Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1348: Enigma

Sylas felt that he had an idea about what it might be. But in that case, he was wondering what he was still missing to unlock it.

If Gralith had known, he was certain that it would be on the list. But it wasn’t, which meant that even the Sanctum didn’t have information on it.

This feeling itself, though, was quite curious. The fact Sylas could sense it meant that he was becoming more in tune with the system as well.

Or, rather, in relation to his Tier, his sensitivity toward the influence the system was having on him was disproportional. That was to say, if he were in E-tier, maybe he wouldn’t be able to see it so clearly.

’Does that mean I’m also in a unique position to guide other F-tiers?’

The thought flickered in Sylas’ mind, and his instincts wandered toward Alex and Jala. He didn’t really have the time to teach others when he spent every waking moment trying to improve himself.

But by the same token, he couldn’t just be dragging around useless people either.

All things considered, he had actually brought them along because he didn’t trust Alex and he also wanted to have a chance to explore the secrets of the Race he had ended up gaining the Inheritance of.

But it was also clear that just having a powerful starting Race when your starting position itself was so low wasn’t nearly enough of a help either.

Sylas displaced the thoughts to the back of his mind for a moment and then turned toward the other Titles on the list.

These Titles... they were even more tedious.

In ranked order of difficulty—at least to the wider Sector itself—these Titles were far easier to gain than the Rune Mastery ones. But the difference to Sylas was that he could just sit here and draw Runes indefinitely.

These Titles, however... mostly required fighting people or beasts, or completing certain battle-related feats of strength, power, speed, or anything of the sort.

They were also mostly tailored toward the Path of a Scorpion as well, as these were what Gralith knew the most about.

So many of these things were related to backstabbing, assassination, or putting one’s life on the line in life-or-death situations.

Many of them weren’t even quite aligned with the new path Sylas was creating for the Scorpion Warlord. But from what Sylas felt from the Rune Mastery Titles—

’Hm... except for these few...?’

---

[Charismatic Enigma (FFF+)]

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Sylas remembered seeing this Title before.

Back when he was trying to upgrade his Unique Genes, one of the requirements the Gene Crystal had given him was forming an FFF+ Grade "Magecraft Title." Back then, he had asked the Madness Key to list them, and there had been a whole bunch, but it had been too expensive for him to trade for their secrets.

So instead of unlocking all of them, he had only learned how to unlock a single one and moved on.

But here, Gralith seemed to have listed out several of them—including one he remembered all too well.

And the description... was quite fascinating.

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[Charismatic Enigma (FFF+)]

[Aether is not bound only to your Intelligence, but your Charisma as well. You manipulate it not just based on the Laws of your Skills, or the world around you, but also based on the imposition of your own Will. Change and tweak the use of a Skill—slightly or entirely, making it your own.]

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[Unlock Requirements]

[> Progress 10 Mage Skills to Legendary Mastery]

[> Step beyond Legendary Mastery]

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For one... the requirements of this Title were quite tall. Was that normal for an FFF+ Title?

What Sylas didn’t realize was that the answer to his question was yes... yes a million times over.

This was no less difficult than the FFF+ Rune Mastery Titles—it was just that he found those quite easy to complete nonetheless. But to someone else, their reaction might be just the same.

It wasn’t that Sylas found this impossible, but instead that he was finally seeing this Title-gathering training through the lens he should.

And second...

Why did this description sound so much like his Elevated Gene Talent, *Aetherborne Will*?

’Mage Skills, huh...?’

Sylas’ eyes narrowed.

He had a decision to make. There were a few like this he felt he could try to blaze through. He had a vast store of "Mage Skills" he could access now thanks to being Gralith’s disciple. But there was something else calling for his attention.

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[Primus Luminaria (Contested Title)]

---

It was taking everything in him not to have immediately hopped on it. It was just that he knew the moment he did, he might not be able to focus on anything else.

Maybe it was about time he burned through the rest of the Aether Stones he had received as compensation. It wasn’t like he planned on giving it back to the Bat Lineage anyway.

*’I probably shouldn’t spend too much more time on Mental Titles too... if I’m going to put effort into Titles, it should be to balance out my body more. My Physical stats are lacking by a large margin, and those are the stats that Chaotic Sovereign relies on more...’*

Unfortunately, the Physical Titles were a lot harder to get. He would actually have to go out and defeat and fight things. But even those would only give him the inferior Titles.

Why was he able to gather so many Rune Master Titles in just a few days?

His talent.

Talent he didn’t have in the body. As such, the difficulty was orders of magnitude worse.

But... there was a way to change that...

---

...

[Gold Genes: {Empty}; {Empty}; {Empty}]

[Legendary Genes: {Empty}]

---

Maybe it was about time he started thinking seriously about absorbing the Unique Genes.

What better way to improve his Physical stats than absorbing Beastial Unique Genes?

Sylas took a breath and exhaled.

He knew why he was hesitating. He wasn’t like everyone else who would be locked into Genes the moment they absorbed them. He was a Vipermancer. He could add and remove his Genes at Will.

The reason he hadn’t already was because he was still fuming. He really didn’t want anything from this Sanctum, and if not for Gralith, he would have already left, plotting a path toward destroying it as soon as possible.

But... since he was still here...

His gaze flickered.