Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1679 Prison

[Bonus chapter thanks to Reading_aniac :)]

Sylas wasn't sure what to think, honestly. He was rarely so confused.

First, Fanelei wanted him badly enough to even cross countless light-years with her. But then she was supposedly not sure of him enough and had him tested. That test led to a fallout she wasn't prepared for, so she placed restrictions on him. But now she wanted him to go and earn his Rune Mastery resources on his own?

It didn't make any sense.

If there was a single through-line to be found, Sylas would have found it already. But right now, it felt more like an eccentric grandmother doing what she pleased whenever she pleased rather than a woman with a real plan in mind.

There was something that Sylas wasn't factoring in, though. Something that, if he did, would make things make

more sense.

Emotion.

Sylas wasn't someone who didn't understand that humanoids could be irrational creatures. He was actually quite used to manipulating the emotions of others when need be.

But he had just been hoping that A-tiers would be better. It seemed not.

Fanelei was someone who probably had many things ping-ponging around in her mind right now.

There was the fact Sylas had killed her granddaughter, the fact that Sylas had rejected her at first and only wanted to use her now that it was convenient, the fact that Sylas wasn't exactly the bow-down-and-be-obedient sort even now that he was here.

Then there was her own pride being caught in a quagmire where she knew that she needed Sylas for whatever reason that might be, but she was also unwilling to rely on an F-tier-worse yet, an F-tier that didn't seem to be particularly grateful at all.

These were things that Sylas could, of course, understand. He just expected...

Better.

But maybe when you were born and raised in such a powerhouse of an organization, and had reached near the pinnacle of what was possible in this Heaven, emotional regulation wasn't exactly at the peak of what they worked

on.

When you had everything, why would you need to regulate how you felt?

When Sylas saw how the A-tiers had been acting, like children who had their toys taken away, he had just thought that it was more of a joke, like they knew how they were acting but chose to do things that way anyway because it was more fun for them.

That Sylas could understand. Not everyone had a personality like himself. They wanted to let off some steam and relax, so what?

But what if it wasn't just an act or an attempt to blow off steam?

What if they were all truly like this?

And it was then it suddenly clicked for Sylas.

He stopped walking in the middle of a bustling street. He could feel some gazes sweeping toward him, finding it odd that someone so old could possibly be so weak. But like most people in situations like this, other than giving him a weird look, they just went about their days. Maybe later today they would give him a snide remark or two to their friends or family before he faded from their memories.

This was how most people were. They wouldn't bother you if you didn't bother them. The world was simple that way.

Sylas looked up into the skies, and then back a long distance away where he was sure that Fanelei was probably still standing in the skies, watching him walk toward the main Guild.

They've given up.

Sylas felt something within him shift, and it all made sense.

On the one hand, it was easy to blame them. They had been born with silver spoons in their mouths, handed everything. Maybe when they were nearing the peak, they had to go out and fight for themselves, go and earn that Title of "Legend" the system gave them. But ultimately, as far as Sylas was concerned, their lives had been so very easy.

How would you feel if everything you had came so easily to you... until suddenly it didn't?

Each one of them, an A-tier amongst A-tiers, the pinnacle of the pinnacle... and yet so very far from the true peak nonetheless, unable to take even just one more step forward.

If you didn't stop taking life seriously after that, then how would you cope?

How would Sylas himself cope if he ever reached a day where he could never take another step forward again, despite knowing there was more to be had, more to be gained?

A ripple of emerald and gold danced around Sylas as though flowing currents of wind.

What did it feel like to realize that the strongest people you had ever met were just small boats in a raging tsunami, not much unlike you were?

A prison, huh?

Who were the jailers?

Chi.

Sylas suddenly took a strong step backward as a bolt of crimson rippled through his Will. His mind shuddered, and he felt like he had touched onto something just now that he shouldn't have, something so deep and ancient... something the A-tiers may very well have experienced themselves before choosing to entirely give up on things.

The difference was that they were A-tiers, while he, himself, was a mere F-tier. This sort of backlash was enough for immediate death.

Flames burned across his Will, flames that he recognized all too well, flames he had only seen produced by his Scorned Wraps.

But for some reason, after taking that single step back, Sylas didn't move again. His expression didn't change. His mind remained as calm as an ancient well.

He had thought for so very long about how he would act if he faced a scene of death again like he had in the volcano that fateful day. He had replayed the scenario again, and again, and again.

The worst moment of his life, a memory he was both too prideful to want to keep and too arrogant to cut away from himself. It would feel like running away; it would feel like he was just one of those A-tiers who couldn't face their own inferiority.

If today he died because he touched upon a secret he never should have so early on-

Then he died.

He would never bow his head like that again.

Crimson cracks suddenly burst across Sylas' skin.