Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1702 Salivar Entrim

Sylas entered a room of seclusion locked deep in the basement of the mansion Analei had given him. While he was on a time crunch, he didn't want to be too overeager. Plus, he needed some time for the situation to be massaged a bit.

In that time, he had to go through the information Analei had given him. She had agreed to go and see if there was more information that could be found, but as things went, this was already more than Sylas was expecting.

The Cryst Emperor was a young man, 21 years old this year, and when last seen, he had been Level 57.

This was actually quite a slow pace of progression. But as Sylas had learned in the libraries of the guild, many spent quite a long time at the F-tier even if they managed to reach Level 50 hastily. The importance of this first foundation couldn't be understated, especially when you had a great amount of talent to excavate.

For this young man in particular, Salivar Entrim, this was all the more vital.

It was said that he was a Cryst Emperor of a Wood-type Aether, which was quite curious because Sylas himself had almost taken such a route. He had ended up evolving it further until the earth-like characteristics progressed toward sand, and then toward Glass, but that didn't mean that Salivar's path was inferior.

It was just as his Aether Quest had told him from the beginning. There was no such thing as a weak Mancy Path. They were all created equal. It was simply a matter of how far you could take it.

In fact, there were good odds that Sylas would have trouble if for no other reason than the fact that his Glassvolt Aether had too many components.

There was the Glass component, which incorporated aspects of Ice, Sand, and even small tidbits of the earthy wood it originated from in the first place, making it among the most complex Aethers in all of existence. And then there was the Volt aspect.

Lightning Aether was incredibly unruly and difficult to control. The fact Sylas hardly ever struggled with it was not a function of how easy it was to deal with, but rather instead a function of the sheer amount of bandwidth Sylas was dedicating to control.

That and the fact the Glass pairing made it far easier.

Sylas was able to use the insulating aspects of Glass and Ice to restrain and control his lightning. But he was also able to break his Aether down further, tapping into other physical stats to make his lightning more fluid as well by making his Glass more water-like.

What was important here, though, was that Salivar's methods might be simpler, or they might not be. Honestly, it was hard to tell from just this alone.

According to Fanelei, the exact Aether Mancer Path taken by someone-especially a Cryst Emperor-was always something they kept close to the vest. That was because it was the basis and root of their entire being.

If one could fully understand that, it was a lot easier to deconstruct everything else about their existence. For a Cryst Emperor, it was especially important because it was also the foundation of their Will.

Sylas knew this quite intimately. If not for his visions of a throne, Gogo's Ancestor, and his own powerful Will, he probably wouldn't be able to wield his 100 Foundation Glassvolt Aether at all.

Still, there were some aspects that were well known.

Other than being a Wood Cryst Emperor, Salivar's vitality was shocking, and his control over his own biology and that of enemies was potent.

It was speculated that he could even lose his own head and still reform it. But at the same time, he could deconstruct another's ability to do the same, controlling an enemy's healing factor as though it was his own to wield.

He preferred to battle from a distance, but his close combat skills were exceptional nonetheless. What was ironic about this assessment was that even in the latter case, he hardly had to move. The trees he manifested would become like extra limbs for him, his personal body only moving when it was the most necessary.

The most fearsome aspect of his abilities were his Seeing Eyes. Their abilities were split into two, not much unlike the usual Runeweaver Eyes. On the one hand, they formed a Domain that expelled all Aethers but the one in use by the activator. And on the other, it was also capable of stripping a target of their Aether and forcefully converting it into a state that could be used by the activator.

Unsurprisingly, Salivar had an exceptionally powerful version of this Profession of theirs precisely because of his status as a Cryst Emperor.

As though all of this wasn't enough, Salivar was speculated as someone who had a second Profession. It wasn't confirmed, but during his ascent to the E-tier, some clues were revealed that suggested the main tree he summoned during battle wasn't an extension of his Aether, but instead a contract of some sort.

If that was the case, what the Weaver Guild feared the most was the possibility that Salivar was actually hiding a second Class.

It seemed that Dual Class wielders were incredibly rare even here, and for an existence like Salivar, that was a very valid thing to worry about. Because if a Cryst Emperor had formed a Cryst of not just one but two paths... Just how powerful would they be?

Sylas was only a Cryst Emperor of a single path, and even then he wasn't truly one because he had yet to well and truly comprehend what it meant to form a Cryst. Much like always, his greatest weakness was lack of information.

But Salivar would definitely not have this weakness. And if he was hiding a second Class, it meant he was far more patient and calculating than the personality he displayed outwardly.

That only really left one main question for Sylas...

Just what was a Cryst Emperor, exactly?