Genetic Ascension
chapter-223

223 Fusion

[What is a Fusion Crystal?]

[Comprehensions require the body to be shaped and warped, only this way can it provide amplifications to one's stats. As such, it is extremely difficult to Comprehend a second Comprehension after having already mastered one, because it will often require altering and changing the first.] [In order to avoid this, one must use a Fusion Crystal, a magical item capable of allowing the fusion of a second Comprehension.] [Feed a Fusion Crystal Genes and it will help you to complete the process and maybe even give you a pleasant surprise]

Sylas smiled a bit bitterly. It seemed that this wasn't much of a reward at all. It was just a ticket to get him to do more work. It seemed he would have to gather up the Genes he needed once again. Another hunt would begin.

'Let's see, then.'

He accepted the awards with his intention and soon a smooth crystal appeared in his hand. Instead of being a sphere like the other crystals he had seen, it was in the shape of an octahedron, reflecting all sorts of rainbow colors.

Before Sylas could even do anything, he felt a cool energy travel from the Fusion Crystal to his body.

[Comprehension Detected: Madness (FFF)]

[Dormant Comprehensions]

[>Boxing (F)]

[>Taekwondo (F-)]

[>Muay Thai (F-)]

[>…]

The list was so long that Sylas was taken aback. He thought that there was just one Comprehension, but it actually turned out that there were so many.

He immediately had several questions.

These names were all familiar to him and were reflective of Earth's martial arts. Did these really exist across the universe? Or was it the case that the system adapted these Comprehensions based on what he thought them to be?

Second, these rankings. It didn't seem like they were giving an objective measure of how good these martial arts were. Rather, if he was a better boxer, maybe the Boxing Comprehension would have been F+ instead of F. The others were only F- because his skill in them was even weaker. Of course, he was just guessing, but logically, there was no reason for Boxing to be superior to any of the others… other than the fact, of course, he used his fists the most frequently.

And the third question… which should he choose?

With how difficult it was to fuse just a second Comprehension, he couldn't possibly choose casually, right? And if he was right about his second speculation, then didn't that mean that if he continued to work at it, he could make these Comprehensions more powerful before fusing with them first?

Sylas focused on boxing and to his surprise there seemed to be more hidden menus.

[Boxing (F)]

[Your hands are lethal weapons and their power induces fear. Sharp, fast, agile, and quick, they shatter bones and grind flesh to a pulp.] [+5% Constitution] [+10% Strength]

Compared to Madness, there was truly a world of difference. At Fragmented Mastery, Madness could already give him +200% in stats, but Boxing could only give him 15%. This was clearly a disparity in grade. It also felt… incomplete. Was boxing really just about punching hard?

However, there was actually more.

[Suppressed Comprehensions]

[Boxing (F-)]

[Your hands are swift as flying daggers and streak through the air like shadows. Sharp, fast, agile, and quick, they hit the opponent when they least expect and retreat like the wind] [+5% Speed] [+10% Dexterity]

[Your hands are hidden weapons, ready and waiting, prepared to strike at any time. Your defense takes precedent, and you leave no holes to take advantage of. Airtight and leak-proof.] [+5% Speed] [+10% Constitution]

Sylas' gaze flickered. It seemed that there were other paths waiting in dormancy, but they were suppressed by his most powerful path.

But to his shock, there was still yet more. Because when he focused on the list once again, he could almost feel parts of his body heating up as though he was clearly able to sense the exact type of flow of battle he was in when he sensed these particular Comprehensions.

He was shocked. Was this normal?

After some thought, he realized it certainly wasn't. This feeling was similar to what he experienced when he used Extricate to absorb Genes rather than a natural ability of the Fusion Crystal. For most, they wouldn't feel anything at all. But for Sylas, this sixth sense of sorts had been awakened because of his repetitive usage of Extricate.

He checked the Comprehensions one after another and realized that it was indeed as he expected. Thanks to his increased sensitivity, he could feel exactly the state of these Comprehensions without actually fusing with them.

Comprehensions weren't just boosts to stats, but they were also a change to a state of mind. If he activated Boxing in battle, it wouldn't be as simple as a 15% increase to his stats, just like when he activated Madness it could affect everything from his telekinesis to even temporality boosting the Mastery of his stats.

If he could sense these Comprehensions more and more clearly, did he need to rush to fuse with one of them? He could even use the Fusion Crystal to track his progress and maybe one day he could form another Comprehension as powerful as Madness.

'Is that possible? This Fusion Crystal should only be Silver Grade, so there's likely a limit on how powerful a Comprehension it can fuse, right?'

It would be a shame if one day he had formed a suppressed Comprehension too powerful for the Fusion Crystal to do anything about. If it worked anything like the Gene Crystal, then this was certainly a worry.

After some hesitation, he felt that this was an important enough question to ask. Plus, he had more than enough Common Genes after a day of hunting anyway.

That was when he learned that all Fusion Crystals above Bronze had no such limits. Instead, they were limited by the number of fusions. Essentially, a Silver Crystal could only work if you had one Comprehension and wanted to add one more. A Golden Crystal could help if you had two and wanted a third. Only a Legendary Crystal had no such limits, not to mention provided many more insights. But even then, the kind, type, and number of Genes you would need to collect to ignore those limits would only grow with every additional Comprehension.