Genetic Ascension

1580 A Dog's Death [2500 GT Bonus]

The excitement bubbling up in Fowler's heart was palpable.

It hadn't been long since he lost his Title-not even a year-but he had never felt so empty, so broken in his life. He had always hung his hat on his intelligence. Never once did he blame his station in life, instead believing that with enough time, he would always be able to turn everything around.

But just when he was finally there, finally sitting on the very precipice of it all...

It came crumbling down.

All because of this Sylas Grimblade.

But now, that would change. Now, he would return with what was rightfully his. Now, he would stand at the height he had always been meant to. Now... Nothing happened.

Fowler blinked. The space above his head remained empty.

The surge of power and strength he had been waiting for never came.

The room of white hung in an odd silence. The woman and Old Brama were still waiting for the next round to begin. But Sylas, who hadn't made a move from the start, just stood there, unbothered.

One would have thought that he would have collapsed—that he would turn gaunt and broken from the power being sapped out of his body. However, Sylas looked the same now as he had before.

The weight of Legendary Genes wasn't something that could be explained in a few words. If he lost his Primus Imperium Title, then there might be some real devastation wrought to his body. But Primus Luminaria was a Title he had yet to fully rely on in the first place. As for his Dominus Paragon Title, its improvement to his Mental Stats was precisely what his Legendary Genes could mitigate the loss of.

Sylas' stats alone had long become a poor measure of his actual strength. After he gained Legendary Genes, this only became more so. When he formed his Dao, it only became more exaggerated than that.

While the empty stats granted by Primus Luminaria had left Fowler weak and vapid, for Sylas, he had long been inching toward maximizing them to their greatest extent.

His comprehension of Wisdom, Intelligence, and Charisma was unlike anything Fowler could ever hope to match up to.

His stats must have plummeted by an entire magnitude, but this functionally had little effect on him at all.

In practice, his strength was certainly weaker. Even so, a bit contradictorily, his ability to use his current stats had skyrocketed by such a measure that it almost made up for the losses in a single bound.

Fowler's head finally snapped back to Sylas.

"What did you do?"

When Sylas didn't respond, his eyes began to bulge.

"WHAT DID YOU DO!?"

Veins of red formed in the whites of his eyes, his aura fluctuating so wildly that he nearly exploded. Unfortunately for him, the parameters of a Cross Tier Quicktime Event didn't allow him to attack personally.

That said...

Chi.

Cracks-fine cracks of black and silver-began to appear across the expanse of white. First slowly, then so fast even Fowler's eyes weren't able to keep up.

BANG.

The world exploded, and they were sent through space as though a series of backtracking afterimages. One illusory clone of themselves after another was left to their fronts as their bodies were sent backward almost as though through time itself.

Sylas suddenly waved a hand and it all stopped.

WHOOSH.

In the expanse of space, hidden in the darkness, a figure was outlined by the cracks. The curved silhouette of a gorgeous woman with an ample chest formed. But it was vibrating hard and fast, almost as though she was struggling against a power she couldn't seem to fathom or control in the slightest.

Her body was forced into reality-not by Sylas, but instead by another force entirely.

Her gaze trembled wildly as her pupils constricted. Her head, slowly but surely, turned toward Sylas as a crimson eye appeared high in the skies.

Sylas continued to stand there in the depths of space, looking at her without the slightest change to his expression.

He could see why his enemies had such a fascination with manipulating the system. It could be quite fun, now couldn't it?

Her head exploded beneath a crimson beam of light.

Sulvado Kaelthar's wife, future Matriarch of the Kaelthar Clan as she liked to call herself, had died a dog's death.

"Kill him," Sylas said indifferently to the woman.

In a flash, they were already back in the vessel, the retreat having completed.

Sylas didn't care to watch Fowler's last moment. He had been too lazy even to care enough to participate in his Quicktime Event.

If he had wanted to, how could any one of them match up to the Unravelling Pupils? Even though the Quicktime Event forced you to use your own Path of Rune Mastery, it would have been trivial for Sylas to combine his Archon Casting with his Runeweaver Eyes.

He just didn't want to.

Fowler was entirely beneath his notice, and he didn't have the time to play around to stroke the ego of a man who didn't know his limits.

Sylas' head began to thrum with lights, and soon, two Crowns had formed, superimposing themselves onto one another.

[Title Unlocked]

[Dominus Paragon (Legendary) (Contested Title)]

[The power of your mind has been displayed and acknowledged. In this Sector, you are the undisputed best, carrying within yourself insight, sharpness, and wit that stands beyond all others. A wise man beyond wise men, an intellectual beyond scholars, a powerhouse of strategy and technical skill that strikes fear in your enemies.] [+1000% Mental]

[Title Unlocked]

[Primus Luminaria (Contested Title)]

[The light at the end of the tunnel, the spark in the essence of life. A Rune Master of this Title is not just one who comprehends the most or understands the most, but one who sets out the path for the future. You have pushed the envelope and stand at the peak of Spark Mastery.] [+50% Success in drawing ALL Runes]

[Draw Runes one Grade above your Will]

"Return to the Sanctum," Sylas said indifferently.

In the depths of the Kaelthar Empire, a special tablet suddenly shattered. The moment it

did, the head of a young man snapped upward, his eyes opening wide from a calm state of closed meditation.