Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1358: Not a Single One

Sylas brushed by the frozen elder, following the railing down to the first pod and stepping into it. It sealed over him before anyone could do much of anything, the rippling lines of Aether projecting out lines across the skies that converged into a sphere of energy that hung at the center and core of the skyscraper.

...

"Is everything ready?" Old Brama asked Alex.

"Mm." Alex nodded. "I set my little worker elf to the task. Look at him, isn’t he so cute?"

Alex looked toward Jala, who was wearing the wear of a traditional butler. Unfortunately, the poor guy wasn’t from Earth, so he had no idea.

Brama was used to Alex’s antics by now and just shook his head.

"Good. Then let’s make some money."

Cassarae was a step ahead, but Brama was barely a half step behind that. With a merchant guild as powerful as the Golden Grove behind him, why would Sylas not make use of it?

Though the Golden Grove was just a mid-tier power, when it came to a measure of merchant guilds themselves, they were still in the top three of the entire Sector. The amount of weight they could move around was still quite substantial.

The main problem with these merchant guilds, though, was that the capital they had was still insignificant when it came to the truly large powers and Clans. However...

When it came to mobilizing and connecting with the masses?

They were second to none.

The problem was that Brama had too little time to help organize things. So, the impact had only been a small portion of what Sylas wanted, and the bait hadn’t been laid well enough to make money hand over fist.

But, with Cassarae’s undercurrents...

The situation was suddenly vastly different.

**

When Sylas’ vision cleared, he found himself in a world of white fog. It was quite interesting because it reminded him a lot of the secret realms that had taught him Rune Mastery in the first place, and he was fairly certain that that was by design.

Back then, he hadn’t known anything at all about Rune Mastery, so by the time he got to the Breath Mastery stage, he was only able to be ranked in the top 300.

The irony of that, though, was the fact that he had used the secret realm to train, while the others had used it to make a name for themselves. Because of that, his scores couldn’t hold a candle to theirs.

If those of the Milky Way knew of Sylas’ true circumstances when he took their tests, their feverish pursuit of him would have been all the more so.

It seemed appropriate that things would all come back to this point.

This time, he wouldn’t be so unprepared.

Shu. Shu. Shu.

One figure after another appeared not long later. Sylas wasn’t surprised at all. In a situation like this one, the cards were in his hands, and delaying any more would only cause the situation to spiral out of the control that they had tried so very hard to maintain.

Sylas had only ever met one of them personally. But there were three others that he recognized based on their reputations, and a final one he only recognized as a Thryskai he didn’t know.

The one he knew was, of course, Urolius, the very same F-tier Thryskai he had defeated in a single move not very long ago.

The three he recognized...

Vidu Mancha.

As far as Sylas knew, he was third-ranked on the Matrix Index Rankings and second on the F-tier Rune Master Rankings.

The Mancha Clan was an odd one. They seemed more plant than flesh, their hair growing out in vines, roots, and flowers somewhat reminiscent of dreadlocks—and yet not quite. Their jaws protruded in an odd way. Formed of stone, it looked like an extra attachment screwed into their facial structure as though an odd bit of cosmetic surgery. As for their skin, it almost looked like cracked mud. This wasn’t because of the color, though it was a greyed-to-delicate-brown sort of shade, but instead because of the texture and fissures that ran through it.

Their odd jaw gave their skulls an enormous underbite, and from time to time, it would unhinge, revealing a black hole of endless depths within that radiated a natural sort of energy.

The Mancha Race was one that stood at the peak of the C-Grade, and they actually had a lot of overlapping characteristics with the Seeing Thorn. As for whether that was coincidental or by design, it was hard to tell.

Their women had much less prominent jaws, though they still did look like they were chiseled out of smooth stone.

Vidu, though, was no woman.

Then there was Aira Venom.

Her skin was a delicate purple that reminded Sylas a lot of Nyssa, but that was where all of the similarities came to an end. Especially with the six, black, blade-like arms that extended from her back.

If there were a Spider Warlord Lineage in the Sanctum, there was no doubt that the Venom Clan and their strong Charisma characteristics would dominate it.

Instead, they settled for being one of the five most powerful Clans of the Sector.

Aira was second on the Matrix Index Rankings, but only seventh on the Rune Mastery Leaderboard.

Last, but certainly not least of those Sylas recognized, was Furon Leava. Those glass-like, kaleidoscope eyes that reflected countless colors and fathomless mystery seemed to see through every and anything.

He was undoubtedly the number one.

Number one on the Matrix Index Rankings.

Number one on the Rune Master Rankings.

The number one genius of the Leava Clan’s F-tiers.

And completely disregarded by Sylas as his gaze landed on the one person he didn’t recognize.

Honestly, it was the first time Sylas was seeing a female of the Thryskai. She had a delicate, child-like appearance. She must have only been 13 or 14 years old. Looking like a little doll, her cheeks puffed out with baby fat and her horns curled back like innocent braids.

However, as adorable as her appearance was, her eyes were cold as ice, and her heart was as steady as a mountain.

She was unmoved by this fanfare.

And as far as an F-tier could ever be a threat to Sylas’ Rune Mastery, she was certainly the greatest one here.

It was too bad that was just a measure of relativity.

On a very real scale...

Not a single one of them stood a chance.