Genetic Ascension

Chapter 2224: Ring

These ten wouldn't appear, especially not all together, without very good reason. But today they had.

News had been sent down from above that a Creation of Key had been used, but attempts to scry who this person were rebuffed. There was only one level of Rune Master who would do this.

A Rune Creator.

The Creation of Key was a treasure, but it was also a highly protected one. If you weren't worthy of having it, let alone it helping you, it would harm you instead.

The only people who could both use the Creation of Key, benefit from it, and so perfectly hide their origins were the best of the very best. And even then, it was possible for them to make mistakes and slip up.

Yet… this person had not only not made a mistake, they had also successfully done so on their very first activation of the key.

Not only that, but there was fine insight that he had actually brought someone along with him, making the task of having done so not just doubly as hard, but exponentially more difficult.

Somehow, this was still not the most shocking thing of all. What was truly the most shocking was that by all rights… this person was no S-tier.

When was the last time a Rune Creator had appeared before the S-tier? When was the last time someone had managed to pull together their genius and reach this stage without first having to reach a far greater height.

These 10 geniuses who had appeared were examples of this extraordinarily rare occurrence. But they were not C-tier Rune Creators… they were D-tier Rune Creators in the B-tier who could draw C-tier Runes to Pure Spark Mastery.

This odd combination of things was practically unheard of on the Mortal Plane. People followed a very linear progression with how they did things, and it was hard to advance your Will forward and not lose the scope of understanding you needed for lower level Rune Creation.

It was also not worth it in the eyes of many because their talent was too low.

Technically, if one of the Emperors of the Sanctum really wanted to, they could pour years of research in and eventually, just maybe, reach Spark Mastery of the F-tier.

But what good would that do them?

Just to reach Spark Mastery of F-tier, they would likely need decades of dedicated research even though they had become A-tiers. And for what? Just for strength and power they could have crushed with a blink?

The talent gap made it not worth it.

But on the Demi-God Plane, the talent existed on a completely separate order of being.

These geniuses weren't like Sylas whose Rune Mastery was in lock step with his progress. But they also weren't as pitiful as the Rune Masters of the Mortal Plane either. Their Rune Creation dragged a step behind, and it was very possible that they might never reach C-tier Rune Creation at all, though each one was still holding out hope.

So, now that a new Rune Creator had appeared, and the fluctuations all suggested that he had likewise reached D-tier Rune Creation… How could they not be interested? How could they not come?

A new Rune Creator had appeared, but they did not know of his name nor his origins…

That had simply never happened.

This day, though, just happened to coincide with another matter. It was a matter that they planned to take their time with, but there was simply no need any longer.

Today, they must find and meet this new Rune Creator and see just how he stacked up to them.

Otherwise… their paths for the coming festival would be interfered with.

**

"Well, this is quite the grand sight," Magnus said with a smile.

He might have looked young now, but he walked around like an old man, his hands clasped behind his back, his walking slow and even as though he had all the time in the world left.

He didn't exactly look around in awe, but there was a brightness in his eyes now that hadn't been there before.

Sylas couldn't help but smile a bit himself. It was rare he saw his grandfather fascinated by something. In fact, he couldn't remember having ever seen it.

It was cute.

"Do you know what those are?" Magnus asked, pointing toward the bronze frames in the air. "I keep feeling them tugging at me. It's not exactly uncomfortable, but it can get annoying. My Will just keeps naturally rejecting them, but they keep trying."

Sylas shook his head. "I can't be 100% certain, but I think they are inheritances of some sort. Ones that come with trials attached to them. They likely want you to try for them, but these are inferior."

"Inferior?"

"These Rune Masters aren't good enough for you. Their sights are too low, their comprehensions too shallow."

Sylas would never normally say things like this out loud. He didn't explain himself very often in the first place. His family obviously earned themselves an exception to this rule.

Unfortunately, because of his disposition, he also didn't lower his voice when he spoke either. Why should he when he was speaking the truth?

With the senses a city of Rune Masters would have, there were dozens of people who heard him speak and Magnus couldn't help but chuckle bitterly.

Most of those people ignored Sylas and just gave him a scoffing sort of look. But not everyone would let something like that go.

An old man who had been sitting in meditation at a street stall of some sort opened his eyes.

"What grandiose sounding words."

His eyes flashed like a pair of bronze orbs.

Sylas had long noticed him, but the words, while directed toward him, weren't exactly a question, nor was it anything worth addressing.

He didn't believe his words were that grandiose, just the truth.

Sylas just gave the man a glance and seemed to have every intention of continuing forward without a care.

However, he felt the old man's eyes land on his robes—or rather, the lack thereof. And his gaze became even colder.

Chi.

A rune appeared in the air and something snapped.

A bubble swiftly appeared around Sylas and the man, knocking his grandfather out of the ring.