Genetic Ascension

Chapter 349: Fates Align [Bonus]

Sylas’ gaze flickered when he saw this.

Honestly speaking, it was a little bit of a disappointment, mostly because he wasn’t sure what he would use this for, especially since the portal would only be temporary.

In addition, he couldn’t choose the locations it opened to. The description says a one-to-one translation of space and time, so he assumed that meant there was a coordinate system that aligned the Aether Plane and Earth both, and this treasure would rely on it to act.

The real question was if this coordinate system was as jumbled as it seemed, or if that was just…

Sylas’ heart skipped a beat.

Could the random assortment of portals be the intention of the system? Or was that another bid of foul play by those alien races?

On the surface, it seemed to make sense. With technology being ruined thanks to Aether, the random appearances of portals practically became the only real way to travel across the world.

But…

Sylas’ mind spun, his thoughts flickering. He had only thought about how the randomness of portals helped him, but he never considered how much it harmed Earth.

For example, if Earth had been completely isolated across their continents, wouldn’t it have been much harder for them to butt heads during the Sixth Summoning?

They would have grown isolated on their plots of land, and by the time they gained enough treasures, Mounts, or fixed the technology issue, everyone would have already established themselves.

Things wouldn’t be much different than they were now, with different governments working in semi-harmony.

But instead… they were stuck in a scramble for resources between one another, not willing to let the other get a leg up, and that was what would lead to a ton of conflict.

For now, the governments were mostly butting heads with those hidden families and Legacy, but as more Portals began to appear, and it became more natural for them to intersect… wasn’t conflict between governments inevitable?

The more Sylas thought about it, the more he felt that it was likely… and the more he realized just how deep these waters were.

Be Strong.

His gaze flickered as the words of the Madness Key came back to his mind. He would have to consider how best to maximize this Planar Convergence Gate later.

With that thought, he began to spin again. This time he got a new roll on his 101st. It seemed that the last few dozen were just him being extremely unlucky.

—

[Stele Upgrade Crystal (Silver) (Treasure)]

[Sacrifice to trigger hidden upgrades in Dens, Class Steles, and City Steles]

[Note: Grade of City Stele is impossible to improve. Grade of Den or Class Stele upgrade will depend on Luck]

[Uses Left: 5/5]

—

Sylas’ eyes lit up again.

His current only Den was the Sperm Whale Den, and though it was powerful, it was only Level 5. It seemed that it would be possible to use this treasure to upgrade it.

However, the treasure itself was also a bit cryptic. What kind of Sacrifice? And if the Grade of a City Stele wasn’t going to be improved, then what was improving?

Sylas had already spent a lot of Genes on questions today, but it seemed that he wouldn’t be able to escape using more.

After three, he managed to figure out most of the situation.

The Sacrifice could be one of several things. It could be Genes, it could be like-Steles, and it could also be other treasures. Of course, like-Steles gave the best return. Meaning, Sacrificing Dens to upgrade the Den worked best.

As for the City Stele situation, it was a bit of a double-edged sword.

It was possible to use the Stele Upgrade Crystal to upgrade the level of a City. For example, from Grade 1 Rudimentary Village to Grade 2 Rudimentary Village.

However, while this would increase the stats, and allow more spawns and villagers to appear, it wouldn’t increase the amenities available. If you used the upgrade crystal for that purpose, you would end up causing a lot of dissatisfied villagers, and the benefits wouldn’t outweigh the losses.

It was possible, though, to use it as a bit of a loophole, maybe to avoid having to upgrade or meet certain requirements. But it would always come at a cost.

On top of this, it was necessary to sacrifice a lot to get these upgrades. Unless there was a very special situation at hand, it wasn’t worth it.

The Dens and Class Steles, on the other hand… now that was more than worth it. He just had to be careful about how he used it and when.

He also had to be cautious about upgrading Dens for other reasons as well. If he was too casual, he might end up with an extremely powerful Den that only produced one creature a year. That tradeoff also wouldn’t be worth it, especially if they needed to put it in the line of fire and risk it dying.

With that thought, Sylas began to spin again.

It seemed that his previous luck was truly just that bad, because on the 123rd spin, he landed on something again.

—

[The Fates Align (Silver) (Secret)]

—

Sylas almost sat up when he read this title. He felt something inside of him churn the moment he saw it.

—

[The Fates Align (Silver) (Secret)]

[Your paths are converging but the compass spins chaotically. The system has seen your plight and chooses to send a beacon of light to illuminate your way]

[Will you accept this guidance?]

—

Sylas hesitated for a moment. Was it a perfunctory question? Or would there be a reason for him to reject it?

His first instinct was to ask the Madness Key, but he almost immediately felt a welling up of danger.

‘A Taboo…’

Sylas hesitated.

Something was telling him that this question existed for a reason. If he accepted it…

Sylas took a breath and calmed himself, closing his eyes. Then, he did something most probably wouldn’t.

He moved his intention and clicked [No].