Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1344: Prove It [3000 GT Bonus]

If one were to line up all of the Lineages to ever break free of their own, the percentage of them that were big cats was exceptionally high. They were also the Lineages that, because of this, were the least likely to be looked at with suspicion.

The Tiger Lineage, the Panther Lineage, the Cheetah Lineage, the Snow Leopard Lineage—all four of them had joined their Sanctum generations ago by means of leaving another.

This didn’t seem like a big deal because many other Lineages were just the same. In fact, every Sanctum only had to have one thing to be officially recognized as a Sanctum:

The four strongest Lineages. That being the Lion Lineage, the Whale Lineage, the Ape Lineage, and the Serpent Lineage.

So long as these four were present, it would be an official Lineage, and others could join, leave, and merge at will. Well, not quite at will, but according to the rules.

"So... are the big cats all our enemies?" Gwenu asked in a much softer voice. She was supposed to be the senior to Sylas, but she found herself leaning on him all of a sudden.

She realized this immediately, but her pride didn’t exactly kick in. The fact she could recognize this at all was a testament to how powerful her Will was, but it also allowed her to acknowledge that Sylas’ Will and Charisma were on another level entirely.

If he was an E-tier, she wasn’t sure if she would have noticed at all.

"Not necessarily."

Gwenu groaned. "Just pretend like I’m a toddler and explain it to me. These are senior sister privileges. Since I can’t haze you normally since you’re no fun, I’m settling for this."

"They are just the most likely traitors, and it isn’t necessarily all of them. That’s why it’s a good smokescreen.

"In addition, the fact that the Whale, Ape, Lion, and Serpent Lineages have to be the core of a Sanctum for it to be officially recognized as one should mean that at least one of them is in on this."

"And I assume the Lions would be too easy of an answer."

"Yes. It’s very possible that they just want us to think that it’s the Lions so that we miss the forest for the trees. Because of their abrasive and aggressive stance on most things, the Lions will also always be the first to be suspicious."

"Then what reason would the Lion Lineage have to vote in the Bats otherwise?"

"The Lion Lineage is always chasing after power. The Bat Lineage is undoubtedly powerful. As of right now, other than myself, we don’t have anyone who is firmly above them in all aspects. Though the Lion Lineage might believe themselves to have the upper hand in the D-tier."

"What happened to pride?"

"Do you know how the Lion Armor works?" Sylas looked over toward her again.

Gwenu blinked. "You know how other Armors work?"

Sylas raised an eyebrow. "Why wouldn’t you know?"

"It’s very complicated. It’s hard enough to understand your own."

Sylas shook his head. "The main ability of the Lion Armor is their Pride Rune. But it grows based on the number of people under their charge. Meaning, when the Bat Lineage joined, the Lion Warlord grows stronger—potentially exponentially so."

"What?!"

Gwenu sat up in shock as though she really didn’t know this. This time, she was really looking at Sylas as though she was staring at a monster.

There was no book you could read about this. The only two ways to know this for certain were to have someone of the Lion Lineage tell you or to read the core texts of the Lion Lineage and study their armor that way.

But Sylas had very obviously learned a third method.

He just watched a Lion Lineage member form their Armor and he deduced it from that.

"Is this a big secret?" Sylas asked.

Gwenu’s mouth opened a bit, then closed.

"...Yes and no. There are certain things about your Warlord Armor that you never talk about, even with those that are of your Sanctum."

Remembering the rage on Gralith’s face from that day, Sylas could imagine. But were the Rune Masters of this Sector really so poor that they couldn’t tell something like this?

Unless...

It’s a bastardized version of Pride. It’s the core weakness of this version of the Lion Warlord Armor. I sensed it so clearly because my True Pride Seed didn’t like it at all. Which probably means...

The secret to forming the Lion Emperor Armor was probably fixing that weakness.

The difference between the Lion Warlord and Lion Emperor... it was the difference between pride meaning community and Pride as in self-importance.

"Mm." Sylas closed the book and stood up. "Either way, after this battle, I’ll have the answer."

Gwenu quickly stood up too.

"What are you going to do?"

"Right about now, I bet that the resources that Gralith has been asking for will be handed to me on a silver platter."

Gwenu’s heart skipped a beat.

"I’ll bet them all and bleed them dry."

Gwenu licked her lips and then rushed after Sylas, hooking her arm around his.

"Hey, Sylas, have you ever considered being a big brother?"

"I am a big brother," Sylas replied.

Gwenu blinked and then laughed. "Good, good. Tell you what, you take my place as third disciple and I’ll take up the youngest position again. I think that this is best for everyone involved. I’m just a girl, you have to take care of me."

"Okay."

Gwenu laughed, affirming the fact she quite liked Sylas. Now, she was quite looking forward to a good show.

Gralith had been demanding the Sanctum give Sylas compensation for what he had gone through at the hands of the Emperor Sanctum and the ones that had programmed the Temple Spirit to act as it had.

It had been a weeks-long battle with no headway made at all, but suddenly they would become quite accepting of it, one vote flipping after another.

As for why?

Obviously, they thought the Scorpion Lineage was about to lose those resources to the Bat Lineage.

To Sylas, though, he saw this as an excellent opportunity to gain even more.

If Urolius was the strongest their F-tiers had, numbers wouldn’t matter in the slightest.

Even if he wasn’t... Sylas didn’t believe there existed a Mortal F-tier Thryskai that could defeat him right now.

If there was one, they were going to have to prove it.