. The girl was essentially saying that he was a fool for taking the Scorned Wraps as a positive.

They weren’t wraps. They were chains.

Necessary chains. Ones that existed for the sake of allowing Madness Disciples to be among the living and not suffer under the constant oppression of the system of the time they lived in.

"Then why is part of being a Madness Disciple provoking the system? Why is that a requirement for moving up Tiers?"

The little girl chuckled. "If you can’t prove that you can suffer beneath the system’s Wrath, what right do you have to be one of us? When you become a Tier Four Disciple, you will feel the difference. I’ve seen you using the Scorned Wraps like they are some sort of tool. You don’t seem to realize that every time you evoke their power, all you’re really doing is being humiliated by the world.

"Can’t you see that those flames aren’t from the Scorned Wraps? Those flames are the flames that would scorch you to ash if you weren’t wearing them. Those flames manifest to kill anything that is even remotely associated with you, even by—"

"Even by thought," Sylas said.

"Indeed. It seems you understand it a little bit."

"Sounds very useful," Sylas said, his understanding resonating on an even deeper level.

That meant that the limits of those flames weren’t the Scorned Wraps at all, but instead the hatred the world had for him? In which case, there was hardly a limit to it at all.

So long as someone couldn’t withstand the ire of the world, they wouldn’t be able to deal with his Scorned Wraps either.

"So should I use the Scorned Wraps like a Treasure? Or not? What is the point of their evolution?" Sylas asked.

Clearly, he didn’t have to pay for information related to things he was allowed to know as a Tier Three Madness Disciple. So why not learn all he could now?

"Certainly not the way you use them," the little girl snorted.

Sylas thought to how he used the Scorned Wraps now. Before, they were just extensions of his fists and kicks. Now, they could extend like whips and chains, trapping enemies and such.

He had planned on feeling out methods of grappling with them, as he felt that this would definitely take his close-combat abilities to another level—especially with telekinesis to match with them.

But the little girl seemed to be saying that this wasn’t the method to use them?

"How should I be using them?" Sylas asked.

"That’s for you to figure out," she pouted.

Sylas tilted his head, falling into his thoughts, his eyes flickering from time to time.

Was he using them wrong? Or was the girl just speaking nonsense?

Wait. Now that he thought about it, every time he extended the Scorned Wraps from himself, those flames would appear. Normally, that would feel natural, because he had assumed those mysterious flames to be part of the Scorned Wraps themselves.

But if the little girl was telling the truth, then those flames were a punishment the Scorned Wraps protected him from—not flames that he should be triggering so easily.

What did that mean? It meant that every time he extended the Scorned Wraps from himself, he was actually making himself more vulnerable, more detectable.

He was doing it wrong. Maybe if one day his Visualization and Will grew too strong, he might accidentally end up killing himself, drawing the Scorned Wraps so thin that they couldn’t protect him anymore.

Interesting... in that case, why did this ability appear in the Scorned Wraps to begin with?

Sylas’ eyes flashed again and he remembered that prick on his palm. He looked down at his hands, recalled how it had punctured right through as though the Scorned Wraps weren’t even there.

Was it truly the case that it had cut the Scorned Wraps and split right through... or... could it be that it had phased through the Scorned Wraps?

Is that the real ability I awakened?

On the surface, it seemed as simple as manipulation. But what if the truth was deeper than that? The ability to expand and contract his Scorned Wraps was actually just downstream from the real ability he had gained.

He had formed a oneness with his Scorned Wraps now that was far greater than anything he had ever experienced before. He and his Scorned Wraps were on the precipice of truly being one, allowing him to control it like an extension of his limbs.

These thoughts came one after another, but they all centered around one defining principle:

The abilities of the Scorned Wraps and his own were becoming one.

What that could mean was a great number of things in the future, things he hadn’t yet tapped into. But there were two things that solidified for him that stood out from all the others.

The first? This made far more sense. The Scorned Wraps lived up to their description. He didn’t need external Treasures or help—all he needed was himself, and the Scorned Wraps were growing to facilitate that.

And second? The Scorned Wraps were growing in their ability to transfer their abilities to him as well...

The ability to ignore the system, to live outside of its influence all on his own.

That prick just now... the Scorned Wraps had disappeared and not interfered because they knew that the map had needed to draw his blood in order to work properly.

And that also meant...

With a thought, the Scorned Wraps disappeared from Sylas’ hands. For the first time in so very long, he was seeing his own hands.

They were worn, scarred, having taken so many beatings he couldn’t even recognize them anymore...

But they were his hands.

But this... this was just the tip of the iceberg.