Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1923: Recognize [Bonus]

[Bonus thanks to BobTheEngineer <3]

"Boy, you are really testing my patience. I can easily destroy your Will nigh infinitely, leaving only a sliver for my needs if need be. Regardless, I would make it back."

"Maybe." Sylas only said this. The solution was asinine. It was either he was being underestimated or the Hydra didn't really understand how False Infinite Will worked. But what Sylas didn't understand was how a Hydra of all things didn't understand how infinity worked.

In that case, he decided to adjust his expectations, speaking to the Hydra less like he would an intelligent person and more like he would speak to a complete idiot.

"But then what will you do?"

"What do you mean what will I do? I'll go and find another body."

Sylas already knew this. This was why he spoke about the Hydra returning to the Beast Heaven.

In terms of the Skai Heaven, Sylas had yet to run into a truly legendary beast. Gogo didn't really count because he was a construct of a Dungeon-something Sylas too easily forgot these days. As for Nosphaleen, she was crafted by his own hands.

The only representation of the Hydra here were two humanoid Clans that had split its abilities in two. There wasn't going to be the body of a Hydra that the Hydra could find here. It would have to return and hope for the best.

"Is that so? How many Hydras are there in the Beast Heaven?"

"Many!" the Hydra said almost defensively.

"And as their Ancestor you'd be willing to snatch the body of one of them?"

The Hydra froze. It hadn't really thought that far.

"I'll take a corpse." It said after a while.

Sylas expected the Hydra to react like this. There were many forms that Pride could take, but someone who was truly Prideful could only fall into a specific few lanes.

One path was someone like Sylas who hardly had a bottom line to speak of at all.

The other path was one that manifested almost like a moral compass. The Hydra didn't give a damn about Sylas, but it cared about its own face and its people.

The idea of taking a corpse was also impossibly idiotic. The more Sylas listened to the Hydra speak, the more he realized that it was just saying things it thought made sense.

But how could someone so stupid make it to the S-tier?

Talent.

That was the only answer, the only possible answer.

It would take so much talent to do this while being such a complete fool that Sylas was actually quite hesitant to pass judgment. Maybe the Hydra had methods he didn't understand.

Sylas' understanding of the Hydra's abilities—at least scaled to the F-tier-were second almost to none. But even from that glimpse into Hydra abilities, he felt that these creatures were about as close to immortal as one got.

Their immortality reflected in their number of heads. It didn't matter how many were chopped down, they could continuously grow and multiply.

Back on Earth, the legend of the Ouroboros and the Hydra seemed to have separated. But from what Sylas could tell of the universe, they were one and the same.

Maybe, then, death to a Hydra didn't mean the same thing as it meant to Sylas. If a head could grow back infinitely, then what was a corpse and what wasn't?

If he cut down a large enough portion of a Hydra, could it make a clone? Which part of it would regrow? Would it be the slightly larger part? What if they were completely identical down to the molecule?

"You want to insult the resting place of one of your kind?"

"You are really testing my patience, boy!" The Hydra's voice boomed, but Sylas hardly reacted to it, his gaze indifferent and practically chilly.

"For someone so Prideful, you don't like telling yourself the truth very much. I can tell that you used my 'problem' to weaken yourself considerably. Then you swallowed it to regain much of what you lost, and now you're residing in the same part of my mind it was.

"But you should also be able to tell that it wasn't able to do anything to me, and now you're in the same situation and equally unable to do anything.

"In fact, whatever you've done is causing my brain to rearrange the way it's healing itself now that it's not under the same restrictions. So your chances of influencing me are even less than the one that arrived before you."

"Are you threatening me?!" the Hydra growled.

"There's no need for me to do that. I can't get rid of you, but you should also be smart enough to know that it would be foolish of you to try and get rid of me."

"Why the hell would that be?"

"One, because you haven't done it already. And two because I'm your shield right now. I might not be able to Contract a World Serpent, but I know everything there is to know about them. Meaning, I know that amongst all the species in existence, the one that can stretch across an entire Galaxy is more than capable of crossing from Heaven to Heaven.

"And as you can imagine, a creature that large would have to have senses that broke reality equally as much as its size did. I wouldn't be surprised if it can instantly scan Sectors at a time just to find you.

"Right about now, I'm your shield."

"I don't fear death." The Hydra said coldly.

"Neither do I." Sylas replied with an equal chill. "But I don't unnecessarily run toward it either."

"What exactly are you suggesting?"

"I'm suggesting that you stop trying to claim supremacy over the current situation."

"What? You want me to stay here like a docile little beast for you?" the Hydra sneered.

"I want you to recognize your situation. Then help me wipe out a few of my enemies. Once I can make you an S- tier body, you can go and get your revenge."