Genetic Ascension

Chapter 2039: Flashes

Sylas somewhat expected this answer. Professor Fembroise's existence felt a bit... random, almost like it wasn't meant to be. The design was also a bit shoddy, and it didn't align with the usual cleverness of the First Race of Humans.

Of course, Vesta's existence itself was actually quite amazing. The complexity and skill it would take to create a Human capable of snatching the abilities of a Basilisk just because she was in its belly during its evolution didn't need to be explained.

The fact that the First Race could even use someone so powerful as a mere decoy to hide their truest intentions and plans spoke for itself.

The fact that Alex could see through the fact that Professor Fembroise was just a decoy also spoke volumes. He knew a lot of what he knew not because someone had told him. It was because Alex had deduced all of these things himself and he had eventually learned to act on them.

If not for Sylas' existence, the former number one genius of Earth's Legacy Branch would have long since been surpassed by Alex. But knowing Alex, that would have probably been done in secret as well.

The man was cautious, and his personality was a lot more inconspicuous than Sylas' was.

All things considered, there was one thing that Alex did have Sylas beat in. While Sylas' ability had been unearthed and documented by Legacy, Alex's was not. He was tagged a mere Bronze Talent.

What did you do with a decoy, though?

Well, you used it as a decoy.

But Sylas also wasn't the army-raising type.

What he could do, however...

'I wonder. Can they mimic the Gold Race?'

Somehow, Vesta had gained a lot of the abilities of Gogo. Of course, this was from when Gogo was far weaker, but Sylas had noticed something extremely curious back then as well.

Vesta had somehow also been given an upgraded Race Grade.

By now, that mattered little to Sylas who could have already become a Demi-God—or, rather, it seemed to matter little. In reality, it was a truly shocking matter that a Race Grade could be increased so easily.

Right now, Sylas could only easily improve the Grimblades. And by that, he meant that he could just improve himself to by extension improve them since he was technically their Ancestor now.

But the rest of the people of Earth were far behind.

Once again, under usual circumstances, he actually wouldn't care. To say that he had neglected them was worse than an understatement.

For once, however... Sylas would listen to his mother. Or rather, he would listen to her about something that went beyond just a small matter.

He had been neglecting Earth too much.

In fact, it was possible that Earth could feel this. Otherwise, his synergy with the world wouldn't be stuck at the Bronze level it was at now.

In that case, the best way for Sylas to change this was by helping out Earth.

"Stick out your hand." Sylas said calmly.

Vesta hesitated. But realizing she didn't have a choice, she could only lower her head and do as Sylas said.

Sylas grabbed her wrist and his Will surged into her like raging tides. They peeled into her body, unearthing her Runes and flipping through them one after another. It was something that was worse than an invasion of privacy, it was a matter of life and death, so much so that Vesta's Will subconsciously fought back.

At first Sylas battered it away like it was a lost child that didn't quite know its place. But then there was a huge change.

It felt like a mountain of black appeared, crashing down toward Sylas from above. The Will was so powerful it shattered Sylas' own.

Almost anyone else would have been dead after the single exchange, but Sylas only paled, swaying a bit. His Will was infinite, and it wasn't like he had poured everything into Vesta's body in the first place.

'That Will wasn't her own. That's protection left behind by the First Race. It's not even very serious compared to the true strength, and yet I still feel so helpless against it. It seems that reading the truth behind her Runes will be impossible for now, at least until I reach the B-tier, maybe C-tier if I have another breakthrough in Will before then. But this is enough.'

Sylas' Plan A was to figure out the secrets of Vesta's body. Truthfully, he could just use Extricate and forcefully take everything out. By relying on the system and his own abilities, it would work.

But he had decided not to kill her, partially out of respect for his mother, and partially because he felt that she had suffered enough that he simply didn't care to go so far anymore.

There was one last portion of this though... and that was his own Pride.

He simply didn't need the First Race to teach him exactly how to do what they did.

Instead, he would use what he learned about Vesta to find all the other decoys in one fell swoop.

The First Race had hidden them all in plain sight. Their abilities would only trigger under a remarkably specific and unique set of circumstances, a set of circumstances that hadn't been successfully triggered in 99% of cases.

If they had been activated, Sylas would have probably already sensed them before. But since they hadn't, he would find another way.

In a flash, Sylas' senses had blanketed the whole of Earth. He swept through one person after another without missing a beat, a calm echoing through him as though there wasn't any strain at all.

The vast majority of Earth's population had already been wiped out, but there were still tens of millions remaining. But to go through tens of millions of people was one thing, to cross-reference the complexities of all of their Genes was another, especially for something so well hidden within their bodies.

But Sylas not only did it.

He did it near instantly.

The world overturned, space shrank, and then all of a sudden everything collapsed into itself.

In a flash, thousands of people began to appear in Castle Main one after another.