Genetic Ascension
chapter-391

Sylas gasped for breath at the top of the stairs, his eyes bloodshot and his heart practically beating out of his chest. He felt like there was a scorching heat ripping through his throat and his veins were completely on fire.

Lolaleen cast a healing support Skill on him to help him rejuvenate, and it was only then that some of that scorching pain was weakened somewhat.

All the way up the stairs, Sylas hadn't commanded Lolaleen to act once because he was saving it. Now stuck in a familiar bubble, it was only right that he benefit from his enslavement contract.

Taking deep breaths, Sylas hurriedly sat down. Maybe he had pushed himself too hard because there wasn't anyone here either. It was clear that he was the first to arrive once again. Regardless, this was the only leisure time he'd have, so he needed to take advantage quickly. He pulled out Sergan's corpse, inwardly crossing his fingers.

The first time he tried to use the system to take Genes from a Sylph-assuming Azrael really was one—it had failed. He could only hope this time that it would work.

He had a feeling that the reason it didn't work with Azrael was because of whatever oddity allowed him to appear on Earth in the first place. He was banking on the fact it would be different this time.

Luckily, he was correct.

[Sergan Aerovane]

[Genes Detected]

[Unique Gene Detected]

[Failed to Analyze Unique Gene]

[Bronze Gene: (2) Strength (F); (2) Constitution (F); (3) Dexterity (F); (2) Speed (F); (4) Intelligence (F); (3) Wisdom (F); (2) Charisma (F)]

[Attempt Assimilation?]

[Yes][No]

'Excellent.'

The moment Sylas saw the Wisdom Gene he needed, he used Extricate on the Wisdom Gene. He ignored all the stuff about Unique Genes even though it was the first time he was seeing such a thing.

If he was correct, this Unique Gene was to the Aerovanes was the Grimblade Lineage Gene was to the Grimblades. Now that he thought about it, maybe there was a way to Extricate such a Gene as well, but it hardly mattered since it was certainly at least Bronze and he didn't have the space for it anyway.

Plus... his Luck was telling him that it certainly wouldn't be easy.

If he had to guess, there was no way a family would allow others to benefit from their blood sweat and tears.

Gene Crystals were incredibly valuable, especially on a non-Summoning World. Earth was in a special state of accelerated growth, so they were relatively easier to find. And yet, after risking his life again and again, Sylas only managed to gather three so far, two of which were lucky gains from what was effectively gambling.

If these worlds could manipulate and twist the Runes of Earth, and Genes were just a highly complex form of Runes... then why wouldn't they be able to put their Unique Genes under lock and key so that others couldn't just kill their descendants to steal the talent in their bloodlines?

These were all periphery thoughts to Sylas, because his complete focus was on the Winter's Edge Gene Talent.

This experience made him realize just how rare Gene Talents were. This was the first time he had stumbled into a Gene Talent since his very first encounters in the Trial. He had already lost count of the number of beasts he had even killed by now.

Of course, part of the problem was that he had been relying entirely on Extricate until now, so there might be Gene Talents that he could have had, that he missed out on because of this. But even if that was true, they still had a rarity he couldn't ignore.

And now, he was gaining one that was absolutely perfect for his current path. If he was correct, this Gene Talent might even fix the attack weakness of his Ice-Poison Path!

There was a shudder that went through Sylas' body as he pressed the Genes into himself. Lolaleen couldn't even understand what was happening. The Runes were too complex, and every time she tried to look at them closely, she got a splitting headache.

In the end, her vision blurred and it ended up looking like Sylas was just using an odd devouring Skill to take motes of light from two bodies and press them into himself.

"Give me your Aether Stones." Sylas called out.

Though it hurt, Lolaleen had no choice but to oblige.

Sylas had never seen Aether Stones before, but according to the Transmutation Beast Skin, he could use them in place of his own Aether to trigger it.

He pulled out what Ice-Poison corpses he had remaining and plundered all of Lolaleen's wealth to convert them all into pills. He had already stripped them all of Genes, so they weren't the best, but something was still better than nothing.

There was a great pressure on Sylas' body. He knew that it was because he didn't originally have the Genes to trigger the Gene Talent in the first place. Right now, he was trying to cheat, forcing out potential hidden deep within himself.

Sylas suddenly coughed, frozen shards of blood flying from his mouth as his gaze dimmed.

He grit his teeth, realizing that he was in trouble. He had relied on the Transmuted Pill of the Arctic Emperor Bear to get to this point, but that energy had long been used up. The pills he had now weren't enough.

He couldn't help but regret a bit. Not taking this risk, but rather not killing a few of the Arctic King Bears before he entered the Dungeon so he would have some contingency. However, he hadn't done that because even though he had defeated their Emperor, there were simply too many of them. There was a reason that the Arctic King Bears hadn't taken out what remained of the Arctic King Cobras after they lost their Emperor, but rather suppressed them instead. They would suffer too great of a loss trying to take over the whole Ice-Poison lake for

themselves.

'Not enough. Press forward.'

Sylas' Will blazed in his eyes. Even after going through the stairs, he still seemed to have

more to give.

With wild abandon, he began Extricating Intelligence and Wisdom Genes from General Aleen

and Sergan, pouring them into his body regardless of the waste.

It was at that moment that the teams began to appear.

Sylas' body shuddered and the four teams flickered and vanished.

When his vision cleared, he was half keeled over, with Lolaleen to his back and a group of

eight practically rabid wolves staring at him.

There was nothing Vayu's team wanted more than to tear him to pieces.