Genetic Ascension

Chapter 2323: The Milky Way World

The realization struck Sylas with the force of a falling star, but instead of crushing him, it seemed to breathe life into parts of his connection to Earth that had remained dormant since the Summoning began.

Milky Way World.

The instant the true name settled into his mind, the last blockages between Sylas and the world beneath him peeled away. It wasn't a breakthrough in the conventional sense, there was no sudden increase in stats or new ability stamped into existence by the system, but the difference was even more profound.

His Progenitor Status reached perfection. Earth no longer felt like something he was connected to through authority, Karma, or the recognition of a title. It felt like an extension of himself, its laws moving beneath his thoughts, its World Spirit responding with the natural familiarity of another limb.

Within the territory of the Milky Way World, Sylas suddenly felt as though there wasn't a single existence on the Demi-God Plane he would fear in a one-on-one battle. Maybe there were hidden monsters capable of proving him wrong, but the confidence wasn't born from arrogance alone. The world itself stood behind him now.

The power was intoxicating, but the drawbacks revealed themselves almost as quickly.

Sylas finally understood why his status as Progenitor of the Milky Way Galaxy had always felt so muted by comparison. He had gained benefits from it, certainly, but nowhere near what controlling an entire galaxy should have represented.

Most of his dominance within the Milky Way had come from his own talent, intelligence, and strength, rather than any overwhelming advantage granted by being its Progenitor. The reason was simple enough now that he could see it.

Becoming a Progenitor was only the first step. Understanding what you had become Progenitor of was the second, and that comprehension could continue rising until it reached the Grade of the world itself.

The Milky Way World was now Quasi Legendary, and Sylas' comprehension and fusion with it had reached that same level. The galaxy, however, was another matter entirely.

Its meaning was disappearing.

The Milky Way World had been swallowing everything around it for so long that the galaxy itself had begun to lose its identity. Unless Earth grew broad and complex enough to embody everything the galaxy had once represented, Sylas would always be weaker than another true Galaxy Progenitor at the same level of comprehension. Not that he knew whether many such existences even existed.

Until now, Sylas had only encountered one other Progenitor at all, and that man hadn't even understood his own world properly, let alone expanded his comprehension to something as absurd as an entire galaxy.

Still, the weakness was obvious. The Milky Way World consumed faster than it could digest.

Its laws weren't complex enough to replace everything it erased, its identity wasn't broad enough to carry the weight it continuously stole, and suddenly even the fact it had forgotten its own name made sense.

It had overextended itself until its core had become buried beneath everything it tried to claim. Worse, Sylas had been enabling it. Dominus Imperium and several of his other titles had extended his influence farther and farther, and because Earth was tied so deeply to him, the world had followed. It reached beyond itself, wrapped its Will around the galaxy, then the Sector beyond that, and eventually the Horizon.

The only reason it hadn't swallowed a Sky yet, or perhaps even an entire Heaven, was time.

Sylas' pupils constricted.

If he had continued improving without recognizing the problem, would the Milky Way World eventually have tried to rename the Skai Heaven itself?

The thought should have been ridiculous. Instead, Sylas' expression hardened. Of the Seven Heavens, the Skai Heaven was the only one he knew whose name was so directly tied to its leading Race.

Coincidence?

Sylas didn't believe in convenient coincidences anymore.

His thoughts bridged the gap almost immediately. Was this connected to the Demonic Thryskai's larger plan? Had their Race done something similar, anchoring its identity into the Heaven until the two could no longer be easily separated?

If so, had Earth been discovered because the Milky Way World had unknowingly begun encroaching upon something the Thryskai had spent countless generations constructing?

The deductions came faster now, his new method of thought roaring through possibilities without forcing every branch into a rigid structure. He didn't need to prove each conclusion before moving to the next, he could allow his Living Will to hold several possibilities at once, then return to whichever became useful.

And one conclusion became unavoidable.

He had to restrain Earth.

The Milky Way World's wounds had healed, which meant overextension wouldn't cripple it as brutally as it had in the past, but that didn't make mindless expansion wise. In fact, the stronger Sylas became, the worse the problem would become. His influence would continue spreading, Earth's Will would follow, and eventually it would swallow territories far beyond what its current laws could represent.

This moment gave him a rare opportunity to change that.

Two galaxies were colliding and the Milky Way World could become the anchor that determined how the merger unfolded, and now that Sylas had reached Perfect Progenitor status, guiding that process wouldn't place nearly as much strain on him.

Better yet, the Vosskarr had already done half the work. Their influence had stretched throughout this galaxy, and Sylas' Grimblade marks still occupied those pathways.

He already had branches of Will everywhere he needed them.

What Earth lacked wasn't reach. It lacked structure, order, a method of assimilation that allowed it to digest what it consumed before reaching for more. The Milky Way World was like a child that had opened its mouth so wide trying to swallow everything on the table that it could no longer chew any of it.

Sylas would change that.

His gaze lowered toward Earth as another thought surfaced. He had learned long ago why humanity called the galaxy the Milky Way. From Earth, a pale band stretched across the night sky, billions of distant stars blending together until they resembled milk spilled through darkness. The explanation made perfect sense for a galaxy.

But why would a world bear that name first? Why would the world itself ever be called the Milky Way World?

If he understood that, Sylas felt that everything else would fall into place.

Then his World Spirit stirred.

A whisper reached him through their newly perfected connection, so soft that it seemed less spoken than remembered, almost like he had always known the answer from the very start.

And then Sylas understood.