Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1514 Another Mountain [2500 GT Bonus]

Sylas' Rune Mastery was simply on another level. Old Brama, who could sense the waves and fluctuations, sat in silence on the outside, manning the ship as his hands trembled.

He was a C-Grade Rune Master. He stood on a level so far beyond the F-tier that Sylas’ Rune Mastery should have been nothing more than a joke to him.

And yet, he found his Will constantly wanting to bow in obedience. He didn't even try, but he knew that if he did, he wouldn't be able to form even a single Rune right now.

it was like he had forgotten how to draw Runes in Sylas' presence, the world finding him to be so wholly inferior that he didn't have the right to do so, even if he wanted.

Even though he couldn't lay eyes on Sylas right now, he could practically feel the bright white-gold crown above his head. The Primus Luminaria, the symbol of a Rune Master who had reached heights he couldn't fathom.

The one thing Old Brama had always had an untouchable pride in was his research—his path of Rune Mastery—one his ancestors had forged and one he had made his own attempts to progress further.

But it was simply nothing compared to this young man.

It was no wonder Sylas had never even cared to try and learn from him. To think he had thought about how to avoid teaching Sylas anything in the past.

He had thought of all sorts of things, carefully planning what to leave out and cut away, or maybe even twist so that Sylas wouldn't get the full picture of his path.

He knew how clever this young man was and how hard he was to trick, so he had made ample preparations, only for it all to have been entirely worthless.

Sylas never cared about his path at all.

The irony of it all?

Sylas could probably be the best alchemist there ever was, the best blacksmith, the best mech tech—but he never pursued any of them, preferring the purest path of Rune Master there was... To engineer the world itself.

His body was his canvas, his Wil his paintbrush. His stroke wrote out his thoughts, his dominance etching into the very stars themselves.

And as he evolved...

The world felt it.

Sylas roared, his mind quickly reaching its limits. His body convulsed, trying to squeeze out more of a time dilation for him to work faster, but there was only so much he could pull out.

[Maddened Enlightenment] worked in overdrive to keep him going. If only he could have fused with Nosphaleen or Gogo, the help of the Hibernation Realm would have been invaluable.

But if he fused with them right now, while he was undergoing a Race Evolution, he would be shooting not only himself but them in the foot as well.

He clenched his fists, one memory after another returning to him. Once again, that day in the volcano came back to him. Even if he understood why it happened now, it didn't mean that he was accepting of it or that he had grown beyond it.

He refused to allow it to happen again. He wouldn't be that weak man again.

Never again.

Sylas took out what Browning Gold was left. He had only used it once, and this time, he chugged everything that remained, ignoring the potential of being overloaded with impurities. Right now, his body was burning through impurities so fast he highly doubted it would cause a single issue.

“It's not good enough.

The Ape Emperor Armor Sylas had created was already far better than any he had seen, but he was still not triggering something new.

He knew what the problem was internally. From the start, he had known it would be a possibility.

The Armors... they weren't created step by step from the F-tier up to the higher tiers. Instead, they worked backward. The creator had certainly started at a vastly higher level and then simplified the Armors step by step.

Trying to accomplish something completely new with it as its foundation was practically impossible.

Sylas was right back where he started. He could modify as much as he wanted, but the system would never recognize it as his own creation if it originated from an Armor that was B-tier or even higher.

Sylas grit his teeth, unwilling to accept the result, but finding an even taller mountain before him. Even after all of the modifications, the Emperor Armor was at most two times better.

This would be a shocking result, and yet still not enough to satisfy the system.

“There's only one chance remaining.’

Down one path, there was failure. Down the other, there was a gamble waiting for him. “Accept it.

Sylas accepted his final reward.

His body shook, Reaper Sealwright taking shape.

[Profession: Reaper Sealwright (Legendary)]

(Level: 1]

[Paths]

[Life Seal: Lvi]

[Life Seal]

(Level: 1]

[Experience: 0/1000]

[Path Talent: Life Seal Lv]

[Life Seal (Path Talent)]

[>Seal F-Grade Gene]

[Paths]

[Death Seal: Lv]

[Death Seal]

(Level: 1]

[Experience: 0/1000]

[Path Talent: Death Seal Lv]

[Death Seal (Path Talent)]

[>Seal F-Grade Gene]

The status screen looked blurry to Sylas beneath all the pain he was experiencing. But even when he forced himself to focus, it was almost too barren.

Two Path Talents, both with seemingly the... same ability? What was he supposed to do with this? Had he made a mistake?

An understanding came to Sylas naturally.

The Life Seal was able to seal any existing Gene, no matter the level, no matter the grade, no matter the type.

The Death Seal was able to do the exact same.

At first, this was confusing. Why would he need two Genes to do the exact same thing? The difference was that the Life Seal worked on the living.

The Death Seal worked on the dead.

Once again, this felt worthless. Why would you need to seal a Gene of a person who was already dead?

But that was when Sylas thought of an odd open fact everyone knew... Manipulating Genes required a person to be dead. It had taken the use of literal cancer before Sylas could influence Nosphaleen's Genes while she was alive.

But what did this mean for this? What use was it?

Was he going to have to accept stopping here?