Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1766: Open Vessel

The Genesis Forge Obelisk trembled. Its ancient Runes lit up, lines of crimson forming around it.

Germaine didn't even know what was happening, and honestly, neither did Sylas. He had entered this half expecting that he would need to take the risk to join the Professors as well. The reason he was pressuring Germaine so much was because this was the only way to ensure that she wasn't trying to trick him.

By the time she had fallen to a knee, Sylas had already resolved himself to take the chance. But it seemed that... that would be unnecessary.

The obelisk stabilized, radiating down an almost gentle might. However, the Runes themselves had sparks of crimson lightning within.

Sylas walked forward, his eyes still tightly sealed as blood continuously poured from them. He didn't seem to register the pain, though, as he pressed his fingers gently onto the obelisk.

A pulse formed a feedback loop with him, and he sensed an echo from the universe.

'What a... feeling.'

Sylas couldn't remember anything feeling so good. It wasn't the sort of high one experienced during sex or something of the like, but it was the sort of feeling one felt from accomplishing or executing on something particularly difficult.

For Sylas, discipline was something he had forever hung his hat on. Completing what was difficult was an art to him, and it was what fueled his Pride on Earth even when he was bored by everything else.

He was familiar with this so-called "runner's high," but he felt it from doing anything from studying, to eating well, even to waking up early in the morning.

And this feeling was exactly like that, but multiplied several hundredfold.

It was impossibly addicting, and Sylas realized that it was like his mind was being expanded into the Mesh of Reality, experiencing the world as it truly was instead of what he simply hoped it to be.

He took a step back and exhaled.

This was it.

However, the feeling itself was only vague. Sylas knew that this wasn't how to use the obelisk.

The Genesis Forge had always required a great amount of energy. The first piece had literally come with the World Jade, one Sylas had needed to use a D-Grade Treasure on before he could get it to work properly.

In this form, it was no different.

While the Genesis Forge could still be used to upgrade Races like Sylas had been using it for, its new function was far more important to him... It no longer just upgraded Races. It could allow Sylas to peek into an elevated state while it was active.

Before, the obelisk could only be used to reach B-tier even in its completed form. Sylas had managed to use that as a springboard to elevate himself before to A-tier, and even touch Demi-God, but because of that, it had become useless to him.

Sylas had ultimately chosen to leave it on Earth so that his family could upgrade their Races, but after he had become the origin of the Grimblade Bloodline, the obelisk had become useless to his family too and had just been sitting there.

But now, this obelisk was on an entirely different level. Not only could it now upgrade one's Race all the way to the A-tier, it could certainly do it much faster.

The catch? It would only last for as long as the shard managed to. That length of time would be widely variable depending on how heavily it was being used, and Sylas had a feeling that said usage wouldn't go very far this time because he planned to run it into the ground.

By the time he finished learning what he needed to from Old Brama's legacy, not much of the energy would be left at all. In fact, it would probably run out before Sylas managed to learn everything.

Even so... who said he could only use one shard? Didn't he just have to kill another Professor to get another? And Germaine had conveniently told him that they would want to kill him just for learning about their shard.

What would they do once he burned one like coal?

That was just the start, though.

If Sylas was correct, if he could get a larger shard, or at least three of the ones of the size he had just used, the obelisk would even be able to temper his Race all the way to the S-tier!

An item capable of refining a Race to the S-tier... just what kind of people were the First Race of Earth?

Sylas was very rarely impressed. But these people had certainly impressed him more than just once.

And that was because this was only the surface function of the obelisk. What was clever was that because of the way the obelisk functioned, it could just as easily be used to peer into the secrets of the universe, accelerating one's comprehension and expanding the function of one's mind in ways that couldn't be easily explained.

If not for the fact it ran on the Crimson Lightning, Sylas would have rather just used the obelisk directly.

Why should he use the obelisk to learn Old Brama's Inheritance, just to then use Old Brama's Inheritance to create something to enhance his mental capacity to learn something else?

That seemed like a lot of jumping through hoops unnecessarily.

Unfortunately, the Crimson Lightning wasn't something that Sylas could hope to use another treasure alongside. If he did that, the Crimson Lightning would destroy Call of the Titan and leave him with nothing.

However, if he was just reading information... that was a different matter entirely.

It seemed that the stage was set. Right about now, Legacy could very well be reacting to what was happening. However... what did that have to do with Sylas?

He had bigger fish to fry. His enemies would just have to line up one by one at this point.

They could step over one another's corpses if they would like.

Sylas finally pulled out Old Brama's Inheritance.

He didn't know what he was expecting for the name, but when he read it, it was the very last thing.

[Omnimous: Open Vessel].

It was such an odd and peculiar name that Sylas stared at it for several minutes.