Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1183: The True Scorned Wraps (2)

"Ignore the system?" Sylas’ gaze narrowed, his arm lifting up. A brace on his arm, so easily ignored and forgotten, suddenly flared up.

All at once, the familiar call of a bird filled the skies, its fiery wings of black and violet spreading across the air. It was simply a gorgeous creature—a peacock of the dark.

Ever since Sylas learned to fly on his own, the Violet Rose Peacock had become useless to him, especially since...

—

[Violet Rose Peacock (Bronze) (Symbiote Mount)]

[Level: 1]

[Attribute: Poison, Wood, Ice]

[+200% Speed and Dexterity]

[Limit: 500 Speed and Dexterity]

[Talents: Replenish]

[Absorb life force from wood, poison, and ice affinity to replenish its stamina and heal itself]

—

It was still Level 1.

Not only was its affinity no longer nearly as compatible with Sylas’ as it had been originally, it was far too weak, and he hadn’t been able to level it up nearly as easily as he thought he would be able to in the past.

Though Sylas had now gained the ability to give his beasts Overlord status, the Violet Rose Peacock couldn’t benefit from this. It was tied into the system in an odd way, and thus it couldn’t be just given Overlord status. Sylas wasn’t even sure if it had the same layers in its body at all.

And even if it could—well... Sylas wasn’t sure if he wanted to waste the time. If he really wanted to fly, he had Gogo. And Gogo wasn’t restricted by a Combat Mount status anyway.

Plus, the Bronze Grade title that had once been such a shocking boon to Sylas just felt kind of... meh, right now.

The irony was that a Bronze Mount was something those in the Sector would fight tooth and nail over. Normal Mounts were ranked from F- to FFF+. Even a Common Mount was unheard of, let alone this.

Sylas’ views of the world were just a little too twisted right now. He didn’t even see the Violet Rose Peacock as a useful Treasure. He saw it as a science project.

"Heel," Sylas said.

The peacock descended from the skies, lowering its head. It wasn’t that large since it was still just Level 1, but standing straight, it was still more than 50% taller than Sylas alone.

However, over time, the once-unruly peacock had become very obedient. Sylas never summoned it, but it had experienced everything with him nonetheless.

It no longer had it in itself to defy Sylas. And it definitely didn’t help that Sylas’ eyes were just so much more... piercing now.

Staring into them felt like being ripped to shreds.

A Symbiote was ultimately a creature of Will. It took over the body of a target, weaving through the layers of the body and taking over its mind. It was incredibly sensitive to those with Will as powerful as Sylas, because it was exactly these sorts of people who were its worst enemy.

Sylas placed his palm on the Violet Rose Peacock’s head. It was the first time he had truly felt something on his palm in so long. He didn’t know why he kept getting caught up in these small sensations, but it took him a split moment to regain his focus, his eyes becoming sharp once again.

"Come."

This process was meant to be irreversible. The Symbiote itself was meant to be able to freely travel between hosts. But the problem was that Sylas had bound it to a Mount. Because of that, it became tied with the system and it could no longer freely leave.

This was also part of why the Symbiote was forced to listen to Sylas’ orders as well, whereas usually, it would be far more unruly.

However...

The Symbiote shuddered, suddenly feeling a restriction that had been on it weaken somewhat.

It shot out, rampaging toward Sylas’ palm as though it saw an opportunity.

This wasn’t the first time the Symbiote had tried to fuse into Sylas’ body. This was originally how it was supposed to be used, but Sylas was entirely uninterested.

There was a flash in his eyes, and the True Pride Seed flickered just the slightest bit.

The worm of wood was completely immobilized, landing in Sylas’ palm.

The flaming body of the peacock slowly retreated, returning to the original peacock and looking around in confusion. Sylas honestly raised an eyebrow, not expecting it to still be alive.

An icy bird, beautiful in countenance and maybe frigid to almost anyone else, stood there.

Originally, this had been a Level 11 Blue-Green Peafowl beast, but Sylas had used a special treasure on it.

—

[Frostbane Feather (Silver) (Consumable Treasure)]

[Sacrifice to trigger upgrade in Mount or Combat Mount, or turn beast into Mount or Combat Mount]

[Mutate or replace Aether affinity]

[Improve Grade to FFF-]

[Note: Function of Consumable Treasure will depend on the Gene Constitution of target beast. More control will be granted depending on Brand Grade]

[Uses Left: 1/1]

—

This turned the normal beast into a Combat Mount, which eventually led to the Violet Rose Peacock. But with his head tilted to the side and his thoughts still churning, Sylas placed another palm on the head of the beautiful peacock, his gaze flickering over to the corpses in the surroundings—all killed by Cassarae.

This place was filled with dead Overlords, wasn’t it?

Sylas reversed something he shouldn’t have been able to reverse again.

A one-time-use item? What if he could ignore the system now?

There was a churning in his Scorned Wraps as he felt familiar flames starting to stir.

He ignored them.

He would see just how far he could push this.

He pulled the Glasirith out of the Hibernation Realm, and then the Bone-Tailed Lizard.

He felt that it was about time he made himself a useful Combat Mount—one that he wouldn’t ignore for so long. It was just that he would have to sacrifice a few of his beasts to do that.

But other than Nosphaleen and Gogo, he honestly didn’t really care what happened to the others.

The last pieces to come out were the corpses of the E-Grade Dogons he had left for the Bone-Tailed Lizard.

Sylas’ eyes flashed.