Genetic Ascension
chapter-82

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The tents were hardly tents, but rather beast skins riddled with holes. They seemed to shit and piss in random locations, adding to the vomit-inducing aroma, and in the unorganized mess, Sylas couldn't even easily pick out where the head gnoll would have slept.

'There should be some indication. Cassarae's City Stele had a glow to it.'

Sylas carefully moved around, lamenting the fact he didn't even have shoes to wear in this godforsaken place.

What he didn't expect was that he would find something else before the City Stele.

[Rotten Wolf Den (F+)]

[Level: 6]

[Spawn Rate: 3]

[Mutation Rate: 0.01]

It was an inconspicuous stone buried in the ground. It was sleek and smooth, and had Sylas not accidentally stepped on it, he was fairly certain that he would have missed it.

[Claim Den?]

[Yes] [No]

[Warning: moving a recently occupied Den will lead to a period of dormancy]

Sylas' brows shot up again. 'These things can be claimed like cities? Does that mean that if I gave this to Cassarae, she'd be able to spawn those Rotten Wolves to fight on her behalf? But is that even a good thing? They completely turned on their masters and the gnoll head didn't dare to charge with all of them at once…'

[What are Dens?]

[Dens are special Steles that spawn beasts or special races. They are classified by their Grade, which decides the strength of spawned beasts; their Level, which decides the Level of the spawned beasts; their Spawn Rate, which decides how many beasts are spawned per day; and their Mutation Rate, which decides how frequently a stronger beast would spawn.

[A Mutation Rate can be between 0.00 and 1.00, where the former is a 0% chance and the latter is a 100% chance. When a Mutation is triggered, no matter the Spawn Rate, only one beast will appear.

[It is ill-advised to use a Den without a Beast Master Professional on hand. Beasts, unlike spawned humanoids, are notorious for their low loyalty, and this is especially so for specialty Dens such as Undead Dens, Mythical Dens and Legendary Dens.

[Should this advice be ignored, be prepared for a battle within your own walls]

Sylas took a breath after he read it. It seemed that Dens were a double edged sword, and this should be an Undead Den. But in that case, how had Zurog controlled them?

When Sylas found the City Stele, he got his answer.

[Class Stele]

[Lurker of the Night (Fragmented)]

[The darkness calls to you and the occult is your friend. You are a mere fledgling, but you are eager and willing to sacrifice happiness and contentment for suffering and greed]

[+30 Intelligence]

[+30 Will]

[Class Modifiers: 0.1 Intelligence; 0.1 Will]

[Uses Remaining: 9/10]

'So it's possible to get a Class like this as well? Seems it even allows you to pass it on to multiple people… This should be that odd feeling I was getting from the gnoll head that was something like a Comprehension, but not quite…'

The Class Modifier was the most interesting line to Sylas. If he was correct, that 0.1 should mean that it improved your Stat Limit by 10%, but at the same time, it was a worry to him. It meant that something else he was dreading happened to be true as well…

There was a Stat Limit up ahead for his Mental stats and Will.

Sylas had been wondering if he would ever run into one. Maybe it was possible that those stats would increase to the point his poor Physical wouldn't matter. Who knew, maybe the Human Race could have become a Race of psychics rather than warriors.

But this was a clear sign that that was impossible.

'It seems that this world will really be like a game…'

Usually, for a game to have any sort of balance, you couldn't have someone like Sylas who could have perfect stats across the board. It seemed that the real distinction between stats and one's strengths and weaknesses would only really begin to show after everyone got their Class Modifiers.

Sylas put the Class Stele away.

'That?' Sylas' gaze flickered with disgust.

Thanks to the light of the City Stele, he could see a bit better in here. At the corner of the tent, there was a corpse lying there, one that looked like it had been dissected, or even… eaten?

He recognized it immediately by the strewn about arrows and the poison-tipped crossbow bolts.

It was Lurk.

Despite his disgust, Sylas still went over and placed a hand on the corpse. Maybe he would be able to get the Genes he had missed out on.

Unfortunately, he had no such luck. Other than a disgusting feeling in his palm, there was no other feedback.

He shook his head and turned his attention to the City Stele and put a hand on it.

[View City Status]

[Conquer City Stele?]

'There's no enter Nexus option…'

He pushed his intention toward conquering, and a blinding light shot into the skies. Even though he was standing within a tent, he could feel it clearly. The light had pretended as though the ---

tent wasn't even there.

[Conquer Sequence Triggered]

[Time to Success: 00:00:59]

[Time to Success: 00:00:58]

[Time to Success: 00:00:57]

Sylas' frown deepened. He didn't have to stand here, he could even more his hand away. But he didn't like the fact he had just lit up the night sky in an otherwise completely dark forest.

Would beasts make their way here?

…

"What the hell? Why is the description of this place so vague?"

"The informant said it was around here somewhere. Let's just keep looking. They should be locked in a battle right now. We have time."

In the night, two men walked, one clearly more peeved than the other. Both were dressed in cloaked that looked quite similar in style to one another. There were faint hues of purple that shone beneath the sparse moonlight that made it through the thick foliage, and their heads were covered in hoods and partial masks.