Genetic Ascension

Chapter 2038: Decoy [Bonus]

[Bonus thanks to BobTheEngineer <3 I'm assuming BobTheEngineer and BobTheTechie are the same person. If not, correct me in the comments]

Alex knocked on a door ahead in Sylas' stead. Even now, Sylas seemed distracted by something, almost like he was in a continuous state of endless, looping thought.

This time, though, those thoughts didn't seem weighed down by self-doubt. It instead felt like he was seeing the world with a fresh pair of eyes. His brain was moving faster, his thoughts were smoother, the things that he could connect and then reconnect through differing channels and with vastly differing schools of thought just felt endless.

Sylas just felt... smarter, somehow.

And he wasn't sure how that was possible.

Honestly, he had already felt like he had reached the absolute limit of intelligence. He couldn't fathom someone being smarter than he was. He had come across people that impressed him, but only insofar as it took him a few extra minutes to understand their thought processes, not in the he couldn't even begin to understand them sort of way.

Sylas was someone who had somehow grasped Fathomless Rune Creation on his own without a single mentor anywhere near that strength and comprehension. It could be said that he had every right to be so arrogant about his own thoughts.

For some reason, though, shedding the issues he had had with the volcano unlocked that part of himself once more. He almost felt like the child he had once been, the toddler that had solved the mystery of the Mountains of Giza when the entirety of Legacy could not.

Well... at least the people of Legacy that had been on Earth at that given moment.

But it was still a feat that spoke for itself.

Even now, Sylas could recall the scribbles on that white page, he could remember the feeling of the threaded lines as he recreated those scribbles on a pin-up board.

And then there was the satisfaction he had felt from taking the image in two dimensions and expanding it forward to three.

He had forgotten just how proud he had felt in that moment. Maybe it was because he was a child back then, but he wondered when the last time he had been truly impressed by a feat of his own. Not someone else's, but his

own.

Now that he thought about it, Sylas had been far more accommodating with his praise of others in recent memory. That wasn't because he thought they were better than he was, but because he had far less expectations of them.

But now he suddenly wanted to feel that feeling again. No, it wasn't quite that, but instead like he felt like he could just barely reach out and do something that impressed himself-something that he could be truly proud of.

Runes swirled around him and he felt that his D-Grade Rune Mastery was continuously accelerating toward Spark Mastery. It wasn't quite there yet, and maybe it would never get there if he didn't give it true, focused attention.

But the fact it was so close already spoke for itself.

The door slowly creaked open and a boy peeked his head out from behind it.

Sylas almost thought of a certain other boy he had met over a year ago, the very same boy that had almost died back in the Mountain of Giza opening trials. His parents had been of some interest to Sylas back then, so he had signed the boy's father to a contract.

The couple had had an interesting Class, a paired Class or something of the other. It was the one and only time Sylas had seen something like that, one where the Classes of two people were tied in such a way and as a result they fed off of the strength of one another.

Twin Golden Moons.

This boy wasn't that boy, though. This was probably Professor Fembroise's son.

"Sensen, get away from the door. Quickly."

The panicked voice of the Professor came from the inside.

Honestly, Sylas would have been content to leave Professor Fembroise locked up for the rest of her days. He didn't care that she had a family or that she was remorseful, but his mother was a lot kinder than he was.

After the Professor spent so long locked away in a prison cell beneath the City Lord Mansion, Isolde had had enough.

Of course, the fact she had also scolded Sylas in the past for how cruelly he had treated Professor Fembroise definitely played a role in the decision.

That said, Sylas also knew that if Professor Fembroise's actions hadn't almost killed him, then Isolde would have released the woman a extended time ago. His mother had a bit of her own mean streak in her, she just wanted Sylas to be the ideal man.

After pushing her son away, Professor Fembroise stood at the door, pale faced.

"Vesta, what is it?" a masculine voice came from the inside. Presumably her husband.

"It's nothing, John. I will handle it."

Professor Fembroise took a breath and stepped outside, locking the door behind her. A series of Runes lit up around the house and the attempt of the man behind the door to pull on it failed miserably.

Clearly, Vesta had been waiting for this exact day. She knew that even if Isolde showed kindness, that didn't mean her son would let it happen. What she didn't understand was why someone as powerful as Sylas deemed it necessary to bring someone else just to help along with dealing with her.

"You can take me, but please, my family hasn't done anything other than be kind and supportive toward me." She didn't even dare to mention Sylas' mother. By this point, she knew Sylas' temper and mentioning Isolde as some sort of trump card right now might make matters even worse for her. So she just tried to appeal to what humanity he did have.

Sylas, though, reacted virtually like he didn't know Vesta was there, lost in a trance. It was only after a long while of Vesta practically stewing in her sweat that he recalled that he was here for something important.

"What do you know about her existence?" Sylas asked Alex directly.

"She is one of the False Embryos the First Race left behind."

"One of? Meaning there's more than one."

"Yes. The number is variable and it's unknown if the others have reacted. But she's basically a decoy. A powerful one, but still a decoy. What do you want to do with her?"