Genetic Ascension

Chapter 2242: Cleared [Bonus]

[Bonus thanks to Eeshoo <3]

"You feel like you're wasting your time, right?" Vaelith asked with a smile.

Sylas looked at her through the cracked glass. He wasn't understanding this woman, which was quite rare for him.

She sounded flirty, but Sylas wasn't sure if she had those sorts of interests at all. In fact, she experienced like more the sort who didn't want to allow herself such distractions in the first place.

Her form of Pride was interesting. It wasn't like his own that was relentless, or like the Monkey King's that was shameless. She was accepting of her faults, but had a calm drive to her that seemed to suggest a confidence that given enough time and passion, she would eventually reach the level she wanted to reach.

Even if she took more time to reach it than others, so long as she reached her own personal goals, she would be happy.

And those personal goals had nothing to do with men.

So… why would she be so insistent on speaking so much?

Did she just want to learn from him? Was it that simple?

But this wasn't something that Sylas could teach. He simply saw the world differently than others did.

"I can stop wasting your time if you would like."

"This round is based on speed." Sylas said calmly.

Vaelith's smile deepened. "But the Illuminist Rune Goddess has quite a fondness for me. Don't you think she'll allow me to finish off my attempt first regardless?"

Sylas didn't look over at the woman, but he could feel her gaze shift toward him. This woman thought him to have taken over his own body for some reason. It seemed that no matter how gentle they seemed, experts weren't really willing to admit when they were wrong.

Even with Vaelith being so blatant, she didn't seem to mind at all.

Sylas closed his eyes.

363 days remained.

Vaelith blinked. She felt a shift within Sylas, her head tilted as she came to a conclusion.

'… He's actually angry this time.'

There was hardly a shift in Sylas' expression, but she could see his Will. That shift was subtle as well, but it was most definitely there.

He had reached the end of his patience.

The light of curiosity in Vaelith's eyes deepened. She really wanted to see just what that would mean—.

Sylas pulled out a badge.

—

[Legacy of Key (???) (Legendary)]

[The weight of Legacy is beyond the understanding of most. Standing beyond Will, Legacy is a power that persists beyond life, beyond space, beyond time. It stands as a testament to every accomplishment, every achievement, every thought, imprinting itself onto the world without regard for what Wills it might stamp out] [Abilities: Sense lingering attachments of Legacy in the surroundings. Defeat it and take it for your own] —

The world froze around him.

They certainly thought he had the time to waste with them. He had only given them so much leeway the first time because he was thinking and progressing. But by now, he had lost the benefits from this place.

The second test was practically a rehashing of the first test in a different form. He didn't have the patience to waste here and play games with a childlike woman.

In that case, he would just rip it free for himself.

Vaelith didn't understand what she was seeing, but the so-called Illuminist Rune Goddess reacted completely differently.

"NO—!"

Sylas activated the Legacy of Key and the entire cube warped.

A portal appeared before him and he stepped through it. The world fell into silence.

The Illuminist Rune Goddess watched on in horror. As for Vaelith, she was still confused. Other than feeling a strong pulse of what seemed to be quite similar to the original trigger of the legacy, she felt nothing else.

"What happened?" Vaelith asked in her usual gentle tone.

"It's over… it's all over…"

Vaelith felt a shift in the air as though the Illuminist Rune Goddess was blaming her. Vaelith's head couldn't help but tilt to the side, feeling that this was quite ridiculous.

Obviously, Vaelith was only taking advantage of the goddess' own attitude. She would have treated Sylas the same with or without this.

It was a shame that her heroine had such a poor backbone, but Vaelith didn't believe this was the Illuminist's fault. After being trapped here for so long, the Will that had once made her the woman she was had long been stripped and ripped away.

This woman had long become a shell of the expert she had once been, so Vaelith didn't hold it too much against her.

"What is over?" Vaelith asked.

The Illuminist Rune Goddess' expression was slowly becoming more of a glare, but Vaelith's expression was the very same.

"It's all over. It's all over."

She began to fade away.

Vaelith's eyes widened. "Wait—!"

Whatever words Vaelith had been about to speak stopped on the tip of her tongue as she realized that this wasn't something the Rune Goddess was controlling at all.

She was disappearing because her legacy was being taken.

But normally, this was a fading back into a fused state with the tower, but this was completely different from that.

She was disappearing…

Forever.

Suddenly, Vaelith understood why it was the Rune Goddess had been so enraged. Sylas was taking her legacy by force somehow, and unlike with the tower where she could continue to exist and gather Karma, now she was completely cut off from this fate.

Whatever she was had ended here.

And if her main body had already died, then that would only mean that her existence itself was ending here as well.

Vaelith's eyes opened wide as she suddenly found herself falling through the skies. She landed softly and deftly, not even missing a single beat. But when she looked up, her pupils couldn't help but constrict as Sylas calmly stepped out from a portal.

How long had it been?

He really cleared the challenge that fast?

He didn't even look down at her as he took a step toward the tower.

Sylas was almost instantly stopped, but it wasn't by Vaelith