Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1787: Half an Hour

The value of something like this wasn't quite something that Sylas could put into words just yet. That wasn't because he couldn't make a guess, but instead because he still didn't see the full scope of Reaper Sealwright and what limitations it might or might not have.

He had a library of information in his mind, but unless he thought about something directly, it was hard to feel out the answer. Even when he thought about perfecting his foundation through the Death Seal in specific, there were so many ways of doing that that it almost felt like it wasn't quite real.

'Something is off.'

Sylas stood in silence for a long while.

Life and Death Seal felt almost like their scopes were too wide. In fact, unlike Vipermancy, which had very strict guidelines for what it could do and what its limits were, Reaper Sealwright did not.

In fact, if Sylas opened up the Profession status screen right now, it would be bland and uninteresting, split into two paths that summed up a total of four words... Life Seal, then Death Seal.

But, now that Sylas thought about it, the Runeweaver Profession was very similar. Sure, it had a list of things unlike Reaper Sealwright, but this list was very barebones. Then there was its new third Path-Seeing Weaver-which had no description at all.

In fact, Sylas had had to ask the Madness Key about it.

'I see. I should be treating these less like distinct abilities and exactly what I called them. Seal Legacies.'

Sylas held up a hand and a dark gold seal appeared. It rotated like a disk, and then seemed to shrink until it was about 50% larger than a normal plate.

In that state, the Runes within were so complex and dense that it looked almost like a solid disk rather than a projection formed by Sylas' Will and Profession.

It seemed that he had, indeed, gotten yet another ability that relied heavily on his Will to master. But he wasn't thinking about that right now. Instead, he was slowly nodding to himself.

'I overlooked the obvious. The description said that the Seal Legacy was a form of Rune Mastery. The Life and Death Seals aren't objects or treasures, they're a Rune Mastery Path.'

Sylas flicked his wrist and the body of Death Seal rose and then suddenly exploded like a supernova.

Standing in the middle of it all, Sylas watched the complex Mesh of Runes expand, and then expand some more, and then expand even further beyond that.

It felt endless, even stretching out of the ship and into the galaxy beyond.

This was just the F-tier Death Seal, but Sylas was certain that if he let it expand as far as it wanted to, he would be able to cover the scope of an entire city. If it had been the E-tier Death Seal, even an entire province wouldn't be safe. At the D-tier, it would be entire countries, and by the C-tier, entire planets would be swallowed by its complexity.

Of course, this wasn't a measure of how far Sylas could apply its effects. This was simply how far the Runes had to travel in order for the Seal to unfurl enough that Sylas could clearly see every Rune. Or, in other words, he had expanded every Rune until they were at a size they could be active in.

It had to be remembered that Runes were a fundamental unit. Meaning, every one of them was the same exact uniform size. The reason the Seal could expand and contract like this was because it was just a projection. It wasn't active.

If Sylas wanted to activate it, he had to pick the section he wanted to use, and then pour his Will into it. Once he did that, the disk would spin and the specific section would expand.

This was how the vast majority would use the Seal. Whether it was the Life or Death Seals, they both worked in the same exact way.

That was what made this Profession so powerful. You essentially had a shocking Rune Mastery Path at your fingertips, one already matured all the way to the S-tier, that you could use with a thought and a pulse of your Will.

It was essentially like having Spark Mastery guaranteed to the S-tier.

While it wouldn't be true Spark Mastery and you would be limited to the Runes in the Seal, what difference did it make if those Runes were shockingly powerful already?

However, would Sylas of all people use it like this?

'How long would it take me to map this out?'

Sylas closed his eyes and flipped over another palm. The Death Seal shrank to the size of a large plate once again as the Life Seal appeared.

All the while, Sylas' Will charged into them both. Every time he touched a Rune, a flood of information entered his mind and he was able to instantly draw every single one to 100% Mastery.

Sylas stood there for a great, long while, his mind seemingly calm. It was like he hadn't spent the last few days struggling at death's door. In fact, when he used Rune Mastery, it was like he was rapidly gaining far more than he was losing.

And in half an hour...

He opened his eyes.

The Seals shimmered in his hands, their intimacy with him having increased several times over.

Sylas could have drawn these F-tier Seals from the ground up now. It would take him several months to finish, but he knew that he could.

In that moment, Sylas grasped for a fact that there was nothing about his current body that he wouldn't be able to understand how to change or manipulate. The Layers of his Body, with the exception of his Potential and Free Chaos Layers, were entirely at his beck and call. It was just a matter of... how?

There was another matter that caught his attention, though.

Reaper Sealwright had made it to Level 50.

Not only that, but a Quest seemed to have appeared.