Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1934: Wasting Time (4)

Sylas didn't need to understand True Gluttony himself. He needed the Ruby Finger Serpent to do so. Or, at least, get close.

The truest strength of Infinite Void Rune Mastery was the fact that things like affinity, comprehension, even understanding, became almost meaningless. Not because they truly were meaningless, but because one's state of being when it came to F-tier matters was so elevated that it was possible for them to understand things at a glance, let alone if they had a representation of that very thing play out for them in real time.

When the Ruby Finger Serpent was on the verge of death, and then stepped just beyond that threshold, it had had the largest concentration of Gluttony Sin on it that Sylas had ever seen.

Sin wasn't something that just existed in a vacuum, it was in the world itself.

However, if Sylas was aiming for True Gluttony, then why was he not aiming for the Virtue instead of the Sin?

The reality was that even he wasn't confident in representing such a thing in Runes alone. There was something about a Virtue Madness that had to be ingrained beyond a reasonable doubt, something that was impossible for him to just replicate on a whim even with Infinite Void Mastery.

That said, Sylas knew that True Gluttony alone would be enough.

And the Ruby Finger Serpent embodied exactly that.

As Sylas drew the new Serpentes Armor, he could practically see Arcane Madness' gaze. His heart palpitated and the Hydra fell into complete silence as though he, too, could sense it.

And then it was all suddenly over.

Sylas stood in the middle of a vibrant forest, an armor of deep dark gold scales covering him from head to toe. A pair of broken horns rose from his head, a tail that shattered even space itself swaying behind him.

His eyes glowed a ruby red.

"What is this?" the Hydra asked almost rhetorically as though he knew that Sylas wouldn't answer.

Surprisingly, though, this time, Sylas did say something.

"Not good enough. But it will do."

If the Hydra still had lips, they would surely have twitched. He could tell that Sylas was answering his question, but this felt just... ridiculous.

What did he mean not good enough? This was a Mortal forming an F-tier Armor that felt like it had buffs that dwarfed most D-tiers of the Mortal Realm alone.

But he hadn't even tied it to his Will. He had tied it to that Construct. What was he thinking?

Sylas had been sure that beasts couldn't be Rune Masters until the Hydra said otherwise. But even if they could be, he didn't have the time to teach the Ruby Finger Serpent how to be one as good as himself.

As such, he could only fuse with it and draw the Emperor Armor on its behalf. Though, at this point, calling it a mere Emperor Armor felt like too much of an understatement... This was a God Armor.

'No. Demi-God.' Sylas concluded. This wasn't good enough to be a God Armor, not yet, not without Virtuous Gluttony, and not at this level.

Sylas couldn't fully reflect Arcane Madness even now.

'Is there a higher level of Rune Mastery?' Sylas' eyes narrowed.

That would explain it, but there was another explanation. And that was that what Arcane Madness represented simply couldn't be represented in the F-tier perfectly no matter how high his Rune Mastery was.

Sylas waved a hand and dismissed the Armor. Now that he had the proof of concept, he forcefully ended his Fusion with the Ruby Finger Serpent and pushed it into his Hibernation Realm.

The Ruby Finger Serpent was still on the verge of collapse, but the speed of healing in the Hibernation Realm was so great that it continued to teeter.

Sylas took a seat in the middle of his Hibernation Realm, and then used Total Merge.

His Will was pulled out from his body.

This was even more dangerous than before. He wasn't just casually fusing anymore, he was completely melding his consciousness and that of the Ruby Finger Serpent. This was as good as lighting himself on fire.

The moment he did, Sylas felt the rending pain, but he also felt the Gluttony even more clearly than before, the insatiable desire to eat more, devour more, to grow, and grow further.

A pulsing at the back of Sylas' head produced his eyes go red, or was it the eyes of the Ruby Finger Serpent?

But right then, it didn't seem to matter.

The Ruby Finger Serpent had always been a scavenger, always hiding around the margins, escaping from enemies it couldn't face and trying to take off guard the ones it was much, much faster than.

This life at the edges, it hated it. It hated it more than words could describe.

It wanted more for itself.

It had finally gotten a chance to take that step, to cross that threshold, to eat to its heart's content, but this tiny body of its couldn't keep up.

It was furious about it. It wanted more, it wanted to prove that it was worthy of Sylas' favor, it craved to step beyond that threshold.

But its body had too many limits. If only it had more, if only it wasn't so limited in size and scope, if only it could shift and wipe out worlds, yawn and wink out stars... if only it could be like Arcane Madness.

It would eat, and eat, and eat... eat everything the earth had to offer, eat until it had no choice but to rise up from its belly and into the skies, eat until it could swallow even the Heavens themselves.

PUCHI.

A pair of broken horns appeared on the bulging Ruby Finger Serpent's small head.

A crack appeared in the skies of Sylas' Hibernation Realm as though a taboo that should never be touched was crossed.

The Serpentes would never be allowed to rise from the ground again.

They would forever crawl on their bellies.

The stars weren't for them to swallow.

Chi.

A bolt of lightning descended with the fury of a thousand deaths.