Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1343: Big Cats [Bonus]

[Big thanks to author137 for torturing me again]

Gwenu blinked when she heard this. She stared at Sylas for a long while, even when he went back to his book as though she hadn’t said much of anything at all.

Then she plopped down by his side and patted his shoulder heavily.

"You know what, little bro? I think I like you a lot. You’re a psychopath, but I definitely like you a lot. You have a good head on your shoulders." She nodded very seriously, not surprised when Sylas didn’t answer her.

At this point, she was getting more used to his personality these days. He was a lot like their first brother and master, but also not at the same time.

Well, their first brother was more on the quiet side, but he was also antisocial. Sylas wasn’t against socializing—he just didn’t like wasting his words, and he also didn’t like to have his training sessions interrupted.

Still, she didn’t care about any of that. She was more interested in how he had managed to defeat Morvok when she couldn’t.

In truth, Sylas was powerful. Far more powerful now than before, in fact. She had seen the video of the battle, and she could gauge how much power Sylas was outputting—and Morvok, for that matter.

Sylas wasn’t nearly strong enough to beat Morvok, but Morvok had seemed... far weaker for some reason too. There was definitely something going on.

It made her wonder why... Sylas was a complete enigma. Somehow, he had managed to suppress Morvok with his Will alone.

But was it really as simple as Grade Slayer? Could Grade Slayer do something like that?

Grade Slayer was still a very rare Title. Only the best of the best had it.

Although you could get help with it, it had to be done in a very particular way.

King Slayer was even more tricky to trick, but it was so rare that Gwenu didn’t even think of it.

"So, are you going to tell me how you beat Morvok?" she blinked.

Sylas ignored her, continuing to read. He was spending much longer on a single page than he otherwise would, but that honestly had very little to do with Gwenu. It was instead because this page was actually quite curious.

The Beast Warlord Sanctum didn’t write anything by normal means—everything was fed through Runes and the feel they provided. This was also another check on what books you could read and how high you could go into these trees.

This book in particular—

"Why the hell are you reading about these stupid wars? These people are long dead. I thought you wanted in on the library to learn new Skills?"

"Already did that," Sylas said calmly, still reading.

"Did that? What do you mean by that?"

Sylas didn’t reply. He meant what he said.

The little girl had said he hadn’t spent nearly enough time on his Skills, and that much was true. They were all still at Fragmented Mastery, and that wasn’t nearly good enough. It was just that they were Skills formed from Legendary Gene Classes, so even at Fragmented Mastery, they were broken in ways the other Skills he came across couldn’t even hold a candle to.

However, the Skills that Sylas had wanted to learn from the Beast Warlord Sanctum were all Rune Mastery Skills—Rune manipulation methods, Rune drawing methods, things of the like.

Those only took him a glance to master.

He had been able to reverse-engineer their pause-drawing Skill by watching an inferior product be produced at the hands of someone as weak as Casteel.

When he had the original source material in his hands, he practically hopped from book to book with a single glance before moving on.

So when he said he already had, he meant that. Right now, he was expanding his other knowledge foundations.

The Golden Grove was powerful, but they had been on the decline for too long. Their information had deteriorated, and they were at best a mid-tier power in the Sector.

The Sanctum, though... they were on another level entirely.

"Teach me," Gwenu suddenly said.

Sylas looked up from the thick tome finally and toward Gwenu.

"Teach you what?"

"I assume there’s a reason you’re doing this. You don’t seem to be very patient, and I can tell you want to improve as quickly as possible. So teach me. Why is this useful to you?"

She blinked, her face the picture of innocence as though she really was very curious.

"Do you know what this tome is about?"

"A war?"

"Not just any war, and it’s not just ’about’ it either. This book details the origins of the Thryskai—or specifically, the Kaelthar in this Sector."

Gwenu blinked, then looked down at the tome.

"That’s not true. This is about our arrival and the clash we had with the Leava. I’ve heard about this war before."

"That’s what it’s about on the surface. What’s beneath the layers, hidden within the implications and subtext, is what I’m actually reading for."

"Are you trying to say that we’re in league with the Thryskai?"

"Not necessarily."

Gwenu became more confused.

"The Leava Clan is the group of most powerful Rune Masters in the Sector. It makes sense that they would be opposed to another group of powerful Rune Masters suddenly appearing.

"But have you ever noticed that we have a high number of big cat Lineages?"

"Yes."

"What do big cat Lineages have in common?"

Gwenu frowned. "It varies too wildly."

"Does it?"

Gwenu blinked again. "...Solitude?"

"Correct. There’s only one exception."

"The Lions."

"Do you know why?"

"They’re arrogant pricks?"

"Accurate enough. They have a few males and many women. The males tend to be blood-related, and they exist to protect their gene pools. The other big cats are culled by their greater pride and arrogance."

"But why is any of that important? What does that have to do with the Thryskai?"

"Think about how the Bat Lineage joined."

Gwenu’s eyes widened. "Individually!"

Sylas nodded and then went back to his tome. Gwenu’s heart, however, was beating out of her chest.

Was their entire Lineage a front?